Hand held electronic music encyclopedia with text and note structure search

• US 5,739,451 A
• Filed: 12/27/1996
• Issued: 04/14/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Franklin Electronic Publishers Incorporated (Saunders Acquisition Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Franklin Electronic Publishers Incorporated (Saunders Acquisition Corp.)
• Inventors: Egyud, Jules, Woolf, Michael, Winksy, Gregory J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shoop, Jr., William M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): DONELS, JEFFREY
• Application Number:
  US08/775,015
• Time in Patent Office: 473 Days
• Field of Search: 84/600, 84/609, 84/634, 84/615
• US Class Current: 84/609
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/00 Details of electrophonic musical instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/141 Games on or about music, i.e. based on musical knowledge, e.g. musical multimedia quizzes
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/141 Library retrieval matching, i.e. any of the steps of matching an inputted segment or phrase with musical database contents, e.g. query by humming, singing or playing; the steps may include, e.g. musical analysis of the input, musical feature extraction, query formulation, or details of the retrieval process

Abstract

A hand held electronic music reference machine includes a platform having a keyboard and a display for displaying text. A database removably or permanently mounted to the platform has a first memory portion storing, for each of a multiplicity of songs, selected lyrics and identification information including a title. The database has a second memory portion storing a segment from each of the songs. A user actuated selection component is operatively connected to the first memory portion of the database and to the display for permitting operator selection of a song from a list of song titles shown on the display and inducing display of the lyrics stored in the first memory portion for the selected song. In addition, a user actuated audio production element provided on the platform is operatively coupled to selection component and the database for enabling an audible reproduction of the segment stored in the second memory portion for the selected song. Search filters are provided for enabling a user to determine a song title from bits of ancillary information, including a series of relative note or pitch values, i.e., a melody line which is rising, falling or remaining the same in pitch value.

Claims

1. A hand held electronic music reference machine having a platform, a keyboard, and a display for displaying text, comprising:

a memory mounted to said platform, said memory having a first memory portion for storing preselected ancillary textual identification information for each of a plurality of musical works, said identification information including an identifier for each of said musical works, said memory further having a second memory portion storing a predetermined reproducible segment of each of said musical works;

note structure determination means disposed on said platform for providing a reference sequential note structure for each of said musical works;

user actuated note structure input means on said platform for providing an input search sequential note structure, said keyboard enabling user input of a textual search term;

search means disposed on said platform and operatively connected to said keyboard, said user actuated note structure input means, said memory and said note structure determination means for searching the identification information in said first memory portion in response to said search term and for cooperating with said note structure determination means to search said reference sequential note structures in response to said input search sequential note structure, to provide a set of proposed identifiers on said display, said set of proposed identifiers being determined by said search means in accordance with dual match criteria comprising (a) a first match criterion between said textual search term and said identification information and (b) a second match criterion between said input search sequential note structure and said reference sequential note structures;

user actuated selection means on said keyboard for selecting one of said proposed identifiers on said display; and

melody production means disposed on said platform and connected to said memory for enabling generation of an audio reproduction of one of said predetermined reproducible segments in said second memory portion corresponding to the selected one of said proposed identifiers.

2. The machine defined in claim 1 wherein said identifiers include titles of said musical works.

3. The machine defined in claim 1 wherein said musical works are songs and said identification information includes lyrics.

4. The machine defined in claim 1 wherein said note structures each comprise directions of change of note values.

5. The machine defined in claim 1 wherein said note structure determination means includes a third memory portion of said memory, said third memory portion storing the sequential note structure for each of said musical works.

6. The machine defined in claim 1 wherein said identification information includes band data pertaining to recording artists.

7. The machine defined in claim 1, further comprising user-activated random selection means operatively connected to said memory for automatically and essentially randomly selecting a reproducible segment from said second memory portion, said random selection means being operatively connected to said melody production means for generating an audible reproduction of the randomly selected reproducible segment, also comprising means for indicating to a user that an identifier selected by the user in response to the reproduction of the randomly selected reproducible segment corresponds to said randomly selected reproducible segment.

8. The machine defined in claim 1 wherein the stored reproducible segments are musical arrangements.

9. The machine defined in claim 1 wherein the stored reproducible segments include melodies.

10. A hand-held electronic music encyclopedia having a platform, a keyboard, a display for displaying text, and a speaker for providing audible information comprising:

a memory within said platform,

a first portion of said memory storing text identification information for each of a plurality of musical works,

a second portion of said memory storing a reference sequential note structure for each of said musical works,

a third portion of said memory storing a reproducible audible musical segment for each of said musical works,

said memory including an identifier for each of said works,

first user actuated means on said keyboard for inputting a text search element,

second user actuated means on said keyboard for inputting a sequential note structure search element,

a search program in said platform,

said search program being responsive to said text search element to provide on said display said identifier for each of said musical works having text in memory that meet a first match criteria with said text search element,

said search program being responsive to said sequential note structure search element to provide on said display said identifier for each of said musical works having a sequential note structure in memory that meets a second match criteria with said sequential note structure search element,

third user actuated means on said keyboard to select one of said identifiers when on said display, and

music production means responsive to a user selection of one of said identifiers to provide said audible musical segment for the one of said musical works identified by the selected one of said identifiers for generation through said speaker.

11. The hand-held music reference encyclopedia of claim 10 wherein:

when either of said search elements is input as a first search element, the other of said search elements when entered as a second search element will search only from the set of musical works identified by the search responsive to said first search element.

12. The hand-held electronic music reference encyclopedia of claim 10 wherein:

said third user actuated means is operable whenever at least one of said identifiers is provided on said display.