JPH10282971A - Method for instructing singing timing in lyrics display system of karaoke device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display a character existing in a singing timing with an expression easy to be recognized by a singer and easily matching with accompaniment music even when the singer sings which locking at either between a main character and a ruby by adding the expression instructing the singing change to a lyrics image displayed with a specified requirement. SOLUTION: A graphic processing system generating the lyrics image and displaying them interms of superimposition is provided with a color control processing means making a central control part 11 a main control part and constituted of a video RAM 18, a color lockup table 19 and a video control part 17, etc. The color control processing means controls the color of the character of the lyrics image by performing information processing with these structural elements. That is, based on the lyrics timing data belonging the one character under display, the means controls the display color of its character to a prescribed singing start color at the timing for singing to be started, and changes the display color to a singing end color according to a prescribed color change process from that point of time toward the timing for singing to be ended.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a karaoke apparatus, and more particularly to a singing timing instruction method in a lyrics display system of a karaoke apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A karaoke apparatus processes lyrics rendering data including various information such as a lyric character string of a song, a display layout, a display sequence, and a singing timing instruction in synchronism with output processing of karaoke accompaniment music. A graphic processing system is provided that sequentially generates lyrics images in synchronization with the progress of karaoke accompaniment music and superimposes and displays them on a display. The lyric character string is processed with a character group delimited for each appropriate phrase as one unit. One character group is a character string for one horizontal line normally displayed on a display. The graphic processing system normally displays this character string for two columns, and sequentially displays and deletes the character string in units of one line or two lines in accordance with the progress of the music.

The graphic processing system also performs control for instructing a singer of a character corresponding to a singing timing in a displayed character string. As a method of instructing the singing timing, the singer gives an instruction by changing the color of the corresponding character when it is time to start sounding. This color change display can be done by changing the color of the character when it is time for the singer to start sounding.However, in order to make it easier for the singer to sing along with the accompaniment music, the displayed characters must be sung. When the time comes, a method is adopted in which one character is vertically divided in synchronization with the length of the accompaniment sound corresponding to the character, and the color of the character is gradually painted from the left end while being wiped. At present, this wipe method is the mainstream of the singing timing instruction method.

[0004]

Since the karaoke user does not always master the song to be sung, including the lyrics, it is indispensable to display the lyrics in synchronization with the progress of the accompaniment music. In the singing timing instruction method by the wipe method, the singer can easily follow the tempo of the song because the characters change from the left at a speed synchronized with the progress of the accompaniment music. However, if the accompaniment sound for one character is long, a state in which the character is being repainted, that is, a state in which one character is divided into two color areas, continues for a long time. Therefore, it becomes difficult to read characters. In addition, it becomes difficult to recognize a change in the area where the color changes, which makes it difficult to match the tempo.

Further, when ruby is assigned to a character corresponding to the singing occasion, the main character string of lyrics such as kanji and the ruby character string above the character change at the same speed. It is naturally assumed that a plurality of sounds must be assigned with one kanji and each sound must be pronounced with a different length. In this case, since the color is changed at a speed based on the length of one of the character strings, a person who sings while watching the other character string has a discrepancy between the character to be pronounced and the accompaniment sound, I miss the timing of singing. If it is ruby swayed in alphabets such as English, the discomfort will further increase. One English alphabet and one Japanese (Katakana) ruby character are one-to-one except for vowels.
For example, if repainting control is performed according to the person who sings and sees ruby, it is extremely difficult for the person who sings and sees the English text to match the tempo of the accompaniment music. There will be.

[0006] Therefore, the present invention provides a singer who sings according to the lyrics display, presenting a character at the time of singing in a more easily recognizable expression, and singing while watching either the main character or the ruby with respect to the rubbed character. It is an object of the present invention to provide a singing timing instruction method that can easily be adjusted to accompaniment music.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a lyric character string of a music, a display layout,
Singing timing data specifying the timing to start sounding and the timing to end sounding are attached to each character of the lyrics character string included in the lyrics rendering data including information such as a display sequence and singing timing instructions. Then, a graphic processing system that generates a lyrics image and superimposes and displays a character outline portion including the entire character font for each character of the displayed lyrics image or a character skeleton portion surrounded by the character outline portion Color control processing means for variably controlling one or both of the display colors at the same time, and the color control processing means performs the sound generation based on the singing timing data attached to one character being displayed. At the timing to start, the display color of the character is controlled to a prescribed sounding start color, and the display color is changed to the sounding end color according to a prescribed color change process from that time to the timing to end sounding. The song timing instruction method was used.

[0008] The display color of the outline portion and the skeleton portion at the timing of starting the sounding of the character corresponding to the singing timing is set to different colors, and the color control processing means sets the display color at the timing of starting the sounding. The display color of the outline portion and the skeleton portion of the character is controlled to a prescribed sounding start color, and the display colors of the outline portion and the skeleton portion are separately set from that point toward the timing at which the sound should end. It is desirable to adopt a singing time display method in which the display colors of the outline portion and the skeleton portion are changed to the respective pronunciation end colors according to a color change process.

In the color changing process, the lyric character displayed on the display is completely changed from a standby color, which is a display color up to that time, to the sound generation start color at the time when the sound is to be generated. The tone is gradually changed to the sound ending color toward the timing at which the sound is to be ended. Alternatively, the lyric character displayed on the display is gradually changed from the standby color to the sound ending color from the time of sounding to the time of sound ending.

[0010] To the lyrics characters included in the lyrics rendering data, a type code for designating a singing part or a duet part is assigned, and the color control processing means refers to a comparison table in which display colors are allocated for each type code. Thus, the display color of the lyrics may be controlled.

The utterance start color and the utterance end color are defined for the lyric characters included in the lyric rendering data, and the color control processing means performs the utterance start timing and the utterance end based on the singing timing data. The sounding time zone between the timings to be divided is divided into an appropriate number of sections, and the character corresponding to the display timing changes color stepwise from the sounding start color to the sounding end color in the number of sections. Control may be performed such that a character corresponding to the singing occasion is changed in color by generating an interpolation intermediate color for each section.

The superimposed and displayed lyric character is displayed with the sound generation start transparency specified at the sound generation timing and the sound generation start transparency, and the sound generation end timing is determined from that time. The display color gradually changes to the sounding end color and the sounding end transparency changes gradually so that the transmission state of the image displayed behind the lyric character is gradually changed. It may be.

[0013]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a karaoke apparatus 1 according to the present invention. This karaoke device 1
Is a performance terminal of a communication karaoke system in which karaoke data including accompaniment music and lyric images of karaoke music is distributed from the host device 40 through the communication line 30 in a timely manner. The central control unit 11, which is a computer body including a RAM and a ROM inside, receives the distributed karaoke data via the modem 26 and
2 is stored. When a user's music selection input is received via the operation control unit 25 from the operation panel 23 or the remote control reception unit 24 that receives a transmission signal from the remote control transmitter 22, appropriate karaoke data is transmitted to the hard disk drive 12.
Read from. The central control unit 11 controls a graphic processing system for generating a lyric image in synchronization with the synthesizer 13 generating accompaniment music according to audio data encoded by the MIDI standard included in the karaoke data, The video CD changer 20 is controlled to reproduce appropriate moving image data from a video CD containing moving images such as image videos. Then, the video controller 17 is controlled to superimpose the lyric image on the image video and output it to the display 21.

The graphic processing system includes a central control section 11 as a main control section, and a color control processing means comprising a video RAM 18, a color look-up table (hereinafter, CLUT) 19, a video control section 17, and the like. I have. The color control processing means controls the color of the characters of the lyrics image by performing the following information processing by each of these components. The video RAM 18 is a memory area corresponding to each pixel of the display 21. A predetermined lyrics character is displayed on the display 21 by developing the text data of the lyrics characters into a bitmap on the video RAM 18. The color data of the characters to be displayed is not directly described in the memory area corresponding to each pixel of the video RAM 18, but is represented by a color code composed of 8-bit data. The color described by the 8 bits, that is, the color corresponding to the color code of 256 colors is stored in the CLUT 19. The CLUT 19 has about 167 colors because the three primary colors of RGB can take gradation levels of 8 bits (256) each.
Any 256 colors out of 10,000 colors can be stored simultaneously. The color data is described with gradation levels of 0 to 255 that can be taken by each of the RGB colors in order to represent a displayed color with three primary colors of red (R), green (G), and blue (B). For example, (R, G, B) = (230, 230, 230). The data of each color code stored in the CLUT 19 is appropriately rewritten by the central control unit 11. Then, the CLUT 19 converts the RGB gradation level corresponding to the color code described in each pixel on the video RAM 18 into an analog RGB signal for displaying on the display 21 and outputs the analog RGB signal. This signal is combined with the video signal of the video CD by the video control unit 17 so that the lyrics image superimposed on the background video is displayed on the display 21.
Will be displayed.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the lyrics rendering data in this embodiment. Various data are attached to the lyric characters sequentially output as the accompaniment music progresses. The page and the line are a display sequence, and indicate the order of the character group to be sequentially displayed and deleted in synchronization with the progress of the accompaniment music. The line corresponds to the character group displayed on the first and second lines in one page.

The character number is a serial number assigned to each lyric character. Attributes such as a character code, a type code, a display layout, and a sounding timing are added to the lyrics characters specified by the character numbers. The character code is the one in which the central control unit 11 designates the address of the internal kanji ROM, and a predetermined character can be extracted by referring to this. The type code is an identification code for discriminating the type of character such as solo, duet music part (male, female), or ruby. The display layout shows the coordinates when these characters are displayed on the display 21.

The sounding timing defines the time at which a singer should sound a character assigned by a character number, and the timing at which sounding is to be started and the time at which sounding is to be ended are the cumulative time from the start of reproduction of accompaniment music. It is described as In the present embodiment, the tempo clock included in the karaoke data is counted. Note that the sounding timing may be relatively counted starting from a time when a page or a line is switched.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic diagrams showing color data attached to each type code. (A) is color data describing the color set for each type code.
It is a structural diagram of a table. The color is described at each gradation level of the three primary colors RGB. Here, the color of a lyric character is displayed on a display, and the color of the outline portion surrounding the character is divided into the color of a skeleton portion inside the character surrounded by the outline portion. For the colors of these character portions, the sound start color and the sound end color are defined as the colors at the sound start timing and the sound end timing, respectively, and further, the standby color, which is the color before the sound start timing, is defined. ing. Of course, do not make the standby color the same as the pronunciation start color, or divide characters into outline parts and skeleton parts,
It may be displayed in a single color.

FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram showing an example of a color code assigned to each lyric character. Color codes for two colors, skeleton and outline color, are assigned to each character. Note that the CLUT 19 can store color data for 256 colors from No. 0 to No. 255 as described above. By assigning the 255th color as the background color in advance, when the character color is designated as the 255th color, the character is erased from the display screen. And the remaining 255 colors can be up to 127
We decided to support color codes for characters. As for the number of characters of the lyrics to be displayed on one screen, 127 characters are sufficient.

Next, the color control processing means controls the display state of the lyrics image displayed on the display based on the above-described lyrics rendering data and the table, and provides the singer with a character corresponding to the singing occasion. Information processing for adding an expression indicating a sounding timing will be described.

FIG. 4 is an example of a flowchart of information processing performed by the central control unit in the graphic processing system.
First, the central control unit extracts a group of characters for one page according to the display sequence, and assigns the skeleton part and outline part of each character sequentially from the color code 0. Then, the type code of each character is determined (101 to 103). With reference to the color data table for each type code, the corresponding standby color data for one page of characters is stored in the CLUT in association with the color code. Then, the character group of this page is displayed on the display (104, 105). Next, it is determined whether there is a character corresponding to the singing occasion in the character group of this page (106). Of course, if there are characters to be pronounced simultaneously such as ruby, two or more characters are specified.

For the character designated as the character corresponding to the singing occasion, the color data in the CLUT corresponding to the color code assigned to this character is converted to the tone generation start color data (R, G, B) = (R1 , G1, B1) (107). At this time, on the display, the character to start sounding changes from the standby color to the sounding start color. Next,
The central control unit performs processing for gradually changing the color of the corresponding character in the sounding time zone from the timing at which the sound is to be started to the timing at which the sound is to be ended.

First, a sounding time zone is obtained, and this time zone is divided into appropriate sections. Here, 1/30 seconds, which is the scanning time for one screen of the display, is set as the minimum unit of color change. For example, if the sounding time zone is 2 seconds, 2 × 30 =
60, and the number of sections s = 60. Then, the color data (R2, G2, B2) of the tone generation end color is obtained, and the color change (Δr, Δg, Δb) for each section is calculated by dividing the color change in the tone generation time zone by the number of sections. Is done.

On the other hand, in order to cause a character corresponding to a singing occasion to change a predetermined color according to its sounding time, an interrupt processing is generated every 1/30 second. In this process, the character corresponding to the singing occasion corresponds to the C code corresponding to the color code specified by the character.
The color data in the LUT is replaced with the interpolated intermediate color data obtained by sequentially adding the above-described color changes with the color data of the tone generation start color as an initial value (120).

Thus, on the display, the skeleton portion and the outline portion of the character corresponding to the singing occasion are expressed in such a manner that the color gradually changes simultaneously in the singing time zone. For example, in the case of the characters of the male part shown in FIG. 3A, the skeleton changes from blue to purple and red, and the outline changes from white to light blue and blue in multiple stages. Also, as a state of color change in a character with ruby, it is assumed that, for example, ruby “ya” and “ma” are waved on the kanji “yama” displayed in the main character string. The pronunciation time zone of "yama" is t
Let it be 1. Assuming that the sounding times of “ya” and “ma” are t2 and t3, respectively, t1 = t2 + t3. "Mountain"
And "ya" change color at the same sounding start timing. In the middle of the color change of the “mountain”, the “ya” first reaches the sounding end timing and becomes the sounding end color. At the same time, the color change of “ma” starts and the color change of “mountain” and “ma” ends at the same sounding end timing. Then, when the color change is completed for all the characters in the character group displayed on this page, the character group on this page is deleted, and the characters corresponding to the next page are controlled (112 to 114).

In this embodiment, an intermediate color for generating and interpolating between the sound generation start color and the sound generation end color is generated. However, color data for each character is arranged in the lyrics rendering data in time series. The color data may be sequentially transmitted at a timing synchronized with the progress of the accompaniment music. Also, a large number of tables showing color data for each type code are prepared so that the user can freely select them, or the user can input color data and freely change the contents of the table. An interface may be provided. Of course, the data structure may be such that color data is described for each character number of the lyrics rendering data without separately preparing this table.

In the present embodiment, color data is converted to RGB 3 data.
Although the data is expressed only by the gradation levels of the primary colors, the data describing the transparency T is added to the color data in the CLUT in addition to the RGB data. T is described as 8-bit data in the same manner as RGB color data.
There are 56 possible values. When T is 0, the background image of the lyrics image is completely transparent. Normally, by setting the transparency of the background color to 0 and the transparency of the lyrics image to 255, the lyrics image is superimposed on the image video. Then, the color control processing means can be changed so as to variably control the transparency T from the timing when the sound should be started to the timing when the sound should be ended. Thus, the singing timing may be instructed by adding an expression such as gradually fading out (fading in) the characters in the sounding time zone.

The color data is not limited to 8 bits for each of RGB, but may be represented by a small number of bits.
Further, the color data may be directly described in the video RAM without using the color code by the CLUT.

[0029]

According to the karaoke apparatus of the present invention, in the lyrics displayed on the display, even if the character corresponding to the singing time is a prolonged sound, the visibility is high and the singer easily adjusts the timing. The singing time can be indicated by the expressions that can be performed. Furthermore, it is possible to easily tune to the accompaniment music by singing while watching either the main character or ruby with respect to the rubbed character.

Further, the skeleton portion and the outline portion of the character are color-coded, and the color is changed by a different process, so that the visibility is further improved. As the color of the character, the standby color and the tone generation start color can be different colors, or the same color, or can be set freely. For this reason, expressions that are easy for the singer to visually recognize can be freely selected.

Then, a type code is attached to each lyric character,
By preparing a table in which color data for each type code is allocated, it is possible to freely specify colors only by changing the table without changing the color data for each lyrics character. In addition, it is possible to prepare a large number of tables and appropriately change the character color according to the singer's preference.

By setting a sound generation start color and a sound generation end color in advance, and generating an interpolation intermediate color filling the space between them,
Data capacity can be greatly reduced. Also, by adding transparency to the color data, it is possible to instruct the singing timing in various expressions.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a karaoke apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a structural diagram of lyrics rendering data processed by the karaoke apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining color data.
(A) is a structural diagram of a color data table for each type code, and (B) is a schematic diagram showing a color code and a color change for each character number.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of information processing by a color control processing unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Karaoke apparatus 11 Central control unit 12 Hard disk drive 13 Synthesizer 17 Video control unit 18 Video RAM 19 Color lookup table 21 Display

Claims (7)

[Claims] The karaoke accompaniment music is processed by synchronizing lyric rendering data including information such as a lyric character string, a display layout, a display sequence, and a singing timing instruction of the tune with the output processing of the karaoke accompaniment music. In the lyrics display system of a karaoke apparatus which sequentially generates lyrics images in synchronization with progression and superimposes and displays the lyrics images, the following requirements (1)
A singing timing instruction method, characterized by adding an expression indicating a singing timing to the lyrics image displayed by (3). (1) Singing timing data is attached to each character of the lyric character string included in the lyric rendering data, and the singing timing data should include timing information for starting the sounding of the corresponding character and ending the sounding. The timing information is expressed directly or indirectly. (2) A graphic processing system that generates a lyric image and superimposes and displays the lyric image is a character outline portion encompassing the entire character font for each character of the displayed lyric image, or a character skeleton surrounded by the character outline portion. There is a color control processing means for simultaneously and variably controlling one or both of the display colors. (3) The color control processing means controls the display color of the character to a prescribed sounding start color at the timing at which the sounding is to be started, based on the singing timing data attached to one character being displayed. Then, the display color is changed to the sound ending color according to a specified color change process from the time to the timing at which the sound ending is to be performed. 2. The character corresponding to the singing occasion according to claim 1, wherein the display color of the outline portion and the skeleton portion is different at the timing at which the sound is to be started, and the color control processing means starts the sounding. At the power timing, the display color of the outline portion and the skeleton portion of the character is controlled to a prescribed sounding start color, and the display color of the outline portion and the skeleton portion is changed from that point toward the timing at which the sound should be ended. A singing timing instruction method, wherein the display colors of the outline portion and the skeleton portion are changed to respective sounding end colors in accordance with different color change processes. 3. The superimposed lyric character according to claim 1, wherein the lyric character displayed in the superimposed mode changes from the standby color, which is the display color up to that time, to another utterance start color when the timing to generate the utterance is reached. A singing timing instruction method, wherein the singing timing is gradually changed from the time to the sound ending color toward the timing at which the sound is to be ended. 4. The utterance character according to claim 1, wherein the superimposed displayed lyric character is changed from a standby color, which is a display color up to that time, to the utterance ending color when the timing to generate the utterance is reached. A singing timing instruction method characterized by gradually changing to a timing to be performed. 5. The color control processing means according to claim 1, wherein each of the lyrics characters included in the lyrics rendering data has a type code for designating a solo part, a duet part, or the like. Controlling the display color of the lyric character by referring to a comparison table in which display colors are assigned according to the type codes. 6. The singing timing according to claim 1, wherein the pronunciation start color and the pronunciation end color are defined for lyric characters included in the lyric rendering data. Based on the data, the sounding time zone between the timing to start sounding and the timing to end sounding is divided into an appropriate number of sections, and the character corresponding to the singing timing is the number of sections from the sounding start color. A singing occasion instruction method, wherein a character corresponding to the singing occasion is changed in color by generating an interpolation intermediate color that changes stepwise toward the pronunciation end color for each section. 7. The superimposed lyric character according to claim 1, wherein the lyric character displayed in the superimposed manner is displayed with a specified utterance start transparency together with the utterance start color specified at the timing to be uttered. The display state of the image displayed behind the lyric character is gradually changed from the time point toward the timing at which the sound is to be ended to the sound generation end color and gradually changed to the sound generation end transparency. A singing timing indication method, wherein is displayed while gradually changing.