Music – Accessories – Teaching devices
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-20
2002-02-26
Fletcher, Marlon (Department: 2837)
Music
Accessories
Teaching devices
C084S600000, C084S726000, C084S731000, C084S48500R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06350942
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to musical instruments, and more particularly, to a device, method and system for the visualization of stringed instrument playing.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Devices exist that attempt to generate visual imagery from stringed instruments. One such device is a spectrum analyzer, which takes sound and breaks the sound into a number of frequency components. The amount of sound in any one section of the frequency spectrum, for instance 20-200 Hertz, will have a value assigned to it. This value corresponds to how much of the total sound occurs in this section.
Once the values of the frequency spectrum are known, they can be used to create visual imagery. Such displays could involve simple bar graphs showing the frequency spectrum and how much sound occurs in each section of the spectrum. Alternatively, there are displays that produce patterns that depend on the frequency spectrum.
Other devices that create visual imagery from sound take a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) stream of notes and use the stream to produce visual imagery. MIDI is a standard for digital music.
However, these visual imagery systems can miss information that is not contained within a frequency spectrum or a note stream. For instance, perhaps certain fingers are used on an instrument to create a particular sound. That these fingers are used—and not others—cannot be determined from sound or notes alone.
For stringed instruments, in particular, there are a variety of ways of playing an instrument that do not appear in a frequency spectrum or a note stream. For instance, if a chord is being played, the strings could all be plucked at the same time, strummed singly from top-to-bottom, or strummed singly from bottom-to-top. The spectrum of the chord and the notes making up the chord will generally be the same for all three methods of playing.
For a stringed instrument such as an electric guitar, there are even more ways of playing the guitar that do not appear in these types of visualization devices. For example, the neck of the guitar can be bent, which will decrease or increase tension on the strings. Additionally, a lever (also called a “whammy bar”) can be used to dramatically increase or decrease tension on strings. These physical manipulations of the guitar cannot be determined by the current visual imagery systems.
A need therefore exists for techniques that allow manipulations of stringed instruments to be determined and used for generating visual imagery.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a device, method and system for the visualization of stringed instrument playing. The invention involves measuring a property of one or more strings, and using the property to create or modify a visual display.
In one aspect of the invention, a change is measured in a property of a portion of a string of a stringed instrument and a signal is generated in response to the change. The signal can then be used to modify or create a visual display.
In another aspect of the invention, a change in a property of each string on a stringed instrument is measured and signals are generated for each change. These signals may be low level signals that are processed to generate one or more high level signals providing, e.g., an overview of how the instrument is being played. The high level signals, low level signals, or both may be used to modify or create a display.
A more complete understanding of the present invention, as well as further features and advantages of the present invention, will be obtained by reference to the following detailed description and drawings.
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patent: 5147970 (1992-09-01), Obata
patent: 5670729 (1997-09-01), Miller et al.
patent: 6124544 (2000-09-01), Alexander et al.
patent: 129378 (1996-05-01), None
patent: 172254 (2000-06-01), None
Fletcher Marlon
Philips Electronics North America Corp.
Thorne Gregory L.
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