JP2004139119A - Karaoke recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a karaoke recording device having a recording function in consideration of copyright.
A first recording input interface for obtaining an audio signal of karaoke accompaniment music, a second recording input interface for obtaining a singing voice audio signal from a microphone, and writing data to a portable recording medium. A data writing device, a unit for converting a mixed signal of an audio signal of karaoke accompaniment music and an audio signal of a singing voice into a recording file for each music piece, and a unit for writing the recording file to a portable recording medium by the data writing device Sound level detecting means for detecting whether or not the sound signal from the second recording input interface is substantially absent during the performance of the karaoke accompaniment music, and the detection result by the sound level detecting means is appropriately used as supplementary information of the recording file. And a karaoke recording device having output means.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a karaoke recording apparatus for recording karaoke accompaniment music played by a karaoke apparatus and a singing voice of a user singing along with the accompaniment music on an appropriate recording medium.

At karaoke stores, etc., as an optional service, a karaoke recording service that can record the karaoke accompaniment music that is output as sound from the karaoke device and the singing voice of the user singing to the music on an appropriate portable recording medium is provided. There are places.

A karaoke recording device is a device for recording karaoke accompaniment music and singer's voice, and is usually a CD recorder body using a CD-R as a recording medium. The CD recorder inputs a mixed voice signal of karaoke accompaniment music and singing voice input through a microphone from the karaoke apparatus, samples this voice signal, converts the sampled voice signal into PCM data conforming to the CD audio standard, and converts this PCM data. Write to CD-R and "record".

A karaoke recording device is a device for recording karaoke accompaniment music and singing voice singing along with the music. However, it is possible to record only karaoke accompaniment music unless the user intentionally inputs sound into the microphone. When recording karaoke accompaniment music and singing voice, it is naturally regarded as a private recording act. However, when only karaoke accompaniment music is recorded as described above, the created recorded CD-R is directly used for karaoke. Can be reused. For this reason, the recorded CD-R created by the karaoke recording device has different copyright treatment depending on the recorded content.

カ ラ オ ケ Generally, regardless of whether or not singing voice is recorded, the karaoke recording service fee is fixed. Therefore, if the service fee includes the copyright fee, the user pays an extra fee. Conversely, if copyright fees are not included, pirated software that illegally records only karaoke accompaniment music without inputting singing voices may be encouraged.

カ ラ オ ケ There are also karaoke songs for which recording of accompaniment music itself is prohibited, and karaoke songs for which recording is unconditionally permitted. The conventional karaoke recording device cannot cope with complicated procedures and rules relating to recording of karaoke accompaniment music.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a karaoke recording device having a recording function in consideration of copyright.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a first recording input interface for acquiring an audio signal of karaoke accompaniment music output from a karaoke device, and an attached microphone output from the karaoke device are generated as sources. A second recording input interface for acquiring an acoustic signal of a singing voice, a data writing device for writing data to a portable recording medium provided to a user, and the karaoke accompaniment acquired by the first recording input interface Means for converting a mixed signal of an audio signal of music and an audio signal of the singing voice acquired by the second recording interface into a recording file in a unit of music in a predetermined data format; and writing the recording file into the data Recording control means for writing to the portable recording medium by the device, and the second recording during the performance of the karaoke accompaniment music. Audio level detection means for detecting whether or not an audio signal from the force interface is substantially absent, and audio level data output means for appropriately outputting a detection result by the audio level detection means as supplementary information of the recording file. It has a karaoke recording device.

According to a second aspect, in the first aspect, a printer for printing characters and images on a surface of the portable recording medium is provided, and the audio level data output unit is configured to print an appropriate print as supplementary information of the recording file. A karaoke recording device that creates data and outputs the print data to the printer.

In a third aspect based on the first or second aspect, the control information interface for acquiring recording permission / inhibition data for the music piece, the recording permission / inhibition data acquired from the karaoke device, and the audio level data output means. A karaoke recording apparatus comprising: recording permission / non-permission determining means for permitting or prohibiting writing of the recording file by the recording control means to the portable recording medium based on the supplementary information.

According to the karaoke recording device of the present invention, it is possible to output appropriate information depending on whether or not singing voice is recorded on a portable recording medium. Therefore, the karaoke store side can charge the user for the usage fee of the karaoke recording device according to whether or not the singing voice is recorded. Therefore, the karaoke accompaniment music is prevented from being illegally copied. In addition, when karaoke accompaniment music is recorded with singing voices, the user can use the karaoke recording device at an appropriate fee, such as reducing the usage fee.

By printing additional information related to the result of singing voice detection, such as permission of copyright and singing voice being recorded on the portable recording medium, the recorded portable recording medium can be used in accordance with the copyright. Music media. Also, the karaoke store can easily check the recorded contents of the portable recording medium.

By performing recording control based on the recording availability information for each karaoke song and the presence or absence of singing voice input, it is possible to respond flexibly even if the recording conditions differ for each karaoke song or complicated recording conditions are set can do.

=== Configuration of Karaoke Device and Karaoke Recording Device ===
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a connection state between a karaoke recording apparatus and a karaoke apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The karaoke recording apparatus 1 is composed of a general-purpose personal computer (room PC) 2, a CD-R drive device 3 attached to the room PC 2, and a printer 4 capable of directly printing on the medium surface of the CD-R. I have. In this example, the CD-R drive device 3 and the printer 4 are integrally formed, and a CD-R transport mechanism is built in, and a CD-R on which data is written by the CD-R drive device is used. It can be conveyed to a printer continuously for printing. The guest room PC 2 performs data communication with the karaoke device 6 via a communication interface (control information interface) conforming to the RS232C standard, and receives an audio signal of karaoke accompaniment music and an audio signal of singing voice output from the karaoke device 6. I do. Then, each sound signal is recorded in an appropriate data format on the CD-R 5 loaded in the CD-R drive 3. Further, control is performed for loading the recorded CD-R 5 into the printer 4 and printing appropriate information. Therefore, the guest room PC 2 operates as a control unit in the karaoke recording apparatus 1 having the above configuration.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram when the guest room PC 2 operates as a control unit of the karaoke recording device 1. The main body 10 of the guest room PC 2 has a central control unit 11 composed of a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, and the like as a computer main body, a hard disk device 12, a control information interface 13 of the RS232C standard, and a built-in printer CD-R drive (3, 4). ), A recording input interface 14 for processing an audio signal from the karaoke apparatus 6, and the like as main components. The recording input interface 14 includes two audio input terminals for individually inputting an audio signal of karaoke accompaniment music output from the karaoke apparatus 6 and an audio signal of a singing voice, and the sound input to each audio terminal is provided. The signals are mixed in a mixer, and the mixed audio signal is sampled and converted into PCM data. The PCM data is transferred to the central control unit 11 and processed as appropriate.
In this example, a circuit for detecting the sound signal level of the singing voice in the signal processing path between the singing voice voice input terminal and the mixer and sequentially transferring the level value to the central control unit 11 (voice level detection) Part) is interposed. The guest room PC 2 has a touch panel 23 provided on the screen of the display 20 in addition to the keyboard 21 and the mouse 22 as input devices operated by the user, and operation input information from these input devices is adapted to each. The data is transferred to the central control unit 11 via the interfaces 16 to 18 of the standard. The graphic control unit 19 converts the bitmap image developed in the built-in video RAM into a video signal and outputs the video signal to the display 20.
In this embodiment, when the guest room PC 2 functions as the control unit of the karaoke recording apparatus 1, most of the operation is received from the touch panel 23. The guest room PC 2 has a GUI environment for appropriately switching the display screen of the display 20 in response to a user input from the touch panel 23. The user uses the karaoke recording service through a GUI-based interactive user interface.

On the other hand, the karaoke apparatus 6 that supplies the recording source to the guest room PC 2 is a well-known communication karaoke performance terminal, and music generation data described in MIDI format and lyrics for a large number of karaoke songs identified by a song number (song ID). Lyrics rendering data from which the image is generated is stored in an appropriate external storage. Then, music generation data corresponding to the music ID specified by the user is transferred to the synthesizer to generate karaoke accompaniment music. In addition, the lyrics rendering data is processed to develop the lyrics image into a bit map in the video RAM, which is converted into a video signal and displayed on a display. The user's singing voice input through the microphone is mixed with the karaoke accompaniment music, and the voice signal is acoustically output from the speaker. It also has two audio output terminals for individually outputting an audio signal of the karaoke accompaniment music and an audio signal of the singing voice input to the microphone. The audio output terminals of each system and the recording input of the karaoke recording device are provided. The audio input terminal of the corresponding system in the interface is connected.

=== Overview of the karaoke recording function ===
The karaoke recording device of the present invention detects whether a singing voice has been input together with the karaoke accompaniment music and, if the singing voice has not been recorded, appropriately outputs such information as display or printing. As a result, it is possible to provide information for determining how to deal with the copyright, such as whether the karaoke store charges the user with the copyright included in the karaoke recording service fee.

In addition, it is possible to flexibly cope with karaoke songs for which recording is prohibited and karaoke songs whose recording is conditionally permitted. In the present embodiment, a recording permission / non-permission information table in which a music ID is associated with recording permission / non-permission and recording conditions for permitting recording with conditions as recording permission / prohibition information is stored in the hard disk device 12 in advance and prepared. When the music ID of the karaoke accompaniment music to be recorded is received from the karaoke device 6 via the control information interface 13, the ID is referred to the table, and the recording availability information associated with the ID, or Recording control and various information output controls are appropriately performed based on the recording availability information and the input state of the singing voice during the performance of the karaoke accompaniment music. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing how to deal with recording control, information output, and the like in accordance with the combination of the type of recording permission / prohibition information and the input state of singing voice. In this embodiment, three types of recording permission information are set: unconditionally permitted, unconditionally prohibited, and conditionally permitted. "Conditionally permitted" means that only karaoke accompaniment music is transferred to the CD-R. Recording is prohibited. Hereinafter, recording control and the like according to various types of the recording permission information will be described.

=== When recording is unconditionally prohibited ===
When the user operates the guest room PC 2 to input that the karaoke recording service is to be used, the central control unit 11 firstly inputs the music ID for the karaoke music played by the karaoke apparatus 6 after the input, by using the control information interface 13. And inquires this ID in the recording availability table. At this point, no control relating to the recording is performed for the music whose recording is unconditionally prohibited. In addition, the fact is displayed on the display to obtain the user's consent.

=== When recording is allowed unconditionally ===
The central control unit 11 refers to the recording permission / non-permission information table for the ID of the karaoke tune to be recorded by the user, and recognizes that recording is unconditionally permitted. To secure. When the start of the performance of the karaoke music is detected, for example, when the performance start timing data is received from the karaoke apparatus, the PCM data from the recording input interface 14 is stored in this area. Also, it monitors the signal strength from the audio level detector.

(4) When the storage of the PCM data is stopped at the end timing of the music performance, for example, when the end signal of the music performance is received from the karaoke apparatus 6, a screen for inquiring the user whether to save the PCM data is displayed on the display 20. If there is a storage instruction (dump request), a stored file (such as a WAV file) of an appropriate name, such as a music ID, is created in the stored PCM data, and the file is written to a CD-R according to the music CD standard. Record in the same format.

Further, depending on whether the sound level detection unit detects a signal of a predetermined level or more during the performance of one song and whether the signal is not detected, for example, different information (eg, “singing voice present” or “no singing voice”) Print data including singing detection information) is created and supplied to the printer, and printed on the label surface of the CD-R. The recording file name, karaoke song name, recording date and time are also printed. The karaoke store can respond appropriately, such as charging a service fee including a copyright fee in accordance with the singing detection information printed on the CD-R. It is also possible to write recorded files for a plurality of songs on a CD-R. In this case, the presence or absence of a singing voice may be added to each recorded file name. By doing so, it would be possible to calculate the karaoke recording service fee for each song.

(4) If an instruction not to save the recorded content is input within a fixed time after the performance or during the performance, the PCM data stored in the RAM is deleted. Alternatively, the previous data is overwritten with PCM data input at the next performance opportunity.

=== If recording is permitted conditionally ===
When the recording permission / non-permission information table associates conditional recording permission with the karaoke tune to be recorded, the central control unit 11 stores the PCM data from the recording input interface 14 in the RAM and outputs the signal from the audio level detecting unit. Monitor the intensity. At the end of the music performance, if the voice level detector recognizes that the signal of the predetermined level or higher has not been detected, the stored PCM data is deleted, and the display 20 indicates that recording on the CD-R cannot be performed. indicate.

On the other hand, when a signal of a predetermined level or higher is detected, a screen for inquiring the user whether to save the PCM data is displayed on the display 20, and if a dump request is made, a recording file is created in the same manner as described above. , And record the file on a CD-R. In addition, singing detection information such as “singing voice present” is printed on the CD-R. This ensures that the recorded CD-R has been recorded according to regular procedures.

=== Other Embodiments ===
In the above embodiment, the karaoke apparatus and the karaoke recording apparatus correspond one-to-one. However, if a computer system including a CD-R drive and a printer is attached to each karaoke apparatus, a large amount of capital investment is required for a store having many karaoke apparatuses. In addition, maintenance and management become complicated. Therefore, an embodiment for centrally managing mixed audio signals from a plurality of karaoke apparatuses will be described.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the karaoke recording apparatus of the centralized management system. A guest room PC 2b is individually connected to each karaoke device 6. The guest room PC 2b executes the process up to the recording file creation process in the guest room PC 2 of the above embodiment. Each guest room PC 2b is connected by a LAN to a computer (management PC) 7 having the CD-R drive 3 attached thereto.

(5) The guest room PC 2b creates a recording file for each karaoke device 6. When the user of each guest room performs a dump request operation of the recording file, the recording file is transferred to the management PC 7. The management PC 7 manages which file is transferred from which room PC 2 and prevents a recording file created by another room PC 2 from being mixed when writing a recording file to the CD-R 4. Also, print information is received as supplementary information of each recording file, and print information corresponding to the recording file written on the CD-R is printed on a CD-R to be printed.

The CD-R drive 3 is preferably a changer-type CD recorder (CD-R changer). The CD-R changer includes a plurality of trays for loading a plurality of CD-Rs, and transports the CD-R loaded on an arbitrary tray to a driving device that performs a data writing operation. Of course, software for controlling this CD-R changer is implemented in the management PC 7. If a changer-type CD recorder is used, a changer tray is assigned to each guest room PC 2 and a CD-R prepared for a user of each guest room is loaded in the corresponding tray. When the recording file is transferred from a certain guest room PC 2b based on the correspondence between the tray and the guest room PC 2b, the management PC 7 transports the CD-R in the corresponding tray to the drive device and writes the data.

Further, the network configuration in the centralized management method may be a form in which there are a plurality of CD-R drive devices and a plurality of management PCs for controlling each CD-R drive device, or a single management PC. May be connected to a plurality of CD-R drive devices. Of course, the control function similar to that of the management PC may be incorporated in the CD-R drive itself without the intervention of the management PC. It is also possible to connect a CD-R drive device to some guest room PCs.

=== Supplement / Modification / Application Example ===
In the above embodiment, the supplementary information of the recording file is printed out. Of course, the present invention is not limited to the print output, and it is also possible to display and output on the display whether or not the karaoke store or the user has the singing voice on the CD-R. Also, it is possible to print on a slip or the like without directly printing on the CD-R itself. With the above-mentioned centralized management system, the karaoke shop side can surely confirm the content recorded on the CD-R simply by displaying it on the display of the management PC. As described above, any output form of the detection result of the singing voice during the performance of the karaoke music to be recorded may be used as long as it can be confirmed that the detection result is associated with the recording file written on the CD-R.

In the above embodiment, no recording operation is performed for a music piece whose recording is unconditionally prohibited. However, a configuration may be adopted in which PCM data is stored in the RAM for the time being and a dump request is not accepted.

If the selling price is different between the CD-R with singing and the CD-R without singing, when the PCM data has been stored, the price is displayed and the user is asked to confirm it. If there is a dump request, the recording file may be written to the CD-R. Thereby, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the user creates a CD-R without singing without knowing the fee system and pays an unwilling fee.

(4) The recording permission / prohibition information may include a copyright license number and a copyright fee for recording. For example, if the license number is printed on a CD-R, the validity of the CD-R itself is guaranteed. Further, when the karaoke recording service fee is different depending on the presence or absence of the singing voice, the user can recognize the appropriateness of the fee by displaying or printing a copyright fee or the like.

As a matter of course, the portable recording medium in the karaoke recording apparatus of the present invention is not limited to a CD-R, but an appropriate medium such as an MD / DVD-RAM can be used. Of course, if the temporarily recorded file is D / A converted to analog data, an analog audio recording medium such as an audio cassette tape can be used.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a connection state between the karaoke recording device and the karaoke device according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram of the karaoke recording device. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the correspondence between recording enable / disable information processed by the karaoke recording apparatus and the processing result. As another embodiment of the present invention, a schematic configuration diagram of a karaoke recording apparatus employing a centralized management system is shown.

Explanation of reference numerals

1 Karaoke recorder 2, 2b Room PC
Reference Signs List 3 CD-R drive 4 Printer 6 Karaoke device 11 Central control unit 12 Hard disk device 13 Control information interface 14 Recording input interface

Claims (3)

A first recording input interface for acquiring an audio signal of karaoke accompaniment music output from the karaoke device;
A second recording input interface for acquiring an acoustic signal of a singing voice generated from an attached microphone output from the karaoke device;
A data writing device for writing data to a portable recording medium provided to a user,
Recording a mixed signal of an audio signal of the karaoke accompaniment music acquired by the first recording input interface and an acoustic signal of the singing voice acquired by the second recording interface in a predetermined data format in units of music; Means to make a file,
Recording control means for writing the recording file to the portable recording medium by the data writing device,
Sound level detecting means for detecting whether or not there is substantially no sound signal from the second recording input interface during the performance of the karaoke accompaniment music;
Sound level data output means for appropriately outputting a detection result by the sound level detection means as incidental information of the recording file,
A karaoke recording device comprising: 2. The printer according to claim 1, further comprising a printer for printing characters and images on the surface of the portable recording medium, wherein the audio level data output unit creates appropriate print data as supplementary information of the recording file, and A karaoke recording device for outputting data to the printer. 3. The control information interface according to claim 1, wherein the control information interface is configured to acquire recording permission / inhibition data of the musical performance, the recording permission / inhibition data acquired from the karaoke apparatus, and the supplementary information from the audio level data output unit. A karaoke recording apparatus, comprising: recording permission / non-permission determining means for permitting or prohibiting writing of the recording file to the portable recording medium by the recording control means.

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