Information search apparatus, information search method, and information recording medium on which information search program is computer-readably recorded

• US 20050126371A1
• Filed: 12/09/2004
• Published: 06/16/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
• Original Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
• Inventors: Suzuki, Yasunori, Kodama, Yasuteru, Shioda, Takehiko, Odagawa, Satoshi
• Granted Patent: US 7,199,300 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 84/636
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/638 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/683 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/685 using automatically derived transcript of audio data, e.g. lyrics speech recognition G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/14 Solving problems related to the presentation of information to be displayed

Abstract

The song search apparatus for searching a song among songs including lyrics and performances, comprises: a song feature information database which stores song feature information indicating acoustic feature of the performances or feature of the lyrics included in the songs; an input unit which inputs a search word representing the song to be searched and formed of a word representing a subjectivity; a search song feature information database which stores search song feature information indicating the acoustic feature or the feature of the lyrics of the songs; a search process unit which compares input search song feature information corresponding to the inputted search word with each of the stored song feature information, extracts a song most similar to the input search song feature information, and makes a display display an image indicating the input search song feature information and an image indicating the song feature information of the extracted song.

Claims

1. An information search apparatus which searches one or plural songs among a plurality of songs including lyrics and performances, wherein said information search apparatus comprises:

a song feature information storing device which distinguishably stores song feature information indicating at least one of acoustic feature of the performances included in the song and feature of the lyrics included in the song, for every song;

a search word input device which is used to input a search word representing the song to be searched and formed of a word representing a subjectivity;

a search song feature information storing device which distinguishably stores search song feature information indicating at least one of the acoustic feature of the performances included in any one of the songs to be searched by using the inputted search word as a piece of song appropriate to the subjectivity represented by the inputted search word and the feature of the lyrics included in the song, for every search word;

a comparison device which compares input search song feature information as the search song feature information corresponding to the inputted search word with each of the stored song feature information;

an extracting device which extracts a song corresponding to the song feature information having the best similarity to the input search song feature information, as the song corresponding to the inputted search word, based on the comparison result of said comparison device;

a first display control device which makes a display device display an input search song feature information image which is an image indicating the details of the input search song feature information; and

a second display control device which makes said display device display an extracted song feature information image which is an image indicating the details of the song feature information corresponding to the extracted song.

2. The information search apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first display control device and said second display control device make said display device simultaneously display the input search song feature information image and the extracted song feature information image by using images identical in composition to each other as the input search song feature information image and the extracted song feature information image.

3. The information search apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an evaluation information input device which is used to input evaluation information indicating whether or not the extracted song is appropriate for the inputted search word; and

a search song feature information updating device which updates each of the search song feature information based on the inputted evaluation information, and which generates reliability information indicating reliability of the updated search song feature information,

wherein said first display control device makes said display device display, as the input search song feature information image, magnitude of the reliability information corresponding to each of the search song feature information together with the search song feature information.

4. The information search apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

said first display control device makes said display device display the magnitude of the reliability information by changing the gradation of a image representing the magnitude of the reliability information in the input search song feature information image.

5. The information search apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

said first display control device makes said display device display the magnitude of the reliability information by changing the size of a image representing the magnitude of the reliability information in the input search song feature information image.

6. The information search apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the song feature information and the search song feature information respectively comprise, as parameters indicating the acoustic features of the song, a key parameter indicating a key of the song, an average BPM (beats per minutes) parameter indicating an average tempo of the song, a beat level parameter indicating a level of a signal corresponding to a beat component of the song, a maximum signal level parameter indicating the maximum level of a signal corresponding to the song, and an average signal level parameter indicating an average level of the signal corresponding to the song, and wherein

said first display control device and said second display control device make said display device display the magnitudes of the parameters in the extracted song feature information image and the input search song feature information image respectively so that the magnitudes of the parameters are visually recognizable.

7. The information search apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the song feature information and the search song feature information respectively comprise, as parameters indicating features of the lyrics, a plurality of symbolic parameters which subjectively symbolize the details of the lyrics constituting the song, and which correspond to subjectivities different from each other, and wherein

said first display control device and said second display control device make said display device display the magnitudes of the symbolic parameters in the extracted song feature information image and the input search song feature information image respectively so that the magnitudes of the symbolic parameters are visually recognizable.

8. The information search apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

said first display control device and said second display control device make said display device display the extracted song feature information image and the input search song feature information image while expressing the magnitudes of the parameters in the extracted song feature information image and the input search song feature information image by changing colors themselves in which images representing the parameters are depicted.

9. The information search apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a first change input device which is used to input first change information by which a user changes the input search song feature information corresponding to the displayed input search song feature information image.

10. The information search apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising

a second change input device which is used to input second change information for changing each of the input search song feature information corresponding to the displayed input search song feature information image and the reliability information corresponding to the input search song feature information.

11. The information search apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising

a replacing device which, when the input search song feature information image and the extracted song feature information image are simultaneously displayed, replaces the details of the search song feature information corresponding to the displayed input search song feature information image with the same details as those of the song feature information corresponding to the displayed extracted song feature information image, and again stores the replaced details in said search song feature information storing device.

12. The information search apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a song storing device which stores the plurality of songs.

13. An information search method executed in an information search apparatus which searches for one or plural songs among a plurality of songs including lyrics and performances, and which comprises a song feature information storing device which distinguishably stores song feature information indicating at least one of acoustic feature of the performances included in the song and feature of the lyrics included in the song, for every song;

a search song feature information storing device which distinguishably stores search song feature information indicating at least one of the acoustic feature of the performances included in any one of the songs to be searched by using the inputted search word as a piece of song appropriate to the subjectivity represented by a search word representing the song to be searched and formed of a word representing a subjectivity and the feature of the lyrics included in the song, for every search word; and

a display device, wherein said information search method comprising;

a search word input process which inputs the search word;

a comparison process which compares input search song feature information as the search song feature information corresponding to the inputted search word with each of the stored song feature information;

an extracting process which extracts a song corresponding to the song feature information having the best similarity to the input search song feature information, as the song corresponding to the inputted search word, based on the comparison result in the comparison process;

a first display control process which makes said display device display an input search song feature information image which is an image indicating the details of the input search song feature information; and

a second display control process which makes said display device display an extracted song feature information image which is an image indicating the details of the song feature information corresponding to the extracted song.

14. An information recording medium on which an information search program is recorded so as to be readable through a computer which is included in an information search apparatus which searches one or plural songs among a plurality of songs including lyrics and performances with a pre-installed re-writable recording medium, wherein the information search program causes the computer to function as:

a song feature information storing device which distinguishably stores song feature information indicating at least one of acoustic feature of the performances included in the song and feature of the lyrics included in the song, for every song;

a search word input device which is used to input a search word representing the song to be searched and formed of a word representing a subjectivity;

a search song feature information storing device which distinguishably stores search song feature information indicating at least one of the acoustic feature of the performances included in any one of the songs to be searched by using the inputted search word as a piece of song appropriate to the subjectivity represented by the inputted search word and the feature of the lyrics included in the song, for every search word;

a comparison device which compares input search song feature information as the search song feature information corresponding to the inputted search word with each of the stored song feature information;

an extracting device which extracts a song corresponding to the song feature information having the best similarity to the input search song feature information, as the song corresponding to the inputted search word, based on the comparison result of said comparison device;

a first display control device which makes a display device display an input search song feature information image which is an image indicating the details of the input search song feature information; and

a second display control device which makes said display device display an extracted song feature information image which is an image indicating the details of the song feature information corresponding to the extracted song.