JP2003131673A - Karaoke remote controller with electronic contents book function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a remote controller with an electronic contents book function which realizes excellent user interface environment. SOLUTION: The karaoke remote controller with an electronic contents book function has a musical composition index database, retrieves musical compositions which match a retrieval condition from the musical composition index database based on the retrieval condition inputted from a user interface, presents them to the user, and transmits a remote control signal for reserving one of the musical compositions to the karaoke machine when a user input of performance reservation is received after one of the presented musical compositions has been specified. When the number of the musical compositions which have been retrieved and outputted from the musical composition index database exceeds a prescribed number, the karaoke remote controller displays only the number of musical compositions as a retrieval result, and when a user input of the list display instruction is made in that state, a music title list is shown as search results. When the number of the musical compositions which have been retrieved from the musical composition index database does not reach a prescribed number, the music title list which constitutes the retrieval result is displayed immediately.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention has a music index database corresponding to a karaoke music database used in a karaoke apparatus, and a music composition adapted from the music index database based on a search condition input by a user interface. Is presented to the user, one of the presented songs is specified, and when a user inputs a performance reservation, a remote control signal for reserving the one song to the karaoke device is provided. Electronic table of contents related to improvement of karaoke remote control device with this function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A typical function of this kind of karaoke remote control device with an electronic table of contents function is a song title search. In the song title search mode, when the user inputs "ho", for example, a song whose title starts with "ho" is searched. It is assumed that there are 120 corresponding songs, for example. In an electronic table-of-contents book, the song titles of the 120 songs are displayed in the order of aiueo. In another electronic table of contents, it is displayed that there are 120 corresponding songs, and when the user gives an instruction to display the song name list, 12
The song titles of 0 songs are displayed in the order of AIUEO.

When "te" is followed by "te", the corresponding songs are reduced to 38, and when "ru" is further entered, the corresponding songs are 12 songs. Then, for example, "Hotel Edogawa" is selected from among the 12 song names displayed, and a performance reservation is made.

[0004]

A karaoke remote control device with an electronic table of contents function is commercialized as a computer application device having a form similar to a notebook type personal computer or a palmtop type personal computer. Since a liquid crystal touch panel is often used as the user interface and the display screen is not so large, the song title list that can be displayed in a list is about 5 to 20 songs at most.

In the song title search mode described above by way of a concrete example, since the song titles of 120 songs starting with "ho" cannot be displayed at one time, they are displayed in order of, for example, 10 pages in the order of eye music. In such a method of automatically displaying a large number of song lists that cannot be displayed at one time as search results, it is extremely troublesome for the user to find the desired song among them,
It can be said that it is hardly useful.

On the other hand, in the method in which only the number of retrieved and extracted songs is automatically displayed, and the song list is displayed after waiting for the user's instruction input, a meaningless song list with little utility is not displayed. For those who are not used to handling, the user will have to think about how to input to display the search result song list for a moment, and it may not be said that it is user-friendly for those who have a mechanical deafness.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide an electronic table of contents function which can be conveniently and conveniently used even by a person with a mechanical disability who is not used to operating a personal computer. It is to provide a karaoke remote control device.

[0008]

A first invention for achieving the above object has a music index database corresponding to a karaoke music database used in a karaoke apparatus, and a search condition input by a user interface. Based on the above, the music index database is searched for a suitable music piece, which is presented to the user, and when one piece of the presented music piece is specified and the user inputs a performance reservation, the karaoke device is provided. In a karaoke remote control device with an electronic table of contents function that issues a remote control signal for reserving one song, if the number of songs retrieved and output from the song index database exceeds a prescribed number, the number of songs is retrieved as a search result. In addition to displaying only the above, if there is a user input of the list display command in that state, the song name list that is the search result is displayed, If the number of music retrieved output from the database is less than the predetermined number, is characterized by being configured to immediately display the song list is a search result.

A second invention has a music index database in which attribute information of each music is stored corresponding to a karaoke music database used in a karaoke apparatus, and the music index database stores the attribute information of each music based on a search condition input through a user interface. When a suitable song is searched from the song index database and the number of songs retrieved and output from the song index database exceeds the specified number, only the number of songs is displayed as a search result, and a list display command is issued in that state. If there is a user input, the song name list that is the search result is displayed, and if the number of songs retrieved and output from the song index database is less than the specified number, the song name list that is the search result is immediately displayed, and When the user inputs to specify one song from the song name list, detailed attribute information about that song is presented and It is an electronic table of contents present function karaoke remote device configured to transmit a remote control signal for reserving the songs to the karaoke device when there is a user input.

In a third aspect based on the second aspect, the number of pieces of music retrieved and output from the music index database is 1.
In this case, the karaoke remote control device with an electronic table of contents function is configured to present the detailed attribute information of the one song.

A fourth invention is the karaoke remote controller with an electronic table of contents function according to the first or second invention, wherein the specified number is equal to the maximum number of songs displayed on one screen.

[0012]

1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a karaoke remote control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The device body 1 is generally in the form of a thick panel, and the size thereof is such that when the panel is horizontally long, both hands can be held in a state where both hands are lightly opened. A liquid crystal display (LCD) 2 is arranged on the front surface of the panel, and a touch panel 3 is laminated on the surface of the LCD 2.

The panel-shaped case has an infrared transmitter 4 formed of a light emitting diode (LED) on its upper end surface, and has a lower end terminal for receiving power from an external power source when charging a secondary battery inside the main body. 6 and an RS232C standard interface (IF) terminal 5 for data communication with an external computer. In addition,
These terminal groups are normally hidden from the outside by the blind cover.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the internal structure of the karaoke remote control device 1. The configuration of the karaoke remote control device 1 of this embodiment is basically the same as that of a computer such as a PC. In the flash memory 12 functioning as an external storage, attribute information such as a song name, an artist name, and a song singing portion of a karaoke song that can be used in a karaoke device is stored in association with a song number, and a song index database is created. Has been built. Further, the central control unit 11 which is the main control unit of the karaoke remote control device 1 communicates with an external computer such as a karaoke device via a communication interface (IF) 13 of RS232C standard, and attribute information about a new karaoke song, etc. Is downloaded and stored in the flash memory 12, so that the music index database is updated in a timely manner.

When the central control unit 11 receives the operation input information from the touch panel 3 via the operation control unit 15, the central control unit 11 responds to the image data prepared in the internal ROM and the operation input information according to the image data. The image data in which the processing result is reflected is bitmap-developed in the video RAM, and the LCD driver 14 is controlled to display and output the bitmap image on the LCD 2. Thereby, the karaoke remote control device 1 provides the user with a GUI environment. Then, the central control unit 11 searches the music index database through a dialogue with the user through the GUI and outputs the search result to realize the electronic table of contents function.

When a user inputs to reserve the performance of one karaoke song in the state where one karaoke song is finally presented by the electronic table of contents function, the central control unit 11 gives a code including the corresponding song number. Is generated and the code is transferred to the LED driver 16. The LED driver 16 gives the modulated signal of this code to the LED 17 to cause the karaoke apparatus to transmit a radio signal for performance reservation.

The above is the basic configuration and operation of the karaoke remote control device 1 having an electronic table of contents main function. The configuration and operation itself are almost the same as those of the conventional electronic table of contents. However, the present invention relates to an improvement of the user interface in the karaoke remote control device with the electronic table of contents main function, and is characterized by the user interface when presenting the search result for the query entered by the user.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the top screen 20 displayed when the electronic contents main function of the karaoke remote control device 1 is activated. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing functions that are called when various buttons provided on the top screen 20 are designated. The top screen 20 shows
Various search methods (new score, singer name, song name, those days, duet, genre) and buttons 21 to 28 for calling functions (history, remote control) corresponding to various definition processes s39 to s46 in Various buttons 29 for operating a certain karaoke device are provided.

When the buttons 21 to 28 for each search method or function are instructed while the screen 20 is displayed, the buttons shown in FIG.
Initial screens for the respective search methods and functions shown in (A) to (H) are displayed. The karaoke remote control device 1 hierarchically makes screen transitions from these initial screens (A) to (H) in accordance with the user's operation input, and finally the user specifies a song to be reserved for performance in the karaoke device, and the song A remote control signal including the corresponding music number is transmitted in accordance with the operation input for making a performance reservation.

Note that, here, the "character name search" button 23 on the top screen is instructed, and an operation up to finally specifying one music piece by this music name search method is taken as an example, which is a characteristic user of the present invention. The interface will be described.

FIG. 6 shows the flow of music search processing by the music title search method. 7 (a) to 7 (f) show transition diagrams of screens displayed on the LCD 2 in the course of this processing. When the user selects a song title search method on the top screen, a keyword input screen (a) including a character palette is displayed (s51 to 53). The user designates the characters in this character palette and inputs the song name of the desired karaoke piece one by one from the initial letters. The central control unit inquires the music index database for a character string starting from the initial letter each time one character is input. For example, "Manatsu
.. ”, the music index database is searched by using the keyword“ ma ”as a query when“ ma ”is input. At this point, if the number of the corresponding karaoke songs is greater than the specified number, the input character and the number of the songs are displayed at a predetermined position (31, 31) on the screen as shown in the screen (b).
32) (s54 to s58 → S53). "Ma"
When a character after "a" is input subsequently, the entered character string is inquired to the music index database for each character input opportunity, and the number of corresponding music is displayed (c).

Here, when the "Search" button 33 in the screen where the number of songs is displayed together with this character palette is designated, a list of appropriate attribute information about the retrieved songs is displayed over a plurality of pages (s58). → s59). In other words, displaying attribute information about a large number of songs in a limited display area makes it difficult to see. Therefore, a plurality of retrieved songs are grouped into a predetermined number, and the attribute information about the specified number of songs is displayed on one screen. List in. In the present embodiment, a list of a plurality of searched karaoke songs is displayed in a group of eight songs in order of song number (d).

Further, in this list screen, the total number of pages and the page number currently displayed are displayed at a predetermined position 34, and when the user instructs the page turning button 35,
The previous and next pages are displayed according to the direction of turning the page, and the attribute information of other songs is displayed as a list (s59-).
s61). Further, if it is desired to continue the character input and perform the search again, the "return" button 36 in the attribute information list screen is instructed to display the character palette again (s62).
→ s53).

When the user sequentially browses the searched song list over a plurality of pages and a display column of a certain song is designated, the karaoke remote control device causes the detailed attribute information about the designated song to be displayed. Is displayed and output (s63 →
s64, e). If the user sees the detailed attribute information and confirms that it is the target music, the "transfer" button 38 provided in the display screen of the detailed attribute information.
Instruct. Thereby, the karaoke remote control device
Send a remote control signal to reserve this song (s66 → s
73), after displaying the confirmation screen (f) of the reservation, the start screen (a) of the song title search process is displayed again (s74 →
s51). If the music is not the target music, the "return" button 37 on the display screen of the detailed attribute information is instructed to display the list including this music again (s65).
→ s59). Further, if the user returns to the music number presentation page including the previous character palette and wishes to continue inputting characters, he / she instructs the "return" button 36 in the list screen (s62 → s53).
In addition, button 3 with "top" written on all screens
9 is provided, and when this button is instructed, the top screen shown in FIG. 3 is returned.

In the karaoke remote control device of the present embodiment, when the number of karaoke songs corresponding to the search result becomes a predetermined number (8 songs) or less in the course of inputting characters, attribute information about the karaoke song is obtained. Is extracted from the music index database and the attribute information list (d) of the music shown in FIG. 7 is automatically displayed (s57 → s67).
→ s68). In addition, in the attribute information list screen (d) displayed in this case, 1/1 in the position where the number of pages is written 34
Is displayed, and the page feed button 35 is displayed in a light color to invalidate the user's instruction operation.

Further, for example, the above-mentioned "Manatsu ..."
At the time of the process of inputting, 10 songs are searched, and when the next 1 character is input, the corresponding song is 1
When it becomes a song, the display process of the attribute information list screen is omitted and the detailed attribute information about the song is automatically displayed (s57 → s67 → s70). It should be noted that the flow until the subsequent performance reservation is the above-mentioned flow (s63 to s66 → s7
3 → s74) (s69 to s74).

As described above, since the number of songs is sequentially displayed as a search result in the process of inputting characters, if the user displays a list when the number is narrowed down to an appropriate number, many list-displayed pages are sequentially displayed. The work of browsing can be omitted. Also,
Even if the number of songs that can be displayed at one time is limited due to the limited display area, when the number of songs that match the search results is narrowed down to the number of songs that can be displayed or less, a list is automatically displayed, so page turning is performed. Freed from work.

In the above embodiment, the detailed attribute information of the music is displayed when one music is finally narrowed down by the user's instruction from the database search or the list display, and the reservation is made on the screen. Although the user's operation to that effect has been accepted, a remote control signal may be automatically transmitted at the time when one song is narrowed down. At this time,
The detailed screen may or may not be displayed.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the method of inputting the song name as a character string and searching for a musical piece as shown in the embodiment, but any searching method can be used as long as a karaoke musical piece is searched for a query. it can.

[0030]

According to the karaoke remote control device with the electronic table of contents function of the present invention, when the number of songs searched and output from the song index database is less than the specified number, the song name list as the search result is immediately displayed. be able to. As a result, necessary information can be displayed according to the number of searches even with a limited display area, and an excellent user interface environment can be provided to the user.

Further, when one song is finally specified, detailed attribute information of the song is displayed so that the user confirms whether or not the identified song is a song for which a performance reservation is desired. be able to. As a result, it is possible to prevent the performance reservation of a music piece different from the desired music piece.

When the number of songs retrieved and output from the song index database becomes 1, the attribute information of the song can be displayed immediately. Thereby, the user can confirm the details of the music and further shorten the work time until the performance reservation instruction.

By setting the specified number and the maximum number of songs that can be put on the song name list to be the same, when the number of retrieved and output songs is less than the prescribed number, all the search results can be displayed on one screen. No additional operation such as page turning is required, and no additional operation is required from the display of the song name list to the transmission of the performance reservation instruction to the karaoke device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a karaoke remote control device with an electronic table of contents function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram of the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a top screen displayed in the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of calling various search methods and functions from the top screen.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a display screen when the various search methods and functions are called.

FIG. 6 shows a flow chart of a process for retrieving a karaoke piece by the song name search method and making a performance reservation in the above embodiment.

FIG. 7 shows a process in the song title search method by a transition diagram of a display screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Karaoke remote control device 2 LCD display 3 touch panel 11 Central control unit 12 flash memory 13 Communication interface 17 Light emitting diode

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A music index database corresponding to a karaoke music database used in a karaoke device,
Based on the search condition input through the user interface, a suitable song is searched from the song index database and presented to the user, and one song out of the presented songs is specified, and the user inputs the performance reservation. In the karaoke remote control device with an electronic table of contents function for transmitting a remote control signal for reserving one song to the karaoke device when there is a number of songs searched and output from the song index database exceeds a prescribed number. If there is, only the number of songs is displayed as a search result, and if there is a user input of a list display command in that state, the song name list that is the search result is displayed, and the number of songs retrieved and output from the song index database. If there are less than the specified number, the list of song titles, which is the search result, is displayed immediately. It can karaoke remote control device. 2. A karaoke music database used in a karaoke apparatus, which has a music index database in which attribute information of each music is stored, and from the music index database based on a search condition input through a user interface. If the number of songs searched and output from the song index database exceeds the specified number, a matching song is searched, and only the number of songs is displayed as a search result, and in that state, user input of a list display command is performed. If the number of songs searched and output from the song index database is less than the specified number, the song name list that is the search result is immediately displayed, and the song name list that is the search result is immediately displayed. When there is a user input to specify a song, detailed attribute information about that song is presented, and the user who reserved the performance The karaoke apparatus to the electronic table of contents present function karaoke remote control device, characterized by being configured to transmit a remote control signal for reserving the one song when there is a force. 3. In claim 2, when the number of music retrieved and output from the music index database is 1,
A karaoke remote control device with an electronic table of contents function configured to present the detailed attribute information of the one song. 4. The karaoke remote control device with an electronic table of contents function according to claim 1, wherein the prescribed number is equal to the maximum number of songs displayed on one screen.