JPH10268885A - Information providing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system that makes it possible to confirm the profile of a partner previously, consequently, and can promote communication between terminals, for example, when a duet with a person in another room is desired in a KARAOKE box. SOLUTION: A concentrated control device 10 stores user's profile information of each KARAOKE terminal 30, when the KARAOKE terminal 30 informs the concentrated control device of a request for opening to the public of the prescribed user based on an instruction from a user, the concentrated control device 10 supplies user's profile information of the other KARAOKE terminal 30 corresponding to the request of one KARAOKE terminal. In the KARAOKE terminals 30 to which user's profile information is supplied, information by text data and picture data in the user's profile information is outputted on a CRT 309, information by voice data is outputted from a loudspeaker 307 if necessary.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for providing predetermined information between a plurality of karaoke terminals, such as a duet or a conversation between users of a plurality of karaoke terminals. It relates to an information providing system that can be executed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional karaoke apparatus, when it is desired to sing a duet song, it is general to recruit a partner from among group members enjoying karaoke together. It is a target. However, it is not always the case that someone who can sing (sing) a duet song is in the same group. For example, if one is enjoying karaoke alone, there is obviously no partner, and if there are only the same gender, even a plurality of people cannot sing duets with male and female voices. Therefore, a karaoke apparatus having a function of singing a duet song in such a case has been considered. For example, if even one person can sing a duet song, let the karaoke apparatus know the part that he / she wants to sing, and the apparatus itself will be able to sing another part (for example, if he / she wants to sing a male part, the female part will apply). ) Is automatically output. In addition, when allowing same-sex singers to sing duets composed of male and female voices, the input voice of one singer is raised or lowered by one octave to convert it into a range corresponding to female or male. is there.

However, in the above-mentioned single-person duet function, the singing voice of the duet partner is a uniform one created mechanically by the karaoke apparatus after all, and the singing voice between the duet partner in the case where the singing voice is performed by humans. The pleasure such as the difference in the image of the song and the unexpectedness of the so-called good and bad singers is reduced. In addition, in the function of singing duets with male and female voices between same sexes, there is a duet opponent, but men are women, women are men and duets with the opposite sex such as men. No fun, no benefit in that regard.

The applicant of the present application has proposed a system in which the user can enjoy a duet with a person in another room through a karaoke terminal in addition to enjoying the room alone (Japanese Patent Application No. 8-193430). reference). Of course, not only duets but also conversations with users in other rooms may be used.

[0005] However, when trying to enjoy a duet with a person in another room as described above, it was not possible to make a choice by first looking at the other person's appearance and the like. There is a situation that it is hard to be actively used between people in the room.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem. For example, when a karaoke box or the like intends to perform a duet with a person in another room, the profile of the other party is set in advance. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information providing system capable of confirming, and as a result, promoting communication between users of different terminals.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information providing terminal comprising: a plurality of information providing terminals capable of executing a predetermined information providing process;
An information providing system comprising: a central management device for managing the information providing terminal; and a network capable of connecting the information providing terminal, the central management device, and the information providing terminal, wherein the information providing terminal is a user. Based on an instruction from the server, the centralized management device can be notified of a request for disclosure of predetermined user profile information, and the centralized management device stores user profile information of each of the information providing terminals. In addition, if there is a request for disclosure of the user profile information from a certain information providing terminal, at least user profile information of another information providing terminal corresponding to the request is supplied to the information providing terminal that has made the request. The information providing terminal to which the user profile information has been supplied is configured to output the user profile information. Characterized in that it is.

According to the present information providing system, the information providing terminal and the centralized management device can be connected by the network, and the information providing terminals can be connected by the network. Therefore, a user of a certain information providing terminal can simultaneously perform a predetermined information providing process such as a karaoke duet or a conversation with a user of another terminal. However, when trying to do something with the user of another terminal in this way, it is sufficient that the partner user is originally acquainted, but if the partner is unknown, it is difficult to actively use it. In the present invention, this point is solved as follows.

That is, the centralized management device stores the user profile information of each information providing terminal, and the information providing terminal publishes predetermined user profile information to the centralized management device based on an instruction from the user. Is notified, the centralized management apparatus supplies at least the user profile information of another information providing terminal corresponding to the request to the information providing terminal. The information providing terminal supplied with the user profile information outputs the user profile information. Thus, for example, if the user intends to perform a duet with a person in another room in a karaoke box or the like, the profile of the other party can be confirmed in advance using the above-mentioned user profile information, so that the user can safely perform a duet or a conversation such as a predetermined one. Can be decided to perform the information providing process together. As a result, communication between users of different terminals can be promoted.

[0010] In the above information providing system, the information providing terminal may or may not wish to disclose the user profile information to the central management device based on an instruction from the user. The centralized management device stores the user profile information of each information providing terminal together with information on whether or not the user profile information is to be disclosed, and discloses the user profile information. May be configured to supply only the user profile information corresponding to the information providing terminal that wants to disclose the user profile information.

As described above, it is convenient for a person who intends to perform a duet with a person who is in a different room in a karaoke box, for example, because the profile of the partner can be confirmed in advance by using the user profile information. It is not preferable for a user who does not want to disclose such user profile information to be disclosed without permission. Therefore, this inconvenience can be solved by using the user profile information only when the user wants to disclose the user profile information.

The user profile information includes
It is only necessary to know the profile of the user, but as an indication thereof, for example, an image showing the appearance of the user, generating a voice of the user, and displaying a description about the user as a document are displayed. And so on. However, it is considered that an image showing the user's appearance is preferable for intuitively judging the other party. Therefore, it is conceivable to include at least this image.

[0013] In this case, the information providing terminal includes an image pickup means for taking in the appearance of the terminal user as image data. The image data can be uploaded to the central management device, and the central management device is preferably configured to store user profile information including the uploaded user image data.

[0014] Further, as described in claim 5, the user profile information also includes voice data indicating the voice of the user of the information providing terminal. Alternatively, the image data may be displayed and output first, and then the voice of the user may be output only when a voice information output instruction is given.

[0015] This is confusing, especially when the user profile information of a plurality of terminals is to be output at once, and if the voices of a plurality of users are pronounced at the same time, it becomes confusing. It is intended to be output. As described above, the profile of the other party can be known, but in order to subsequently communicate between users between the information providing terminals, for example, the following ideas can be considered.

That is, in the above information providing system, the information providing terminal requests the central management apparatus for a predetermined terminal-to-terminal information providing process based on an instruction from a user. It is possible to notify the acknowledgment of the inter-terminal information provision processing, and the central management device provides the inter-terminal information provision to the user of another information provision terminal when the information provision terminal requests the inter-terminal information provision processing. Notifies that there is a request for processing, and if there is a response to the effect that the inter-terminal information provision processing has been acknowledged, the communication between the information providing terminal that has requested the inter-terminal information provision processing and the information provision terminal that has acknowledged After the network is set so that communication is possible, the terminal information providing process is executed.

With this configuration, the user who has confirmed the other party based on the above-mentioned user profile information makes a request for a predetermined terminal-to-terminal information providing process to the central management apparatus using the information providing terminal. If there is a request for the inter-terminal information providing process, the central management device notifies the user of another information providing terminal that there is a request for the inter-terminal information providing process. If the user of the information providing terminal that has received the notification understands, the fact is returned to the centralized management device via the information providing terminal. Then, when a response to the effect is received, the central management apparatus sets the network so that communication can be performed between the information providing terminal that has requested the inter-terminal information providing process and the information providing terminal that has acknowledged. Then, the inter-terminal information providing process is executed.

As described above, the terminal information providing process is executed after obtaining the consent of the request receiving side. For example, the use of the information providing terminal notified of the request for the terminal-to-terminal information providing process is performed. It is also conceivable for a person to want to know the profile of the other party in order to determine whether or not to understand. Therefore, the user profile information may be reported together with the request for the terminal-to-terminal information providing process. Alternatively, the user profile information may be notified only when the user of the information providing terminal that has received the request for the inter-terminal information providing process desires.

Further, even when the user who has requested the terminal-to-terminal information providing process and the user who has consented can make an agreement, and the terminal-to-terminal information providing process is started, for some reason, It is also conceivable that the processing is stopped. In consideration of this point, it is conceivable to configure as shown in claim 7. In other words, both of the information providing terminal that has requested and understood the inter-terminal information providing process can request the central management device to stop the inter-terminal information providing process, and the central management device that has received the cancellation request. Is to stop the terminal-to-terminal information providing process in the requested and acknowledged information providing terminals, and to release the network set between the information providing terminals.

As the inter-terminal information providing process, for example, a process related to a karaoke duet can be considered. In this case, as described in claim 8, the synchronized karaoke performance is executed for both of the requested and understood information providing terminals, and the singing voices of the both information providing terminals are mutually exchanged via the network. It is conceivable to adopt a configuration in which the information is transmitted to the information providing terminal and output.

Further, conversation processing may be considered as the inter-terminal information provision processing. In that case, as shown in claim 9,
The information providing terminal is provided with an imaging unit for capturing the appearance of the talker as image data, and the voice of the talker in both information providing terminals and the image data of the talker captured by the imaging unit are mutually exchanged via the network. It is conceivable to configure so as to transmit the information to the information providing terminal of the other party and output it. It is more preferable that the conversation can be performed while watching the appearance of the talker. Of course, conversation using only voice can be performed without using image data. However, in the case where a configuration for taking in as image data in order to create user profile information is provided, it is preferable to use it.

When a duet of karaoke is executed as the information providing process between terminals, it may not be possible to understand the duet depending on the music scheduled for the duet. If so, it is preferable to request at least a duet by indicating a desired song name and a desired gender. The person receiving the duet request will determine whether they can sing (want to sing) or cannot sing (do not want to sing) based on the song title, and whether they can be a duet partner depending on whether they are male or female. It is. Note that there is a case where a duet partner is searched for regardless of the song in particular, and in such a case, there may be a request not to indicate a duet scheduled song.

[0023]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment in which the information providing system of the present invention is applied to a karaoke system will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the karaoke system 2 of the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the karaoke system 2 manages reception and settlement of customers, management of the use status of each room (not shown) in which a karaoke terminal 30 as an “information providing terminal” is installed, and the like.
A centralized management device 10 for setting a duet among a plurality of karaoke terminals 30, a server 20 for supplying karaoke data stored therein to the karaoke terminal 30, and a karaoke data supplied from the server 20 are used. The karaoke terminal 30 includes a plurality of karaoke terminals 30 that perform karaoke performances and the like as “predetermined information providing processing”, a network 40 for communication between the central management device 10, the server 20, and each karaoke terminal 30, and the like.

Hereinafter, the configurations of the central management device 10, the server 20, and the karaoke terminal 30 will be described in order. The centralized management device 10 includes a CPU 101 corresponding to a control unit for controlling the centralized management device 10 as a whole. CPU10
1 is connected to the network 40 via a communication circuit 102 as a communication means, and can communicate with the server 20 and each karaoke terminal 30 through the communication circuit 102. Each karaoke terminal 30 is set with an individual channel, and the centralized management device 10 can communicate with a desired karaoke terminal 30 by specifying the channel.

The CPU 101 is connected to a memory 103 as a "storage means", a graphic circuit 104, a keyboard 107 as an input means, and a printer 108 as a printing means. The memory 103
Is for storing the usage status of each room, performance information transmitted from the karaoke terminal 30, and the like. In addition, text data indicating the characteristics of the user input at the karaoke terminal 30, image data indicating the appearance, voice data such as a real voice, and data indicating whether each user desires to disclose the information are also included. This is stored in the memory 103.

The graphic circuit 104 includes a video RAM (not shown), and sequentially reads data written from the CPU 101 into the video RAM and converts the data into a video signal. A video signal as an output of the graphic circuit 104 is input to a monitor device (CRT) 105 connected to the graphic circuit 104 and displayed on the monitor device 105 on a screen.

On the other hand, the keyboard 107 has ten keys, a cursor key, a terminal use key, a settlement key (all not shown), and the like. It can be input to the CPU 101. The printer 108 is for printing the settlement result and the like when the settlement process is instructed by the settlement key of the keyboard 107, for example.

Next, the configuration of the server 20 will be described. The server 20 includes a CPU 201 as a control unit for controlling the entire server 20. CPU201
Is connected to the network 40 via the communication circuit 202, and can communicate with the central management device 10 and each karaoke terminal 30 through the communication circuit 202. Also,
A hard disk (HDD) as a storage means and a memory 204 are connected to the CPU 201.

The hard disk 203 stores a large amount of karaoke data. Further, the memory 204 stores the hard disk 203 for transmitting to the karaoke terminal 30.
This is for temporarily storing the karaoke data read out from the server and the communication contents from the central management device 10 and the karaoke terminal 30.

The karaoke data stored on the hard disk 203 is composed of identification data, song data, lyrics data, title data, background image data, and the like. The identification data is data for identifying each karaoke song, and includes a song title, a song number, and the like. The music data is data for karaoke performance, and is a well-known MIDI (Musi
cal Instrument Digital Interface) data is used. This MIDI data is created on the premise of a synthesizer sound source, and is a data listing information such as which sound is to be used, at what scale, at what intensity, at what timing to emit a sound, and at what timing. It is. The lyrics data is composed of data obtained by encoding the lyrics and timing data indicating at which timing of the song the lyrics should be displayed. The title data is data for displaying a title screen including a song name, a lyricist name, a composer name, etc. at the start of the performance, and the background image data is an image to be displayed as a background image of the lyrics telop during the performance. Data.

Next, the configuration of the karaoke terminal 30 will be described. The karaoke terminal 30 is provided with a CPU 301 which is a control means for controlling the entire karaoke terminal 30. The CPU 301 includes a communication circuit 30 as a communication unit.
2 and a central management device 10 and a server 20 through a communication circuit 302 of the network 40.
Can communicate with It should be noted that individual channels are set for each karaoke terminal 30 and that communication with the centralized management device 10 is possible by using the individual channels, as described above. If the channel is set to, the karaoke terminals 30 can communicate with each other via the matched channel.

The CPU 301 includes a memory 303 as a storage means, a synthesizer sound source 304, an audio input / output unit 306, a graphic circuit 308, an input / output interface (I / O) 310, and an image data input unit 3.
14 are connected. The memory 303 is a server 2
Karaoke data and karaoke terminal 30 sent from 0
For storing the performance result information and the like.

The voice input / output unit 306 receives a user's singing voice from a microphone (hereinafter, simply referred to as a “microphone”) 313 and receives a mixer amplifier (AMP) 305.
Output to Further, it is configured to be able to output to the communication circuit 302 upon receiving an instruction from the CPU 301. The singing voice output to the communication circuit 302 can be sent to another karaoke terminal 30 via the network 40. This means that, as described above, when a channel set to another karaoke terminal 30 is set, it can be transmitted to the karaoke terminal 30 of the other party. Conversely, the communication circuit 302 in the karaoke terminal 30 to which the singing voice has been transmitted transfers the singing voice to the voice input / output unit 306, and is output from the voice input / output unit 306 to the mixer amplifier 305. Note that the user's real voice as user profile information can be captured via the microphone 313, and the captured voice data can be stored in the memory 303.

The synthesizer tone generator 304 and the graphic circuit 308 execute predetermined information processing (here, karaoke performance, etc.) in cooperation with the CPU 301. The synthesizer tone generator 304 has a large number of tone data in an internal memory (not shown).
, And synthesizes an audio signal with the timbre, scale, and sound intensity specified by the MIDI data, and outputs the synthesized signal at the specified timing. The audio signal output from the synthesizer sound source 304 is mixed with the singing voice input from the microphone 305 and the singing voice input from the outside via the communication circuit 302 in the mixer amplifier 305, amplified, and amplified by the speaker 307. Then, the sound is output from the speaker 307.

On the other hand, the graphic circuit 308 includes a video RAM (not shown), and sequentially reads out lyrics data, title data, and background image data transmitted from the CPU 301 and written into the video RAM, and converts them into video signals. This is a circuit that outputs at a specified timing.
The video signal as output of the graphics circuit 308 is
The image is input to a CRT 309, which is a monitor device connected to the graphic circuit 308, and is displayed on the CRT 309 as a title screen, lyrics telop, and background video.

An input / output interface (I / O) 3
An operation panel 311 for a user to input various instructions is connected to 10. Here, the operation panel 311
Will be described. As shown in FIG.
The operation panel 311 includes a power switch 320, a karaoke key 321 for designating a karaoke performance mode, a profile key 322 for designating a mode for requesting input or publication of profile information of a user, and a terminal-to-terminal processing mode. An inter-terminal processing key 323 to be designated, and a numeric keypad 324 used to input the number of the music to be played
And a display section 326 comprising a 4-digit 7-segment LED for displaying a number being selected,
A cursor movement key 327 for moving a cursor displayed on the CRT 309 up, down, left, and right;
Acknowledgment key 328 used to reply to the inquiries of various inquiries from 0, and a request to the central management device 10 to inform the central management device 10 when the process is stopped during execution of the terminal-to-terminal process. Key 329 and CRT 30
A confirmation key 330 for confirming the display content pointed by the cursor on the cursor 9 is provided.

Then, the image data input unit 314
A video camera 312 as “imaging means” is connected. The video camera 312 is for taking a picture of the user when creating user profile information to be described later, and the video taken by the video camera 312 is converted into predetermined image data in the image data input unit 314. . Note that shooting with the video camera 312 is performed by the CPU 301.
This is realized by the image data input unit 314 instructing start / stop and the like based on the instruction from the user.

Next, the operation of the karaoke system 2 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the user profile information input processing executed by the karaoke terminal 30, and is a flowchart showing the processing executed by the centralized management apparatus 10 to which the user profile information of FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the terminal-to-terminal processing setting processing executed by the CPU 101 of the centralized management apparatus 10.

First, the user profile information input processing executed by the karaoke terminal 30 will be described. FIG.
As shown in the figure, the first step S10 of this processing routine
Then, it is determined whether or not to input the user profile information, and when there is an instruction to input (S10:
YES), and it transfers to S20. The input instruction of the user profile information is specifically performed as follows. First, when the user operates the profile key 322 of the operation panel 311 to set a mode for requesting input or disclosure of profile information, a screen for selecting and inputting or disclosure of profile information is displayed on the CRT 309. Next, the cursor is moved on the screen with the cursor movement key 327, and the enter key 330 is operated at the position where the input of the profile information is instructed, so that a mode for inputting the user profile information is set.

Returning to the flowchart of FIG.
At 20, various data are taken in as user profile information. In the present embodiment, there are the following three types of data as the user profile information. Text data: numeric keypad 324, cursor movement key 327, and enter key 330 of operation panel 311 shown in FIG.
The user himself / herself inputs his / her profile. For example, gender, age, name, and simple appeal. A screen showing these input items is displayed on the CRT
309 is displayed, and the user may input the information in accordance with the display. Of course, if it is not necessary to input the part that the user does not want to input, that is, the part that he does not want to disclose, the user can input without difficulty. The input text data is input from the operation panel 311 via the input / output interface (I / O) 310 and is temporarily stored in the memory 303.

Image data: The image data is input from a video camera 312 through the image data input unit 314 as an indication of the user's appearance, and is stored in the memory 3.
03 is temporarily stored. Note that a digital camera may be used instead of the video camera 312, and further, a photograph brought by the user may be read by a scanner.

Voice data: This indicates the user's own real voice. The voice data input from the microphone 313 is fetched through the voice input / output unit 306, and the
03 is temporarily stored. At S30, the user profile information acquired at S20 is sent to the central management device 10. Thus, the processing in the karaoke terminal 30 for inputting the user profile information is completed.

Next, the processing executed by the central management device 10 to which the user profile information has been sent will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, in S110, the karaoke terminal 3
Data indicating the user profile information sent from 0 is received, and the received data is stored in the memory 103 in the subsequent S120, and the present processing routine ends. In this case, the ID number of the karaoke terminal 30 and the user profile information are stored in association with each other.

In S20 of the profile information input process (FIG. 3) in the karaoke terminal 30, only the above three types of data, namely, text data, image data, and audio data are input. Further, the user may input whether or not the user wants to release the profile information. This is because not all users want to release profile information. If you do not want to make it public,
It is also possible to input only that the user does not want to disclose the profile information without inputting the profile information itself at 20. However,
It is conceivable that the user does not initially want to be disclosed but wishes to release it later. Therefore, only the profile information is input in advance and stored in the central management device 10,
When it is desired to release the information, the karaoke terminal 30 may notify the central management device 10 of the fact so that the information is immediately released. As a matter of course, in the centralized management device 10, the information as to whether or not this disclosure is desired is also stored in association with the profile information.

Next, an inter-terminal processing setting process in the central management device 10 will be described. FIG. 5 shows the processing executed by the CPU 101 of the centralized management apparatus 10. In the following description, it is assumed that the operation is performed with the operation of the karaoke terminal 30 (including the operation of the user) as appropriate. And

In the first step S210, it is determined whether or not an information disclosure request has been issued from the karaoke terminal 30. This information disclosure request is made by the user of the karaoke terminal 30 operating the operation panel 311 (see FIG. 2). Specifically, the request is made as follows. First, when the user operates the profile key 322 of the operation panel 311 to set a mode for requesting input or disclosure of profile information, a screen for selecting and inputting or disclosure of profile information is displayed on the CRT 309. Next, the cursor is moved by the cursor movement key 327 on the screen, and the confirmation key 330 is operated at the position instructing the profile information disclosure request, so that the user profile information disclosure request is notified to the central management device 10. Is done. Then, upon receiving this request via the communication circuit 102, the central management apparatus 10 makes a positive determination in S210, and proceeds to S220.

In step S220, the information in the memory 103 is checked to determine whether there is any user who wants to release the information.
This is determined on the basis of the data indicating whether or not there is a disclosure request stored together with the above-mentioned user profile information.
If there is no user in another karaoke terminal 30, there is naturally no user who desires to be disclosed. Moreover,
As the information disclosure request in S210, a request designating a specific karaoke terminal 30 may be considered, or a request targeting all other karaoke terminals 30 other than the user may be considered.

[0048] If there is no user who wants to release (S22
0: NO), and proceeds to S230 to notify the request source, that is, the karaoke terminal 30 that has issued the user profile information disclosure request, that the user does not desire to be disclosed.
Then, the process returns to S210. Since this notification is displayed on the CRT 309 at the karaoke terminal 30 of the request source, the user knows that the desired profile information is not disclosed.

On the other hand, if there is a user who wishes to release the contents (S22
0: YES), the process proceeds to S240, and the profile information of the user who wishes to be disclosed is read from the memory 103 and supplied to the karaoke terminal 30 that has issued the request. Therefore, in the karaoke terminal 30 of the request source that receives the supply of the user profile information, the profile information is displayed on the CRT 309, and the user views the profile information and displays the profile of the user of another karaoke terminal 30. You can know.

Here, based on the user profile information supplied to the requesting karaoke terminal 30, the CRT 309 is
Will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 shows an example of the display contents and modes. In this case, it is assumed that there are 16 rooms, and they are distinguished by R1 to R16. Basically, since there is one karaoke terminal 30 in each room, the screen is divided into 16 in this case, and information based on the image data and information based on the text data are used as user profile information. Will be displayed. However, for a room where the user of the karaoke terminal 30 is not present (for example, three rooms R12, R14, and R16 in FIG. 6), the word "empty" indicating that the room is empty is displayed. In addition, for a room where the user is present but does not want to be disclosed (for example, one room R7 in FIG. 6), the character “UNCLOSURE” indicating that fact is displayed. Therefore, in the case of FIG. 6, R7, R12, R14,
For rooms other than the four rooms of R16, image information and text information are displayed below the room. In the case shown in FIG. 6, for example, when the requesting user is in the room R1, his / her profile information is also displayed, so that it is also understood how oneself (s) is displayed as image information. .

As described above, the karaoke terminal 30
In the profile information input process (FIG. 3), three types of data of text data, image data, and audio data are input, and these are also supplied in S240 of FIG. Realistically, initially C
It is preferable that only the profile information based on the text data and the image data is displayed and output to the RT 309, and then the voice of the requested user is output only when an instruction to output the voice data is issued. This is confusing, especially when considering the output of the user profile information of a plurality of karaoke terminals 30 at once. It is intended to be output. The user who outputs the sound may be designated by operating the cursor movement key 327 and the confirmation key 330 of the operation panel 311. For example, when a screen display as shown in FIG. 6 is output, the room number (R1,
If the cursor moves to the portion of R2 or the like, the cursor may be moved to a desired position with the cursor movement key 327 and determined with the determination key 330. Alternatively, the room number (1, 2, etc.) may be input using the ten keys 324.

Thus, the user of the requesting karaoke terminal 30 can grasp the feeling of the user of the other karaoke terminal 30 from the user profile information, so that the user can determine whether he or she wants to perform a duet or a conversation. It will be easier.
In the present embodiment, duet or conversation can be selected as the processing between terminals. If the user wants to have a duet or a conversation with a user of the specific karaoke terminal 30, the user operates the operation panel 311 to operate the karaoke terminal 3.
A request to perform a duet or a conversation with the user 0 is issued to the central management device 10. This request specifies the partner karaoke terminal and whether the desired terminal-to-terminal processing is duet or conversation.

Returning to the description of the flowchart of FIG. 5, when the centralized management apparatus 10 receives this inter-terminal processing request (S
250: YES), the request destination karaoke terminal 30 is notified that there is a terminal-to-terminal processing request, and whether the request is duet or conversation (S260).

In response to the request, the karaoke terminal 30 displays a message asking the CRT 309 to perform a terminal-to-terminal process specifying either duet or conversation. The user of the karaoke terminal 30 sees this message and operates the operation panel 311 to send a reply indicating whether or not the request for the terminal-to-terminal processing is possible. For example, when the user understands, he operates the OK key 328 (see FIG. 2) of the operation panel 311,
If not, the user operates another predetermined key. If a predetermined time has elapsed without performing any operation, it may be determined that the request has the same meaning as being refused.
In response to the response from the karaoke terminal 30, the central management device 10 determines whether the request destination has been accepted (S27).
0), if not (S270: NO), it notifies the requesting karaoke terminal 30 that no consent was obtained (S270).
280), and return to S210.

The karaoke terminal 30 which has received the notification that the consent in S280 has not been obtained,
At 309, a message indicating that the other party does not desire the terminal-to-terminal processing is displayed. Therefore, the requesting user knows this, and if, for example, makes a similar request to the user of another karaoke terminal 30, the above-described processing is repeated.

On the other hand, when the request destination is understood (S27)
0: YES), the network is set so that the duet or conversation requested by both karaoke terminals 30 can be performed (S290). Here, the network setting for a duet will be briefly described. First, channel assignment processing is performed to match the channels of the karaoke terminal 30 that has made the duet request and the karaoke terminal 30 that has made the duet. For example, the channel of the karaoke terminal 30 that has requested the duet is changed to match the channel of the karaoke terminal 30 that has completed the duet. As a result, communication via the network 40 becomes possible between the karaoke terminal 30 requesting the duet and the karaoke terminal 30 requesting the duet.

The following duet processing is also briefly described. First, the user instructs the karaoke terminal 30 that has made the duet request and the karaoke terminal 30 that has completed the duet (hereinafter referred to as both terminals 30, 30) to execute a synchronized karaoke performance. , And instruct voice input / output control. Regarding the synchronized performance, for example, the karaoke data of the tune for which the duet was requested is transmitted from the server 20 to both terminals 3.
Then, after the preparation of the performance stored in the respective memories 303 is completed, a performance start command is sent to both terminals 30 and 30 at the same time, and executed. On the other hand, the voice input / output control is instructed by the voice input / output unit 306 (see FIG. 1) to both terminals 30 and 30 by inputting the singing voice of the user from the microphone 313 and to the mixer amplifier (AMP) 305. The instruction is issued to execute the control of outputting the singing voice to the communication circuit 302 as well as outputting the singing voice. By executing such input / output control, the singing voice input from the karaoke terminal 30 of the duet partner via the communication circuit 302 is converted into the singing voice input from the microphone 305 of the own terminal 30 and the synthesizer sound source 304. The audio signal is mixed with the audio signal output from the speaker 307, and is output as audio from the speaker 307. Thus, a duet can be realized with another karaoke terminal 30 user.

After setting the network in S290, it is determined in S300 whether or not there is a stop request. When the stop key 329 of the operation panel 311 is operated on either of the terminals 30, 30, the central management apparatus 10 is notified of the operation, and therefore, the presence or absence of the notification is determined. If there is a request to stop (S300: YES), the process proceeds to S310, and notifies the karaoke terminal 30 on the side to which the stop request has been issued of the request, and then transmits the network set in the process of S290. To release. Specifically, the channel assigned in the setting processing of S290 is returned to the original setting, and an instruction to cancel the S voice input / output control is issued.

In the above example, the channel of the karaoke terminal 30 that has made the duet request is changed to match the channel of the karaoke terminal 30 that has made the duet request. Will be returned. On the other hand, since the voice input / output control is instructed to both terminals 30, 30, this S31
A release instruction at 0 is issued to both terminals 30 and 30.

After the network release processing in S310 is completed, the flow returns to S210. In the above description, the case of duet has been described as the processing between terminals.
In the case of a conversation, only the network setting in the case of the above-described duet is performed, and only the processing related to the subsequent karaoke performance is not performed.

As described above, according to the karaoke system 2, the karaoke terminal 30 and the central control device 10 can be connected by the network 40, and
Thereby, the karaoke terminals 30 can be connected to each other. Therefore, a user of a certain karaoke terminal can simultaneously perform predetermined information providing processing such as a karaoke duet or conversation with a user of another terminal.

[0062] However, in the case of trying to do something with the user of another karaoke terminal 30 in this way, it is sufficient that the partner user is originally acquainted. Hard to use. This point is solved in the karaoke system 2 as follows. That is,
The centralized management device 10 stores the user profile information of each karaoke terminal 30, and the karaoke terminal 30 notifies the centralized management device of a request to publish predetermined user profile information based on an instruction from the user. Then, the central management device 10 transmits at least the user profile information of the other karaoke terminal 30 corresponding to the request to the karaoke terminal 3.
Supply for 0. In the karaoke terminal 30 to which the user profile information has been supplied, the information based on the text data and the image data in the user profile information is converted into a CR.
The information is output from T309 and, if necessary, information based on audio data is output from the speaker 307. In this way, if you plan to do a duet with a person in another room, you can check the profile of the other party in advance with the user profile information described above, so you can safely perform a predetermined information provision process such as a duet or conversation. You can decide to go together. As a result, communication between terminals can be promoted.

In the karaoke system 2, the user profile information is input at the karaoke terminal 30, but the user can specify whether or not the user profile information is to be disclosed. 10
The information on whether or not the user profile information is desired to be disclosed is stored together with the user profile information of each karaoke terminal 30. When there is a request to disclose user profile information, only the user profile information corresponding to the karaoke terminal 30 that desires to disclose the user profile information is supplied. For users who do not want the user profile information to be disclosed, it is not preferable that the user profile information be disclosed without permission. Therefore, this inconvenience can be solved because the user profile information is used only when the user profile information disclosure is desired.

In the karaoke system 2, three types of user profile information, text data, image data, and audio data, have been described. However, since the user profile only needs to be known, one of them may be used. . However, in order to intuitively judge a partner, it is considered that an image showing the user's appearance is preferable, and it is considered realistic to include at least this.

As described above, the present invention has been described in accordance with the embodiments. However, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to such embodiments and can be variously implemented without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the karaoke system 2 of the above embodiment, the user profile information is input at each karaoke terminal 30. However, the user profile information may be input at the central management device 10, for example. Assuming a so-called karaoke box or the like, it may be performed at the first reception after entering the store. Specifically, users submit text information at the front desk that briefly describes their features. These may be submitted in writing by a receptionist using a keyboard or read by a scanner, converted into characters, and stored in the memory 103 as text data. Next, an image of a part or the whole of the body of the user is captured from a video camera or a digital camera, or image data captured by a scanner from an own photograph is stored in a memory 10.
3 is stored. Then, the voice data obtained by capturing the voice of the user from the microphone is stored in the memory 103. of course,
It is preferable to be able to input whether or not the user wants to be released.

The karaoke system 2 of the above embodiment
Then, if there is a request from the karaoke terminal 30 for providing information between terminals such as a duet, the user of another karaoke terminal 30 is notified of the request, and the karaoke terminal 30 receiving the notification acknowledges the request. Is received, the network is set so that the two terminals 30 and 30 can communicate with each other, and the terminal information providing process is executed. In this way, the terminal-to-terminal information providing process is executed after obtaining the consent of the side receiving the request. For example, the karaoke terminal 30 notified of the request for the terminal-to-terminal information providing process.
The user may want to know the profile of the other party in order to determine whether or not to understand. Therefore, the user profile information may be reported together with the request for the terminal-to-terminal information providing process.

Alternatively, the user profile information may be notified only when the user of the karaoke terminal 30 that has received the request for the inter-terminal information provision processing desires. Further, in the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, basically, the user profile information for all the rooms is disclosed, but only one room is displayed at a time.
The next room may be displayed in order using the cursor movement key 327 (see FIG. 2) of the operation panel 311 or the like.

In the case where the conversation process is performed as the inter-terminal information providing process, the voice of the talker is captured from the microphone 313, but the appearance of the talker is further captured from the video camera 312 as image data. The voice data of the user and the image data of the talker captured by the means may be transmitted to and output from the karaoke terminal 30 of the other party. It is more preferable that the conversation can be performed while watching the appearance of the talker. Of course, conversation using only voice can be performed without using image data. However, in the case where a configuration for taking in as image data for creating user profile information is provided, it is preferable to use it.

When a duet of karaoke is executed as the information providing process between terminals, it may not be possible to understand the duet even if the duet is requested, depending on the music scheduled for the duet. Therefore, when a duet is requested, a duet is requested at least by indicating a desired song title and a desired gender.
In S260, it is preferable that the desired song name and the desired gender of the duet are also notified to the request destination. The person receiving the duet request will determine whether they can sing (want to sing) or cannot sing (do not want to sing) based on the song title, and whether they can be a duet partner depending on whether they are male or female. It is. Note that there is a case where a duet partner is searched for regardless of the song in particular, and in such a case, there may be a request not to indicate a duet scheduled song.

The karaoke system 2 of the above embodiment
In the above, the karaoke data is transferred from the server 20 to the karaoke terminal 30 to perform the karaoke performance. However, a configuration in which each karaoke terminal 30 stores the karaoke data can also be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a karaoke system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory view showing an outer shape of a panel in the karaoke terminal.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a user profile information input process executed by the karaoke terminal.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process in which the centralized management device executes the user profile information sent from the karaoke terminal.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an inter-terminal processing setting process executed by the central management device.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of display contents and a mode of user profile information on a CRT of a karaoke terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Karaoke system 10 Centralized management device 20 Server 30 Karaoke terminal 40 Network 101 CPU 102 Communication circuit 103 Memory 302 Communication circuit 303 Memory 304 Synthesizer sound source 306 Audio input / output unit 307 Speaker 308 ... Graphic circuit 309 ... CRT 311 ... Operation panel 312 ... Video camera 313 ... Microphone 314 ... Image data input unit 320 ... Power switch 321 ... Karaoke key 322 ... Profile key 323 ... Terminal processing key 324 ... Ten key 325 ... Song selection key 326 ... Display 327: Cursor movement key 328: OK key 329: Cancel key 330: Confirm key

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of information providing terminals capable of executing a predetermined information providing process, a centralized management device for managing the information providing terminals, and a connection between the information providing terminal, the centralized management device, and the information providing terminals An information providing system comprising: a network capable of providing information to the central management device based on an instruction from a user, the information providing terminal being capable of notifying a request for disclosure of predetermined user profile information. The central management device stores the user profile information of each of the information providing terminals, and if there is a request to publish the user profile information from a certain information providing terminal,
At least the user profile information of another information providing terminal in response to the request is configured to be supplied to the information providing terminal that has made the request, and the information providing terminal that has been supplied with the user profile information, An information providing system configured to output the user profile information. 2. The information providing terminal is configured to be able to notify the centralized management device whether or not the user profile information is to be disclosed based on an instruction from a user. Also stores information as to whether or not the user profile information is desired to be disclosed, together with the user profile information of each of the information providing terminals, and when the user profile information is requested to be disclosed, the 2. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the information providing system is configured to supply only the user profile information corresponding to the information providing terminal desiring to release the user profile information. 3. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the user profile information includes at least image data indicating the appearance of the user of the information providing terminal. 4. The information providing terminal includes an image capturing means for capturing the appearance of the terminal user as image data, and the image data of the user captured by the image capturing means can be uploaded to the central management device. The information providing system according to claim 3, wherein the central management device is configured to store user profile information including the uploaded image data of the user. 5. The user profile information also includes voice data indicating a voice of a user of the information providing terminal. In the information providing terminal supplied with the user profile information, the information providing terminal first receives the image data. 5. The information providing system according to claim 3, wherein the data is displayed and output, and the voice of the user is output only when a voice information output instruction is given thereafter. 6. The information providing terminal is capable of notifying the central management apparatus of a request for a predetermined terminal-to-terminal information providing process and an acknowledgment of the terminal-to-terminal information providing process based on an instruction from a user. The centralized management device, if there is a request for the terminal-to-terminal information providing process from the information providing terminal, notifies the user of another information providing terminal that there is a request for the terminal-to-terminal information providing process, If there is a response indicating that the terminal-to-terminal information providing process is acknowledged, the network is set so that communication can be performed between the information providing terminal that has requested the terminal-to-terminal information providing process and the information providing terminal that has acknowledged. The information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the information providing system is configured to execute the terminal-to-terminal information providing process. 7. The information providing terminal that has requested and understood the inter-terminal information providing process can request the central management apparatus to stop the inter-terminal information providing process from any of the terminals. The centralized management device receiving the request is configured to stop the terminal-to-terminal information providing process in the requested and understood information providing terminals, and to release the network set between the information providing terminals. The information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: 8. The terminal-to-terminal information providing process is a process relating to a karaoke duet, and causes the requested and understood information providing terminal to execute a synchronized karaoke performance and to perform both karaoke performances via the network. The information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the information providing terminal is configured to transmit singing voices in the information providing terminal to each other and output the singing voice to the other information providing terminal. 9. The terminal-to-terminal information providing process is a conversation process, wherein the information providing terminal includes an imaging unit for capturing the appearance of a talker as image data, and provides both information via the network. 9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the voice of the talker in the terminal and the image data of the talker captured by the imaging means are transmitted to each other and provided to the information providing terminal of the other party and output. Information providing system described in any of them.