KR0124967B1 - Digital music accompany system using magnetic storing medium - Google Patents

Abstract

A digital karaoke system using a magnetic store means that stores the digital music accompaniment information, a relation image information, and a caption information. The said system consists of a system memory connected with the system bus, a microprocessor that controls the entire action of the digital karaoke system according to the stored program, a magnetic store means, a MIDI sound source module, and a background music and caption process means.

Description

Digital Song Accompaniment System Using Magnetic Storage Media

1 is a diagram illustrating a digital song accompaniment system using the magnetic storage medium of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing in more detail the configuration related to the magnetic storage medium of FIG.

3 illustrates a logical internal configuration of the magnetic storage media of FIGS. 1 and 2.

4 is a view showing in more detail the configuration of the system information block of FIG.

5 is a diagram showing in detail the configuration of the file allocation table of FIG.

6 is a diagram showing in more detail the configuration of the cluster assignment table of FIG.

7 is a flowchart illustrating the operational flow of the digital song accompaniment system of FIG.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

100: Digital Song Accompaniment System 101: System Bus

102: system memory 103: input device

104: microprocessor 105: storage medium

106: storage medium control device 107: mixer

108: speaker 109: microphone

110: MIDI sound module 111: Monitor

112: background image and subtitle processing unit 113: boot ROM

301: data area 302: file allocation table

302 ': file allocation table 303: cluster allocation table

303 ': cluster allocation table 304: system information block

304 ': System Information Clock

The present invention relates to a digital song accompaniment system, and more particularly, to a storage medium for song accompaniment information, related video information, and subtitle information of a digital song accompaniment system (aka karaoke apparatus) using a microprocessor.

The digital song accompaniment system using a microprocessor largely includes a microprocessor that controls the overall operation of the digital song accompaniment system according to the contents of a control program stored in system memory, and digital song accompaniment information, for example. A storage medium for storing MIDI (MIDI: Musical Instrument Digital Interface, European Patent Publication No. 0 509 812 A2) data with related image information and subtitle information, and a song accompaniment according to digital song accompaniment information. MIDI sound module to be played in accordance with the sound of each instrument through the background, background image and caption processing device for playing the image and subtitles related to the song accompaniment through the monitor according to the related video information and subtitle information It includes.

The digital song accompaniment system also includes a mixer and a microphone that, when the user sings through the microphone, the song is mixed with the instrument's sound signal from the MIDI source module and passed through the speakers. Let it play This digital song accompaniment system controls the MIDI sound module and stores only the digital data that can obtain a desired musical instrument signal as song accompaniment information, so that song accompaniment can be reproduced in real time. Disc accompaniment can be reproduced with much less information than a song accompaniment system (aka karaoke device).

In such a digital song accompaniment system, ROM (Read Only Memory) has been used as a conventional storage medium. However, in the case of a digital song accompaniment system using a ROM as a storage medium, as a new song is continuously introduced, in order to add new song accompaniment information, related video information, and subtitle information, a predetermined size ROM must be additionally installed. However, since the ROM is expensive and its size is large, the use of only a part of the ROM to supply new song accompaniment early increases the cost. Therefore, the supply of new song accompaniment has been provided in a form in which a certain amount of song accompaniment information, related video information, and subtitle information suitable for the size of the ROM are simultaneously recorded in the ROM.

Also, this additional ROM space was confined to the reserved ROM sockets of the digital song accompaniment system, so new song accompaniment could not be effectively added. Furthermore, even when modifying recorded information (song accompaniment information and related video information, subtitle information), it was inconvenient to remove the existing ROM and install a new ROM, resulting in additional cost burden.

On the contrary, if a magnetic storage medium that can easily add information in byte units and easily modify recorded information is used as a storage medium of a digital song accompaniment system, song accompaniment information, related video information, and subtitle information can be added. And easy to modify, and the cost per unit of storage capacity can be reduced.

Accordingly, a main object of the present invention is to easily and economically add and modify new song accompaniment information, related image information, and subtitle information using a magnetic storage medium as a storage medium for storing digital song accompaniment information, related video information, and subtitle information. It is to provide a digital song accompaniment system.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a system memory connected to a system bus, a microprocessor for controlling the overall operation of the digital song accompaniment system according to a control program connected to the system bus and stored in the system memory, and digital song accompaniment information. For example, a magnetic storage medium for storing MIDI data and related image information, subtitle information, a magnetic storage medium control device for connecting and controlling a magnetic storage medium to a system bus under the control of a microprocessor, When the digital song accompaniment information is given under the control of the microprocessor, a MIDI sound source module which generates the instrument sound signal, and the relevant video information and subtitle information under the control of the microprocessor connected to the system bus may be given. When background video occurs, the corresponding video signal The digital song accompaniment system comprising a processing unit and subtitles are provided.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a digital song accompaniment system 100 that stores digital song accompaniment information, related video information, and subtitle information using the magnetic storage medium of the present invention.

As shown, the digital song accompaniment system 100 includes an address bus, a data bus, and a control bus to organically combine each component of the digital song accompaniment system 100, as in a conventional digital song accompaniment system. A system bus 101 to perform; A main control program which specifies the operational flow of the digital song accompaniment system after the start of operation, and a system memory 102 for storing song accompaniment information, video information, and subtitle information of songs selected by the user; An input unit 103 for receiving a user's music selection command; A microprocessor 104 for controlling the overall operation of the digital song accompaniment system in accordance with a main control program and a selection command; A storage medium 105 for storing the given digital song accompaniment information and related image information, subtitle information, and the like; A storage medium control device 106 for connecting and controlling the storage medium 105 to the system bus 101; A MIDI sound source module 110 for reproducing the song accompaniment of the song selected according to the song accompaniment information of the selected song together with the user's song 109 through the mixer 107 and the speaker 108; And a background image and a caption processing unit 112 for reproducing the video information and the caption information of the selected song through the monitor 111 in synchronization with the song accompaniment of the selected song.

In addition, the digital song accompaniment system 100 of the present invention includes a boot ROM 113 that stores a startup program that specifies an initial operation flow of the digital song accompaniment system 100 when power is supplied and operation starts. It includes more. Accordingly, the main control program for controlling the operation of the entire system 100 after the start of operation is also stored in the storage medium 105, and the system memory is stored by the startup program stored in the boot ROM 113 when the system 100 is powered on. After reading to 102. The digital song accompaniment system 100 of the present invention thus makes it easy to modify and supplement the main control program by using such a booting method.

2 shows the storage medium 105 and storage medium control device 106 of FIG. 1 in more detail.

As described above, the digital song accompaniment system 100 of the present invention uses a magnetic storage medium, preferably a hard disk, instead of a conventional ROM as a storage medium for storing song accompaniment information, related video information, and subtitle information. It is possible to easily and economically achieve the addition and correction of information contained in the use (hereinafter, the present invention has been described in the case where a hard disk is used as the magnetic storage medium 105, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the present invention may be equally applicable to other magnetic storage media, for example, floppy disks, which are easy to add and modify. .).

As shown in FIG. 2, the hard disk 105 typically cannot be directly connected to the system bus 101 and is therefore accessed through a hard disk control logic circuit 106. The control logic 106 accesses the song accompaniment information, the related video information, and the subtitle information of the hard disk 105 in sectors (512 sectors in this embodiment) under the control of the microprocessor 104. .

The digital song accompaniment system 100 of the present invention repeatedly performs such sector-by-sector access operation on the hard disk 105 to display the song accompaniment information, associated video information, and subtitle information of the selected song, by the microprocessor 103. Is loaded into a certain area of the system memory 102 that can be directly controlled, and accesses song accompaniment and related video information and subtitle information stored in a certain area of the system memory 102 using an approach similar to the conventional ROM method. The hard disk 105 can be used as a storage medium for song accompaniment information, related video information, and subtitle information without significantly changing the existing system.

On the other hand, when the information contained in the hard disk 105 is read from the hard disk 105 or written to the hard disk 105 to prevent simple duplication, the serial number of the hard disk 105 is used. It may be encoded / decoded.

3 shows in detail the logical internal configuration of the hard disk 104 of FIG.

In FIG. 3, each song accompaniment information, related video information, and subtitle information are composed of one file, and each file is composed of a link of clusters, which is a basic unit of information storage, and includes a data area 301. Stored within.

A song accompaniment lasts an average of 3-4 minutes, and the resulting song accompaniment information, for example, MIDI data, is approximately 3-4K bytes in size (while the digital song accompaniment system 100 has a relatively simple background). When using video and subtitles, the related video information, subtitle information will require less capacity). Therefore, about 3-4K bytes are used as the information storage basic unit of the hard disk 105 and placed in contiguous space in the data area 301 of the hard disk 104, and one file is a link of the information storage basic units. In this case, this configuration is combined with the caching mechanism of the hard disk 104 to improve the access speed of a single file. Therefore, the digital song accompaniment system 100 of the present invention is more effective than the conventional ROM scheme. Even if you use a slow hard disk, you can expect the same performance as the ROM method.

Accordingly, the digital song accompaniment system 100 of the present invention designates eight sectors (= 4K bytes) as one cluster, which is the basic unit of information storage of the data area 301 of the hard disk 105. (However, it should be understood that the size of the cluster can be adjusted according to the average size of the song accompaniment or related image information and subtitle information to be stored.), One cluster is continuous in the data area 301 of the hard disk 104. (But the position within each cluster's data area 301 can be variable), and one file is also made up of links of these clusters.

Information for accessing these files and their associated clusters is contained in the file allocation table 302 and the cluster allocation table 303, which will be described in detail below. Information in system information block 304 is needed to access 302 and cluster assignment table 303. (Therefore, stable storage of such system information blocks, file allocation tables, and cluster allocation tables is essential. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, these areas are duplicated and stored, so that the basic areas 302, 303, and 304 are lost. (302 ', 303', 304 ') to recover the basic area.)

System information block 304 is shown in more detail in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, the system information blocks 304 and 304 'provide digital information by providing overall information about its configuration, such as the hard disk 104 itself and the beginning and end of each area within the hard disk 105. FIG. Accompaniment system 100 provides access to each of these areas. The hard disk 105 whose portion is defective is treated as a total defect.

The file allocation table 302 (302 ') of FIG. 3 contains information for managing files stored in the digital area 301 of the hard disk 105. One entry for a file is shown in FIG. Up to N entries, where N is a predetermined number in consideration of the storage capacity of the data area 301 and the like.

Figure 5 shows the file allocation table 302 in more detail.

In Figure 5, the file name serves as an identifier that identifies the file from other files. A start cluster lind pointer specifies an address in the data area 301 of the first cluster of clusters belonging to the file. As described above, each song accompaniment information, related image information, and subtitle information are stored as one file, and the file is composed of a basic information storage unit, that is, a link of clusters. Thus, starting from the first cluster specified by the starting cluster link pointer, access to the file can be completed by sequentially accessing all clusters belonging to the file by the link pointers in the cluster allocation table 303. The file size represents the total size of the file in sectors. The data type represents one of contents contained in the file, that is, song accompaniment information, video information, and subtitle information. The file type indicates the type of the file, such as the primary file or the back up file. The digital song accompaniment system 100 automatically generates a backup file within the limit allowed by the remaining capacity of the hard disk, and prepares for the case that the basic file is bad. The primary file is saved from the beginning of the data area, and the backup file is saved from the end of the data area. The file status indicates whether the file is defective or not.

The cluster assignment table 303 (303 ') of FIG. 3 has a configuration as shown in FIG.

As shown, the cluster allocation table 303 (304 ') includes up to M entries, including one entry for one cluster (where M is the storage capacity of the data area 301, etc.) Is a predetermined number). The cluster type indicates whether or not the cluster has any information yet available to accommodate new information, has recorded information, or has recorded information but is in a bad state. The next cluster link pointer specifies the address in the data area 301 of the cluster that will next access within the links of clusters belonging to that file.

Accordingly, the digital song accompaniment system 100 may access the entire file by sequentially accessing the clusters specified by the starting cluster link pointer in the file allocation table 302 and the next cluster link pointers in the cluster allocation table 303.

Hereinafter, the overall operation of the digital song accompaniment system 100 using the magnetic storage medium of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

First, upon powering up the system 104, as shown in block 701, a startup program in the boot ROM 113 is performed by the microprocessor 103 to provide a predetermined area within the hard disk 105. The stored main control program is read into the system memory 102, which is executed by the microprocessor 104 to control the operation of the entire digital song accompaniment system 100 from block 702.

In block 702, a user's selection command is received via the key input device 103. Thereafter, in block 703, the song accompaniment information, the associated video information, and the subtitle information of the selected song are read from the hard disk 105, and the song accompaniment information is recorded in the song accompaniment area of the system memory 102, and the video information and subtitles are displayed. The information is loaded into the background image information and the subtitle information area of the system memory, respectively.

Looking at this process in more detail, first, the system information block 304 of the hard disk 105 is accessed to determine the location of the file allocation table 302 and the cluster allocation table 303. Thereafter, the entry corresponding to the song accompaniment information of the selected song in the file allocation table 302 is accessed to access the starting cluster link pointer. Thereafter, song accompaniment information of the selected song is loaded into the song accompaniment area of the system memory 102 using the start cluster link pointer and the next cluster link pointers of the cluster assignment table 303. Also, the video information and the caption information of the selected song are loaded into the background image information and the caption information area of the system memory 102 through a similar process.

Thereafter, in block 704, the song accompaniment of the selected song loaded in the system memory 102 is supplied to the MIDI sound source module 110, so that the user's song 109 is communicated with the mixer 107 and the speaker 108. The image information and the caption information, which are also loaded in the system memory 102, are supplied to the background image and the caption information processing apparatus 112 so as to be reproduced together through the monitor 111. Thereafter, when processing for the selected song is completed, the process returns to block 702, where the user waits to select the next song.

In describing the operation of the digital song accompaniment system 100 as described above, various error situations that may occur during operation and the operation thereof are not mentioned, but those skilled in the art Such an error situation and the operation of the digital song accompaniment system 100 will be readily understood. For example, if the user selects a song accompaniment other than the song accompaniment stored on the hard disk 105, the digital song accompaniment system 100 will not be able to find the corresponding entry in the file assignment table 302, thus, The fact may be displayed on the monitor 11 through the background image and the subtitle processing device 112. In addition, when the digital song accompaniment system 100 accesses a certain area / information in the hard disk 104, and the state / information of the area / information is inferior, the digital song accompaniment system 100 applies to the backup area / information. If the backup area / information is bad again, this situation can also be notified to the user through the monitor 111.

On the other hand, addition of new songs or modification of existing songs can be easily achieved by adding and modifying the corresponding song accompaniment information, video information, and subtitle information on the hard disk 105. That is, adding new songs records the song accompaniment information, video information, and caption information in the data area of the hard disk 105, as long as the empty space necessary for the data area of the hard disk 105 is secured. This is easily accomplished by updating the file assignment table 302 and the cluster assignment table 303 to reflect song accompaniment information, video information, and subtitle information. In addition, in order to modify the existing song, the modified song accompaniment information, video information, and subtitle information are recorded in the corresponding data area of the hard disk 105 in place of the existing information, and accordingly, the file allocation table 302 and the cluster allocation table 303 are used. This is easily done by updating).

As described above, the digital song accompaniment system using the magnetic storage medium of the present invention can easily add a new song and modify the existing song, unlike a system using a conventional ROM. In addition, there is an advantage that the price of the entire system is lowered by using a magnetic storage medium having a much lower storage capacity and the like compared to the conventional ROM.

Claims (9)

A digital song accompaniment system, comprising: a system bus: a system memory connected to the system bus and capable of storing a control program; A magnetic storage medium storing digital song accompaniment information and image information related to the digital song accompaniment information; A magnetic storage medium control device for connecting and controlling the magnetic storage medium to the system bus; An input device connected to the system bus and receiving a user selection command; Connected to the system bus to load the digital song information and the image information of the magnetic storage medium into the system memory according to a control program stored in the system memory, and to control the operation of the digital song accompaniment system according to the selection command. Microprocessor; A MIDI sound soure module connected to the system bus and generating a corresponding instrument sound signal when the digital song accompaniment information is given under the control of the microprocessor; And a background image processing device connected to the system bus and generating a video signal corresponding to the image information under the control of the microprocessor. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the digital song accompaniment system comprises: a mixer configured to generate a mixed sound signal by mixing the instrument sound signal with a voice of the user; A speaker for reproducing the mixed sound signal; And the monitor for reproducing the corresponding video signal. 3. The digital song accompaniment system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the digital song accompaniment system further comprises a boot ROM (ROM: Read Only Memory) connected to the system bus to store a start program, wherein the control program is stored in the storage medium. And when the digital song accompaniment system is powered on, the microprocessor loads the control program stored in the storage medium into the system memory according to the start program stored in the boot ROM. The digital accompaniment according to claim 1, wherein the microprocessor loads the digital song accompaniment information and the related image information selected by the selection command among the digital song accompaniment information and the related image information into the system memory. And the digital song accompaniment system for supplying information and related image information to the MIDI sound source module and the background image processing apparatus, respectively. 2. The magnetic storage medium of claim 1, wherein the magnetic storage medium stores the digital song accompaniment information and the related image information by using an information storage basic unit corresponding to an average capacity of the digital song accompaniment information as an information storage basic unit. Digital song accompaniment system. 2. The magnetic storage medium of claim 1, wherein the magnetic storage medium is configured to duplicate information required for the magnetic storage medium control device to access the digital song accompaniment information data and the related image information in the magnetic storage medium under the control of the microprocessor. The digital song accompaniment system to store. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the magnetic storage medium control apparatus encodes and records the digital song accompaniment information and the related image information according to a serial number of the magnetic storage medium. And the digital song accompaniment system for preventing simple duplication of the related image information. The digital song accompaniment system according to claim 7, wherein the magnetic storage medium control apparatus decodes and reads the digital song accompaniment information and the related image information stored in the magnetic storage medium. 9. The digital song accompaniment system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein said magnetic storage medium is a hard disk.