JPH09146754A - Computer system and karaoke device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To grasp the application state of information service. SOLUTION: The application state of each menu or information service can be more accurately grasped by recording the number of accesses to the menu or service. In this case, the number of accesses to each menu or information service is recorded in each address of a prescribed area in a RAM 25. Namely a CPU 22 recognizes which menu or information service is executed at the time of executing an object and increases the number of accesses to its corresponding address. In the processing, an extremely detailed application state can be grasped by checking the prescribed area in the RAM 25.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer system and a karaoke apparatus having the computer system, which are capable of ascertaining the regular use of a plurality of object files to be executed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, a communication karaoke system, in which a host computer of a center station supplies karaoke performance information to a karaoke terminal installed in each store such as a karaoke snack via a communication line, has become widespread. . In particular, in recent years, a communication karaoke system has been known which reproduces CM information supplied from a center station and broadcasts it by utilizing the time between music performances. The new music introduction and various other information are provided to users. Furthermore, in the karaoke industry, the planning of the provision of various information services such as games and information is active. Further, it goes without saying that this type of information service can be similarly applied to a general computer system.

[0003]

However, in the conventional computer system and karaoke apparatus, it is not possible to know what kind of information service has been accessed, and it is possible to know the customer's needs and market trends. There wasn't.

The present invention has been made under such a background, and a computer system and a karaoke apparatus which can grasp the use situation of the information service and thereby know the needs and market trends of the customer. Is intended to provide.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 has a storage means for storing a plurality of object files including a program, and selects an object file from the storage means. A computer system that executes the program in the selected object file, and a determination unit that determines whether or not each object has been executed, and an execution status storage unit that stores the determination result of the determination unit for each object. It is characterized by including.

Further, in the invention according to claim 2,
A computer system having a storage means for storing a plurality of object files including a program, selecting an object file from the storage means, and executing a program in the selected object file, wherein whether or not each of the objects has been executed It is characterized by comprising a judging means for judging whether or not the object has been executed, and an execution count storing means for storing how many times each object has been executed based on the judgment result of the judging means.

Further, in the invention according to claim 3,
The computer system according to claim 2, further comprising a menu generation unit that generates a menu for the object, and the menu generation unit sets the display order of the menu based on the execution count of each object stored in the execution count storage unit. It is characterized by changing.

Further, in the invention described in claim 4,
A karaoke apparatus having the computer system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein karaoke performance information is stored in said storage means, and further, karaoke performance is read out from said storage means to synthesize a musical sound. A karaoke playing means for mixing and outputting a synthetic sound and a voice input from a microphone, and a switching means for switching between execution of the object file and karaoke performance by the karaoke playing means.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. A: Configuration of Embodiment (1) Overall Configuration FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a communication karaoke system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a host computer, and 2, 2, ... Are a plurality of karaoke terminals connected to the host computer 1 via a communication line N. The host computer 1 periodically distributes karaoke data and an information file (details will be described later) to each karaoke terminal 2, 2, .... The karaoke data includes performance data (MIDI data), lyrics data (including data for synchronizing performance and lyrics), and image control data (data for selecting an image prepared on the karaoke terminal 2 side). The karaoke terminal 2 is adapted to perform an accompaniment performance based on performance data, a lyrics display based on lyrics data, and an image display corresponding to image control data.

Further, the karaoke terminal 2 provides various information services in an interactive form with an operator by executing the information file supplied from the host computer 1.

(2) Configuration of Karaoke Terminal Next, the configuration of the karaoke terminal 2 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, 21 is a modem or ISDN
(Integrated Sarvices Digital Network) and other communication interfaces, and host computer 1 and communication line N
Connected through. A CPU (central processing unit) 22 executes a system program stored in the ROM 23 and controls each unit of the device connected via the bus BUS. In addition, the CPU 22 performs performance and display based on the karaoke data, executes the information file,
Performs various service processes.

A hard disk 24 stores karaoke data and a group of information files supplied from the host computer 1. 25 is a RAM, which is a CPU
It is used as 22 work areas.

Reference numeral 26 denotes an operation panel, which is used by the operator to perform various key switches (start key, cancel key,
Detects the pressing operation of the up / down key, numeric keypad, etc.,
A signal corresponding to the operation is supplied to the CPU 22. On the operation panel 26, selection of music (that is, input of music number), start and stop of performance, instruction operation for performance of karaoke such as volume, and selection of information selection menu displayed on the display 34 are performed. Be seen.

Further, the operation panel 26 is provided with a receiving section for receiving the transmission signal of the remote controller RMC shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the remote controller RMC includes a start key STK, a cancel key CLK, an up key UPK,
It has a down key DWK, a ten key TK, a transfer key TXK, a memory set key MSK and a performance stop key SPK. In this way, the remote control RMC has the operation panel 2
6 has the same keys as the various keys provided on the control panel 6, and the same operation as the operation panel 26 can be performed.

A memory (not shown) is provided in the remote controller RMC.
The numeric keypad TK is once stored in the memory and then transferred to the operation panel 26 side. In this case, the numeric keypad TK is used to specify the song number of karaoke, for example, the song number is "1".
2345 ”, use the numeric keypad TK,
, And then the memory set key MSK. As a result, the numerical value "12345" is temporarily stored in the memory. Then, when the transfer key TXK is pressed, the transmission signal corresponding to the numerical value in the memory is transferred to the operation panel 26.

With respect to the other keys on the remote controller RMC, when the key is pressed, the transmission signal corresponding to the key is immediately output. The function of each key will be described later.

Next, reference numeral 27 shown in FIG. 2 is a musical tone synthesizer, which generates a musical tone signal corresponding to MIDI information (MIDI information contained in karaoke data or an information file) successively supplied by the CPU 22, and mixes it. To 28. The mixer 28 mixes the musical tone signal supplied from the musical tone synthesizer 27 and the audio signal taken in by the microphone 29, and outputs this to the sound system 30. However, in the case of BGM performance, the mixer 28 outputs the tone signal supplied from the tone synthesizer 27 to the sound system 30 as it is.

Reference numeral 31 is an audio decoder, which is a CPU
ADPCM read from information file by 22
Information (used in the case of a service that provides voice guidance) is converted into an analog voice signal, and this is output to the sound system 30. The sound system 30 amplifies the musical tone signal supplied from the mixer 28 or the audio signal supplied from the audio decoder and causes the speaker SP to emit the sound.

Next, reference numeral 32 is an image reproducing device, and the image information corresponding to the image control data in the karaoke data instructed to be reproduced is stored in the CD-ROM 33 in the CD changer 60.
From the image synthesizing device 34, and transfers it to the image synthesizing device 34. The image synthesizing device 34 corresponds to the image information supplied from the image reproducing device 32 and the font information corresponding to the lyrics information in the karaoke data read by the CPU 22 (this font information is stored in the image synthesizing device 34). And are combined and displayed on the display 35. As a result, the lyrics are superposed on the background image. The image synthesizing device 34 once VRs the image to be displayed.
After developing with dot map in AM (video RAM),
Output to the display 35.

Reference numeral 36 is an image decoder, which is a CPU
The menu read from the information file by 22
Compressed image information of still images such as icons or moving images (MP
Image information conforming to EG, JPEG, etc.) is decompressed and converted into an analog video signal, which is displayed on the display 35.

Next, reference numeral 50 is a money input device into which a karaoke user inserts coins and bills, and determines the authenticity of the inserted coins and bills and detects the amount thereof. The money input device 50 sends a signal indicating the detected amount to the CPU 22.
To supply. Further, the money input device 50 has a function of discharging change under the control of the CPU 22.

Further, 55 is an L provided on the front surface of the main body.
This is an ED display device, which is composed of multiple-segment 7-segment LEDs. This LED display device 55 is a CP
Lighting control is performed by U22. Reference numeral 60 denotes a CD changer which, under the control of the CPU 22, selects a CD (compact disc) or a CD-ROM 33 to read the music information of the instructed track or read the image information as described above to generate the image generation device 33. Send to. 70 is
It is a card terminal that handles ID cards and credit cards, and reads information from the cards and makes a genuine / counterfeit judgment.

(3) Contents of information file In this embodiment, in addition to the usual karaoke performance,
Various information services based on the information file can be performed, but the information file is composed of a program part called a script and a reference data part called a resource (a part consisting of performance data, image data, etc.), Various information services are provided by the CPU 22 executing scripts.

In this case, the script is described by a predetermined language system and is composed of a set of processing units called objects. Further, in each object, resources are appropriately referred to. This point will be described later with reference to FIG.

Here, FIG. 4 is an example of the information service menu screen displayed in this embodiment, and an object corresponding to the screen display control will be described with reference to FIG. The object shown in FIG. 5 is called a page object, and is an example of an object that controls the display of one screen. By the way, each object (that is, a part of the script) is described in a predetermined language as described above, but in the following, for convenience of description, the Japanese notation corresponding to the description of the language is used to describe the program. The function of is explained.

First, the "New" column shown in FIG. 5 is a column that is first referred to when an object is activated, and describes the first control content of the object.
In the example of this figure, various commands for drawing (drawing) are described. In the first line of this column, "Picture (# 1)
"obj" indicates an object that describes the display control of a picture. Various objects for controlling the display of the picture are described in correspondence with the picture to be displayed, such as “picture (# 1) obj”, “picture (# 2) obj”, ... 1), (# 2) ... Are provided so that a desired object can be called by instructing an argument.

FIG. 7 shows a description example of "picture (# 1) obj", which includes a line indicating a file to be used and a line indicating the drawing position. Here, the "# 1 image resource" designated as a file is an image data file in which predetermined image data is recorded, and is called and referenced from the script as described above. In this case, the image resources are also provided with the arguments (# 1), (# 2) ... Like the object, so that the desired resource can be called.

The "# 1 image resource" in this example is
It is the image data of a picture of an animal riding in a car. Further, this image data is displayed at the coordinates designated in the second line of FIG. By performing the control (control by the CPU 22) according to these descriptions, FIG.
The character display shown in part a of (a) is performed. Next, in the second and third lines of the "New" column of FIG.
"Text (# 1) obj", "Text (# 3) obj"
“J” indicates an object in which display control of characters is described. Various objects that control the display of characters are described corresponding to the characters to be displayed, and like the picture object, arguments (# 1), (# 2), etc. are provided to indicate the arguments. You can call the desired object with.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the description of "text (#n) obj". As shown in the figure, there is a string line indicating the character to be displayed and a line description indicating the display position. . Here, in the text object,
There is no file specification, and the display character is directly specified by the string line. Also, for text objects, the arguments (# 1), (# 2) ...
You can call the desired object.

By the way, a portion b in FIG. 4A is "Welcome to Infoworld!", And a portion c is "concert information". Therefore, the str of the text objects corresponding to these displays is
The ng line is string = “Welcome to InfoWorld!” and string = “concert information”. Further, in the text object, there is also a line (not shown) for designating the font of the display character, which enables display in various fonts.

Further, another menu title display of FIG. 4A, that is, "movie information", "stage information" ...
As for the above, a text object similar to the above is described in the column of “New” shown in FIG. 5 (not shown). As for the graphic and the character of the icon display portion in the portions d and e of FIG. 4A, the picture object and the text object are described in the same manner as the above case.

Next, the "Delay" column shown in FIG.
This is a column for defining an action (action) to be performed after a predetermined time has elapsed after the page object shown in the figure is activated. In the illustrated example, it is specified that BGM (background music) will be played after 5 seconds. That is, (5S) in this column defines 5 seconds later, and BGM = song (# 1) o
It is specified that bj executes the music object (argument # 1) and plays BGM.

Here, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a description example of a music object. In this figure, Play =
The CD is a music CD in the CD changer 60 shown in FIG.
This is an instruction to drive (not shown) to perform a performance. In addition,
Although there is a description for specifying details such as a selected disc number and a performance track for the CD changer, the illustration is omitted for simplification of the description. In addition, Pl in the second row shown in FIG.
ay = # 1 karaoke data is the song number # of the karaoke data recorded on the hard disk 24.
The command is to read out one and play it. The karaoke data in this case is a part of the resource.

As described above, the commands that define various performances are described, but in some cases, the command "end" that describes what action to take when the performances are finished is described. . The contents of this command include, for example, the process of transferring the process to another object, or calling itself again to repeat the operation and perform endless performance.

Next, in the "Selector" column shown in FIG. 5, items relating to various buttons on the display screen are described. In this field, first, each button displayed on the screen is registered. In the example of FIG. 5, the button ID
As in # 1, ID # 2 ..., the description of the content for specifying each button is performed. Here, in FIG. 4, black circles are displayed on the right side of each of the 11 titles from "concert information" to "karaoke performance", but these are defined as buttons in order from the top.

In the "Selector" column of FIG. 5, actions in three states of "point", "unpoint" and "select" are defined for each button. Here, "point" means that the pointer is located on the button, "unpoint"
Means that the pointer is not located on the button, and "select" means that the button has been selected (a state instructed to enter the service corresponding to the button). The movement of the pointer and the selection of each button are performed by operating the buttons on the operation panel 26 or the remote controller RMC, and the operation guide is shown by icons IC1 and IC2 in FIG.

For example, to move the pointer PP up and down,
Up key UPK according to the display of icon IC1,
To operate the down key DWK (see FIG. 3) and confirm the button, press the start key STK (see FIG. 3) in accordance with the display of the icon IC2. Similarly, when the menu display shown in FIG. 4 is terminated, the cancel key (C
Press LK).

Now, what is described in "point" shown in FIG. 5 is, for example, an instruction to display the pointer PP (see FIG. 4) at the position of the button. This is for displaying the pointer PP to indicate to the operator that the button is a selection target. If necessary, BGM related to the title of the button may be played. In this case, a music object (song (#n) obj) is described as shown in FIG.

Next, in "Unpoint", a command for deleting the display of the pointer PP is described. By controlling the display of the pointer PP as described above, the pointer PP is displayed only at the position of the selected button. Further, in the “select”, the execution content when the button is confirmed and selected is described. The execution content is generally described by the content of calling a predetermined object.

For example, when the "concert information" button is selected, an object for controlling the menu display of the concert information as shown in FIG. 9A is executed,
Further, when the button "Chikako Sawada" is selected from the buttons on the screen shown in FIG. 9A, the object that controls the guide screen of the concert is executed, and, for example,
The display as shown in FIG. 9B is performed.

When the pointer is instructed to move under the "Karaoke performance" button on the screen shown in FIG. 4A, a screen showing the remaining menu items is displayed (see FIG. 4B). ). That is, when the pointer moves under the "karaoke performance" button, the object for displaying the screen shown in FIG.

Although the description example of the object has been described above by taking the page object as an example, there is a case where the "Delay" column is not described depending on the object. Also, as is clear from the above description, a set of small objects allows a predetermined purpose (for example, screen control).
The object that achieves is formed.

By the way, although the set of objects is a script, the script and the resource are stored separately in the hard disk 24. That is,
The script, which is the program part, and the resource, which is the reference data, are stored separately, so that any resource can be specified in each object. Here, FIG. 10 conceptually shows the storage states of scripts (objects) and resources in the hard disk 24. Then, as shown in the figure, the same resource can be commonly used by several objects, which can save the storage area of the hard disk 24 and improve the efficiency of data transmission from the host computer 1. it can.

B: Operation of Embodiment (1) Information Service Starting Process Next, the operation of the communication karaoke system having the above-mentioned configuration will be described. However, in the following description, it is assumed that the host computer 1 has already supplied the information file group and the karaoke data to the karaoke terminal 2 to a certain extent. First, when the karaoke terminal 2 is powered on, the CPU 22 loads the system program from the ROM 23 and executes it. As a result, the CPU 22
Enters the karaoke performance standby state (karaoke mode),
Wait for the song number input.

When the operator operates the remote controller RMC or the operation panel 26 to input the song number, the karaoke data of the song is read from the hard disk 24, and the performance of the song, background display and lyrics display are performed. Be seen. The user can enjoy karaoke by singing with the microphone 29 in addition to this performance and display.

On the other hand, a predetermined music number, for example, "800"
When "0" is input, the CPU 22 detects this and shifts to the information service. That is, the song number "8000"
When is input, the object of the menu display prepared in advance (for example, the menu display shown in FIG. 4A) is executed.

In the menu object in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11, the music number is described in the header part thereof. The description of the header in this case is st
It contains two titles, a title by the ring line and a song number display. Also, the menu is multi-layered as shown in FIG. 12, and the menu object of each layer also has a description of the music number in the header part. By the way, as the menu hierarchy, for example, if the menu shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B is the top menu, FIG.
The menu of (a) is the lower layer first menu. In this case, the music number is described in the header of both the object displayed in FIGS. 4A and 4B and the object displayed in FIG.

Also, the music number is described in the header of the object of the service itself (not shown). For example, in FIG.
Although the screen shown in (b) is a concert guide service, the object to be displayed also has a description of the song number. By the way, when the song number “8000” is input, there may be a karaoke song that is already playing or a reserved karaoke song. The order management in this case is as follows.

When there is a request for a karaoke song, the song number of that song is registered as a "queue" in a predetermined area in the RAM 25 shown in FIG. Then, when reservations for a plurality of songs are accepted, the queue registered in the RAM 25 is as shown in FIG. 13, for example. In the queue registration area QA shown in FIG. 13, the song number indicated by the pointer indicated by the arrow is the next reserved song, and when the song currently playing is finished, the song number is read from the address indicated by this pointer. , The performance of the song is started. And
The pointer moves to indicate the next address. And FIG.
In the state shown in 3, 4 songs are reserved, but 5
When the tune is reserved, the tune number of the tune is written in the address next to the fourth tune. Further, the queue registration area QA shown in FIG. 13 has a ring buffer structure, and after the music number is written at the final address, the writing is performed by returning to the first address. However, since no new song number is written to an address where the performance has not ended, a new reservation cannot be accepted when the queue registration area QA is full.

Now, in the state shown in FIG. 13, when the song number of the information service menu is reserved, the song number of the information service menu (for example, 8000) is registered in the queue registration area QA as the fifth reserved song. To be done. Therefore, after the performance of the fourth reserved music is completed, the music number of the information service menu is read out and the top menu is displayed. If a regular karaoke song is reserved after the song number in the information service menu is reserved, the queue for that song will be the same as the normal reservation process.
It will be registered at the address next to the song number on the service menu.

By the way, in this embodiment, there is another queue management mode. That is, the queue management is not to accept the queue of the information service menu after the reserved song but to start the information service menu by interrupt processing immediately after the currently playing song is finished. In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 14, an interrupt area IA is provided in the RAM 25, and when a music number of the information service menu is input, this is detected and registered in the area IA. Then, if there is a karaoke song that is currently playing, after the song ends, the display process of the information service menu of the song number written in the area IA is interrupted. Then, after the information service is finished, the processing (karaoke performance, etc.) of the next queue waiting at the time of the interruption is performed. In addition, the music number of the information service menu written in the area IA is shown in RA of FIG.
The queue registration area QA of M25 may be interrupted and the queue array in this area may be rewritten.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 14, an interrupt ring buffer IRB for accepting an interrupt of the information service menu may be set in the RAM 25 so that a plurality of interrupts can be accepted in sequence. Even in this case, after the execution of all the queues registered in the interrupt ring buffer IRB is completed, the next queue in the queue registration area QA is processed or registered in the interrupt ring buffer IRB. The queue array shown in FIG. 13 may be rewritten by causing the queue to interrupt the queue registration area QA.

Further, since the song numbers are also given to the menus of each layer and the objects of the information service itself, by directly inputting them, the menu of any layer can be directly expanded without passing through the top menu, The desired service can be started directly. Regarding the processing of the queue in this case, as described above, the final reception,
There are two types of interrupts, but any method can be selected. For this, the processing mode of the CPU 22 may be selected by operating a predetermined button on the operation panel 26.

(2) Automatic Menu Generation By the way, in the above-mentioned menu, the items (titles) in each menu and the expansion of the subordinate menus are fixed, but in this embodiment, the CPU 22 follows a predetermined algorithm. There is a mode to automatically generate a menu. Hereinafter, this automatic menu generation processing will be described.

First, the distribution of various information services will be described. Now, various advertisements, games, information, etc. are prepared for the information service in this embodiment, and each is classified by genre. In addition, within the genres such as “Advertisement” and “Game”,
Lower genres such as adult, child, female, and male are set. Here, as an example of the information service screen, FIG. 15 is an example of a service screen for car advertisement, and FIG. 16 is an example of a service screen for inquiring new music.

Each service information such as the above-mentioned advertisement, game or information is produced by the production company, but is expressed by a combination of a script and a resource, and can be decrypted and executed by the CPU 22. Here, FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram showing a distribution form of the information file for advertisement produced by the advertisement production company. In the figure, CM1, CM2, CM
Reference numeral 3 is an advertising information file produced by each advertising company, and comprises the above-mentioned script and resources. In the header part of this promotional information file,
The song number and title are described. In this case, the title description is based on the string line described above.

The information file shown in FIG. 17 is transferred to the host computer 1 in the center CNT. The host computer 1 knows the genres of all information files. In this case, as shown in the figure, the genre information may be included in the information file.
You may make it provide the correspondence table of a music number and a genre to the host computer 1. Further, in the host computer 1, genres can be set for each information file.

Next, the karaoke terminal 2 receives the distribution of the information file by two methods. In the first method, on the karaoke terminal 2 side, as flag information, store information (information indicating what type of store (karaoke box, snack ...)), location (store location), and desired genre. Is transmitted to the host computer 1 as appropriate. As a result, the host computer 1 recognizes the genre of advertisement suitable for the karaoke terminal 2 and delivers only the information file corresponding to this to the karaoke terminal 2. As a result, in the karaoke terminal 2, it is possible to receive only the information file that matches the situation of the store and the tendency of the customer, and it is possible to carry out an efficient advertisement.

In the second method, the host computer 1 distributes all the information files to the karaoke terminal 2. On the karaoke terminal 2, enter information indicating the time (morning, afternoon, midnight, etc.) and period (season, summer vacation, new year, etc.), and select only the distributed information files corresponding to these. use. In this case, a table or the like indicating which genre is appropriate for the time or the period is stored in advance. When the ID card 80 shown in FIG. 17 is used, only the information file of the genre corresponding to the personal information recorded on the card is made available. In this case, information such as gender, date of birth, and genre of favorite song is written in the ID card 80. When the card terminal device 70 shown in FIG. 2 reads this information and transfers it to the CPU 22, the CPU 22 Recognize the age and gender of the user. Then, an appropriate genre is selected based on this recognition, and only the information file corresponding to this is made available.

In the above description, an information file for advertisement is taken as an example, but similar distribution and selection processing is performed for games and other information files. Now, when the distribution and selection processing as described above are performed, the information file distributed to the karaoke terminal 2 or the karaoke terminal 2
The information files that can be used in are various.
Therefore, it is necessary for the displayed menu display to follow this. In particular, when the ID card 80 is used, the information files that can be used vary depending on the user, so that it is further necessary to follow the menu.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the menu is automatically generated. In the following, ID
An automatic menu generation using the card 80 will be described as an example. First, a karaoke user inserts the ID card 80 into the card terminal 70 shown in FIG. As a result,
The card terminal 70 reads the ID information from the ID card 80 and supplies it to the CPU 22. Next, the CPU 22 recognizes the age and sex of the user from the supplied ID information and selects the corresponding genre. For example, when the user is a minor, a genre suitable for the minor is selected. The selection in this case is, for example, genre selection excluding adults.

Next, when the user inputs the music number corresponding to the menu of the information service from the remote controller RMC, the corresponding object is read from the hard disk 24 and executed, and a predetermined top menu is displayed. FIG. 18 is an example of the top menu, and here, “game”, “travel”, and “heap information” are displayed as menu items. Next, when the button of any item is selected, the CPU 22 searches the hard disk 24 for an information file corresponding to the selected genre,
The title of the string line described in the header is displayed as a menu item.

If the button of the item "game" is selected and confirmed, the game menu GM1 shown in FIG. 18 is displayed. In this case, a script for displaying the string line portion of the header of the information file whose genre classification is game is described in the game menu object.

When the next page is selected with the down key DWK (see FIG. 3), the game menu GM is displayed.
2 is displayed, and when the next page is selected, the game menu GM3 is displayed. That is, for the game, game menus GM1 to GM3 are displayed, and a total of 23 titles are displayed. Here, the title of each game is str of the header of the information file of the game.
This is the title described in the ing line. As described above, many titles are displayed for the game.
Also, in the object that defines each menu screen, the title of each menu item is not fixed, and the description of displaying the title of the string line of the selected information file is displayed, and the CPU 22 follows this description. By performing the display control described above, the menu shown in FIG. 18 is automatically generated.

Next, when the user selects and confirms the "travel" button in the top menu, the hard disk 24
The information file of the travel genre is selected from the information files in the above, and by considering the user ID, the genre for adults is excluded and only the information file for young people is selected, and the header of the information file The string line stored in the part is displayed. In the illustrated example, 12 titles are selected and divided into menu screens TM1 and TM2.

Further, when the user confirms the button of "heap information" in the top menu, all the information files related to this are classified into the genres for adults, so no information file is selected. In such a case, as shown in FIG. 18, a display indicating that the service is not selected,
For example, the character display "No!" Is displayed. Such control is performed by describing that a predetermined message is displayed when the ID information is a minor in the object that is activated when the button for "heap information" is selected and confirmed. In addition, in the above example, we selected genres except for adults, but for adults only,
There is also a selection method for children + women.

On the other hand, when the ID card is not used, the menu is created by using all the information files distributed to the karaoke terminal 2. However, even in this case, the distributed information files are appropriately different. The automatic menu generation similar to is performed. Further, the genre may be classified according to the song number without separately providing the data indicating the genre. For example, the 1000s may be decided as a game, and the 2000s may be decided as information. further,
The arrangement (order) of the top menu buttons (string lines of each genre) may be changed according to the ID information.
That is, it is possible to control so that items that are frequently selected are placed higher in accordance with the age group and gender. For such control, the button arrangement of the object of the top menu may be scripted so as to change according to the ID information.

If the genre has not been created, the top menu item may be deleted. For example,
If the information files classified into the travel genres have not been distributed yet, the travel item on the top menu may not be provided. Alternatively, among the information files, only those that match the location (prefecture) may be extracted or distributed in advance, and the above-described menu automatic generation may be performed on the result. By doing this,
We can provide detailed information services for each region.

(3) Example of Information Service Next, an example of the information service will be described. Hit song information and karaoke performance This service is a service that scrolls and displays the rankings of the 20 most recent hit songs. Also, if there is a song you want to sing in the list, we also provide a service to accept the request.

Here, the virtual space TTA shown in FIG.
This is a memory space set in the RAM 25. In this space, the song numbers (not shown) and song names of the top 20 are expanded from the 20th place to the 1st place in a countdown format. This expansion is expanded as a bitmap in the memory space. To generate this list, an object indicating the list of the top 20 described by the script is set to C
The processing is performed by the PU 22.

The area indicated by the broken line in the figure is the display target area DPA, and the display target area DPA shifts in the direction of arrow A in the figure. Then, the dot data in the display target area DPA is transferred to the VRAM in the image synthesizing device 34, and thereby displayed on the display 35. Therefore, the list of the top 20 is scroll-displayed on the display 35.

The scroll speed, the scroll start position, the time, the scroll end position, etc. are described in the object for displaying the top 20, and the operation at the end of the scroll is also described.
Therefore, the CPU 22 determines the display target area DPA shown in FIG. 19 based on the items described in the object.
Determine the desired position and movement speed (see dashed line). By the above operation, the user can know the titles of the top 20 songs by the scroll list.

Next, the processing for starting the karaoke performance in this information service (scroll display of the top 20 songs) will be described. First, when selecting a song, the user may remember the song number of the song being scrolled and input it with the remote controller RMC, or may select the button of each song being scrolled. Button selection is performed by the same processing as in the case of the screen shown in FIG. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 20, the UP key U
It is also possible to manually operate the PK or the down key DWK to scroll up and down one line at a time. In such a case, a desired song may be displayed by this manual scroll operation, and the button of the song may be selected and confirmed.

When the tunes are selected as described above, the cues of these tunes are stored in the predetermined area Q in the RAM 25.
It is sequentially registered in the AT 20 (see FIG. 20). In area QAT20 shown in FIG. 20, songs are reserved in the order of 19th, 5th and 2nd. Also, when the next song is reserved, the queue of that song is registered at the address next to the song in second place. This area QAT20 has a ring buffer structure, and after the queue is registered at the final address, the area is returned to the head address for registration. In addition, the pointer P shown in the figure
Indicates a song to be played next.

Then, the performance is started by operating a predetermined key, and when all the performances in the reservation queue are completed, the list returns to the top 20. Also, when the cancel key CLK is operated after the performance starts, the list display of the top 20 is returned. The above queue management is performed as part of the processing of the top 20 list display service. Instead of this, after the information service ends, the area QAT
The queue registered in 20 may be transferred to the queue registration area QA used in the normal karaoke mode. In this case, first, the cancel key CLK is pressed in accordance with the guidance of the screen display shown in FIG. As a result, the information service ends and shifts to karaoke mode,
At this time, the queue registered in the area QAT20 is transferred to the queue registration area QA.

By the way, if a queue of reserved songs is already registered in the queue registration area QA before the top 20 list display service is activated, the area QAT20
The queue transferred from is registered at the address next to this reserved song. In FIG. 20, in the state where four reserved songs have already been registered, areas QAT20 to 19
It shows a case where the cues of the songs of the 5th, 5th and 2nd places have been transferred.

Moving Image Display Processing Depending on the type of information service, it may be more effective to display a moving image. Therefore, in this embodiment, various moving images are displayed. Here, general moving image display control will be described by taking a case where a moving image of a ball is displayed as an example. In this case, a plurality of pieces of image data showing each posture of the ball during turning are prepared and sequentially transferred to the VRAM to display a moving image. For example, as shown in FIG. 25, image data (four in this example) showing the state of the turning process is transferred from the hard disk 24 to a predetermined area of the RAM 25, and these are sequentially switched to the VRAM. . As a result, the ball is displayed as if it were spinning (turning left in the figure). In this case, each image data is stored in the hard disk 24.
However, since the data transfer time from the hard disk is slower than that of the semiconductor memory, the rewriting process of the VRAM takes time and the state in the middle of rewriting is visible to the user. For this reason, a smooth moving image cannot be displayed.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 21, when the moving image is displayed after all the image data as the elements of the moving image are transferred to the RAM 25, the moving image is smoothly displayed in the RAM.
Image data occupies most of the 25 areas, resulting in poor memory use efficiency. Therefore, in the present embodiment,
The following processing is performed.

First, the first image data is transferred from the hard disk 24 to a predetermined area of the RAM 25, and then this image data is transferred to the VRAM. Then, while the first image data is being displayed, the second image data is overwritten in the same area of the RAM 25. Then, the second image data is transferred to the VRAM at a predetermined timing (for example, vertical blanking period). After that, similar processing is performed on the third and fourth image data, and after the fourth image data is transferred to the VRAM, the first image data is transferred to the RAM 25 again. By displaying the turning ball by repeating the above-mentioned processing, the RAM 25 is used only in the area corresponding to one image data, and the writing to the VRAM is performed from the RAM 25. It's fast. Therefore, the memory usage efficiency is high,
In addition, moving images can be displayed smoothly.

In this embodiment, since the use efficiency of the memory is high as described above, the empty area can be used for other purposes. For example, MIDI data and waveform data can be transferred from the hard disk 24, and these can be used appropriately for automatic performance and musical tone generation. In this case, when MIDI data or waveform data is read from the RAM 25, the access speed is high, so that the sound generation timing can be controlled with high accuracy. On the other hand, when MIDI data or waveform data is read from the hard disk, the access speed is slow, and therefore the sound generation timing control is somewhat rough. In this embodiment, reading from the RAM 25 and the hard disk 24
Both of the reading from are used by switching according to the application.

For example, in the script description, "S
"E = XX ..." means reading from the memory 25 (in this case, the sound data is loaded in advance in the memory 25), and "Sound = OO ..." From the hard disk 24. Means a direct read of. In this case, "SE" is used to generate sound data that needs to be synchronized.

Charge Processing Next, the charge processing when a charge is required for the service will be described. Among the hierarchical menus and services as shown in FIG. 23, "service 1" surrounded by a broken line,
It is assumed that "service 2" and "service 4" are pay services. Whether the service is charged or not is distinguished by describing in the script (object) of the information service that requires charging that the service is charged.

Next, the charging check process by the CPU 22 will be described. In this case, the CPU 22
The charging check process is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, in step SP1, it is determined whether the information service is a billing service. This is determined by the description of the object. If "NO", the process returns and the charging check process is not performed. On the other hand, if the determination in step SP1 is "YES", step SP2
Then, it is determined whether a valid card (credit card) is used or not. This determination is made based on the detection signal from the card terminal 70 shown in FIG. If a valid card is used, the card is cleared, and the charging check process shown in FIG. 24 ends. On the other hand, if the card is not used, step SP3
Then, it is judged whether or not the cash is insufficient.

That is, it is determined whether or not the total amount of coins and bills inserted into the money input device 50 shown in FIG. If the amount of money to be input is not insufficient, the service is immediately entered and the charging check process is terminated. On the other hand, if the amount of money to be inserted is insufficient, the fact is displayed in step SP4, and the process proceeds to step SP5. Here, FIG. 25 is a display example in step SP4. That is, "There is a shortage of ○○○ yen."
Is displayed. The user sees this display and knows that the amount of money to be input is insufficient. When the user inputs the shortage amount into the money input device 50, a detection signal is output from the money input device 50, and the CPU 22 recognizes this and sets the determination in step SP5 to "YES" to enter the billing service ( Step SP6). On the other hand, when the user presses the cancel key CLK while looking at the guidance display shown in FIG. 25, or when there is no deposit for a certain period of time, the determination in step SP5 becomes “NO”, the service is exited from the charging service, and the higher rank Return to the menu display (Step SP
7). Note that the karaoke mode may be returned instead of returning to the higher-level menu display.

By the way, the billing service includes, for example, a new music reference service. In this service, for example, the display as shown in FIG. 16 described above is performed, and the text information including the title of the song, the artist name, and the song number is scrolled in the vertical direction, and new music is sequentially introduced. Also, along with this new music information, start key S
In addition to the icon IC5 that guides the pressing of TK, the title of the introduction screen and image information such as pictures and photos are displayed at a fixed position on the screen.

Here, when the operator presses the start key STK, the information file about the new song displayed on the left of the icon is executed, and the karaoke performance or the CD performance (the song by playing the CD is performed. Performance) begins. In this case, the corresponding CD is set in the CD changer 60 in advance by the service person. Then, the charging check process shown in FIG. 24 is started when the start key STK is pressed, and when the inserted amount is insufficient, the new music is not played.

After the karaoke performance of the new music is started and a predetermined time has passed, the operation of the cancel key CLK is invalidated. The control information for invalidating the key operation is described in the object, for example, so as to invalidate the signal of the predetermined key when a predetermined condition is satisfied. Also,
Delay of the object as a method to invalidate the key
May be described in the column of, for example, a description such as invalidating a predetermined key 5 seconds after entering the service screen can be made. As another example of performing such control,
If you continue to view the paid information for a certain period of time, you may be forced to enter the service by invalidating the cancel key.

By the way, the following applications are possible for the charging service. For example, there is a case where an order for drinks, meals, etc. at the store (karaoke box or the like) is accepted as an input of the song number, and this acceptance service is used as a billing service. According to this, the user can order a desired meal or the like with the remote controller, and can settle the payment by inputting the price into the money input device.

In a karaoke box or the like,
Some stores have a system that charges according to the rental time of a room. In this case, a timer is provided to measure the rental time, and a time signal (interrupt signal) from this timer is sent to C
The PU 22 accepts it. This allows the CPU
22 can grasp the cumulative total of the usage time of the user. Then, after the rental time corresponding to the amount of money that the user has invested has expired, the charging check process shown in FIG. 24 is activated to prompt the user that the amount of money is insufficient. In this case, the rental fee can be automatically settled.

Log Recording FIG. 26 shows a tree of menus and information services. If there are menus and information services from 1 to 8 as shown in the figure, it is convenient to know which menu or information service was accessed (or how many times it was accessed) so that the usage status can be grasped. .

Therefore, in this embodiment, FIG.
As shown in, the flag register FL is provided to set "1" to the bit corresponding to the accessed menu and information service. In this case, since each bit of the flag register FL corresponds to a predetermined menu and information service, the usage status can be grasped by looking at the contents of the flag register FL.

Since which menu or which information service has been accessed can be known by knowing which object has been executed, the CPU 22 writes a predetermined bit in the flag register FL when the object is executed. On the other hand, it is preferable to record how many times each menu or information service has been accessed so that the usage status can be more accurately grasped. FIG. 27 shows an example of a configuration for performing such control. In the figure, the access frequency of each menu or information service is recorded in each address of a predetermined area in the RAM 25. That is, when the CPU 22 executes an object, it recognizes which menu or which information service has been executed, and increments the access count of the corresponding address.

By performing the above-described processing, it is possible to grasp a very detailed usage situation by looking at a predetermined area in the RAM 25. Furthermore, R is requested every time the host computer 1 makes a request or every predetermined time.
The access count information in the AM 25 may be read and transferred to the host computer 1 via the communication interface 21. In this case, the host computer 1 can also conduct a market research on what kind of information service is popular and can utilize it for production of a new information service.

In addition, the CPU 22 can also perform control such as switching the order of the items in the menu based on the state of the number of accesses (for example, the menu with the highest number of accesses is displayed in the upper order). In this case, the description of a predetermined object is partially changed from the access count state to change the display order of items.

LED Display Next, control of the LED display device provided on the front surface of the main body will be described. Generally in a karaoke device,
Although an LED display device is often provided, it usually only displays the song number to be reserved. In this embodiment, not only the song number display of the reserved song but also various displays are possible. That is, the control information of the LED display device 55 is described in each object to perform control according to the characteristics of the menu or the information service.

For example, in the object "LED =
.. ”, the CPU 22 controls the LED display device 55 in accordance with the content of the description.
In FIG. 28 (a), the upper and lower parts of the 7-segment LED of each digit are alternately turned on, and FIG. 28 (b) replaces the upper and lower lights of FIG. 28 (a). Then, by alternately performing the lighting states of (a) and (b) in the figure, an illumination effect as if light is moving can be exhibited.

As described above, by describing the control information of the LED display device 55 individually for each object, it is possible to perform a variety of LED display for each menu or information service. In this case, in the object, not only the control of only the display 35 but also the LED
Since the system can describe even the control of the display device, it is not necessary to separately create a special program for controlling the LED.

C: Others Although the above-described embodiment is an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a communication karaoke system, the present invention can of course be applied to a general computer system. For example, the automatic menu generation process is convenient because a list for each genre is automatically generated when there are many object files to be executed in a general computer system.

[0099]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to grasp the usage status of the information service, and thus to know the customer's needs and market trends. In particular, in the inventions according to claims 3 and 4, since the order of the menus of each information service varies depending on the usage situation, it is possible to maintain the ease of use according to the needs of the customer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a communication karaoke system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a karaoke terminal 2 in the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing an operation unit of the remote controller RMC in the same embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an example of an information service menu screen displayed in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing contents of objects used in the same embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing a description example of a music object in the same embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing a description example of “picture (# 1) obj” in the same embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates a “text (#n) ob” according to the embodiment.
It is a conceptual diagram which shows the example of description of "j".

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of an information service screen displayed in the same embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram showing a storage state of scripts (objects) and resources in the hard disk 24.

FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram showing a data structure of a menu object in this embodiment.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a hierarchical menu according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a queue registration area QA in this embodiment.
FIG.

FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram showing an interrupt area IA and an interrupt ring buffer IRB.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a service screen for car advertisement.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a service screen for inquiring a new musical score.

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram showing a distribution form of an advertisement information file produced by an advertisement production company.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of a top menu.

FIG. 19 is a virtual space TTA set in the RAM 25.
FIG.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen after scroll display ends.

FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram for explaining general moving image display control.

FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram for explaining moving image display control in the present embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a hierarchical menu in the present embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing a charging check process.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a display example in step SP4 shown in FIG. 24.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing a tree structure of a menu and an information service.

[Fig. 27] Fig. 27 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example in which the access count of each information service is recorded.

28 is an explanatory diagram showing a display control example of the LED display device 55. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Host computer, 2 ... Karaoke terminal, 21
... communication interface, 22 ... CPU, 23 ... R
OM, 24 ... Hard disk, 25 ... ROM, 26
...... Operation panel, 27 ...... Musical sound synthesizer, 28 …… Mixer, 29 …… Microphone, 30 …… Sound system, 31
...... Voice decoder, 32 …… Image playback device, 33 …… C
D-ROM, 34 ... Image synthesizer, 35 ... Display, 36 ... Image decoder, BUS ... Bus, N ...
Communication line, SP ... Speaker.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A computer system having a storage unit for storing a plurality of object files including a program, selecting an object file from the storage unit, and executing a program in the selected object file. A computer system comprising: a determination unit that determines whether or not the execution has been performed; and an execution status storage unit that stores the determination result of the determination unit for each object. 2. A computer system having a storage unit for storing a plurality of object files including a program, selecting an object file from the storage unit, and executing a program in the selected object file, wherein each object A computer system comprising: a determination unit that determines whether or not the execution has been performed; and an execution count storage unit that stores how many times each object has been executed based on the determination result of the determination unit. 3. A menu generation unit that generates a menu for the object, wherein the menu generation unit changes the display order of the menu based on the execution count of each object stored in the execution count storage unit. The computer system according to claim 2, characterized in that: 4. The computer system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: karaoke performance information stored in the storage means, and further, the karaoke performance is read from the storage means to synthesize a musical sound, It has a karaoke playing means for mixing and outputting the synthesized sound and a voice input from a microphone, and a switching means for switching between execution of the object file and karaoke performance by the karaoke playing means. Karaoke device.