JPH0844378A - Music selection unit for karaoke - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make even a person who is inexperienced in the operating of a machine possible to select easily and quickly a music at his hand side and also remarkably to allow misinputtings to be reduced. CONSTITUTION:A remote transmitter 1 being as a music selection unit is at least built-up in a karaoke system having a reproducing part (a karaoke main body 2) reproducing a signal for a karaoke playing in accordance with name of music information. The remote transmitter 1 is provided with a display 18, a name of music selection means (a CPU 11, an input interface 12, a selection button 13, a cancel switch 14, a decision switch 15, an ROM 19, an RAM 20 and an ROM cassette 21) displaying a menu for the selection of the name of the music on the display 18 and with which a user can select the name of a desired music on the menu and a transmitter means (the CPU 1, an output interface 16 and an LED 17) transmitting the name of music information of the name of a selected music to the reproducing part.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a karaoke music selecting device for outputting music title information to a reproducing section for reproducing a voice signal and a video signal for karaoke performance in a karaoke system, and more particularly to a remote control music selecting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional karaoke system is, for example,
Obtain necessary playback data from a recording medium such as a laser disk on which audio and video signals are recorded by using a pickup (for example, an optical pickup), and pass the data through a signal demodulation circuit to the video and audio signals. (Karaoke performance signal) is generated and the video signal is displayed on the display, while the audio signal is acoustically reproduced by the speaker.

When using this karaoke system, the user first has to inform the reproducing section of the title of the song to be sung. Recently, for example, the remote control transmitter 100 having the appearance shown in FIG. Has been done. However, it is currently the case that manual search is used to search for the song name itself, and each of the stored songs has a code number, and a list of code numbers showing the correspondence between the song name and the code number. Find the code number corresponding to the desired song name from the list (usually one book),
Enter this code number into the remote control transmitter.

[0004]

However, in the case of designating the song name from the remote control transmitter described above, the user has to turn the code number list and search for the desired song name, which is troublesome and the chord number is required. There was also the inconvenience of misreading or mistyping.

Also, the remote control transmitter is designed to be awkward to use at first glance as shown in FIG. 5, and the "Cancel / Enter" key is written as "Cancel / Set". However, it is common that the code number is a combination of numbers up to "1-9" and the letters A and B, but how to combine the codes and the key pressing order depends on the model. Since it was mixed, it was difficult to handle, especially for users who were not familiar with machine operation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and even a user who is unfamiliar with machine operation can easily and quickly select a desired song title at his or her side, and a mistake in selecting a song title can be greatly reduced. It is an object of the present invention to provide a music selection device for karaoke that can be reduced.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the karaoke music selecting apparatus according to the present invention is incorporated in a karaoke system having at least a reproducing section for reproducing a karaoke performance signal according to music title information. , And a device that allows the user to select a desired song name by operating at a position remote from the playback unit, and send song name information regarding the selected song name to the playback unit, a display,
A menu for selecting a song title is displayed on this display, and song title selecting means that allows the user to select a desired song title on the menu, and song title information of the song title selected by this song title selecting means is transmitted to the reproducing section. And a transmission means.

The menu includes, for example, at least a plurality of song titles. Also, the menu is, for example, by song name,
It is one of the menus by singer name and genre.

The music title selecting means displays a search method selecting menu for determining a music title searching method on the display, and the user selects any search method from the search method selecting menu. First determining means for determining whether or not, the second display means for displaying the index menu on the display corresponding to the search method determined by the first determining means, and which item the user selects from the search menu. The second judging means for judging whether or not is selected, the third displaying means for displaying the music title menu corresponding to the item judged by the second judging means on the display, and the user from the music title menu. Third judging means for judging which song name is selected.

The search method selection menu is preferably
It includes selection items by song name, singer name, and genre.

Further, the music title selecting means has an input means capable of making a necessary selection by moving a cursor on the menu screen.

[0012]

The karaoke music selecting device according to the present invention is placed and used by a user. When selecting a song, a menu for selecting a song name (for example, a menu including a plurality of song names, a menu for each song name, a singer name, and / or a genre) is displayed on the display. The user selects a desired song name from this menu by a simple operation of moving the cursor, for example. The music title information of the selected music title is sent to the reproduction section of the karaoke system, and at least the signal (for example, music data, lyrics data, image data, etc.) is reproduced. As a result, the user can directly select a desired song title from the menu screen of the display without turning the chord number list and searching for the chord number as in the conventional case.

In particular, in the karaoke music selecting device in which a search method selection menu (for example, a menu showing selection items by song name, singer name, and genre) for determining a search method for a song title is displayed on the display. It is determined which search method the user has selected from the method selection menu, and an index menu regarding the Japanese syllabary and alphabets is displayed on the display corresponding to the determined search method. It is determined whether the item is selected. Further, a song title menu corresponding to the determined item is displayed, which song title the user has selected from this song title menu is determined, and the final song title is determined. In this way, one song can be accessed from various directions such as by song name, singer name, and genre, and even a person who is not good at machine operation can easily and reliably select a song.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a karaoke system equipped with a karaoke music selection device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram showing an outline of the karaoke system of this embodiment. The karaoke system shown in FIG. 1 includes a remote control transmitter 1 which constitutes a music selection device for karaoke, and a karaoke main body 2 as a reproducing section which reproduces a karaoke performance signal based on music information instructed from the remote control transmitter 1. With. Here, the "signal" includes an audio signal and a video signal, the audio signal includes music data that is an accompaniment of the song, and the video signal includes a telop of lyrics and a scene or person displayed together with the telop. The data and the like are included.

The remote control transmitter 1 is one in which the functions of the block diagram shown in FIG. 1 are incorporated in a thick plate-shaped and portable size remote control case 10 having an appearance shown in FIG.
This will be described mainly with reference to FIG. The remote control transmitter 1 has a CPU (central processing unit) 11 that manages the entire remote control transmitter 1.
The input side is connected to the selection button 13, the cancel switch 14, and the decision switch 15 via the input interface 12, and the output side is connected to the LED 17 and the color liquid crystal display 18 via the output interface 16. Note that, for example, an LED or the like may be adopted instead of this color liquid crystal display.

Of these, the selection button 13 on the input side is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, it is composed of a 4-way switch arranged at the lower right of the front side of the remote control case 10, and is for moving the cursor displayed on the display 18 up, down, left and right, and its selection signal is input through the input interface 12. Is input to the CPU 11. Similarly, the cancel switch 14
Also, as shown in FIG. 2, the decision switch 15 is also arranged at the lower left on the front side of the remote control case 10. The cancel switch 14 is operated when canceling the selected item on the display 18, and the decision switch 15 is operated when the selected item on the display 18 is finally decided, and those signals are also input interface. It is taken into the CPU 11 via 12.

The LED 17 externally outputs a signal for remote control (any communication signal such as infrared ray, visible light, ultraviolet ray can be used if it is wireless) according to a drive signal given from the CPU 11 via the output interface 16. Radiate toward. A code number (song name information) related to the selected song name is encoded in the optical signal by the CPU 11. Further, the display 18 is attached to the upper part of the front side of the remote control case 10 as shown in FIG.
The user can see the screen. This display 18 is an output interface 16
Character information and graphic information sent from the CPU 11 via the are displayed in color.

The remote control transmitter 1 also includes a ROM (read only memory) 19 and a RAM connected to the CPU 11.
A (random access memory) 20 and a ROM cassette 21 are provided. In the ROM 19, a program showing a procedure executed by the CPU 11 (see FIG. 3, which will be described later) and a song name list are stored in advance together with supplementary information (code number, singer name, genre name, etc.) of each song. RAM20 is CPU
11 provides a storage area used for temporary storage of data in performing a given procedure. ROM cassette 21
The new song name is stored together with its accompanying information (code number, singer name, genre name, etc.).

On the other hand, the karaoke body 2 also has a CPU 30 which manages the entire body, the input side of which is connected to the remote control light receiving section 32 through the input interface 31, and the output side thereof through the output interface 33.
It is connected to the D / CD player 34. The LD / CD player 34 is connected to a display (for example, a CRT). The CPU 30 is also connected to a ROM 36 in which fixed data such as a program is stored in advance and a RAM 37 for temporarily storing processing data and the like.

The remote control light receiving section 32 is connected to the remote control transmitter 1 through a remote control window (not shown) of the karaoke body 2.
Upon receiving the optical signal sent from the optical signal, the electric signal corresponding to the code number included in the optical signal is sent to the CPU 30 via the input interface 31.

The CPU 30 decodes the input signal from the remote control light receiving section 32 and outputs the code number to the LD / CD player 34 via the output interface 33.
As a result, the LD / CD player 34 reads out the audio signal and the video signal related to the music content of the designated code number from the built-in storage medium (LD or CD) and displays it on the display 35.
Send to As a result, the image of the song selected by the user is displayed on the screen of the display 35, and
An audio signal is emitted from the attached speaker (not shown).

Next, the processing executed by the CPU 11 of the remote control transmitter 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

When the remote control transmitter 1 is activated, first in step S1 of FIG. 3, a search method selection menu Ma for selecting a search method is displayed as shown in FIG. 4 (a).
This search method selection menu determines what kind of classification the desired song title is to be accessed by. In the present embodiment, there are three choices: "song title", "singer name", and "genre".
The desired access method is determined by designating the position of the cursor Ca displayed at the same time.

When the search method selection menu Ma is displayed, the CPU 11 proceeds to step S2 in FIG. 3 to read a position selection signal for determining the position of the cursor Ca from the selection button 13 and set the cursor Ca to the designated position. To match. Further, in step S3, an ON / OFF determination signal from the determination switch 15 is read, and in step S4, it is determined whether or not the position of the cursor Ca, that is, the search method is determined. When the determination in step S4 is NO (the user has not yet pressed the decision switch 15 and the search method may change), the process waits while repeating the processes in steps S2 and S3.

However, if YES in step S4, the search method has been determined, so the flow advances to step S5 to determine the search method corresponding to the position of the cursor Ca. In the current menu state of FIG. 4A, the confirmed search method is “by singer name”.

When the search method is determined in this way, the process further moves to step S6, and the index menu Mb (in this case, "A line", "ka line", "sa line") related to the Japanese syllabary in accordance with the determined search method. , ...) is displayed as shown in FIG. In the index menu Mb, the cursor Cb is also superimposed and displayed. Therefore, in step S7, a position selection signal for determining the position of the cursor Cb from the selection button 13 is read and the cursor Cb is aligned with the designated position. The index menu Mb may include an index related to the alphabet, in addition to an index related to the Japanese syllabary, or may include an index related to both the Japanese syllabary and the alphabet.

Next, in step S8, an on / off cancel signal from the cancel switch 14 is read, and in step S9, it is determined whether or not the cancellation is performed. YE in step S9
When the result is S, the CPU 11 recognizes that it is a case where the index item regarding the Japanese syllabary is desired to be changed, and the process is performed in step S1
Then, the process of steps S1 to S9 described above is repeated. If NO in step S9, step S10
The decision signal of the decision switch 15 is input in step S11, and it is further determined in step S11 whether or not the index item relating to the Japanese syllabary is decided. If the determination in step S11 is no, the process returns to step S7, and the index item relating to the Japanese syllabary can be changed from, for example, "A line" to "ka line".

If the determination in step S11 is YES, the index item relating to the Japanese syllabary corresponding to the current position of the cursor Cb is determined in step S12. Figure 4 (b)
In the example shown in, “A line” is designated. In other words, when combined with the search method specified in (a) of the figure, "A row"
"And by singer name," which begins with the five letters, is created.

The index items relating to the Japanese syllabary are more detailed: "A", "I", "U", ...
The Japanese syllabary may be set up to “ka”, “ki”, ..., “N”.

When the search range is narrowed in this way, the process proceeds to step S13, and the song name corresponding to the designated search method and the designated index is stored in the ROM 19 and the ROM cassette 2.
4 (c) as a song title menu Mc called from 1.
It is displayed as shown in. In the case of (a) and (b) of FIG.
Since it means "by singer name" that starts with the five letters "Ah", one or more song names are listed for each singer in the order of "Mizuho Aida,""YasukoAgawa," and so on. .

Then, the user moves the cursor Cc while looking at the music title menu Mc and selects a desired music title. This selection operation is dealt with by reading the position selection signal from the selection button 13 and aligning the position of the cursor Cc in step S14. The song titles outside the screen of the display 18 can be displayed on the screen by scrolling.

Thereafter, in step S15, a cancel signal from the cancel switch 14 is input, and in step S16, it is determined whether or not the cancel is performed. If the result of this judgment is YES, it means that another song title is desired to be selected, so in the present embodiment, the processing is returned to step S6 and the reselection starting from the display of the index menu Mb described above becomes possible. Step S
If NO in 16, ie, if the user has not pressed the cancel switch 14, the decision signal of the decision switch 15 is read in step 17, and it is further determined in step S18 whether or not the decision is made.

When the determination in step S18 is NO, the process returns to step S14, for example, and waits while monitoring the above-mentioned music title selecting operation. YES in step S18
When, the song name is finally selected, so the processing of steps 19 and 20 is performed. In step 19, the finally selected music title (for example, in the case of FIG. 4C, the music listed in the “third” of “Mizuho Aida” indicated by the position of the cursor Cc) is determined. In step 20, the code number of the confirmed song title is sent to the karaoke body 2 side as an optical signal via the LED 17. For this reason, as described above, the karaoke body 2 reproduces the audio signal and the video signal of the song title of the code number transmitted from the remote control transmitter 1.

In the above-mentioned structure and operation, the music title selecting means of the present invention is executed by the CPU 11 in step S1 of FIG.
.. to S19, the input interface 12, the selection button 13, the cancel switch 14, and the decision switch 15 are configured as essential parts, and the transmission means of the present invention is executed by the CPU 11 in step S20 of FIG.
The LED 17 is configured as a main part.

Since the present embodiment is as described above, it is not necessary to manually turn the code number list as in the conventional case. The user can automatically specify the desired song title by simply operating the limited three types of selection buttons and the enter / cancel switch according to the menu screen while looking at the display screen of the remote control transmitter 1. First, it is possible to almost eliminate erroneous input due to misreading of the code number and mistaken pressing as in the conventional case. Second, since it is not necessary to input the code number itself related to the combination of numbers and alphabets, and the operation for aligning the cursor position is the main operation, it is possible to consistently easily and quickly perform the selection of the song name and the input. . Thirdly, since the operation procedure is instructed on the display step by step, it is simple and easy to understand, and is easy to use even for those who are unfamiliar with machine operation.

The external appearance of the remote control transmitter as the karaoke music selecting device according to the present invention is not necessarily shown in FIG.
The present invention is not limited to the one described, and it is sufficient that the functions described are installed, and the appearance may be, for example, a laptop personal computer or a shape similar thereto.

Further, the menu for selecting a song name used in the present invention may be a simple one in which a plurality of song names are simply enumerated if necessary, or among the song names, singer names and genres. It may be formed by only one.

[0039]

As described above, the karaoke music selection apparatus according to the present invention is placed at the user's hand and a menu for selecting a music title displayed on the display (for example,
Menus with multiple song titles, song titles, singer names, or /
And a menu by genre), a desired song name can be selected, for example, by a simple operation of moving the cursor.
There is no need to go through the code number list and search for code numbers as in the past, which greatly reduces the trouble of selecting songs and reduces erroneous input due to the user handling the code numbers themselves. The desired music selection can be performed.

In particular, in the karaoke music selecting apparatus according to the present invention as defined in claims 4 to 6, a search method selection menu for determining a search method for a song name (for example, selection items by song name, singer name, and genre are shown. Menu), an index menu corresponding to the search method, and a song name menu corresponding to each sound are sequentially displayed, so that the song selection method is diversified, and various fields such as song name, singer name, and genre are displayed. In addition to being accessible from, the menu screens provide a timely suggestion of the music selection procedure, and even a person unfamiliar with machine operation can surely select music with little confusion.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a karaoke system equipped with a remote control transmitter according to an embodiment of the karaoke music selection apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a remote control transmitter in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart showing the processing of the CPU of the remote control transmitter in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating types of menu screens on a display and changes thereof in the same embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional remote control transmitter.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 remote control transmitter (karaoke selection device) 2 karaoke body (playback section) 10 remote control case 11 CPU 12 input interface 13 selection button 14 cancel switch 15 decision switch 16 output interface 17 LED 18 display 19 ROM 20 RAM 21 ROM cassette

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A karaoke system having a reproducing section for reproducing at least a karaoke performance signal according to music title information, and the user selects a desired song name by operating at a position remote from the reproducing section. In the karaoke song selecting device that sends the song name information regarding the selected song name to the playback unit, a display and a menu for song name selection are displayed on this display, and the user can select the desired song name on the menu. A song selecting device for karaoke, comprising: a song name selecting unit and a sending unit that sends song name information of the song name selected by the song name selecting unit to the reproducing unit. 2. The karaoke music selection device according to claim 1, wherein the menu includes at least a plurality of music titles. 3. The music selection device for karaoke according to claim 1, wherein the menu is one of menus by song name, singer name, and genre. 4. The music title selecting means displays a search method selecting menu for deciding a music title searching method on the display, and the user selects which searching method from the searching method selecting menu. The first judging means for judging whether the user has done so, the second displaying means for displaying the index menu on the display corresponding to the search method judged by the first judging means, and which one of the index menus has been selected by the user. A second judging means for judging whether an item is selected, a third displaying means for displaying a music title menu corresponding to the item judged by the second judging means on the display, and a user from the music title menu. 3. The karaoke music selecting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a third judging means for judging which music title has been selected by. 5. The search method selection menu includes song titles,
The music selection device for karaoke according to claim 4, which includes selection items by singer name and genre. 6. The music selection device for karaoke according to claim 1, wherein the music title selection means has an input means capable of making a necessary selection by moving a cursor on the menu screen.