JP2001083975A - Karaoke device, external device of karaoke device and karaoke system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To execute a dance game by adding an external device to a general karaoke device. SOLUTION: A game control unit 4 for controlling a dance game is connected to a karaoke body device 1. Step data for showing steps of a music to be performed hereafter are transmitted beforehand from the karaoke body device 1 to the game control unit 4, and a beat mark signal for showing a beat timing is transmitted during performance of the music. A start signal for starting the dance game (performance of the music) is transmitted from the game control unit 4 to the karaoke body device 1, and a step instruction image for instructing the direction or the timing of the step according to the beat mark signal is transmitted. The karaoke body device 1 displays the step instruction image on a monitor 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a karaoke system capable of playing a karaoke song and executing both a singing and a dance game, a karaoke device used in the karaoke system, and an external device of the karaoke device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A general karaoke apparatus has a function of automatically playing a karaoke song and displaying lyrics on a monitor to guide singing. In recent years, those having a game function of analyzing the pitch and volume of a singing voice input from a microphone and scoring the same have been put to practical use.

[0003] On the other hand, a dance game that competes for specificity by stepping on a foot panel in the same direction with good timing according to the pattern of a four-way arrow (← ↑ ↓ →) appearing on the music from the bottom of the monitor screen has become popular as an arcade game. I am collecting.

[0004]

The karaoke apparatus and the dance game machine have the common feature that they store music data and automatically play the music data, but since they are originally separate devices, they share music data. I couldn't mix the game and singing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a karaoke system, a karaoke apparatus, and an external apparatus of the karaoke apparatus that can smoothly execute a dance game while singing a karaoke song.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a karaoke apparatus for generating a musical tone based on music data, and music progress information synchronized with the generation of the musical tone by the musical tone generating means. Music progress information output means for outputting;
An internal video generating means for generating an internal video corresponding to generation of a musical tone by the musical tone generating means; and an external video synchronized with the music progress information from an external device and selectively selecting one of the external video or the internal video. Or a video selecting means for combining the two and outputting them to the monitor.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an external apparatus for a karaoke apparatus, comprising: a receiving means for receiving tune progress information output from the karaoke apparatus in synchronization with the progress of a tune; External video generation means for transmitting the external video to the karaoke apparatus.

A karaoke system according to a third aspect of the invention is characterized in that the karaoke apparatus according to the first aspect and the external apparatus of the karaoke apparatus according to the second aspect are connected to each other.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the invention, the music progress information is beat mark information indicating a beat of the music, and the external video generated by the external video generating means is a dance gesture and its timing. Is a gesture instruction video showing

According to the present invention, the karaoke apparatus performs a so-called karaoke tune that generates a musical tone based on the music data, and generates, for example, a lyrics telop that displays the lyrics of the music data as an internal image. The user can enjoy singing a karaoke song with the performance sound and the video display. Further, the karaoke apparatus outputs music progress information to an external device, and the external device generates an external video synchronized with the music progress information. The external video is transmitted to the karaoke apparatus, and the karaoke apparatus selectively or synthesizes the internal video or the external video and outputs it to a monitor (video selecting means). Since the device for generating the external video as the second video is an external device, a function of displaying and outputting a new video only by providing the music progress information output means and the video selection means in the configuration of the conventional karaoke apparatus is provided. Can be realized. If the external device is, for example, a dance game device, a gesture instruction image indicating a gesture timing such as a step is generated as the external image. The image selection rule of the image selection means may be any, but for example, a method of selecting by a user's selection input, a method of preferentially selecting an external image when an external image is input, and the like are adopted. be able to.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A karaoke system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view of the karaoke system. As shown in FIG. 1, the karaoke system includes a karaoke device and a dance game device. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a karaoke apparatus constituting the karaoke system. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a dance game device constituting the karaoke system. This dance game device corresponds to an external device of the karaoke device of the present invention.

In this karaoke system, the user can sing along with the music played by the karaoke apparatus, and the user can play a dance game in accordance with the music played by the karaoke apparatus. Here, the dance game is based on a step instruction image (a pattern of four-directional arrows (← ↓ ↑ →)) that scrolls from the bottom of the monitor screen to the music. A competitive game. This step instruction image corresponds to the external image of the present invention.

The karaoke apparatus includes a main unit 1, a control amplifier 2, a DVD changer 3, a speaker 5 (see FIG. 2), a monitor 6, and the like. In addition, Claim 1 of the present application
In the invention of the above, the monitor 6 is not essential.

The dance game device includes a game control unit 4, a step board 9 for detecting a dance step, a game operation panel 11, a bill coin box 12, a lighting device 13, and the like.

When the user selects a song to be played, if the song is a normal karaoke song (general song), the karaoke apparatus executes a karaoke performance as usual while displaying lyrics on the monitor 6. On the other hand, when a song (dedicated song) for a dance game is selected, the user operates the game operation panel 1
When the start button 11a is turned on, the performance of the music is started, and a step instruction image is displayed on the monitor 6 in parallel with the performance (see FIG. 5). The user steps in accordance with the step instruction image and steps on the foot panels 9a to 9d of the step board 9. Each foot panel 9a-9
d is provided with a switch 90 (see FIG. 3). Based on the on-timing of the switch 90, the accuracy of the user's step is scored, and the score is displayed during or after the music is played. . Even a general song for karaoke singing can be played as a song for a dance game by pressing the start button 11a.

In FIG. 2, the CP of the karaoke main unit 1
U20 controls the operation of the entire karaoke system. The CPU 20 includes a ROM 21, a RAM 22, a hard disk 27, a communication control unit 26, and a remote control receiving unit 2.
3, an operation unit 24, a display unit 25, a graphic circuit 28 serving as an internal video generation unit of the present invention, a video mixer 29 serving as a video selection unit of the present invention, a musical tone generating unit 30 serving as a musical tone generating unit of the present invention, and The audio playback unit 31 is connected, and the interfaces 35 and 36 are connected. The control amplifier 2 and the DVD changer 3 are connected to the interface 35.
The game control unit 4 is connected to the interface 36.

The ROM 21 stores a program for starting the karaoke apparatus and the like. Music data for playing a karaoke song (hereinafter, including a general song and a dedicated song) is stored in the DVD 3 a set in the DVD drive 3 and the hard disk 27. In addition to the music data, the hard disk 27 stores various programs such as a system program, a karaoke performance program, a communication program, and character pattern data. The system program is a program for controlling the basic operation of the apparatus, and is read into the RAM 22 when the karaoke apparatus is started. The karaoke performance program is a program for generating a karaoke performance sound by driving the karaoke performance unit 30 and the audio reproduction unit 31 based on the music data. The communication program is a program for downloading the music data and the step data which is the gesture data of the present invention from the distribution center. The character pattern data is data for developing text information such as lyrics and song names given as code information into a character pattern.

In the RAM 22, in addition to an area for reading the above-mentioned program, an execution data storage area for reading the music data currently being played and the music data to be played next, various flags and registers to be described later are set.

The tone generator 30 includes a sound source LSI and the like.
A karaoke music performance tone is generated based on the music data. The audio reproduction unit 31 is a circuit that reproduces an audio signal recorded by a compression method such as TwinVQ. The voice reproducing unit 31 reproduces the back chorus of the karaoke tune and also reproduces the professional singing recorded in advance in accordance with the tone multi mode. That is, when the singer wants to listen to the singing of a novice and professional singer, or when the user cannot sing by playing a dance game, the professional singing is reproduced.

The music data includes a music track for generating a music sound in the music sound generation section 30 and a sound track composed of the previously recorded professional singing voice TwinVQ data. When playing a karaoke tune, the CPU 20 synchronizes the data of the audio track with the read of the music track in accordance with the multi-tone mode, and reproduces the data of the audio track.
To enter.

The multi-voice mode is sequentially set to three modes of multi-voice off, multi-voice on, and multi-voice on during a dance game by operating a multi-voice switch 50 (see FIG. 3B). The set mode is stored in the tone mode register set in the RAM 22. The default for Onta mode is lyrics off, and every time a karaoke song is selected,
The tone mode is reset to tone off. The tone switch 50 may be provided at any one of the remote controller 8, the operation unit 24, and the game operation panel 11 or anywhere else, as long as the CPU 20 can be notified of the operation signal.

The performance sound generated by the musical sound generation unit 30 and the singing voice reproduced by the voice reproduction unit 31 in response to the instruction are input to the control amplifier 2. Control amplifier 2
Is connected to a microphone 7 for a singer to input a singing voice. The control amplifier 2 mixes the singing voice input from the microphone 7 or reproduced by the voice reproducing unit 31 and the musical sound of the karaoke performance and outputs the result to the speaker 5.

The control amplifier 2 is connected to the microphone 7
It has a hamo unit which is a circuit unit for analyzing and converting the singing voice input from the microphone, and analyzes the frequency and volume of the singing voice input from the microphone 7 and converts the singing voice into MIDI data. Can be converted into a voice of another predetermined frequency to generate a harmony voice. When the harmony voice is generated, the harmony voice is mixed with the musical sound and the singing voice and output to the speaker 5.

The MIDI data created by extracting the frequency and volume from the singing voice is input to the CPU 20. The CPU 20 scores the singer's singing by comparing the MIDI data with a reference (such as a guide melody track included in the musical sound track of the music data). Further, based on the MIDI data, the CPU 20 calculates how much calories a singer has consumed by singing based on the number of utterances, the utterance volume, the utterance frequency per unit time, the pitch, the pitch jump interval, and the like. .

The communication control unit 26 is a controller for communicating with the distribution center 19 via a communication circuit and downloading music data, step data, and the like. The communication control unit 16 has a built-in DMA circuit and writes downloaded music data and the like directly to the hard disk 27.

The remote control receiver 23 receives the infrared signal sent from the remote controller 8 and restores the data. The remote controller 8 includes a plurality of key switches, such as a numeric keypad, for inputting a song number and making a reservation for a karaoke song. When the user operates the key switch, the remote controller 8 transmits an infrared code signal corresponding to the operated key switch. The remote control receiver 23 receives the infrared code signal, restores the data to data, and inputs the data to the CPU 20. CPU2
0 executes processing such as reservation of a karaoke tune based on this data. The operation unit 24 is provided on the front panel of the karaoke main unit 1 and has the same key switches as the remote controller 8. The display unit 25 is also the operation unit 2
Like FIG. 4, it is provided on the front panel of the main body of the karaoke apparatus, and includes an LED matrix display for displaying the number of the currently playing music or the number of reserved music.

The graphic circuit 28 generates a video signal of the lyrics telop and inputs it to the video mixer 29. The music data includes a lyric track for displaying lyrics in synchronization with the generation of a musical tone, in addition to a musical tone track that generates a musical tone. The CPU 20 reads out the lyrics track data in synchronism with the input of the music track data to the music generator 30 during the performance of the karaoke song, reads the font data corresponding to this data from the hard disk 27, and converts the lyrics into the character pattern. Expand to This development is performed on the VRAM of the graphic circuit 28. The graphic circuit 28 converts the character pattern into a video signal (NTSC).
A composite signal is output to the video mixer 29.

The video mixer 29 includes a graphic circuit 28
It has two external video input terminals 29a and 29b in addition to an internal input terminal for inputting a character telop from. The DVD drive 3 is connected to the external video input terminal 29a, and the game control unit 4 is connected to the external video input terminal 29b.

During a normal karaoke performance, a video signal of the lyrics telop is input from the graphic circuit 28, a background image reproduced by the DVD drive 3 is input from the external input terminal 29a, and the lyrics telop is superimposed on the background image. The images are synthesized and input to the monitor 6. The background image of the DVD 3a reproduced by the DVD drive 3 corresponds to the genre and season of the karaoke song, and is an image of a scenery or the like that matches the atmosphere of the karaoke song, and has a function to enliven the atmosphere of the karaoke song.

When a dance game is executed, a video generated by the game control unit 4 is input from the external input terminal 29b and output to the monitor 6. At this time, the lyrics telop input from the graphic circuit 28 is superimposed and synthesized with the video in accordance with the lyrics display mode (described later). As shown in FIG. 5, the video signal output from the game control unit 4 is obtained by superimposing a step instruction video on a game background video. The game background image is an image in which a CG (computer graphic) character is dancing, has a function to excite the game, and has a color scheme that makes the step instruction image easy to see. If the lyrics telop is superimposed on the video signal input from the game control unit 4, the lyrics telop is displayed in the foreground, and the step instruction video may be difficult to see. Therefore, the user selects the lyric display mode. Then you can delete it.

The lyrics display mode is sequentially set to three modes of lyrics on, lyrics off, and lyrics off during a dance game by operating a lyrics display changeover switch 51 (see FIG. 3B). The set mode is stored in the lyrics display mode register set in the RAM 22. The lyrics display mode defaults to lyrics on, and each time a karaoke song is selected, the lyrics display mode is reset to lyrics on. The lyrics display changeover switch 51 may be provided in any one of the remote controller 8, the operation unit 24, and the game operation panel 11 or anywhere else, as long as the CPU 20 can be notified of the operation signal. The CPU 20 controls switching of the video mixer 29 according to an operation signal of the lyrics display changeover switch 51.

The interface 36 is connected to the interface 43 of the game control unit 4 and transmits various data to the game control unit 4 and receives various data from the game control unit 4. The data transmitted to the game control unit 4 is step data or attribute information for executing a dance game, beat mark information generated for each beat of a karaoke song, a performance mark indicating a section of the song, and the like. . The data received from the game control unit 4 includes a start signal, a score of a dance game, a calorie consumption, and the like. The beat mark corresponds to music progress information of the present invention, and the interface 36 corresponds to music progress information output means of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, the step instruction image is generated by the CPU 40 based on the step data. The game background video is obtained by reproducing movie data stored in the CD-ROM 42a set in the CD-ROM drive 42. That is, CD-R
The OM drive 42 corresponds to the gesture background image generating means of the present invention.

Here, the step data means four-directional arrows (← ↓ ↑) in accordance with the progress of the music (especially the rhythm of the music).
→) is data indicating which one of the foot panels 9a to 9d to be depressed, and step data corresponding to the dedicated song one-to-one is stored in the hard disk 27 or the DVD 3 of the karaoke main unit 1. Have been. Also,
8 which is the material for generating step data of general music
A plurality of pattern data of about steps are stored in the CD-ROM 42a of the game control unit 4.

The game control unit 4 includes the C
The CPU 40 includes a memory 41, a C
A D-ROM drive 42, an interface 43, a graphic controller 44, and interfaces 45 and 46 are provided.

When the dance game is executed, step data corresponding to the karaoke music being played is written in the memory 41. When the exclusive song is selected, the step data is transmitted from the karaoke main unit 1. Also, when playing a game with a general song, what is transmitted from the karaoke main unit 1 is attribute information such as the genre, time signature, and tempo of the song, and the CPU 40 generates step data based on this attribute information. I do.

The CD-ROM 42a set in the CD-ROM drive 42 stores a large number of pattern data of about eight steps, and the CPU 40 selects an appropriate one from the pattern data based on the attribute information. Step data is generated in real time by combination.

The interface 43 is the karaoke main unit 1
Interface for communicating with the karaoke device, receiving step data of a special song and attribute information of a general song from the karaoke main unit 1, a beat mark generated for each beat, and a break between songs (such as chorus, chorus, and interlude). Is received. Also, via this interface 43,
Karaoke main unit 1 from game control unit 4
A start signal, which is an ON signal of the start button 11a, a scoring result (score) of the dance game, and information such as calorie consumption by the game are transmitted toward. The interface 43 corresponds to the receiving means of the present invention.

The graphic controller 44 has a CPU
The step instruction image input from the input device 40 is converted into an image signal, and this image is superimposed and synthesized with a game background image input from the CD-ROM drive 42, and the karaoke apparatus 1 (external image of the image mixer 29) is synthesized. Output to the input terminal 29b). The CPU 40 and the graphic controller 44 correspond to the external video generation means of the present invention.

The game operation panel 11 and the step board 9 are connected to the interface 45. The step board 9 includes four switches 90 (90a to 90d) provided inside four foot panels 9a to 9d provided with front, rear, left and right arrows, and foot panels 9a to 90d provided with the arrows. 9d and five pressure sensors 91 (91a to 91e) provided inside the foot panel 9e at the home position surrounded by the pressure sensors 9d. The ON / OFF state of the switch 90 and the detection value of the pressure sensor 91 are transmitted to the CPU 40 via the interface 45.

The game operation panel 11 is provided with a start button 11a and a difficulty selection button 11b. The difficulty level selection button 11b is a button switch for selecting the difficulty level of the step data displayed as the step instruction video, and is provided with three types of A, B, and C. The A button, B button, and C button correspond to difficulty levels of A (high difficulty), B (medium difficulty), and C (low difficulty), respectively. The default at the time of setting the game mode is C (low difficulty). The ON operations of the start button 11a and the difficulty level selection button 11b are transmitted to the CPU 40 via the interface 45. When the start button 11a is turned on, the CPU 40 transmits a start signal to the CPU 20 of the karaoke apparatus 1. When the difficulty level selection button 11b is operated, a button corresponding to the operated difficulty level selection button is selected from the three types of step data stored in the memory 41.

The coin box 12 and the lighting device 13 are connected to the interface 46. The coin box 12 transmits credit information, which is information on the number of coins inserted, to the CPU 40. In the case where the dance game is to be a charging service, the CPU 40 determines whether or not to execute the dance game based on the credit information. The lighting device 13 is controlled to blink by the control of the CPU 40 during the execution of the dance game. CP
U40 is based on the beat mark which is the information of the beat timing input from the karaoke main unit 1, and the lighting device 1
3 is performed.

When the user selects an exclusive song by operating the remote controller 8, the CPU 20 of the karaoke main unit 1
From the hard disk 27 or DVD3a to RAM2
The music data is read into the game control unit 2 and the step data stored in correspondence with the music data is transmitted to the game control unit 4 via the interface 36.

CPU 4 of game control unit 4
0, when step data is input from the karaoke main unit 1 (via the interface 43), the step data is written into the memory 41, and the start button 11a,
It waits until the difficulty level selection button 11b is operated. When the difficulty level selection button 11b is operated, the step data of the difficulty level corresponding to the operated button is selected. When the start button 11a is operated, a start signal indicating that the start button 11a has been turned on is transmitted from the interface 43 to the CPU 20 via the interface 36.
Notify.

The CPU 20 starts playing a karaoke song (dedicated song) with the input of the start signal as a trigger, and outputs a beat mark synchronized with the beat timing of the song via the interface 36 → the interface 43 to the CPU 40.
To enter.

The CPU 40 generates a step instruction image in synchronization with the beat mark and inputs it to the graphic controller 44. The CD-ROM drive 42
Starts the reproduction of the background image for the game with the start of the karaoke song (such as the input of the first beat mark) as a trigger. The graphic controller 44 is a CD-R
The CPU 40 adds a background image input from the OM drive 42 to the background image.
Input from the VRAM of the graphic controller 44
The step instruction video developed above is superimposed and synthesized and output to the external video input terminal 29b of the karaoke main unit 1 (video mixer 29). This video signal is N
A TSC composite signal may be used.

The CPU 40 generates a step instruction image based on the step data, compares the ON signals input from the switches 90a to 90d of the step board 9 with the step data, and outputs the foot panel indicated by the step instruction image. It is determined whether the user is stepping on the instruction timing accurately, and a score is calculated in accordance with the accuracy. This score is calculated in real time during the progress of the game, and is stored in the memory 41. The number of ON signals of the switch 90, the ON frequency per unit time,
Then, the calorie consumption by this game is calculated based on the pressure applied to each foot panel (including the home position) at each step. This calorie consumption is calculated in real time during the progress of the game, and is stored in the memory 41. When the performance of the music, that is, the game is over, the CPU 40 totals the score and the calorie consumption, and transmits the total to the karaoke apparatus 1. The karaoke apparatus displays the score and the calorie consumption on the monitor 6.

When the dance game is being executed in time with the performance of the karaoke song, the user (which may be different from the person playing the dance game) can sing the karaoke song. A professional singing voice may be reproduced based on a voice track in the music data instead of the actual singing. The multi-voice mode (whether or not to reproduce a professional singing voice) can be switched by operating the multi-voice switch 50. When the tone multi mode is off, the microphone 7 is enabled, the singing input from the mic 7 is scored, and the calorie consumption by the singing is calculated.

The display of the calorie consumption is directly indicated by “○○
Cal consumed "may be displayed or" exercise the same calories as 5 minutes of gogging "may be replaced with another exercise and displayed. Also, the total consumption may be displayed by adding the calorie consumption of the song and the calorie consumption of the dance game.

On the other hand, when a general music is selected by the user, the CPU 20 of the karaoke main unit 1 reads the music data from the hard disk 27 or the DVD 3a into the RAM 22, and automatically starts playing the karaoke music.
At this time, the DVD drive 3 reproduces the background video for the karaoke song, and the video mixer 29
This video signal is input to The video mixer 29 superimposes the lyrics telop input from the graphic circuit 28 onto the background video and outputs the superimposed text to the monitor 6.
If the user sings along with the karaoke performance, the microphone 7
, The singing voice is input and output from the speaker 5, and the singing is scored, and the calorie consumption by the singing is calculated. After the singing, the scoring result (score) and the calorie consumption are displayed on the monitor 6.

As described above, when the start button 11a of the game operation panel 11 is operated within 30 seconds after the performance of the general music starts, the game control unit 4
Of the karaoke apparatus 1 is notified of a start signal.

When the start signal is notified within 30 seconds after the performance of the general music starts, the CPU 20 stops the performance of the karaoke music, and in the game mode in which the karaoke music is performed while displaying the step instruction image. Restart the performance of the karaoke song. At this time, the video is switched to the video input from the game control unit 4.

Since the corresponding step data is not stored in the general music, the CPU 20 stores the attribute information of the karaoke music in the CPU 40 of the game control unit 4.
Send to The CPU 40 stores the received attribute information in the memory 41, and generates step data in real time by selecting and combining step pattern data in the CD-ROM 42a based on the attribute information. When a performance mark indicating a music section such as interlude or chorus is input from the CPU 20, a step pattern matching the section is selected. Further, when the user operates the difficulty selection button 11b, step data of the designated difficulty may be generated.

Even when the step data is automatically generated, the same step data is generated every time (for each difficulty level) for the same music. This is to allow the user to improve through practice.

When a dance game is being executed,
Or, when a dance game is running and the sound is on, that is, when playing a singer of a professional singer,
The equalization of the karaoke song and the balance of each part may be changed. That is, when singing karaoke, the overall balance is flattened so that the singing is more pronounced, and the volume is reduced. However, during a dance game (when not singing), the overall volume is increased to increase the rhythm part (including the bass part). By increasing the volume of the sound and making the equalization heavy with the bass and treble emphasized, the game can be excited. For this purpose, the music data has separate parameters for part balance and equalizing for singing and dance games, or the music data has singing parameters stored and has a separate parameter change algorithm. In a dance game, the part balance and the equalizing may be changed based on the parameter changing algorithm. The parameter changing algorithm is “rhythm part (MIDI 10th channel) is current volume × 1.2” or the like.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of music data stored on the hard disk and DVD. The music data includes a header in which attribute information such as the genre, time signature, and tempo of the music is written, a music track in which data for generating a music in the music generator 30 is written,
Lyric track with data for displaying lyrics telop in synchronization with the performance, prelude, first, interlude, chorus,
The control track is provided with a performance mark indicating a section of a tune such as No. 2 or a trailer. The musical sound track is composed of a plurality of tracks, and includes a track of a plurality of performance parts, a guide melody track serving as a reference for singing score, and the like.

The song data includes singing voice data of a professional singer singing this karaoke song in TwinVQ.
Comes with an audio track compressed by the system. This audio track may be stored integrally with the music data, or a storage area for the music data and a storage area for another audio track may be provided and associated with each other.

Further, among the music data, the dedicated music includes 1
Step data corresponding to one-to-one correspondence is attached. As described above, the step data is time-series data indicating which one of the foot panels 9a to 9d (← ↓ ↑ →) is to be pressed in accordance with the progress of the music. For each dedicated song, the step data is A (high difficulty), B (medium difficulty), C (low difficulty)
Are stored. This step data may be integrally stored as a part of the music data, and a storage area for the music data and another storage area for the step data are provided, and a table for associating each music data with each step data is provided. You may. Whether the song is a dedicated song or a general song may be written in the header of song data, or may be determined based on whether corresponding step data exists.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of the monitor 6 in the game mode in which the dance game is executed.
The time change of the image on the left side of the image is shown. A step instruction image is displayed on the left side of the monitor 6. The step instruction image is an arrow group 61 that is a moving image in which a step pattern that matches the rhythm of the song scrolls upward, and a still image displayed at the upper end of the monitor 6. It is composed of an image obtained by synthesizing a timing mark 60 indicating that it is the step timing when they match. Arrow group 61 is the same as FIG.
As shown in (D), when the user scrolls up from the bottom in accordance with the tempo of the music and overlaps with the timing mark 60 at the upper end, the timing mark changes brightly and the scrolled arrow disappears.

The CPU 40 receives a beat mark synchronized with the beat timing of the karaoke tune being played from the karaoke main unit 1 so that the timing mark 60 and a predetermined arrow in the arrow group 61 overlap the beat mark timing. The arrow group 61 is drawn and its scroll is controlled.

The operation of the karaoke system will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation at the start of the performance. When the user inputs a song number from the remote controller 8, the song number is registered in the reserved song list. The CPU 20 reads the music number registered at the head of the reserved music list (s1), and reads the music data specified by the music number from the hard disk 27 or the DVD 3a (s2). Then, it is determined whether this music is a special music or a general music (s3). If it is a dedicated song, the corresponding step data is read out (if it is integrated with the song data, it is read out at the time of reading out the song data) and transmitted to the game control unit 4 ( s4). After this,
The musical tone generation unit 30 prepares for performance such as initialization (s5), and waits until a start signal is sent from the game control unit 4 (s6). When the start button 11a is turned on, the game control unit 4 transmits a start signal to the karaoke apparatus 1. When the start signal is received (s6), C
The PU 20 starts playing the music (s7).

On the other hand, if the requested tune is a general tune (s3), after preparing for performance (s1)
0), the performance starts immediately (s11). And
When the start signal is input from the game control unit 4 within 30 seconds (s12, s13), the current performance is stopped (s14), and the attribute information of the music for generating the step data is stored in the game control unit 4. Is transmitted to (s15). Thereafter, the performance is restarted (s16).

If 30 seconds have elapsed without the start button being turned on (s12), the input of the start signal from the game control unit 4 is prohibited and the performance is continued as it is. For songs (prohibited songs) that are prohibited by a copyright agreement or the like from being used in a dance game, the effect is written in the header of the song data. Does not shift to the game mode even if the start button is turned on. The restart of the performance in s16 is started after waiting for about 2 seconds so that the setup of the game control unit 4 is completed.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation during the performance of a karaoke song. In FIG. 9A, it is determined whether or not the multi-tone mode is the ON mode (s20). If the mode is on, that is, if the sound is on, or if the game is on and the dance game is being executed, the audio track is read out in synchronization with the performance of the music and input to the audio reproduction unit 31. To reproduce this (s2
1).

Next, the tempo clock is counted, and event data at the timing of the tempo clock is read from each track (s22). If the read data is data of a musical tone track (s23), the data is output to the musical tone generator 30 (s26). If the read data is lyrics track data (s24), it is determined whether the lyrics display mode is on or off (s27). Only when the lyrics display mode is on, the lyrics data is subjected to pattern development and output to the graphic circuit. (S28). Since the lyrics are not displayed when the addition display mode is lyrics-off or during a dance game and the dance game is currently being executed, the lyrics data is not developed in a pattern. It should be noted that the character pattern development of the lyrics data may always be executed, and may not be displayed by switching the video mixer 29. Also,
If the read data is a performance mark (s2
5), this mark is transmitted to the game control unit 4 (s29).

FIG. 11B is a flowchart showing the beat mark output operation. The beat timing is detected based on the tempo clock and the tempo information of the music currently being played (s31). Then, a beat mark of a strong beat or a beat mark of a weak beat is created based on the beat data (triple beat, quadruple beat, etc.) (s32). This beat mark is transmitted to the game control unit 4 (s33).

FIG. 8A is a flowchart showing the scoring operation during the performance of a karaoke song. First, singing volume / pitch information is input from the control amplifier 2 (s4).
0). This information is obtained by extracting the volume and pitch from the singing input from the microphone 7 and converting this into MIDI data. This information is compared with reference data such as guide melody data to determine the degree of coincidence, and the singing is scored based on this (s41). Then, the calorie consumption by this singing is calculated based on factors such as the volume, pitch, interval and pitch jump width of this singing (s4).
2). The calculated score (scoring result) and calorie consumption are accumulated and stored (s43). The above operation is repeatedly executed until the music ends (s44).

When the song ends (s44), the scores of the singing are counted (s45), and the calories consumed by the singing are counted (s46). Next, when the dance game is being executed, the score of the dance game and the calorie consumption by the dance game are received from the game control unit 4 (s47, s48). The score and the calorie consumption are sequentially displayed (s4
9), and save this in a log (s50). The log is a performance history file of the karaoke song and is set on the hard disk 27. The log record items include performance time, song number, song score, song calorie consumption, dance game score, dance game calorie consumption, dance game selection difficulty, and the like.

FIG. 8B is a flowchart showing a mode switching operation by a user's operation. When the user operates the tone selection switch 50 (s51), the contents of the tone mode flag set in the RAM 22 are sequentially switched in the order of OFF → ON → ON during the dance game (s52). When the user operates the lyrics display changeover switch 51 (s53), the contents of the lyrics display mode flag set in the RAM 22 are sequentially switched in the order of ON → OFF → OFF during the dance game (s54). As described above, the default of the multi-tone mode is off, and the default of the lyrics display mode is on. When the state is reset, such as when the power of the karaoke apparatus is turned on, these modes are set to default.

FIGS. 9 to 11 are flowcharts showing the operation of the game control unit. FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the operation when a special tune is played on the karaoke apparatus. When a dedicated song is played, step data dedicated to the song is sent from the karaoke apparatus main body, and is received (s60), and written into the memory 41 (s61). Three types of step data, A (high difficulty), B (medium difficulty), and C (low difficulty) are sent. Then, it waits until the user operates the difficulty selection switch 11b or the start switch 11a (s62, s64).
When the difficulty selection switch 11b is operated, the memory 41
Is selected from the step data stored in the step (3) (s63). The default of the difficulty level is C (low difficulty). And start switch 1
When 1a is turned on (s64), a start signal is transmitted to the karaoke main unit 1 (s65).

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation when a general tune is played on the karaoke apparatus. In the case of a general tune, the karaoke main unit 1 automatically starts playing without waiting for an instruction from the game control unit 4. At this time, when the start switch 11a is turned on (s70), a start signal is transmitted to the karaoke main unit 1 (s71). If the performance of the karaoke song starts within 30 seconds, the karaoke main unit 1
The karaoke performance is stopped in response to the start signal, and the performance is restarted as a dance game. For this reason, the karaoke apparatus 1 transmits attribute information, which is support information for generating step data, to this apparatus. This attribute information is received (s72) and stored in the memory 41 (s7).
3). Then, based on the attribute information, the CD-ROM 4
Step data is generated by selecting and combining pattern data from 2a (s74). The generation of the real-time step pattern data is continued until the music ends (s77). Then, when a performance mark, which is information such as whether the music has entered the chorus or became an interlude in the middle of the music, is received (s75), the contents of the step data generated in accordance with the performance mark are changed (s7).
6).

FIG. 11A is a flowchart showing an image generation operation of the game control unit 4. In synchronization with the input beat mark, a step instruction image is generated as an image of an arrow scrolling upward from the bottom based on the step pattern (s80). And CD-R
The OM drive 42 reproduces the background video for the dance game (s81). The graphic controller 44 superimposes and synthesizes them (s82), and outputs the external video input terminal 29b of the karaoke main unit 1 (video mixer 29).
(S83). This operation is repeatedly performed while the game is in progress, that is, while the music is being played, and the image of the arrow generated in s80 is moved upward at each repetition.

FIG. 17B is a flowchart showing the scoring operation of the game. First, the on / off of the foot switches 90a to 90d of the step board 9 is detected (s8).
5). This on / off state and current beat timing,
The degree of coincidence with the step data is determined, and the score of the game is calculated (s86). Next, the detected values of the pressure sensors 91a to 91e are read (s87), and the calorie consumption by the game is calculated based on the read values (s88). The calculated score and calorie consumption are stored in the memory 41 (s89). The above operation is repeatedly executed until the game (music) ends (s90).

When the game is over (s90), the score and the calorie consumption are totaled and transmitted to the karaoke main unit (s91).

If the tempo changes during execution of the game, the step instruction image does not match the music. Therefore, the tempo control function of the karaoke music is prohibited during the execution of the game.

In this embodiment, a dance game device (game control unit 4) is connected as an external device of the karaoke device, but the external device of the present invention is not limited to this. For example, instead of the step board 9, a game device such as a guitar game connecting a guitar controller, a drum game connecting a drum controller, a keyboard game connecting a keyboard controller, or the like can be connected. An external video device that exclusively creates a video synchronized with the performance timing can be used as the external device.

[0077]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to enjoy the singing of a karaoke song with the performance of the karaoke song and the internal video in the same manner as in a conventional karaoke device, and to connect an external device to this external device. By inputting an external video synchronized with the performance of the music from the device, it is possible to enjoy, for example, a dance game other than singing. By externally providing a device for generating images such as a dance game as an external device, it is possible to connect the external device only by adding an interface function to the currently popular karaoke device, and to use the karaoke device. New functions can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a karaoke system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a karaoke apparatus of the karaoke system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a game control unit of the karaoke system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of music data stored in a karaoke apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of a monitor during a dance game.

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

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the karaoke apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the karaoke apparatus.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the game control unit.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the game control unit.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the operation of the game control unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Karaoke main unit 2. Control amplifier 3.
DVD changer, 3a DVD, 4 game control unit, 5 speaker, 6 monitor, 7 microphone, 8 remote control, 9 step board, 9a, 9b,
9c, 9d: foot panel, 11: game operation panel,
11a: Start button, 11b: Difficulty level selection button,
12 coin box, 13 lighting device, 19 distribution center, 20 CPU, 21 ROM, 22 RAM, 2
3 ... Remote control receiving unit, 24 ... Operation unit, 25 ... Display unit, 2
6 communication controller, 27 hard disk, 28 graphic circuit, 29 video mixer, 29a, 29b external video input terminal, 30 tone generator, 31 audio reproducer
35, 36 interface, 40 CPU, 41 memory, 42 CD-ROM drive, 42a CD-R
OM, 43: Interface, 44: Graphic controller, 45, 46: Interface, 50: Voice switch, 51: Lyric display switch

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F-term (reference) 2C001 AA00 AA16 BA00 BA06 BA07 BB00 BB06 BB08 CB01 CB06 CB08 CC02 DA00 DA06 5D108 BA04 BD02 BD06 BD13 BE08 BF04 5D378 BB08 MM58 MM79 MM97 9A001 BB04 DD11 KK43 KK45

Claims (4)

[Claims] A musical tone generating means for generating a musical tone based on music data; a musical progression information output means for externally outputting musical progression information synchronized with generation of a musical tone by the musical tone generating means; Receiving an external video synchronized with the music progression information from an external device, and selectively combining one or both of the external video and the internal video. A karaoke apparatus comprising: 2. Receiving means for receiving music progress information output by the karaoke device in synchronization with the progress of the music, generating an external video synchronized with the music progress information, and transmitting the external video to the karaoke device. An external device of a karaoke device comprising: an external video generation unit. 3. A karaoke system in which the karaoke apparatus according to claim 1 and the external apparatus of the karaoke apparatus according to claim 2 are connected to each other. 4. The music progress information is beat mark information indicating a beat of the music, and the external video generated by the external video generation means is a gesture instruction video indicating a gesture of a dance and its timing. The karaoke system described in 1.