JPH0854890A - Video karaoke sing-along machine device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a video KARAOKE sing-along machine device in which the time from a request to a playing is reduced even though a relatively slow speed interface is used to transfer music data from a disk reproducing unit to a KARAOKE playing unit. CONSTITUTION:A video storage disk stores the music data which are other than the KARAOKE music data stored in a hard disk 20 and the music data are beforehand stored in a memory 13 prior to a playing. If the selected KARAOKE music is stored in the disk 20, the subject music data are read from the disk 20 and the music is played. On the other hand, if the selected music is stored in the video storage disk, the subject music data are read from the memory 13 and the music is played only if it is discriminated that the video storage disk, in which the selected KARAOKE music is stored, is set.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video karaoke apparatus in which reproduced video is used in the background of lyrics display and which can be enjoyed by singing along with accompaniment music (so-called karaoke accompaniment).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a video karaoke apparatus, a video disk or the like in which video data, lyrics contents, and performance data are stored is reproduced for each song, but for commercial use, several thousand songs per apparatus are used. I needed to prepare a large number of video discs because I needed data. Then, a large number of these video discs are stored in a dedicated storage case and are exchanged for discs according to a request using an autochanger or the like. Therefore, an area occupied by a dedicated storage case for storing a large number of discs and an automatic changer becomes large, and there has been a demand for downsizing particularly for commercial use.

What has been realized as a proposal of this compactification is to store video data separately from the music data and display it as a background image when the music is played.
In this case, it is composed of a karaoke performance unit that receives a request for a karaoke piece, performs a piece of music, and the like, and a disk reproduction unit that reproduces an image storage disk in which image data serving as a background image is stored. Then, an image corresponding to the genre of the requested song is reproduced by the disc reproduction unit and transmitted to the karaoke performance unit side using, for example, an NTSC video cable or the like. On the karaoke performance unit side, the NTSC video signal and the lyrics data are combined and displayed on the monitor television.

On the other hand, music data is distributed by a telephone line, for example. This is because new songs are always provided, so for example, at night, the data of new songs is distributed from the host side on the telephone line and stored in the memory such as the hard disk in the commander on the terminal side. It is read from there and played in response to a request.

In this case, the karaoke playing unit sends the disc reproducing unit to the serial communication line 1
The genre of the selected tune is transmitted via 7, and an RS232C cable or the like is used as the transmitting means.

[0006]

By the way, it is necessary to consider the copyright and the like of a song played as a karaoke accompaniment. For example, in the case of a video disc that stores video data, lyrics content, and performance data for each song described above, there is an easily recognizable medium called the video disc. Therefore, depending on the number of video discs manufactured or sold, etc. It is possible to take measures such as collecting a royalty.

However, in a system in which music data is distributed from the host side to the terminal side through the telephone line or the like, one piece of music data on the host side is copied and transmitted to a large number of terminal sides and stored in a hard disk or the like. Since it can be done, it is difficult to grasp the number of distributions. Therefore, the possibility of copying and using without permission is higher than in the case of using a medium such as the above-mentioned video disk that is easily visible, and there is an inherently weak element in terms of copyright protection.

[0008] Due to such circumstances from the viewpoint of copyright protection, the method of transmitting only music data from the host side is not accepted, but a supply system using music data stored in an easily visible medium such as a disk. Is considered to be adopted. Therefore, for example, in the video storage disk in which the video data is stored separately from the music data, the music data which does not allow the method of transmitting only the music data from the host side is further stored, and when the music is played, It is conceivable to adopt a method in which the corresponding music data is read from the video storage disk and reproduced (played) in the disk reproduction unit.

In order to realize karaoke performance by such a system, an interface for transmitting the read music data from the disk reproducing unit side to the karaoke performance unit side for playing the karaoke music is required.
At this time, if data is transferred using a relatively low speed interface such as the RS232C cable described above,
It takes about several minutes to transfer the songs, which is not preferable as a karaoke device, and cannot substantially meet the user's request.

Therefore, it is desirable to shorten the period from request to performance as much as possible. For example, SCSI (smal
It is conceivable to use a parallel interface such as a computer system interface) that enables high-speed communication. However, when such a high-speed interface is used, the interface-related configuration becomes complicated and expensive, so while using a relatively low-speed interface such as the RS232C described above, from the request to the performance in actual use. It is desirable to be able to do it in a short time.

In view of the above problems, the present invention uses a relatively low speed interface for transferring music data from the disc reproducing unit to the karaoke playing unit,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a video karaoke device that enables a request to be played in a short time during actual use.

[0012]

A video karaoke apparatus according to claim 1, which is formed to achieve the above object, has a configuration as shown in FIG.
As illustrated in the basic configuration diagram of FIG. 1, performance information storage means for storing performance information of a plurality of karaoke songs, selecting means for selecting a desired song from the plurality of karaoke songs, and selection by the selecting means The karaoke performance unit having karaoke performance means for performing karaoke performance based on the performance information of the karaoke piece, and predetermined video information is read from a video storage disk storing the video information and reproduced in accordance with the performance of the karaoke piece. In a video karaoke device including a disc reproducing unit including a disc reproducing means, the video storing disc stores performance information of a predetermined karaoke piece other than the karaoke piece stored in the performance information storing means. The disc playback unit is a disc set that detects whether or not the video storage disc is set. The karaoke performance unit further comprises a disconnection means, and a reproduction temporary storage means for reading out and storing the performance information of the karaoke piece stored in the video storage disk in advance before the performance. Is a storage destination determination means for determining whether the selected karaoke piece is stored in the performance information storage means or the video storage disk, and the storage destination determination means stores the performance information storage means in the performance information storage means. When it is determined that the karaoke piece is a stored karaoke piece, the corresponding performance information is read from the performance information storage means and played, and when it is determined that the karaoke piece is stored in the video storage disk. Is set to a video storage disc storing the karaoke piece based on the result of the determination made by the disc set determining means. Only when disconnection, characterized by comprising a performance control means for playing performance information corresponding read from temporary memory means for the reproduction, the.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the video karaoke device according to the first aspect, the performance information storage means stores the performance information of the karaoke piece supplied via the communication line. It is characterized by The video karaoke apparatus according to claim 3 is the video karaoke apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the karaoke playing unit and the disc playing unit are connected via serial data transfer means, and the karaoke playing unit includes: The performance information stored in the video storage disk when the power is turned on is stored in the reproduction temporary storage means.

A video karaoke apparatus according to a fourth aspect is the video karaoke apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the video information in the video storage disk is composed of a plurality of edited videos, and the disk reproducing means is It is characterized in that the plurality of edited videos are randomly selected, and sequentially read and reproduced.

On the other hand, in the video karaoke apparatus according to a fifth aspect, in the video karaoke apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the genres are individually set for a plurality of edited videos constituting the video information in the video storage disk. The disc reproducing means includes a genre determining means for determining a genre corresponding to the karaoke piece selected by the selecting means, and randomly selects an edited video of the genre determined by the genre determining means, It is characterized by sequentially reading and reproducing.

[0016]

According to the video karaoke apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention configured as described above, in the karaoke performance unit, a desired song is selected from the plurality of karaoke songs by the selection means. Then, the karaoke playing means performs the karaoke performance based on the performance information of the selected karaoke piece, while in the disc reproducing unit, the disc reproducing means reproduces predetermined video information from the video storage disc storing the video information. Read out and play back according to performance of karaoke song.

Performance information storage means on the karaoke performance unit side stores performance information of a plurality of karaoke pieces.
On the other hand, the video storage disc stores performance information of a predetermined karaoke piece other than the karaoke piece stored in the performance information storage means. The performance information of the karaoke piece stored in the video storage disk can be read and stored in advance in the temporary storage means for reproduction of the karaoke performance unit before the performance.

The karaoke playing means performs the karaoke performance based on the performance information of the selected karaoke piece as described above. The storage destination determining means stores the selected karaoke piece in the performance information storage means. It is determined whether it has been stored or stored in the video storage disk, and the performance control means controls as follows according to the storage destination.

That is, when it is determined that the karaoke piece is stored in the performance information storage means, the corresponding performance information is read out from the performance information storage means and played, while the karaoke piece stored in the video storage disk. If it is determined that the song is a song, only when it is determined that the video storage disc storing the karaoke song is set based on the determination result by the disc setting determination means,
The corresponding performance information is read from the reproduction temporary storage means and played.

As a result, the predetermined karaoke piece stored in the video storage disk is played only when the video storage disk storing the karaoke piece is set, so that the above invention As described in the section of the problem to be solved by the authors, the method of transmitting only song data from the viewpoint of copyright protection as described in the section is not accepted. Any invention can be applied. That is, the performance information of the karaoke piece stored in the video storage disc is read out in advance before the performance and stored in the playback temporary storage means. Since the condition is that it is set, only the song data will not be walked and played alone without a video storage disc.

Moreover, since the performance information in the video storage disk is not read out at the time of performance, it is read out before the performance and stored in the temporary storage for reproduction. Therefore, it is necessary to transfer the performance information at high speed. There is no. Therefore, even if it takes several minutes to transfer one song when transferring using a relatively low-speed interface such as RS232C, there is no inconvenience in actual use as a karaoke device. And during the actual performance,
Since the performance information is read from the temporary storage means for reproduction and played in the karaoke performance unit, this can be processed faster than the performance information in the video storage disk is read at the time of performance by using a high-speed interface.
Really preferable.

As described above, a relatively low-speed interface such as a serial interface is used to transfer the song data from the disc reproducing unit to the karaoke playing unit, and the request to the performance can be performed in a short time during actual use. It is possible. The advantage of using a relatively low-speed interface that requires a simple structure and inexpensive equipment is great.

If the performance information of the karaoke piece supplied through the communication line is stored in the performance information storage means, it is possible to store a new piece of music on the telephone line at night, for example. By distributing the data of (1) from the host side, new songs can always be provided, and the karaoke software can be easily enhanced.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the karaoke playing unit and the disk playing unit are connected via the serial data transfer means, and the karaoke playing unit is stored in the video storage disk when the power is turned on. The performance information is stored in the reproduction temporary storage means. As described above, the karaoke playing unit and the disc playing unit may be connected to each other through a relatively low-speed interface. Therefore, the karaoke playing unit and the disc playing unit may be connected via the serial data transfer means, and instead, the playing information of the video storage disc is set when the power is started. Is read out and transferred to the temporary storage means for reproduction on the side of the karaoke performance unit, no inconvenience will occur when actually used as a karaoke device.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the video information in the video storage disk is composed of a plurality of edited videos, and the disk reproducing means randomly selects the plurality of edited videos and sequentially reads them. Reproduce. For example, if one edited image is kept for about 30 seconds, six edited images will be combined in a song of 3 minutes, and a series of background images by the combination will be very many types. And since there are as many images as the number of edited images that can be displayed corresponding to the beginning of a song, even though the video information source is the same as a whole, for karaoke users, there are many types of backgrounds. I feel as if there is a video. Therefore, it is possible to supply a background image that the user does not get tired of using a small number of image information sources.

On the other hand, according to the fifth aspect, the genre is set individually for each of the plurality of edited videos forming the video information in the video storage disk, and the genre determining means included in the disk playback means is selected. The genre corresponding to the karaoke piece selected by the means is determined. Then, the edited video of the genre determined by the genre determination means is randomly selected, and sequentially read and reproduced. Thus, the genre determination is not necessarily performed on the karaoke performance unit side, but may be performed on the disc reproduction unit side.

[0027]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A video karaoke apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the video karaoke apparatus of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the video karaoke apparatus is a karaoke performance unit 1
0, a disc reproducing unit 30, an amplifier mixer 50, a speaker 52, a microphone 54, a monitor television 56 and the like.

In this video karaoke device, the user operates the karaoke performance unit 10 to select a song to sing. The karaoke performance unit 10 stores lyrics data and performance data as music piece data in a hard disk 20 or the like described later, and when a music piece is selected, the karaoke performance unit 10 outputs the lyrics data and the performance data in synchronization with each other. To do. Eventually, the user will sing along with the performance while referring to the lyrics.

The performance data output from the karaoke performance unit 10 is converted into an analog performance signal and then sent to the amplifier mixer 50 to be electrically amplified and input through the microphone 54 by the user's singing voice. And is mixed in a proper ratio. The mixed audio signal is output to the outside as a performance sound by the speaker 52.

On the other hand, the lyrics data output by the karaoke performance unit 10 in synchronization with the performance data is displayed on the monitor television 56 after being synthesized (superimposed) with the NTSC video signal sent from the disc reproduction unit 30 side. . NT sent from the disc playback unit 30
The SC video signal is generated by playing the video storage disk in the disk playback unit 30. This NT
The SC video signal serves as a background video on the monitor television 56 when the user sings while referring to the lyrics, and needs to be a video of a genre that matches the content and image of the song selected by the user.

Next, the internal structure of the karaoke performance unit 10 will be further described. As shown in FIG. 1, the karaoke performance unit 10 includes a controller 12, a memory 13,
Operation panel 14, serial input / output circuit (SIO) 16,
Modem 18, hard disk 20, MIDI sound source 22,
A video mixer 24 and the like are provided.

The controller 12 is a microcomputer for controlling the karaoke performance unit 10,
When a song is selected by the user, the genre of the song is transmitted to the disc reproducing unit 30, and song data (performance data and lyrics data) is read from the hard disk 20 in response to the performance of the song. Control such as sending performance data to the MIDI sound source 22 and lyrics data to the video mixer 24 is performed.

The memory 13 is for reading out and storing in advance the music piece data stored in a video storage disk, which will be described later, and corresponds to the reproduction temporary storage means of the present invention. The operation panel 14 is used for the user to select a song to be sung, adjust the pitch of the performance sound, adjust the volume balance between the performance and the song, and perform other adjustments such as echo, volume, and tone. It is the operation panel of. Further, a remote controller 14a is provided for the operation panel 14,
The user can perform operations such as selecting songs remotely. The operation panel 14 and the remote controller 14a correspond to the selecting means of the present invention.

The serial input / output circuit (SIO) 16 is an interface circuit for transmitting the genre of the selected song to the disc reproducing unit 30 via the serial communication line 17. In this embodiment, an RS232C cable is used. The modem 18 modulates the signal transmitted through the communication path when receiving the music data transmitted through the telephone line and transmitting information such as what music is being played to the outside. This is a modulation / demodulation device that performs demodulation. In the video karaoke apparatus of this embodiment, since new songs are always provided, the data of the new songs is sent from the host computer (not shown) to the karaoke playing unit 10 via the modem 18 at night over the telephone line. And stored in the hard disk 20.

The hard disk 20 is a storage device for storing performance data as song data, lyrics data, and genre data set corresponding to each performance data, and corresponds to the performance information storage means of the present invention. . The performance data referred to here is data based on the so-called MIDI standard in which the types of tone colors, pitches, volumes, sounding lengths, etc. are arranged in chronological order of performance.

The MIDI sound source 22 is a sound source that stores performance sounds of various musical instruments and generates performance signals of the musical instruments based on the performance data sent from the hard disk 20.
The generated musical instrument performance signal is sent to the amplifier mixer 50. The video mixer 24 is a device that synthesizes the lyrics data sent from the hard disk 20 and the NTSC video signal sent from the disk reproducing unit 30. The lyrics data inverts the lyrics in synchronization with the output of the musical instrument to inform the user of the corresponding singing portion.

Next, the disc reproducing unit 30 will be described with reference to FIG. The disc reproducing unit 30 is a unit for sending an image of the corresponding genre to the karaoke playing unit 10 as an NTSC video signal based on the genre information of the music sent from the karaoke playing unit 10. The disc reproduction unit 30 reproduces a video storage disc (not shown) to generate a video signal.

The video storage disk used in this embodiment has the following features. Video storage disk is 12c
m is a CD (compact disc) size video disc in which video data is compressed and stored according to the MPEG standard. By being compressed, one CD-size disc stores one hour of video. Then, this video is classified into five genres A to E, and each video of these genres A to E is an edited video group consisting of 24 edited videos with one edited video being 30 seconds. It is configured. That is, in this embodiment, each genre consists of 12 minutes of video. From now on, this 30-second edited video will be called a chapter.

The video storage disk used in this embodiment stores not only the above-mentioned video data but also predetermined music data and genre data set corresponding to each music data. Similar to the song data stored in the hard disk 20, the song data is also composed of performance data and lyrics data. The performance data includes timbre type, pitch, volume, pronunciation length, etc. in chronological order of performance. The data is based on the so-called MIDI standard.

Here, the predetermined music piece data stored in the video storage disk will be described together with comparison with the music piece data stored in the hard disk 20. As described above, the music data stored in the hard disk 20 is transmitted from the host computer (not shown) over the telephone line and sent to the karaoke performance unit 10 through the modem 18. It is music data of a type that does not cause any problems even if distributed over the communication line. On the other hand, the song data stored on the video storage disc does not allow the method of transmitting only the song data from the viewpoint of copyright protection as described in the section of the problem to be solved by the above invention, and the visual confirmation of the disc etc. This is the type of music data that can be recognized if it is a supply method using an easy medium. Hereinafter, a method of transmitting only song data will not be accepted, and a song required to be stored in the video storage disc will be referred to as a “managed song”. An identification flag is set in the song data in order to distinguish this management song from other songs. If the identification flag is "1", it is a managed song, and if it is "0", it is a managed song. It is a song other than the managed song.

Further, the video storage disk is provided with a header portion, and the header portion has information about the chapter number and genre of the edited video stored in the video storage disk and information for distinguishing song data ( For example, the song number) is stored as index information.

Next, the internal structure of the disc reproducing unit 30 for reproducing such a video storage disc will be described with reference to FIG.
Will be explained. As shown in FIG. 2, the disc reproducing unit 30 includes a serial input / output circuit (SIO) 32, a first
Disc changer player (hereinafter, referred to as first player) 34a, second disc changer player (hereinafter, referred to as second player) 34b, switching circuit 36, CP
U38, ROM33, RAM35, data reading circuit 4
0, compressed data decoding circuit 42, NTSC converter 4
4 and so on.

The serial input / output circuit (SIO) 1 of the karaoke performance unit 10 is connected by the serial communication line 17.
Serial input / output circuit (SIO) 32 connected to 6
Receives various control data such as genre information of a selected song and a reproduction command sent from the karaoke performance unit 10, and serially communicates the song data read from the video storage disk by the first and second players 34a and 34b. This is an interface circuit for transmitting to the karaoke performance unit 10 side via the line 17.

Each of the first and second players 34a and 34b is composed of a well-known changer section and a player section (both not shown). The changer unit is equipped with 10 video storage disks, and the predetermined order or CPU 38
Replace the video storage disk according to the instructions from. The player section reproduces the video storage disc set by the changer section. First and second players 3
The CPU 38 executes the process of selectively reproducing the video storage disk by 4a and 34b.

The switching circuit 36 includes a first player 34 and a second player 34.
It is a circuit for switching which of the video signals output from a and 34b is sent to the data reading circuit 40. As will be described later in the description of the operation, since chapters of the corresponding genre are sequentially reproduced at random, the first and second players 34a and 34b can be switched and reproduced accordingly.

The CPU 38 is the disk reproducing unit 30.
It is a microcomputer that controls the overall operation. C
The processing executed by the PU 38 will be described later with reference to FIGS. The data reading circuit 40 includes a sub-microcomputer 41, and is a device for reading an electric signal sent from the switching circuit 36 as digital data. The digital data read by the data reading circuit 40 is sent to the compressed data decoding circuit 42.

The compressed data decoding circuit 42 is an electric circuit for decoding the compressed digital data sent from the data reading circuit 40 into a video signal. The video signal decoded by the compressed data decoding circuit 42 is sent to the NTSC converter 44. The NTSC converter 44 is an electric circuit that converts the video signal decoded by the compressed data decoding circuit 42 into a commercial color television signal (NTSC). The NTSC video signal converted by the NTSC converter 44 is sent to the video mixer 24 of the karaoke performance unit 10.

Next, the operation of the video karaoke apparatus thus constructed will be described. First, a process of storing music data will be described before actually receiving a request and playing a corresponding music or reproducing a video. In the case of this embodiment, the memory 13 and the hard disk 2 are used to store the music data in the karaoke performance unit 10.
There are two, 0.

Explaining the memory 13 side, in this embodiment, when the power source is activated, the disc reproducing unit 3
On the 0 side, the music data read from the video storage disk by the first and second players 34a, 34b is transmitted to the karaoke performance unit 10 side via the serial communication line 17. On the karaoke performance unit side, the music data input via the serial input / output circuit (SIO) 16 is stored in the memory 13.

On the other hand, for the hard disk 20 side,
As described above, new song data is transmitted from the host computer (not shown) via the telephone line at night, for example, and stored in the hard disk 20 via the modem 18. In this way, the music data is stored in the memory 13 and the hard disk 20, respectively, and actually provided to the user.

Next, the video / performance control processing of the video karaoke apparatus will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. First, the processing executed by the controller 12 of the karaoke playing unit 10 is shown in FIG.

First, it is judged whether or not a song has been selected (step 10. The step will be simply referred to as S hereinafter), and the song can be selected by directly operating the operation panel 14 or the remote controller 14a as described above. When done (S10:
YES), the selected song data is read from the memory 13 or the hard disk 20 (S20). Then, it is determined whether or not the music is a managed music by referring to the identification flag in the music data (S30). As described above, if the identification flag is "1", it is a managed song, and if it is "0", it is a song other than the managed song.

If it is a managed song (S30:
(YES), in S40, the disc reproducing unit 30 side is inquired about the presence / absence of a video storage disc in which the management song is stored. On the side of the disc reproducing unit 30, the processing shown in FIG. 4 is performed in response to this inquiry. That is, in S210 of FIG. 4, it is determined whether or not there is a corresponding disk inquired, and if there is a corresponding disk (S210: YES), "Yes" is returned (S210).
220), if there is none (S210: NO), "no" is returned (S230).

The determination in S210 will be supplemented.
As mentioned above, in the header part of the video storage disk,
For example, a song number that distinguishes the stored song data is stored as index information. Therefore, based on this index information, it is judged whether or not there is a video storage disk storing the music piece data of the inquired music piece number. It should be noted that, instead of being read for the first time when an inquiry is made from the controller 12 of the karaoke playing unit 10, when the video storage disks are set, the index information of all the set video storage disks is read and stored in the RAM 35. It is preferable in terms of actual processing to allow it.

Further, if the index information is rewritten in the RAM 35 every time the video storage disk is mounted, when the mounted video storage disk is removed, the index information from the video storage disk is removed. Does not remain. Therefore, there is no erroneous determination that the video storage disc is not loaded but only the index information remains and it is determined that it is loaded. The process of FIG. 4 corresponds to the execution of the process as the disc set determining means of the present invention.

Returning to FIG. 3, in S50, S2 in FIG.
Based on the response from S20 or S230, it is determined whether or not there is a corresponding video storage disk. If there is a corresponding disc (S50: YES), a video reproduction command in a predetermined corresponding genre is issued to the disc reproduction unit 30 (S60), and the music data read from the memory 13 in S20 is reproduced. (S70). Then, when the reproduction is completed (S80: YES), a video stop command is issued (S90), and this processing is ended once.

On the other hand, when there is no corresponding video storage disk in S50 (S50: NO), the user is notified that reproduction cannot be performed, for example, by displaying the fact on the monitor television 56 (S100). Then, the process related to the reproduction stop is performed (S110), and this process is once ended.

If it is determined in S30 that the music is not a managed tune, an image reproduction command in a predetermined corresponding genre is issued to the disc reproduction unit 30 (S120), and S2 is executed.
At 0, the music data read from the hard disk 20 is reproduced (S130), and the process proceeds to S80.

Next, S60 or S120 of FIG.
The operation of the disc reproducing unit 30 which has received the video reproducing instruction in step 3 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the disc reproducing unit 30 waits for the reproduction start command (S31).
0), if there is a playback start command (S310: YE
S) First, the player number P to be reproduced in the first and second players 34a and 34b is set to 0 (S320). The player number P has "0" and "1". In the present embodiment, when the player number P = 0, the reproduction is performed by the first player 34a, and when the player number P = 1, the other second player 34b. It is set to play.

When the reproduction player is determined, the reproduction chapter S is randomly determined according to the next applicable genre table. This genre table is a table in which edited videos are classified according to genres. Randomly select the edited video based on this genre table,
The reproduction chapter S is determined, but this genre table is configured to check what has been selected once, and to clear when all chapters have been selected once. The selection in S330 is to randomly select from the chapters without this check.

After the chapter number S to be reproduced is determined in S330, the other player (player number P in this case).
= 1) is being reproduced (S340), and if not being reproduced (S340: NO), the player of the current chapter number (P = 0 in this case) determines the chapter of the chapter number S. Playback is started (S350).
In the following S360, the reproduction player is converted. That is,
The player number P is converted to "1" if the present is "0", and is converted to "0" if the present is "1". And
Returning to S330, the following processing is repeated.

The first time is reproduced by the first player 34a having the player number P = 0 set at S330, and the second time is being reproduced by the other player (in this case, the first player 34a) (S340). : YES),
It is determined whether or not a video stop command is input (S37
0) If the image is not stopped (S370: NO), the process returns to S340. Then, when the other player, the first player 34a is not playing (that is, the previous playing has ended) (S340: NO), the second time is played by the second player 34b with the player number P = 1. (S350).

In this way, the reproduction by the first player 34a and the second player 34b is sequentially repeated. When it is determined in S370 that the image is stopped, the reproduction is stopped in both the first and second players 34a and 34b (S380), and the present process is ended.

Although the controller 12 of the karaoke performance unit 10 corresponds to the karaoke performance means, among the processes executed by the controller 12, S30 of FIG. S130
Corresponds to execution of processing as performance control means. Also,
S310 to S380 of FIG. 5 correspond to the execution of the process as the disc reproducing means.

As described above, according to the video karaoke apparatus of this embodiment, a plurality of pieces of music data are stored in the hard disk 20 of the karaoke performance unit side 10, while the video storage disk is stored in the hard disk 20. Predetermined song data other than the created song data is stored. The music data stored in the video storage disk can be read and stored in advance in the memory 13 of the karaoke playing unit 10 before playing.

The karaoke performance unit 10 performs the karaoke performance based on the song data of the karaoke song in response to the request. Whether or not the selected karaoke song is a management song stored in the video storage disc. Judge,
The following control is performed according to the determination result. That is, when it is determined that the song is a managed song, the karaoke performance based on the song data is performed only when it is determined that the video storage disk storing the song data is currently set.

As a result, the predetermined karaoke piece stored in the video storage disk is played only when the video storage disk storing the karaoke piece is set, so that the above invention As described in the section of the problem to be solved by the above, from the viewpoint of copyright protection, etc., the method of transmitting only song data is not accepted, but it is also possible to support songs that are accepted if it is a supply method with an easily visible medium such as a disc. Is. That is, the music data stored in the video storage disk is read out in advance and stored in the memory 13 before the performance. However, in order to read the performance from the music data and play it, it is necessary to set the video storage disk. Since it is a condition, only the song data will not be walked and played alone without the video storage disk.

Moreover, since the performance information in the video storage disk is not read out at the time of performance, it is read out before the performance and stored in the memory 13, so that it is not necessary to transfer it at high speed. Therefore, when transferring using a relatively low-speed interface such as the RS232C cable of this embodiment, it takes about several minutes to transfer one song, but there is no inconvenience when actually used as a karaoke device.

As described above, it is possible to use a relatively low-speed interface to transfer the music data from the disc reproducing unit 30 to the karaoke playing unit 10, but to make the request to the performance in a short time during actual use. Of.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a video karaoke device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a disc reproducing unit of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing executed by a controller of a karaoke performance unit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process executed by a CPU of a disc reproducing unit.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process executed by a CPU of a disc reproducing unit.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the basic configuration of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Karaoke playing unit 12 ... Controller 13 ... Memory 14 ... Operation panel 16, 32 ... Serial input / output circuit 17 ... Serial communication line 20 ... Hard disk 22 ... MIDI sound source 24 ... Video mixer 30 ... Disk playback unit 34a ... First player 34b ... second player 36 ... switching circuit 40 ... data reading circuit 41 ... sub-microcomputer 42 ... compressed data decoding circuit 44 ... NTSC converter 50 ... amplifier mixer 52 ... speaker 56 ... monitor TV

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. Performance information storage means for storing performance information of a plurality of karaoke songs, selecting means for selecting a desired song from the plurality of karaoke songs, and performance information of the karaoke songs selected by the selecting means. A karaoke performance unit having karaoke performance means for performing karaoke performance based on the above, and a disk playback means for reading out predetermined video information from a video storage disk storing video information and playing back the karaoke music in accordance with the performance. In the video karaoke device including a disc playback unit, the video storage disc stores performance information of a predetermined karaoke song other than the karaoke songs stored in the performance information storage means. The reproducing unit is provided with a disc set determining means for detecting whether or not the video storage disc is set. The karaoke playing unit is provided with a playback temporary storage means for prereading and storing the performance information of the karaoke piece stored in the video storage disk before the performance, and the karaoke playing means is selected. Storage destination determination means for determining whether the karaoke piece is stored in the performance information storage means or the video storage disk, and a karaoke piece stored in the performance information storage means by the storage destination determination means If it is determined that the karaoke piece is the karaoke piece stored in the video storage disk, the corresponding performance information is read from the performance information storage means and played. When it is determined that the video storage disk storing the karaoke song is set based on the determination result by the set determination means Only the performance control means for playing performance information corresponding read from temporary memory means for the reproduction, video karaoke apparatus characterized by comprising a. 2. The video karaoke apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the performance information storage means stores performance information of a karaoke piece supplied via a communication line. 3. The karaoke performance unit and the disc reproduction unit are connected via a serial data transfer means, and the karaoke performance unit reproduces the performance information stored in the video storage disc when the power is turned on. The video karaoke apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the video karaoke apparatus is stored in a temporary storage means. 4. The video information in the video storage disk comprises:
2. The video karaoke apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the video karaoke apparatus is composed of a plurality of edited videos, and the disc playback means randomly selects the plurality of edited videos and sequentially reads and plays them. 5. The genre is set individually for each of a plurality of edited videos constituting the video information in the video storage disk, and the disk playback means corresponds to the karaoke piece selected by the selection means. 5. The video karaoke apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising genre determining means for determining a genre, wherein the edited video of the genre determined by the genre determining means is randomly selected, and sequentially read and reproduced.