GB2379550A

GB2379550A - Printed code recording and playing system, for music, speech and sounds

Info

Publication number: GB2379550A
Application number: GB0121967A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Barrington Dyer
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-09-11
Filing date: 2001-09-11
Publication date: 2003-03-12
Also published as: GB0121967D0; WO2003023704A1

Abstract

A numerical description, including a binary bit-stream, of music, speech or sounds, can be recorded, by printing on a flat sheet or page, a code consisting of 'data groups' of coloured dots, each of which records a number. These codes can be mass-produced by printing. The membership of a particular 'data group' can be calculated relative to patterns of 'registration dots' of each colour printed. These printed codes can be read by a scanner, and the numbers recorded by the 'data groups' are decoded and used to create the electronic signal to reproduce the music, speech or sounds. The dot code may form, or be part of, an image, pattern or text. Images, patterns, or text can be used to simulate dot codes to produce music, speech or sounds.

Description

Printed code recording and playing system for music, speech and sound This invention is a way of recording and playing music, speech and sounds, in the form of a code of coloured dots printed on a flat sheet or page.

An advantage of this system is that existing printing techniques can be used to mass produce and distribute music, speech or other sounds at very small unit cost.

Printed paper is more conveniently stored and distributed than current music formats. Also, the system is very easy to interface with existing computer technology.

Music, speech and sounds can be described numerically. A numerical code can be converted to a format suitable for printing, in the form of groups of coloured dots, on a flat sheet or page. This code can be read by a scanning device, and used to produce an electronic signal for amplification, or a standard music-playing data type, (e. g. CD, MP3 file), for storage, playing or manipulation.

With this system, it is possible to record and play music, speech and sounds on and from printed sheets.

The numerical information encoding the sounds can be printed using'x'number of colours, so that a group of dots effectively records numbers in Base (x + 1), compressing the information, and allowing a feasible file size per printed sheet. (It is logical to allow the page colour, usually white, to represent zero.) For example : if only grey is used, x =1, information is in Base 2 (binary), so a group of 4 dots could store a number up to: (1x1) + (1x2) + (1x4) + (1x8) = 15 If 4 colour CMYK printing is used, x=4, information is in Base 5, so a group of 4 dots could store a number up to: (4x1) + (4x5) + (4x25) + (4x125) = 624 If 7 colour printing is used, x=7, information is in Base 8, So a group of 4 dots could store a number up to: (7x1) + (7x8) + (7x64) + (7x512) = 4095 This information is read by a scanner which identifies the colour and position of each dot. Dots in specific positions combine to comprise'data groups', each of which represents a number. A sufficiently large series of these'data group' numbers are a numerical record of encoded music, speech or sounds.

Once read by a scanner, the numerical information is decoded, and an output is produced, of the necessary electronic signal to produce sound when played through an appropriate sound-playing device, such as an amplifier and speakers.

N. B. The information file is recorded as a series of groups of dots of'x'number of colours. The groups could be rows or blocks, but they don't actually have to be adjacent dots spatially, if the position of each dot of each group is known to, or can be predicted by, the decoding software.

If the digital record of the music, speech or sounds is not easily divided into a series of numbers convenient or economical for encoding using these dot codes, it is possible to'parse'a bit-stream into convenient and feasible chunks for encoding, then to reassemble the bit-stream, when the dot codes are read and decoded.

For example: a bit-stream can be parsed (chopped up) into chunks 9 bits long.

These 9-bit pieces can be interpreted as the binary numbers 0-511. 4 colour printing, with uniform dot size and colour density, can encode Base 5 numbers up to 624, in a'data group'of only four dots, as explained above. On reading these 4-dot codes, they can be interpreted as the binary numbers up to 511, which are 9 bit sequences which can be reassembled to form the original bit-stream. The extra numbers from 511 to 624 are a useful redundancy which can be used to check for errors, or eliminate reading errors, for example : by eliminating numbers which would be encoded by'data groups'with awkward colour combinations, like groups with more than two adjacent dots of the same colour.

Registration Most printing processes allow a greater tolerance in registration between colours of ink used, than the size of dots, or the distance between adjacent dots, so without some kind of registration mechanism, dots of different colours would not be identifiable as part of a particular'data group'. This can be solved by having a known pattern of'registration dots'of each colour dispersed throughout the page.

By identifying the relative positions of the registration dots, the dots carrying the encoded information can be properly matched with the'data groups'to which they belong.

Superposition of dots Grey can be used in the place of black, so that like the other printed colours, when dots are superimposed inadvertently (or deliberately, in the form of compound dots, to add more information), by printing, the scanner can sense the presence and position of dots of all colours present without obliteration of data, and the software can assign them to their proper'data groups'.

Dot sensing The size, shape and density of the dots, and the software (and hardware) which identify and locate them, can be'tuned'to optimise the isolation of dot-based information, which is a different requirement to that of existing image-copying scanners. For example: the scanner could'look for'the presence of a dot of colour, including anticipating the approximate size, position, and presence of edges, rather than looking for the average colour of the area, which is what picture image scanners do.

Extra data depth In addition to colours of dots recording numerical data, extra information could be added by varying the size and colour density of each dot. This could increase the number carrying capacity of a'data group', thus reducing the number of printed colours required, or it could be used to check the accuracy of'data groups'.

For example : if a large Yellow dot is present in a particular'data group', then you would expect to find at least one Grey dot also, but if the Yellow dot is only small, you would expect no Grey dots in that particular'data group'.

Multiple channels Interleaving'data groups'or blocks of'data groups'would be a sensible way of recording multiple channels, like the two channels of stereo.

Formatting statement If a scanning, sound-playing device is capable of reading dot codes of different resolutions, different sized dots, different'data group'arrangements, different numbers of colours used, different encryption, or where the'data groups'encode different types of sound files (e. g. music and speech can be differently encoded), the device must either be able to automatically recognize the format of encodement and type of file stored, or there must be a formatting statement at the head of the document.

This could be in a standard type of dot code, or in numbers and/or text, or a bar code, or a colour block code, or any other reliable way of conveying to the device what type of code format to receive, and how it should be interpreted.

Similarly, the orientation, and the beginning of the code should be either easily recognized by, or identified to, the reading device.

Error compensation Errors in printing or scanning can be identified, compensated for, and corrected.

'Encryption : the code can be jumbled up in a pre-determined way, then on reading, unjumbled. This reduces the impact of'burst errors', like where there is a non-code mark in or on the page.

') Interleaving : segments of the code can be separated, then on reading, rejoined, rather like arranging the pages in a ring-binder file by a non-sequential page number order, but resequencing them into the correct order before the file is used.

. Duplication : where space allows, all or some of the data groups could be repeated, and checked against the duplicate for accuracy.

') Interpolation : where an error is found, and not otherwise corrected, the data can be'guessed'by comparison with its neighbours in the sequence of data.

''Dot parity' : where a small amount of data checking information is added, which can verify the accuracy of the main body of data. (A simple example : an extra dot in a'data group'could encode how many blanks to expect In that data group, and by subtraction, how many positions in that'data group'should be filled with a dot and not be blank, thus identifying any invalid'data groups'with missing dots. If a particular printed colour is known to be inaccurate in other places on the page, the erroneous'data groups'could be corrected.) Such techniques, adapted for these printed dot codes, would protect the quality, copyright and security of the music, speech or sounds recorded Simulating codes from images A dot code of any format can be simulated by reading any image, pattern or even text. Once read, this simulated code could be manipulated, filtered or enhanced to produce more musical or understandable output. In this way, it is possible to play music or sounds from a picture or pattern. This is an intended use of this invention.

Embedding codes in images An image, pattern or text can be depicted from dot code, including by varying the intensity or the hue of the colours used in the code, (e. g. magenta and dark brown encode the same information, but are used in different parts of the image).

Text could be constructed of dot code so that each word as it appears on the page, plays the sound of that word as spoken, or more elaborate speech, music or sounds.

Dot code could be hidden in small areas within, or distributed throughout, an Image, pattern or text, which would not necessarily be obvious to the viewer, but which would play when scanned and recognized.

Also, only parts of an image could contain code, (like the background behind a face, or the sky in a landscape), which can be read, either ignoring the non-code parts of the image, or placing silence or another sound where they occur.

These are intended uses of this Invention.

Example of Use A song recorded in MP3 file format (a standard compressed binary file for music) can be printed onto a piece of paper, using 4-colour CMYK printing, and distributed free to the consumer, for example : free with the purchase of a magazine. This song can be played by scanning the page, and decoding the printed coloured dots to replicate the original MP3 file.

The MP3 file can be divided up into a series of numbers, each of which is 624 or less. The numbers are printed onto paper in a known pattern, in the form of rows of up to four dots, each of which could be Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Grey, or absent leaving the page white. Each row of four dots is a'data group'representing a number up to 624.

The'data groups'can be arranged in blocks of, say, 25 across x 100 deep, which is 100 x 100 dots per block. Between and/or within the blocks of'data groups', there would be a printed grid of registration dots of each of the colours used. These could be super-imposed.

(If the resolution of the dots was 300 dots per inch (124 dots per centimetre), there would be more than enough'data groups'on a standard page of paper to record an MP3 file of a song. Even a resolution of 144 dots per inch (60 dots per centimetre) could encode over a minute of MP3 music on a single page. ) The assignment of positions of dots of each colour in the'data groups'are calculated relative to the known positions of the dots in the registration grid patterns.

This is necessary because modem printing techniques cannot guarantee exact registration of printing of different colours, and the'tolerance'between different colours may be a greater distance than many times the size of a'data group', so the 'rows'are actually somewhat theoretical, unless the printing registration is exact.

The colours should be sufficiently translucent that the other colours are visible to the scanner should there be any super-positioning.

When the page is scanned, the coloured dots are identified, and using the relative positions of the registration grids of each colour, assigned to the appropriate'data groups'.

Each'data group'represents a number, which is converted to a binary number, and these numbers can be rejoined to create a replica of the MP3 file originally used to produce the code of coloured dots, which can then be played, through an appropriate MP3 playing device, to reproduce the song.

Claims

CLAIMS 1 A system of recording and playing back music, speech or sounds using codes of coloured dots printed on a flat sheet or page, and read by a scanner.
2. A system as claimed in Claim1 where the code pages can be mass-produced using existing pnnting technology.
3. A system as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 where the code can be read by existing scanner technology.
4. A system as claimed in any preceding claim where the coloured dot code is used to encode Compact Disc (CD) files.
5. A system as claimed in any preceding claim where the coloured dot code is translated from or translated into binary computer files which record music, speech or sounds.
6. A system as claimed in any preceding claim where the coloured dot code is used to directly produce electronic signal output, without the creation of binary digital files.
7. A system as claimed in any preceding claim where music, speech or sound output can be produced from any image, or text, or pattern, by interpreting that image, or text, or pattern, in a way that simulates a dot code input of any format, (any resolution and any number of colours).
8. A system as claimed in Claim 7 where the simulated dot code input is manipulated by software to change, enhance or improve the musicality or understanding of the music, speech or sound produced.
9. A system as claimed in any preceding claim where the dot codes form an image, pattern or text.
10. A system as claimed in any preceding claim where the dot codes are embedded in, or form part of, another image, pattern or text, the non-code parts of which could be interpreted to be played as in Claim 7 or Claim 8, or used to insert silence or another sound into the played sound, or ignored and eliminated from the played sound