JP3716734B2 - Karaoke equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a karaoke apparatus in which background images are stored in a hard disk, and more particularly to an improvement in a hard disk drive system.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The karaoke device reproduces the background video in parallel with the performance of the karaoke song. Conventionally, video data of a background video is recorded on an optical medium such as a laser disk or a DVD, and a karaoke apparatus has a changer that accommodates a large number of them. When a change instruction is issued from the karaoke apparatus, the changer sets the medium instructed to be reproduced on the turntable, scans a predetermined track, and starts reproduction.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, it took a long time for the background video to start playing after the karaoke song was requested, leading to a decline in service to users. In addition, in order to renew the background image, the media stored in the changer had to be replaced, which required manufacturing and distribution costs.
[0004]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a karaoke apparatus that can shorten the waiting time until playback of a background video is started and also facilitates maintenance.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The invention according to claim 1 is a plurality of hard disks storing video data for background video to be played back during performance of karaoke songs, and when not playing karaoke songs, read and play video data from the plurality of hard disks, Control means for spinning down a part of the plurality of hard disks and reading out the video data from the other part of the hard disk and reproducing it as an inter-song video when the time during which no karaoke song is played continues for a predetermined time or more Is a karaoke device.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the karaoke apparatus according to the first aspect, each time the time when the time during which the karaoke piece is not played continues for a predetermined time or more has arrived, The hard disk to be spun down is switched.
[0006]
In the present invention, video data for background video is stored on the hard disk. In recent years, the price of large-capacity hard disks has decreased, so it is possible to store video data for background video on the hard disk, which shortens the time from selection of the background video to playback start. The waiting time from the request to the start of the song can be shortened, which can contribute to the improvement of the service for the user. In addition, the background video can be added or replaced only by writing / erasing only the video data to be added / replaced on the hard disk, which is economical and easy to maintain.
[0007]
However, on the other hand, the total rotation time and access time of the hard disk are limited, and if the hard disk continues to rotate for a long time or if the access time is long, the life of the hard disk will be shortened. Therefore, in the present invention, the background video is stored in a plurality of hard disks, and the background video is reproduced by alternately accessing the background video, thereby extending the life of the hard disk. Also, during periods when karaoke songs are not played, some hard disks are paused (spin down), and the inter-song video is reproduced on other hard disks, thereby extending the life of the hard disks.
[0008]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A karaoke apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the karaoke apparatus. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining storage areas of three hard disks of the karaoke apparatus. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a background video selection table for selecting video data of general-purpose BGV. 4 is a diagram for explaining a playback pattern of the background video during the karaoke performance.
In FIG. 1, this karaoke apparatus includes three hard disks 17, 18, and 19. The first hard disk 17 is a system hard disk, and stores a system program and music data for controlling the karaoke apparatus (see FIG. 2). The storage capacity of the system hard disk 17 is about 20 GB. The second and third hard disks 18 and 19 are background video hard disks, and store video data to be displayed as a background video during karaoke performance. When the karaoke song is not played, this video data is reproduced as an inter-song video. The video data is MPEG-compressed and is decoded into NTSC video signals by the decoders 21 and 22. The second hard disk (background image A hard disk) 18 and the third hard disk (background image B hard disk) 19 each have a storage capacity of about 30 GB. Since the background video is stored in the hard disk in this manner, the background video can be read quickly, the waiting time from the request to the start of performance can be shortened, and an LD changer, a DVD changer, or the like becomes unnecessary. Therefore, the apparatus can be reduced in size. This karaoke apparatus is an integrated karaoke apparatus in which an amplifier including a hard disk and an effector is integrated.
[0009]
The system hard disk 17 is directly connected to the primary terminal of the IDE and is always accessible by the CPU 10. A patch bay 16 is connected to the secondary terminal of the IDE. The patch bay 16 connects the background video A hard disk 18 and the decoder 21, and the background video B hard disk 19 and the decoder 22, but these may be disconnected from the decoders 21 and 22 during maintenance of the hard disks 18 and 19. it can. Switching control of the patch bay 16 is performed by the CPU 10.
[0010]
The background video A hard disk 18 and the background video B hard disk 19 store dedicated BGV data, which is video data dedicated to a predetermined karaoke song, and are used for the background video of a karaoke song without dedicated BGV data. General-purpose BGV data is stored. Karaoke songs that do not have a dedicated BGV include, for example, old songs that are not often requested, new songs that have not yet been created as dedicated BGVs, and the like.
[0011]
As shown in FIG. 4, the dedicated BGV is made up of a plurality of video data for one karaoke song and is reproduced while switching between them, thereby changing the video. In order to perform video switching by cross-fading, a plurality of video data is distributed and stored in the background video A hard disk 18 and the background video B hard disk 19 according to the playback order.
[0012]
Six types of general-purpose BGV video data are stored for each genre of karaoke music, three of which are stored in the background video A hard disk 18 and the other three are stored in the background video B hard disk 19. Karaoke songs are classified into 10 genres such as Enka and J-POP, and 1 to 10 genre numbers are assigned to them respectively. The general-purpose BGV video data stored in the background video A hard disk 18 are numbered 1 to 3 for each genre, and the general-purpose BGV video data stored in the background video B hard disk 19. Are numbered 4 to 6 for each genre. That is, the general-purpose video data is identified by (genre number: 1 to 10)-(video number: 1 to 6), and the video data of video numbers 1 to 3 is stored in the background video A hard disk 18 for each genre. Video data of video numbers 4 to 6 are stored in the background video B hard disk 19 for each genre.
[0013]
When a karaoke song is requested, if there is no dedicated BGV corresponding to the karaoke song, based on the genre data of the karaoke song, a predetermined one is selected from the genre BGV and reproduced. The genre data of karaoke songs is written in the header of each karaoke song.
[0014]
The selection of the general-purpose background video is performed based on the background video selection table stored in the system hard disk 17. A background video selection table is shown in FIGS. Either one of these two tables is used for selecting a background video. The background video selection table equalizes the access time of the background video A hard disk 18 and the background video B hard disk 19, so that when a karaoke song without a dedicated BGV is requested, the video data of the general-purpose BGV is converted to the background video A. The hard disk 18 for background and the hard disk 19 for background video B are set to be selected alternately. For example, in the case of the background video selection table shown in FIG. 6A, when a karaoke song of genre 1 is requested, first, video data of video number 1 (hard disk 18 for background video A) is selected as BGV, and then The video data of video number 4 (background video B hard disk 19) is selected. For karaoke songs of genre 2, the video data of the background video B hard disk 19 is selected first, and then the video data of the background video A hard disk 18 is selected. The background video selection data has a pointer for each genre, and video data pointed to by the pointer is selected in the corresponding genre. Each time video data is selected, the genre pointer is advanced.
[0015]
On the other hand, in the case of the background video selection table in FIG. 5B, the combinations of the hard disk selection orders are reversed. When the power of the karaoke apparatus is turned on, either A or B is randomly determined as a selection key based on data such as date and time at that time. When A is selected as the selection key, the table in FIG. When B is selected, the table of FIG. This is to keep the access times of the background video A hard disk 18 and the background video B hard disk 19 uniform by randomly selecting which one to select first.
[0016]
When there is no request for karaoke music, the general-purpose video data is reproduced as an inter-music video. Since each general-purpose video data has a length of about 10 minutes, if the unrequested time is longer than that, the general-purpose video data is selected one after another and reproduced as an inter-music video. The selection of the general-purpose video data for the inter-music video is performed randomly in the hard disk alternately from those stored in the background video A hard disk 18 and the background video B hard disk 19. Also, when the interval between songs reaches a predetermined time (for example, 20 minutes or longer), one of the background video hard disks 18 and 19 is spun down and paused, and the inter-song video is reproduced only on the other hard disk. . In this way, the hard disk is spun down at an appropriate interval, thereby extending the life of the hard disk. Which of the background video A hard disk 18 and the background video B hard disk 19 is to be spun down is determined according to the selection key determined when the power is turned on. That is, when A is selected as the selection key, the background image A hard disk 18 is spun down between the first songs (20 minutes or more), and the background image B hard disk 19 is spun down between the next songs. Let Thereafter, it is performed alternately. When B is selected as the selection key, the background image B hard disk 19 is spun down between the first songs (20 minutes or more), and the background image A hard disk 18 is spun down between the next songs. Thereafter, it is performed alternately.
[0017]
The configuration of the karaoke apparatus will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The CPU 10 for controlling the operation of the karaoke apparatus has a ROM 11, RAM 12, remote control receiving unit 13, display panel 14, panel switch 15, patch bay 16, system hard disk 17, communication control unit 20, decoders 21, 22 via the internal bus. A control unit 23, a tone generation unit 24, and an audio circuit 25 are connected.
[0018]
The ROM 11 stores a boot program for starting the karaoke device. The boot program is a program for accessing the hard disk, reading the system program, and starting the apparatus. The CPU 10 accesses the system hard disk 17 based on this boot program. The patch bay 16 connects the background video A hard disk 18, the background video B hard disk 19, and the decoders 21 and 22 to each other. At the time of maintenance or the like, this connection is switched by an instruction from the CPU 10.
[0019]
The communication control unit 20 is a device that has a modem and a terminal adapter and communicates with the distribution center 9 via a telephone line. The distribution center 9 periodically calls the karaoke device and distributes music data of new songs. The music data of the new music that has been distributed is written in the music data storage area of the system hard disk 17.
[0020]
The remote control device 5 includes a key switch such as a numeric keypad, and outputs a signal such as a song number corresponding to a user's switch operation as an infrared signal. The remote control receiving unit 13 receives an infrared signal sent from the remote control device 5 to restore data such as a song number and input it to the CPU 10. The CPU 10 reads the music data of the music number input from the remote control device 5 from the system hard disk 17 and executes the karaoke performance.
[0021]
The display panel 14 and the panel switch 15 are provided on the front surface of the karaoke apparatus. The panel switch 15 includes a numeric keypad for inputting a music number similar to the remote control device 5. The display panel 14 displays the number of the currently playing song, the number of reserved songs, and the like.
[0022]
The display control unit 23 is a device that superimposes the character pattern of the lyrics input from the CPU 10 on the video signal of the background video input from the decoders 21 and 22 and outputs the resultant to the monitor 3 as shown in FIG. When the decoder 21 and the decoder 22 alternately reproduce the background video as in A), the video is switched by cross-fading from one video signal to the other video signal at the time of switching.
[0023]
The musical sound generating unit 24 includes a sound source device that electronically synthesizes musical sound signals based on MIDI data and a decoder that decodes waveform data such as ADPCM and demodulates audio signals, and performs karaoke performances such as musical instrument sounds and back choruses. Generate sound. The generated karaoke performance sound is input to the audio circuit 25. The audio circuit mixes the singing voice signal of the singer input from the microphone 4 and the karaoke performance sound, and outputs from the speaker 2.
[0024]
The operation of the karaoke apparatus when the power is turned on will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. FIG. 5A is a flowchart showing an operation when the power of the karaoke apparatus is turned on. When the karaoke device is turned on, start processing such as reading of a system program is executed (s1), and selection keys (A, B) which are keys for selecting video data and a hard disk to be spun down are determined. (S2).
[0025]
FIG. 5B is a flowchart showing the operation when a karaoke song is requested. This operation is performed when a karaoke song is requested. First, the song data of the requested karaoke song is read from the system hard disk 17 (s4). Then, it is searched whether the dedicated BGV video data corresponding to this song is stored in the background video hard disks 18 and 19 (s5). When the image data of the dedicated BGV is stored, the karaoke performance is started, and the dedicated video is read and reproduced in parallel with the karaoke performance (s6). The dedicated video is alternately read from the background video A hard disk 18 and the background video B hard disk 19 as shown in FIG.
[0026]
On the other hand, when there is no dedicated BGV video data, the genre data is read from the header of this karaoke song, the background video selection table of FIG. 3 is searched with this genre data, and the general-purpose video data of the corresponding genre is selected ( s7). Then, the selected general-purpose video data is read and played, and a karaoke song is played (s8). As described above, the background video selection table in FIG. 3 selects video data from the background video A hard disk 18 and the background video B hard disk 19 alternately. In the case of a general-purpose BGV, the hard disk is accessed alternately and evenly over a plurality of songs.
[0027]
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation between songs during a period when karaoke songs are not requested. During a period when there is no request for a karaoke song, the general-purpose video data is reproduced on the monitor 3 as an inter-song video. This operation starts when the performance of the karaoke song ends and there is no next request.
[0028]
When this operation is started, it is immediately after the performance of the karaoke song is finished. Therefore, both the hard disk 18 for background video A and the hard disk 19 for background video B are operating, and the determination of s10 is No and the process goes to s11. . In s11, the general-purpose video data is selected at random, but the video data is alternately selected from the background video A hard disk 18 and the background video B hard disk 19. The selected general-purpose video data is read and reproduced as an inter-music video (s12). It is monitored whether the inter-song video of the selected general-purpose video data is finished (s14) or a request for karaoke music is generated (s13). When a request for a karaoke song is generated, the reproduction of the video between songs is interrupted (s21), and the process proceeds to the operation of FIG.
[0029]
In addition, when the general-purpose video data being played ends, the next video data is selected until the karaoke song request is received and the inter-song video is played. At this time, the karaoke song is not played. It is determined whether 20 minutes or more have elapsed (s15). If 20 minutes or more have elapsed, it is determined that the hard disk that is fully used during karaoke performance may be paused, and the hard disk to be paused is selected (s16). The hard disk to be paused is selected alternately based on the selection key as described above. The reason for determining whether or not to stop the hard disk at the timing when the general-purpose video data is completed is to enable selection of either the hard disk 18 or 19. After the selected hard disk is spun down (s17), the process returns to s10. If 20 minutes have not yet elapsed since the song, the process returns to s10 as determined by s15.
[0030]
After returning, in s10, it is determined whether there is a drive that is in a suspended state (s10). If both hard disks 18 and 19 are operating, the process proceeds to s11 as described above. On the other hand, when one of the hard disks is at rest, general-purpose video data is selected from the operating hard disk (s20), and the inter-music video is reproduced.
[0031]
In the above embodiment, the karaoke apparatus including two hard disks storing video data for background video has been described. However, the number of hard disks is not limited to two. It is within the technical scope of the present invention to access each hard disk evenly even if there are three or more and spin down one or two between songs.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention as described above, by storing the image data for the background image into a plurality of hard disks, and so as to suspend a portion of the hard disk between no song request song disc karaoke apparatus and The life of the motor can be extended.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a karaoke apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a storage area of a hard disk of the karaoke apparatus. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining switching of the background video of the karaoke apparatus. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation at the start of the karaoke apparatus. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation at the start of the karaoke apparatus.
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... CPU, 11 ... ROM, 12 ... RAM, 16 ... Patch bay, 17 ... System hard disk, 18 ... Background video A hard disk, 19 ... Background video B hard disk, 21,22 ... Decoder

Claims (2)

A plurality of hard disks storing video data for background video to be played back when playing karaoke songs,
When not playing karaoke songs, read and play video data from the plurality of hard disks, when the time not playing karaoke songs continues for a predetermined time or more, spin down some of the hard disks, Control means for reading video data from another part of the hard disk and reproducing it as an inter-song video;
Karaoke device equipped with. 2. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein the controller switches the hard disk to be spun down among the plurality of hard disks every time when a time during which the karaoke song is not played continues for a predetermined time or more. Karaoke equipment.

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