JPH08146980A - Karaoke system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To start a musical performance of communication KARAOKE on an on-demand basis even in the middle of data transmission by using compressed data obtained through the encoding (decoding) of a CODEC. CONSTITUTION: The data storage part 12 of a center 10 is stored with data for caption display of a title screen, a text, etc., and musical performance sequence data including musical performance information. A request to send is sent from a terminal machine 30 to the center 10 through an analog communication line 20. The center 10 encodes requested data to be sent among the stored data through a CODEC 11 and sends them as compressed data through the analog communication line 20. The terminal machine 30 decodes the compressed data sent out of the center 109 through a CODEC 31 to separate the data into character data and musical performance data. An image signal for caption display is generated corresponding to the character data and a musical performance is carried out according to the musical performance information included in the musical performance sequence data to generate a voice signal.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention encodes data stored in a center by a codec and sends it to a terminal side through an analog communication line, and the terminal side decodes the image data by a codec. And a karaoke system for generating performance sequence data and performing karaoke performance and displaying lyrics.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In existing karaoke using an optical disk as a recording medium, audio waveforms and video information are recorded using a 5.25 inch diameter compact disk (CD) or a 12 inch diameter laser disk (LD) as a medium. ing. In this case, the audio waveform (audio signal) is quantized with 16 bits, sampled at 44.1 kHz, and recorded as digital data. CD, CD-G
About 73 minutes (about 17 songs), LD about 28 songs, C
The D-I can record about 50 songs.

In addition to this audio signal, in many cases, various information and signals are recorded as subcodes. In some cases, a computer graphic image called a graphics signal (still image) or a caption display (character image of song title, lyrics, etc.) is recorded as the subcode in bitmap data or the like.

By the way, in a general karaoke apparatus, about 5
Since it is necessary to record 000 to 6000 songs,
In D, it is necessary to prepare about 300 disks.

Therefore, a space for accommodating the large number of discs is required, which causes a problem that the karaoke system becomes large. Further, there is a problem that a changer device for automatically exchanging the disc in accordance with the selection of music must be prepared and the mechanism of the device becomes complicated and large. Further, there is a problem that it takes a certain amount of time to replace the disc with the changer device.

Recently, there is also a karaoke system called communication karaoke in which data is transmitted from a host computer (hereinafter referred to as a center) to a terminal device by using a communication line to perform a performance. In this type of online karaoke, it is not necessary to prepare hundreds of CDs. Therefore,
It has advantages such as a compact terminal (karaoke device).

[0007]

In such communication karaoke, the performance information is composed of MIDI data,
It is composed of smaller data than the sampled normal digital audio data. For example, assuming that one song is 180 seconds, the data of one song sampled at 44.1 kHz and 16 bits and recorded on the CD is 3
It is about 0M bytes, but it is 7 for MIDI data.
About 00 kbytes (31.25 kbps x 180 seconds = 7
03.125 kbytes).

In such a MIDI data karaoke, in order to start the performance immediately after the request is made by the on-demand method, the data is transmitted from the center side to the terminal side at the MIDI data transfer rate (31.25 kbps) or more. Need to transfer.

As for the data transfer rate of the analog communication line, 28.8 kbps is the maximum speed recognized as a standard at the time of the present application. Therefore, when the analog communication line is used in the on-demand system communication karaoke, the data transfer speed of the analog communication line is slower than the transfer speed of the MIDI data, and therefore, the data for one song must be completely received. For example, you cannot start playing. Therefore, it has been necessary to use a digital communication line such as an ISDN line capable of data transfer at 64 kbps (or higher).

However, digital communication lines have not become common and require the installation of a dedicated terminal adapter (TA) or the like. For this reason, this type of online karaoke has been used only for business purposes.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to allow a karaoke to start playing even during data transmission in an on-demand type communication karaoke using an analog communication line. It is to realize the system.

[0012]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A first means for solving the above problems is that character data for caption display indicating a title screen, lyrics, etc. and performance sequence data including performance information are accumulated and accumulated. Out of the data, the data requested to be sent is encoded by the codec and sent as compressed data via the analog communication line, and a request is sent to the center via the analog communication line, and the data is sent from the center. The compressed data that has been compressed is decoded by a codec and separated into character data and performance sequence data, an image signal for caption display is generated according to the character data, and performance is performed according to the performance information included in the performance sequence data. A karaoke system, comprising: a terminal for performing an audio signal to generate an audio signal.

A second means for solving the above-mentioned problems is to accumulate analog image information for caption display showing a title screen, lyrics, etc. and performance sequence data including performance information, and accumulate the accumulated image information. , And the sequence data requested to be sent, digitally converted image information and performance sequence data are coded by the codec and sent as compressed data via the analog communication line, and via the analog communication line. A transmission request is sent to the center, the compressed data transmitted from the center is decoded by a codec and separated into image information and performance sequence data, and an image signal for caption display is generated according to the image information. , Perform and play according to the performance information included in the performance sequence data. A terminal for generating a signal, a karaoke system comprising the.

[0014]

According to the karaoke system which is the first means for solving the problem, the compressed data (the compression of the character data and the performance sequence data, which is encoded according to the transmission request from the terminal and transmitted from the center, is performed. Data) is transmitted to the terminal via an analog communication line. In the terminal, the compressed data is decoded to generate character data and performance sequence data, and an image signal for caption display and a performance voice signal are generated.

According to the karaoke system which is the second means for solving the problem, the compressed data (digitally converted image information and performance sequence) which is encoded in response to the transmission request from the terminal and transmitted from the center. Data and compressed data) are transmitted to the terminal device through an analog communication line. The terminal device decodes the compressed data to generate image information and performance sequence data, and generates an image signal for caption display and a performance voice signal.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of a karaoke system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the basic operating state of the karaoke system. Also,
3 to 5 are sequence diagrams showing an operation sequence of the karaoke system.

First, the configuration of the karaoke system will be described with reference to FIG. 1, and the basic operation of the karaoke system will be described with reference to FIGS. Then, other operations of the karaoke system will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

In the following embodiments, instead of the conventional sampled voice waveform, performance sequence data as digital data necessary for causing the tone generator module to perform a performance is used. Here, the performance sequence data is M
It is digital data (MIDI data) necessary for causing the IDI performance section to perform a performance, and this digital data is sent from the center to the terminal. Therefore, the performance sequence data includes channel numbers, pitch information (pitch information), volume information (pitch information),
It includes the pronunciation start timing and the pronunciation stop timing. In addition, MIDI is Music In
instrument Digital Interface
Abbreviation of e.

Further, in order to display captions such as lyrics, a character code (referred to as character data in this embodiment) is sent from the center, and an analog image signal from the LD or the like (image information in this embodiment). It can be considered that A) is converted to A / D and transmitted. Here, the caption is a so-called subtitle such as song title and lyrics displayed on the image display device. For example, this caption display is 320 × 240 on the display screen of the terminal.
It is configured to have a pixel size.

In FIG. 1, the karaoke system of the present embodiment uses music data (performance sequence data and character data (for example, the total of performance sequence data and character data for each music is about several hundred kilobytes)) or performance sequence. Accumulate (own) data and image information from LD etc.
And a terminal 30 connected to the center 10 via an analog communication line 20 and arranged near the user.

The center 10 has an analog line 2
Although a plurality of terminals other than the terminal 30 may be connected via 0, other terminals will be omitted in this embodiment.

The center 10 is composed of a codec 11 that encodes music data, a data storage unit 12 that stores a plurality of music data, and a control unit 13 that totally controls the operation of the center 10. It Codec 11 is
A line control unit 14 that controls the line of the analog communication line 20.
And A / D, which performs analog-to-digital image information A / D and D / A conversion
From the D / D / A converter 15, the image codec 16 that encodes image data, the data codec 17 that encodes performance sequence data, and the command codec 18 that encodes commands (command data) It is configured.

The analog communication line 20 is a line for transmitting various data and signals in the state of an analog signal, and may be a public communication line, a specific communication line or a private line in the case of a wired line. It also includes wireless lines such as mobile phones.

The terminal device 30 includes a codec 31 for decoding the encoded compressed data, a control unit 37 for comprehensively controlling the operation of each part of the terminal device 30, and performance sequence data (MIDI data). MI to receive and perform
The DI performance unit 38 and an operation display unit 39 that receives an operation such as a request (including a remote control operation) from the user and displays a display for the operation. The codec 31 includes a line control unit 32 that controls a line of an analog communication line and an image codec 3 that decodes image data.
3, a data codec 34 for decoding performance sequence data, a command codec 35 for decoding commands (command data), and A / D / D / A of image information
It is composed of an A / D and D / A conversion unit 36 that performs conversion.

The basic operation of the karaoke system configured as above is as follows.

First, the operation display unit 39 of the terminal device 30 receives a request (a song number or the like) from the user (step (1) in FIG. 2, FIG. 3A). The control unit 37 processes this request and notifies the line control unit 32 (step (2) in FIG. 2).

The line control unit 32 includes a receiving buffer having a capacity of about one piece of music and a line control control processor (line CP).
U), a CRC discrimination unit for checking CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check), and a modem (NCU) for modulation / demodulation and line connection / disconnection.

Therefore, the notification of the request from the control unit 37 is accepted by the line CPU in the line control unit 32 and is notified to the modem (FIGS. 3B and 3C).

The request from the user is transmitted from the modem of the line control unit 32 to the center 10 as a transmission request through the analog communication line 20 (step (3) in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 (d)).

The line control unit 14 on the side of the center 10 receives the transmission request (FIG. 3E), and the line CP in the line control unit 14 is received.
U processes this (FIG. 3 (f)) and transmits this transmission request to the control unit 13 (step (4) in FIG. 2).

The control unit 13 reads the music data corresponding to the transmission request (user's request) from the data storage unit 12 (step (5) in FIG. 2, FIG. 3 (h), (i)). Here, as described above, there are two types of music data, that is, performance sequence data + character data, performance sequence data + analog image information.

Here, the data requested to be sent from the control unit 13 is sent to the codec 11, and the codec 11 performs a predetermined process. That is, the performance sequence data of the read music data is supplied to the data codec 17 by the control unit 13 and is encoded.

When the caption display is based on character data (described above), it is supplied to the image codec 16 and encoded. Also, if the caption display is based on analog image information (above), A / D / D /
After being digitally converted by the A converter 15, it is supplied to the image codec 16 and encoded. By this encoding processing, the data capacity is also compressed, and the performance sequence data, which was about several hundred kilobytes, is compressed to about one hundred kilobytes. Similarly, character data and image information are also compressed. In this embodiment, the music piece data in a state of being compressed by this encoding process will be called compressed data.

Specific examples of the above-mentioned coding or processing include a high efficiency coding system, a run length coding system and a Huffman coding system.

When the compressed data is performance sequence data + character data, the codecs 16 and 17 are used.
Is transferred at high speed to the transmission buffer in the line control unit 14. That is, the transmission buffer in the line control unit 14 has a capacity of one song or more, and is configured to transfer data in an extremely short time compared to the playing time of one song.

When the compressed data is performance sequence data + image information, the data relating to the performance sequence data is transferred from the data codec 17 to the transmission buffer in the line controller 14 at high speed. When music data of analog image information such as LD is used, it is sequentially transferred in real time.

Then, the line controller 14 packetizes this compressed data and adds CRC check bits (FIG. 3 (l)), and the modem (NC) in the line controller 14
U) sends the packetized compressed data to the terminal device 30 via the analog communication line 20 (step (6) in FIG. 2, FIG. 3 (n)).

Here, in the terminal device 30, the line control unit 32 of the codec 31 receives the compressed data via the analog communication line 20, and stores the compressed data in a buffer (hereinafter, also referred to as a reception buffer) in the line control unit 32 ( FIG. 2 step (7)). The reception buffer has a data capacity of about one piece (one piece of performance sequence data and character data, or one piece of performance sequence data) or more. By using a receiving buffer with such a capacity, it is possible to read it out even during a performance as needed (so that the performance can be started even during reception).
It is configured.

At this stage, the CRC discrimination unit in the line control unit 32 performs a CRC check (FIG. 3 (o)), confirms whether the compressed data as a packet has an error, and stores it in the reception buffer ( FIG. 3 (p)). The operation when an error is detected in the compressed data by the CRC check will be described later.

The compressed data in the reception buffer is subjected to a predetermined process by the codec 31 (FIG. 3 (q)). That is, the image data is decoded by the image codec 33, and the performance sequence data is decoded by the data codec 34 to release the compressed state.

If the decoded image data is image information from an LD or the like, it is converted to analog image information by the A / D / D / A converter 36 and then supplied to an external display or the like. Image display (caption display) is performed. In the case of a character code, it is converted into a bit image of the corresponding character by a character generator or the like, and caption display is performed.

The performance sequence data is stored in the control unit 37.
Read out a predetermined transfer speed (31.25 kbps, etc.)
Is supplied to the MIDI performance section 38 (step (8) in FIG. 2).

As a result, in the MIDI performance section 38, MI
The DI performance process is executed and the voice output is output to the outside (FIG. 3 (o)). Further, in synchronization with this, captions such as lyrics are displayed according to the image data (FIG. 2 step (9), FIG. 3 (r), (s)).

In the operation of the above embodiment, the control units 13 and 37 are connected to the line control units 14 and 32 through an interface such as RS-485 and exchange data and commands. In addition to simple data and commands, the command codecs 18 and 35 can be used when transferring a large amount of data and commands and when exchanging data between the control units.

Further, in the above description, it is possible to start the MIDI performance and the caption display when the compressed data starts to be stored in the reception buffer in the line control unit 32, if necessary. That is, it is possible to read the compressed data while receiving the compressed data in the receive buffer so that the MIDI performance and the caption display can be performed in parallel.

When the analog image information from the LD or the like is used, the image information is continuously transmitted in real time. In that case, when the image information corresponding to one screen (one frame) is received. Just start playing.

Of course, it is also possible to start the performance after one song has been completely stored in the reception buffer.

In the case of performance sequence data + character code, if the compressed data coded by the codec is 100 kbytes per song, it will take about 90 seconds when transmitted at 9600 bps on the analog communication line 20. Complete with. Therefore, even if an error occurs during transmission and retransmission is performed, it will be completed before the performance (about 180 seconds). Further, it is conceivable that the transmission will be completed in a shorter time depending on the compression rate by the codec encoding process.

Also, analog image information from the LD etc. +
When the performance sequence data is used, the transmission of the performance sequence data is completed in a short time, and the image information continues to be transmitted in real time. In that case, as described above, the performance may be started when the image information corresponding to one screen is received.

In this way, codec encoding (decoding)
By using the compressed data obtained by the processing, it is possible to realize a karaoke system capable of starting a performance during data transmission in an on-demand type communication karaoke using an analog communication line which cannot be used conventionally.
Therefore, a karaoke system suitable for home use can be realized. In addition, since the analog communication line includes a mobile phone, a cordless phone, etc., it can be widely used regardless of where it is used. Further, by using the codec, it is possible to use analog image information for caption display from the center 10 side.

Now, the operation sequence when an error is detected by the CRC check will be described with reference to FIG.

At the request of the user, a transmission request is sent from the terminal 30 to the center 10 via the analog communication line 20.
To the line control unit 32 via the analog communication line 20.

The CRC discriminator in the line controller 32
When the RC check is OK (Fig. 4: CRC = O
K) is the caption display and MI as in the above description.
DI performance is performed (Fig. 4).

When a CRC error is detected by the CRC discriminating unit in the line control unit 32 (FIG. 4: CRC)
= NG), the modem unit in the line control unit 32 sends a retransmission request to the center 10. For example, by transmitting the packet number or the like in this retransmission request, the center 10
The line CPU in the line control unit 14 on the side reads out the corresponding packet from the transmission buffer (FIG. 4),
Try to resend compressed data. Then, a CRC check-expansion is similarly performed on the retransmitted compressed data to perform MIDI performance and caption display.

In this case, since the MIDI performance and the caption display are performed while decompressing the compressed data on the side of the terminal device 30, even if an error occurs while receiving the compressed data, the performance and the display are performed by the error detection and the retransmission thereof. Will not be interrupted.

In the karaoke system of the present invention, the compressed data from the center 10 is temporarily stored in the receiving buffer in 32 and then read out at a desired time due to the configuration of the line control unit 32 in the terminal device 30 described above. It can be used for playing.

Next, another embodiment of the karaoke system will be described with reference to FIGS.

At present, there is a system for collecting an information providing fee, which is different from the line usage fee, according to the usage time of the communication line. In such a case, the information provision fee is calculated based on the usage time of the communication line (for example, in units of seconds).

Therefore, in the embodiment in which the above performance sequence data + character code is transmitted, the center 10 and the terminal 3
By extending the communication time, which was determined only by the data transfer rate and data amount of the modem of 0, to a fixed time regardless of the transfer rate and data amount of the modem, the shortage is provided when the information provision fee is insufficient. The karaoke system that can be collected will be explained.

In this embodiment, the line controller 3 of the terminal 30
The capacity of the receiving buffer in 2 is made smaller than the capacity of one song. For example, it is set to about 1/10 of the capacity of one song (several kilobytes to several tens of kilobytes). As a result, data decompression, MIDI performance, and caption display are executed as in the above-described embodiment until compressed data of 90% of the receiving buffer capacity is accumulated (FIGS. 5, 6, and 6).
). Then, when 90% of the reception buffer capacity is accumulated, a transmission interruption request is issued to the line CPU in the line control unit 32.
Is sent to the center 10 side (FIGS. 5 and 6). Receiving this, the line CP in the line control unit 14 on the side of the center 10
U suspends the transmission of compressed data (FIG. 6-).
Since the MIDI performance and the caption display are continuously executed even during the interruption of the compressed data, the accumulated data in the reception buffer gradually decreases. Then, the line control unit 32
When the amount of accumulated data in the receiving buffer in the inside has decreased to 50%, the transmission interruption request from the line controller 32 is stopped. As a result, the line control unit 14 of the center 10 restarts the transmission of compressed data (FIG. 6). Thereafter, the flow control of transmission / transmission interruption is repeated in the same manner.

The values of 90% and 50% used in this description can be changed to other values and may be determined according to the processing capabilities of the reception buffer and its peripheral circuits.

By making the capacity of the reception buffer smaller than the capacity of one song in this way, the time of transmission interruption is included during transmission, and the communication time for transmitting compressed data can be extended. .

By the way, the codec used in each of the above-described embodiments generally has a low resolution mode of about 320 × 240 pixels (frame rate: 4 frames / second).
And a higher resolution mode (frame rate: 1 frame / second) of more than that (for example, 640 × 480 pixels) may exist. In the above description, it is assumed that the low resolution mode is used in view of the frame rate for color change of caption display and the like. Therefore, one image (or several images) to be used as the BGV is first transmitted from the center 10 to the terminal device 30 in the high resolution mode, and then the data for caption display is transmitted in the low resolution mode to be used as the background BGV. It is also possible to superimpose and display the caption display. In this case,
This is realized by providing the image codec 33 with a frame buffer for still images.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the voice codec 1
By using the codec 11 and the codec 31 provided with 9, 40, the A / D / D / A converters 15 and 36 perform A / D / D / A conversion of image information from each other's TV cameras, etc. It is also possible to use it as a videophone in addition to the above purpose. In the case of use as a videophone, it can be used between the terminal 30 of the present embodiment and other terminals 50, 60 or the like for videophone use.

[0066]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
Performance data consisting of performance information such as MIDI data and image data for caption display (analog image information or character code) are compressed by a decoding process using a codec and transmitted, whereby the volume of data per song is increased. A karaoke system that can be made extremely small and can start playing during data transmission in on-demand type communication karaoke even when an analog communication line that is slower than the transfer rate of MIDI data or the like is used. Can be realized. Further, by using the codec, it becomes possible to send analog image information from the center side for caption display.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a karaoke system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a schematic operation of the karaoke system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing a basic operation of the karaoke system of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an operation including error correction processing of the karaoke system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a sequence diagram corresponding to FIG. 3 showing another operation of the karaoke system shown in FIG.

6 is a state explanatory view showing a state of a reception buffer of the terminal in the sequence shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration when the karaoke system of the present invention is used as a videophone.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 center 11 codec 12 data storage unit 13 control unit 14 line control unit 15 A / D / D / A conversion unit 16 image codec 17 data codec 18 command codec 19 voice codec 20 analog communication line 30 terminal 31 buffer 32 line control unit 33 image codec 34 data codec 35 command codec 36 A / D / D / A converter 37 control unit 38 MIDI playing unit 39 operation display unit 40 voice codec 50 other terminal device 60 other terminal device

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical indication H04N 7/173

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. Character data for displaying captions indicating title screens, lyrics, etc. and performance sequence data including performance information are accumulated, and data requested to be transmitted out of the accumulated data is encoded by a codec. And send it as compressed data via the analog communication line to the center, and send a request to the center via the analog communication line. The compressed data sent from the center is decoded by the codec and played as character data. A terminal device that is separated into sequence data, generates an image signal for caption display according to the character data, and performs a performance according to the performance information included in the performance sequence data to generate an audio signal. Karaoke system characterized by. 2. Regarding the analog image information for caption display showing the title screen, lyrics, etc. and the performance sequence data including the performance information are accumulated, and the accumulated image information and sequence data are requested to be transmitted. , A center that encodes digitally converted image information and performance sequence data with a codec and sends it as compressed data via an analog communication line, and a sending request to the center via an analog communication line, The transmitted compressed data is decoded by a codec and separated into image information and performance sequence data, an image signal for caption display is generated according to the image information, and performance information included in the performance sequence data is generated. A terminal for playing and generating an audio signal, Karaoke system which is characterized.