Data delivery apparatus and method, and terminal apparatus

• US 7,792,938 B2
• Filed: 03/03/2005
• Issued: 09/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Original Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Inventors: Sato, Toshikazu, Kikuchi, Takeshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Srivastava; Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, MINH CHAU
• Application Number:
  US11/071,760
• Publication Number:
  US 20050214728A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,014 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00

Abstract

Data delivery apparatus communicate with a plurality of terminals via a communication network. Member table stores a member ID and attribute data of each member. When a member logs in via a terminal, its communication address is written into the table in association with its member ID. When a command requesting delivery of particular data has been received from a terminal, the delivery apparatus refers to the table, on the basis of the communication address of the terminal having transmitted the command, to determine whether the attribute data corresponding to the member ID is indicative of a predetermined attribute. If so, the delivery apparatus reads out the particular data from a database and broadcasts the particular data to all of terminal apparatus having their respective communication addresses stored in the table. The delivery apparatus can broadcast data, transmitted from a terminal, to all of the members, with reference to the table. The broadcasted data may be stored in a sharing memory so that the data can be transmitted to another terminal having logged in at a later time. On the basis of performance data generated in response to performance of a musical instrument, an image indicative of the contents of the performance is created and then displayed along with a graphic image emulating the musical instrument.

Claims

1. A data delivery apparatus for use in a music training system, said music training system comprising an instructor terminal apparatus and a plurality of student terminal apparatus connected to said data delivery apparatus via a communication network, said data delivery apparatus comprising:

a member storage section that, for each of members of a group, stores an identifier for identifying the member and attribute data indicative of an attribute of the member;

a reception section that receives, via the network, data or command transmitted from said terminal apparatus;

a write control section that, when an identifier transmitted from any one of said terminal apparatus has been received by said reception section, writes a communication address of the terminal apparatus, having transmitted the identifier, into said member storage section in association with the stored identifier identical with the received identifier;

a data-writable sharing storage section that stores data to be shared among all of terminal apparatus of the group;

a broadcast transmission control section that, when a command requesting delivery of training material data has been received by said reception section, determines whether the attribute data corresponding to the identifier stored in said member storage section in association with a communication address of a terminal apparatus having transmitted the command is indicative of an attribute of an instructor, and that, if it has been determined that the attribute data is indicative of the attribute, writes requested training material data, including at least musical store data, into said sharing storage section, and transmits, via the network, the requested training material data to all of terminal apparatus of the group having respective communication addresses thereof stored in said member storage section, wherein the training material data to be written into said sharing storage section includes not only training stationary data prestored in the data delivery apparatus but also dynamic data generated in response to an action of the instructor or a student; and

a follow-causing transmission section that, when an identifier being transmitted from any one of the student terminal apparatus that has just now logged into said music training system has been received by said reception section and a communication address corresponding to the received identifier has been written into said member storage section by said write control section, determines whether any data is currently stored in said sharing storage section, and, if it has been determined that training material data is currently stored in said sharing storage section, transmits the training material data stored in said sharing storage section to the student terminal apparatus having the communication address corresponding to the received identifier, so that same training material data as training material data, including the stationary data and the dynamic data, stored in any other of the student terminals having already logged in said music training system is stored into the student terminal apparatus having just now logged into said music training system.

2. A data delivery apparatus as claimed in claim 1 which further comprises:

a broadcast transfer control section that, when data to be transmitted from a terminal apparatus to another terminal apparatus has been received by said reception section, transmits, via the network, the received data to all of terminal apparatus of the group having respective communication addresses thereof stored in said member storage section.

3. A data delivery apparatus as claimed in claim 2 which further comprises:

a dynamic write control section that, when data to be transmitted from a terminal apparatus to another terminal apparatus has been received by said reception section, writes the received data into said sharing storage section.

4. A data delivery apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein, when data to be transmitted from a terminal apparatus to another terminal apparatus has been received by said reception section, said dynamic write control section determines whether the attribute data corresponding to the identifier stored in said member storage section in association with a communication address of a terminal apparatus having transmitted the data is indicative of the attribute of an instructor, and that, if it has been determined that the attribute data is indicative of the attribute of an instructor, writes the received data into said sharing storage section.

5. A data delivery apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the requested training material data is delivered by being read out from a database provided in said data delivery apparatus.

6. A method for delivering data to terminal apparatus in a system for music training, said system comprising a data delivery apparatus for performing said method and an instructor terminal apparatus and a plurality of student terminal apparatus connected via a communication network to the data delivery apparatus, said data delivery apparatus including a member table that, for each of members of a group, stores an identifier for identifying the member and attribute data indicative of an attribute of the member and a data-writable sharing storage section that stores data to be shared among all of terminal apparatus of the group, said method comprising;

a step of receiving, via the network, data or command transmitted from any one of said terminal apparatus;

a step of, when data of an identifier transmitted from a terminal apparatus has been received by said step of receiving, writing a communication address of the terminal apparatus, having transmitted the identifier, into said member table in association with the stored identifier identical with the received identifier;

a step of, when a command requesting delivery of training material data has been received by said reception section, determining whether the attribute data corresponding to the identifier stored in said member table in association with a communication address of a terminal apparatus having transmitted the command is indicative of an attribute of an instructor, and that, if it has been determined that the attribute data is indicative of the attribute of an instructor, writing the requested training material data into said sharing storage section, and transmitting, via the network, the particular requested training material data to all of the terminal apparatus of the group having respective communication addresses thereof stored in said member table, wherein the training material data to be written into said sharing storage section includes not only training stationary data prestored in the data delivery apparatus but also dynamic data generated in response to an action of the instructor or a student; and

a step of, when an identifier transmitted from any one of the student terminal apparatus that has just now logged into said music training system has been received by said reception section and a communication address corresponding to the received identifier has been written into said member storage section by said step of writing, determining whether any data is currently stored in said sharing storage section, and, if it has been determined that training material data is currently stored in said sharing storage section, transmitting the data stored in said sharing storage section to the student terminal apparatus having the communication address corresponding to the received identifier, so that same training material data as training material data, including the stationary data and the dynamic data, stored in any other of the student terminals having already logged in said music training system is stored into the student terminal apparatus having just now logged into said music training system.

7. A computer memory containing a group of instructions for causing a computer to perform a method for delivering data to terminal apparatus in a system for music training, said system comprising a data delivery apparatus for performing said method and an instructor terminal apparatus and a plurality of student terminal apparatus connected via a communication network to the data delivery apparatus, said data delivery apparatus including a member table that, for each of members of a group, stores an identifier for identifying the member and attribute data indicative of an attribute of the member and a data-writable sharing storage section that stores data to be shared among all of terminal apparatus of the group, said method comprising;

a step of receiving, via the network, data or command transmitted from any one of said terminal apparatus;

a step of, when data of an identifier transmitted from a terminal apparatus has been received by said step of receiving, writing a communication address of the terminal apparatus, having transmitted the identifier, into said member table in association with the stored identifier identical with the received identifier;

a step of, when a command requesting delivery of training material data has been received by said reception section, determining whether the attribute data corresponding to the identifier stored in said member table in association with a communication address of a terminal apparatus having transmitted the command is indicative of an attribute of an instructor, and that, if it has been determined that the attribute data is indicative of the attribute of an instructor, writing the requested training material data into said sharing storage section, and transmitting, via the network, the particular requested training material data to all of the terminal apparatus of the group having respective communication addresses thereof stored in said member table, wherein the training material data to be written into said sharing storage section includes not only training stationary data prestored in the data delivery apparatus but also dynamic data generated in response to an action of the instructor or a student; and

a step of, when an identifier transmitted from any one of the student terminal apparatus that has just now logged into said music training system has been received by said reception section and a communication address corresponding to the received identifier has been written into said member storage section by said step of writing, determining whether any data is currently stored in said sharing storage section, and, if it has been determined that training material data is currently stored in said sharing storage section, transmitting the training material data stored in said sharing storage section to the terminal apparatus having the communication address corresponding to the received identifier, so that same training material data as training material data, including the stationary data and the dynamic data, stored in any other of the student terminals having already logged in said music training system is stored into the student terminal apparatus having just now logged into said music training system.