Music – Instruments – Electrical musical tone generation
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-14
2004-03-02
Donels, Jeffrey (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
Electrical musical tone generation
Reexamination Certificate
active
06700048
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to apparatuses for creating and reproducing object information with performance information added thereto, for use in transmitting object information such as news or messages with background music through a network such as the Internet.
Conventionally, WWW (World Wide Web) servers have created and distributed news, weather forecasts and other kinds of information, while terminals have reproduced the information distributed thereto. Further, mail servers have distributed information such as messages created at and sent from message source terminals, and destination terminals have reproduced the information distributed thereto.
FIG. 11
is a schematic configuration diagram of an information distributing system for use in explaining conventional information creating apparatus and information reproducing apparatus.
In the drawing, reference numeral
201
denotes a personal computer terminal,
201
a
is a display unit, and
201
b
is a speaker. Reference numeral
202
denotes a public communication network,
203
is a server,
203
a
is a database, and
204
is a base station,
205
is a mobile terminal such as a potable telephone terminal,
205
a
is a display part,
205
b
is a receiver, and
205
c
is an interface connector. Further, reference numeral
206
is a personal computer terminal like the one indicated by the reference numeral
201
, and
207
is a potable telephone terminal like the one indicated by the reference numeral
205
.
Object information such as news or a message is stored in the database
203
a
of the server
203
in a format such as a text information format, a static image information format, a dynamic image information format or the like. The personal computer terminal
201
establishes a dial-up connection to the server
203
, for example, on the public communication network
202
, reads object information from the database
203
a
in the form of the text information or the like, and displays the read information on its display part
201
a.
Also stored in the database
203
a
is performance information written in a format such as an SMF (Standard Musical Instrument Digital Interface File) format or audio compressed data format. So, the personal computer terminal
201
may read the performance information together with the above-mentioned text information. Such an Internet service is known as the “MidRadio (Trademark)” or the “MIDPLUG for XG (Trademark)”.
The text information used in the above-mentioned service, however, is merely provided for displaying a text indicative of the copyright or title of the music, which has not been accompanied with such background music as to fit the information contents of the news or message.
If performance information of background music that can suggest the contents of object information to be displayed were distributed together with the object information such as text information and image information, impact and impression of the object information such as news or a message could be increased, thereby adding value to the distributed object information.
Further, since the contents of the text or image information cannot be checked in a short time, a user may miss the information. In contrast, performance of background music that is in harmony with and therefore can suggest the contents of information allows the user to grasp the outline of the information in a short time, thereby enabling effective utilization of the information.
Suppose that a service provider changes background music according to the contents of information so as to suggest the contents of the information. Since music changes must be made manually, the production cost of news programs increases. There also arises another problem in music selection that varies depending on the personal skill or ability.
On the other hand, there is another type of service, called “Midmail (Trademark)”, which provides the transmission of text messages accompanied with graphics and music from the personal computer terminal
201
to the personal computer terminal
206
through the server
203
. In this service, a dial-up connection is established from the personal computer
201
to the server
203
. Then, the user of the personal computer
201
individually selects items from a menu containing plural kinds of static image information and plural kinds of music information stored in the database
3
a
, and sends text messages together with partners' mail addresses at which the text messages are to be delivered. However, this service is provided in such a system as to allow the user on the message source side to manually select a music, not to realize automatic performance of BGM in matching to the contents of information.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object thereof to provide an apparatus for creating object information with performance information added thereto, an apparatus for reproducing object information with performance information added thereto, an apparatus for creating object information with an expression element of characteristic information added thereto, and a recording medium with a program recorded thereon for realizing the above-mentioned functions. Such apparatuses allow the expressive effect on the object information to be enhanced, and hence allow the user to grasp the outline of the object information in a short time.
An inventive information producing apparatus is constructed for producing a combination of object information providing substantial contents and performance information providing a music piece in association with the substantial contents. The information producing apparatus comprises a source section that provides the object information having substantial contents, an extracting section that analyzes the provided object information to extract therefrom the characteristic information which is characteristic of the substantial contents of the provided object information, and an attaching section that operates based on the extracted characteristic information for attaching performance information to the provided object information such that the attached performance information can provide a performance of a music piece in association with the substantial contents.
Preferably, attaching section attaches the performance information containing music information which represents a music piece, and control information which controls the performance of the music piece represented by the music information.
Preferably, the information producing apparatus further comprises an output section that outputs the object information attached with the performance information.
Preferably, the information producing apparatus further comprises a storage section that stores a plurality of performance information corresponding to a plurality of music pieces, wherein the attaching section includes a searching section that searches the storage section to select therefrom a music piece according to the characteristic information.
Preferably, the extracting section analyzes the provided object information to extract therefrom the characteristic information in the form of a keyword which is contained in texts of the object information. Further, the extracting section extracts a keyword which indicates a mental impression derived from the substantial contents of the object information, and the attaching section attaches the performance information according to the keyword such that the music piece matches the mental impression indicated by the keyword.
Preferably, the extracting section analyzes the provided object information to extract therefrom the characteristic information in the form of a brightness of an image which is contained in the object information.
Preferably, the extracting section analyzes the provided object information to extract therefrom the characteristic information in the form of a color tone of an image which is contained in the object information.
Preferably, the source section provides the object informati
Donels Jeffrey
Morrison & Foerster / LLP
Yamaha Corporation
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