Method and system for supplying contents via communication network

• US 6,570,080 B1
• Filed: 05/18/2000
• Issued: 05/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Original Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Inventors: Takahashi, Hiroaki, Hasegawa, Yutaka, Umezawa, Satoru, Terada, Kosei
• Primary Examiner(s): Witkowski, Stanley J.
• Application Number:
  US09/574,550
• Time in Patent Office: 1,104 Days
• Field of Search: 846/09--14, 846/34--38, 846/45, 844/77.R, 844/78, 434/307.A, 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 84/609
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• 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 2210/061 for extraction of musical phrases, isolation of musically relevant segments, e.g. musical thumbnail generation, or for temporal structure analysis of a musical piece, e.g. determination of the movement sequence of a musical work
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/041 File watermark, i.e. embedding a hidden code in an electrophonic musical instrument file or stream for identification or authentification purposes audio watermarking G10L19/018
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/056 MIDI or other note-oriented file format

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for making sample contents from music contents whereby server and user are connected with each other via a communication network, whereby the server supplies non-sample regular contents including at least performance information of a music piece and sound information pertaining to the music piece and sample contents including a sample of part of the non-sample regular contents. Thereafter, the user receives the sample contents and test-listens to the received sample contents. When the user has decided on acquiring the non-sample regular contents and performed a predetermined operation to acquire the contents, the non-sample regular contents are distributed from the server to the user via the communication network, at which time unique additional information, such as client information and serial number, is attached to the individual distributed contents.

Claims

1. A method of making sample contents from music contents including at least a file of digital performance information for automatically performing a music piece and a file of sound information contained in the music piece, said method comprising the steps of:

a first step of analyzing the digital performance information for a performance pattern present therein and dividing the digital performance information into a plurality of segments in accordance with the performance pattern;

a second step of detecting an envelope in the sound information and dividing the sound information into a plurality of segments on the basis of a tendency of rising/falling variations in the detected envelope;

a third step of comparing the segments of the digital performance information and the segments of the sound information, to thereby determine a given range of the music piece which is to be extracted as characterizing the music piece; and

a fourth step of extracting specific parts of the digital performance information and sound information which correspond to the given range of the music piece determined by said third step and supplying the extracted specific parts as sample contents.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said fourth step performs predetermined information processing on the extracted specific parts of the digital performance information and sound information and then supplying, as the sample contents, the specific parts having undergone the predetermined information processing.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein said predetermined information processing includes performing fade-in and fade-out operations in correspondence with adjoining start and end portions of the digital performance information and sound information.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said third step includes:

a step of extracting a representative pattern in the digital performance information on the basis of similarity/dissimilarity between the segments of the performance information;

a step of extracting a representative envelope in the sound information on the basis of the tendency of rising/falling variations in respective envelopes of the segments of the sound information; and

a step of determining the given range of the music piece to be extracted such that the given range includes a portion where the representative pattern and the representative envelope overlap each other.

5. An apparatus for making sample contents from music contents including at least a file of digital performance information for automatically performing a music piece and a file of sound information contained in the music piece, said apparatus comprising:

a memory storing music contents; and

a processor coupled with said memory, said processor being adapted to;

read out, from said memory, the digital performance information and sound information included in desired music contents;

analyze the digital performance information for a performance pattern present therein and divide the digital performance information into a plurality of segments in accordance with the performance pattern;

detect an envelope in the sound information and divide the sound information into a plurality of segments on the basis of a tendency of rising/falling variations in the detected envelope;

compare the segments of the digital performance information and the segments of the sound information, to thereby determine a given range of the music piece which is to be extracted as characterizing the music piece; and

extract specific parts of the digital performance information and sound information which correspond to the given range of the music piece and supply the extracted specific parts as sample contents.

6. A machine-readable storage medium containing a group of instructions to cause a processor to implement a method of making sample contents from music contents including at least a file of digital performance information for automatically performing a music piece and a file of sound information contained in the music piece, said method comprising the steps of:

a first step of analyzing the digital performance information for a performance pattern present therein and dividing the digital performance information into a plurality of segments in accordance with the performance pattern;

a second step of detecting an envelope in the sound information and dividing the sound information into a plurality of segments on the basis of a tendency of rising/falling variations in the detected envelope;

a third step of comparing the segments of the digital performance information and the segments of the sound information, to thereby determine a given range of the music piece which is to be extracted as characterizing the music piece; and

a fourth step of extracting specific parts of the digital performance information and sound information which correspond to the given range of the music piece determined by said third step and supplying the extracted specific parts as sample contents.