Music processing printer

• US 20050005760A1
• Filed: 03/30/2004
• Published: 01/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Graham, Jamey, Hart, Peter E., Hull, Jonathan J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,314,994 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 84/645
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/00 Details of electrophonic musical instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/086 for transcription of raw audio or music data to a displayed or printed staff representation or to displayable MIDI-like note-oriented data, e.g. in pianoroll format
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/056 MIDI or other note-oriented file format
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/061 MP3, i.e. MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, lossy audio compression

Abstract

An audio processing device receives, processes, and outputs music and audio files to a variety of electronic and paper-based formats. In one embodiment, the audio processing device generates a score based on a music or audio file, and/or can match the file to melodies stored in a pre-existing database. In an embodiment, the audio processing device and a PC share the processing load. In yet another embodiment, the musical segments identified in a score are mapped to an audio or music file so that a user can access the specific segments at a later point.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving by an audio processing device audio/music data in a first format;

processing the audio/music data; and

outputting by the audio processing device the processed audio/music data in a paper-based format and an electronic format.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio/music data comprises music data.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

mapping musical content from the music data to a file.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

comparing a melody of the music data to a plurality of melodies; and

matching the melody of the music data to one of the plurality of melodies.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

parsing the music data by musical segment.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the musical segment comprises one from the group of:

a piece, song, stanza, movement, bar, chorus, and riff.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising assigning an identifier to a segment of the music data.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the identifier comprises a pointer to a medium.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing the audio/music data responsive to commands provided by one from the group of:

a print dialog, PDL comments, a print driver, and a graphical user interface networked with the audio processing device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

archiving the processed audio/music data; and

indexing the archived audio file.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of indexing comprises assigning a bar code to the musical segment.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio/music data contains audio speech.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising recognizing the speech.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the processed audio/music data comprises a file printable to a paper document.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the processed audio/music data comprises a musical score.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein outputting the processed audio/music data comprises playing the audio/music data on a playback device.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein outputting the processed audio/music data comprises storing the file to a storage medium.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein outputting the processed audio/music data comprises sending the file over a network.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

indexing the processed audio/music data according to its audio content.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of processing the audio/music data is performed by a device other than the audio processing device.

21. A method, comprising:

receiving by an audio processing device a musical score and a music file; and

indexing contents of the musical file responsive to the musical score.

22. A method, comprising:

receiving by a printing device a music file;

generating a musical score responsive to the musical file; and

indexing contents of the music file responsive to the music score.

23. A method comprising:

receiving by a printer audio data in a first format;

processing the audio data; and

outputting the processed audio data in a second format.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the audio data in the first format comprises music data, and wherein the method further comprises:

mapping musical content from the music data to a file in a second format.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the audio data in the first format comprises music data, and where the method further comprises:

comparing a melody of the music data to a plurality of melodies; and

matching the melody of the music data to one of the plurality of melodies.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein the audio data in the first format comprises music data, further comprising:

parsing the music data by musical segment.

27. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

indexing the audio data according to its audio content.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein the step of processing the audio data is performed by a device other than the audio processing device.

29. An apparatus for outputting a processed audio/music file comprising:

an interface for receiving audio/music data in a first format;

a processor for processing the audio/music data; and

an output system for outputting the processed audio/music data.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the output system is configured to output the processed audio/music data to at least one of the group of:

a printed document, an analog file, an optical disk, a portable device memory, a networked server, and a networked display.

31. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the output system is configured to output the processed audio/music data to a digital format and to at least one of the group of:

a printed document, an analog file, and a networked display.

32. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the output system is a disk drive capable of outputting electronic data.

33. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the output system is a transmitter to broadcast audio/music data.

34. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising a conversion module for converting the audio/music file from the first format into a second format, wherein the second format comprises a digital format.

35. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising a conversion module configured to automatically convert the audio/music file from a first format into a third format by converting the audio/music file from a first format into a second format and from the second format into the third format.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the second format comprises one from the group of an:

electronic score, .wav, MIDI, and .mp3.

37. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the first format comprises an analog music file.

38. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising a scoring module for creating a score based on an audio/music file.

39. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising a command module for automatically determining the conversion pathway of the audio/music data in the first format to a file in an output format wherein the conversion pathway comprises at least a conversion of the audio/music data in the first format to a second format, and a conversion from the second format to the output format.

40. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising a parsing module for segmenting the audio/music file responsive to its audio content.

41. The apparatus of claim 29 wherein the output interface includes a printer.

42. A method, comprising:

receiving by an audio processing device a musical score;

generating a music file responsive to the musical score; and

indexing contents of the musical file responsive to the musical score.