JPH11126085A - Karaoke device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make many users possible to enjoy freely various service videos and possible to sing their own musics without forgetting in a KARAOKE (orchestration without lyrics) device provided with plural monitors. SOLUTION: Light receiving parts 8a, 8b, 8c receiving a signal of a commander (infrared remote controller) 15 are provided on respective plural monitors 7a, 7b and 7c. A user requests a KARAOKE music for the monitor that the user oneself views. While another music is performed, though the user views freely the service video such as CATV etc., when the requested music is performed, the display of the reserved monitor is switched forcedly to the KARAOKE video by the control of the KARAOKE device (CPU 20). Thus, the reserving person sings person's own music without forgetting. Even in such a case, free programs are displayed on other monitors, and respective users enjoy the service videos severally.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a karaoke apparatus having a plurality of monitors, each of which can display an image other than a karaoke image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A karaoke apparatus provided with a plurality of monitors has been put into practical use in recent years as karaoke apparatuses have become multi-functional. Various service images such as broadcast, fortune-telling, and concert information can be displayed.

[0003]

As described above, if a video signal is supplied not only to one karaoke video system but also to a plurality of karaoke video systems so that the user can freely select the karaoke video system, a karaoke apparatus (karaoke box) can be provided. Although the variety of usage methods will expand and lead to improved services, if other videos are displayed, you may not notice this even when the karaoke song you should sing starts, and in other videos There was a problem that the lyrics of the karaoke song were not understood.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a karaoke apparatus capable of displaying an image other than a karaoke image on each of a plurality of monitors, and enabling a person who has reserved a karaoke song to sing while watching the karaoke image. And

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a performance section for playing a karaoke tune received by a reservation operation of a remote control device, and a karaoke video composed of a background video and lyrics telop is displayed in accordance with the karaoke performance of the performance section. A karaoke apparatus having a display unit, a video supply unit for supplying a service video different from the karaoke video, and a plurality of monitors provided on the display unit, and a reception for receiving a signal of the remote control device for each monitor. Unit and a video selection means for selecting a video to be displayed from a karaoke video and a service video, and while playing the karaoke tune, a monitor corresponding to the receiving unit that has received the reservation signal of the karaoke tune. There is provided a means for switching a video to be displayed to a karaoke video.

According to the present invention, each of the plurality of monitors can display not only karaoke video but also service video such as CATV, fortune-telling, weather forecast, concert guide, general television broadcasting, etc. Video can be switched. Further, the remote control device for reserving the karaoke song may be, for example, an infrared remote control, and a receiving unit for receiving a signal transmitted by the remote control device is provided for each monitor. When a karaoke song request (song selection signal) is received, it is determined which monitor has received this signal, and the video on the other monitor can be freely switched as it is. The display of only the monitor is fixed to the karaoke video so that the lyrics telop and the like of the karaoke song are displayed.

[0007] Since the user of the karaoke apparatus reserves a karaoke song for the monitor he or she is watching,
By switching the screen of the monitor that receives the music selection signal in this way, the monitor automatically switches to the karaoke video only when the order of the tune comes, while freely watching the service video on multiple monitors, and the karaoke tune Can be sung.

[0008]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a karaoke apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a monitor of the karaoke apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a commander (infrared remote control apparatus) attached to the karaoke apparatus. FIG. This karaoke apparatus is provided with a plurality of monitors 7 for displaying a karaoke video composed of a background video and a lyrics telop when performing a karaoke song. Each monitor has a CATV tuner CATV71, and can display a CATV program on the CRT 70 in addition to the karaoke video. The display can be switched by an instruction from the commander 15 which is an infrared remote controller. Therefore, each monitor 7a, 7b,
7c are light receiving sections 8a, 8b, 8c for infrared signals, respectively.
Is provided.

In FIG. 1, a CPU 20 for controlling the operation of the entire karaoke apparatus has ROMs 21 and R via a bus.
AM 22, hard disk storage device (HDD) 27, communication control unit 26, commander interface 23, operation unit 2
4, display unit 25, sound source 29, audio data processing unit 30, D
The SP 31, the character pattern developing unit 36, and the display control unit 38 are connected, and an external CD-ROM changer 4 is connected. The commander interface 23
Have a plurality of (three in the figure) light receiving sections 8a, 8b, 8c.
Is connected. These light receiving sections 8a, 8b, 8c
Each of them is built in three monitors 7a, 7b, 7c. The display control section 38 of the karaoke apparatus main body is connected to the three monitors 7a, 7b, 7c, and the CATV.
Cables are connected.

[0010] The ROM 21 stores a startup program. The hard disk storage device 27 stores a system program, a karaoke performance program, font data, and music data of about 10,000 songs.
The system program is a program that controls the basic operation of the device. The karaoke performance program is a program for reading music data and executing a karaoke performance. These programs are read by the starting program when the karaoke apparatus is started, and are resident in the RAM 22.

The RAM 22 stores a program storage area for storing the program, a performance music data storage area for reading out music data of the requested karaoke music from the hard disk storage device 27, and a music number input from the commander 15. A reservation list to be registered in the reservation order is set.

The communication control unit 26 is a control unit for communicating with a distribution center via a communication line and downloading music data. The communication control unit 26 has a built-in DMA circuit, and can directly write the downloaded music data to the hard disk storage device 27 without passing through the CPU 20. This download operation is controlled by the loader program.

The display controller 38 to which the monitors 7a, 7b and 7c are connected is connected to the CD-ROM changer 4 and the character pattern developing unit 36. CD-R
The OM changer 4 reproduces the background video selected based on the genre of the karaoke song and inputs the reproduced background video to the display control unit. The character pattern developing unit 36 has a VRAM that develops a character pattern read based on the data of the lyrics track of the music data, and outputs a video signal including the character pattern. The display controller 38 synchronizes and combines these video signals, generates a video signal in which the telop of the lyrics is superimposed on the background video, and inputs the video signal to each of the monitors 7a, 7b, 7c as a karaoke video signal. . This video signal is output as a composite video signal. Further, the display control unit 38 has a function of superimposing a command signal input from the CPU 20 on a retrace interval of the karaoke video signal and outputting the signal.

In FIG. 2, each monitor has a CRT 70,
It has a tuner 71, a control unit 72 and an infrared light receiving unit 8. The tuner 71 receives a karaoke video signal from the display control unit 38 and outputs a CA signal from the CATV cable.
Input TV signal. The CATV signal is a multi-channel video signal frequency-multiplexed in the UHF band, and is composed of programs of several tens of channels. When the tuner 71 is switched to the video side, the karaoke video signal input from the display control unit 38 is output to the CRT 70. When the tuner 71 is switched to the television side, one of the CATV channels is received and the VR Output. The control of the tuner 71 such as channel switching and television / video switching is performed by the control unit 72 based on a control signal superimposed on a karaoke video signal input from the display control unit 38. This control signal is superimposed on the video signal according to an instruction from the CPU 20. The CPU 20 outputs the control signal at a timing such as when a channel switching signal is input from the infrared light receiving unit 8 or when a karaoke music performance is started, and the display content of the monitor 7 is displayed on each channel of the CATV. Control unit 7 to switch to karaoke video signal
Instruct 2

In FIG. 3, the commander 15 includes various key groups 51 to 56, an infrared light emitting section 57, and an LCD.
The display unit 58 is provided. The key group includes a numeric keypad 51 including an A key and a B key, a memory / set key 52, a start key 53, a transfer key 54, a cancel key 55, and a keypad key 56. When a song number is input to the karaoke apparatus main body, first, the ten key 51 is operated to input the song number. The input content is displayed on the LCD display unit 58. After inputting the music number, the memory / set key 52 is turned on to confirm the input content. When the transfer key 54 is turned on, the input music number is converted into an infrared code signal and output from the infrared light emitting section 57.

The start key 53 is a key for transmitting a performance start instruction in a single music mode in which a karaoke music performance is started in response to an instruction from a user. The cancel key 55 is a key for stopping the performance of a karaoke song while the song is being played. The key con key 56 has a seesaw structure.
b, the left side of the key is the ▽ key 56a. △ key 5
When 6b is turned on once, the performance key is raised by a semitone. When the key 56a is turned on once, the performance key is lowered by a semitone.

The function keys 57 and 58 are
An ATV key and a karaoke video key. CATV key 5
When the transfer key 54 is turned on after inputting the channel number with the numeric keypad 51 after turning on 7, a channel switching signal which is a command signal for switching the display of the monitor 7 to the corresponding channel of CATV is output from the infrared light emitting section 57. When the karaoke video key 58 is turned on, a karaoke video switching signal, which is a command signal for switching the display of the monitor 7 to a karaoke video (video input from the display control unit 38), is output from the infrared light emitting unit 57.
Note that the channel switching signal and the karaoke video switching signal correspond to the infrared receiving units 8a, 8b,
8c, each monitor 7a, 7b, 7c handles the signal as an individual signal.

In FIG. 1, an operation unit 24 is provided on a front panel of the karaoke apparatus.
And a key switch group such as a numeric keypad.
The display unit 25 is also provided on the front panel of the karaoke apparatus similarly to the operation unit 24, and includes an LED matrix display for displaying the number of the currently playing music or the number of reserved music.

The sound source 29 forms a tone signal based on tone data included in the music data. The audio data processing unit 30 reproduces an audio signal such as a back chorus based on audio data included in the music data. The tone signal generated by the sound source 29 and the audio signal reproduced by the audio data processing unit 30 are input to the DSP 31. The DSP 31 gives effects such as reverb and echo to the musical tone signal and the audio signal. The type and degree of the effect provided by the DSP 31 are controlled based on the DSP control data included in the music data. Music signal with effect,
The audio signal is converted to an analog signal of a karaoke performance sound by the D / A converter 32 and then output to the amplifier 2. A singing voice signal is also input from the microphone 11 to the amplifier. Amplifier 2 mixes karaoke performance sounds and singing voice signals.
The speaker 3 is amplified and driven. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of music data. The music data includes a header, a musical sound track, a lyrics track, a voice control track, a DSP control track, and a voice data section. The header is
This is a portion in which various data related to the music data is written, and includes data such as a music title, a genre, a release date, and a music performance time. A background video is selected based on the genre data.

Each track of the musical tone track, the lyrics track, the voice control track, and the DSP control track is all MID
It is described in I format. The MIDI format includes a plurality of event data and duration data Δt indicating a time interval between the event data. The sequence program counts .DELTA.t at a predetermined tempo clock, and when .DELTA.t is counted up, reads out event data subsequent thereto and outputs it to a predetermined processing unit.

The musical tone track includes various part tracks including a melody track and a rhythm track. The event data of the musical tone track is composed of note-on event data, note-off event data, etc., for instructing the generation of musical tones and the silencing of musical tones.

The lyrics track is a track in which sequence data for displaying lyrics on the monitor 7 is stored. The data is composed of character data of the lyrics, display colors, display positions, data indicating display switching timing, and the like.
The PU 20 reads out the character pattern data based on this data and outputs it to the character pattern developing unit 36. Although this sequence data is not musical sound data, this track is also described in a MIDI data format system exclusive message in order to unify the implementation and facilitate the work process. The audio control track is a sequence track that specifies the generation timing and playback pitch of audio data stored in the audio data section. The voice data section stores human voices such as back chorus and harmony singing that are difficult to synthesize by the sound source 29. On the DSP control track, DSP control data for controlling the operation of the DSP 31 is written together with the duration data.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are flowcharts showing the operation of the karaoke apparatus. FIG. 5 shows a processing operation corresponding to the operation of the commander (infrared remote controller) 15. CP
U20 periodically scans each of the light receiving sections 8a, 8b, 8c (s1) and waits at s1, s2 until an input is made. As a result of the scan, if there is an input, the process proceeds to s3 and below to determine the content of the input and execute a corresponding process.

In s3, it is determined whether the input is a request, that is, an input of a music number. If a song number is entered, the song number is registered in the reservation list and (s
4) The identification number of the light receiving section is registered in correspondence with the music number (s5).

Thus, when playing this karaoke song, it is possible to know which light receiving unit (monitor) requested this song. When playing this karaoke song, the requested monitor image is fixed to the karaoke image, and switching to another channel is prohibited.

On the other hand, if the input from the commander 15 is a channel switching command (including a karaoke video switching command), the process proceeds to s7 in the judgment of s6. In s7, the number of the light receiving unit that has received light is read out from this signal (s7).
It is determined whether switching of the monitor corresponding to the light receiving unit is prohibited (s8). That is, it is determined whether a karaoke performance is being performed on the monitor corresponding to the light receiving unit. If the switching is prohibited, the process returns to s1 without doing anything. If the switching is not prohibited, the channel switching signal for the corresponding monitor is output to the display controller 38 (s9), and this signal is superimposed on the retrace interval of the karaoke video signal and transmitted to the monitor 7.
The monitors 7a, 7b, and 7c all receive the channel switching signal. However, the control unit 72 determines whether the channel is addressed to itself, and only the corresponding monitor switches the channel.

If the input from the commander 15 is not a music request, a processing operation corresponding to the input is executed (s10). This processing operation is, for example, a key-con or stop of the performance.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the request processing operation. This is executed when a karaoke song is not currently being played. First, search the reservation list (s20),
It is determined whether there is a song reservation (s21). If there is a song reservation, the process proceeds to s22 and subsequent steps. If there is no song reservation in the reservation list, the process proceeds to s30 to display a CM between songs. The display of the CM between songs is an operation of reading the CM data from the hard disk storage device 27 and outputting it to the display control unit 38. In addition, the reservation list search operation of s20 is periodically executed while the CM between music pieces is displayed.

If the music number is registered in the reservation list, the music number is read first (s22). Then, the music data identified by the music number is read (s2
3). This prepares for the performance of the karaoke song, selects a background image based on the genre data included in the song data (s24), and transmits the scene number of the selected background image to the CD-ROM changer 4 to transmit the background image. Start playing the video. Then, based on the light receiving unit number stored in correspondence with the music number in the reservation list, it is determined from which monitor the reservation has been made, and the video of the reserved monitor is switched to the karaoke video (s25). The switching of the video is prohibited (s26). The prohibition of the switching is performed by setting a switching prohibition flag for this monitor.

Thereafter, a karaoke performance is executed (s2).
7). This karaoke performance is an operation of generating musical tones based on music data, developing lyrics into character patterns based on lyrics display data, and inputting them to a display control unit. This operation is continued until the karaoke song ends (including interruption) (s28). When the karaoke song ends, the prohibition of switching of the corresponding monitor is released (s29), and the operation ends. The release of the switching prohibition is performed by resetting the switching prohibition flag.

In this embodiment, each monitor can receive CATV, and switches between this video and karaoke video. However, video other than karaoke video is not limited to CATV. For example, it may be a terrestrial / satellite television broadcast, or may be content other than a karaoke video provided by a karaoke device or a personal computer. For example, song search / reservation, fortune-telling, weather forecast, concert information, and the like.

Further, when the order of the songs comes during the process of searching / reserving a song using the monitor, the search / reservation process may be forcibly interrupted to shift to karaoke performance. The music may be started after the end of the search / reservation process. In this case, the user may be notified by displaying on the monitor that the order of the songs has come.

When a karaoke song is reserved by the commander 15 and the reservation signal is received by a plurality of light receiving units, all monitors corresponding to the received light receiving units may be switched to the karaoke video screen. The reception level may be detected, and it may be determined that a signal has been transmitted to the strongest light receiving unit. Priorities are given to the light receiving units in advance, and the highest priority is given to the received light receiving units. You may make it determine that the light receiving part received.

In the above embodiment, during the performance of the karaoke song, the display is switched to the karaoke video composed of the background video and the lyrics telop. The telop may be superimposed on the currently displayed video and displayed. In this case, a superimpose circuit may be provided on the monitor side.

In the above embodiment, the karaoke video is displayed during the performance of the karaoke tune and the switching of the video is prohibited. However, the karaoke tune may be automatically switched to the karaoke video when the karaoke tune starts. That is, even during a karaoke song, the video may be permitted by the user's selection.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention, not only a karaoke video but also an arbitrary service screen can be displayed on each of a plurality of monitors. By switching the display on the monitor to the karaoke video, many users can enjoy the karaoke singing while freely enjoying the service video.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a karaoke apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a circuit configuration of a monitor of the karaoke apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an external view of a commander which is an infrared remote controller of the karaoke apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing music data used in the karaoke apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the karaoke apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the karaoke apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

7a, 7b, 7c monitor 8a, 8b, 8c infrared receiver 15 commander 51 keypad 57 CATV key 58 karaoke video key

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A karaoke apparatus comprising: a performance section for playing a karaoke tune received by a reservation operation of a remote control apparatus; and a display section for displaying a karaoke video composed of a background video and lyrics telop in accordance with the karaoke performance of the performance section. An image supply unit for supplying a service image different from the karaoke image; a plurality of monitors provided on the display unit; a reception unit for receiving a signal of the remote control device for each monitor; and an image to be displayed. Video selection means for selecting from a karaoke video and a service video. During the performance of the karaoke tune, the video to be displayed is displayed on the monitor corresponding to the receiving unit which has received the reservation signal of the karaoke tune. A karaoke apparatus comprising means for switching to a video.