JPH1152962A - Karaoke device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to display a mood video conforming to music changing during performance and according to a time of the performance by deciding a video change-over timing based on a performance time of a KARAOKE music and an elapsed time of the performance. SOLUTION: A central control part 11 properly edits video materials used for a prelude part, a middle part, and a final part according to scenario information into a series of mood video. When a KARAOKE music is requested, performance time information accompanying the KARAOKE data is taken out, and the middle part is calculating by subtracting a total of one minute, 30 seconds each for the prelude part and the final part, from the performance time. When the performance is started, a timer is set to zero, and also a CD-ROM changer in which a disk for the prelude and the final part is stored is controlled, and the video data are outputted starting with a time position of the video materials as a starting point in time for the reproduction. When 30 seconds elapse, the middle part video material is processed with decoding. When the middle part has passed, the material is changed over to the final part video.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a karaoke apparatus, and more particularly, to a karaoke apparatus that displays a mood image on a display when performing accompaniment music of a karaoke song.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a karaoke apparatus, a mood image displayed on a display when performing accompaniment music of a karaoke tune is prepared for each karaoke tune, one for each karaoke tune, and another for a long time. And plays back the video for the playing time from an arbitrary storage position in the database.

The former corresponds to karaoke package software. The package software is provided by integrally recording a mood image including accompaniment music and lyrics on a recording medium such as a CD. Therefore, it is possible to display a mood image that matches the song style of the karaoke song and has a coherent storyline contained in the lyrics. However, since mood videos are produced for each karaoke song, enormous production time and production costs are required. This puts a heavy burden on the producer. It also makes it difficult to quickly provide karaoke software (accompaniment music and mood video with lyrics) for new songs that are constantly released. Furthermore, in order to support a large number of karaoke songs, it is necessary to prepare a large number of karaoke package software, and the recording capacity such as the number of recording media and the space required for the installation location are enormous.

On the other hand, in the latter, since the shared material video is reused for each karaoke song, the production time, production cost, recording capacity, and installation location of recording media can be greatly reduced. Moreover, with the spread of communication karaoke systems that can quickly respond to the release of a new song and can accommodate a large number of songs with a small storage capacity, karaoke apparatuses that adopt the latter method are now mainstream. Examples of the latter include Japanese Patent No. 2550420 (first conventional example), Japanese Patent No. 2504264 (second conventional example), and Japanese Patent No. 2550423 (third conventional example).
There is a technology disclosed in US Pat. These technologies associate each karaoke song with a keyword such as a genre, and associate this keyword with a plurality of material videos (a part of the video for a long time).
Is assigned.

In the first and second conventional examples, a mood video to be reproduced is a video that is continuous in time series from a certain storage position in a video database. Then, the continuous video is displayed for the performance time. In the third conventional example, "parameters" are added to each tune in addition to the genre (keyword). Then, based on the genre and the like, a plurality of material videos of an appropriate time length are selected from the long-time videos in the video database, and the plurality of material videos are switched and connected during the performance of one music piece. Further, the editing control of the mood video is performed by specifying the switching time of the material video and the video effect at the time of the switching by the parameter.

[0006]

At present, when there are more than 10,000 karaoke songs, producing mood videos exclusively for each karaoke song has to be said to be the limit for the above-mentioned reason. . However, the real pleasure of singing along with the mood video that matches the karaoke song style and the storyline contained in the lyrics is irresistible, and it is certain that it is still popular among many karaoke lovers. This real pleasure cannot be attained with mood images that are simply a combination of reusable images. Certainly, in the technologies disclosed in the first to third conventional examples, the material video searched for by the genre (keyword) is set as a mood video, so that it can be related to the karaoke music style to some extent. However, material videos that are classified by genre or keyword, and can be searched therefrom, have no mutual relevance at all. If the source video is switched on the way, there is no relevance between the source video before and after. It is completely unrelated to a series of stories, such as the start and end of the lyrics. Therefore, in the above-described first to third conventional examples, it is impossible to change the contents of the mood video in accordance with the atmosphere that changes every moment during the performance or the poetry extracted from the lyrics. After all, it's just a technology that avoids a mood image that doesn't fit perfectly with the tune of the song.

Furthermore, it is impossible to end the reproduced mood video at a timing that is just sharp for different performance times for each music. In most cases, the performance will end with the mood video being played halfway. Using video effects such as fade-out is nothing more than a deception, and can even give an unpleasant impression of being "fooled".

[0008] In addition, an animation song has a strong sense of incongruity in a mood image in which a specific animation character does not appear.
Specifying a material video in the "anime" genre has the opposite effect. In addition, when displaying a specific anime character, etc., even if the "copyright display" is required, the video where the "copyright display" is inserted just fine during the playing time is displayed. There is no guarantee that they can.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to display a mood video that matches the content of a music that changes during a performance in accordance with the performance time of the music, while using a reusable material video. It is an object of the present invention to provide a karaoke apparatus that can cope with a video to be displayed, such as an appearing video or a "copyright display".

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a karaoke apparatus having the following requirements (1) to (5). (1) A long-time video prepared for mood video is stored in a video database. (2) There is provided a video reproducing means for randomly accessing a desired storage position in the video database and outputting a material video of an arbitrary length to the display from the random access. (3) The script information for mood video editing that is previously associated with each karaoke music piece is composed of three pieces of karaoke music pieces, each composed of a prelude section, a middle piece section, and a rearrangement section in the order of performance. The storage locations of the material video data used for each of the three performance sections are described. (4) When playing back the accompaniment music of a certain karaoke music, the video playback means, in accordance with the corresponding script information, in the prelude, the middle and the rear, respectively, the first, the second and the second. The video reproduced from the storage position 3 is displayed. (5) The timing of switching the video from the prelude section to the middle section and from the middle section to the rear section is determined based on the playing time and the playing elapsed time of the karaoke song.

[0011] In the second invention, the time length of the material video for the prelude to be reproduced from the first storage position;
The time length of the material video for the rear part to be reproduced from the third storage position is fixed.

In the third aspect of the present invention, the time length of the material video for the middle section is determined in advance, and a part is omitted according to the playing time of the middle section at the time of playing each music. We decided to adjust the mood video for one song by repeating it.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

=== Configuration and Basic Operation of Karaoke Apparatus === FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of an embodiment of a karaoke apparatus according to the present invention. The karaoke apparatus 1 has almost the same configuration as the performance terminal in the communication karaoke system, and its basic operation is almost the same. CPU, RAM, ROM inside
The central control unit 11 includes a telephone line 5 from the host device 60.
The karaoke data distributed through the "0" is received via the modem 23 and stored in the hard disk drive 24.
When music selection information input from the remote control transmitter 12 or the operation panel 13 is received via the operation control unit 15,
The corresponding karaoke data is extracted from the hard disk drive 24. Accompaniment music generation data such as MIDI data in the karaoke data is sequentially transferred to a synthesizer 16, and the generated accompaniment music is mixed with a singer's voice signal from a microphone 17 by a mixing amplifier 18 and output to a speaker 19. . Further, the central control unit 11 processes the lyrics rendering data in the karaoke data, and sequentially develops the lyrics images synchronized with the accompaniment music into the video RAM 20 in the bitmap.

On the other hand, the mood video is stored in the video database 30 in an appropriate data format. The video data reproducing unit 40 sequentially retrieves and reproduces material videos of an appropriate time length from the video database 30 at the time of reproduction, switches the material videos together to edit them, and edits them into a series of mood videos. . The video signal output from the video data reproducing unit 40 is combined with the lyrics image by the video control unit 21 and displayed on the display 22 as a mood video in which the lyrics are superimposed. next,
The mood video reproduction system which is a requirement of the present invention will be described.

=== Mood Video Reproduction System === Video Data In this embodiment, the mood video is recorded on a CD-ROM as video data digitized in the MPEG1 format. A large number of CD-ROMs are prepared in order to handle a long-time video. Each CD-ROM records video data corresponding to a video of 74 minutes in reproduction time, similarly to a normal video CD. Video data at a desired storage location can be specified by a sector address assigned to each data sector of the CD-ROM. The desired sector address contains a CD-R
It can be accessed by specifying minutes / seconds / frames corresponding to the elapsed time when the video recorded in the OM is played back from the beginning (a detailed description is omitted because the standard around this is based on a video CD). I do.)

Each CD-ROM records a video of an appropriate time length as a material video. This material video corresponds to a video that is well-defined in terms of video expression such as one scene. Therefore, one CD-ROM contains many material images corresponding to many scenes. Further, in this embodiment, between each material video such as between scenes,
It is produced so that a black color image is displayed for about 2 seconds. Furthermore, many CD-ROMs have a prelude /
2 depending on the disc and application
Discs are classified into different types. The pre-play / re-play disc contains a pre-play material video that is produced so as to be suitable for the start of the music and a post-play material video that is produced so as to match the end of the music. . For prelude /
Each material video recorded on the trailing disk has a recording time of 30 seconds.

The medium for medium recording contains material images for medium. Each of the material videos for middle performances is produced so that the sense of incongruity is reduced even when switching from any material video for prelude, or switching to material video for subsequent performance. The recording time of the material video for middle performance is 4 minutes. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a time zone that is a time adjustment section is set during the recording time of 4 minutes. The time adjustment section includes a video that can be repeatedly played back or interrupted halfway (for example, a landscape close to a still image or a crowd unrelated to the story). In the present embodiment, the time adjustment section is created in advance so that the time zone from the start time of each middle performance material video from 1 minute 45 seconds to 2 minutes 15 seconds is the time adjustment section.

The above is the outline of the video database in the present embodiment. Of course, the recording time of the material video and the time adjustment section in the intermediate material video are not limited to the above-mentioned times, but are set appropriately. In addition, discs are not classified for each recorded material video, and one CD
-Material videos for various purposes may be mixed in the ROM. It goes without saying that the recording medium for the video data is not limited to the CD-ROM.

Hardware Configuration FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the video database 30 and the video data reproduction unit 40, which are the core of the hardware in the mood video reproduction system, in more detail. The video database 30 is composed of three systems of CD-ROM changers 31 to 33 operating in parallel, and a large number of CD-ROMs that record video for a long time are stored in the three systems of CD-ROs.
It is distributed to M changers 31 to 33. The central control unit controls an arbitrary system of CD-ROM changers 31 to 33, sets an arbitrary CD-ROM stored therein to the driving device, and sets an arbitrary CD-ROM recorded on the CD-ROM. Read and output material video data. If the CD-ROM changer for reading the material video data is different from the CD-ROM changer for reading the material video data next, the central control unit stores the corresponding CD-ROM in the next CD-ROM changer. Set it in the drive device in advance. By doing so, the time lag until the CD-ROM is set in the drive device is absorbed.

On the other hand, the video data reproducing unit has two systems of MPs.
It includes EG decoders 41 and 42 and a video effect processing unit 43 connected to the output paths of the two MPEG decoders 41 and 42. Two MPEG decoders 41, 4
2 is a CD-ROM changer 31 of three systems each
To 33 output paths. MP output from the three systems of CD-ROM changers 31-33
EG1 format video data is input, video data from one of the paths is selected and decoded, and a mood video is reproduced. Furthermore, these two MPEG decoders 4
Reference numerals 1 and 42 are also capable of parallel operation, and alternately take charge of processing of material video data.

The video effect processing section 43 receives two video signals from the MPEG decoders 41 and 42 and performs a switching operation of outputting one video signal. Various video effect processing (overlap synthesis, fade-in / fade-out, video switching by wipe, etc.) is added to the two systems of video signals, and the video signal after the video effect processing is output. The central control unit controls these hardware in accordance with script information to be described later, and connects the reproduced material images as appropriate to edit a series of mood images. Next, the script information and the mood video editing processing of the central control unit based on the script information will be described.

Script Information FIG. 4 schematically shows the script information described above. The script information is prepared as a comparison table associated with each karaoke song and stored in the hard disk device. The comparison table describes each karaoke song number and script information corresponding to the karaoke song number. The script information divides each karaoke song into three performance sections, a prelude section, a middle section, and a rear section, and describes a storage location of a material video used in each section. What should be noted here is that the material video used in each performance section is directly and uniquely specified without using a keyword or the like. The storage location of the material video is specified by the storage location of the disc and the temporal position in the disc. The storage location of the disc is specified by the ID of the CD-ROM changer and the disc number in the changer, and the time position is
It is specified by the minute / second / frame described above. Also, care is taken so that the same CD-ROM changer is not designated between successive performance sections, and here too, the occurrence of the above-mentioned time lag is avoided. In addition,
The storage location of the disk can be determined directly by preparing a comparison table that associates the storage location in the video database with the disk ID attached to each CD-ROM.
D may be specified.

The mood video editing process The central control unit appropriately edits the material video used in the prelude, middle and post-playback units in accordance with the above-mentioned script information, and edits it into a series of mood videos. FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the editing process. When a karaoke song is requested, script information corresponding to the song is acquired with reference to a comparison table. Further, performance time information attached to the karaoke data is acquired, and a time obtained by subtracting a total of 1 minute each of 30 seconds of the prelude and the back performance from the performance time is calculated as the time of the middle performance. A playback control algorithm for the intermediate material video according to time is determined. (101-10
4). When the performance is started, the timer is set to 0 second and the measurement of the performance time is started. At the same time, the control unit controls a CD-ROM changer storing a prelude / rearrangement disc in which the corresponding prelude material video is recorded, and outputs the video data with the time position of the corresponding material video as a reproduction start time. Let it. Then, an appropriate type of MPEG decoder performs decoding processing of the video data, and outputs the video signal (105, 106). The output video signal is output to the display via the video effect processing unit and the video control unit. After 30 seconds have elapsed, the timer is reset again, and the MPEG decoder of a system different from the system that decoded the pre-play material video performs decoding processing of the medium-play material video data (107 to 109). At this time, the video effect processing unit may be controlled to perform appropriate video effect processing at the time of switching.

When the previously acquired middle section time elapses, the section is switched to the rear section material video in the same manner as the control of switching the material video from the prelude section to the middle section. Since the trailing material video is specified to be 30 seconds, the mood video ends without discomfort when the music ends (110-112).

As described above, the recording time of the material video for intermediate performance is specified to be 4 minutes, but the performance time of the medial part is different for each music.
There is no problem if the middle time is just 4 minutes, but it is rare in such a case. Therefore, in this embodiment, the video reproduction control algorithm is determined according to the middle playing time.

FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B) show an outline of the reproduction control of the intermediate part material video. (A) is an example in the case where the middle playing time is less than 4 minutes. In this example, the middle playing time is 3 minutes and 45 seconds. When reproducing the intermediate playing section material video, first, the reproduction is started from the start time point a, and after the point b, the time adjustment section is reproduced. In this case, since the middle playing time is 15 seconds shorter than the recording time, the reproduction after the point c 15 seconds before the end of the time adjustment section (point d) is omitted, and the skip reproduction is performed so as to jump to the point d. I do. After that, when the material video is reproduced up to the point e, which is the end point, it can be made to exactly match the middle playing time of the music.

On the other hand, FIG. 6B shows an example in the case where the middle playing time is 4 minutes or more. In this example, the middle playing time is 4 minutes and 50 seconds. First, the intermediate playing material video is played back from the start point a to the end of the time playback section (point d). When the reproduction is performed up to the point d, the operation returns to the start point b of the time adjustment section, and the time reproduction section is repeatedly reproduced. In this example, the recording time of the material video exceeds 50 seconds. On the other hand, since the video in the time adjustment section is 30 seconds, the time adjustment section is reproduced again. When the point d is reached again, the elapsed time of the middle part is 2 minutes and 45 seconds, and d-
Even if a video of 1 minute and 45 seconds between points e is reproduced, it takes 20 seconds to calculate. For this reason, returning to the point b again, the time adjustment section is repeatedly reproduced. When the playback is performed up to the point c, the playback is skipped to the point d, and when the playback is performed up to the point e, the playback time coincides with the middle playing time.

As described above, the central control unit determines the skip control point (point c) and the number of repeats in accordance with the time of the middle playing section, thereby determining the playback control algorithm of the middle playing section.
Then, the reproduction control process according to this algorithm is performed while monitoring the performance elapsed time in the middle performance section.

When shifting to repeat playback or skip playback, the sense of incongruity is avoided by freezing the video before shifting the blank time generated when the pointer (optical pickup or the like) is moved to a predetermined address.
Of course, as described above, since the video itself in this time adjustment section is pre-produced so that it does not feel uncomfortable even if it is switched halfway, practically, there is almost no uncomfortable feeling. Further, if necessary, a video effect such as fade-out / fade-in may be added to achieve a smoother video transition.

=== Other Embodiments === In the above-described embodiment, the script information has a one-to-one correspondence with each karaoke song, but a plurality of script information is associated with each karaoke song. Is also good. Then, even if the same piece of music is played, different mood images can be obtained by, for example, randomly selecting script information for each performance opportunity. The plurality of script information may be included in the karaoke data,
A music-script comparison table may be prepared as in the embodiment. Alternatively, a script-similar script comparison table or the like may be prepared based on one script information for one karaoke song so that the script information may be mutually exchanged between songs having the same song style and poetry. Good.

If the playing time is long and the time adjustment section is repeated many times in the middle playing part and the picture becomes "jerky",
After a plurality of material video storage positions are described in the middle part in the script information and the content is repeated once, it is also possible to perform appropriate reproduction control such as switching to another medium video material.

Further, the script information may describe a video effect when the material video is switched between the performance sections, and control the video effect processing unit to process according to the specified video effect. As a result, it is possible to provide an expression that makes the transition of the video change more smoothly.

It is not always necessary to set a time adjustment section in the intermediate material video. In this case, the recording time of each intermediate performance material video may be set to be relatively long, and even if the video at the end is switched in the middle, production may be performed so as not to make the user feel uncomfortable.

When a specific animation character is to appear in a mood image, if the trailer material image in which the copyright notice is inserted in the script information is specified in advance, the copyright notice will definitely be displayed during the playing time. can do.

The CD-ROM changer and the MPEG decoder may be one system. In this case, when the source video is switched between the performance sections, the video effect processing unit can freeze the end portion of the source video in the previous section to reduce the unnaturalness of the time lag.

Further, instead of a plurality of CD-ROM changers, a single disk tray for storing a large number of CD-ROMs and a plurality of CD-ROM drive units are provided. CD of
A method of taking out the ROM and setting it in a predetermined CD-ROM drive may be adopted. FIG. 7 shows an example. Under the control of the central control unit, the transport device 45 takes out the CD-ROM from the disk tray 34 and the three systems of CD-ROMs.
It is set in any of the ROM drive devices 31b to 33b. The transport device 45 sets a CD-ROM from which data is to be read next, in a CD-ROM drive device of another system in advance, thereby eliminating a time lag that occurs when the source video is switched.

The video data is not limited to the MPEG1 format but may be MPEG2 or other digital data, or an analog video signal such as an optical analog video disk. It is also possible to provide a video database on an appropriate recording medium for storing signals of the respective data formats, and a video data reproducing means for processing the video data of the respective formats and reproducing the mood video. is there.

[0038]

According to the present invention, the performance time series of the karaoke music is divided into performance sections of prelude, middle performance, and subsequent performance, and the material video used in each performance section is directly designated based on the script information. For this reason, by producing material videos on the premise that they will be used in a specific performance section, it is possible to use a reusable material video but still have a sufficient storyline in karaoke music such as starting and stopping from the beginning to the end of the performance Mood image prepared for the game.
Of course, since the source video is specified directly, a specific animation character such as an animation song can appear in the mood video, and the video to be displayed such as "copyright display" can be handled simply by specifying it in the script information. be able to. CD-R while using the conventional karaoke device
It is only necessary to change the OM or mood video reproduction control software. Therefore, there is no significant cost increase.

Further, if the length of time such as the recording time of each material video used for the prelude and the backend is defined in advance,
Production of material images and script information becomes easy, and CD-ROM
It is also possible to provide such a material video collection at a lower price. It can also respond quickly to the release of new songs. In addition, the processing of the central control unit is simplified, and the change of mood video reproduction control software is further facilitated.

The material video for the middle performance part may have a fixed time length, and a time adjustment section may be set within the recording time of the material video. In this case, production of the material video and script information and central control In addition to the effect of easy processing of the section, by creating the video recorded in this time adjustment section so that it is safe to repeat or skip scenery, etc., the karaoke song style and story Mood images that match the gender can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a time-series structure diagram of an intermediate material video stored in a video database in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a main part in the mood video reproduction system in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of script information processed in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a mood video editing process performed by a central control unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of playback of a material video for middle performance in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of another embodiment in the mood video reproduction system.

[Description of Signs] 1 Karaoke device 11 Central control unit 22 Display 30 Video database 40 Video data playback unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A karaoke apparatus having the following requirements (1) to (5). (1) A video for a long time prepared to be displayed on a display as a mood video when performing accompaniment music of karaoke music is stored in a video database. (2) An image reproducing means for randomly accessing a desired storage position in the image database and outputting a material image of an arbitrary time length from the long-time image to the display. (3) Script information for mood video editing is created in advance and associated with each karaoke song. This script information,
One karaoke song is divided into three performance sections consisting of a prelude section, a middle section, and a rear section in the chronological order of the performance, and the storage positions of the material video data used in each of the three performance sections are described. doing. (4) When playing back the accompaniment music of a karaoke song, the video playback means displays the video played back from the first storage position in the prelude section according to the corresponding script information, and displays the video in the middle play section. Displays the video reproduced from the second storage position, and displays the video reproduced from the third storage position in the trailing part. (5) The timing of switching the video from the prelude section to the middle section and the timing of switching the video from the middle section to the rear section are determined based on the playing time and the elapsed playing time of the karaoke music. 2. The time length of the material video for the pre-playing part reproduced from the first storage position and the time length of the material video for the rear-playing part reproduced from the third storage position according to claim 1. A karaoke apparatus characterized in that the length is constant. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a time length of the material video for the middle performance part is determined in advance, and a part is omitted according to the performance time of the middle performance part at the time of playing each music piece. A karaoke apparatus characterized by adjusting the time of a mood video for one song by repeating or repeating.