JP4331230B2 - Online karaoke system, host device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication karaoke system, and more particularly to a technique for providing a customer with services utilizing computer network resources.

  As is well known, a communication karaoke system that is widely used nowadays has a host device and a large number of karaoke performance terminals connected by a public network. With such a communication network, the host device distributes karaoke data to each karaoke performance terminal or collects customer usage history information from each karaoke performance terminal to construct a database. In this database, information such as the name and date of birth is registered in advance using the customer ID as a key.

The present applicant has invented various services for customers using such a database, and is currently pending.
For example, assume that a customer registered in the database uses an arbitrary karaoke performance terminal. The karaoke performance terminal acquires the customer's ID each time this use is made. Then, the database of the host device is accessed using this ID as a key. The karaoke performance terminal downloads the various information about the customer from the database. Based on these information, an appropriate message is created and displayed from the display to the customer. For example, if the date when the karaoke performance terminal is used is the customer's birthday, “Mr. XX, Happy Birthday!”.

  That is, in order to provide a service using such a communication network, the customer must communicate with the host device every time the customer uses the karaoke performance terminal.

  However, if a large number of customers use each day every day, the number of monthly communications becomes enormous if they communicate one by one. In accordance with this enormous volume, the line usage fee becomes enormous. In addition, the time until each communication is established is not negligible, and there is a problem that service provision is delayed accordingly.

  By the way, there is another problem in addition to such a problem. When selecting a song, the customer first looks at the table of contents and decides the song he wants to sing. At this time, it may be troublesome to select from tens of thousands of songs. I want to sing but I want to sing, but it's hard to find, so it's sometimes easy to recommend a song that looks good. This is also considered as a service for customers.

The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and its purpose is to provide customer service while greatly reducing the frequency of use of communication lines and recommend music that reflects customer usage history nationwide. An object is to provide a communication karaoke system and a host device .

The communication karaoke system according to the present invention corresponds to the invention titled “Second Extraction Method: 20 Recommended Songs Based on the Selector Tendency” in the embodiment of the invention. This is an invention specified by items (1) to (10).
(1) The host device is a communication karaoke system that communicates with a plurality of karaoke performance terminals via a network (2) The host device stores a customer information file and a music selector attribute information file (3) Customer information The file aggregates the customer data associated with the customer ID. (4) The customer data describes the customer attributes including the age. (5) The music selector attribute information file is the music selector attribute associated with the music ID. Describing numerical values (6) The music player attribute numerical value is a numerical value calculated based on the ages in the customer data of a plurality of people who have selected one music piece, and a person of a specific age occupying the person who selected the music piece (7) The karaoke performance terminal creates performance history data in which the song ID of the song played and the customer ID of the person who selected the song are recorded in association with each other. And (8) the host device collects performance history data from each karaoke performance terminal, updates the music selector attribute information file based on the collected performance history data, and the updated music selector attribute information file (9) The update process extracts the correspondence between the music ID (A) and the customer ID (A) from the performance history data, and corresponds to the music ID (A). The music selector attribute numerical value (c) is extracted from the music selector attribute information file, the customer data (d) corresponding to the customer ID (b) is extracted from the customer information file, and based on the age in the customer data (d) (10) The karaoke performance terminal stores the distributed song selector attribute information file, and when playing a certain piece of music, the song ID (e) of the song is stored. The song selector attribute information file is accessed based on this, and a predetermined number of song IDs in order of closeness to the song selector attribute value are extracted from the song selector attribute information file with respect to the song selector attribute value of the song ID (e). Display the song based on the ID

The host device according to the present invention is a host device in the above-described communication karaoke system, which is specified by the following items (21) to (29).
(21) A host device of a communication karaoke system that communicates with a plurality of karaoke performance terminals via a network (22) The host device stores a customer information file and a music selector attribute information file (23) Customer The information file aggregates the customer data associated with the customer ID (24) The customer data describes the customer attributes including the age (25) The music selector attribute information file is the music selector associated with the music ID Describing the attribute value (26) The song selector attribute value is a numerical value calculated based on the ages in the customer data of a plurality of people who have selected one song, and the specific age of the person who selected the song (27) The host device collects performance history data from each karaoke performance terminal, and based on the collected performance history data, the host selector attribute information frame. (28) The performance history data includes the music ID of the music played and the customer of the person who selected the music. (29) The update process extracts the correspondence between the music ID (A) and the customer ID (A) from the performance history data, and the music selector corresponding to the music ID (A). The attribute numerical value (c) is extracted from the music selector attribute information file, the customer data (d) corresponding to the customer ID (b) is extracted from the customer information file, and the music selector is selected based on the age in the customer data (d). Aggregating the attribute value (c)

  The communication process between the host device and each karaoke performance terminal is that the host device collects performance history data from each karaoke performance terminal or distributes various files to each karaoke performance terminal.

  Such communication processing is not performed when the karaoke performance terminal retrieves data unique to each customer from the host device every time it is used, unlike the conventional service. For this reason, it can be performed at an appropriate timing convenient for operation. For example, in the conventional service, it has been necessary to perform communication for the number of customers every day, but in the present invention, it is possible to perform communication about once a week or one month, for example.

  Accordingly, customer service can be performed with a very low frequency of use of the communication line. For this reason, the line usage fee can be greatly reduced. Also, since the karaoke performance terminal does not need to communicate with the host device every time when executing the service, the service can be provided quickly.

  Also, the customer can select the music without much hesitation by looking at the displayed recommended music. In other words, you can save the troublesome work of looking at the table of contents and selecting from a huge number of songs. Furthermore, music selection can be prompted by displaying recommended music. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the karaoke performance terminal from being played without being used even though there are customers. Stores that charge for each performance can contribute to profits.

In the present invention, for each piece of music, the gender, age, regionality, performance frequency, etc. of the customer group that selected the music are digitized as evaluation criteria. And the music with a numerical value close | similar to the music in performance is displayed from a display in the order with the near. Therefore, it is possible to select a song that is often selected by people who have similar tastes to customers who have selected the song being played.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

=== Configuration of system and karaoke performance terminal ===
The system configuration of one embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. A large number of karaoke performance terminals 1 and host devices 2 deployed nationwide are connected by a communication network 3. The host device 2 is a computer having a considerably high speed and high functionality. In the storage unit of the host device 2, a database for 20 recommended songs is constructed in addition to a music information database storing karaoke data of a large number of music. Various files to be described later are stored in the database for 20 recommended songs. Further, the central processing unit in the karaoke performance terminal 1 is a computer of a general personal computer. These many karaoke performance terminals 1 and host device 2 constitute a computer network.

  The configuration of the karaoke performance terminal 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The central processing unit 4 is connected to the communication line network 3 via the modem 5. Karaoke data of a large number of songs distributed from the host device 2 is stored in the hard disk device 6. The karaoke data to be distributed includes karaoke accompaniment music data converted into a MIDI signal and lyrics data including synchronization information with accompaniment.

  The main body of the karaoke performance terminal 1 has a user interface operation panel 7 including a display and a keyboard, and a remote control input device 8 is also attached. The operation panel 7 and the remote control input device 8 are coupled to the central processing unit 4 through the operation control unit 19, and the karaoke user performs various operation inputs such as music selection by the operation panel 7 or the remote control input device 8 of the main body. The operation contents and response information of the apparatus with respect to the operation input are displayed on the operation panel 7.

  Music reproduction is performed in the following procedure under the control of the central processing unit 4. Accompaniment music data and lyric data of the designated music selection number are read from the hard disk device 6. Accompaniment music data is sequentially input to the synthesizer 9 and converted into an audio signal. This audio signal is output from the speaker 11 via the audio amplifier unit 10. In synchronization with this audio output, the central processing unit 4 sequentially converts the lyrics data into character strings and writes them into the video RAM 13. At the same time, a coloring process is performed on the lyrics character string to indicate the progress of the song. The contents of the video RAM 13 are displayed on the display device 15 by the display control unit 14. The audio amplifier unit 10 has a mixing function with the output of the microphone 12.

  Moving picture information for background video and the like is reproduced by the CD-ROM player 17. The video control unit 16 is composed of a microcomputer that operates in response to a command from the central processing unit 4 and performs processing for selecting video data to be reproduced. The selected video data is reproduced by the CD-ROM player 17. Then, the compressed reproduction data is restored and transferred to the display control unit 14. The display control unit 14 synthesizes the video signal from the video control unit 16 and the lyrics character string in the video RAM 13 and displays them on the display device 15.

  The hard disk device 6 can be replaced with other storage devices. Also, the CD-ROM player 17 can be replaced with other image reproducing devices such as a digital video disk. An audio signal is reproduced from the CD-ROM player 17 or its alternative device. It is also easy to provide a signal path for inputting the audio signal to the audio amplifier unit 10 via the video control unit 16 and sounding the speaker 11.

=== Recommended music selection candidates ===
When customers use each karaoke performance terminal, there is a case where the music to be played next is not reserved. In such a case, 20 songs recommended as music selection candidates are extracted during the performance of the music. When the performance is finished, the 20 recommended songs are displayed from the display to the customer. Of course, even if a large number of reservations are made, it can be displayed according to the customer's operation input.

  There are three methods for extracting the 20 recommended songs, as will be described in detail later. The first is a method based on the tendency of the order in which music is played at all karaoke performance terminals. The second is a method based on the tendency of the customer who selected each song at all karaoke performance terminals. The third is a method based on the attribute of each music piece.

  Regardless of the extraction method, communication is periodically performed between each karaoke performance terminal and the host device in order to exchange information necessary for the extraction. This communication is uploading of history data relating to performance or downloading of various files, and is executed in a form integrated with other information collection processing or distribution processing of the system. It doesn't do the trouble of communicating each time a customer uses it.

=== First Extraction Method: 20 Recommended Songs Based on the Selection Order Trend ===
The first extraction method described below is a reference example. In the hard disk device 6 of the karaoke performance terminal 1, the music selection numbers of the music pieces that have been played are recorded as history data so that the performance order can be understood. Each time a customer selects and plays, the history is added.

  The host device 2 uploads performance order history data of each karaoke performance terminal 1. The host device 2 updates the performance order total information file based on the collected performance order history data. In this file, each song is associated with a list of song groups played next to the song. In this list, the number of performances of each song is tabulated. In other words, each performance order history data is analyzed, and a list of the number of music performed after a certain music is listed. FIG. 3 shows a summary of this list for all music pieces and a matrix table as an inter-music transition matrix. In this table, when a music piece with the music selection number m is played as the Tth performance (T is a natural number) after the performance is started, the music performance number n is the most played next (T + 1). It shows that it is a song. Thus, a matrix table corresponding to the number of performances after the performance is started is created.

  The host device 2 updates the performance order totaling information file composed of such a matrix and downloads it to each karaoke performance terminal 1.

  Each karaoke performance terminal 1 reads the performance order total information file every time the accompaniment music of each music piece is played. Then, paying attention to the list corresponding to the music being played, 20 songs are extracted from the music group on this list in descending order of the number of performances. In order to recommend the extracted music group as the next performance candidate, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, it is displayed on the display device together with the music title and music selection number. This example is a case where a music piece with a music selection number of 412112 is played as the Tth performance after the performance is started, and the next 20 performance candidates are displayed with the names of the singers added in descending order of the number of performances. In this table, the order of recommendation is arranged in the left end column from the top, the music selection number is displayed in the right adjacent column, and the number of performances is displayed on the right.

  In creating the matrix table, various arrangements are possible, such as creating a matrix table corresponding to the customer group or reducing the total number of songs.

=== Second extraction method: 20 recommended songs based on the tendency of music selectors ===
The second extraction method described below is directly related to the invention to be patented in this application.
<< Customer information file >>
A customer information file is created in the storage unit of the host device 2. This file is a collection of customer-specific records that organize information related to each customer. An identifier (referred to as a customer ID) is set in order to individually identify customers. A customer-specific record is created for each customer ID. This includes the basic registration information items self-reported by the customer at the time of application, such as the customer's name, gender, address, telephone number, date of birth, hobby, occupation, workplace, and family composition.

<< Selector attribute information file >>
A song selector attribute information file is also created in the storage unit of the host device 2. In this file, a song selector attribute value is associated with each song. This song selector attribute value is quantified from the viewpoint of what kind of attribute the customer has selected each song, and evaluation criteria such as the gender, age, region and number of performances of the selected customer It is calculated as.

  The calculation method of the music selector attribute numerical value will be described including the operation on the karaoke performance terminal 1 side. First, each karaoke performance terminal 1 side obtains a customer ID each time it is used by a customer. This acquisition method will be described later. Then, the music selection number of the played music is recorded in the hard disk device 6 as performance history data. At this time, the customer ID that selected the music is associated.

  The host device 2 uploads this performance history data. After collecting the performance history data of each karaoke performance terminal 1, the host device 2 updates the music player attribute value of each music piece. In other words, each piece of performance history data is analyzed from the viewpoint of the following A to D for each piece of music, and the attributes of each song selector are statistically aggregated and digitized as will be described later.

First, in the analysis, a customer ID that selects a song for each song is extracted. Using this customer ID as a key, the corresponding customer-specific record is read from the customer information file. Then, the data of gender, age and address are taken out, and the number of male customers, high school students and below, and local customers is totaled. Then, the ratio to the total number of customers is calculated. In addition, the number of performances is also counted for each piece of music, and the ratio to the maximum number of performances for other music is also calculated. Of course, the total number of customers and the maximum number of performances are also tabulated.
(A) Male ratio = number of male customers / total number of customers (B) Youth ratio = number of customers under high school students / total number of customers (C) Local ratio = number of local customers / total number of customers (D) Popularity ratio = total number of performances / Maximum number of performances for other songs
(* Each ratio is a positive number less than 1)

  Next, a multi-dimensional space is defined with the dimensions of A to D as dimensions. This is a space for positioning the tendency of the attribute of the music selector for each music piece. Each ratio is treated as a numerical value (coordinate value) on the coordinate axis of each dimension. Then, as shown in the example of FIG. 5, a point composed of each coordinate value is uniquely determined for each music piece in the four-dimensional space. This point is a point representing the tendency of the attributes of the music selector. The distance from the origin is calculated for each music point. The square root of the sum of squares of each coordinate value is the distance.

  The music selector attribute information file including the distances of the music pieces updated in this way is downloaded to each karaoke performance terminal 1.

  Each karaoke performance terminal 1 reads the music selector attribute information file each time the accompaniment music of each music piece is played. Then, a music group (open circles in FIG. 5) having a close distance to the music being played (black circles in FIG. 5) is extracted in the order of the closest. This inter-musical distance is calculated as the square root of the sum of the squares of these differences by taking the difference of each coordinate value between two points.

  Each karaoke performance terminal 1 displays a song name and a song selection number on a display device as shown in FIG. 6, for example, in order to recommend the extracted music group as a next performance candidate. In this example, when a music piece having a music selection number of 412112 is played, the next 20 performance candidates are displayed with the singer names added in ascending order of the distance between songs. In this table, the order of recommendation is arranged in the left end column from the top, the music selection number is displayed in the column on the right side, and the distance between songs is displayed on the right side. Also, in this table, the first musical piece having a distance between songs of zero, that is, the same musical piece as the musical piece played immediately before is displayed. Of course, it is possible to display in such a way that the same song is not recommended.

<< Customer ID Acquisition Method in Terminal 1 >>
In addition to the store remote control attached to each karaoke performance terminal 1, the remote control input device 8 includes a personal remote control owned by each customer. This personal remote controller generates a different ID code for each unit in the output signal. The ID code is associated with the possessed customer. As a result, the ID code of the personal remote controller can be used as the customer ID.

  That is, at a certain karaoke performance terminal 1, a certain customer performs a music selection operation with his / her personal remote control. Then, the central processing unit 4 or the operation control unit 19 of the karaoke performance terminal 1 analyzes the remote control input signal and recognizes the customer ID.

  Various other methods are conceivable, such as issuing an ID card such as a magnetic card in which the customer ID is recorded to each customer, and recognizing the customer ID by using the reader's ID card of the customer who visited the store.

=== Third extraction method: 20 recommended songs based on music attributes ===
The third extraction method described below is a reference example. The hard disk device 6 of the karaoke performance terminal 1 records the music selection number of the music that has been played as history data. Each time a customer selects and plays, the history is added. The host device 2 uploads performance history data of each karaoke performance terminal 1.

A category-specific music classification file is created in the storage unit of the host device 2. In this file, the song selection numbers of each song are classified by category. These categories are set based on predetermined attributes of music. Examples of this attribute include the following a to d.
(A) Key (A / A "/ A" Am "/ A" Am "D" / etc.)
(I) Music Genre (Enka / Pops)
(U) Contents This genre (Duet / Korean song / Military song / Mingei / Medley / Western songs / etc.)
(D) Background image genre (Japanese emotion / city, night, rain / etc.)

  Each of the attributes A to D is divided into a plurality. For example, the key (a) is classified by various keys such as A and A ″. Many categories can be created by appropriately combining one classification from each of the attributes (a) to (d).

  Each music piece belonging to each category is associated with the number of performances. The number of performances is updated by counting the number of performances for each music piece based on the collected performance history data. The host device 2 downloads the updated category-specific music classification file to each karaoke performance terminal 1.

  Each karaoke performance terminal 1 reads out a category-specific music classification file each time the accompaniment music of each music piece is played. Then, 20 songs are extracted in descending order of the number of performances from the category to which the music being played belongs. In order to recommend the extracted music group as the next performance candidate, it is displayed on the display device together with the music title and the music selection number, for example, as shown in FIGS.

=== Others ===
The number of performances used in the first to third extraction methods is not limited to the actual number of times, and any number may be used as long as it indicates a relative performance level with respect to other music pieces.
Moreover, when extracting the music to recommend, you may enable it to select any one of each 1st-3rd extraction method by a customer's operation input, and the staff of a store may set to either. You can also.

It is a block diagram of the communication karaoke system by one Example of this invention. It is a block diagram of the karaoke performance terminal by one Example of this invention. It is the schematic which showed the transition matrix between music for extracting the music to recommend by the 1st extraction method . It is the graph which showed the list | wrist of the recommendation music displayed on the display by a 1st extraction method . It is the conceptual diagram which showed the four-dimensional space for positioning the tendency of the attribute of a music selector by one Example of this invention for every music. It is the chart which showed the list of the recommendation music displayed on the display by one Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Karaoke performance terminal 2 Host apparatus 3 Communication line network 4 Central processing unit 5 Modem 6 Hard disk apparatus 7 Operation panel 8 Remote control input device 9 Synthesizer 10 Audio amplifier part 11 Speaker 12 Microphone 13 Video RAM
14 Display Control Unit 15 Display Device 16 Video Control Unit 17 CD-ROM Player 19 Operation Control Unit

Claims (2)

A communication karaoke system in which a host device communicates with a plurality of karaoke performance terminals via a network,
The host device stores a customer information file and a music selector attribute information file,
The customer information file aggregates customer data associated with the customer ID,
Customer data describes customer attributes including age ,
The music selector attribute information file describes the music selector attribute numerical value associated with the music ID,
The music selector attribute numerical value is a numerical value calculated based on the ages in the customer data of a plurality of people who selected one music piece, and represents the ratio of people of a specific age among the people who selected the music piece,
The karaoke performance terminal creates performance history data recorded by associating the music ID of the music that has been played with the customer ID of the person who selected the music,
The host device collects the performance history data from each karaoke performance terminal, updates the song selector attribute information file based on the collected performance history data, and the updated song selector attribute information file for each karaoke performance Process it to the device,
In the update process, the association between the music ID (A) and the customer ID (A) is extracted from the performance history data, and the music selector attribute numerical value (c) corresponding to the music ID (A) is extracted from the music selector attribute information file. At the same time, the customer data (d) corresponding to the customer ID (b) is extracted from the customer information file, and the song selector attribute numerical value (c) is recalculated based on the age in the customer data (d).
The karaoke performance terminal stores the delivered song selector attribute information file, and when playing a certain song, accesses the song selector attribute information file based on the song ID (e) of the song, and sets the song ID (e). A communication karaoke system that extracts a predetermined number of song IDs in order of closeness to the song selector attribute value from the song selector attribute value , from the song selector attribute information file, and displays the song based on the extracted song ID. A communication karaoke system host device that communicates with a plurality of karaoke performance terminals via a network,
The host device stores a customer information file and a music selector attribute information file,
The customer information file aggregates customer data associated with the customer ID,
Customer data describes customer attributes including age ,
The music selector attribute information file describes the music selector attribute numerical value associated with the music ID,
The music selector attribute numerical value is a numerical value calculated based on the ages in the customer data of a plurality of people who selected one music piece, and represents the ratio of people of a specific age among the people who selected the music piece,
The host device collects performance history data from each karaoke performance terminal, updates the music selector attribute information file based on the collected performance history data, and stores the updated music selector attribute information file in each karaoke Perform processing to distribute to the performance terminal,
The performance history data is a record in which the music ID of the music played is associated with the customer ID of the person who selected the music.
In the update process, the association between the music ID (A) and the customer ID (A) is extracted from the performance history data, and the music selector attribute numerical value (c) corresponding to the music ID (A) is extracted from the music selector attribute information file. In addition, the host device extracts customer data (d) corresponding to the customer ID (b) from the customer information file, and recalculates the song selector attribute numerical value (c) based on the age in the customer data (d).

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