Music experience device

Abstract

We provide a music experience device that allows people with hearing impairments to enjoy music. [Solution] Memory 2 stores music data in which sounds from a person or instrument are assigned to each of multiple tracks. The contact body has multiple vibrating bodies, and the user touches one of the vibrating bodies. A vibrating body drive unit (actuator drive unit 5) is provided corresponding to each vibrating body and vibrates each vibrating body. The control unit 1 controls the vibrating body drive unit to vibrate one of the multiple vibrating bodies based on the sound assigned to each track.

Description

Technical Field

[0003]

[0001] The present invention relates to a music experience device.

Background Art

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] There is a demand for the emergence of a music experience device that allows people with hearing impairments to enjoy music.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] The present invention provides a music experience device including: a memory that stores music data in which sounds by a person or an instrument are assigned to each of a plurality of tracks; a contact body having a plurality of vibrating bodies, which a user touches any one of the plurality of vibrating bodies; a vibrating body driving unit provided corresponding to each of the plurality of vibrating bodies, which vibrates each of the plurality of vibrating bodies; and a control unit that controls the vibrating body driving unit to vibrate any one of the plurality of vibrating bodies based on the sound assigned to each track.

Effects of the Invention

[0006] According to the music experience device of the present invention, even a person with a hearing impairment can enjoy music.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0007] [Figure 1] Figure 1 is a block diagram showing a music experience device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 2] Figure 2 is a plan view showing an example of the configuration of the contact body included in the music experience device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 3] Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the configuration of the contact body shown in Figure 2. [Figure 4] Figure 4 is a front view perspective of the music experience device according to the second embodiment. [Figure 5] Figure 5 is a perspective view of the music experience device according to the second embodiment, seen from the rear. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0008] The music experience devices according to each embodiment will be described below with reference to the attached drawings.

[0009] <First Embodiment> Figures 1 to 3 show a music experience device 100 according to the first embodiment. The music experience device 100 is a music experience game machine that allows users to experience music in a game-like manner. As shown in Figure 1, the music experience device 100 comprises a control unit 1, a memory 2, a song analysis unit 3, a display unit 4, an actuator drive unit 5, an LED drive unit 6, and a heater drive unit 7.

[0010] Memory 2 stores song data in which sounds, either by a person or by an instrument, are assigned to each of the multiple tracks. The song data may be MIDI data or data representing sheet music and lyrics. In the example shown in Figure 1, there are 4 tracks, with track No. 1 assigned to a sound by a person, i.e., vocals, and tracks No. 2 to No. 4 assigned to sounds by instruments, such as drums, guitar, and keyboard, respectively. Memory 2 may be read-only memory or memory that can rewrite the song data.

[0011] As shown in Figure 2, the music experience device 100 includes a contact body 10 having multiple vibrating bodies 11. As will be described later, the user, who is a game player, touches one of the vibrating bodies 11 on the contact body 10. In the example shown in Figure 2, the contact body 10 has 16 vibrating bodies 11, which are arranged in a 4x4 grid. The arrangement of the multiple vibrating bodies 11 is arbitrary. To distinguish the 16 vibrating bodies 11, they are labeled with row and column addresses (1,1) to (4,4).

[0012] As shown in Figure 3, the vibrating body 11 includes a base plate 12, a cover 13 that covers the base plate 12, a light-emitting diode 60 and a heater 70 placed on the base plate 12, a diaphragm 51 placed on the back surface of the cover 13, and an actuator 50 that vibrates the diaphragm 51. Hereinafter, the light-emitting diode 60 will be abbreviated as LED 60. LED 60 is an example of a light-emitting element. At least a part of the cover 13 is transparent or semi-transparent and has light-transmitting properties. LED 60 may be a full-color LED consisting of three LEDs: red, green, and blue.

[0013] The actuator drive unit 5 drives the actuator 50. When the actuator drive unit 5 drives the actuator 50, the diaphragm 51 vibrates, and the vibrating body 11 vibrates. The actuator drive unit 5 provided in correspondence with each vibrating body 11 is a vibrating body drive unit that vibrates each vibrating body 11. The LED drive unit 6 drives the LEDs 60. The LED drive unit 6 provided in correspondence with each vibrating body 11 is a light-emitting body drive unit that makes each LED 60 (each light-emitting body) emit light. The heater drive unit 7 provided in correspondence with each vibrating body 11 drives each heater 70.

[0014] While it is not essential to provide the LED drive unit 6 and LED 60, it is preferable to provide them. While it is not essential to provide the heater drive unit 7 and heater 70, it is preferable to provide them. The music experience device 100 only needs to include at least a vibrating body 11. Preferably, the vibrating body 11 has a light-emitting drive unit and a light-emitting body, such as the LED drive unit 6 and LED 60. More preferably, the vibrating body 11 has a light-emitting drive unit and a light-emitting body, and a heater drive unit 7 and heater 70.

[0015] The control unit 1 controls the actuator drive unit 5 to vibrate one of the multiple vibrators 11 based on the sound assigned to each track. In the example shown in Figure 2, the control unit 1 assigns the vocal sound of track No. 1 to vibrator 11 at address (1,3) and the drum sound of track No. 2 to vibrator 11 at address (2,4). The control unit 1 assigns the guitar sound of track No. 3 to vibrator 11 at address (3,3) and the keyboard sound of track No. 4 to vibrator 11 at address (4,1).

[0016] Furthermore, the control unit 1 assigns the sounds of all tracks, from track No. 1 to No. 4, to the vibrating body 11 at address (4,4). While it is not mandatory to assign the sounds of all tracks to the vibrating body 11 at a specific address, it is preferable to do so. This makes it easier for people with hearing impairments to understand the structure of the music by comparing the vibrations of individual tracks with the vibrations of the overall sound.

[0017] The contact body 10 has more vibrating bodies 11 than the number of tracks in the music data. The control unit 1 may randomly select vibrating bodies 11 from the plurality of vibrating bodies 11 corresponding to the number of tracks in the music data, and randomly assign the sounds assigned to each track to the randomly selected vibrating bodies 11. The control unit 1 may control the actuator drive unit 5 to vibrate the randomly assigned vibrating bodies 11 based on the sounds assigned to each track.

[0018] The control unit 1 displays, for example, a game problem “Please touch the vibrating bodies of the drum and the guitar.” on the display unit 4. The user touches any one of the vibrating bodies 11 in the contact body 10 and feels the vibration of the vibrating body 11 by hand, so as to identify the vibrating body 11 to which the sound of the drum and the sound of the guitar are assigned. When the user touches the vibrating body 11, the load on the vibrating body 11 changes, so it is possible to supply a contact detection signal from the actuator 50 to the control unit 1. The control unit 1 determines whether the user touches the correct vibrating body 11 based on the input contact detection signal, and notifies the user whether it is a correct answer or an incorrect answer.

[0019] Contact sensors may be provided for each vibrating body 11, and a contact detection signal may be supplied from the contact sensors to the control unit 1. As the contact sensor, either a capacitance type that detects a change in capacitance or a pressure-sensitive type that detects a change in resistance value may be used.

[0020] The control unit 1 may vibrate the vibrating body 11 greatly to such an extent that a person with normal hearing can hear the vibration of the vibrating body 11 as sound, or may vibrate the vibrating body 11 slightly to such an extent that it cannot be heard as sound. When answering the game problem as described above, vibrating the vibrating body 11 greatly is advantageous for a person with normal hearing, and vibrating the vibrating body 11 slightly is advantageous for a person with hearing impairment. It is advisable to set the amplitude of vibrating the vibrating body 11 so that neither a person with normal hearing nor a person with hearing impairment is at an advantage or a disadvantage.

[0021] According to the music experience device 100, even a person with hearing impairment can experience music in a game feeling and enjoy music. When controlling the actuator driving unit 5 that assigns the sounds of all tracks to the vibrating body 11 at a certain address and vibrates any one of the vibrating bodies 11 based on the sounds of all tracks as described above, the user can experience that a music piece is composed by the overlapping of the sounds of all tracks.

[0022] When the control unit 1 detects that the user is touching the vibrating body 11, it is preferable to control the LED drive unit 6 to illuminate the LED 60 on the vibrating body 11 that is being touched. When the LED 60 is illuminated, the vibrating body 11 lights up, allowing the user to feel that they are touching the vibrating body 11 and to enjoy the music experience device 100 visually as well.

[0023] Furthermore, when the control unit 1 detects that a user is touching the vibrating body 11, it may control the heater drive unit 7 to raise the temperature of the vibrating body 11 using the heater 70 of the vibrating body 11 that is being touched.

[0024] In Figure 1, the music analysis unit 3 analyzes the melody or lyrics of the music data, and when the control unit 1 detects that the user is touching the vibrating body 11, it controls the LED drive unit 6 to make the LED 60 of the vibrating body 11 that is being touched emit light in a color corresponding to the analysis result by the music analysis unit 3. The control unit 1 controls the LED drive unit 6 to make the LED 60 emit light in a color corresponding to the selected hue between warm and cool colors, according to the analysis result by the music analysis unit 3.

[0025] The control unit 1 may illuminate the LED 60 in a warm color if the song is in a major key, and in a cool color if it is in a minor key. The control unit 1 may illuminate the LED 60 in a warm color if the tempo of the song is slow, and in a cool color if it is fast. The control unit 1 may illuminate the LED 60 in a warm color if there is a lot of overlap between the instruments, and in a cool color if there is little overlap. The song analysis unit 3 may be equipped with artificial intelligence (AI), and the AI ​​may determine whether the lyrics have a positive or negative content. The control unit 1 may illuminate the LED 60 in a warm color if the lyrics have a positive content, and in a cool color if the lyrics have a negative content.

[0026] The control unit 1 may cause the LED 60 to emit light in three or more colors according to the analysis results from the curve analysis unit 3. The LED 60 will emit light in at least two colors.

[0027] When the control unit 1 controls the heater drive unit 7 to raise the temperature of the vibrating body 11 using the heater 70 of the vibrating body 11 that is being touched, the heater drive unit 7 may be controlled according to the analysis results from the curvature analysis unit 3.

[0028] The control unit 1 may control the heater drive unit 7 so that if the song is in a major key, the temperature is set to a relatively high first temperature, and if it is in a minor key, the temperature is set to a second temperature lower than the first temperature. The control unit 1 may control the heater drive unit 7 so that if the tempo of the song is slow, the temperature is set to the second temperature, and if it is fast, the temperature is set to the first temperature. The control unit 1 may control the heater drive unit 7 so that if there is a lot of overlap between the instruments, the temperature is set to the first temperature, and if there is little overlap, the temperature is set to the second temperature. The control unit 1 may control the heater drive unit 7 so that if the lyrics have a positive content, the temperature is set to the first temperature, and if the lyrics have a negative content, the temperature is set to the second temperature.

[0029] The control unit 1 only needs to raise the temperature of the vibrating body 11 in at least two stages, and may raise it in three or more stages.

[0030] <Second Embodiment> Figures 4 and 5 show the music experience device 200 according to the second embodiment. Figure 4 shows the front view of the music experience device 200, and Figure 5 shows the back view of the music experience device 200. The music experience device 200 is a music player that has a shape resembling a potted plant and allows the user to experience music while it is playing. In the second embodiment, the description of parts common to the first embodiment will be omitted. The description of the first embodiment described above will be incorporated into the second embodiment unless it does not cause any contradiction.

[0031] The music experience device 200 has a shape resembling a planter 20 with a contact body 10T that mimics a tree planted in it. An artificial trunk 30 or branch 31 is fitted with a leaf-shaped vibrator 11L, which corresponds to the vibrator 11 in the first embodiment. The structure of the leaf-shaped vibrator 11L may be the same as in Figure 3, and its appearance is formed to resemble a leaf.

[0032] The flowerpot 20 houses the same configuration as the control unit 1, memory 2, and curve analysis unit 3 as in the first embodiment. The actuator 50, LED 60, and heater 70 as in the first embodiment are provided on the leaf-shaped vibrator 11L. The actuator drive unit 5, LED drive unit 6, and heater drive unit 7 as in the first embodiment are provided inside the flowerpot 20.

[0033] As shown in Figure 4, the flowerpot 20 is equipped with a power button 21, a play button 22, a pause button 23, and a stop button 24. As shown in Figure 5, a speaker 25 is attached to the back of the flowerpot 20. Users without hearing impairments can turn on the power of the music experience device 200 by pressing the power button 21, and play the music data stored in memory 2 by pressing the play button 22, and listen to the music through the speaker 25. Users can also use the pause button 23 or the stop button 24 as needed.

[0034] Similar to the first embodiment, a user with hearing impairment can touch any of the multiple leaf-shaped vibrators 11L and feel the vibration of the leaf-shaped vibrators 11L with their hand. Of course, a user without hearing impairment can also feel the vibration of the leaf-shaped vibrators 11L with their hand. According to the music experience device 200, even people with hearing impairments can enjoy music.

[0035] The music experience device 200 may be equipped with a communication unit for short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark). The music experience device 200 may be configured to pair with an external device such as a music player or smartphone and vibrate the leaf-shaped vibrator 11L in accordance with the music played on the external device.

[0036] The present invention is not limited to the first or second embodiments described above, and can be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, the music experience devices 100 and 200 may be configured without using the LED 60. In that case, the cover 13 does not need to be light-transmitting. [Explanation of symbols]

[0037] 1 Control Unit 2 memory 3 Song analysis section 4 Display 5. Actuator drive unit 6 LED driver unit 7 Heater drive unit 10,10T contact body 11. Vibrating body 11L Leaf-shaped vibrator 12 base plate 13 Cover 20 flower pots 21 Power button 22 Play button 23 Pause button 24 Stop button 25 speakers 30 stems 31 branches 50 Actuators 51 Diaphragm 60 Light-Emitting Diodes 70 Heater 100,200 Music Experience Devices

Claims

1. A memory that stores music data in which sounds from people or instruments are assigned to each of the multiple tracks, A contact body having multiple vibrating bodies, on which the user touches one of the multiple vibrating bodies, A vibrator drive unit is provided corresponding to each of the plurality of vibrators, which vibrates each of the vibrators. A control unit controls the vibrator drive unit to vibrate one of the plurality of vibrators based on the sound assigned to each of the aforementioned tracks, A music experience device equipped with the following features.

2. The contact body has more vibrating elements than the number of tracks in the plurality of tracks, The control unit randomly selects the number of vibrators corresponding to the number of tracks from the plurality of vibrators, randomly assigns the sound assigned to each track to the randomly selected number of vibrators, and controls the vibrator drive unit to vibrate each vibrator based on the sound assigned to each track. The music experience device according to claim 1.

3. The music experience apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control unit controls the vibrating body drive unit to vibrate one of the plurality of vibrating bodies based on the sound of all of the plurality of tracks.

4. The music experience apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control unit detects whether the user is touching the vibrating body based on a change in the load on the vibrating body or by a contact sensor.

5. A light-emitting element provided in correspondence to each of the aforementioned vibrating elements, A light-emitting element drive unit that causes the light-emitting element to emit light, Furthermore, When the control unit detects that the user is touching the vibrating body, it controls the light-emitting element drive unit to cause the light-emitting element of the vibrating body being touched to emit light. The music experience device according to claim 4.

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