WO2010112943A1

WO2010112943A1 - Music tablature player

Info

Publication number: WO2010112943A1
Application number: PCT/GB2010/050586
Authority: WO
Inventors: Andy Hirst
Original assignee: I-Tab Limited
Priority date: 2009-04-01
Filing date: 2010-04-01
Publication date: 2010-10-07

Abstract

An integrated music tablature teaching and playing system using a dedicated web server (102) and software enabled portable viewing devices (104). Embodiments of the invention provide for the transfer of scrolling music tablature (106) comprising, but not restricted to, chords, lyrics, musical score and notation, from a web server (102) based library (108) to a portable viewing device (104), either specifically designed and manufactured, or enabled via a licensed software download (110), to allow the user to scroll the tablature (112) on the device (104) on primary screen (114) for the purposes of learning or playing the music. The web server (102) allows the creation of a shared library (108) of tablature in various formats by users which can then be transferred to a suitable licensed portable device (102). Devices are enabled by the download of a piece of software (110) that facilitates the interaction between the device (104) and the web server (102). Once the tablature is downloaded, the software (110) allows the user to alter the rate (116) at which the tablature (112) scrolls on the viewer, on primary screen (114) so as to be able to adjust for tempo and playing style.

Description

Music tablature player

This invention relates to music tablature and in particular a music tablature player suitable for use on portable touch-screen viewing devices.

The provision of musical notation and lyrics has previously been offered on PCs (Personal Computers) and laptops in flat document form either for simple chord and lyric tabs, full tablature or full score. These documents have been available to scroll whereby the user can apply a generic scrolling rate to the document that has no relation to the intrinsic timing of the music. It is a "best guess" approach to the scrolling. Other forms such as Sibelius™ have allowed scrolling through a sheet of music driven by a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) file where each note is highlighted at the appropriate time and for the correct duration. This is restricted to the portion of the music that can be seen in the screen and does not scroll beyond this. This only applies to full score and full tablature. Neither PC or laptop are genuinely portable from a user point of view nor can either be fixed to an instrument whilst playing, or stood on a piano stand or music stand. Page turning applications have also existed for fixed screen documents where the user presses a foot pedal to effect a page turn.

Guitar karaoke systems are known. These are videos where the lyrics are overlaid with the video at a fixed tempo. There is no assignation of timing to the lyrics or chords themselves. They are simply laid over the video and cannot be amended in tempo rate. The lyrics and chords are attached to the video and the tempo cannot be varied by the user. Sibelius™ music composition and notation software can scroll a full score from page to page left to right. The only permits the movement across individual sheet music pages left to right and does not accommodate a single continuous sheet. The system requires a full PC with keyboard and mouse to be operated. To use such a system, even on a tablet PC, would require the plugging in of other devices like keyboards, mouse etc, which render it impractical for orchestras and bands on stage.

Known solutions have been restricted in that they do not allow a user to play an entire piece of music through from start to finish, regardless of length, in a totally accurate way.

Known chord tablatures do not include a time signature feature that allows them to keep pace with the tempo.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome at least some of the problems in the prior art.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a music tablature player comprising: a tablature decoder operable to obtain musical tablature and associated timing information from tablature data; a display module operable to cause a display of a viewing device to display said musical tablature at a rate determined by said timing information.

Preferably, said music tablature player is further operable to alter said rate during said display of said musical tablature. Preferably, said music tablature player is further operable to display said musical tablature by scrolling.

Preferably, said musical tablature comprises lyrics.

Preferably, said musical tablature comprises lyrics and chords.

Preferably, said tablature data comprises a tablature file.

Preferably, said tablature file comprises an extended ChordPro formatted file.

Preferably, said music tablature player is further operable to distribute musical tablature to at least one other viewing device and to cause a display of said at least one other viewing device to display said distributed musical tablature in synchronization with said display of said musical tablature at a rate determined by said timing information.

Preferably, said music tablature player is further operable to distribute a backing track to at least one other remote device and to cause said at least one other remote device to play said distributed backing track in synchronization with said display of said musical tablature at a rate determined by said timing information.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable viewing device comprising the music tablature player according to the first aspect.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program product containing one or more sequences of machine- readable instructions for playing music tablature, the instructions being adapted to cause one or more processors to operate as the music tablature player according to the first aspect.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of generating tablature data, the method comprising the steps: receiving a music file; separating an instrument source; generating a chord map from said instrument source; receiving musical tablature; associating timing information with said musical tablature; and generating tablature data comprising said musical tablature and said associated timing information.

Preferably, said musical tablature comprises lyrics.

Preferably, said musical tablature comprises lyrics and chords.

Preferably, said tablature data comprises a tablature file.

Preferably, said tablature file comprises an extended ChordPro formatted file.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of playing music tablature comprising: transferring scrolling music tablature from a web server to a portable viewing device to enable the playing and/or learning of music.

Preferably, said method further comprises allowing a user to scroll said tablature on said portable viewing device. Preferably, said method further comprises allowing a user to alter the rate at which said tablature scrolls so as to be able to adjust for tempo and playing style.

Preferably, said method further comprises transferring broadcastable lyrics via a remote device from said portable viewing device.

Preferably, said method further comprises transferring remotely broadcastable backing tracks from said web server to be played via a remote device from the portable viewing device synchronized with said scrolling music tablature transferred from said web server.

Preferably, said scrolling music tablature comprises chords, lyrics, musical score and/or notation .

Preferably, said method further comprises transferring from said web server to said portable viewing device of supplementary files stitched to said tablature to allow the wi-fi enabled playing of lyrics on a secondary screen via a wirelessly connected remote device.

Preferably, said method further comprises transferring from said web server to said portable device of supplementary files stitched to said tablature to allow the wi-fi enabled playing of lyrics on a secondary screen via a wirelessly connected remote device.

Preferably, remote devices are connected to TV inputs and/or mic inputs on stereos and/or amplifiers as dictated by the file to be transferred in synchronization with the tablature being played on said portable viewing device. According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program product containing one or more sequences of machine- readable instructions for playing music tablature, the instructions being adapted to cause one or more processors to perform the method according to the fifth aspect.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to an integrated music tablature teaching and playing system using a dedicated web server and software enabled portable viewing devices.

Embodiments of the invention provide for the transfer of scrolling music tablature comprising, but not restricted to, chords, lyrics, musical score and notation, from a web server based library to a portable viewing device, either specifically designed and manufactured, or enabled via a licensed software download, to allow the user to scroll the tablature on the device for the purposes of learning or playing the music.

The web server allows the creation of a shared library of tablature in various formats by users which can then be transferred to a suitable licensed portable device. Devices are enabled by the download of a piece of software that facilitates the interaction between the device and the web server.

Once the tablature is downloaded, the software allows the user to alter the rate at which the tablature scrolls so as to be able to adjust for tempo and playing style.

The software also permits the transfer from the web server to the portable device of supplementary files stitched to the tablature to allow the wi-fi enabled playing of lyrics on a secondary screen via a wirelessly connected remote device, such as wi-fi dongle.

The software further allows transfer from the web server to the portable device of supplementary files stitched to the tablature to allow the wi-fi enabled playing of lyrics on a secondary screen via a wirelessly connected remote device.

The remote devices are connected to TV inputs and mic inputs on stereos and amplifiers as dictated by the file to be transferred in synchronization with the tablature being played on the viewer.

The embodiment of the claim is that of a the transfer of scrolling music tablature from a web server to a portable viewing device to enable the playing and/or learning of music.

A further independent embodiment is the transfer of broadcastable lyrics via a remote device from the portable viewer.

A further embodiment is the transfer of remotely broadcastable backing tracks from the web server to be played via a remote device from the viewer synchronized with the tablature.

The present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying Figures, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates, in schematic form, a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a flow chart illustrating the creation of an extended tablature file;

Figure 3 illustrates the structure of the extended tablature data represented as a tree;

Figure 4 illustrates the function of extended tablature file importation;

Figure 5 illustrates the playing of an extended tablature file;

Figure 6 illustrates an example cardinality between elements of a media database including the extended tablature file;

Figure 7 illustrates, in schematic form, a clamp for attaching a portable viewing device to a guitar;

Figure 8 illustrates, in schematic form, a clamp being used to attach a portable viewing device according to an embodiment of the present invention to a guitar; and

Figure 9 illustrates, in schematic form, an arrangement of synchronized portable viewing devices.

Embodiments of the present invention combine software, an extended tablature format for chord and lyric tablature, and other software formats, with portable dedicated devices so that the music, in whichever form, can scroll from start to finish in perfect time regardless of the format or document length. This would, for example, allow a player to play a 24 page concerto from beginning to end without any user intervention or interaction with the player. In perfect time means that where each and every single component element, be it lyric, chord name, note or notation, has a time value ascribed to it that is correct relative to the other elements and the whole within a margin of one quarter of a beat, and where the internal software is driven by a clock that plays back the components with a degree of accuracy that is high enough that any timing error is not detectable by the human ear.

The units can be mounted on musical instruments by way of specifically designed clamps or on microphone stands.

This is the first way to scroll music by notation or lyric time value for an entire piece of music regardless of style or length.

The player may output an audio file which is synchronised with the notation playing to offer the player accompaniment. The player may output to a TV monitor. The player may output to an HUD (head up display) mounted on glasses to give the player lyrics and notation scrolling in perfect time within his field of vision. The player may play a backing click track into the user's ear for co ordination.

The player may offer audio stretching software which synchronises the notation playing with an audio file and allows the user to alter the tempo of the notation player which will automatically adjust the tempo of the audio file without altering the pitch. The player may also integrate a key change whereby the user can change the key of a piece, thus re-transcribing each chord or note within the piece and simultaneously altering the key of the audio file.

Embodiments of the present invention provide guitar players with a portable media player to easily read guitar chord tablatures. A function of an embodiment of the present invention is to provide guitar players with tablatures that are synchronized with the music. Another such function is to create a handheld viewer, easy to carry in a guitar bag and to clip on a guitar.

Figure 1 illustrates an integrated music tablature teaching and playing system using a dedicated web server 102 and software enabled portable viewing devices 104.

Embodiments of the invention provide for the transfer of scrolling music tablature 106 comprising, but not restricted to, chords, lyrics, musical score and notation, from a web server 102 based library 108 to a portable viewing device 104, either specifically designed and manufactured, or enabled via a licensed software download 110, to allow the user to scroll the tablature 112 on the device 104 (on primary screen 114) for the purposes of learning or playing the music.

The web server 102 allows the creation of a shared library 108 of tablature in various formats by users which can then be transferred to a suitable licensed portable device 102. Devices are enabled by the download of a piece of software 110 that facilitates the interaction between the device 104 and the web server 102.

Once the tablature is downloaded and decoded by the tablature decoder 109 to obtain the tabs and lyrics and associated timing information, the software 110 allows the user to alter the rate 116 at which the tablature 112 scrolls (on the viewer, on primary screen 114) so as to be able to adjust for tempo and playing style. The software also permits and allows the transfer from the web server to the portable device of supplementary files 118 stitched 120 to the tablature 106 to allow the wi-fi enabled playing of lyrics 122 on a secondary screen 124 via a wirelessly connected remote device 126, such as wi-fi dongle. Aerials for wi-fi transmission 128 and reception 130 are shown on the portable viewing device 104 and remote device 126 receptively.

The remote devices 126 are connected to TV 132 inputs and mic inputs on stereos 134 and amplifiers as dictated by the file to be transferred in synchronization 136 with the tablature 112 being played on the viewer 104.

The transfer of scrolling music tablature 106 from a web server 102 to a portable viewing device 104 enables the playing and/or learning of music.

The transfer of broadcastable lyrics 138, 122 via a remote device 126 from the portable viewer 104.

A further embodiment is the transfer of remotely broadcastable backing tracks 140, from the web server 102 to be played 142, 144 (using speakers 146, 148) via a remote device 126 from the viewer 104 synchronized 150 with the tablature 112.

Figure 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method include components from the IMAAS (Interactive Music Archive Access System) technology developed by Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). IMAAS is used in automating parts of the tabbing process as well as timing accuracy. This provides improve tabs production rate along with quality. With reference to Figure 2, the following steps are performed: 1. Users import 202 an original MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3) song 204 into the tablature file generator, so that the MP3 is loaded 206

2. Users select portion of the song to be parsed by the IMAAS, using the source separation module. This portion typically includes the guitar sound 208. The purpose is to get rid of all possible other sound sources. It might sometimes not be possible to separate guitar from the rest (due to stereo architecture), in this case the IMAAS is not usable. In that case 210, using the unchanged audio track 212, tablatures can still be tabbed, that is entering the chords and values, manually 214. 3. If the sound separation is successful 216 the guitar source is separated 218 and the user hits a "Generate Chord map" button 220 to run the audio tabbing tool to extract chord information 222 which will display the chord bar, resulting in the correct chords and variables 224.

4. Users enter the lyrics 226 between the chords and correct the chords and variable changes as necessary, resulting in the time, lyrics and variables being correct 228. Thus the tempo/timing is fixed to the notation.

5. Users control the output formatting and local directives 230, resulting in the output format and locales being correct 232.

6. Users make sure they filed constants / metadata 234, resulting in the constants being correct 236.

7. Finally an export 238 results in an output extended tablature file 240.

The extended tablature file format will be described in detail below.

Extended Tablature File Format

The language of the extended tablature file format describes guitar chords and lyrics tablatures. It carries information using directives, chord tags and formatting. New lines

A new line separates the chords and lyrics into smaller blocks, making them easier to handle. Each line has a maximum number of displayable characters to ensure it will fit in the screen (to be defined).

Directives and Chords

A directive is a piece of information delimited by { }. A chord is written between [ ].

A chord block is all the information held between a chord tag and the following chord tag or the end of the line. Directives are lowercase. Directives and chords are held on a single line. Directives may not overlap nor contain other directives or chords.

- Constants

Those are the global directives, they are put at the beginning of the file. The order may not matter but by convention title, then artist(s) and then album(s) are used.

title

The title directive is global and unique. There may not be more or less than one title per song. syntax {title: <Sthng> } cardinality 1 ex: {title: Let it be}

artist

The artist directive is global. In case of multiple artists, each one has its own separate directive. syntax {artist: <String> } cardinality 0-n ex: {artist: The Beatles}

album The album directive is global. In case of multiple albums, each one has its own separate directive. syntax {album: <String> } cardinality 0-n ex: {album: Abbey Road}

- Variables

Those values can change in the middle of the song. A variable directive in the tab will override the value of the previous from there. The variable directive does not affect the currently playing bar, changes take effect at the next bar. The tabbers take into account whether a chord block lasts until the end of the bar or it overlaps the next bar. If the chord block finishes at the end of the bar then a variable directive may be put before the ending chord. If the chord block overlaps the next bar, the directive won't be interpreted on time. In that case the directive is put in before the previous chord block. By convention, variable directives are put at the end of a chord block (i.e. after the lyrics).

tempo

It is hardly recommended to define the tempo at the beginning, after the constants, but if no tempo directive is present before displayable content, the default value is used. syntax {tempo: <Number > } default 80 ex: {tempo: 60} time signature

In most of the case the song will have the default time signature 4/4 in this case there is no need for a time signature directive. syntax {timesig: <Number>/ <Number> } default 4/4 ex: {timesig: 2/4}

- Locals

Those directives represent local information within a tab. They are not affected by the musical clock. By convention local directives are put at the end of line, or one a line on their own.

comment

The comment directive is used for convenience, to display any song specific information that doesn't fall into another directive category. Its content will appear in italics between the previous lyrics line and the following chord line. It is up to the tabber to decide whether or not a comment is needed and where to put it. syntax {comment: <String> } ex: {comment: This is a beginner version, some chords have been simplified}

verse

The verse directive is used as a boundary between lyrics verses. It is used to separate a song into smaller blocks, allowing the user to work only one of those blocks at a time. If there is not, the whole tab will then be considered as one block. syntax {verse} ex: {verse} - Backingtrack specific

start

This directive indicates a number of beats after which the music starts playing. This directive will only be located at the beginning of a song, as it only affects its start. This overcomes the 4 beats timer at the intro of a song, its interest is to correct the few beats of offset that may arise at the intro of a song, so the visual metronome is always beating on the right beats. This directive should be ignored when playing simple tabs. syntax {start: <Number> } ex: (start: 2.5}

bt

At the beginning of a line indicates that the line is only relevant when playing backingtracks, it will be ignored when played as regular tab file. This is done to skip some long intro, bridges or outro where there is no lyrics or repeating patterns. syntax {bt}

- Chords

The chord tag contains the name of a chord to be played within the song.

It should appear at the exact position it should be played within the lyrics.

The beats indicates the number of beats before the next chord. There can be fractions of a beat between two chords ( for example 2.75 beats )

default chord

This is the default fingering notation, it will be used most of the time. The default fingering is the open fingering or the left-most fingering for chords without an open fingering. syntax [chord <String> : beats <Number>] ex: [C: 1.25]

chord with fingering

When a chord is played using a different fingering, an extra information is added, representing the number of the fret to pull for each string. This is intended only to change the fretboard fingering display. syntax [chord <String> : beats <Number> : fingering <String>] ex: [A: 1: 5,7,7,6,5,5]

Grammar vocabulary

S : constant V : variable O : local C : chord X : lyrics N : new line

syntax H = [SN?]+[VN?]* (header - starts with constant directives eventually on single lines, eventually followed by some variable directives eventually on single lines)

B = CX?V^* (chord block - starts with a chord, eventually followed by some lyrics, eventually followed by some variable directives) L = B^*O^*N (lyrics line - eventually starts with chord blocks, eventually followed by local directives, finished with a new line) T = HL+ (tabulature - starts with a header, followed by lyrics lines)

data structure Figure 3 illustrates example of a tablature represented as a tree. The number of verses or lines illustrated in Figure 3 is just an example, and may vary in practice. The tablature 302 has a header 304 and two verses 306 and 308. The header has two constants 310, 312 and a variable 314. The second verse 308 has three lines 316, 318, 320. The middle line 318 has a block 322, a local directive 324 and a new line 326. The block 322 has a chord 328, lyrics 330 and a variable 332 (such as tempo or time signature).

Rules and conventions

It happens quite often that there is more than one way of writing the same information. That is why the need for standards arose from tabbing. There are a number of rules to ensure that the tabbing style is consistent between tabbers and ultimately that the users enjoy their portable viewing device experience.

Due to constraints on typical hardware it may not be possible to display more than 47 characters per line on the biggest text size (monospace, 16). Tabbers must ensure no line contains more than 47 lyrics character (you don't count the chords and directives).

In the case the lyrics start some time after the chord started to play, it is important to differentiate the beginning of the lyrics from the beginning of the chord. To ensure that the time information is as accurate as possible we need to split the chord where the lyrics begin. However two similar chords shouldn't follow on the same line so we split the chord on two lines.

See the example below:

[A: 1.5] <== this chord lasts 1.5 beats before the lyrics starts, two [A] chords follow each other, but on a different line. [A: 0.5]Let's fade in[C: 1.5]to the sun, [C: 0.5] let your [G: 1.5]spirit fly

[G: 0.5]where [D: 2]we are one, etc..

That leads to a simple rule, each lyric line should start with a chord.

Now we introduced a special chord, the rest (notation [R: <Number>]) for a part of the song with eventually no guitar playing. Typically this would be used for an intra or another instrument solo within a song. Where there is a long block with lyrics but no chords to play, it is advised to split the block using several rests in a row, to keep the blocks length not too long. This allows to fragment a long lyrics part into smaller pieces and improves the level of detail for the user. It is up to the tabber to choose how accurately (s)he wants to split the lyrics. There is no other rules here than common sense. See the example below: [R:1]Then I saw her [R:1]face, [G:2][C:2] [G:0.5]Now [C:2]l'm a believer[G:2][C:2]

Deprecated

The following four items might be present on older tablatures. it may simply be ignored and not displayed at runtime

line - syntax {I: ... }

Time structure. The line directive indicates how long does a line of text last for, in bars.

bar - syntax {bar}

Time structure. The bar tag is a delimiter between each musical bar.

chord - syntax [chord] The chord tag contains the name of a chord to be played within the song. It should appear at the exact position it should be played within the lyrics.

about - syntax {about: <String> } The about directive is a subtype of comment. It is only meant to contain chord fingering information, capo location or non standard tuning information. By convention it is located at the beginning of the file, after the global directives. ex: {about: tuning EADGBE, capo on 3}

The functionality and design of an embodiment of the present invention is described below.

Glossary • Tablature (or tabulature, or tab for short) is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering.

• Chord Tablature (also known as tab) is another form of musical notation indicating lyrics and chord symbols.

• A portable multimedia player (PMP), is a consumer electronics device that is capable of storing and playing digital media.

• The extended Chord Pro (XCP) file format (known as .xcp) accodding to an embodiment of the present invention is a file format based on ChordPro. It carries lyrics, chord tablatures informations plus timing informations. • A media in this document refers to either a .xcp tablature, a music file, a video file or a backingtrack file.

• A backingtrack refers to a special file that includes both a .xcp tablature and a music file that will play synchronous, as a backtrack.

• A navbar refers to the navigation toolbar that is always at hand of the user. • The Wizard refers to another software used to transfer files to the device via USB (Universal Serial Bus).

System Environment The system may be implemented on a PMP (such as the smartQδ manufactured by Smart Devices, Hefei, China). Such hardware provides facilities to display video and play sounds as well as USB connectivity and a SD (Secure Digital) card reader. On that PMP will already come a set of software to access the file system and to play music and video files. The software according to an embodiment of the present invention can override the native Ul (User Interface) if any and become the starting point of the device. It makes use of the existing software through its own interface. The whole is a stand-alone, single-user system running on a 4.3" screen PMP.

Functional Requirements Specification

The software is configured to provide the following functionality:

The software allows the user to move media within a sub area of the file system. The software allows the user to manage his media collection. The software plays .xcp, music, backingtrack and video files. The software allows the user to manage custom tablature playlists. The software provides different power management policies. The software includes a security mechanism against piracy. The software provides a way of tuning a guitar.

User Interface Specification

The software comes with a help section, FAQs and tutorials. The software is intended to people without a specific technical or musical background. The software provides a chord helper including all different fingering for each chords.

Contextual help by chord is provided from the player, linking to the chord helper. The xcp player includes a visual metronome.

The xcp player includes a chord scale to convert a tablature to another key.

Error messages (if any) provide minimal information needed to solve the problem. The software is extensible to provide multilingual support.

Non-Functional Requirements

The launching time of the software is less than 4s. The response time of the software is less than 0.1 s

Functional Requirements

File import:

With reference to Figure 4, the import onto a portable viewing device 402 of files from the USB port 404 or from an SD card 406 is shown. In the case of an USB connection, the import wizard 408 will try to access the SD card 406 fitted in the device 402, this one acting like an SD card reader. If the portable viewing device is not connected via USB 404, the wizard 408 will write straight on a SD card 406. The import wizard 408 may download media from a website 410 via the internet 412. The media may be stored on a home computer 414 and the user may pick up nedia of their own 416 from their own media library 418.

The library:

The library is where the users can access their media. It provides easy ways to find a media on the SD card and play it. The research filters are: "artist" and "album". For each entry corresponding to those filters there is none or one "music", "video", "tablature" or "backingtrack". It will provide the user a mean to rate his medias, by setting their "popularity". It will provide a system to organise "favorites" medias. It will contain a playlist utility that allow user to compose and play a playlist of any type of media and to load or save it. This utility should also provide user to sort the lists or to randomize them.

The XCP player: The XCP player component of the enabling software on the portable viewer device plays .xcp tablatures. It decodes the content of an xcp tablature and outputs a formatted version of the lyrics and chords. The player provides user the ability to change the scrolling speed and position at any time as well as the zoom level. The player also provides the functionality to play a tablature in a different key with the related changes made to the chords, using the chord scale. With reference to Figure 5, an extended tablature file 502 is received as input. Validation is performed 504 before extraction of the directives 506. The player builds data structures 508 and formats text 510 for display 512.

The audio and video players:

We assume that there are already a music and a video player installed on the unit. The device calls these software at need if it has to play a related media.

Power management policies:

Depending on whether the user want to use his portable viewing device to display something on the screen or only to listen to music, the power management policy will vary. When the user is in an "interactive" mode, the screen should always remain bright. When the user is in a "passive" mode, the screen should hibernate after 15 seconds. This option should be manageable threw the settings area.

The virtual tuner: This virtual tuner will play one of the 12 chromatic notes, depending on the user, with an option to change the pitch up or down.

Detailed Non-Functional Requirements

About the SD card: When the wizard copies medias into a SD card, it creates or edits a database file describing the media on the SD card. When the system is starting or when a new SD card is inserted into the device, the library checks that the database file is present and valid. If not present it will try to create one by exploring the SD card. If not valid it will attempt to repair it.

Filesystem access:

The users will have strictly no read or write access to the device file system. They will be able to interact with the SD card file system indirectly by the mean of the library.

The XCP media database:

Figure 6 illustrates the cardinality between some of the elements composing the database in an example embodiment. The XCP file 602, album 604, artist 606, title 608 and key 610 elements are shown.

The start page:

This page should be displayed before entering to HOME at startup, for the first launch and every launches when the option "show the start page at startup" is set to true in the settings. This option should be also settable directly from the start page as a tickbox. The chord helper:

This feature will display all the different fingerings for a given chord. This feature can be called any time when an .xcp tablature is playing by clicking on a chord.

The XCP file format:

In an embodiment of the present invention, an .xcp file may be a plain text file. It holds information into directives blocks (between {}) and chord blocks (between []) that I will detail next. What is not in such a block is considered as lyrics. Notice that a block cannot contain another block.

Title: {t: title }

Artist: {s: artist }

Album: {a: album } Default tempo: {d: tempo }

Those directives start with a '{' then follows an identifier T, 's\ 'a' or 'd' then

':' then a string containing the value of the directive, or a number in the case of the tempo, and finally a '}'■

Those directives are generally located at the beginning of the file. Comment: {c: comment }

Verse: {v: verse }

Verses are used to separate a song between sections like "intra", "verse n°X", "chorus", "outro"...

Such a section lasts until the next verse directive. If part of a song is not included in a verse (at beginning) or if there is no verse at all, it is considered to be in the default verse.

Bar: {bar}

This directive is just a tag, it doesn't hold information. It is never displayed.

It corresponds to a musical time unit and is used at playtime to synchronize the scrolling of the lyrics with the music. Notice that a newline or the end of file does not mean the end of bar. All bars have to be specified. Chord: [ chord ]

This is a special directive that indicates a chord in the song. Its role is to display at playtime, the chord to play at the right place within the lyrics. It should provide a contextual help linking to the chord helper.

The backtracking files:

These files will contain a .xcp file synchronized with a music file so users will have the backtrack to help them practice on a tablature, similar to how karaoke would do.

The backingtrack player:

The backingtrack is a .xcp file bundled with a music file to play the backtrack. Therefore playing a backingtrack file will call the XCP player with its scrolling speed and progress bar linked to the music player.

Security:

The security of our system may be achieved by an encryption mechanism. The tabs downloaded from the website are encrypted in some way that only the device related to the account can decipher them. A separate closed source server application will try to authenticate the tabs and forward their decrypted version to the player on successful authentication.

This is done to prevent piracy and illegal tabs sharing.

User Interface

Menu interface: Navbar: The navbar will provide user a navigation system composed of 3 buttons: go back will bring the user to the previous page, go next will the user back to the next page if he used back before and home will bring him to the home page. It will also provide a quicklink dropdown menu with links to the help, settings, tuner and chord helper. To maximize the screen area available for display, this toolbar should be collapsible. It will remain available on every screen inside the software.

The player interface: The player will include a visual metronome, a progression scrolling bar, a speed scrolling bar, a default speed button and play, pause and stop buttons. Chords will display on click a representation of the chord fingering.

Further Features

Features provided by embodiments of the present invention are as follows:

The software is able to play .xcp tablatures.

It may provide a user friendly interface to navigate within the software.

It may provide a library system to import and organise media content. It may provide support to play music and video.

It may provide a virtual tuner.

It may provide power management.

It may provide a chord helper.

Inside the player may be provided contextual help for chords linked to chord helper.

Inside the player is may be provided a visual metronome.

It may provide a chord scale.

It may provide support for backingtrack.

It may provide multilingual support. Inside the player may be provided an audio metronome. It may provide like a virtual tuner using analogic audio input

Figure 7 illustrates a clamp for attaching a portable viewing device to a guitar. The upper end 702 is shaped to receive and grip a portable viewing device. The lower end 704 is configured to clamp onto the headstock of a guitar.

Figure 8 illustrates a clamp being used to attach a portable viewing device to a guitar. The portable viewing device 204 with touch screen display 214 is held in a position for convenient viewing of the screen by the guitar player. The device is held by the upper end 702 of the clamp. The lower end of the clamp 704 is clamped onto the headstock 802 of the guitar.

Figure 9 illustrates, in schematic form, an arrangement of synchronized portable viewing devices, for an example band of musicians. A master portable viewing device 902 for the guitarist downloads or is loaded with a package of tabs for different instruments (e.g. several guitars or several different types of instruments). As well as displaying synchronised guitar tabs and lyrics on its own display 904, the master distributes a plurality of tabs extracted from the package to respective slave devices 906, 910,

194. In this example the singer's slave portable viewing device 906 has a display 908 displaying lyrics that are synchronized with the lyrics and guitar tabs displayed on the master device display 904. Similarly, the bassist's slave portable viewing device 910 has a display 912 displaying bass tabs and lyrics that are synchronized with the lyrics and guitar tabs displayed on the master device display 904. Furthermore, the drummer's slave portable viewing device 914 has a display 916 displaying a drum score that is synchronized with the lyrics and guitar tabs displayed on the master device display 904. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that rather than master/slave arrangement, other network topologies, both wireless or wired could be used to achieve the distribution and synchronisation of the tablature.

Further modifications and improvements may be added without departing from the scope of the invention described by the claims.

Claims

Claims:

1. A music tablature player comprising: a tablature decoder operable to obtain musical tablature and associated timing information from tablature data; a display module operable to cause a display of a viewing device to display said musical tablature at a rate determined by said timing information.

2. A music tablature player according to claim 1 , further operable to alter said rate during said display of said musical tablature.

3. A music tablature player according to claim 1 or claim 2, further operable to display said musical tablature by scrolling.

4. A music tablature player according to any previous claim, wherein said musical tablature comprises lyrics.

5. A music tablature player according to any previous claim, wherein said musical tablature comprises lyrics and chords.

6. A music tablature player according to any previous claim, wherein said tablature data comprises a tablature file.

7. A music tablature player according to claim 6, wherein said tablature file comprises an extended ChordPro formatted file.

8. A music tablature player according to any previous claim, further operable to distribute musical tablature to at least one other viewing device and to cause a display of said at least one other viewing device to display said distributed musical tablature in synchronization with said display of said musical tablature at a rate determined by said timing information.

9. A music tablature player according to any previous claim, further operable to distribute a backing track to at least one other remote device and to cause said at least one other remote device to play said distributed backing track in synchronization with said display of said musical tablature at a rate determined by said timing information.

10. A portable viewing device comprising the music tablature player of any previous claim.

11. A computer program product containing one or more sequences of machine-readable instructions for playing music tablature, the instructions being adapted to cause one or more processors to operate as the music tablature player of any of claims 1 to 9.

12. A method of generating tablature data, the method comprising the steps: receiving a music file; separating an instrument source; generating a chord map from said instrument source; receiving musical tablature; associating timing information with said musical tablature; and generating tablature data comprising said musical tablature and said associated timing information.

13. A method according to claim 12, wherein said musical tablature comprises lyrics.

14. A method according to claim 12 or claim 13, wherein said musical tablature comprises lyrics and chords.

15. A method according to any of claims 12 to 14, wherein said tablature data comprises a tablature file.

16. A method according to claim 15, wherein said tablature file comprises an extended ChordPro formatted file.

17. A method of playing music tablature comprising: transferring scrolling music tablature from a web server to a portable viewing device to enable the playing and/or learning of music.

18. A method according to claim 17 further comprising allowing a user to scroll said tablature on said portable viewing device.

19. A method according to claim 17 or claim 18 further comprising allowing a user to alter the rate at which said tablature scrolls so as to be able to adjust for tempo and playing style.

20. A method according to any of claims 17 to 19 further comprising transferring broadcastable lyrics via a remote device from said portable viewing device.

21. A method according to any of claims 17 to 20 further comprising transferring remotely broadcastable backing tracks from said web server to be played via a remote device from the portable viewing device synchronized with said scrolling music tablature transferred from said web server.

22. A method according to any of claims 17 to 21 wherein said scrolling music tablature comprises chords, lyrics, musical score and/or notation.

23. A method according to any of claims 17 to 22 further comprising transferring from said web server to said portable viewing device of supplementary files stitched to said tablature to allow the wi-fi enabled playing of lyrics on a secondary screen via a wirelessly connected remote device.

24. A method according to any of claims 17 to 20 further comprising transferring from said web server to said portable device of supplementary files stitched to said tablature to allow the wi-fi enabled playing of lyrics on a secondary screen via a wirelessly connected remote device.

25. A method according to claim 24 wherein remote devices are connected to TV inputs and/or mic inputs on stereos and/or amplifiers as dictated by the file to be transferred in synchronization with the tablature being played on said portable viewing device.

26. A computer program product containing one or more sequences of machine-readable instructions for playing music tablature, the instructions being adapted to cause one or more processors to perform the method according to any of claims 17 to 25.