JP2007236824A - Game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a game machine providing a player with games based on music reproducing signals and allowing the player to enjoy the simple play when there is no sound. <P>SOLUTION: The game machine 1 comprises a rhythm creating part 31b and a melody creating part 31c. The rhythm creating part 31b permits the input operation by a user to an operation input part 6 for a prescribed period of time and creates the rhythm based on pulse signals generated from the input operation when there is no sound. The melody creating part 31c creates melody signals by combining the previously stored sound data 40 and the rhythm created by the rhythm creating part 31b. The created melody signals are output from prescribed sound output parts 5 and 20. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a game machine used by being connected to a music playback device.

In the case of a game machine that is connected to a music playback device such as a portable audio player and plays a game based on a music playback signal from the music playback device, music playback is performed when music is not played back, that is, when there is no sound. You cannot play a game based on a signal. Even in the silent state, there is no game machine that provides the user with a game different from the game based on the music playback signal. Note that a game machine that is in a power saving mode if it is not operated continuously for a predetermined time is already known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-144751 A

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a game machine in which a game based on a music playback signal is played and which can enjoy simple play even in a silent state.

  The game machine (1) of the present invention receives an input operation by a user and generates an operation input unit (6) that generates a pulse signal in response to the input operation and a music playback signal output from the music playback device (100). A signal input unit (4) to be captured, an audio output unit (5, 20) for outputting a predetermined audio signal to the outside, and a game control for controlling the game based on the analysis of the captured music reproduction signal A silent state when the music playback signal is not continuously output for a predetermined time from the music playback device and the sound data storage unit (11) storing the sound data (40) relating to at least one sound. And a silent time processing unit (31) for controlling processing executed in the silent state, and the silent time processing unit allows a user to perform an input operation to the operation input unit for a predetermined time. A rhythm creation unit (31b) for creating a rhythm based on the pulse signal generated by the input operation, sound data stored in the sound data storage unit, and a rhythm created by the rhythm creation unit And a melody creating unit (31c) for creating a melody signal, and the melody according to the created melody signal is output from the voice output unit to solve the above problem.

  The game machine of the present invention is a game machine in which a game based on an analysis of a music playback signal is performed, and includes a silent time processing unit that performs processing when there is no music playback signal, and a rhythm creation unit of the silent time processing unit The melody creating unit can provide a game for creating a melody when there is no sound. In particular, in the present invention, since sound data uses sounds stored in the sound data storage unit, the user only needs to input rhythms by operating the operation input unit, and can create a melody in a simple manner. . Accordingly, it is possible to provide a game machine that can enjoy simple games even in a silent state. The silent state may be a standby state for a music playback signal, or may be a state where music playback is paused. It should be noted that the tone color and pitch of the sound data are not limited. Music playback signal analysis includes tempo analysis and genre analysis.

  The sound data is data relating to a note, and may be data indicating the pitch and length of at least one note. In this case, an attribute setting relating to a note may be set as the sound data setting. Since the created melody is reproduced by musical notes, it can be expressed musically. Moreover, it can also be used for another game using the note of the said sound data. The sounds of the sound data may be set so that all output sounds have the same length. As a result, the input interval to the operation input unit and the sound output interval are substantially the same, so that the storage capacity can be reduced and the processing can be simplified without impairing the input rhythm.

  The game machine has a display unit (3) for displaying a predetermined image, and the sound data storage unit associates sound data of each character with at least one character (C) displayed on the display unit. The silent time processing unit causes the display unit to display one of the at least one character in the silent state, and the melody creating unit associates with the displayed character. The melody signal may be created by combining the obtained sound data and the rhythm.

  Thereby, the user can create a completely different melody depending on the displayed character. The displayed character may be, for example, a character used in a game by the game control unit or a character directly selected by the user.

  The game machine has a microphone unit (7) for inputting sound from the outside, and the silent time processing unit includes a sound detection unit (31d) for generating a detection signal when detecting the sound input from the microphone unit. An animation control unit (31e) that controls the movement of the character so that the character displayed on the display unit performs a predetermined action when receiving a detection signal from the voice detection unit.

  In this game machine, in a silent state, in addition to creating a melody, it is possible to provide a game in which a character reacts to an external voice.

  In addition, in the above description, in order to make an understanding of this invention easy, the reference sign of the accompanying drawing was attached in parenthesis, but this invention is not limited to the form of illustration by it.

  As described above, according to the game machine of the present invention, in a silent state where music is not being played back on the music playback device, the user is allowed to perform an input operation to the operation input unit for a predetermined time, and the input operation A rhythm is created based on the generated pulse signal, and a melody is created by combining previously stored sound data and the created rhythm, and is output from a predetermined output unit. Thereby, while a game based on a music reproduction signal is performed, it is possible to provide a game machine that can enjoy simple games even in a silent state.

  FIG. 1 shows a portable game machine according to one embodiment of the present invention. The game machine 1 is used in combination with the portable music player 100 and includes a housing 2 and an LCD 3 as a display device attached to the front surface of the housing 2. The case 2 is provided with a line input terminal 4 and a phone terminal 5. The line input terminal 4 is connected to the line output terminal 101 of the portable music player 100 via a relay cable 102. The phone terminal 5 is connected to the earphone 103. That is, the game machine 1 of this embodiment is used by being interposed between the portable music player 100 and the audio output device to be combined therewith. The sound output device combined with the music player 100 is not limited to the earphone 103. That is, the portable music player 100 only needs to be able to output a music reproduction signal for audio conversion to various audio output devices such as speakers and headphones, and details such as the format of the recording medium and the reproduction method are not limited. Absent. Furthermore, the music player is not limited to a portable player, and any player that reproduces and outputs music in home audio, television, and commercially available portable electronic games may be used.

  On the side surface of the housing 2, an input button 6 is further provided as an operation input unit that receives a user input operation. The input button 6 is a push button, and the user performs various selections and inputs related to the game performed in the game machine 1 by pressing the input button 6 as an input operation. Further, a microphone 7 is provided on the back surface of the housing 2. The microphone 7 is normally in an off state, but external sound can be captured when the microphone 7 is in an on state. The game machine 1 functions as a relay that passes the music playback signal output from the line input terminal 4 of the music player 100 to the earphone 103, analyzes the music playback signal output from the music player 100, and the analysis result thereof. It functions as a game machine that provides a user with a game based on the above.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control system provided in the game machine 1. The game machine 1 includes a bypass route R1 for passing an analog audio reproduction signal from a line input terminal 4 as a signal input unit to a phone terminal 5 as an audio output unit, a branch route R2 that branches from the bypass route R1, and a branch route And a control unit 10 for processing an audio reproduction signal captured via R2. The paths R1 and R2 are each composed of three lines of a right channel, a left channel, and an earth channel, but in the figure, only one is shown.

  The control unit 10 is configured as a computer unit in which a microprocessing unit (MPU) and peripheral devices necessary for the operation of the MPU, for example, a storage device 11 such as a RAM and a ROM, are combined. In addition to the input button 6, microphone 7, and LCD 3 described above, the control unit 10 is connected to a speaker unit (SP) 20 as a sound output unit for generating sound, sound effects, and the like. The phone terminal 5 is also connected to the connection path. When the input button 6 is pressed as an input operation, it outputs a pulse signal synchronized with the press operation to the control unit 10. The storage device 11 holds various programs and data necessary for realizing the present invention.

  The control unit 10 provides various game functions to the user by performing processing such as displaying a game screen on the LCD 3. When the control unit 10 reads and executes a predetermined control program from the storage device 11, a game control unit 30 and a silent time processing unit 31 are generated as logical devices inside the control unit 10. The music reproduction signal taken into the line input terminal 4 is sent to the game control unit 30 and the silent time processing unit 31 through the branch path R2.

  When the game control unit 30 takes in the music reproduction signal, the game control unit 30 controls the game based on the music reproduction signal. The game controlled by the game control unit 30 includes, for example, a game related to the analyzed tempo by analyzing the tempo from the music playback signal, and a game related to the analyzed genre by analyzing the music genre from the music playback signal. is there.

  The silent time processing unit 31 includes a state determination unit 31a, a rhythm creation unit 31b, a melody creation unit 31c, a voice detection unit 31d, and an animation control unit 31e. The state discriminating unit 31a discriminates whether or not there is a silent state according to the state of the music playback signal. When the music reproduction signal is not taken in from the line input terminal 4 for a predetermined time, for example, for 2 seconds, it is determined that there is no sound. When the state determination unit 31a determines that there is no sound, the rhythm creation unit 31b, the melody creation unit 31c, the voice detection unit 31d, and the animation control unit 31e provide a simple game to the user. The processing performed by each unit 31b, 31c, 31d, 31e will be described later.

  An outline of the game provided by the silent time processing unit 31 will be described with reference to FIG. First, when the state determination unit 31a determines that there is a silent state, a predetermined character C is displayed on the LCD 3 as a silent state screen NS. The character C may be set in advance for the silence state screen NS, for example, or may be a character used in a game by the game control unit 30. Next, when a predetermined operation is performed by the user, a communication mode with the character C is entered, and either a melody creation play or a sound reaction play is performed.

  In the melody creation play, a melody is created according to the rhythm input by the user. The created melody is output from the speaker unit 20 or the phone terminal 5. On the LCD 3 during melody output, a character C1 singing a song and a note image are displayed. On the other hand, in the sound reaction play, the character C <b> 2 that moves in response to the sound input from the microphone 7 is displayed on the LCD 3.

  In the present embodiment, a plurality of characters C are prepared, and information about sounds used when creating a melody is stored in the storage device 11 in association with each character as sound information 40 shown in FIG. Has been. Thereby, the storage device 11 functions as a sound data storage unit. The sound information 40 includes a plurality of character-specific sound information 41, and the character-specific sound information 41 includes character information 42 and note information 43. The character information 42 is identification information uniquely assigned to each character, for example. In this embodiment, five types of characters A to E are prepared.

  The note information 43 is information regarding notes associated with each character, and is waveform data indicating the pitch, tone color, and length of each note. The note information further includes order information. The order information is information indicating the order of notes used when creating a melody in the melody creation play. For example, in the case of the note information 43 of the character A in FIG. 4, information about the pitch, tone color, and length of each note “do, les, mi, fa, so, la, shi” is stored as waveform data, and the order information The order from the first to the first is set in order. In this embodiment, the timbre is an electronic sound, and the length is the length of an eighth note.

  The number of notes indicated by the note information 43 of each character C may not be constant. For example, in this embodiment, eight notes are associated with the character A, but only one note is associated with the character E.

  Next, silent processing performed by the control unit 10 as the silent processing unit 31 will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. First, in step S100, the control unit 10 determines whether or not there is a silent state. The method for determining whether or not there is a silent state is as described above. If it is determined that the sound is not silent, step S100 is repeated as the sound determination state. If it is determined that there is a silence state, the process proceeds to step S105, and a silence state screen NS is displayed. As described above, the character C is displayed on the silent state screen NS. Hereinafter, in the present embodiment, a case where the character A shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on the silent state screen NS in the silent state will be described.

  After the silent state screen NS is displayed, the standby state is entered. When the music reproduction signal from the line input terminal 4 is detected in step S110, the process proceeds to a game process executed by the game control unit 30, and it is determined that the music reproduction signal is not detected and an operation for designating the communication mode is performed in step S115. If so, the communication mode is started in step S120. In this embodiment, for example, when the input button 6 is pressed in a silent state, the communication mode is started.

  At the start of the communication mode, the control unit 10 turns on the microphone 7. Further, the character A in the mode for the communication mode may be displayed on the LCD 3. If there is no process for designating communication, the process returns to step S110 and the standby state is maintained. When the communication mode is started, the control unit 10 determines whether or not an operation for designating a melody creation process has been performed in step S125. When the operation is performed, the process proceeds to step S130 to perform melody creation processing. In this embodiment, for example, when the input button 6 is pressed, a melody creation process is performed. The melody creation process will be described later.

  If there is no operation for designating the melody creation process, the process proceeds to step S135 to perform the voice reaction animation process. The voice response animation process will be described later. After the sound reaction animation process is displayed, the process proceeds to step S140 to determine whether or not to end the communication mode. In this embodiment, for example, when 10 seconds have elapsed since the start of the communication mode, it is determined that the process has ended. After completion of the melody creation process or when it is determined that the communication mode is ended, the control unit 10 proceeds to step S145, turns off the microphone 7 to end the communication mode, and returns to step S100. Note that the communication mode may be terminated by, for example, an interrupt process by a cancel operation.

  The melody creation process executed by the control unit 10 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. First, the control unit 10 specifies the note information 43 of the character A from the sound information 40 in step S200. Next, in step S210, acceptance of rhythm input is started, and in step S220, the pulse signal P generated by the input button 6 is captured for a predetermined time T, and input based on the pulse signal P captured in step S230. Rhythm information RI is created. The input rhythm information RI indicates a rhythm pattern by a note position NP where a note at a predetermined time T should be located. Specifically, the start of rhythm input is notified to the user via the LCD 3, for example. After this notification, for example, the pulse signal P generated by the input button 6 is captured for 3 seconds, and the input rhythm information RI is created with the position of each pulse signal P as the note position NP. Thereby, the control unit 10 functions as the rhythm creation part 31b.

  After creating the input rhythm information RI, the control unit 10 creates a melody M based on the input rhythm information RI in step S240. Specifically, the melody M is created by associating each note position NP of the input rhythm information RI with the notes set in the note information 43 of the character A in order from the beginning. Thereby, the control unit 10 functions as the melody creation part 31c. In the case of the present embodiment, the note information 43 of the character A is “do, les, mi, fa, so, la, shi” in order from the beginning, and as shown in FIG. Since the note position NP is set, for each note position NP, as shown in FIG. 8B, six notes (do, les, mi, fa, so, la) from the first “do” are inserted. The melody M is created correspondingly. Note that the melody M created by the melody creation processing is substantially a melody signal expressed electrically.

  When “L” of the note information 43 of the character A is used as in the above example, when the melody is created for the character A next time, the first “ You may return to "do" or use again from the first "do". When the note position NP indicated by the input rhythm information RI is larger than the number of notes indicated by the note information 43, it may be used after returning to the first note. For example, since the note information 43 of the character E is only “M”, the melody M is all expressed by “M”.

  When the melody M is created, the control unit 10 changes the melody signal of the created melody M to an analog signal and outputs it from the speaker unit 20 in step S250. When the earphone 103 is connected, the melody number of the melody M is output from the phone terminal 5 to the earphone 103. The LCD 3 when the melody M is output displays the character A in the form of singing a song as described above. In addition to the character A, a note image may be displayed. The melody output image may be stored in the storage device 11 in advance, for example.

  The control unit 10 stores the created melody M in association with the character A. As a result, the created melody M can be replayed. When creation of a melody is selected again for the character A and a new melody M ′ is created, the melody M created before may be overwritten by the melody M ′ created later, or all created melody M ′ Melody M and M ′ may be stored in association with character A.

  The sound reaction animation process executed by the control unit 10 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In step S300, the control unit 10 determines whether or not an external sound is input from the microphone 7. When the sound is input, a detection signal is generated in step S310. Thereby, the control unit 10 functions as an audio | voice detection part. When the detection signal is generated, the control unit 10 proceeds to step S320 and displays the sound reaction animation on the LCD 3. Specifically, the character A on the silent state screen NS is displayed, for example, shifted by 2 dots up and down instantaneously (for example, 0.2 seconds), and an animation in which the character A moves quickly is displayed.

  Thereby, the control unit 10 functions as an animation control unit. The number of dots shifted by the detection signal may be changed. Thereby, for example, it is possible to represent an animation in which the magnitude of movement changes according to the loudness of the sound. After the sound reaction animation is displayed or when no sound is input from the microphone 7, the sound reaction animation process is terminated.

  The present invention is not limited to the above form, and can be implemented in various forms. For example, when a music playback signal is received in the silent state of the present embodiment, the game process is performed. The silent state is a so-called standby state, but the silent state may be a state in which no music playback signal is received. The order of the notes used when creating the melody may be used randomly without setting the order information. In addition, the note information 43 may include chords as well as single notes. Although the note in this embodiment is an eighth note, it is not limited to this and may be a quarter note or a sixteenth note. One piece of sound information 41 may be associated with all characters C. The movement of the sound reaction animation is not limited to vertical movement, but may be instantaneous movement.

FIG. 6 illustrates a state in which a portable game machine according to one embodiment of the present invention is disposed between a portable music player and an earphone. The block diagram which shows the structure of the control system of the game machine of FIG. The figure which shows the image displayed on LCD at the time of a silence state of the game machine of FIG. The figure which shows an example of sound information. The flowchart which shows the process routine at the time of a silence which a control unit performs. The flowchart which shows a melody creation process routine. The flowchart which shows a sound reaction animation processing routine. (A) is a figure showing how input rhythm information is created, and (b) is a figure showing how melody M is created.

Explanation of symbols

1 game machine 4 line input terminal (signal input part)
6 Input buttons (operation input section)
5 Phone terminal (audio output)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Control unit 21 Memory | storage device 30 Game control part 31 Silent time process part 31b Rhythm creation part 31c Melody creation part 31d Audio | voice detection part 31e Animation control part 100 Portable music player (music reproduction apparatus)

Claims (5)

An operation input unit that accepts an input operation by a user and generates a pulse signal according to the input operation;
A signal input unit for capturing a music playback signal output from a music playback device;
An audio output unit for outputting a predetermined audio signal to the outside;
A game control unit for analyzing the captured music reproduction signal and controlling a game based on the analysis;
A sound data storage unit for storing sound data relating to at least one sound;
A silent time processing unit that determines that the music playback signal is not output from the music playback device for a predetermined period of time and is in a silent state, and controls processing executed in the silent state;
The silent time processing unit
A rhythm creation unit that allows a user to perform an input operation to the operation input unit for a predetermined time and creates a rhythm based on the pulse signal generated by the input operation; and sound data stored in the sound data storage unit; A melody creation unit that creates a melody signal in combination with the rhythm created by the rhythm creation unit, and outputs a melody according to the created melody signal from the voice output unit. Game machine.   The game machine according to claim 1, wherein the sound data is data relating to a note, and is data indicating a pitch and a length of at least one note.   The game machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the sound data is set so that all sounds to be output have the same length. The game machine has a display unit for displaying a predetermined image,
The sound data storage unit stores sound data of each character in association with at least one character displayed on the display unit,
The silent time processing unit
In the silent state, any one of the at least one character is displayed on the display unit,
The melody creation unit creates the melody signal by combining sound data associated with the displayed character and the rhythm. game machine. The game machine has a microphone unit for inputting sound from outside,
The silent time processing unit
A sound detection unit that generates a detection signal when detecting sound input from the microphone unit;
The game machine according to claim 4, further comprising: an animation control unit that controls movement of the character so that the character displayed on the display unit performs a predetermined action when receiving a detection signal from the voice detection unit.

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