Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – Data storage or retrieval
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-22
2003-08-19
Hughes, S. Thomas (Department: 3714)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
Data storage or retrieval
C463S007000, C434S30700R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06607446
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a music game system for executing games intended to be played in time with music.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a music game system in which a player is instructed to operate an input device in time with music for simulating a DJ (disk jockey) and performance on various musical instruments has become popular. Music is an important element in this type of game system, and the number of stored tunes has a comparatively large influence on the value of the game system.
In the music game system mentioned above, data for reproducing the music is stored in one of various types of memory media, from which it is supplied to the system. In arcade game devices for business and game devices for home, media having a comparatively large capacity, for example a magnetic memory medium such as a hard disk, or an optical memory medium such as a CD-ROM, are used as the memory media. However, in a compact game system such as a portable game device, in consideration of space and costs, a semiconductor memory having a small memory capacity in comparison with a magnetic memory medium and the like is generally used as the memory device for data and programs for the game. As a consequence, when attempting to executing a music game on a portable game device, the number of stored tunes is limited, lowering the attraction of the game. Furthermore, although a characteristic of a music game is that the player can improve his play by repeating playing the same tune, the downside of this is that he may eventually be bored.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a music game system in which limited music data are used effectively to raise the attraction of the game.
The present invention will be explained below. To facilitate understanding of the present invention, the following explanation uses the reference numerals in parenthesis of the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the aspects shown in the drawings.
A first aspect of the present invention provides a music game system comprising an input device (
4
) having a plurality of operation members (
5
), for outputting signals in correspondence with operation states of the operation members; a memory device (
30
a
) in which are stored music data (D
1
) for reproducing a plurality of tunes, and timing data (D
3
) of each tune defining a procedure for operating the operation members in correspondence with tunes reproduced based on the music data; a display device (
24
,
3
) for displaying a game screen (
100
); a music reproduction device (
26
,
32
) for reproducing the music data; and a game controller (
20
) for controlling the reproduction of a predetermined tune by the music reproduction device, and using the display device to guide the player in an operation procedure of the input device in correspondence with the reproduced tune. The game controller comprises a medley tune control device for making the music reproduction device reproduce a medley tune comprising linked parts of at least two of the multiple tunes, and guides the operation procedure of the input device in correspondence with the medley tune, based on timing data corresponding to each part of the medley tune.
According to this invention, a separate medley tune is formed by linking parts of existing tunes together, thereby enabling the number of tunes to be virtually increased without adding music data and timing data corresponding thereto, increasing the attraction of the game.
A second aspect of the invention provides the music game system according to the first aspect, wherein the memory device (
30
a
) stores judgement information (T
1
) for judging a relationship between the reproduction sequence of multiple blocks (A
1
to AX, B
1
to BX, . . . N
1
to NX) selected from music data corresponding to the multiple tunes as constituent elements of the medley tune, and addresses of the blocks in the memory device; and the medley tune control device (
20
) reads music data for reproducing the medley tune from the memory device based on the judgement information, outputs it to the music reproduction device, and guides the player in an operation procedure in accordance with timing data corresponding to the music data.
This invention is suitable for a case when the multiple blocks comprising the medley tune are specified beforehand together with their reproduction sequence, enabling the data of the blocks comprising the medley tune to be easily read in compliance with their reproduction sequence merely by referring to the judgement information.
A third aspect of the invention provides the music game system according to the first aspect, wherein the memory device (
30
a
) stores a first judgement information (T
2
) for judging types of multiple blocks (A
1
to AX, B
1
to BX . . . N
1
to NX) selected from music data corresponding to the multiple tunes as potential constituent elements of the medley tune, and for judging addresses of the blocks in the memory device, and a second judgement information (D
5
) for judging a relationship between a reproduction sequence of blocks forming the medley tune and the types of the blocks. The medley tune control device (
20
) comprises a type identifying device for identifying types of the blocks forming the medley tune for each reproduction sequence, based on the second judgement information; a block extracting device for extracting blocks corresponding to the types identified by the type identifying device from the music data corresponding to the multiple tunes each, based on the first judgement information; and a data reading device for reading the music data in the extracted blocks in compliance with the reproduction sequence and outputting the music data to the music reproduction device, and in addition, reading timing data corresponding to the output music data and guiding the player in an operation procedure in line with the data.
This invention does not directly specify the blocks comprising the medley tune, but only specifies their types, whereby a single block can be freely selected from multiple blocks of matching type in a single reproduction sequence, achieving greater freedom of selecting the block. Therefore, the constitution of the medley tune can be changed, preventing the player from feeling bored with the medley tune and holding his or her interest in the game system over a long period of time.
A fourth aspect of the invention provides the music game system according to the third aspect, wherein the first judgement information comprises information relating to musical characteristics of the blocks as the types. Consequently, the musical characteristics of the medley tune can be specified beforehand. For example, when the information relating to musical characteristics comprises information relating to performance codes of the blocks, as in a fifth aspect of the invention, a medley tune having characteristics corresponding to the progression of the performance codes can be provided to the player.
A sixth aspect of the invention provides the music game system according to the third aspect, the first judgement information comprising information relating to a level of difficulty of an operation procedure guided based on timing data corresponding to blocks as the types. In this case, the level of difficulty of the medley tune can be specified beforehand.
A seventh aspect of the invention provides the music game system according to the sixth aspect, wherein the game controller (
20
) comprises an evaluation device for evaluating an operation performed by the player by comparing the player's control of the input device (
4
) with an operation identified by the timing data; and the block extracting device of the game controller extracts blocks having a level of difficulty corresponding to the evaluation of the evaluation device. In this case, the level of difficulty of the medley tune can be set in accordance with the evaluation result of the player's op
Shimomura Satoshi
Takahashi Masayuki
Ashburn Steven
Hughes S. Thomas
Jordan and Hamburg LLP
Konami Co. Ltd.
LandOfFree
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