Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-21
2004-09-28
Cabeca, John (Department: 2173)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C084S662000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06798427
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to style-of-rendition inputting apparatus and methods, and more particularly to an interactive style-of-rendition inputting apparatus and method for entering articulation original music-piece note data by use of icons visually shown on a display screen.
In actually playing a musical instrument, there are employed a variety of styles of rendition, such as “bend-up” to raise a pitch of an original tone, “grace” to decorate an original tone, “vibrato” to vibrate tone and “legato” to smoothly connect successive tones. To realize these styles of rendition, it has been conventional to sequentially write articulation data, indicative of such styles of rendition, into white data (e.g., in the MIDI format) on a style-by-style basis using fine time units. Although the conventional approach would require an enormous amount of time and labor, it can not efficiently synthesize realistic high-quality articulation with efficiency.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a style-of-rendition inputting apparatus and method which, in order to give music performance data a high-quality performance expression (i.e., articulation) just as achieved by a corresponding acoustic musical instrument, can input style-of-rendition information corresponding to a desired articulation style with utmost ease.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a style-of-rendition inputting apparatus and method which propose use of style-of-rendition icons to allow any desired articulation to be imparted with utmost ease and also can effectively display such style-of-rendition icons.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a style-of-rendition inputting apparatus and method which can readily perform control to modify any selected articulation.
In order to accomplish the above-mentioned objects, the present invention provides a style-of-rendition inputting apparatus which comprises: a display; an operator device; and a processor coupled with the display and the operator device. The processor is adapted to: show a musical score of a given music piece on the display; select a desired style-of-rendition icon in response to an operation of the operator device and designate a desired icon pasting location on the musical score; and show the selected style-of-rendition icon on the display in corresponding relation to the designated icon pasting location.
According to the present invention, by selecting a style-of-rendition icon corresponding to a desired articulation style and pasting the selected style-of-rendition icon to a desired location on the musical score visually shown on the display, it is possible to input or enter desired style-of-rendition information in corresponding relation to a music performance progression position that corresponds to the pasted location of the selected style-of-rendition icon. This inventive arrangement allows the user to know very easily what kind of style-of-rendition information should be entered in which location of the progressing music performance, so that the user's entry of the style-of-rendition information can be made in a very simplified manner. Thus, a high-quality performance expression (i.e., articulation), just as achieved by a corresponding acoustic musical instrument, can be easily imparted to music performance data. Of various articulation styles achievable by acoustic musical instruments, some can be appropriately expressed by the traditional or existing music notations and some can't. The respective figures (including sizes) of the style-of-rendition icons may be chosen as desired. For instance, the style-of-rendition icons corresponding to articulation styles that can be expressed by the traditional or existing music notations may be chosen to be identical or analogous in figure to the traditional or existing music notations. On the other hand, those style-of-rendition icons corresponding to articulation styles that can not be expressed by the existing music notations may be represented by any suitable figures which could allow the user to readily image the articulation in question.
In the present invention, it is preferable that the musical score of the music piece be displayed in the most popular “staff” notation which is very easy for every user to utilize; however, the musical score may be displayed in any other suitable notation than the “staff” notation as long as the notation used can appropriately show a note or performance progression of the music piece. For example, a combination of pictorial representation of notes and literal representation of note names, a combination of literal representation of note lengths and pictorial representation of notes, or a combination of bar graph representation of note lengths and other corresponding note representation may be visually displayed in a time series. Namely, in the present invention, the “musical score” may be in any other suitable notation than the “staff” notation as long as the notation used can appropriately show a note or performance progression of the music piece.
The processor is further adapted to impart style-of-rendition parameters, corresponding to each style-of-rendition icon pasted on the musical score, to original performance data corresponding to the musical score, and thus the use of the style-of-rendition parameters allows a music performance to be executed in a style of rendition corresponding to the pasted style-of-rendition icon. Namely, the style-of-rendition icons are appropriately associated with sets of the style-of-rendition parameters, so that performance data, i.e., tonal characteristics of a note, corresponding to the pasted location of each style-of-rendition icon is set or controlled, in accordance with the style-of-rendition parameters corresponding to the pasted style-of-rendition icon on the musical score, to thereby achieve a performance in the style of rendition corresponding to the pasted icon. The style-of-rendition parameters may be time-serial tone parameters obtained by analyzing a waveform of an actual performance tone of a musical instrument. The time-serial tone parameters contain a plurality of musical factors, such as a waveform factor unique to the style of rendition used for the instrument's tone color, a pitch factor, an amplitude factor, and a tone color (timbre) control factor.
In order to place a desired style-of-rendition icon in a selectable condition in response to an operation of the operator device, the processor may be further adapted to accept selection of a musical instrument and show, on the display, a set of available style-of-rendition icons for the selected musical instrument, so that the user is allowed to select a desired one of the available style-of-rendition icons visually shown on the display. In this manner, it is possible to readily select a style-of-rendition icon suited for the selected musical instrument (or tone color).
In imparting various articulation to the original music-piece note data, the present invention can synthesize any desired articulation with high quality and enhanced efficiency through very simple operations of pre-registering various articulation styles in the form of icons and pasting the pre-registered icons on a musical score of the original music-piece note data visually shown on the display.
With the arrangement that one style-of-rendition icon is shared, for identical or similar articulation, among a plurality of musical instruments, the present invention can substantially facilitate the user operation of the style-of-rendition icons to enter and set the articulation to the original music-piece note data and thereby achieves an improved operating efficiency. Further, even when a style-of-rendition icon shared among a plurality of musical instruments is pasted, the present invention can impart articulation, unique to each of the sharing musical instruments of individual parts, to the original music-piece note data in an actual performance
Sakama Masao
Suzuki Hideo
Cabeca John
Hailu Tadesse
Morrison & Foerster / LLP
Yamaha Corporation
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