JPH1185173A - Karaoke sing-along machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a KARAOKE sing-along machine which does not allow the operator of the KARAOKE sing-along machine to wait for more than a needed time before KARAOKE sing-along playing is started. SOLUTION: A system control section 7 stores the playing music inputted from the remote control of an operation section 12 in a playing music information memory section 15 and starts reproduction operation. The control section freezes the KARAOKE sing-along musical piece data stored by an auxiliary storage device 6 to KARAOKE sing-along accompaniment data, text data and back chorus data and stores the data once in the auxiliary storage device 6. The control section transfers only part of the data thereafter to a main storage device 14 which in turn stores the data. The system control section 7 downloads only the min. KARAOKE sing-along accompaniment data and font data necessary for playing into the main storage device 14 in accordance with the information associated with the KARAOKE sing-along data quantity before the start of the playing in the head part of the text data, then immediately starts the playing.

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 configured to read and store a part of karaoke data for one music piece and then start playing a karaoke music piece. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a karaoke apparatus of this kind, karaoke accompaniment data necessary for playing one karaoke song and a lyric image corresponding to the progress of the karaoke accompaniment are displayed before starting a karaoke performance. In preparation for the performance, all the karaoke music data, including the lyrics display control data and font data necessary for the performance, is loaded into the main memory, and the operator of the karaoke apparatus must sing during the time spent for the preparation. Cannot be performed.

[0003] In particular, in this performance preparation, in order to recognize all font data used for karaoke performance, first, search is performed from the beginning to the end of the lyrics display control data, and almost all of the lyrics display control data is scattered. After analyzing the data designating the font to be used, necessary font data is loaded into the main memory based on the analysis result.

[0004]

That is, in the conventional karaoke apparatus, the operator of the karaoke apparatus has to take all the karaoke music data into the main memory until the karaoke performance is started (particularly, lyrics display control). In addition to the time required to analyze the data from the beginning to the end, it is necessary to wait only for the time required to capture all of the font data used for the performance), and there is a problem that it takes a considerable amount of time to start the performance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a karaoke apparatus that does not require an operator of the karaoke apparatus to wait unnecessarily until a karaoke performance is started. The purpose is to:

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a karaoke apparatus according to the present invention reads a part of karaoke data for one song, stores the data, and then plays the karaoke music. Karaoke device configured to start karaoke based on information included in the karaoke data stored before the performance start and related to the amount of karaoke data to be stored before the performance starts. It is characterized by comprising performance control means for controlling the start of performance of the music.

[0007] The karaoke apparatus of the present invention according to claim 2 is
First reading means for reading karaoke music data and font data stored in the auxiliary storage means, main storage means for storing karaoke music data and font data read by the first reading means, and karaoke stored in the main storage means Second reading means for reading information related to the amount of karaoke music data and font data to be stored by the start of the performance, the karaoke music data and font data stored in the main storage means; Identification means for identifying the amount; and performance control means for controlling the start of the performance of the karaoke tune based on the information relating to the data amount read by the second reading means and the data amount identified by the identification means. It is characterized by the following.

[0008] The karaoke apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention,
3. The karaoke apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising performance information storage means for storing information relating to the performance of reading the karaoke music data and font data, wherein the performance control means reads the performance information stored in the performance information storage means. It is characterized in that the performance start of the karaoke music piece is controlled based on the information relating to the performance.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a karaoke apparatus.
4. The karaoke apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising an input unit for inputting information related to the reading performance stored in the performance information storage unit.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, the following terms are defined. The karaoke data is composed of font data and karaoke music data (defined below) necessary for displaying a lyric image of the karaoke music. The karaoke music data is data necessary for displaying a lyric image corresponding to the accompaniment of the karaoke music and the progress thereof, and includes karaoke accompaniment data, lyrics data, back chorus data, and the like.

[0011] Karaoke accompaniment data is data necessary for performing accompaniment of a karaoke music piece.
I (Musical Instrument Digi)
(Tal Interface) standard, and the like. Lyrics data is data required to display, change colors, delete, etc. lyrics images corresponding to the progress of the accompaniment of karaoke songs. Lyrics data comprising a header portion, font designation data, and lyrics display control data. Consists of blocks.

The header section is composed of, for example, music genre data, the number of start clocks and the number of end clocks of the music, the name of the music, the name of the singer, and the amount of karaoke data to be stored before the performance starts. . The karaoke data amount is indicated by the number of MIDI clocks. The font designation data constituting the lyrics data block is data for designating font data used for displaying lyrics of a karaoke song.

The lyrics display control data constituting the lyrics data block includes, for example, MIDs from the start of the performance to the start of use of the lyrics display control data and from the end thereof.
It is composed of the number of I clocks, the number of clocks indicating the timing of displaying or erasing the color change data and the lyrics of the karaoke song, the number of clocks indicating the timing of color change, and the like.

The back chorus data is data necessary for performing a back chorus performance corresponding to the progress of accompaniment of a karaoke song, and is, for example, an MPEG (Movin).
It is composed of audio data coded based on the gPicture Element Group standard. Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a karaoke apparatus according to the present invention, and shows a basic configuration when applied to a communication karaoke system. Further, the karaoke apparatus 1 according to the present invention is shown in the outer broken line in FIG. 1
Reference numeral 7 denotes a host computer which automatically connects to each karaoke device via a telephone line and distributes karaoke music data to the karaoke device 1 and other karaoke devices (not shown).

Reference numeral 7 denotes a system control unit, which is composed of a microprocessor or the like for controlling the entire karaoke apparatus 1, and controls various input / output devices, manages memory, performs data processing, and the like. An operation unit 12 includes various keys, switches, and a remote controller (not shown) for setting various states of the karaoke apparatus 1. In particular, it is possible to input and change the reading performance of the karaoke apparatus 1 from the operation unit 12.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a display unit, which includes an LCD, an LED, and the like for displaying information necessary for setting various states of the karaoke apparatus 1 to an operator. A modem 5 exchanges data with the host computer 17 via an analog communication line such as a telephone line, and converts karaoke music data transmitted from the host computer 17 into a digital signal.

Reference numeral 6 denotes an auxiliary storage device, which is mainly composed of a rewritable storage medium such as a hard disk and a CD-ROM and a read-only storage medium, and includes an operating system (hereinafter referred to as "OS"), various control programs, It stores the reading performance indicated by a ratio to the standard performance (for example, a numerical value of 1.5 times that when the standard performance is 1), karaoke music data, font data, and the like. The karaoke music data is captured by the modem 5 under the control of the system control unit 7 and stored in the hard disk of the auxiliary storage device 6. Note that the auxiliary storage device 6 may be configured by a read-only storage medium such as a DVD-ROM or a DVD-RAM or a rewritable storage medium.

The management information storage unit (not shown) of the auxiliary storage device 6 stores information necessary for managing the stored karaoke music data as a karaoke music management table. , A song number, a song version, a stored date (year, month, day), and information indicating the number of song selections after the storage, and the like. System control unit 7
However, by transmitting the information stored in the management information storage unit to the host computer 17, it is possible to inform the host computer 17 of the information of the karaoke music stored in the karaoke apparatus 1.

Normally, the karaoke music data is stored in a data compressed state in order to minimize the storage capacity of the auxiliary storage device 6. The karaoke music data is not only taken in at the request of the user of the karaoke device 1, but is also taken automatically in a time zone when the karaoke device 1 is used less frequently, such as at night. 14
Is a main storage device, which is generally configured by a storage medium such as a semiconductor memory that can be rewritten and accessed at high speed, and under the control of the system control unit 7, an OS read from the auxiliary storage device 6, It stores a control program, reading performance, karaoke music data and font data in a decompressed state.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a music piece information storage unit, which is generally constituted by a storage medium such as a semiconductor memory which can be rewritten and accessed at a high speed. Under the control of the system control unit 7, a reservation input from the operation unit 12 is performed. The information which specifies the performed karaoke music is stored. Reference numeral 2 denotes an external video reproducing apparatus, which is widely used in VTRs, video CD players, and L
D players, more recently MPEG players and DVDs
(Digital Video Disk) A player or the like, under the control of the system controller 7, reproduces and outputs video signals from video data recorded on a video tape or various discs as recording media.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a superimpose unit, to which font data and color change information stored in the main storage unit 14 are supplied by the system control unit 7. Further, the superimposing unit 9 adds a background video signal supplied from the external video reproducing device 2 according to an instruction of the system control unit 7,
The lyric image created based on the supplied font data and color change information is synthesized and output to the image display unit 3 described later.

Reference numeral 3 denotes an image display unit, which is a display device capable of simultaneously displaying a plurality of images such as a wide TV and a monitor TV, which have been widely used recently, in a plurality of windows. The video display unit 3 includes a plurality of video display devices 1 to N, and each video display device simultaneously displays a video based on a video signal input from the superimposition unit 9.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a MIDI tone generator, which is supplied with MIDI data in the karaoke music data stored in the main storage unit 14 by the system controller 7;
The I data is output as a performance music signal by the function of the electronic musical instrument. Reference numeral 10 denotes a mixer / amplifier unit,
By synthesizing and amplifying the performance music signal output from the sound source section 8 and the signal of the singer's singing voice captured by the microphone 4 and outputting the synthesized music signal to the speaker 11, the performance music and the singing voice of the singer are reproduced as audible sounds. .

Next, the operation of the karaoke apparatus according to the present invention configured as described above will be described in detail. When the operator turns on the power of the karaoke device 1, the system control unit 7 automatically downloads the OS stored in the auxiliary storage device 6 to the main storage device 14, performs various initial settings, and then waits for performance. Waits for an input from the operation unit 12.

An operator operates a remote control included in the operation unit 12 while watching information displayed on the display unit 13, and
Enter the number of the song you want to play and select a song.
The system control section 7 stores the input music number data of the music piece in the music piece information storage section 15. Normally, the system control section 7 reproduces the performance music in accordance with the registration order of the music number data stored in the performance music information storage section 15. However, in order to simplify the explanation, before the performance music is registered, nothing is registered. Assume that it has not been registered.

The system control unit 7 stores the performance music information storage unit 1
No. 5 is always searched to determine whether there is a music piece to be reproduced. In this case, since the music number data is registered, the operation immediately proceeds to the reproduction operation of the music piece. The system control unit 7 searches the karaoke music data stored in the auxiliary storage device 6 for karaoke music data corresponding to the music number based on the music number data stored in the performance music information storage unit 15 and compresses the data. The stored karaoke music data is decompressed into karaoke accompaniment data, lyric data, and back chorus data and temporarily stored in the auxiliary storage device 6, and then stored in the main storage device 1 as described later.
4 and store only a part of the data. Then, the system control unit 7 downloads, to the main storage device 14, only the font data necessary for performing the lyrics display without interruption according to the lyrics data.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing the structure of the lyrics data. The lyrics data is composed of a header part at the head thereof and N subsequent lyrics data blocks (where N is an arbitrary natural number that differs for each music piece). The lyrics data block includes lyrics data block 1 to lyrics data block N, and each block is composed of font designation data and lyrics display control data. At the beginning of the lyrics data block, font designation data is arranged. In the lyrics display control data, in addition to the various control data described above, font index data necessary for displaying the lyrics video in time series is included. (Hereafter, "FI data"
) Are scattered over almost the entire area (in the figure, FI data B1-00 to FI data BN-N).
N is the FI data up to N).

The system controller 7 first stores the karaoke accompaniment data and the back chorus data in the main storage device 14.
And while continuing to download the lyrics data, based on the karaoke data amount information (information indicating the amount of data to be stored before starting the performance) and the reading performance data included in the header portion, The lyrics data blocks that need to be downloaded to the main storage device 14 are recognized in the following procedure.

First, the system controller 7 calculates the total number of MIDI clocks (for example, 1,50
0 MIDI clock) and the reading performance of the karaoke apparatus (for example, 1.5 times) from the reading performance data.
And by dividing the total number of MIDI clocks by the reading performance,
Number of clocks (that is, 1,500１，1.5 = 1,000M
IDI clock).

Next, the system control unit 7 controls the main storage device 1
Based on the font specification data of the lyrics data block 1 downloaded to the lyrics data block 4, the necessary font data is read out of the font data stored in the auxiliary storage device 6 and written in the font table of the main storage device 14. The lyrics data block 1 is calculated based on the number of MIDI clocks from the start to the end included in the control data.
Number of MIDI clocks (for example, 600 MIDI
Clock) and the MID to be stored before the performance starts
It is compared with the number of I clocks (that is, 1,000 MIDI clocks) to determine whether or not to start playing.

In this case, the MI to be stored before the performance starts
From the number of DI clocks, MI occupied by lyrics data block 1
+400 MIDI by subtracting the number of DI clocks
Since a positive value of clock is obtained, it is determined that the number of MIDI clocks to be stored has not reached the number of MIDI clocks to be stored before the start of performance, and +400 MIDI clocks as a subtraction result are stored.

Next, based on the font designation data of the lyrics data block 2, the system control section 7 reads necessary font data, and reads the necessary font data.
In the same manner as described above, recognizes the number of MIDI clocks occupied by the lyrics data block 2 (for example, 500 MIDI clocks), and stores the remaining number of MIDI clocks to be stored before the performance starts (ie,
It is determined whether or not the performance is to be started by comparing with the subtraction result (400 MIDI clocks).

In this case, by subtracting the number of MIDI clocks occupied by the lyrics data block 2 from the number of remaining MIDI clocks to be stored before the performance starts, -100M is obtained.
Since a negative value of IDI clock is obtained, it is determined that the number of MIDI clocks to be stored before the performance starts has been reached.
Then, the system control unit 7 determines whether all the font data used in the lyrics data block 1 and the lyrics data block 2 have been written in the font table of the main storage device 14, and determines that all the data has been written. If so, the performance of the karaoke music is immediately started.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing the relationship between the font data in the auxiliary storage device 6, the font designation data, and the font table in the main storage device 14. In this example, an operation of storing font data necessary to display a telop "Spring is coming" is described. FIG.
FIG. 2A is a conceptual diagram of font data stored in the auxiliary storage device 6. In this figure, the auxiliary storage device 6 stores “K” in the box number FD00 and “T” in the box number FD02 in ascending order of the numbers. . . The font data “come” is stored in the box number FD23. However, in the figure, “X” means that font data indicating other characters is stored, but the description of the characters is omitted because it is unnecessary for the description of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3B is a conceptual diagram of font designation data. The system control unit 7 reads the font data from the box number (FD) designated by the font index (FI) of the font designation data, and writes the font data in the font table of the main storage device 14. For example, in the figure, since FD21 corresponds to FI00, the system control unit 7 determines the box number FD21 of the font data.
And reads font data indicating "spring" stored in the font table.

FIG. 3C is a conceptual diagram of a font table in the main storage device 14. As shown in the upper diagram of FIG. 3C, the font index (F
I) is attached, and the font data is stored in a storage area corresponding to the font index, but this storage area indicates that nothing is currently stored.

The lower part of FIG. 3C shows a state in which font data is stored in storage areas FI00 to FI06 in the font table. System control unit 7
Converts the font data indicating “spring” read as described above into the font index F of the font designation data.
The font data is written in the storage area specified by the font index in the same font table as I00. Then, the system control unit 7 repeats the same procedure one after another, and repeats the font index (F
The font data is read from the box number (FD) corresponding to I) and written in the font table of the main storage device 14 to complete the font table.

Next, the system control unit 7 executes MIDI based on the karaoke accompaniment data and the back chorus data.
By controlling the sound source section 8, a performance signal required for playing the music is reproduced, and the performance signal is reproduced by the mixer / amplifier section 10.
Output to Then, the mixer / amplifier section 10 reproduces the performance music and the singing voice as audible sound by synthesizing the performance signal and the singer's voice signal input from the microphone 4 and outputting to the speaker 11.

The system control section 7 controls the external video reproducing apparatus 2 based on the genre information in the lyrics display control data to output a background video corresponding to the genre of the music to the superimposing section 9, When the lyrics image is output to the superimposing unit 9 based on the font index and the color change information in the lyrics display control data, the superimposing unit 9 combines the background image and the character image to the image display device 3. Output.

In this case, the FI data in the lyrics display control data of FIG. 2 includes "FI00, FI01, F
I02, FI03, FI04, FI05, FI01, F
The system control unit 7 searches the font table based on this data and displays a telop "Spring has arrived".

Further, during the performance of the karaoke music, the system control section 7 stores the karaoke music data to be played next in the main memory 14, and downloads necessary font data to the main memory 14 one after another. Complete the font table and continue playing karaoke songs.

[0043]

As described above, according to the karaoke apparatus according to the present invention, the minimum karaoke music data and font data necessary for performing the karaoke music are downloaded to the main storage device 14 and then the karaoke is immediately performed. Since the performance of the music starts, before the karaoke performance starts,
The operator of the karaoke apparatus does not have to wait longer than necessary.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a karaoke apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a structure of lyrics data used in the karaoke apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing a relationship among font data, font designation data, and a font table used in the karaoke apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 karaoke device 2 external video playback device 3 video display unit 5 modem 6 auxiliary storage device 7 system control unit 8 MIDI sound source unit 9 superimpose unit 10 mixer / amplifier unit 12 operation unit 13 display unit 14 main storage device 15 performance music information Storage unit 17 Host computer

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A karaoke apparatus configured to read and store a part of karaoke data for one song and then start playing a karaoke song, the information included in the karaoke data stored before the start of the performance. A karaoke apparatus comprising: performance control means for controlling the start of a karaoke music performance based on information relating to the amount of karaoke data to be stored before the performance starts. 2. A first reading means for reading karaoke music data and font data stored in an auxiliary storage means, a main storage means for storing karaoke music data and font data read by the first reading means, and the main storage Second reading means for reading information contained in the karaoke music data stored by the means, the information relating to the amount of karaoke music data and font data to be stored by the time the performance starts, and karaoke stored by the main storage means Identification means for identifying the amount of music data and font data; and performance control for controlling the start of the performance of the karaoke music based on the information related to the amount of data read by the second reading means and the amount of data identified by the identification means. Karaoke apparatus comprising: 3. The karaoke apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising performance information storage means for storing information relating to the performance of reading the karaoke music data and font data, and wherein the performance control means stores the performance information. Controlling the start of performance of a karaoke tune based on information related to the reading performance stored by the means. 4. The karaoke apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: input means for inputting information related to reading performance stored in said performance information storage means.