Portable MIDI Music Synthesizer Memory and Power Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional portable digital audio players face challenges due to high memory and power requirements for storing high-fidelity music files, limiting their range and battery life, while existing solutions like MP3 and PCM formats are data-intensive and bandwidth-heavy, making them unsuitable for hand-held devices.
Innovation Solution
A portable music synthesizer system that utilizes MIDI files, which require less memory and bandwidth, allowing for the creation, download, and playback of MIDI files on a portable device, along with the ability to intermix with MP3 files, and enables real-time peer-to-peer music sharing and jamming through ad-hoc networking of hand-held devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If MP3 or PCM audio formats are used for high-fidelity music storage, then audio quality is improved, but memory capacity and power consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential musical event data from complete audio signals, storing only note on/off events, pitch, duration, and volume information rather than the full continuous audio waveform. This selective extraction of critical musical parameters dramatically reduces memory requirements while preserving perceptual audio quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses MIDI format as a simplified copy or representation of the original audio signal, storing coded musical events that can be synthesized back into audio. This intermediary representation requires far less storage space than direct audio sampling while maintaining the ability to reproduce the musical content.
2Measurement precision
If MP3 or PCM audio formats are used for high-fidelity music storage, then audio quality is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential musical event data from complete audio signals, storing only note on/off events, pitch, duration, and volume information rather than the full continuous audio waveform. This selective extraction of critical musical parameters dramatically reduces memory requirements while preserving perceptual audio quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses MIDI format as a simplified copy or representation of the original audio signal, storing coded musical events that can be synthesized back into audio. This intermediary representation requires far less storage space than direct audio sampling while maintaining the ability to reproduce the musical content.
3Quantity of substance
If compressed audio formats like MP3 are used, then memory requirements are reduced compared to PCM, but bandwidth and processing requirements remain high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential musical event data from complete audio signals, storing only note on/off events, pitch, duration, and volume information rather than the full continuous audio waveform. This selective extraction of critical musical parameters dramatically reduces memory requirements while preserving perceptual audio quality.
4Quantity of substance
If larger memory capacity is provided in hand-held devices to store compressed audio, then audio storage capability is improved, but battery life decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential musical event data from complete audio signals, storing only note on/off events, pitch, duration, and volume information rather than the full continuous audio waveform. This selective extraction of critical musical parameters dramatically reduces memory requirements while preserving perceptual audio quality.
Data Source
AI summary
The apparatus involves a hand-held housing with a memory for storing coded audio event data, a mechanism for downloading into the memory coded audio event data and digital-audio electronics for retrieving coded audio event data from memory, converting it to an audio signal and playing it out. In one disclosed embodiment of the invention, the data are stored in accordance with a musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) standard, and may be created on an appropriately equipped personal computer (PC). The capacity of such a hand-held device is far greater than if the data were conventionally digitized or coded. A wirelessly networked system of such music devices in physical proximity is disclosed that enables audio score synthesis and mixing by at least one such device of a synthesized score and an inputted score for outplay to others in a real-time musical jam or music-sharing session.