Music – Instruments – Electrical musical tone generation
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-17
2001-01-16
Witkowski, Stanley J. (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
Electrical musical tone generation
C084S47000P, C084S47700R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06175070
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to microprocessor-assisted musical instruments, and more particularly to visually displayed assistance that is provided in such systems.
BACKGROUND
In recent years an increasing number of microprocessor-based music systems have appeared in the marketplace that enable people who have no formal training in music to use an “instrument” to produce music as though they were a trained musician. Some of these systems store a musical score in digital form and play it back in response to input signals generated by the user when the “instrument” or some type of actuator that is attached to the system is played. Since the musical score is stored in the system ready to be played back, the user need not have the ability to create the required notes of the melody but need only have the ability to recreate the rhythm of the particular song or music being played. Such systems are making music much more accessible to everybody.
An example of one such system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,297, which is entitled “Music Instrument Which Generates A Rhythm EKG” and which is owned by the assignee of record in the present application. In that system, a user plays a MIDI instrument (e.g. MIDI guitar) to generate actuation signals. The computer then maps the actuation signals to notes of a stored musical score. The pitch and tonal quality of the note that is generated is controlled entirely by the stored musical score and not the user or the instrument being played. For each stored note of the musical score there is a window of time as measured from the beginning of the score (i.e., when the music system is started) during which the user must generate an actuation signal in order to produce that particular note. For any given note in the musical score, if the user fails to generate the actuation signal within the corresponding window of time, the opportunity to do so will pass and the user will miss that note. Thus, as long as the user generates the actuation signals with approximately the correct timing, the system will reproduce all of the notes of the stored musical score. And it will appear as though the user is really playing the instrument. To assist the user in achieving the correct timing in generating the required sequence of actuation signals there is a visual display of a trace that shows when the signals are supposed to be produced.
SUMMARY
In general, in one aspect, the invention is a musical instrument in which the visual display that aids the user in playing music on the system has a user-selectable format. The system enables the user to select from among a range of display formats that present different amounts of musical notation on the display of the musical score that the user is playing.
In general, in one aspect, the invention is a music system including an actuator which generates a plurality of actuation signals in response to input from a user; an audio synthesizer which generates audio tones in response to control signals; a memory storing a musical score, which is made up of a sequence of notes, each of which has an associated time stamp to identify a time at which it is supposed to be played by the user in the musical score; a video display unit; and a digital processor controlling the audio synthesizer and the video display unit. The digital processor is programmed to support a plurality of user selectable display formats each of which presents a different representation of the stored musical score when the stored musical score is being played. Each of the plurality of display formats indicates to the user when the actuation signals of the plurality of actuation signals should be generated to cause the synthesizer to produce corresponding sounds of the stored musical score. The digital processor is also programmed to be responsive to a selection signal from the user identifying a selected one of the plurality of user-selectable display formats and to display the stored musical score using the selected display format. Also, the digital processor is programmed to receive the plurality of actuation signals from the actuator and generate a sequence of control signals therefrom; to map the plurality of actuation signals to a corresponding set of notes from among the sequence of notes; and to produce the sequence of control signals from the corresponding set of notes. The sequence of control signals causes the synthesizer to generate sounds representing the corresponding set of notes.
In general, in another aspect, the invention is a control program tangibly stored on a digital storage medium for use with a music system that includes an actuator for generating a sequence of actuation signals in response to a corresponding sequence of activations of the actuator by a user, an audio component, a display screen, a digital processor receiving the sequence of actuation signals from the actuator and generating a corresponding sequence of control signals therefrom, and a digital storage device storing a sequence of note structures representing a musical score. The control program is configured to cause the digital processor to perform the functions of: supporting a plurality of user selectable display formats each of which presents a different representation of the stored musical score when the stored musical score is being played, each of the plurality of display formats indicating to the user when the actuation signals of the plurality of actuation signals should be generated to cause the audio component to produce corresponding sounds of the stored musical score; responding to a selection signal from the user identifying a selected one of the plurality of user-selectable display formats; displaying the stored musical score using the selected display format; mapping the plurality of actuation signals from the actuator to a corresponding set of notes from among the sequence of notes; and producing the sequence of control signals from the corresponding set of notes. The sequence of control signals causes the audio component to generate sounds representing the corresponding set of notes.
Other embodiments may include one or more of the following features. The plurality of user selectable display formats are ordered in terms of information content from lowest information content to highest information content (e.g. they are ordered in terms of music notation content presented in the display from a lowest amount of music notation to a highest amount of music notation). The plurality of user selectable display formats includes a first display format which when selected causes the program to display on the display screen a trace of markers as a function of time, wherein each of the markers within the trace of markers indicates a time at which the user is supposed to cause the actuator to generate at least one of the actuation signals of the plurality of actuation signals in order to cause the audio component to play a corresponding one of the sequence of notes of the musical score. The trace of markers represents a period of time extending from before an actual elapsed time until after the actual elapsed time, the actual elapsed time being measured from a start of the musical score. Also, the program is further configured to display on the display screen an indicator marking a location of the actual elapsed time within the selected display format thereby indicating where the user is presently supposed to be within the musical score. In general, in still another aspect, the invention is a method such as is implemented by the music system and the programs described above.
In still yet another aspect, the invention is a control program tangibly stored on a digital storage medium for use with a music system and is configured to cause the digital processor to perform the functions of: supporting a plurality of user selectable display formats each of which presents a different representation of the stored musical score when the stored musical score is being played, each of the plurality of display formats indicating to the user when the actuation signal
Ferry Robert
Naples Bradley J.
Paquette John
Snow Bert
Zack Thomas
Fish & Richardson P.C.
MusicPlayground Inc.
Witkowski Stanley J.
LandOfFree
System and method for variable music notation does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with System and method for variable music notation, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and System and method for variable music notation will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2503302