Scrolling Virtual Music Keyboard for Touch Screens
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current virtual keyboards on touch screen devices can only change octaves in increments and require users to stop playing to adjust, limiting access to full 88-key keyboards.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for scrolling a virtual keyboard on a touch screen device that allows users to access additional keys while playing, with intelligent positioning based on song keys or relative minors, and the ability to hold notes during scrolling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a virtual keyboard displays only one or two octaves at a time to fit on the touch-sensitive screen, then the keys remain large enough for ordinary users to play, but users cannot access other keys and octaves of a full 88-key keyboard
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual keyboard implements dynamic scrolling functionality that allows the displayed keyboard range to move automatically in response to user interactions. The keyboard can scroll horizontally to reveal different octaves while maintaining the same visual layout and key sizes, enabling users to access the full 88-key range without changing the display dimensions or key sizes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a horizontal scrolling dimension to the traditional vertical octave display. By introducing horizontal movement capability, the system allows users to navigate through multiple octaves horizontally rather than requiring them to fit vertically on the screen, thus accessing the full keyboard range while maintaining comfortable key sizes.
2Adaptability or versatility
If users use the +/â button to change octaves, then they can access different octaves, but changes can only be made in octave increments and users must cease playing to adjust
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual keyboard enables continuous playing during octave adjustment by implementing smooth scrolling that occurs while the user continues to press keys. The keyboard range can transition between different octaves without interrupting the musical performance, allowing the useful action of playing music to continue uninterrupted during the adjustment process.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements dynamic octave adjustment through continuous scrolling rather than discrete steps. The keyboard can scroll smoothly through fractional octaves and continuous ranges, allowing users to adjust the displayed octave range dynamically during performance rather than stopping to make discrete octave changes using +/â buttons.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the keyboard scrolls to allow access to other keys, then users can access more keys while playing, but the note may no longer be in contact with the user's finger due to scrolling
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual keyboard implements feedback mechanisms that track the user's finger position and maintain note activation even as the keyboard scrolls. The system detects when a note is being played and ensures that the note remains active and responsive to finger input during scrolling operations, providing feedback that maintains reliable note contact throughout the scrolling process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer between the visual keyboard display and the note activation logic. This intermediary system decouples the scrolling visual display from the note activation, ensuring that notes remain reliably activated based on the user's finger position independent of the scrolling display position, thus maintaining reliable contact during scrolling.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for scrolling a virtual keyboard on a touch screen device including a display. A first aspect allows detecting a user contact swipe motion in a predetermined direction along said keyboard, scrolling said keyboard across said display in accordance with said motion, and stopping said scrolling upon termination of user contact swipe motion. A second aspect allows scrolling of a virtual keyboard to snap to an intelligent position based on a song key or relative minor of the song key. A third aspect allows a note to be held when a user's finger remains in contact with the display even though the finger is no longer in contact with a key linked to the note on the keyboard as a result of scrolling. A fourth aspect displays a second musical instrument keyboard adjacent to a first musical instrument keyboard, wherein said second musical instrument keyboard is linked to said first musical instrument keyboard such that scrolling of one keyboard causes automatic scrolling of the other keyboard.