Music – Instruments – Electrical musical tone generation
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-11
2002-08-20
Fletcher, Marlon T. (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
Electrical musical tone generation
C084S603000, C084S616000, C084S649000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06437227
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates both to a method for recognizing and for selecting a tone sequence, particularly a piece of music.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Today's multimedia services permit their users to retrieve pieces of music, video clips and also graphical information from appropriate databases on appropriate request in order to be able to play back and/or store the desired pieces of music or the like. As data transmission speeds become higher and higher and costs of storage space become lower, it will also be possible in future to retrieve films from appropriate suppliers.
By way of example, it is currently possible on the Internet for a user to have music recordings or the like transmitted to him by an appropriate supplier, said recordings then either being stored in a database belonging to the user or being used to produce a CD. Such a request for pieces of music or the like is also possible using mobile radio services, however.
To obtain a particular music recording, the user needs to enter the name or the title of the piece of music and transmit it to the appropriate service provider. The service provider's database of music recordings is then searched for the requested piece of music in order to transmit it, if it is available in the database, to the user making the request.
In order to be able to supply a desired music recording to a user even when he does not know the title of the piece of music exactly, the search in the service provider's database also includes the use of associative search algorithms which, despite slight discrepancies between the entered title and the actual name of the piece of music, are able to identify the piece of music or at least offer a selection of several pieces of music having similar titles.
If, however, a user wishes to request a piece of music which he likes very much but whose title he does not know, or at best knows only very vaguely, then it is current virtually impossible for him to request this piece of music.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
Against this background, the invention is based on the object of providing methods for recognizing and for selecting a tone sequence, particularly a piece of music, which permit a user to find and select a tone sequence or a piece of music whose title he does not know.
This object is achieved, in terms of recognizing a tone sequence, by the method according to claim 1, and in terms of selecting a tone sequence, by the method according to claim 2. Advantageous refinements and developments of the invention are described in the dependent claims.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Thus, according to the invention, to recognize a tone sequence, the tones in the tone sequence to be recognized are first converted into a note sequence; next, to search for the tone sequence which is to be recognized, its note sequence is compared successively with corresponding note sequences for a multiplicity of tone sequences, and titles are then output for the tone sequence or sequences whose note sequence or sequences matches or match the note sequence for the tone sequence which is to be recognized in a predetermined manner.
The inventive method for selecting a tone sequence uses this recognition method and is distinguished in that a tone sequence which corresponds at least in part to at least a section of the tone sequence which is to be selected is entered, the tones in the entered tone sequence are converted into a note sequence, then, to search for the tone sequence which is to be selected, its note sequence is compared successively with corresponding note sequences for a multiplicity of tone sequences in order to ascertain titles for one or more tone sequences whose note sequence or sequences matches or match the note sequence for the tone sequence which is to be selected in a predetermined manner, and the titles ascertained are output as a list, so that a user can use the title list to select the desired tone sequence.
The basic concept of the present invention is thus that a tone sequence, as presented in audio form to the user and can be reproduced more or less accurately by said user, is first converted into a note sequence, that is to say into a representation as is also used, for example, for writing down pieces of music, and this representation of the desired tone sequence is compared with appropriate note sequences which are associated with individual pieces of music in a database belonging to a service provider, so that it is possible to ascertain the degree of correspondence between the desired tone sequence entered and the pieces of music in order then to output the titles of the tone sequence or sequences which match the desired tone sequence, or the tone sequence which is to be selected, in a predetermined manner.
The invention thus permits a user also to request tone sequences, particularly pieces of music, video clips, and possibly also films using their soundtrack, when only their melody is known to him. The method according to the invention thus permits an intuitive search in databases containing pieces of music or the like, and thus simplifies the use thereof.
In a first refinement of the invention, the tone sequence which has been entered in a user terminal and corresponds to the tone sequence which is to be selected is transmitted to a database station which ascertains the list of titles for one or more tone sequences similar to the tone sequence which is to be selected, and the title list is transmitted to the user terminal for output.
If the user terminal used is a mobile telephone, for example, in order to select a particular piece of music from a service provider using radio channels, then it is advantageous, particularly in terms of good utilization of the transmission link, if the tone sequence which has been entered into a user terminal and corresponds to the tone sequence which is to be selected is converted into a note sequence in the user terminal, the note sequence is transmitted to a database station which ascertains the list of titles for one or more tone sequences similar to the tone sequence which is to be selected, and the title list is transmitted to the user terminal for output.
In order to permit the user also to be able to select a piece of music whose title is not known to him at all, in one particularly advantageous refinement of the invention, a short passage of the tone sequence which is characteristic of the respective tone sequence is transmitted together with each title to the user terminal for output. The user is thus offered not only the title of the respective tone sequence, that is to say the title or titles of the recognized piece of music or possible pieces of music, but rather it is also possible for him to hear a short characteristic passage from the piece of music, for example the main theme or the refrain, so that he can make his selection on the basis of the characteristic tone sequence played back.
It is particularly expedient if, in the method according to the invention, the tone sequence is sung by the user to enter it into the user terminal.
A particularly advantageous refinement of the method according to the invention is distinguished in that, to convert a tone sequence into a note sequence, the pitch frequency f
p
′ and the tone duration d′ are ascertained for each tone in the tone sequence, and each tone is allocated a musical note on the basis of its pitch frequency f
p
and a musically quantized note duration d on the basis of a tone duration distribution of the tone sequence.
In this context, it is expedient if, to define the note duration of the tones, the median of the tone duration distribution is first ascertained and the tone duration of the median is equated to the note duration of a ¼ note, and each tone is allocated an appropriate musically quantized note duration by comparing its tone duration with the ascertained note duration of a ¼ note.
Thus, according to the invention, the time profile for the pitch frequency is used to ascertain the respe
Fletcher Marlon T.
Nokia Mobile Phones Ltd.
Perman & Green LLP
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