Electronic musical apparatus having interface for connecting to communication network

• US 7,189,911 B2
• Filed: 06/12/2002
• Issued: 03/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Original Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Inventors: Isozaki, Yoshimasa
• Primary Examiner(s): DONELS, JEFFREY
• Application Number:
  US10/171,110
• Publication Number:
  US 20030000368A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,735 Days
• Field of Search: 846/00, 846/09, 846/22, 846/45, 846/59
• US Class Current: 84/609
• 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 2240/056 MIDI or other note-oriented file format
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/115 Instrument identification, i.e. recognizing an electrophonic musical instrument, e.g. on a network, by means of a code, e.g. IMEI, serial number, or a profile describing its capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/285 USB, i.e. either using a USB plug as power supply or using the USB protocol to exchange data
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/305 Internet or TCP/IP protocol use for any electrophonic musical instrument data or musical parameter transmission purposes

Abstract

An electronic musical apparatus having an interface for connecting to a communication network comprises: a memory; a receiver that receives, from the communication network via the interface, a first performance setting information used for executing musical performance in accordance with a first performance information on the electronic musical apparatus or the other electronic musical apparatus; a controller that controls the received first performance setting information to store into the memory; an input device that inputs a second performance information; and a musical tone generator that generates a musical tone in accordance with the second performance information and the stored first performance setting information.

Claims

1. An electronic musical apparatus having an interface for connecting to a communication network, comprising:

a memory;

a transmitter that transmits, to a server on the communication network via the interface, a performance setting information used for executing musical performance in accordance with a first performance information on the electronic musical apparatus so as to store the performance setting information in the server;

a receiver that receives, from the server on the communication network via the interface, the performance setting information stored in the server;

a controller that controls the received performance setting information to store into the memory;

an input device that inputs a second performance information; and

a musical tone generator that generates a musical tone in accordance with the second performance information and the stored performance setting information.

2. An electronic musical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second performance information is input by manual operation or by reading from the memory.

3. An electronic musical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the receiver receives the performance setting information by accessing to a server on the communication network via the interface.

4. An electronic musical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the receiver receives the performance setting information at a predetermined interval.

5. An electronic musical apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a setting device that sets, in accordance with a manual operation, an another performance setting information set for executing musical performance; and

a transmitter that transmits the another performance setting information set by the setting device to the server on the communication network via the interface.

6. An electronic musical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the performance setting information is a control parameter for controlling at least one of tone color, touch response, volume, tempo, pan, automatic accompaniment, and effect, which are related to the musical tone generated by the musical tone generator.

7. An electronic musical apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

the electronic musical apparatus or other electronic musical apparatus is an electronic keyboard instrument having musical keyboard and an operation panel with an operator, and

the control parameter is set by the operator on the operation panel.

8. An electronic musical apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a selector that selects either one of a master mode in which the electronic musical apparatus transmits information and a slave mode in which the electronic musical apparatus receives information, wherein

the receiver receives the performance setting information when the slave mode is selected by the selector.

9. An electronic musical apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an operator that directs the electronic musical apparatus to make a connection with the communication network and makes the electronic musical apparatus ready for receiving the performance selling information from the communication network.

10. An electronic musical apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the operator comprises a switch on an operation panel.

11. An electronic musical apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the operator comprises a detecting circuit that detects an operation.

12. A server connecting to a plurality of electronic musical apparatuses via a communication network, each electronic musical apparatus generating a musical tone in accordance with performance information and performance setting information set for executing musical performance and having an ID information, the server comprising:

a memory that stores the performance setting information transmitted from the plurality of electronic musical apparatuses together with the ID information corresponding to the performance setting information;

a receiver that receives a request for the performance setting information corresponding to a specified ID information from one electronic musical apparatus; and

a replying device that reads, in response to the request, the performance setting information corresponding to the specified ID information from the memory and replies the read performance setting information to said one electronic musical apparatus.

13. A server according to claim 12, wherein the request for the performance setting information transmitted from said one electronic musical apparatus is selected from a list, received from the sever, of performance setting information that is available for said one electronic musical apparatus.

14. A server according to claim 12, wherein the performance setting information is a control parameter for controlling at least one of tone color, touch response, volume, tempo, pan, automatic accompaniment, and effect, which are related to the musical tone generated by the musical tone generator.

15. An electronic keyboard instrument having an interface for connecting to a public communication network, comprising:

a memory that stores performance setting information set for executing a musical performance;

a setting operator that controls the stored performance setting information by a manual operation;

a musical keyboard;

an input device that inputs performance information by playing the musical keyboard;

a musical tone generator that generates a musical tone in accordance with the input performance information and the stored performance setting information; and

a transmitter that transmits the performance setting information stored in the memory and ID information of the electronic musical instrument to a server on the public communication network via the interface to make the server store the transmitted performance setting information on a predetermined storage area corresponding to the ID information, thereby the performance setting information stored in the server can be received by the electronic keyboard instrument or other electronic musical apparatus by connecting to the public communication network.

16. An electronic musical apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising

a selector that selects either one of a master mode in which the electronic musical apparatus transmits information and a slave mode in which the electronic musical apparatus receives information, wherein

the transmitter transmits the performance setting information when the master mode is selected by the selector.

17. An electronic musical apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising

a communication amount setting device that sets a communication amount of the performance setting information to be transmitted, wherein

the transmitter transmits the performance setting information in accordance with the communication amount of the performance setting information to be transmitted set by the communication amount setting device.

18. A performance setting information processing method performed by an electronic musical apparatus having an interface for connecting to a communication network, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) transmitting, to a server on the communication network via the interface, a performance setting information used for executing musical performance in accordance with a first performance information on the electronic musical apparatus so as to store the performance setting information in the server;

(b) receiving, from the server on the communication network via the interface, the performance setting information stored in the server;

(c) controlling the received performance setting information to store into a memory;

(d) inputting a second performance information; and

(e) generating a musical tone in accordance with the second performance information and the stored performance setting information.

19. An information processing method performed by a server connecting to a plurality of electronic musical apparatuses via a communication network, each electronic musical apparatus generating a musical tone in accordance with performance information and performance setting information set for executing musical performance and having an ID information, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) storing the performance setting information transmitted from the plurality of electronic musical apparatuses together with the ID information corresponding to the performance setting information into a memory;

(b) receiving a request for the performance setting information corresponding to a specified ID information from one electronic musical apparatus;

(c) reading, in response to the request, the performance setting information corresponding to the specified ID information from the memory; and

(d) replying the read performance setting information to said one electronic musical apparatus.

20. A program embodied in a computer-readable medium, which a computer executes to realize a performance setting information process for an electronic musical apparatus having an interface for connecting to a communication network, comprising the instructions of:

(a) transmitting, to a server on the communication network via the interface, a performance setting information used for executing musical performance in accordance with a first performance information on the electronic musical apparatus so as to store the performance setting information in the server;

(b) receiving, from the server on the communication network via the interface, the performance setting information stored in the server;

(c) controlling the received performance setting information to store into a memory;

(d) inputting a second performance information; and

(e) generating a musical tone in accordance with the second performance information and the stored performance setting information.

21. A program embodied in a computer-readable medium, which a computer executes to realize an information process for a server connecting to a plurality of electronic musical apparatuses via a communication network, each electronic musical apparatus generating a musical tone in accordance with performance information and performance setting information set for executing musical performance and having an ID information, comprising the instructions of:

(a) storing the performance setting information transmitted from the plurality of electronic musical apparatuses together with the ID information corresponding to the performance setting information into a memory;

(b) receiving a request for the performance setting information corresponding to a specified ID information from one electronic musical apparatus;

(c) reading, in response to the request, the performance setting information corresponding to the specified ID information from the memory; and

(d) replying the read performance setting information to said one electronic musical apparatus.

22. A performance setting information processing method performed by an electronic musical apparatus having an interface for connecting to a communication network, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) controlling performance setting information stored in a memory by a manual operation;

(b) inputting performance information by playing a musical keyboard;

(c) generating a musical tone in accordance with the input performance information and the stored performance setting information; and

(d) transmitting the performance setting information stored in the memory and ID information of the electronic musical instrument to a server on the public communication network via the interface to make the server store the transmitted performance setting information on a predetermined storage area corresponding to the ID information, thereby the performance setting information stored in the server can be received by the electronic keyboard instrument or other electronic musical apparatus by connecting to the public communication network.

23. A program embodied in a computer-readable medium, which a computer executes to realize performance setting information process for an electronic musical apparatus having an interface for connecting to a communication network, comprising the instructions of:

(a) controlling performance setting information stored in a memory by a manual operation;

(b) inputting performance information by playing a musical keyboard;

(c) generating a musical tone in accordance with the input performance information and the stored performance selling information; and

(d) transmitting the performance setting information stored in the memory and ID information of the electronic musical instrument to a server on the public communication network via the interface to make the server store the transmitted performance setting information on a predetermined storage area corresponding to the ID information, thereby the performance setting information stored in the server can be received by the electronic keyboard instrument or other electronic musical apparatus by connecting to the public communication network.