JPH08123818A - Musical information retrieving system and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To enable even a non-professional to surely and easily retrieve the desired music names, etc., by outputting the musical information in response to the index information that is retrieved based on the similarity calculated between the music melody information and the index information. CONSTITUTION: A music information storage means 110 stores the digitized music information and its index information. A music melody information input means 120 shows a melody input screen on a display means 10 and inputs the music melody information at an optional position of the melody input screen. Thus a retrieving means 130 calculates the similarity between the music melody information and the index information stored in the means 110 based on the input music melody information and retrieves the index information based on the calculated similarity to output the music information corresponding to the index information retrieved by a music information output means 140. In such a constitution, each sound level change can be visually inputted without inputting partly the melody of the music information to be retrieved onto the staff notation in response to the tune of the music information and at an absolute interval.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a music information retrieval system and a music information retrieval method, in which a part or all of the melody of music information to be retrieved is input to retrieve desired music information. The present invention relates to a system and a music information search method. For details, when searching for music information from a database that stores a lot of music information in a broadcasting station or an information center that distributes music information, enter the melody of the desired music information to search for the music information. The present invention relates to a music information search system and a music information search method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are the following methods as a method for retrieving desired music information from stored music information. In the first conventional method, a bibliographic search index such as "song name" or "singer name" is added to the accumulated music information, and the searcher uses the "song name" or "singer name" as a search key. , Or the like to search for desired music information. For example, if the record format of the database that stores music information is composed of “song name, singer name, composer, music information”, the searcher selects “song name = aine cine line” or “song name = aine cine line”. You can enter part or all of the song name as a search condition, such as "Nahatom Sieg," or a logical expression consisting of the song name and composer, such as "Song name = Aine Kleine and composer = Mozart." To search for desired music information.

In the second conventional method, melody information is added to the accumulated music information, and a searcher uses a mouse, a keyboard or the like to partially or entirely tune the desired music information. Enter it as a note in the notation displayed on the screen,
The melody information corresponding to the input melody is collated with the stored melody information to search for matching or similar music information.

In the third conventional method, melody information is added to the accumulated music information, and the searcher hums and inputs a part of the melody of the desired music information, and the inputted melody is used. This is a method of calculating the similarity between the corresponding melody information and the stored melody information, searching for any number of melody information in descending order of similarity, and obtaining music information corresponding to the melody information. . FIG. 14 shows a system configuration diagram of the third conventional method. Music information retrieval system 10 shown in FIG.
0 is composed of a musical notation unit 105, a melody matching unit 130, and a music database 110, and a microphone 5 for inputting humming is connected.

The music database 110 is a database that stores digitized music information, and in addition to music information, melody information that is index information, song titles, and the like are stored. For example, when the record format is “melody information, song name, singer name, composer, music information”, data such as “GDGDDGDGBD ...

[0006] The transcription unit 105 converts the melody input by the searcher using the microphone 5 by humming into melody information and inputs it to the melody matching unit 130. The melody matching unit 130 receives the melody information and the music database 1 input from the transcription unit 105.
The similarity is calculated by collating with the melody information of each record stored in 10 (similarity calculation algorithm is omitted). Then, an arbitrary number of pieces of melody information are searched in descending order from pieces of melody information having a high degree of similarity, and music information corresponding to the piece of melody information, that is, music information that is considered to be close to the piece of melody input by the searcher, is used as the search result. Output. For example,
As described above, in the music database 110, when the record of “GDDGDGDGBD ... The inputted melody information matches the melody information in the record, and the similarity is "1". This allows the searcher to hum and search for desired music information.

[0007]

However, the above conventional method has the following problems. The first method of the related art is desirable when the searcher cannot think of bibliographical information such as a song name or a singer name, but can imagine a melody, but does not remember the song name and singer name well. There is a problem that music information cannot be retrieved.

In the second conventional method, since a music expert or a person who has knowledge of music is assumed as a searcher, knowledge about music, especially music score can be understood, and the melody which is imaged is displayed on the staff notation. This is a search method that requires the ability to express with musical notes, and it is difficult for people who do not have knowledge of music to search. Also,
When the memory of the melody itself is ambiguous, such as music caught in the ear, it is very difficult to input the melody as a note on the staff.

In the third conventional method, a searcher inputs a search condition by humming a part of a melody in order to search for desired music information, so that knowledge about music is not required. However, there is a problem in that it is difficult to confirm the search condition because the sound being hummed, that is, the search condition must be listened to and checked while humming. If the desired search result is not obtained even after humming, the hamming must be repeated many times. In addition, even if it is difficult to correct only a part of the melody input by humming, it is difficult to correct only a part of the melody, so the entire input melody must be re-hammed. For example, if you input a melody for 4 bars in humming and notice that there is an error in the pitch of the last note at the 4th bar, only the last note at the 4th bar will be hummed again. Not all four bars have to be hummed. Moreover, even if the portion was successfully hummed last time, it is not always possible to hum correctly again when humming again, and there is a possibility that a slight difference occurs in the pitch and the length. In addition, it is difficult to express a song with a wide range, a complicated melody, or a melody with an ambiguous memory by humming. There is also a problem that it is difficult to apply this method to a person who is not good at humming. Another problem with Hamming is that it is not possible to input the main melody, the sub-melody, or a chord by itself.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is possible for a person who is not a music expert or a person who has knowledge of music to
Music information search system and music information search method capable of accurately and easily searching music information such as desired music and song name by visually creating and inputting melody of desired music on the screen The purpose is to provide. It is another object of the present invention to provide a music information search system and a music information search method capable of actually confirming whether a visually created melody is suitable as a melody of desired music as a sound.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a music information retrieval system and a music information retrieval method capable of visually creating or modifying a desired music melody by trial and error. Another object of the present invention is to provide a music information search system and a music information search method capable of simultaneously inputting not only the main melody but also a plurality of tones such as chords on the screen.

[0012]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of the present invention. The music information retrieval system 100 of the present invention is
Music information storage means 110 for storing digitized music information and index information of the music information, and a melody input screen displayed on the display means 10, and music melody for inputting music melody information at an arbitrary position on the melody input screen. Information input means 1
20 and a search unit 130 that calculates the similarity between the index information of the music information storage unit 110 based on the music melody information input by the music melody information input unit 120 and searches the index information based on the similarity. And a music information output unit 140 that outputs music information corresponding to the retrieved index information.

The search means 130 has means for searching the music information storage means 110 for at least one index information in descending order from the index information having the highest similarity. Further, the music melody information storage unit 150 that temporarily stores the music melody information input by the music melody information input unit 120, and the music melody information stored in the music melody information storage unit 150 are converted into analog signals to produce a sound. The music melody information output means 160 for outputting and the music melody information stored in the music melody information storage means 150 are displayed on the display means 10, and the user appropriately selects the sound output from the music melody information output means 160. It further has a correction means 170 for making a correction.

Further, the music melody information output means 160 has a sound database in which a plurality of digitized sounds are stored, and sounds corresponding to the music melody information stored in the music melody information storage means 150 are generated. It further has means for searching and outputting from the database. Further, the music melody information input means 120 includes chord input means for inputting a main melody as music melody information and also a sub melody accompanying the main melody.

Further, the music melody information input means 120 determines music melody information which determines music melody information by the position of the intersection of the vertical axis and the horizontal axis, with the vertical axis as pitch and the horizontal axis as time as a melody input screen. Including means. In addition, integers are displayed on the vertical and horizontal axes of the melody input screen as a guide for input. Further, the music melody information input means 120 and the music melody information storage means 15
0, a terminal device having a music melody information output means 160 and a correction means 170, a center side device having a music information storage means 110, a search means 130, and a music information output means 140.

FIG. 2 shows a flow chart illustrating the principle of the present invention. The music information retrieval method of the present invention is a music information retrieval method for retrieving and outputting pre-stored music information based on melody information designated by a user, in which the user uses a melody input screen A part of the information is simplified and inputted (step 1), and music information similar to the inputted music melody information is searched and outputted (step 2).

Further, a part of the inputted music melody information is output and stored as a sound, and when the searched music information is outputted, a part of the music melody information inputted by the user is displayed again. If necessary, the correction input and a part of the stored music melody information are corrected. Further, as a melody input screen, information indicating the pitch length and the pitch is arranged on the horizontal axis and the vertical axis on the screen, and the intersection of the horizontal axis and the vertical axis is the input position of the music melody information.

[0018]

The music information search system and the music information search method according to the present invention are arranged such that a part of the melody of the music information to be searched is
Instead of inputting in absolute pitch like "CDE" on the staff in accordance with the key of the music information, visually see how the pitch of each note changes without being captured by the key of the music information. Can be entered manually. That is, even if the beginning sound of the desired music information is "C", it is not always necessary to input it as "C", and whether the pitch of consecutive sounds is high or low based on an arbitrary pitch is determined. You can enter it visually. As a result, even a music expert or a person who has no knowledge of music can easily input a melody on the screen.

Further, since the melody created visually can be confirmed as the actual sound, the user can confirm whether or not the created melody is suitable as the melody of the desired music information before searching. It can be modified if necessary. Also, since the melody entered by the user is displayed on the screen as visual information and the information is stored internally, the screen corresponding to the entered melody can be displayed again, and only the parts that need correction on the screen are corrected. You do not have to enter all the melody again.

Further, since the melody is input on the screen, it is possible to easily input even a melody that produces a plurality of sounds at the same time, such as a chord.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of the music information search system according to the first embodiment of this invention. The music information search system shown in the figure is configured by connecting an information search terminal device 400 and an information center device 500 to each other.

The music information, sound information, music melody information, visual information, search melody information and collation melody information used in this embodiment will be described below. The music information represents music that can be listened to as a sound in addition to bibliographical information such as a song name and a composer name. Further, it includes matching melody information, which will be described later, as index information for searching.

The tone information represents symbols such as "C" and "D" indicating pitches. The music melody information represents a melody of music that can be heard as a sound and information that encodes the melody. The visual information represents the information displayed on the screen on which the music melody information is input.

The melody information for retrieval is the information retrieval terminal device 40.
It is a search condition of music information that is generated based on music melody information input by a searcher at 0. The matching melody information is index information added to the music information of the information center device 500 for music information search. less than,
An outline of the operation of the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The information search terminal device 400 issues a search request to the information center device 500 based on the music melody information input on the screen to search for the desired music information, and the information center device 500 sends the desired music. Get information. Therefore, the information retrieval terminal device 400 inputs music melody information on the display screen, and the information center device 50 uses this information.
Make a search request to 0.

The information center device 500 transmits the search candidates to the information search terminal device 400 based on the search request. The information search terminal device 400 selects a desired candidate from the acquired search candidates, notifies the information center device 500, and acquires and outputs music information corresponding to the selected candidate from the information center device 500. That is, the present invention inputs the sound of the image to be searched for on the simple display screen of the information search terminal device 400 as the position information, and converts the searched information into sound for confirmation.

The information retrieval terminal device 400 includes a first line controller 410, a first controller 420 and a sound database 43.
0, display unit 440, mouse 450, and speaker 46
It consists of zero. The first line control unit 410 mutually communicates between the information search terminal device 400 and the information center device 500.

The first control unit 420 displays a melody input screen on the display unit 440, and sends a music information search request based on the music melody information that the searcher inputs on the screen using the mouse 450. The music information is issued to the device 500 and the retrieved music information is output to the speaker 460. Details will be described later. The sound database 430 is a sound database in which a plurality of digitized pitches are stored.

The display unit 440 is a device for displaying a simple melody input screen for inputting a part of music melody information. The mouse 450 is a device for instructing coordinates used by the searcher to input music melody information based on a melody input screen displayed on the display unit 440. The speaker 460 outputs the music melody information or the search result music information input by the searcher as a sound.

The configuration of the first control section 420 will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the first controller of the information search terminal device according to the first embodiment of this invention. The first control unit 420 shown in the figure includes a visual information creation / correction unit 421 including a memory 422 and a melody information generation unit 423,
And a sound information output unit 424. The visual information creation / correction unit 421 displays a melody input screen for the searcher to input music melody information on the display unit 440, and interacts with the searcher to display a part of the melody of the music information desired by the searcher. Create or modify visually. In addition, the position information on the melody input screen designated by the searcher using the mouse 450 when inputting music melody information is converted into sound information representing a pitch and stored in the memory 422. The creation / correction of music melody information and the conversion of position information into sound information will be described together with the description of the melody input screen below.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a melody input screen according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The melody input screen shown in the figure is
It is a screen for inputting the melody of the music information to be searched as a relationship between time (x _t ) and pitch (y _h ).
The searcher inputs the melody of the desired music information as a pitch in the order of x _t = 1, 2, .... Pitch of the melody input screen (y _h )
Every halftone is half a tone. However, in the case of a staff, the pitch difference between the lines is not constant. For example, the lowermost line of the musical notation represents "E", the second lowermost line represents "G", and the pitch difference between these is three semitones. However,
The third line from the bottom represents "B", so 2 from the bottom
The pitch difference between the third line and the third line from the bottom is four semitones. In addition, the sound of "E" can be expressed by the lowermost line in the staff, but the sound of "F #" has a symbol "#" between the lowermost line and the line above it. I have to express it.

On the melody input screen, each pitch (y _h )
Instead of assigning a specific pitch to, the searcher can specify and set any pitch. In this embodiment, the searcher uses the mouse 450 to move the mouse cursor (black arrow at the position (1, 3) in the figure) to an arbitrary pitch (y _h ) on the pitch scale of the melody input screen. By pressing the button, the sound of "G" can be assigned. As a result, the searcher does not need to be conscious of the key when inputting the music melody information.

Further, in order to correct the inputted melody, the mouse 450 is used to move the mouse cursor to the position (x _t , y _h ) of the desired portion of the melody which has been already inputted on the melody input screen. It may be moved to a desired position while pressing the button. Further, two fields “tone request” and “search request” represented by a rectangle on the right side in FIG. 5 are command fields for the searcher to give an instruction to the information search terminal device 400. Visual information creation / correction unit 421
When the searcher presses the button of the mouse 450 in the “sound request” or “search request” field, the input music melody information is output by sound or melody information for search (hereinafter referred to as melody information based on the music melody information). , Melody information for search) is output to output the sound information stored in the memory 422.

In the present embodiment, an example in which the pitch is input on the melody input screen will be described. However, not only the pitch but also the tone, the strength of the tone, the timbre, etc. can be specified in various ways by the searcher's instruction. Is. An example of correcting the melody on the melody input screen will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining input and correction of a melody on the melody input screen according to the first embodiment of this invention.

The mouse 4 is used by the searcher to input a sound as music melody information at a position indicated by a white circle (○) in the figure.
Move the mouse cursor of 50 to the position of a and move the mouse 45
Just press the 0 button. Similarly, in order to input the sound at the positions of b and c, the mouse cursor may be moved to the positions of a (2, 3) and b (3, 2) and the button may be pressed. Next, in order to move the sound at the position a (1,3) to the position a '(1,5), first move the cursor of the mouse 450 to a (1,3) and move the mouse 450. It is sufficient to move the mouse cursor to a '(1,5) while pressing the button and release the button. As a result, the sound input to a (1,3) can be moved to a '(1,5). Similarly, the sound of c (3,2) is changed to c '(4,
You can also move to position 2).

Further, the visual information is created and modified using the above FIG.
If the music part information is created / corrected in the main part 421,
How the music melody information is stored in the memory 422 will be described.
Three notes are music melody information at positions a, b, and c of white circles in FIG.
Is input to the memory 422 as a, b, and c.
Information corresponding to one sound is stored in this order. memory
422 includes a (1,3), b (2,3), c (3,
2) may be stored, but in this embodiment, it is recognized as a sound.
Converts location information to sound information and stores it for ease
You. This pitch information is used for any pitch (y_h)
Pitch relative to the pitch “G” assigned to
Is represented by a symbol. Eg y _h= 6, that is, the pitch
If the sound of "G" is assigned to "6", it is assigned to a (1,3).
When music melody information is input, visual information creation / correction unit 4
The position information (1, 3) is input to 21. Visual information
The creation / correction unit 421 detects that this position information (1, 3)
Y to which the sound of "G" is assigned_h= 3 semitones than 6
Since it is a low sound, convert it to sound information that represents the sound of "E"
Remember. In the example of FIG. 6, the sound input on the melody input screen
The music information (white circles in the figure) is "E, E, D #"
It is stored in the memory 422.

Further, the positions a (1, 3) and c in FIG.
The sounds of (3, 2) are a '(1, 5) and c' (4,
When moved to 2), the contents stored in the memory 422 will be “F”.
#, E, D # ”. The melody information generation unit 423
When the sound information is transferred from the visual information creation / correction unit 421, search melody information is generated based on the sound information, and a search request including the search melody information is created and issued to the information center apparatus 500. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the search melody information is a numerical representation of the relative pitch difference between the notes of the note information stored in the memory 422. Details will be described in detail in the music database 530.

When the sound information stored in the memory 422 of the visual information creation / correction unit 421 is transferred, the sound information output unit 424 stores the actual sound corresponding to each pitch of the sound information in the sound database. The data is read from 430, D / A converted (not shown), and output to the speaker 460.
Thus, the searcher can confirm the sound information, that is, the input music melody information as a sound. Therefore, the searcher can listen to the output sound and correct the input sound as necessary. The correction will be described later.

The information center device 500 includes a second line controller 510, a second controller 520, and a music database 53.
0, and the melody information search unit 540. The second line control unit 510 mutually communicates between the information center device 500 and the information search terminal device 400. The second control unit 520 extracts the search melody information from the search request issued by the information search terminal device 400 and outputs it to the melody information search unit 540.

The music database 530 is a database in which digitized music information and its melody information (hereinafter referred to as matching melody information) are stored. FIG.
It is a figure which shows the example of a storage of the music database of the 1st Example of this invention. The music database 530 shown in the figure includes melody information for collation, song name, composer, and music information.

As the music information, digitized music information is stored and can be reproduced as an actual sound by performing D / A conversion (not shown). The song title and composer indicate the song title and composer name of the stored music information, respectively. The matching melody information is information in which the melody of the stored music information is quantified as a relative pitch difference between each note (a semitone is 1). For example, the melody information of the melody of "G, G, G, D #" is the pitch difference "0" between "G" and "G",
Similarly, the pitch difference between "0", "G" and "D #" is "4", and "D #" is lower than "G".
If it is "#", it will be "-4" and will be "0-4". Since the melody information for search generated by the melody information generation unit 423 of the information search terminal device 400 has the same format, this information is used as a key for searching.

The melody information search unit 540 calculates the similarity between the search melody information included in the search request input from the information search terminal device 400 and the matching melody information of each record of the music database 530, and the similarity is calculated. An arbitrary number of matching melody information items are searched for in descending order, and the number of corresponding records and information obtained by removing the matching melody information items from the records are used as the information search terminal device 400 in descending order of similarity.
Output to.

The operation of the first embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. (Step 101) The visual information creation / correction unit 421 of the information search terminal device 400 sends screen information for the searcher to search for music information to the display unit 440, whereby the display unit 440 displays part of the melody. Display the melody input screen for inputting.

(Step 102) Information retrieval terminal device 4
The visual information creation / correction unit 421 of 00 updates the screen information on the display unit 440 based on the music melody information input by the searcher, and stores the sound information corresponding to the music melody information in the memory 422. Detailed processing of step 102 will be described later. (Step 103) The visual information creation / correction unit 421 of the information search terminal device 400 receives the “sound request” from the searcher (in the present embodiment, the correction mode is automatically set after outputting the sound). To step 104,
When the "search request" is input, the process proceeds to step 107.

(Step 104) When a “sound request” is input from the searcher in step 103, the visual information creation / correction unit 421 of the information search terminal device 400 is in the memory 42.
The sound information stored in No. 2 is transferred to the sound information output unit 424. (Step 105) The sound information output unit 424 of the information retrieval terminal device 400 reads out the actual sound corresponding to each pitch of the sound information transferred from the visual information creation / correction unit 421 from the sound database 430 and outputs it to the speaker 460. Output it and ask them to judge the necessity of correcting the music melody information.

(Step 106) Information retrieval terminal device 4
The visual information creation / correction unit 421 of 00 updates the melody input screen based on the correction information input by the searcher, updates the sound information stored in the memory 422, and proceeds to step 103. Detailed processing of step 106 will be described later. (Step 107) When the “search request” is input from the searcher in step 103, the visual information creation / correction unit 421 of the information search terminal device 400 converts the sound information stored in the memory 422 into the melody information generation unit 423. Transfer to.

(Step 108) Information retrieval terminal device 4
When the sound information is transferred from the visual information creation / correction unit 421, the melody information generation unit 423 of 00 generates search melody information based on the sound information, and generates a search request including the search melody information. . (Step 109) The melody information generation unit 423 of the information search terminal device 400 issues the generated search request to the information center device 500 via the first line control unit 410.

(Step 110) Information center device 50
The second line control unit 510 of 0 is the information search terminal device 40.
The search request issued by 0 is received and output to the second control unit 520. (Step 111) The second control unit 520 of the information center device 500 extracts the search melody information from the search request input from the second line control unit 510 and outputs it to the melody information search unit 540.

(Step 112) Information center device 50
The zero melody information search unit 540 calculates the similarity between the search melody information input from the second control unit 520 and the matching melody information of each record in the music database 530, and the matching having the maximum similarity is performed. Search for an arbitrary number of records in descending order from the melody information. (Step 113) The melody information search unit 540 of the information center apparatus 500 notifies the information search terminal apparatus 400 of the number of search results of Step 112.

(Step 114) Information center device 50
The melody information search unit 540 of 0 retrieves the song name and composer necessary for displaying the search result menu from the record of the search result of step 112 in the information search terminal device 400, and the information search terminal device 400 in the order of the record with the highest similarity. Send to. (Step 115) When the information search terminal device 400 receives, as a search result, the song name and composer name required for menu display, the information search terminal device 400 outputs the search result to the display unit 440. At this time, when a plurality of search results are acquired, they are output in the order of reception.

(Step 116) Information Retrieval Terminal Device 4
00 requests the information center device 500 for music information corresponding to the search result selected by the searcher with the mouse 450. (Step 117) The information center apparatus 500 reads the music information requested by the information search terminal apparatus 400 from the music database 530 and sends it to the information search apparatus 400.

(Step 118) Information retrieval terminal device 4
00 acquires the music information sent from the information center apparatus 500, D / A converts it, and outputs it to the speaker 460 as a sound (not shown). The operation of the music melody information input processing in step 102 will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the operation of the music melody information input processing of the first embodiment of the present invention.

(Step 1021) The visual information creation / correction unit 421 acquires the position information at which the searcher inputs the music melody information on the melody input screen. (Step 1022) Visual information creation / correction unit 421
Displays a mark (in this embodiment, a white circle (○)) indicating that the music melody information has been input, at a position corresponding to the acquired position information on the melody input screen.

(Step 1023) The visual information creation / correction unit 421 converts the acquired position information into sound information. (Step 1024) Visual information creation / correction unit 421
Stores the converted sound information in the memory 422 at a position corresponding to the position information in the memory 422. (Step 1025) Visual information creation / correction unit 421
If the searcher has not finished inputting the music melody information, the process proceeds to step 1021, and if finished, the process returns to step 103.

The operation of the correction process of the music melody information in step 106 will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 10
It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the music melody information correction process of the 1st Example of this invention. (Step 1061) Visual information creation / correction unit 421
Acquires the correction position information corresponding to the music melody information to be corrected by the searcher on the melody input screen and the movement destination position information.

(Step 1062) The visual information creation / correction unit 421 clears the mark (◯) displayed at the position corresponding to the corrected position information on the melody input screen. (Step 1063) Visual information creation / correction unit 421
Displays a mark (◯) indicating that the music melody information has been input at a position corresponding to the movement destination position information on the melody input screen.

(Step 1064) Of the sound information stored in the memory 422, the visual information creation / correction unit 421 clears the sound information stored in the position corresponding to the corrected position information. (Step 1065) Visual information creation / correction unit 421
Converts the acquired destination position information into sound information.

(Step 1066) The visual information creation / correction unit 421 stores the converted sound information at the position corresponding to the destination position information in the memory 422 and stores it in Step 103.
Return to. Hereinafter, a specific example of the first embodiment will be described. First, a description will be given of how the searcher inputs music melody information. As a precondition, it is assumed that the searcher inputs the melody information shown in FIG.

Creation of visual information of the information retrieval terminal device 400
The correction unit 421 displays a melody input screen on the display unit 440 (FIG. 5).
Is displayed (step 101). The visual information creation / correction unit 421 acquires the position information (1, 6) of the music melody information input by the searcher on the melody input screen (step 102).
1), a mark indicating that the music melody information is input is displayed at the position of the position information (1, 6) (∘) (step 1022).

The visual information creation / correction unit 421 converts the acquired position information (1, 6) into sound information "G" (step 1023) and stores it at the beginning of the memory 422 (step 1024). Since the searcher has not finished inputting the music melody information (step 1025, NO), the visual information creation / correction unit 421 acquires the next position information (2, 6) (step 1021), and the position information concerned. A mark indicating that the music melody information has been input at the positions (2, 6) is indicated by (○).
It is displayed (step 1022).

The visual information creation / correction unit 421 converts the acquired position information (2, 6) into sound information "G" (step 1023) and stores it in the second from the beginning of the memory 422 (step 1024). After that, when all the music melody information of FIG. 11 (A) is input, the sound information stored in the memory 422 becomes as shown in FIG. 11 (B).

Next, following the above, the searcher makes a "sound request".
Is input, and the music melody information (FIG. 11A) is displayed in FIG.
A specific example in the case of correction as shown in (A) will be shown. The visual information creation / correction unit 421 of the information search terminal device 400 receives the “sound request” from the searcher (step 1
03, "sound request"), the sound information stored in the memory 422 corresponding to the music melody information input by the searcher (Fig. 12).
(B)) is transferred to the sound information output unit 424 (step 1)
04).

Sound information output unit 4 of the information retrieval terminal device 400
Reference numeral 24 denotes the sound information transferred from the visual information creation / correction unit 421, the actual sound corresponding to each pitch of “G, G, G, D #, F, F, F”
And outputs the melody composed of the sound information to the speaker 460 as a sound (step 105). This allows the searcher to confirm the music melody information and make corrections.

Creation of visual information of the information retrieval terminal device 400
The correction unit 421 corrects position information (4, 3) corresponding to the music melody information that the searcher tries to correct on the melody input screen.
And destination position information (4, 2) are acquired (step 1061). The visual information creation / correction unit 421 clears the mark (○) displayed by setting the position of the correction position information (4, 3) on the melody input screen to (0, 0) (step 1062), and moves. A mark (○) indicating that music melody information has been input at the position of the previous position information (4, 2)
Is displayed (step 1063).

The visual information creation / correction unit 421 is provided in the memory 4
As the sound information corresponding to the correction position information (4, 3) of No. 22, the sound information “E” (FIG. 11B) stored fourth from the beginning is cleared (step 1064). Visual information creation / correction The unit 421 converts the destination position information (4, 2) into the sound information “D #” (step 1065), and the fourth position from the beginning of the memory 422, that is, the above step 1
The sound information “E” is stored at the position where the sound information “E” is cleared in 064 (FIG. 12 (B)) and the process returns to step 103 (step 106
6).

Next, a specific example in the case where the "search request" is input by the searcher will be shown. As a precondition, it is assumed that the music database 530 of the information center device 500 stores the data of FIG. Information retrieval terminal device 4
Since the “search request” is input from the searcher (step 103, “search request”), the visual information creation / modification unit 421 of 00 has sound information (FIG. 1) stored in the memory 422.
2 (B)) is transferred to the melody information generation unit 423 (step 107).

The melody information generation unit 423 of the information retrieval terminal device 400, based on the sound information “G, G, G, D #, F, F, F” transferred from the visual information creation / correction unit 421, Search melody information (FIG. 12 (C)), "0 0 -4 +2 0 0" is generated, and a search request including the search melody information, "search request: 0 0 -4 +2 0 0" is generated. (Step 108).

The melody information generation unit 423 of the information search terminal device 400 issues a search request to the information center device 500 via the first line control unit 410 (step 109).
The information center apparatus 500 extracts the search melody information "0 0 -4 +2 0 0" from the search request issued by the information search terminal apparatus 400 and outputs it to the melody information search unit 540 (steps 110 and 111).

Melody information retrieval unit 5 of information center device 500
40 is the inputted melody information for search, "0 0 -4 +2 0 0", and melody information for collation of each record of the music database 530 (Fig. 6), "0 0 -4 +2 0 0 -4 ...". "-5 +5 -5 +5 -5 +5 +4 +3
... ": The similarity is calculated, and an arbitrary number (6 in this embodiment) of matching melody information," 0 0 -4 +2 0 0-", is calculated in descending order from the melody information having the maximum similarity. 4 ... ”(similarity = 1.0) A record having 6 other pieces of melody information (matching melody information),“ matching melody information = 0 0 -4 +2 0 0 -4
..., song name = F, composer = B, music information = ... ": is searched (step 112).

Melody information retrieval unit 5 of information center device 500
40 notifies the information search terminal device 400 of the number of the search results of step 112 as “search confirmation: 6”, and includes a song name and a composer from the record of the search results, “music information number # 1: song name = F, composer = B ”: Information of“ music information number # 6: song name = ..., Composer = ... ”is sent to the information retrieval terminal device 400 (steps 113 and 114).

When the information search terminal device 400 receives the search result from the information center device 500, the six search results based on the search result are “1. song title = F composer = B”: “6. song title = The composer = ... ”menu is output to the display unit 440 (step 11).
5).

The information search terminal device 400 sends to the information center device 500 the music information corresponding to "1" selected by the searcher with the mouse 450, "music information number # 1: song name = F, composer = B". Request (step 11)
6).

The information center apparatus 500 reads from the music database 530 the music information corresponding to "music information number # 1: song name = F, composer = B" requested by the information retrieval terminal apparatus 400, and the information retrieval apparatus Send to 400 (step 11)
7). The information retrieval terminal device 400 is the information center device 50.
Music information is acquired from 0, D / A converted (not shown), and then output as sound to the speaker 460 (step 1
18).

According to the first embodiment, the searcher visually creates a part of the melody of the desired music information, repeats the correction while confirming part of the created melody by sound, and searches. It becomes possible to do. Further, since the sound information corresponding to the music melody information created by the searcher as the visual information is stored in the memory 422 of the visual information creation / correction unit 421, when the music melody information is modified, the sound information is added to the sound information. Based on this, it is possible to immediately redraw the melody input screen.
Also, the sound information output unit 424 is used by the visual information creation / correction unit 4
By inputting the sound information obtained by converting the position information (x _t , y _h ) instead of the position information (x _t , y _h ) from 21, it is possible to easily grasp the pitch.

Further, the information search terminal device 400 does not receive all the music information of the search result from the information center device 500, but only the bibliographic information corresponding to the search result such as the song name and the composer name. Then, the information center device 500 is presented to the searcher to request the music information of the music title selected by the searcher from the information center device 500. This eliminates the need for the information retrieval terminal device 400 to store a large amount of music information at one time.

Next, as a second embodiment, an example in which the searcher inputs a part of the auxiliary melody in addition to the main melody, that is, a chord is described. The system configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention is similar to that of the first embodiment described above. However, the format of the sound information stored in the memory 422 by the visual information creation / correction unit 421 and the format of the search melody information generated by the melody information generation unit 423 based on the sound information is the same as in the first embodiment. different. Hereinafter, an example of sound information and melody information when a searcher inputs a part of the melody information in chords will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of visual information, sound information, and search melody information according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

The searcher uses a part of the music melody information as shown in FIG.
When a chord is input as shown in (A), the visual information creation / correction unit 421 displays the “(D, F #) shown in FIG. 13B based on the visual information shown in FIG. 13A. The sound information of (D, G #) (D, F #) ... ”is stored in the memory 422.

Further, the melody information generation unit 423 is shown in FIG.
When the sound information shown in FIG. 13B is input, the search melody information of “(0, +2) (0, −2) ...” shown in FIG. 13C is generated. In the case of the second embodiment, the matching melody information of the music database 530 also stores data in the format shown in FIG. 13C in the part corresponding to the chord.

A specific example of the second embodiment will be described below. As a precondition, it is assumed that the visual information, the sound information, and the melody information created by the melody input by the searcher are as shown in FIG. 13, and that the information search terminal device 400 issues a search request to the information center device 500. To do. The visual information creation / correction unit 421 of the information search terminal device 400
The melody input screen (FIG. 5) is displayed on the display unit 440 (step 101).

The visual information creation / correction unit 421 acquires the position information (1, 1) (1, 5) of the music melody information input by the searcher on the melody input screen (step 1021),
A mark indicating that the music melody information has been input is displayed at the position of the position information (1, 1) (1, 5) (◯) (step 1022). The visual information creation / correction unit 421 converts the acquired position information (1, 1) (1, 5) into sound information (D, F).
It is converted to #) (step 1023) and stored at the beginning of the memory 422 (step 1024).

Since the searcher has not finished inputting the music melody information (step 1025, NO), the visual information creation / correction unit 421 determines the next position information (2, 1) (2, 1).
7) is acquired (step 1021), and a mark indicating that the music melody information has been input is displayed at the position of the position information (2, 1) (2, 7) (◯) (step 102).
2).

The visual information creation / correction unit 421 converts the acquired position information (2, 1) (2, 7) into sound information (D, G #) (step 1023), and the second from the top of the memory 422. (Step 1024). After that, FIG.
When all the music melody information of (A) is input, the memory 42
The sound information stored in No. 2 is as shown in FIG.

Creation of visual information of the information retrieval terminal device 400
Since the “search request” has been input from the searcher (step 103, “search request”), the correction unit 421 has the memory 4
The sound information (FIG. 13 (B)) stored in No. 22 is transferred to the melody information generation unit 423 (step 107). The melody information generation unit 423 of the information search terminal device 400 is based on the sound information “(D, F #) (D, G #) (D, F #)” transferred from the visual information creation / correction unit 421. , Melody information for search (FIG. 13 (C)), "(0, +2) (0, -2)" is generated, and a search request including the melody information for search, "search request: (0, +2) ( 0, -2) "is generated (step 108).

The melody information generation unit 423 of the information search terminal device 400 issues a search request to the information center device 500 via the first line control unit 410 (step 109).
After that, the information center apparatus 500 calculates the similarity between the search melody information and the matching melody information stored in the music database 530, and transmits the search result to the information search terminal apparatus 400 based on the calculation result. .

According to the second embodiment, the searcher can search for a part of the melody of a desired music with a plurality of notes such as chords, and particularly when searching for music with an impressive chord. It becomes possible to perform a search efficiently. In the above embodiment, the sound information corresponding to the input music melody information is output as a sound only when the sound request is input from the searcher. However, the searcher inputs the melody using the mouse 450. It is also possible to generate a sound corresponding to the pitch each time one pitch is input on the screen and to confirm the pitch one by one in the process of creating visual information.

Further, in the above embodiment, the information retrieval terminal device 400 is provided with the sound database 430 and the sound information output unit 424, and when the "sound request" is input from the searcher,
Although the example in which the device 400 outputs the sound based on the sound information in the memory 422 has been shown, the sound database 430 and the sound information output unit 424 are provided in the information center device 500 without being limited to this example. When a “sound request” is input to the search terminal device 400 from the searcher, the sound information stored in the memory 422 is output to the melody information generation unit 423 to generate melody information for search, and then to the information center device 500. It is also possible to transmit and have the information center device 500 transmit an actual sound.

In the above embodiment, the music information search system 100 is divided into the information search terminal device 400 and the information center device 500, but the present invention is not limited to this example. Even if the terminal device 400 and the information center device 500 are integrated, the music information can be searched by visual information. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications and applications are possible within the scope of the claims.

[0088]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform a search by visually inputting a part of the melody that the searcher inputs for the search on the screen. Even a person having no knowledge of home or music can easily retrieve desired music information.

Further, since the melody of the music information to be searched is created as visual information on the screen and the search is carried out, even if the desired search result is not obtained, the melody can be visually corrected and easily. It is possible to search again.
Further, even if the bibliographical information such as the song name and singer name of the desired music information is not known, it is possible to search if a part of the melody can be imagined.

Since the searcher can confirm the sound information corresponding to the created visual information with his / her eyes or ears, the melody created before the actual search is suitable as the melody of the desired music information. It is possible to judge whether or not there is any, and if it is not appropriate, only that part can be visually corrected.
In addition, since a melody is created as visual information on the screen, it is possible to easily input a chord on the screen even when a chord is included in a part of the melody.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart explaining the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of a music information search system according to the first embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a first control unit of the information search terminal device according to the first embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a melody input screen according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating input and correction of a melody on the melody input screen according to the first embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a storage example of a music information database according to the first embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 8 is a sequence chart showing the operation of the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an operation of music melody information input processing according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation of a music melody information correction process according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the visual information, the sound information, and the visual information of the first embodiment of the present invention.
It is a figure explaining the example of melody information.

FIG. 12 is visual information after correction according to the first embodiment of the present invention,
It is a figure explaining the example of sound information and melody information.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the visual information and the sound information of the second embodiment of the present invention.
It is a figure explaining the example of melody information.

FIG. 14 is a system configuration diagram of a third conventional method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Microphone 10 Display Means 100 Music Information Retrieval System 105 Music Notation Unit 110 Music Information Storage Means, Music Database 120 Music Melody Information Input Means 130 Search Means, Melody Matching Unit 140 Music Information Output Means 150 Music Melody Information Storage Means 160 Music Melody Information Output Means 170 Correcting means 400 Information retrieval terminal device 410 First line control unit 420 First control unit 421 Visual information creating / correcting unit 422 Memory 423 Melody information generating unit 424 Sound information output unit 430 Sound database 440 Display unit 450 Mouse 460 Speaker 500 Information center device 510 Second line controller 520 Second controller 530 Music database 540 Melody information searcher

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Yumiko Matsuura 1-1-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nihon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. Music information storage means for storing digitized music information and index information of the music information; and a melody input screen displayed on the display means, and the music melody information is displayed at an arbitrary position on the melody input screen. The similarity between the music melody information input means to be input and the index information of the music information storage means is calculated based on the music melody information input by the music melody information input means, and the index information is calculated based on the similarity. A music information search system comprising: a search means for searching and a music information output means for outputting music information corresponding to the searched index information. 2. The music information search system according to claim 1, wherein the search means has means for searching the music information storage means for at least one index information in descending order from the index information having the highest similarity. 3. A music melody information storage means for temporarily storing the music melody information input by the music melody information input means, and the music melody information stored in the music melody information storage means converted to an analog signal. A music melody information output means for outputting as a sound, and displaying the music melody information stored in the music melody information storage means on the display means, according to the sound output from the music melody information output means, The music information retrieval system according to claim 1, further comprising a correction unit that a user appropriately corrects. 4. The music melody information output means has a sound database in which a plurality of digitized sounds are stored, and sounds corresponding to the music melody information stored in the music melody information storage means are stored. The music information retrieval system according to claim 3, further comprising means for retrieving and outputting the sound database. 5. The music information retrieval system according to claim 1, wherein the music melody information input means includes a chord input means for inputting a main melody as the music melody information and a sub melody accompanying the main melody. 6. The music melody information input means uses the melody input screen, wherein the vertical axis represents pitch and the horizontal axis represents time.
6. The music melody information determining means for determining the music melody information according to the position of the intersection of the vertical axis and the horizontal axis.
Music information retrieval system described. 7. The music information retrieval system according to claim 6, wherein integers are displayed on the vertical axis and horizontal axis of the melody input screen as a guide for input. 8. A terminal device having the music melody information input means, the music melody information storage means, the music melody information output means and correction means, the music information storage means, the search means and the music information output means. 3. A center side device having
Alternatively, the music information retrieval system described in 3. 9. In a music information search method for searching and outputting pre-stored music information based on melody information designated by a user, the user uses a melody input screen to display a part of the music melody information. A music information search method that simplifies input and searches for and outputs music information similar to the input music melody information. 10. A part of the inputted music melody information is output and stored as a sound, and when the searched music information is outputted, a part of the music melody information inputted by the user is reproduced. The display, and the correction input and the correction of a part of the stored music melody information are performed as necessary.
Music information search method described in 0. 11. As the melody input screen, the horizontal axis and the vertical axis on the screen are arranged with information indicating the pitch length and the pitch, and the intersection of the horizontal axis and the vertical axis is the input position of the music melody information. The music information search method according to claim 9 or 10.