Music – Accessories – Teaching devices
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-21
2001-05-01
Donels, Jeffrey (Department: 2837)
Music
Accessories
Teaching devices
C084S46400A
Reexamination Certificate
active
06225545
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a musical image display apparatus and method which are used with an electronic musical instrument or the like, and which are capable of displaying in real time images corresponding to musical elements, that is, elements of melody, harmony, and rhythm, contained in performance information for generating musical tones, and a storage medium storing a program for implementing the method.
2. Prior Art
As display software that combines musical performance with a display of a computer graphics (CG) image or the like, there are known a computer software which varies a display screen view generated by CG in accordance with Standard MIDI File (SMF) or a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) input, and a computer software which varies a CG screen view in accordance with the motion of a mouse cursor.
The above-mentioned types of display software are, however, capable of only performing drawing of CG images that have been prepared in advance in accordance with performance data. They are not capable of performing CG synthesis control in a manner corresponding directly or in real time to performance information obtained by the performance of a conventional musical instrument such as the performance of a keyboard. Further, they are intended for specific genres of music such as techno pop or ambient music, and cannot be utilized in all genres of music in general.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a musical image display apparatus and method that are capable of synthesizing CG images from performance information for drawing in real time, and a storage medium storing a program for implementing the method.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a musical image display apparatus and method that enable a user to enjoy a novel interaction using sound and image in a quick and easy manner.
To attain the above objects, the present invention provides a musical image display apparatus comprising an analyzer that classifies performance information into performance information related to a plurality of musical elements, and outputs the classified performance information, a drawing pattern storage device that stores drawing patterns for each of the musical elements, an image calculation device that reads out at least one drawing pattern from the drawing pattern storage device, and modifies the read out drawing pattern according to corresponding classified performance information from the analyzer to thereby generate image information corresponding to at least corresponding one of the musical elements, an image display device that displays the image information corresponding to the at least corresponding one of the musical elements generated by the image calculation device, and a selection device that selects image information to be displayed by the image display device, as desired.
Preferably, the musical image display apparatus according to the present invention further comprises a display mode selecting device that selects a mode of display of the image information selected to be displayed on the image display device.
Also preferably, the drawing patterns comprise at least one of geometrical patterns and characters, the image calculation device performing processing for modifying attributes of the read out drawing pattern that include at least one of size, shape, brightness, hue, and chroma, according to the corresponding classified performance information.
Preferably, the musical image display apparatus according to the present invention further comprises a communication interface circuit that communicates with an external machine, for enabling performance information input from the external machine via the communication interface circuit to be input to the analyzer.
Also preferably, the musical image display apparatus according to the present invention further comprises an output device that outputs the image information corresponding to the at least corresponding one of the musical elements output from the image calculation device to an external machine.
To attain the above objects, the present invention also provides a musical image display method comprising an analyzing step of classifying performance information into performance information related to a plurality of musical elements, and outputting the classified performance information, a drawing pattern storage step of storing drawing patterns for each of the musical elements, an image calculation step of reading out at least one drawing pattern stored by the drawing pattern storage step, and modifying the read out drawing pattern according to corresponding classified performance information output the analyzing step to thereby generate image information corresponding to at least corresponding one of the musical elements, an image display step of displaying the image information corresponding to the at least corresponding one of the musical elements generated by the image calculation step, and a selection step of selecting image information to be displayed by the image display step, as desired.
To attain the above objects, the present invention further provides a machine readable storage medium containing instructions for causing the machine to perform the above musical image display method.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4768086 (1988-08-01), Paist
patent: 5286908 (1994-02-01), Jungleib
patent: 5812688 (1998-09-01), Gibson
patent: 5915972 (1999-06-01), Tada
Isozaki Yoshimasa
Suzuki Hideo
Donels Jeffrey
Morrison & Foerster
Yamaha Corporation
LandOfFree
Musical image display apparatus and method storage medium... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Musical image display apparatus and method storage medium..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Musical image display apparatus and method storage medium... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2463485