JP4444069B2 - A communication karaoke system that accepts submissions of karaoke video works and enables playback during karaoke performance - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method of accepting posting of a karaoke video work and using it in a karaoke performance terminal.

  A karaoke performance terminal is a device that outputs karaoke accompaniment music and lyric images in synchronism and outputs an audio image. Usually, lyric images are displayed with a moving image as a background. The karaoke performance terminal for the mainstream online karaoke system separately generates accompaniment music for karaoke music and karaoke data for a large number of songs that are the origin of the generation of lyric images and video data for a long time that is the origin of the generation of the background video. Are managed and accumulated. When playing karaoke music, the video data for a short time extracted from the video data for a long time is reproduced and connected to be edited into a series of background videos. That is, there is no dedicated background image for each karaoke piece, and a long time image is used. Currently, it is specified for each karaoke song which part of the video to extract and join from a long time, so it is not necessary to display a background video that is far from the contents of accompaniment music and lyrics. It has been devised.

  Also, before the advent of the online karaoke system, karaoke performance terminals that play “package software” in which accompaniment music, lyric images, and background video were recorded on an optical video disc were the mainstream. The background video displayed by this karaoke performance terminal is produced exclusively for each piece of music, and is an unvoiced ultra-short movie made to fit the contents of accompaniment music and lyrics. You can start by creating a combined scenario.

  As described above, the background video organization method includes a method of using video data for a long time (shared video method) and a method of reproducing a video created exclusively for music (dedicated video method). The shared video method eliminates the need to create video data dedicated to the new karaoke song, so it can reduce the cost of creating video data and can respond quickly to the release of new music. There is an advantage. However, you can't expect a karaoke video that can be enjoyed according to the content of the music like the dedicated video system, and if you keep karaoke for a long time, you will get bored with the same video coming out many times. Especially for those who are singing, watching karaoke video is a great pleasure, but it is not satisfied.

  The dedicated video system can match the contents of music and the background video, and some of them are excellent enough to be used as a single video work. On the other hand, there is a drawback that it takes cost and time to create an image. In addition, the same background video is displayed when the same musical piece is played, and karaoke users eventually get bored with the video.

  By the way, the recent spread of digital video cameras and higher performance and lower prices of personal computers have made it possible for ordinary households to fully perform video editing and processing that required expensive and large-scale equipment. Some people create highly complete images that can be called “video works”.

  Therefore, the inventors of the present application paid attention to those who are “self-proclaimed” video artists who create these excellent video works. People who call themselves filmmakers should be interested in seeing more of their work, or want to compete with other filmmakers to test their abilities and announce their work. Instead of providing a place for competition, he wanted to make a video for karaoke songs.

  In Japan, tens of thousands of online karaoke performance terminals are scattered throughout the country, and many people enjoy karaoke on a daily basis. If many people who enjoy karaoke can see their own karaoke video by using this environment, they should be able to satisfy the creativity of self-proclaimed video artists.

  On the other hand, if a video work is submitted by people who call themselves video creators, a karaoke company can obtain a video work dedicated to music without cost. For karaoke users, various video works that match the content of the music can be viewed along with the accompanying music. For filmmakers, there is a place to present their own video works.

  Therefore, the present invention is a method for using a karaoke performance terminal that allows people who are self-identified as video artists to freely create a video work on the theme of karaoke music and use the video work on a karaoke performance terminal, The purpose is to provide a video server that accepts submissions of video works and a karaoke performance terminal that screens video works.

The communication karaoke system according to the present invention is specified by the following items (1) to (12).
(1) A communication karaoke system comprising a video server and a plurality of karaoke performance terminals, each karaoke performance terminal communicating with the video server and reproducing a karaoke video work acquired together with the karaoke performance (2) (3) The communication means can communicate with the poster computer and each karaoke performance terminal via the Internet. (4) The storage means includes a video database, an index, and a storage means. Storing information (5) The video database includes a plurality of karaoke video works (6) Each karaoke video work in the video database is associated with poster information and a music number (7) Index information is collected by associating poster information of each karaoke video work registered in the video database with the song number. (8) When the control means receives a post of the karaoke video work / poster information / music identification information from the contributor computer, the control means registers the content of the post in the video database and based on the content of the post Updating the index information (9) The control means distributes the updated index information to each karaoke performance terminal. (10) When the karaoke performance terminal receives the index information from the video server, the index information is stored. (11) The karaoke performance terminal searches the index information stored based on the music number A specified by the user input, and extracts the poster information associated with the music number A. Displaying for the user and accepting user input specifying any poster information B from the displayed poster information (12) Karaoke performance terminal is used Download the karaoke video works that have been registered in the image database in association with the identified the contributor information B and the music number A by the input from the video server, and a karaoke video work that you downloaded, has been identified by the user input the Output audio video in sync with the song number A karaoke song

  In addition to the configuration specified as described above, the present invention preferably stores the configuration data of the posting acceptance page in the storage means of the video server, and the poster computer accessed by the control means of the video server. It is configured to transmit the configuration data of the posting acceptance page. The composition data of this posting acceptance page includes the process of causing the poster computer to specify a karaoke song and displaying a screen that prompts the user to fill in the poster information, and the song identification information and poster information received on the screen. It shall be possible to send the video server together with the karaoke video work.

  According to the present invention, a larger number of people can see video works created by users. In addition, the theme of karaoke music can support a wide variety of creative orientations. Therefore, it will improve the creativity of filmmakers.

  For karaoke users, it is possible to view a different video from the usual karaoke accompaniment music, and a new way of enjoying karaoke can be obtained. For karaoke operators, profits can be expected to increase by incorporating those who wish to view video works as karaoke users.

=== Network configuration ===
FIG. 1 shows a network configuration diagram to which a method according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. Karaoke performance terminals 1 scattered in various places are performance terminals in a known communication karaoke system, and are connected to a karaoke host device 3 via a public telephone network 2. The karaoke host device 3 stores karaoke data of a large number of karaoke songs in association with song numbers, distributes karaoke data of new music tunes to each karaoke performance terminal 1, and from each karaoke performance terminal 1, the operation status and karaoke Collect the performance status of the music.

  The karaoke performance terminal 1 is connected to the public telephone network 2 as a part of the communication karaoke system, and can also be connected to the Internet 4. A computer 5 used by an unspecified number of users such as a personal computer (PC) and a server computer 6 that provides various services to the user computer 5 are connected to the Internet 4. A video server 6a, which is operated and managed by a karaoke company and is a requirement of the present invention, is also connected to the Internet as one of the server computers.

=== Outline of the Invention ===
The present invention is a method for a video server to receive a video work (karaoke video work) from a creator (contributor) of the video work and use the video work on a karaoke performance terminal. In this embodiment, the video server 6a includes a large-capacity storage device, communicates with a PC (contributor PC) 5a operated by the contributor via the Internet 4, and accepts posting of karaoke video works. Then, the moving image data and various data constituting the karaoke video work are registered in the video database attached in association with the music number of the karaoke music specified by the contributor. The music number is a music identifier used when the requested music is designated at the karaoke performance terminal, and is the same as that associated with the karaoke data. The karaoke video work includes moving picture data, personal information (name, age, sex, etc.) about the contributor, text data describing a comment on the work by the contributor himself.

  In this embodiment, since large-capacity moving image data is exchanged via the Internet 4, the karaoke performance terminal 1 is connected to the Internet 4 via a broadband communication line such as optical fiber, DSL (digital subscriber line), or CATV. It has an environment for connection. Also, it is desirable that the poster PC 5a also has this broadband Internet connection environment.

=== Creation / Submission of Video Works ===
The karaoke video work is supposed to be associated with a specific karaoke piece. Therefore, contributor, to determine whether to adopt any music as a theme in advance, will be created the image that matches the atmosphere of the song. In this embodiment, the video server 6a has a basic function as a Web server, performs HTTP communication with the browser of the poster PC 5a, and guides the posting guidelines for karaoke video works (posting guidance page) and posting. A web page (post accepting page) for accepting is delivered to the poster PC.

  FIG. 2 shows an outline of the guide page for posting guidelines. If a person who browses the posting guide page 30 wants to post a karaoke video work, the person first selects a karaoke piece as a theme. You may accept submissions of karaoke video works for all karaoke songs, but in this example, a karaoke company picks up several songs for each genre from a number of karaoke songs, and uses that song as the theme for karaoke. The submission of the video work is accepted, and the web page of the submission guidelines lists the music to be posted and its performance time. If the user wishes to obtain the lyrics of a song, the user can designate a “lyric” button 32 in the list 31 to download a text file of the lyrics to the poster PC 5a. Of course, in addition to the lyrics, accompaniment music described by MIDI data or the like can be downloaded.

  Next, the contributor creates moving image data in a predetermined file format in accordance with the performance time of the music selected as the theme, and uploads various data including the moving image data to the video server 6a as a karaoke video work. . As described above, the video server 6a registers the song number, moving image data, personal information of the poster, comments, and the like of the karaoke song selected by the poster as a theme in the video database as a karaoke video work. In this embodiment, MPEG1 format moving picture data is created and registered.

  3A and 3B show schematic views of a posting acceptance page for registering a karaoke video work. This page 40 includes a list down box 41 for selecting a karaoke piece selected as the theme song by the poster, a hard disk of the poster PC 5a, and a file corresponding to the video data of the video work stored in the external storage. Form 42 for entering the storage location and file name ・ Form for entering the author's profile (age, gender, name, address, etc.) and check box 43 ・ Text box for entering the comment of the author 44 etc. are arranged. In addition, a “reference” button 45 for displaying and specifying a moving image file by displaying the file storage structure in the external storage is also provided. When a required item is selected / input and the “Send” button 46 is designated, the browser of the contributor PC 5a is entered / instructed as data indicating which karaoke piece has been selected, a video file, and a profile. Each item and the character string entered as a comment are delivered to the video server 6a. In addition, (B) shows a schematic view of the screen when the theme song is selected.

  The video server 6a has a comparison table in which data indicating which karaoke song is selected on the posting acceptance page and the song number are associated with each other, and the song number corresponding to the song selected by the poster PC 5a is displayed. At the same time, the video file delivered to the number, each item entered as the poster profile, and the text data of the comment are associated with each other and registered in the video database. Further, the video server 6a manages the music number, the profile of the contributor, the comment, and the moving image file name in association with each other as index information about the karaoke video work registered in the video database. Each time a new karaoke video work is registered, the index information is updated.

=== Use of video works at karaoke performance terminals ===
In the present embodiment, the karaoke video work registered in the video server 6a can be used as a background image of lyrics during karaoke performance at the karaoke performance terminal 1. FIG. 4 shows a functional block diagram of the karaoke performance terminal 1 of this embodiment. The karaoke performance terminal 1 includes a modem 21 for communicating with the karaoke host device 3 via the public telephone network 2. The karaoke performance terminal 1 is also provided with a broadband-compatible modem 22 for connecting to the Internet 4 via a broadband communication line because the karaoke performance terminal 1 receives a large amount of moving image data from the video server 6a. Then, it communicates with the video server 6 a in a timely manner, receives index information of the video database, and stores it in the hard disk device 12. Also, the hard disk device 12 includes, as karaoke data, the music generation data that is the origin of the karaoke accompaniment music described in the MIDI format and the lyric rendering data that is the generation origin of the lyric image as karaoke data. Are stored in association with each other. Similarly to the conventional karaoke performance terminal, shared video data that is displayed as a background image of the lyrics image when the karaoke video work is not used, that is, during normal karaoke performance is also stored. In addition, each karaoke data includes video script data that specifies at what timing, from which data recording position, and how much video data is to be decoded when playing that karaoke music piece. Yes.

  When the music number is transferred from the remote control transmitter 14, the central control unit 11 that performs overall control of the karaoke performance terminal 1 stores the number in the internal RAM in the order of transfer, and manages the music number as a queue for performance processing. To do. Then, the music numbers in the queue are picked up in order. Then, the picked music number is referred to the index information. When the music number exists, the character image is bitmap-developed in the video RAM 22 in the video control unit 21 using the profile and comment data associated with the music number in the index information as introduction information of the video work. The video control unit 21 displays the character image on the display 25 as characters. When a plurality of karaoke video works are associated with each other, each video work is numbered and displayed. If there are many corresponding karaoke video works, scroll information may be displayed to display introduction information about all the video works. FIG. 5 shows a schematic view of the comment list display screen.

  If the karaoke user sees the introduction information and there is a karaoke video work of interest, the karaoke user inputs the number using the remote control transmitter 14 or the like. If you are not interested, enter a number to indicate that. When receiving the number input corresponding to the karaoke video work, the central control unit 11 accesses the video server 6a and delivers the moving image file name associated with the number specified by the index information. The video server 6 a downloads the designated moving image file to the karaoke performance terminal 1.

  When the downloading of the moving image file is completed, the central control unit 11 sequentially transfers the music generation data of the requested music to the synthesizer 17 to generate an audio signal of accompaniment music. The audio signal of the accompaniment music is input to the mixing amplifier 18 together with the audio signal input from the microphone 20, and the mixed audio signal is acoustically output from the speaker 19. Further, the lyric rendering data is processed to generate lyric images including lyric character strings synchronized with the accompaniment music, and the bitmaps are sequentially developed in the video RAM 22, and the moving image data obtained from the video server 6a is sent to the video control unit 21. Forward.

  The video control unit 21 is hardware for dedicated graphics processing, and includes a video RAM 22, an MPEG1 moving image data decoding unit 23 and a superimpose processing unit 24, and is transferred from the central control unit 11. The moving image data is decoded into a video signal of the background video, and the lyrics image sequentially bitmap-developed in the video RAM 22 is superimposed on the background video and displayed on the display 25. When the karaoke video work is not designated or when the requested music is not associated with the requested music, the central control unit 11 performs appropriate shared video based on the corresponding video script data when performing the performance processing of the requested music. Data is taken out from an appropriate recording position and transferred to the video controller 21. The video control unit 21 decodes the karaoke video data and displays and outputs a background video.

=== Other Embodiments ===
Video data that has already been converted into a predetermined data format on the poster PC side is uploaded to the video server. The video server accepts video data in a plurality of data formats, and the video server side It may be converted into a data format and stored.

  In the above embodiment, the author's profile and comments are described in the index information. For example, one screen of moving image data is converted into still image data, and the still image is managed as index information, or a karaoke performance terminal Or may be delivered to. Of course, the contributor side may create the still image data, and post the karaoke video work including the still image data to the video server.

  Instead of downloading all the video data of the karaoke video work and transferring it to the video control unit, the downloaded data portion may be transferred to the video control unit in synchronization with the start of the performance of the karaoke music. Then, a karaoke video work may be reproduced in real time as a “streaming video” by performing a download process in parallel with the transfer process.

  In the above embodiment, the index information is presented when the requested music is played to allow the user to select a karaoke video work. Not limited to this configuration, it is also possible to accept presentation of index information and selection input of a karaoke video work when a requested song is designated. When a designated input of a requested song is received during the performance of a karaoke song, a sub-screen for presenting index information can be displayed at a location that does not interfere with the lyrics image on the display screen.

  Also, the karaoke video work may not be displayed as the lyrics background video. You may display on a display different from a background image | video.

1 shows a network configuration diagram to which a method according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. FIG. It is the schematic of the web page which the video server in the said Example provides, and has shown the page for guiding contribution of a karaoke video work. It is the schematic of the web page which the video server in the said Example provides, and has shown the page for accepting | posting a karaoke video work. The functional block diagram of the karaoke performance terminal in the said Example is shown. The screen schematic at the time of displaying the index information of a karaoke video work on the display of the said karaoke performance terminal is shown.

Explanation of symbols

1 Karaoke performance terminal 5a Contributor PC
6a Video server 11 Central control unit 12 Hard disk device 21 Video control unit

Claims (4)

A communication karaoke system comprising a video server and a plurality of karaoke performance terminals, each karaoke performance terminal communicating with a video server and reproducing a karaoke video work acquired along with the karaoke performance,
The video server includes communication means, storage means, and control means,
The communication means can communicate with the poster computer and each karaoke performance terminal via the Internet,
The storage means stores the video database and index information,
The video database contains multiple karaoke video works,
Each karaoke video work in the video database is associated with the poster information and the song number,
Index information is aggregated by associating the author information of each karaoke video work registered in the video database with the song number,
When the control means receives a post of karaoke video work, contributor information, and music identification information from the contributor computer, it registers the content of the post in the video database and updates the index information based on the content of the post. ,
The control means distributes the updated index information to each karaoke performance terminal,
When the karaoke performance terminal receives the index information from the video server, it stores and stores the index information,
The karaoke performance terminal searches the index information stored based on the music number A specified by the user input, extracts the poster information associated with the music number A, and displays it for the user. At the same time, it accepts user input specifying any poster information B from the displayed poster information,
The karaoke performance terminal downloads the karaoke video work registered in the video database in association with the poster information B and the music number A specified by the user input from the video server, and uses the downloaded karaoke video work and A communication karaoke system that outputs an audio image in synchronism with the karaoke song of the song number A specified by the user input . The storage means stores the configuration data of the posting acceptance page,
The control means transmits the configuration data of the posting acceptance page to the poster computer that has accessed,
The composition data of the posting acceptance page includes the process of causing the poster computer to specify a karaoke piece of music and displaying a screen that prompts the user to fill in the poster information, and the piece of music identification information and the poster information received on the screen to be karaoke. The communication karaoke system according to claim 1, which enables processing to be transmitted to a video server together with a video work. The communication karaoke system according to claim 1, wherein the poster information includes a poster profile. The online karaoke system according to claim 1, wherein the poster information includes a work comment.

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