Virtual music instrument with a novel input device

• US 5,670,729 A
• Filed: 05/11/1995
• Issued: 09/23/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bandai Namco Holdings USA, Inc. (BANDAI NAMCO Holdings Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Virtual Music Entertainment, Inc. (BANDAI NAMCO Holdings Inc.)
• Inventors: Miller, Allan A., Miller, Vernon A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Witkowski, Stanley J.
• Application Number:
  US08/439,435
• Time in Patent Office: 866 Days
• Field of Search: 84/609-614, 84/634-638, 84/645, 84/639, 84/640, 84/477 R, 84/478, 84/DIG. 6
• US Class Current: 84/609
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8047 Music games
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0033 Recording/reproducing or transmission of music for electrophonic musical instruments
• 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 1/361 Recording/reproducing of accompaniment for use with an external source, e.g. karaoke systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/363 using optical disks, e.g. CD, CD-ROM, to store accompaniment information in digital form
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/38 Chord
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/191 Plectrum or pick sensing, e.g. for detection of string striking or plucking Plectra in general, e.g. for stringed musical instruments G10D3/173
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/071 Wave, i.e. Waveform Audio File Format, coding, e.g. uncompressed PCM audio according to the RIFF bitstream format method

Abstract

A virtual musical instrument including a hand-held accessory of a type that is intended to be brought into contact with a musical instrument so as to play that instrument. The hand-held accessory includes a switch which, in response to the hand-held accessory being caused to strike another object by a person holding it, generates an activation signal. The musical instrument also includes an audio synthesizer; a memory storing a sequence of notes data structures for a musical score, each of the notes data structures representing a note or notes within said musical score and having an identified location in time relative to the other notes in the sequence; a timer; and a digital processor receiving the activation signal and generating a control signal therefrom. The digital processor is programmed (1) to use the timer to measure a time at which the activation signal is generated; (2) to use the measured time to select one of the notes data structures within the sequence; and (3) to generate the control signal, which causes the synthesizer to generate the note(s) represented by the selected notes data structure.

Claims

1. A virtual musical instrument comprising:

a hand-held accessory of a type that is intended to be brought into contact with a musical instrument so as to play that instrument, said hand-held accessory including a switch which, in response to said hand-held accessory being caused to strike another object by a person holding said hand-held accessory, generates an activation signal;

an audio synthesizer;

a memory storing a sequence of notes data structures for a musical score, each of said notes data structures representing a note or notes within said musical score and having an identified location in time relative to the other notes in said sequence of notes data structures;

a timer; and

a digital processor receiving said activation signal from said hand-held accessory and generating a control signal therefrom,

said digital processor programmed to use said timer to measure a time at which said activation signal is generated,

said digital processor programmed to use said measured time to select one of the notes data structures within said sequence of notes data structures, and

said digital processor programmed to generate said control signal, wherein said control signal causes said synthesizer to generate the note(s) represented by said selected notes data structure.

2. The virtual instrument of claim 1 wherein said hand-held accessory is a guitar pick comprising a housing defining an enclosed cavity with said switch mounted therein, said switch being a shock sensitive switch.

3. The virtual instrument of claim 2 wherein said switch comprises a first contact, a flexible metal strip, and a second contact located on a free end of said metal strip, said second contact touching said first contact when in a resting state.

4. The virtual instrument of claim 3 wherein said switch further comprises a second flexible metal strip, and wherein said first contact is located at a free end of said second metal strip.

5. The virtual instrument of claim 2 wherein said guitar pick further comprises an integrated fin extending away from said housing.

6. The virtual instrument of claim 1 wherein said sequence of notes data structures is partitioned into a sequence of frames, each frame of said sequence of frames containing a corresponding group of notes data structures of said sequence of notes data structures and wherein each frame of said sequence of frames has a time stamp identifying its time location within said musical score, and wherein

said digital processor is programmed to identify a frame in said sequence of frames that corresponds to said measured time, and

said digital processor is programmed to select one member of the group of notes data structures for the identified frame, said selected member being said selected notes data structure.

7. The virtual musical instrument of claim 1 further comprising an audio playback component for storing and playing back an audio track associated with said musical score, and wherein said digital processor starts both said timer and said audio playback component at the same time so that the notes generated by the synthesizer are synchronized with the playback of said audio track.

8. The virtual musical instrument of claim 7 wherein said audio track omits a music track, said omitted music track being said musical score for said hand-held accessory.

9. The virtual musical instrument of claim 7 further comprising a video playback component for storing and playing back a video track associated with said stored musical score, and wherein said digital processor starts both said timer and said video playback component at the same time so that the notes generated by the synthesizer are synchronized with the playback of said video track.

10. The virtual musical instrument of claim 9 wherein both the audio and video playback component comprise a CD-ROM player.

11. The virtual musical instrument of claim 1, wherein said hand-held accessory is a drum stick.

12. The virtual musical instrument of claim 11, wherein said switch comprises a contact switch.

13. The virtual musical instrument of claim 11, wherein said switch comprises a shock sensitive switch.

14. The virtual musical instrument of claim 1, wherein said switch comprises a shock sensitive switch.

15. The virtual musical instrument of claim 1, wherein said switch comprises a contact switch.

16. A virtual musical instrument comprising:

a hand-held accessory of a type that is intended to be brought into contact with a musical instrument so as to play that instrument, said hand-held accessory including a switch which, in response to said hand-held accessory being caused to strike another object by a person holding said hand-held accessory, generates an activation signal, said hand-held accessory selected from a group of accessories consisting of a guitar pick, a drum stick, and a glove that is worn when playing a keyboard;

an audio synthesizer;

a memory storing a sequence of notes data structures for a musical score, each of said notes data structures representing a note or notes within said musical score and having an identified location in time relative to the other notes in said sequence of notes data structures;

a timer; and

a digital processor receiving said activation signal from said hand-held accessory and generating a control signal therefrom,

said digital processor programmed to use said timer to measure a time at which said activation signal is generated,

said digital processor programmed to use said measured time to select one of the notes data structures within said sequence of notes data structures, and

and said digital processor programmed to generate said control signal, wherein said control signal causes said synthesizer to generate the note(s) represented by said selected notes data structure.