Time-divisional data register

• US 5,359,145 A
• Filed: 05/18/1993
• Issued: 10/25/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Original Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Inventors: Okamura, Kazuhisa
• Primary Examiner(s): Shoop, Jr., William M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sircus, Brian
• Application Number:
  US08/064,747
• Time in Patent Office: 525 Days
• Field of Search: 84/602, 84/604, 84/605, 84/617, 84/645, 84/655
• US Class Current: 84/602
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/186 Microprocessor-controlled keyboard and assigning means
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 7/045 using an auxiliary register or set of registers, e.g. a shift-register, in which the amplitudes are transferred before being read

Abstract

A time-divisional data register comprises a shift register and a latch and is used for transferring data from a first apparatus operating at a relatively high speed to a second apparatus performing a time-divisional processing at a relatively low speed or long first period. The shift register operating at a second period shorter than the first period fetches data transmitted from the first apparatus with a designated time-divisional channel to which the data is to be assigned, stores the fetched data at a storage position corresponding to the designated channel and then outputs repetitively the stored data for each channel in turn at the second period. The latch latches the outputs from the shift register and outputs the latched data in synchronism with tile processing period of each channel in the second apparatus.

Claims

1. A time-divisional data register for temporarily storing data transmitted from a central processing unit for controlling generation of musical tone signals and transferring the stored data to a sound source having a plurality of channels for respectively generating musical tone signals, for performing time-divisional processing of a plurality of channels at a first rate having a first period, comprising:

channel designation means for designating at least one of the plurality of channels;

storage means for storing, at a second rate having a second period shorter than the first period, data transmitted from the central processing unit asynchronously with the processing of the plurality of channels, the storage means storing the data at a storage position corresponding to the designated channel and circulatively repetitively outputting the stored data at the second rate; and

latch means for latching the data output from said storage means in synchronism with the processing of the plurality of channels in the sound source, and outputting the latched data to the sound source in the channel processing order of the sound source.

2. A time-divisional register according to claim 1, wherein the storage means comprises a circulation register in which the data for each channel is handed down from one data-storage position to the next to so that the data for the respective channels are circulatively stored.

3. A time-divisional register according to claim 2, wherein the data-storage positions for respective channels are arranged in a predetermined order different from a regular order which is the channel processing order of the sound source and data from the CPU is stored in a position corresponding to a channel designated by the CPU.

4. A method for asynchronously transferring time-divisional data from a central processing unit for controlling generation of musical tone signals to a sound source having a plurality of channels for respectively generating musical tone signals, for performing time-divisional processing of a plurality of channels at a relatively long first period, comprising the steps of:

fetching, at a second period shorter than the first period, data transmitted from the central processing unit while a predetermined time-divisional channel is designated;

storing the fetched data at a position corresponding to the designated channel;

outputting, circulatively repetively, the stored data at the second period;

latching the output data in synchronism with the processing of the plurality of channels in the sound source; and

outputting the latched data to the sound source.

5. An electronic musical instrument comprising:

a central processing unit for processing and transmitting data to control generation of a musical tone signal;

a sound source having a plurality of channels for respectively generating musical tones, for performing time-divisional processing at a rate having a first period; and

a time-divisional data register for transferring the data transmitted from the central processing unit asynchronously with the time-divisional processing to the sound source, the time-divisional data register including

storage means for storing, at a second rate having a period shorter than the first period, the data transmitted from said central processing unit at a storage position corresponding to at least one designated channel, and for circulatively repetitively outputting the data at the second rate, and

latch means for latching the data output from said storage means in synchronism with the processing of the plurality of channels in the sound source and for outputting the latched data to the sound source.

6. An electronic musical instrument for performing data-processing at a plurality of speeds, comprising:

first means for processing data at a first speed and transmitting the data;

second means having a plurality of channels for respectively processing the transmitted data on a time-divisional basis at a second speed;

shift register means having a plurality of storing areas corresponding to the plurality of channels for storing the data transmitted asynchronously with the processing of the plurality of channels by the first means, at a third speed which is a shifting speed of the shift register means and faster than the second speed;

selecting means, coupled to the first means and the shift register means, for selecting at least one of data transmitted by the first means and data outputted by the shift register means and for outputting the selected data to the shift register means; and

latch means, coupled to the shift register means, for latching the data output by the shift register means and for transmitting the latched data to the plurality of channels at a predetermined period corresponding to the second speed in the channel processing order of the second means.

7. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 6, wherein the first means comprises a central processing unit and the second means comprises a sound source having a plurality of channels which respectively generate a plurality of musical tones.

8. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 6 further comprising timing generating means coupled to the latch means for generating a latch signal, wherein the latching means latches the output data based on the latch signal.

9. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 6, wherein the third speed is N times as fast as the second speed and the second means includes at least M channels, the plurality of storing areas respectively corresponding to the plurality of channels being arranged so that the data respectively corresponding to the plurality of channels is put in a predetermined order where the corresponding data forms a line having intervals of N in turn, and wherein N and M are natural numbers.

10. An electrical musical instrument for performing data processing at a plurality of speeds asynchronous from each other comprising:

a central processing unit for processing data at a first speed;

a sound source having a plurality of channels which respectively process data at a second speed on a time-divisional basis, wherein the first speed is N times as fast as the second speed, N being a natural number;

data transmitting means coupled to the central processing unit and the sound source for transmitting the data processed by the central processing unit and respectively corresponding to the plurality of channels to the sound source in a predetermined order, wherein the corresponding data forms a line at intervals of N, such that the sound source can receive the transmitted data in an order corresponding to an arrangement of the plurality of channels.

11. An electronic musical instrument according to claim 10, wherein the data transmitting means includes a shift register having a plurality of data storage areas corresponding to the plurality of channels, the data output by the central processing unit being transmitted into the shift register at the first speed, and latching means for latching the data output by the shift register at the second speed.

12. A time-divisional data register for temporarily storing data transmitted from a central processing unit for controlling generation of musical tone signals and transferring the stored data to a sound source having a plurality of channels for respectively generating musical tone signals, the sound source processing on a time-divisional basis a plurality of channels at a first rate, the register comprising:

a channel designator that designates at least one of the plurality of channels;

a multi-stage memory having a second rate asychronous of and faster than the first rate that stores data transmitted from the central processing unit upon designation from a channel designation signal and recirculates data from the last stage of the memory to the first of the memory in the absence of the channel designation signal;

a latch coupled to the last stage of the memory, the latch latching at the first rate in synchronism with the sound source.

13. An electronic musical instrument comprising:

a first apparatus that transmits musical tone generation data at a first rate;

a second apparatus having a plurality of channels, the second apparatus performing time-divisional processing of the channels at a second rate asynchronous from the first rate;

a channel designator that generates a channel designation designating tone generation data transmitted by the first apparatus for a channel of the second apparatus;

a compensating data register that transfers the data transmitted from the first apparatus to the second apparatus, the register including a memory that stores, at a third rate faster than the second rate, the data transmitted from the first apparatus at a storage position according to the channel designation, and that circulatively repetitively outputs the stored data at the third rate, and

a latch coupled to the output of the memory in synchronism with the second apparatus at the second rate.

14. An electronic musical instrument for performing data-processing at a plurality of speeds, comprising:

a first apparatus that processes data at a first speed and transmits the data;

a second apparatus having a plurality of channels, the channels respectively processing the transmitted data on a time-divisional basis at a second speed;

a shift register having a plurality of storage areas corresponding to the plurality of channels, the shift register storing the data transmitted asynchronously with the processing of the plurality of channels by the first apparatus, at a third speed which is a shifting speed of the shift register and faster than the second speed;

a selector coupled to the first apparatus and the shift register that selects at least one of data transmitted by the first apparatus and data outputted by the shift register and outputs the selected data to the shift register; and

a latch coupled to the shift register that latches the data output by the shift register and transmits the latched data to the plurality of channels at a predetermined period corresponding to the second speed in the channel processing order of the second apparatus.