Systems and methods for portable audio synthesis

• US 20090272251A1
• Filed: 10/12/2004
• Published: 11/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medialab Solutions LLC
• Original Assignee: Medialab Solutions LLC
• Inventors: Georges, Alain, Laurent, Eric, Viaud-Murat, Stephane, Chiaramello, Daniel, Blair, Peter Michael, Damevski, Voislav
• Granted Patent: US 9,065,931 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 84/609
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/00 Details of electrophonic musical instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/111 Automatic composing, i.e. using predefined musical rules
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2230/021 Mobile ringtone, i.e. generation, transmission, conversion or downloading of ringing tones or other sounds for mobile telephony; Special musical data formats or protocols therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/031 File merging MIDI, i.e. merging or mixing a MIDI-like file or stream with a non-MIDI file or stream, e.g. audio or video
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/04 the ringing-current being generated at the substations

Abstract

Systems and methods for creating, modifying, interacting with and playing music are provided, preferably employing a top-down process, where the user is provided with a musical composition that may be modified and interacted with and played and/or stored (for later play). The system preferably is provided in a handheld form factor, and a graphical display is provided to display status information, graphical representations of musical lanes or components which preferably vary in shape as musical parameters and the like are changed for particular instruments or musical components such as a microphone input or audio samples. An interactive auto-composition process preferably employs musical rules and a pseudo random number generator, which may also incorporate randomness introduced by timing of user input or the like. The user may quickly begin creating desirable music in accordance with one or a variety of musical styles, with the user modifying the auto-composed (or previously created) musical composition, either for a real time performance and/or for storing and subsequent playback. An analysis process flow also is disclosed for using pre-existing music as input(s) to an algorithm to derive music rules that may be used as part of a music style in a subsequent auto-composition process. In addition, the present invention makes use of node-based music generation as part of a system and method to broadcast and receive music data files, which are then used to generate and play music. By incorporating the music generation process into a node/subscriber unit, bandwidth requirements are lowered, and consequently the bandwidth can preferably be used for additional features such as node-to-node and node-to-base music data transmission. The present invention is characterized by the broadcast of relatively small data files that contain various parameters sufficient to describe the music to the node/subscriber music generator. In addition, improved audio synthesis in a portable environment is provided with the present invention by performing audio synthesis in a manner that simplifies design requirements and/or minimizes cost, while still providing quality audio synthesis features targeted for a portable system (e.g., portable telephone). In addition, problems associated with the tradeoff between overall sound quality and memory requirements in a MIDI sound bank are addressed in the present invention by providing systems and methods for a reduced memory size footprint MIDI sound bank. In addition, music ringtone alert tone remixing, navigation, and purchasing capabilities are disclosed that are particularly advantageous in the context of a portable communications device, such as a cellular telephone, in connection with a communications network.

Claims

1. A method for remixing a ringtone for use as an incoming call alert tone in a portable communications device, comprising:

providing a ringtone music server configured to supply a plurality of ringtone data files to a plurality of client devices, wherein the plurality of ringtone data files are accessible in a database at least according to a selectable music style, and wherein the ringtone music server makes use of a client validation mechanism to validate an individual ringtone music file distribution to an individual client device; and

providing a music remix algorithm configured to remix ringtone upon demand, wherein the music remix algorithm acts upon an individual ringtone data file supplied by association with the ringtone music server to generate the individual ringtone music file, and wherein the music remix algorithm is configured to remix one or more instrumental components of a musical piece at a time, using an auto composition function;

wherein the music remix algorithm makes use of one or more music rules that are configured according to the selectable music style.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the individual ringtone music file or the individual ringtone data file is transmitted to a cellular telephone as part of a short message service transmission.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of providing a payment gateway service to process billing or subscription information associated with the individual client device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the music remix algorithm incorporates a chord progression adjustment.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the music remix algorithm is executed on an individual client device.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the music remix algorithm is executed on the ringtone music server.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein a first portion of the music remix algorithm is executed on a centralized remix server.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein a second portion of the music remix algorithm is executed on an individual client device.

9. A method for autocomposing a music piece in a portable communications device connected to a communications network, comprising the steps of:

providing a music composition graphical user interface, wherein the music composition graphical user interface displays a plurality of actionable menu items, wherein a first collection of actionable menu items is provided to the music composition graphical user interface from an internal source located within the portable communications device;

providing a music remixing algorithm, wherein the music remixing algorithm incorporates music rules, and wherein the music remixing algorithm can remix the music piece in a manner where only one musical component is remixed at a given time;

providing a music remix database accessible via the music composition graphical user interface, wherein a plurality of music remix data is organized based in part on a music style parameter; and

further wherein a second collection of actionable menu items is provided from the music remix database to the music composition graphical user interface via the communications network;

wherein the first collection of actionable menu items and the second collection of actionable menu items are displayed on the music composition graphical user interface in a seamless manner.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the second collection of actionable menu items is dynamically updated.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the music remixing algorithm is a ringtone alert tone music remixing algorithm.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising the step of providing a payment gateway service to process billing information associated with the portable communications device.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the payment gateway service uses a token-based billing method.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the music remixing algorithm incorporates a chord progression adjustment.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the music remixing algorithm is wholly executed on the portable communications device.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the music remixing algorithm is wholly executed on a music remixing server.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein a first portion of the music remixing algorithm is executed on a centralized music remixing server.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein a second portion of the music remixing algorithm is executed on the portable communications device.

19. A method of providing a music video with remixable music content, comprising the steps of

providing a music autocomposition algorithm comprised of a plurality of music rules, wherein the music autocomposition algorithm acts upon remixable music data and generates remixed music,

providing a video stream comprised of video information and non-video information, wherein a portion of the non-video information is comprised of video synchronization information;

providing a user interface application, wherein a user is provided with some control over the music autocomposition algorithm, and wherein the video stream is displayed in part by the user interface application;

wherein the remixed music is played according in part to tempo parameter data; and

wherein the display of the video stream is synchronized to the remixed music based in part on the video synchronization information.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the user interface application is executed on a personal computer.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the video stream is located on a video server on the internet.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein the user interface application is executed on a portable communications device.