Wearable electronic musical instrument

• US 10,255,894 B1
• Filed: 08/17/2017
• Issued: 04/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mark J. Bonner
• Original Assignee: Mark J. Bonner
• Inventors: Bonner, Mark J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Warren, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Schreiber, Christina
• Application Number:
  US15/679,457
• Time in Patent Office: 600 Days
• Field of Search: 84 3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/014 Hand-worn input/output arrangements, e.g. data gloves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/02 Input arrangements using manually operated switches, e.g. using keyboards or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0338 with detection of limited linear or angular displacement of an operating part of the device from a neutral position, e.g. isotonic or isometric joysticks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03549 Trackballs G06F3/03541 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0362 with detection of 1D translations or rotations of an operating part of the device, e.g. scroll wheels, sliders, knobs, rollers or belts
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0066 using a MIDI interface
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/34 Switch arrangements, e.g. keyboards or mechanical switches specially adapted for electrophonic musical instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/275 Switching mechanism or sensor details of individual keys, e.g. details of key contacts, hall effect or piezoelectric sensors used for key position or movement sensing purposes; Mounting thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/326 Control glove or other hand or palm-attached control device
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/005 Data structures for use in electrophonic musical devices; Data structures including musical parameters derived from musical analysis audio retrieval G06F16/60
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/201 Physical layer or hardware aspects of transmission to or from an electrophonic musical instrument, e.g. voltage levels, bit streams, code words or symbols over a physical link connecting network nodes or instruments

Abstract

Disclosed is a wearable electronic music system including a plurality of first finger mountable implements, each having at least one surface engageable element operatively connected thereto. The system further includes a second finger mountable implement with a state altering element being disposable in a first state or a second state. A sound producing subsystem operatively communicates with the plurality of first finger mountable implements and the second finger mountable implement. In operation, when the state altering element is disposed in the first state, the sound producing subsystem causes a first output to be produced when at least one of said plurality of first finger mountable implements contacts the solid surface, and when the state altering element is disposed in the second state, the sound producing subsystem causes a second output to be produced as the at least one of said plurality of first finger mountable implements contacts the solid surface.

Claims

1. A wearable electronic music system, comprising:

a plurality of first finger mountable implements, each one of the first finger mountable implements being configured to fit over a fingertip and having at least one surface engageable element operatively connected thereto, said surface engageable element changing an output signal only while said surface engageable element is in contact with a surface;

at least one second finger mountable implement configured to fit over a fingertip and having at least one state altering element operatively connected thereto, the at least one state altering element being disposable in one of at least a first state and a second state, said state altering element changing an output state as a result of contact with the surface; and

a sound producing subsystem operatively communicating with said plurality of first finger mountable implements and said at least one second finger mountable implement, said sound producing subsystem responsive to both the contacting of at least one surface engageable element, operatively connected to at least one of said plurality of first finger mountable implements on a solid surface and the at least one state altering element being disposed in one of at least the first state and the second state, wherein (a) when the at least one state altering element is disposed in the first state, said sound producing subsystem causes a first output to be produced as the at least one of said plurality of first finger mountable implements contacts the solid surface, and (b) when the at least one state altering element is disposed in the second state, said sound producing subsystem causes a second output to be produced as the at least one of said plurality of first finger mountable implements contacts the solid surface.

2. The wearable electronic music system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one surface engageable element comprises one of a switch and sensor.

3. The wearable electronic music system according to claim 2, in which said sound producing subsystem causes each one of the first output and the second output to be produced in one of a plurality of musical note durations, wherein the output signal of one of the switch and sensor, is used to control the musical note durations by said sound producing subsystem in causing the first and second outputs to be produced.

4. The wearable electronic music system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one state altering element comprises at least one of a switch, a multi-position switch, an encoder, a hall-effect encoder, a roller-switch, a scroll wheel, a scroll ball, a trackball, a joystick, and a sensor.

5. The wearable electronic music system according to claim 4, in which the multi-position switch includes a first button for changing state in one direction and a second button for changing state in another direction, wherein pressing the first button causes a downscale movement in tonal output and pressing the second button causes an upscale movement in tonal output.

7. The wearable electronic music system according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of first finger mountable implements and said at least one second finger mountable implement are part of a musical instrument digital interface (“

MIDI”

) controller, and wherein said sound producing subsystem comprises a MIDI synthesizer.

8. The wearable electronic music system according to claim 7, wherein the at least one surface engageable element comprises a piezo-electric sensor.

9. The wearable electronic music system according to claim 1, wherein the first output comprises at least one of a first set of musical notes and the second output comprises at least one of a second set of musical notes, and wherein the first set of musical notes is separated from the second set of musical notes.

10. The wearable electronic music system according to claim 1, wherein (a) said plurality of first finger mountable implements are configured for use with two or more fingers where the two or more fingers do not include a thumb, and (b) said at least one second finger mountable implement is configured for use with just one or both of two thumbs.

11. The wearable electronic music system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one state altering element includes a movable member with movement of the movable member resulting in the disposal of the at least one state altering element into an alternative one of a plurality of states.

12. The wearable electronic music system according to claim 11, wherein the movable member comprises a roller ball movable in one of a first direction and a second direction, wherein when the roller ball is moved in the first direction the at least one state altering element is changed to a next state in a first direction, and when the roller ball is moved in the second direction the at least one state altering element is changed to a next state in a second direction.

13. The wearable electronic music system according to claim 11, wherein the movable member comprises a rotatable wheel movable in one of a first direction and a second direction, wherein when the rotatable wheel is moved in the first direction the at least one state altering element is changed to a next state in a first direction, and when the rotatable wheel is moved in the second direction the at least one state altering element is changed to a next state in a second direction.

14. The wearable electronic music system according to claim 11, wherein the movable member is a rocker switch disposable in one of a first position and a second position, wherein when the rocker switch is disposed in the first position the at least one state altering element is disposed in the first state, and when the rocker switch is disposed in the second position the at least one state altering element is disposed in the second state.

6. The wearable electronic music system of 5, wherein contacting the state altering element once on the solid surface causes the at least one state altering element to change states.

15. A wearable user input device, for selectively producing a first musical output and a second musical output, in response to at least one of a user'"'"'s digits contacting a solid surface, comprising:

first, second and third implements for attachment to three respective ends of a user'"'"'s digits;

first, second and third surface engageable elements respectively mounted on the first, second and third implements;

said first surface engageable element being selectively engageable to generate one of a first signal and a second signal;

wherein, in response to the first signal being generated with said first surface engageable element, a third signal and a fourth signal are respectively generated in response to the user'"'"'s second and third digits contacting the solid surface;

wherein, in response to the second signal being generated with said first surface engageable element, a fifth signal and a sixth signal are respectively generated in response to the user'"'"'s second and third digits contacting the solid surface; and

a sound producing subsystem, operatively communicating with said first, second and third implements, for selectively producing, in response to at least two of the first through sixth signals, a corresponding musical output.

16. A wearable electronic music system, comprising:

a musical instrument digital interface (“

MIDI”

) controller including;

a plurality of first finger mountable implements, each one of the first finger mountable implements being configured to fit over a fingertip and including at least one surface engageable element connected thereto, each surface engageable element causing a MIDI message to be created upon contact with a surface, wherein said plurality of first finger mountable implements are configured for use with two or more fingers where the two or more fingers do not include a thumb, and

at least one second finger mountable implement configured to fit over a fingertip and including at least one state altering element, the at least one state altering element being disposable in at least one of a first state and a second state, wherein said at least one second finger mountable implement is configured for use with just one or both of two thumbs;

a synthesizer operatively communicating with said MIDI controller to receive one or more MIDI messages, said synthesizer being responsive to both the contacting of a first set of two or more first wearable implements on the surface and the at least one state altering element being disposed in one of the first state and the second state;

wherein (a) when the at least one state altering element is disposed in the first state, said synthesizer causes a first musical output to be produced as at least one of the plurality of first finger mountable implements contacts the surface, and (b) when the at least one state altering element is disposed in the second state, said synthesizer causes a second musical output to be produced as at least one of the plurality of first finger mountable implements contact the solid surface; and

wherein the first musical output is distinct from the second musical output by at least one musical note.

17. The wearable electronic music system of claim 16, wherein each surface engageable element comprises a piezo-electric sensor, and wherein the at least one state altering element includes one of a binary switch and a pressure sensor with the contacting of the one of the binary switch and pressure sensor on the solid surface causing a transition from the first state to the second state.

18. The wearable electronic music system according to claim 16, wherein the at least one state altering element includes a movable member with movement of the movable member resulting in the disposal of the at least one state altering element into one of the first state and the second state.

19. The wearable electronic music system according to claim 18, wherein the movable member comprises one of a roller ball, rotatable wheel and rocker switch.

20. The wearable electronic music system according to claim 16, wherein the first musical output is tonally separated from the second musical output.