Dynamically adjustable network enabled method for playing along with music

• US 6,541,692 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2001
• Issued: 04/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Harmonix Music Systems Incorporated (Epic Games, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Allan Miller
• Inventors: Miller, Allan
• Primary Examiner(s): Witkowski, Stanley J.
• Application Number:
  US09/894,867
• Publication Number:
  US 20020005109A1
• Time in Patent Office: 642 Days
• Field of Search: 846/09--14, 846/18, 846/34--38, 846/49--52, 846/56, 846/66--69, 84D/IG.2, 844/77.R, 844/78
• US Class Current: 84/634
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0058 Transmission between separate instruments or between individual components of a musical system G10H1/0083 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/091 for performance evaluation, i.e. judging, grading or scoring the musical qualities or faithfulness of a performance, e.g. with respect to pitch, tempo or other timings of a reference performance
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/151 Musical difficulty level setting or selection
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/175 for jam sessions or musical collaboration through a network, e.g. for composition, ensemble playing or repeating; Compensation of network or internet delays therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 84/02 Preference networks

Abstract

Many non-musicians enjoy listening to music, and would like to be able to play along with it, but do not have the talent or the time to learn to play a musical instrument. The system described herein allows non-musicians to follow along with a display that is based on the principles of musical notation, but is designed to be intuitive and require no training to use. The player is guided through the steps of playing a rhythm along with a musical performance, and the system provides the illusion that the player is actually playing a melodic part on an instrument. In addition, the system indicates how closely the player is following the guide, and it also scores the player'"'"'s performance. The score is used to drive interactive feedback to the player. The system can be configured to work in local area networks or wide area networks with low latency or high latency in the network. This system is ideally suited for video arcade games, home entertainment devices, dedicated toy applications, music education, Internet entertainment applications, and other uses.

Claims

1. A music system comprising:

a hierarchical music data structure representing music being played by a user, the hierarchical structure comprising patterns, at least one of the patterns further comprising a plurality of alternative patterns;

a digital processor selecting the patterns from the hierarchical structure, the digital processor dynamically varying the music being played by selecting one of the plurality of alternative patterns of the at least one pattern;

a display guiding the user in activating a peripheral according to the selected patterns;

a peripheral generating signals in response to activation by the user;

the digital processor receiving the signals from the peripheral; and

an audio synthesizer being driven by the digital processor based on the received signals and producing an audio output corresponding to the selected patterns.

2. The music system of claim 1 wherein:

the hierarchical structure comprises structural components, the structural components corresponding to sequences of patterns, at least one of the structural components further comprising a plurality of alternative structural components;

the digital processor selecting the structural components from the hierarchical music data structure, the digital processor further selecting the patterns from the sequences of patterns corresponding to the selected structural components; and

the digital processor dynamically varying the music being played by selecting one of the plurality of alternative structural components of the at least one structural component.

3. The music system of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of alternative patterns is associated with a difficulty level.

4. The music system of claim 3 further comprising:

a scoring algorithm, the scoring algorithm generating a score based upon a correspondence between the signals generated by the user'"'"'s activation of the peripheral and the selected patterns; and

the digital processor selecting one of the plurality of alternative patterns having a difficulty level corresponding to the score.

5. The music system of claim 1 further comprising:

a randomization algorithm, the randomization algorithm determining a pattern index; and

the digital processor selecting one of the plurality of alternative patterns according to the pattern index.

6. The music system of claim 2, wherein the structural components comprise a modification data structure defining a musical adjustment.

7. The music system of claim 6 wherein the modification data structure defines a tempo adjustment.

8. The music system of claim 6 wherein the modification data structure defines a musical key adjustment.

9. The music system of claim 1 further comprising:

a scoring algorithm generating a score based upon a correspondence between the signals generated by the user'"'"'s activation of the peripheral and the selected patterns; and

the digital processor selecting one of the plurality of alternative patterns according to the score.

10. The music system of claim 1 wherein the display comprises:

a first axis and a second axis;

the first axis displaying successive musical notes from the selected patterns, the first axis comprising a first indicator indicating a current note to be played, the first indicator incrementing along the first axis to each of the successive notes; and

the second axis displaying durations for each of the successive musical notes, the second axis comprising a second indicator indicating a duration for the current note, the second indicator moving along the second axis for the duration of the current note.

11. The music system of claim 1 further comprising a local area network allowing for connection of a plurality of music systems.

12. The music system of claim 1 further comprising a wide area network allowing for connection of a plurality of music systems.

13. The music system of claim 12 further comprising a statistical sampler and a predictive generator, the statistical sampler generating n-th order statistics relative to activation of the peripheral, the statistics sent by the wide area network to the predictive generator that generates a performance based on the statistics from the statistical sampler, independent of the latency of the network.

14. The music system of claim 13 further comprising a virtual peripheral connected to the predictive generator such that the predictive generator drives the virtual peripheral to generate a performance.

15. The music system of claim 12 further comprising a broadcast medium for transmission of recorded music data.

16. The music system of claim 1 further comprising:

recorded music data forming accompanying music to which the user plays; and

a synchronizer synchronizing the digital processor to the recorded music data.

17. A method of performing music comprising:

providing a hierarchical music data structure representing music being played by a user, the hierarchical structure comprising patterns, at least one of the patterns comprising a plurality of alternative patterns;

selecting the patterns from the hierarchical structure, such that the music is dynamically varied by selecting one of the plurality of alternative patterns of the at least one pattern;

guiding the user through a display in activating a peripheral according to the selected patterns;

generating signals by the peripheral in response to activation by the user;

receiving the generated signals from the peripheral; and

driving an audio synthesizer based on the received signals to produce an audio output corresponding to the selected patterns.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

providing a plurality of music systems and a local area network; and

connecting the plurality of music systems to the local area network, each of the plurality of music systems being synchronized to an elapsed time within the network.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

providing a plurality of music systems, each of the plurality of music systems having a statistical sampler and a predictive generator, and a wide area network;

connecting the plurality of music systems to the wide area network;

activating a peripheral in a music systems;

generating n-th order statistics form the statistical sampler relative to the activation of the peripheral;

sending the statistics through the wide area network to the predictive generators within the remainder of the music systems connected to the wide area network;

generating a performance having the approximately the same statistics as those generated by the statistical sampler; and

driving a virtual peripheral to form a musical performance.