JP2000207417A - Information providing device and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily identify a music information signal by forming an image showing visually the contents of information signals based on the physical value that is detected by the information signals, i.e., the audio signals etc., and selecting the corresponding information signals by means of the formed image. SOLUTION: When a user selects the audio signals recorded on a server 2 under the control of a controller 3, a converter 7 forms a menu image based on the additional information which is recorded together with the audio signals and shows the image on a display device 8. A menu screen is formed by arranging the display (icons) H showing the music images and the corresponding artist name, music name, release date, etc., for every piece of music. Then the converter 7 displays these icons H based on the image information assigned to the additional information and also displays the artist name, music name, release date, etc., based on the text data. Thus, the user selects the icons H on the menu screen by means of a cursor.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus and an information providing method, and can be applied to, for example, an audio signal recording / reproducing apparatus. The present invention is based on a physical quantity detected from an information signal such as an audio signal,
By forming an image visually representing the content of the information signal and making it possible to select the corresponding information signal by the image, the information signal of music or the like can be easily identified.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a minidisc or the like, an album name, a song number, and the like can be recorded as text data on the innermost circumference. As a result, in the case of a mini disc device, the album name based on the text data,
The music desired by the user can be easily selected based on the music title and the like, and the name of the album, the music title and the like being previewed can be confirmed.

[0003]

In recent years, the recording capacity of a recording medium has been significantly increased. Thus, it is considered that a large number of albums can be recorded on one recording / reproducing apparatus and used in audio equipment. However, in the case where a large number of music pieces are managed by one recording / reproducing apparatus in this way, it is considered that it becomes difficult to easily and reliably select a desired music piece.

In such a case, as applied to a mini-disc device, a method of identifying music recorded by text data based on an album name, a song number, and the like can be considered. And the like, and there is a problem that the confirmation is complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to propose an information providing apparatus and an information providing method capable of easily identifying an information signal such as music.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the present invention is applied to an information providing apparatus, and the content of the information signal is visually determined based on a physical quantity detected from the information signal. Is formed, and a corresponding information signal can be selected based on the image.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, an image which visually represents the content of the information signal is formed based on a physical quantity detected from the information signal by applying the method to the information providing method. Provided along with the information signal.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a tendency of an information signal to be provided is displayed by a tree diagram specified by the physical quantity based on the physical quantity detected from the information signal, applied to the information providing apparatus.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, by applying the present invention to an information providing apparatus, an image visually representing the content of the information signal is formed based on the physical quantity detected from the information signal. Can identify each piece of information. This makes it possible to select an information signal corresponding to this image, and it is possible to easily select a desired music from many musics by applying the information signal to, for example, an audio signal reproducing apparatus.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, an image which visually represents the content of the information signal is formed based on a physical quantity detected from the information signal by applying to the information providing method, and the image is formed. By providing the information together with the corresponding information signal, each information can be provided so as to be identifiable by this image. Thus, for example, the present invention can be applied to distribution of music, and a desired music can be easily selected from a large number of music based on the image at the distribution destination.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the present invention is applied to an information providing apparatus, and based on a physical quantity detected from an information signal, a tendency of an information signal to be provided is displayed by a tree diagram specified by the physical quantity. This makes it possible to visually indicate, for example, the tendency of music to be listened to.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

(1) Configuration of Embodiment FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an audio system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This audio system 1
Is designed so that music provided from a recording medium such as a compact disk, digital satellite broadcasting, music distributed via the Internet or the like can be recorded directly or recorded on the large-capacity server 2 for trial listening.

That is, in the audio system 1,
The server 2 records and records an audio signal input from a playback device such as a compact disk player, an audio signal distributed via digital satellite broadcasting, the Internet, or the like in response to a user operation under the control of the control device 3. Play and output the audio signal.

Further, the server 2 records additional information for each music based on the audio signal. Here, the additional information includes various text data associated with each music such as a genre of each music, an album name, a music name, an artist name, a release date, a keyword indicating a characteristic of the content, and image information indicating a characteristic of the music. It consists of.

In the case of text data, for example, in the case of an audio signal from a recording medium such as a compact disc, data such as the album name and the like recorded and allocated to the lead-in area, subcode and the like of the compact disc are obtained. Is recorded on the server 2. In the case of audio signals distributed by the Internet, digital satellite broadcasting, or the like, the audio signals are obtained from a server or a broadcast server for distribution together with these audio signals. In the audio system 1, the operation mode is switched by operating a not-shown operation element so that the text data can be input as needed. In the server 2, the text data input in this manner is also used. , As additional information.

On the other hand, the image information is generated by the conversion device 7 based on the analysis result of the analysis section 6 described later.
Thus, the audio system 1 can easily select a desired music from a large number of music recorded in the server 2 by using the additional information.

The amplifier 4 is controlled by the control device 3 to control the speaker 5 according to an audio signal input from a compact disk player, an audio signal distributed through digital satellite broadcasting, the Internet, or the like, or an audio signal output from the server 2. Drive the
Thereby, music based on these audio signals is provided to the user. In this process, the amplifier 4 expands the audio signal output from the server 2 as necessary and drives the speaker 5 in this process.

The analysis section 6 detects various physical quantities from the audio signal under the control of the control device 3. That is, the analysis unit 6 analyzes the frequency of the audio signal, and detects the frequency components included in the audio signal and the signal level of each frequency component. Here, this frequency analysis is performed by a fast Fourier transform (FFT). Further, the analysis unit 6 integrates (averages) the frequency analysis result in one music unit, thereby detecting the frequency components constituting one music and the signal level of each frequency component, and outputs them to the conversion device 7. .

The analyzing unit 6 performs the frequency analysis at this time.
It also detects the music tempo, timbre, etc., and outputs the detection result to the conversion device 7. Also, based on the text data assigned to the additional information, the genre,
A keyword or the like indicating a feature of the content is detected and output to the conversion device 7.

The conversion device 7 is controlled by the control device 3
When a user selects an audio signal recorded in the server 2, a menu screen for selecting a music is formed from the additional information recorded together with the audio signal and displayed on the display device 8.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the menu screen. The menu screen is formed by arranging a display (hereinafter, referred to as an icon) H to image each music, a corresponding artist name, a song name, a release date, and the like for each music, and a scroll bar arranged on the right side. Thus, the entire screen can be scrolled.

The conversion device 7 displays the icon H based on the image information assigned to the additional information, and forms a display such as an artist name, a song name, and a release date based on the text data. In this display, the conversion device 7 displays a default icon H indicating that the music information is newly recorded on the server 2 when the image information is not yet recorded on the server 2 among the additional information. indicate.

When the user selects the icon H on the menu screen by, for example, operating the cursor, the conversion device 7 notifies the control device 3 of the selection result and switches the display on the display device 8.

Under the control of the control device 3, if the image information has not yet been recorded in the server 2, the conversion device 7 controls the conversion device 7 based on various data output by the analysis unit 6 in accordance with the setting of the user. Generate image information.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing icons generated when the user selects the simplest image information generation mode. In this case, the conversion device 7
Forms an icon with a distribution axis representing the signal level of each frequency component, with the frequency axis as the horizontal axis, based on the frequency components constituting one piece of music obtained from the analysis unit 6 and the signal levels of each frequency component. Thus, in the icon shown in FIG. 1A, there are many low frequency components in the whole music, and in FIG. 1B, there are many intermediate frequency components in the whole music. , FIG. 1 (C)
Is a case where there are many high frequency components in the whole music. Thus, for example, the icon shown in FIG. 1B has a rich midrange, so that it is possible to imagine that the music represented by this icon is a vocal song.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing icons generated when the user instructs creation of a more complicated icon. In this case, the conversion device 7 displays the genre of each music at the top of each icon, displays a keyword indicating the characteristic of each music, and displays the release year at the bottom (see FIG. 4A )). Also, depending on the user's choice,
In place of the year of the release, the analysis result of the timbre by the analysis unit 6 indicates, for example, that in the case of a quiet song, a star indicates that the work is recommended to be listened to at night, as shown in FIG. 4B. . Alternatively, for example, in church music, as shown in FIG. 4C, instead of the year of release,
Displays a mark indicating the cross.

In the case of such a star mark, cross mark, or the like, the symbols set for these patterns are arranged by matching the frequency analysis results with the patterns registered in advance. It is formed.

With this, the conversion device 7 analyzes the reproduction result obtained by reproducing the audio signal recorded on the server 2 once, creates an icon unique to each music, and starts the second reproduction. Displays this icon to help the user select songs.

Further, the conversion device 7 displays a display image indicating the tendency of the user to listen to music while the screen desired by the user, such as a menu screen, is not displayed based on the analysis result of the analysis unit 6. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the display image, and the conversion device 7 displays the tendency of the user based on the tree diagram.

That is, the conversion device 7 separates the frequency components of each music into a high range, a middle range, and a low range, and totals the frequency components of each music. Further, the conversion device 7 stores the totaled result in a predetermined storage unit for a certain period of time, and totals the stored totalized result for each range. The conversion device 7 has a code A
The right branch of the tree shown by, the branch at the center of the tree shown by the reference B, and the left branch of the tree shown by the reference C are assigned to the high range, the midrange, and the low range, respectively. Display so that the number of branches of the part changes.

Thus, when only the music whose treble range is emphasized is listened to, for example, the conversion device 7 is configured as shown in FIG.
As shown in (A), the tendency of the music preview is displayed so that the branches of the portion to which the high range is assigned sequentially develop. In FIG. 6A, the numbers indicate the order in which the branches are sequentially displayed. On the other hand, when the user listens only to the music with the emphasized middle and low frequency ranges, as shown in FIG. 6B, the branches of the portion to which the high frequency range is assigned are sequentially developed. Displays the tendency of listening to music. If the user has not listened to the music for a while, as shown by a broken line in FIG. 6C, the number of branches is gradually reduced so that the branches are withered, and the tendency of music preview is displayed.

The control device 3 controls the audio system 1
This is a controller that controls the entire operation, and is configured by, for example, a personal computer. That is, the control device 3 records audio signals obtained through a compact disk player, the Internet, or the like by a user's operation in the server 2, and reproduces these audio signals, and further, reproduces the audio signals recorded in the server 2, 5 is output.

When recording the audio signal in the server 2 in this way, the control device 3 acquires the text data of the additional information and records it in the server 2. When the audio signal is reproduced from the server 2, the server 2
In order to form a menu screen from the image information of the additional information recorded in the server 2, the additional information is read from the server 2 and output to the converter 7, and the operation of the converter 7 is controlled.

Further, the control device 3 allows the user to instruct reproduction of the music recorded in the server 2 by selecting this menu screen, and if the icon image information has not yet been created for the music whose reproduction has been instructed. By executing the processing procedure shown in FIG. 7, the operation of the analysis unit 6 and the conversion device 7 is controlled to create the image information of the icon.

That is, the control device 3 proceeds from step SP1 to step SP2, waits for selection of a song by the user, and when a song is selected by the user, proceeds to step SP2.
Move to 3. Here, the control device 3 instructs the reproduction of the music specified by the user, and then proceeds to step SP4 to instruct the analysis unit 6 to analyze the audio signal.

Subsequently, the control device 3 proceeds to step SP5 and instructs the conversion device 7 to generate an icon. Subsequently, when the reproduction of the music ends, the control device 3 proceeds to step SP6.
Then, it is determined whether or not the music is continuously reproduced by the user's operation. If a positive result is obtained here, the process returns to step SP2, whereas if a negative result is obtained,
The process moves to step SP7, and this processing procedure ends.

(2) Operation of Embodiment In the above-described configuration, in the audio system 1 (FIG. 2), audio signals distributed from the Internet, digital satellite broadcasting, etc., and audio signals provided by a compact disk or the like are once transmitted. After being recorded on the server 2 or directly, the speaker 5
The audio signal can be previewed.

When an audio signal is once recorded in the server 2 in this way, the audio system 1 includes, for each music piece based on the audio signal, a genre, an album name, a music name, an artist name, and a release date. In addition, text data such as a keyword indicating a feature of the content is recorded as additional information.

On the other hand, when the user selects the reproduction of the music recorded on the server 2 in this manner, the audio signal recorded only on the server 2 but not yet reproduced is analyzed by the analysis unit at the time of reproduction. In 6, frequency analysis is performed for each music, and the frequency components constituting each music and the signal level of each frequency component are detected. Further, the tempo, tone color, and the like of the music are detected, and furthermore, a keyword indicating the characteristic of the genre and content is detected from the text data.

Further, the detection result based on these physical quantities and the detection result based on the text data are output to the conversion device 7,
Here, for an audio signal which is an information signal provided by the audio system 1, an icon which is an image visually representing the content of the audio signal is created (FIGS. 1 and 4), and the image data of this icon is added to the additional information. Is recorded on the server 2 as a part of

Thus, in the audio system 1, on the menu screen for selecting music (FIG. 3), selectable music is presented to the user using this icon, and the user can easily record the music recorded on the server 2. Has been made to be able to identify. At this time, audio signals that have been recorded on the server 2 but have not been reproduced yet can be selected by displaying a default icon.

That is, if an icon is formed based on a physical quantity detected from the audio signal of each music, each icon indicates the characteristic of the corresponding music, and the user can visually recognize each music. Can be identified. Therefore, the user can easily select desired music accordingly.
In addition, music can be easily classified as to whether or not the music has a tendency to be heard.

In the audio system 1, the corresponding music is sequentially read from the server 2 and provided to the user in response to the operation of the menu screen formed by the icons and the texts as described above. When the music is provided in this manner and after the provision of the music is completed, the audio system 1 determines the frequency analysis result of the reproduced audio signal as a treble range, a midrange range, or a high range.
The data is classified into low-frequency ranges and tabulated, and the tabulated result is displayed in a tree diagram (FIG. 5).

In this tree diagram, when listening to music, the branches corresponding to richer ranges are displayed so as to extend gradually, and when not listening to music, the branches gradually die. Thus, it is possible for the user to visually grasp the tendency of his / her own music preview and to evaluate and analyze the tendency. Audio system 1
In this case, it is possible to display one type of so-called background image to provide the user with entertainment.

(3) Effects of the Embodiment According to the above configuration, an image that visually represents the content of the audio signal is formed based on the frequency analysis result, which is one of the physical quantities obtained from the audio signal. By making it possible to select an audio signal corresponding to this image, even when a lot of music is provided, desired music can be easily identified and selected from these music.

Further, based on the frequency analysis result detected in this way, the tendency of the audio signal to be provided is displayed by a tree diagram specified by physical quantities,
The user's tendency to listen to music can be visually evaluated, and entertainment can be provided to the user.

(4) Other Embodiments In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which an icon is formed by a distribution curve indicating a signal level of a frequency component, and an icon is formed by a genre name and a timbre. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a march, a waltz, or the like may be identified based on a tempo to form an icon. Further, the present invention can be widely applied to a case where an icon is formed using various detectable physical quantities.

Also, in the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which an icon is created based on a physical quantity directly detected from music. However, the present invention is not limited to this. An icon may be created. In this case, as the conditions, in addition to the sound volume and the like, the setting of the loudness level, the setting of the reverberation time, and the like can be considered.

In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which an icon is created in an audio system of a general user on the receiving side. However, the present invention is not limited to this. May create an icon on the music distribution side and provide it along with the music.

In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described where an icon is generated from the detected physical quantity and the image information is recorded as additional information. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the detected physical quantity is directly converted to the additional information. Alternatively, the information may be encoded and recorded as additional information, and the icon may be generated each time the icon is displayed.

In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which the present invention is applied to an audio system and an information signal which is an audio signal is provided to a user.
The present invention is not limited to this, and can be widely applied to the case where information based on video signals and information based on still images are provided. When providing information using video signals,
For example, in units of one program, movie, drama, etc.,
It is considered that an icon is generated based on the average luminance level, hue, and the like of the video signals constituting these movies and dramas, and a desired program can be easily identified and selected. Further, it is considered that a desired scene can be easily and quickly selected by generating an icon for each scene for each scene constituting one program.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention, an image visually representing the content of an information signal is formed based on a physical quantity detected from an information signal such as an audio signal.
By making it possible to select a corresponding information signal from the image, it is possible to easily identify the music information signal.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an icon applied to an audio system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an audio system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a menu screen of the audio system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating another example of an icon applied to the audio system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a tree diagram.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing changes in the tree diagram of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the control device of FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Audio system, 2 ... Server, 3 ... Control device, 6 ... Analyzing unit, 7 ... Change device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An information providing apparatus for providing various information signals, comprising: forming an image visually representing the content of the information signal based on a physical quantity detected from the information signal; An information providing device, wherein a signal can be selected. 2. An information providing method for providing various information signals, comprising: forming an image visually representing the content of the information signal based on a physical quantity detected from the information signal; An information providing method provided with a signal. 3. An information providing apparatus for providing various information signals, wherein a trend of the information signal to be provided is displayed by a tree diagram specified by the physical quantity based on a physical quantity detected from the information signal. Characteristic information providing device.