Telecommunications – Transmitter and receiver at same station – Radiotelephone equipment detail
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-12
2001-10-23
Chang, Vivian (Department: 2682)
Telecommunications
Transmitter and receiver at same station
Radiotelephone equipment detail
C455S415000, C379S374010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06308086
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a portable cellular phone which enables desirable setting of a melody or musical scale of a ringing tone (a tone that announces an incoming call) or a signaling tone(a tone that precedes a recorded announcement), and more particularly, to simple setting of the melody or musical scale.
A conventional portable cellular phone enables the user to compose an original ringing tone by entering a melody by means of a dial button. One type of such a portable cellular phone is described in the Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. Hei 9-149098.
As shown in
FIG. 7
, the portable cellular phone comprises an input device
702
, by way of which the user performs entry operations; a CPU
701
which converts an input signal to a musical scale; RAM
704
which holds the thus-converted note; ROM
703
in which is stored a program for defining operations of the CPU
701
; an interface
706
for outputting the data held in the RAM
704
to an external device; and a ringing tone generator
705
which emits a ringing tone.
In the operation of this portable cellular phone, when the user presses a key provided on the input device
702
, the CPU
701
converts a signal entered by way of the key into a corresponding scale code. The thus-converted scale code is written into the RAM
704
. The interface
706
reads the scale code from the RAM
704
and imparts the thus-read scale code to the ringing tone generator
705
, where a melody is produced according to the scale code when the cellular phone receives an incoming call.
Thus, even the conventional portable cellular phone enables the user to set his favorite melody as a ringing tone.
In the conventional cellular phone, the melody must be entered, in the form of notes of a musical scale, through key operations. Hence, if the user does not have any knowledge about the musical scale, he experiences difficulty in entering a desired melody correctly. As a result, the user must repeatedly perform key-entry operations several times until a desired melody is composed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been conceived to solve such a problem in the prior art, and the object of the present invention is to provide a portable cellular phone which enables the user to enter a desired melody without involving key operations.
To this end, a portable cellular phone according to the present invention comprises
conversion means for converting a voice signal entered from a microphone into a digital audio signal;
computation means which obtains musical scale information (i.e., information in the form of notes of a musical scale) by extracting from the digital audio signal frequency components corresponding to notes of a musical scale and which generates and outputs a musical scale signal from the musical scale information; and
drive means for driving an audio output device on the basis of the musical scale signal.
With the foregoing means, the user can set an original ringing tone by humming a melody and can input the desired melody in terms of notes of a musical scale without knowledge about the musical scale.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable cellular phone which enables desirable setting a melody of a ringing tone, the phone comprising:
conversion means for converting a voice signal entered from a microphone into a digital audio signal;
computation means which obtains musical scale information by extracting from the digital audio signal frequency components corresponding to notes of a musical scale and which generates and outputs a musical scale signal from the musical scale information; and
drive means for driving an audio output device on the basis of the musical scale signal, thereby enabling setting of a ringing tone on the basis of the voice entered by the user. As a result, the user can enter a desired melody in terms of a musical scale without involving key operations.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the portable cellular phone further comprises storage means for storing the musical scale information calculated by the computation means, thereby enabling generation of a musical scale signal from the musical scale information read by the storage means. As a result, the melody previously stored in the storage means can be reproduced, as needed.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the storage means stores a plurality of musical scale information items, and the computation means generates a musical scale signal by reading one from the musical scale information items. As a result, the arrival of an incoming call may be indicated by a favorite melody selected from a plurality of melodies stored in the storage means in advance.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the portable cellular phone further comprises timing signal generation means which generates a periodical timing signal and outputs the signal to the computation and drive means. Input of the user's voice and extraction of notes of a musical scale are carried out at a predetermined tempo, thus facilitating generation of musical scale information.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the drive means activates the audio output device through use of the timing signal, thereby outputting a rhythm tone. In synchronism with the timing signal, the computation means extracts from the digital sound signal a frequency component corresponding to a note of a musical scale. The user can hum a melody in the rhythm heard from the audio output device, thus facilitating audio input. The computation means extracts frequency components in synchronism with the timing signal, thus efficiently acquiring musical scale information.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the computation means generates from the musical scale information read from the storage means a musical scale signal that is in synchronism with the timing signal and outputs the thus-generated signal. The rhythm of the melody to be reproduced can be changed by means of a timing signal.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the periodicity of the timing signal generated by the timing signal generation means is controlled so as to match the periodicity of amplitudes of the music signal entered from the microphone. Even if the user hums a melody out of synchronization with the timing signal, the timing signal is output in rhythm with the tempo of the melody hummed by the user.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, the portable cellular phone further comprises display means for visually indicating the musical scale information stored in the storage means. The user can check the musical scale information not only in the form of musical notes but also in the form of characters or figures.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the portable cellular phone further comprises transfer means for transferring the musical scale information stored in the storage means from the portable cellular phone to an external device. The musical scale information is arranged by means of the external device. The musical scale information can be arranged by means of the external device and restored in the storage means.
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patent: 4230012 (1980-10-01), Bommersbach et al.
patent: 4866766 (1989-09-01), Mitzlaff
patent: 5153829 (1992-10-01), Furuya et al.
patent: 5481599 (1996-01-01), MacAllister et al.
patent: 5598461 (1997-01-01), Greenberg
patent: 5655016 (1997-08-01), Emery
patent: 5953408 (1999-09-01), Blanvillainet et al.
patent: 6094587 (2000-07-01), Armanto et al.
patent: 0 795 845 (1997-09-01), None
patent: A-9-149098 (1997-06-01), None
Chang Vivian
Kincaid Lester G.
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Pearne & Gordon LLP
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