Music – Instruments – Electrical musical tone generation
Reissue Patent
2001-04-06
2004-07-13
Donels, Jeffrey (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
Electrical musical tone generation
C084S659000
Reissue Patent
active
RE038554
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to a network system constructed by a host computer and local terminals. Specifically, the present invention relates to a method of extending a capability of a music apparatus equipped in the local terminal in the form of an electronic musical instrument or a personal computer having function of an electronic musical instrument.
In the field of electronic musical instruments, various capabilities have been conventionally realized, including a timbre synthesis capability for synthesizing timbres and an automatic accompaniment capability for performing automatic accompaniment by reproducing play data of an accompaniment pattern. Some of these capabilities are initially provided on electronic musical instruments, while others are not. It would be convenient if the capabilities not inherently provided in an electronic musical instrument can be subsequently added thereto. It is desired to provide a service for implementing such addition of the various capabilities. The same is true for a personal computer having function of an electronic musical instrument realized by an application software.
Most of the above-mentioned capabilities are conventionally implemented by microcomputer-based data processing. Electronic musical instruments themselves are also controlled by a microcomputer. This makes it possible to use, via a network, programs and other software resources that can implement various capabilities, thereby extending capabilities of the electronic musical instrument and personal computer having the electronic musical instrument function. p Meanwhile, use of the software resources reserved in a host computer by local terminals such as personal computers is conventionally practiced by connecting these local terminals to the host computer through a network. A procedure most frequently used in such a configuration is downloading of application programs from the host computer into the local terminals.
However, In the above-mentioned conventional procedure, the local terminal cannot execute a downloaded program if hardware resources of the local terminal is not enough for executing the downloaded program. Another problem with the conventional procedure is that local terminals of some types cannot install the application program due to incompatibility of their operating system or else. Still another problem is that, if the size of a program to be used is huge, a local terminal must download the program while consuming a considerable time without recognizing advantage and performance that the program will provide until the downloading is finished.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to achieve, by focusing on a network constituted by a host computer and local terminals, an extension of capabilities of a music apparatus such as an electronic musical instrument and a personal computer having function of an electronic musical instrument without any restriction from a local terminal to which the music apparatus is connected.
A first aspect of the invention is directed to a method of operating a music apparatus to function as an electronic musical instrument under control by a local terminal which is communicable with a host computer through a network. The inventive method comprises the steps of installing the host computer with a synthesizer capability utilized to computer timbre data, connecting the local terminal to the host computer through the network to remotely control the synthesizer capability of the host computer so as to compute the timbre data prepared for the music apparatus, downloading the computed timbre data from the host computer into the music apparatus through the local terminal so as to set a desired timbre of a musical tone, and operating the music apparatus to function as the electronic musical instrument to generate the musical tone having the desired timbre set by the downloaded timbre data.
According to the music apparatus capability extending method configured as mentioned above, the synthesizer capability or timbre synthesis capability is provided on the host computer of a network system. The timbre synthesis capability generates by computation timbre data to be handled by the music apparatus having the electronic musical instrument function. The local terminal networked to the host computer is connected to the music apparatus such as the electronic musical instrument and the personal computer having the electronic musical instrument function. From the local terminal, the timbre synthesis capability of the host computer is controlled remotely. A result of the timbre data computation by the host computer is sent to the music apparatus via the local terminal. Based on the received computation result, the music apparatus sets its own timbres of music tones. Therefore, even if the timbre synthesis capability is not provided on the music apparatus itself, timbres can be set in the form of data that can be handled by the music apparatus having the electronic musical instrument function.
A second aspect of the invention is directed to a method of operating a music apparatus to function as an electronic musical instrument according to song data representative of a desired song under control by a local terminal which is communicable with a host computer through a network. The method comprises the steps of installing the host computer with a sequencer capability utilized to time-sequentially process the song data to compute automatic play data, connecting the local terminal to the host computer through the network to remotely control the sequencer capability of the host computer while supplying thereto the song data so as to compute the automatic play data prepared for the music apparatus, downloading the computed automatic play data from the host computer into the music apparatus through the local terminal, and operating the music apparatus to function as the electronic musical instrument to undergo an automatic play of the desired song according to the downloaded automatic play data.
According to the music apparatus capability extending method configured as mentioned above, the sequencer capability or automatic accompaniment capability is provided on the host computer of a network system. The automatic accompaniment capability generates play data that can be handled by the music apparatus having the electronic musical instrument function. The local terminal networked to this host computer is connected to the music apparatus such as the electronic musical instrument and the personal computer having the electronic musical instrument function. The automatic accompaniment capability of the host computer is remotely controlled by the local terminal. In response to command information from the music apparatus, the host computer executes the automatic accompaniment capability. The play data generated by the automatic accompaniment capability of the host computer is sent to back the music apparatus via the local terminal. Based on the received play data, the music apparatus generates music tones to sound an automatic accompaniment. Therefore, even if the automatic accompaniment capability is not provided on the music apparatus itself, the automatic accompaniment can be performed by the play data that can be handled by the music apparatus having the electronic musical instrument function.
A third aspect of the invention is directed to a method of operating a music apparatus to function as an electronic musical instrument under control by a local terminal which is communicable with a host computer through a network. The inventive method comprises the steps of installing the host computer with an emulator capability utilized to emulate an operation of the electronic musical instrument, connecting the local terminal to the host computer through the network to remotely control the emulator capability of the host computer so as to compute operation data indicative of the operation of the electronic musical instrument upon emulation thereof, downloading the computed operation d
Donels Jeffrey
Morrison & Foerster / LLP
Yamaha Corporation
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