JPH10187168A - Karaoke device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display a sub-picture on which the taste of a user is sufficiently reflected on a display of a sub-channel. SOLUTION: A main controlling part using a central processing unit 4 as a center selects plural background pictures stored in a video CD, synthesizes the selected background pictures with the song lyrics, and outputs it to a display 16a of a main ch. Attribute information such as the genre is assigned to each musical composition, and the main controlling part updates and generates the taste list of a user based on the history of the attribute information related with plural reproduced KARAOKE (orchestration without lyrics) musical compositions. The main controlling part selects plural sub-picture such as CM pictures stored in the video CD according to the taste information, and outputs the selected sub-pictures to a display 16b of a sub-ch.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a karaoke apparatus for performing karaoke by synchronizing accompaniment music and lyrics images of a music specified by a user to a speaker and a display, respectively. The present invention relates to a karaoke apparatus for displaying from a channel display.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In addition to the original karaoke image, a separate CM
JP-A-8-27 as a device for outputting and displaying (advertising) images
There is one disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2341. This conventional apparatus is dedicated to CM image output, and is separate from a karaoke apparatus that performs overall karaoke performance processing.
That is, this conventional device includes a main control unit for controlling the entire system, a ROM storing a program describing a control flow, a hard disk device storing various data, a dedicated video CD storing a plurality of types of CM images, and C
The system is composed of a CM display on which M images are output and displayed.

The conventional apparatus as described above first obtains genre information of the music being played from a karaoke apparatus. Then, a CM image corresponding to the user's preference determined based on this information is selected, read out from the dedicated CD-ROM device, and output to a CM dedicated display.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, since it is a separate system from the karaoke apparatus, the cost becomes a problem and it becomes a factor to hinder the introduction.
In addition, securing the installation space is also a problem because it is desirable to increase the number of users who can enter a karaoke box as much as possible. Further, from the point of view of operation, when selecting a CM image to be output, it may not always reflect the user's preference simply by responding to the genre of the music being played. For example, when a teenager sings only pops, if he chooses enka for half a joke, arranges it in a pop style, and sings, the CM image becomes enka to match the original song, and the singer's direction And the atmosphere of the CM image is different and white.

The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a karaoke apparatus that displays a sub-image on a sub-channel display that sufficiently reflects a user's preference. .

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a karaoke apparatus according to the present invention basically has the following requirements (1) to (4). Claim 1).

(1) A main control unit for integrally controlling the entire apparatus receives a user's selection of a tune, retrieves karaoke information of a tune selected by the user from a predetermined storage means, reproduces the karaoke information, and plays accompaniment music. Is output to the speaker, and the lyrics image is output to the display of the main channel in synchronization with the accompaniment music.

(2) The main control unit includes means for selecting a large number of background images stored in a predetermined storage means. The main control unit combines the selected background image with the lyric image to synthesize the lyric image. Output to the display.

(3) Attribute information such as genre is assigned to each of the music pieces, and the main control unit determines a user's preference based on a history of the attribute information on a plurality of karaoke information reproduced. Generate while updating information.

(4) The main control unit includes means for selecting sub-images such as CM images stored in a large number of predetermined storage means in accordance with the preference information, and sub-images selected by the sub-images are stored as sub-images. Output to the channel display.

In the karaoke apparatus having the above requirements, the display of the sub-channel is a dedicated display different from the display of the main channel (claim 2). Alternatively, the display of the main channel also serves as the display of the sub-channel, and the background image and the sub-image are displayed on the display in a screen division manner (claim 3).

Further, the storage means for the sub-image and the storage means for the background image are a common storage device and have a plurality of systems, and the background image is reproduced from the storage means of a certain system. At this time, the sub-image is reproduced from the storage unit of another system (claim 4). Alternatively, the storage unit for the sub-image is a dedicated unit different from the storage unit for the background image (claim 5). Alternatively, the sub-image is distributed from a host device through the communication line and stored in the storage device.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

==== Basic Configuration and Function ==== The karaoke apparatus 1 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is a terminal of a communication karaoke system, and is connected to a host apparatus 2 and a communication network 3. Central processing unit 4 in karaoke apparatus 1
Is a central element of the above-mentioned main control unit for integrally controlling the entire karaoke apparatus, and is a computer main body including a CPU, a RAM and a ROM. The central processing unit 4 is connected to the communication network 3 via a modem 5. The karaoke data distributed from the host device 2 to the karaoke device 1 includes a title of a song corresponding to a song number, accompaniment music data according to the MIDI standard, lyrics data including synchronization information with the accompaniment, and the like. The new karaoke data is the host device 2
And is stored in the hard disk device 6a.
Many types of still image data are also stored in the hard disk device 6a as background image information.

The main body of the karaoke apparatus 1 has an operation panel 7 for a user interface including a display and a keyboard, and a remote control receiver 9 corresponding to a remote control transmitter 8.
It also has. The operation panel 7 and the remote control receiving unit 9 are connected to the central processing unit 4 via the operation control unit 10.
The karaoke user performs various operation inputs such as music selection using the operation panel 7 of the main body or the remote control transmitter 8, and response information of the apparatus to the operation input is displayed on the operation panel 7.

The reproduction of the music is performed in the following procedure under the control of the central processing unit 4. The accompaniment music data and the lyrics data of the designated music number are read from the hard disk device 6a. Accompaniment music data composed of MIDI signals are sequentially input to the synthesizer 11, converted into audio signals, and output from the speaker 13 via the audio amplifier unit 12. In synchronization with the audio output, the central processing unit 4 sequentially converts the lyrics data into a character string and
14 and a process of coloring the lyric character string to indicate the progress of the music. The contents of the video RAM 14 are displayed on the display 16a of the main channel (main channel) from the display control unit 15. Here, an image output from the main channel is defined as a main image. Of course, the audio amplifier section 12 has a mixing function with the output of the microphone 17.

When the background image information is moving image data, the video image data is distributed and stored in two systems by the video CD player 18a,
Reproduced at 18b. The video control unit 19 is composed of a microcomputer that operates in response to a command from the central processing unit 4, performs a process of selecting background image data to be reproduced, and outputs the selected and determined background image data to the video CD players 18a, 18a.
b, the compressed background image data is restored and transferred to the display control unit 15. Display control unit 15
Is a background image signal from the video controller 19 and a video RAM.
The images of the fourteen lyrics character strings are combined and displayed on the main channel display 16a. When the background image information is still image data, the still image data is read from the hard disk device 6b in which it is stored, developed on the video RAM 14, and displayed on the main channel display 16a via the display control unit 15.

==== Main image output to main channel display ==== Each piece of music handled by this device is classified into a plurality of types according to the tone of the song, and each piece of karaoke data stored in the hard disk device 6a Indicates a tune genre number. The tune genre number is one of attribute information of karaoke data described later. On the other hand, the background image to be synthesized with the lyrics image is classified from the viewpoint of what kind of tune-like background display is suitable for the atmosphere, and the background image data stored in the hard disk device 6a or the video CD is included in the background image data. Indicates a tune genre number.

When the music is reproduced, the karaoke data corresponding to the music number is stored in the hard disk drive 6.
a, the tune genre number added to the data is obtained. One or more are randomly selected from the background image data group having the same tune genre number, and are selected from the main channel display 1 as described above.
6a.

==== Sub-image output to sub-channel display ==== First, the outline is briefly described. Each karaoke data is accompanied by various attribute information including the above-mentioned tune genre number. The unit generates the user's preference list while updating the user's preference list based on the history of the attribute information of the karaoke data reproduced including the reserved music to be played. Then, the main control unit selects an appropriate one from a large number of sub-images such as a CM image in accordance with the preference information, and
h to the display 16b.

The sub-image is, for example, a dedicated CM image, and includes information on hit charts and new records by genre, video clips of new records, products such as shampoos, cars, skis, movies to be released in theaters, and rentals. It is composed of various advertisement objects such as video advertisement information. In the case of hit chart information or new music information, these are stored in the hard disk device 6b as character information periodically distributed via the communication network 3 of FIG. The content is, for example, a monthly best 100 of pops or a new song released this month, and when displayed on the display 16b, a horizontally written title scrolls up on the display. The background image combined at this time may be a still image such as an animation or a moving image of the MPEG2 standard distributed from the host device 2 and stored in the hard disk device 6b, or a CD (not shown).
-Moving image data of a moving image with sound called a video clip of a new music stored in the ROM may be used. The character information and the background image are separately and independently selected, and are synthesized and output on the display 16b.

Products such as shampoos, cars, skis, etc., movies to be released in theaters, and advertisement information for rental videos are stored in a video CD. These video CDs
Are stored separately in two systems of video CD players 18a and 18b, and a karaoke background image synthesized with the lyrics image is reproduced and output from one system toward the main channel. In this case, the sub-image is reproduced and output from the other system toward the sub-channel, and the channel is switched for each system as needed so as not to interfere with each other.

==== Preference List Update Generation ==== The preference list update generation operation will now be described. First, the operation shown in FIG. 2A and the sub-image selection operation described later (FIG. 2B) ), And these operations are executed mainly by the central processing unit 4.

As shown in FIG. 2A, it is first determined whether or not there is a song to be reproduced next, that is, a reserved song. If there is a song, a preference list is updated and generated as described later. A background image to be output on the display 16a of the main channel is selected (preparation for karaoke performance, steps A10 → A20). Next, the selected background video is synthesized with the lyrics image and output is started (start of karaoke performance,
Step A30). When the output of the main channel to the display is completed (end of the karaoke performance), it is determined whether or not there is a reserved tune. If there is no tune, the process waits until a tune is inputted (step A40 → A10).

Here, the update of the preference list in step A20 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the central processing unit 4 generates the preference list in a predetermined stack area. In this preference list, in addition to the reserved music to be reproduced from now on, attribute information of a total of five pieces of music from the latest four pieces of music reproduced up to immediately before is arranged in order from the top. When updating this list, each attribute information is set to 1 in the current preference list stored in the stack area.
Each piece of attribute information that is currently being reproduced is stored as the latest one by sequentially storing the oldest ones as music pieces.

As shown in FIG. 3, the attribute information handled here includes CM products used in composers and TV commercials, including the above-described tune genres, and TV drama titles used in opening and ending, as shown in FIG. , Such as a singer (not shown). These attribute information are distributed from the host device 2 via the communication network 3 and stored in the hard disk device 6a along with each karaoke data to be reproduced.
This is developed and referred to in the RAM of the central processing unit 4 as needed. Or, apart from the karaoke data to be played,
A set of attribute information corresponding to each music number used when making a reservation may be prepared as a music attribute list, and this may be distributed and stored from the host device 2 to the hard disk device 6a.

==== Selection of Sub-Image ==== Next, the operation of selecting a sub-image will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in (b), first, it is determined whether or not the sub-image is reproduced and output to the display 16b of the sub-channel. If the reproduction is completed, the sub-image is selected based on the preference list (step). B10 → B20). Then, the selected sub-image is output to the display 16b of the sub-channel, and the reproduction of the sub-image is waited for (step B2).
0 → B10).

Here, the sub-image selection in step B20 will be described in detail. First, each sub-image is selected from the viewpoint of what kind of music image it is suitable for and which reflects the preference of the user who inputs and selects music. The sub-images are provided with flags for the respective attribute information described above. That is, as shown in the sub-image attribute flag table of FIG. 4A, the flags of the attribute information such as the tune genre, the composer, the CM products, and the TV title for each of the CM images P1, P2,. Are associated. For example, CM
The image P1 is an image suitable for pops and rocks in the tune genre, for Yazawa Okichi for the composer, and for Seeb Ooze for the CM products, and the flag is set to "1" in the attribute information of the appropriate image, and the image is not so. Is "0".

On the other hand, a preference list attribute flag table is created as shown in FIG. 4B in accordance with the update of the preference list of FIG. 3 described above. This table has the same format as that of FIG. 4A, and sets flags (“1” or “0”) of each attribute information according to the preference list of FIG.

Then, the preference list attribute flag table shown in FIG. 4B and the sub-image attribute flag table shown in FIG. 4A are compared for each attribute information flag. That is, each CM image P1 in the sub-image attribute flag table
Are sequentially referred to, the presence or absence of a flag match is counted for each piece of attribute information in the preference list attribute flag table, and the CM image with the largest number of matches is selected. As a result, as the CM image output to the sub-channel display 16b, the CM image that best matches the atmosphere of the sung music, that is, the one that best matches the user's preference is selected.

The attribute information and preference list described above can be modified in various ways. For example, the attribute information may be a preference list as shown in FIG. As shown in the rightmost column of the same list, the latest performance music is weighted more heavily. The genre (rock) of the music currently being played is 3 points, and the music played immediately before (pops) is 2 points. Points and points are assigned to each of the three songs before that point. Based on the preference list, the central processing unit 4 adds points for each genre for the five songs in the list, and determines the genre with the highest score. In the example of FIG. 4, the total number of rocks is 5 and the number of pops is 3, and the genre with the highest total score is rock. This is the key for selecting the CM image. The inter-song image to which the tune genre number corresponding to the lock is added is selected and output to the display 16b.
This weighting can be changed as appropriate, and the weighting may be substantially eliminated by setting all points one by one. The number of songs in the preference list is not limited to the last five songs, and can be changed as appropriate.

==== Others and Modifications ==== <Sub Image> In addition to the dedicated CM image as described above, a lyric image output to the main channel display 16a during a karaoke performance. May be used as the background image. In this case, the above-described CM image attribute flag table is also created for the background image, and the background image that matches the user's preference is selected by comparing this with the preference list attribute information flag list.

<Display of Sub-Image> As the display, the sub-image may be output to the main-channel display 16a together with the main image without preparing the dedicated sub-channel display 16b as described above. . That is, the display screen of the display 16a is divided into upper, lower, left and right areas, and a main image is displayed in one area and a sub image is displayed in the other area. Alternatively, it may be displayed by a picture-in-picture method. For example, at the beginning of a karaoke performance, a sub-image of a small display area is superimposed on the main image displayed on the entire display area of the display 16a, and is displayed when a vocal signal is not input for a predetermined time or more, such as during an interlude. The size of the aria may be switched, and the main image of the small display area may be displayed over the sub-image displayed on the entire display area of the display 16a.

<Storage Device for Sub-Image> As this storage device, a dedicated video CD player is prepared instead of being shared with a video CD player storing a background image to be synthesized with the lyrics image as described above. Then, the sub-image may be reproduced from the video CD stored here.

<Sub-Image from External Source> The source of the sub-image can be obtained externally. For example, a channel of a genre matching the preference information may be selected from digital multi-channel satellite broadcasting.

<Karaoke System of Client / Server Type> A centralized management server including a hard disk device and a video CD player is not a configuration in which a hard disk device and a video CD player are provided for each central processing unit. The present invention also relates to a client / server type karaoke system in which a plurality of karaoke terminals other than a hard disk and a CD-ROM player are connected to a host device connected to a network via a modem via a modem. Included as a target range.

[0036]

According to the karaoke apparatus of the present invention, the sub-image is selected based on the preference information obtained from the history information of the attribute information of the played karaoke music,
This is output to the sub-channel display. For example, if many pops are sung as one of the attribute information, a sub-image suitable for the atmosphere of the pop is output to the sub-channel display. Therefore, the image of the display seen by the karaoke user has a content that appeals to the user's taste and interest. Therefore, in addition to the karaoke performance image, the karaoke user can enjoy the image on the display, thereby improving the entertainment. In addition, when the sub-image is a commercial, the advertisement suitable for the user is provided. Content can be.

In determining the user's preference,
The sub-image is selected based on the history information of the past several songs instead of using the attribute information of the song to be played or the attribute information of only one song. It can be fully reflected.

Further, since the karaoke apparatus itself has a function of outputting a sub-image, it is not necessary to separately introduce a sub-image output-dedicated device as in the related art.
Therefore, it is possible to significantly reduce the cost and eliminate securing of the dedicated space.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a karaoke apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the above device, wherein (a) shows a preference list update generation operation, and (b) shows a sub-image selection operation.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a preference list according to the present invention.

4A and 4B are diagrams showing a flag table relating to attribute information according to the present invention, wherein FIG. 4A shows a table of each sub-image, and FIG. 4B shows a table of a preference list.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a modification of the preference list according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Karaoke apparatus 2 Host apparatus 3 Communication line network 4 Central processing unit 6a, 6b Hard disk drive 7 Main body side operation panel 8 Remote control transmitter 11 Synthesizer 13 Speaker 16a, 16b Display 18a, 18b Video CD player

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A karaoke apparatus characterized by the following requirements (1) to (4). (1) The main control unit that integrally controls the entire apparatus receives a user's selection of a tune, retrieves karaoke information of the tune selected by the user from a predetermined storage unit, reproduces the karaoke information, and transmits the accompaniment music to a speaker. At the same time, the lyrics image is output to the main channel display in synchronization with the accompaniment music. (2) The main control unit includes means for selecting a number of background images stored in a predetermined storage means, and combines the selected background images with the lyrics image to display the lyrics image on the display of the main channel. Output. (3) Attribute information such as genre is assigned to each of the music pieces, and the main control unit updates the user's preference information based on the history of the attribute information about the plurality of karaoke information reproduced. While generating. (4) The main control unit includes means for selecting a plurality of sub-images such as CM images stored in predetermined storage means in accordance with the preference information, and displaying the selected sub-images on a sub-channel. Output to 2. The karaoke apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display of the sub-channel is a dedicated display different from the display of the main channel. 3. The display according to claim 1, wherein the display of the main channel also serves as the display of the sub-channel, and the background image and the sub-image are displayed on the display in a screen division manner. Characteristic karaoke equipment. 4. The storage unit according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit for the sub-image and the storage unit for the background image are a common storage device, and there are a plurality of systems, and the storage of a certain system is performed. A karaoke apparatus wherein the sub-image is reproduced from the storage means of another system when the background image is reproduced from the means. 5. The karaoke apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit for the sub-image is a dedicated unit different from the storage unit for the background image. 6. The karaoke apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sub-image is distributed from a host device through the communication line and stored in the storage device.