JP7638596B2 - Karaoke equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a karaoke device.

Conventionally, in karaoke performance, a medley performance in which performance data for multiple songs is played consecutively is known, and some karaoke devices can perform medley performances.

For example, the music playback device described in Patent Document 1 includes a condition receiving means for receiving conditions related to a user, a performance piece extraction means for extracting a predetermined number of performance pieces from a plurality of performance pieces based on the conditions received by the condition receiving means, and a continuous playing means for continuously playing a partial section of each of the performance pieces extracted by the performance piece extraction means. The conditions for the music playback device are the age of the user and the genre of the performance pieces.

JP 2005-84336 A

By the way, karaoke machine users have changed over the years, from elementary school students, junior high school students, high school students, university students, and then working adults, and generally sing karaoke songs appropriate for each generation.

However, conventional karaoke devices such as the music playback device of Patent Document 1 can only play karaoke songs corresponding to one designated era in succession. In other words, conventional karaoke devices cannot play a medley of songs that the user has sung karaoke in each era. Singing karaoke by playing a succession of songs corresponding to only one era does not allow the user to look back on each era or feel the transition of the eras.

The object of the present invention is to provide a karaoke device that can play a medley of songs that users have sung karaoke throughout their generations.

In order to solve the above problem, the karaoke device of the present invention is a karaoke device connected to a server device so as to be able to communicate with the server device, and is characterized by having a storage unit that stores performance data of multiple songs, an acquisition unit that acquires the user's date of birth information and singing history from the server device, a generation unit that generates era division information indicating the user's past eras based on the date of birth information acquired by the acquisition unit, an extraction unit that extracts the performance data of a predetermined number of songs for each era indicated by the era division information based on the singing history acquired by the acquisition unit, and a medley performance unit that sequentially plays a medley of the performance data extracted by the extraction unit.

The present invention provides a karaoke machine that can play a medley of songs that users have sung karaoke throughout their generations.

1 is a block diagram showing a karaoke device according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 4 is a table showing an example of era division information of the karaoke device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a karaoke performance operation of the karaoke apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a table showing an example of era division information and singing history of the karaoke device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a table showing another example of era division information of the karaoke apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a karaoke apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a karaoke performance operation of the karaoke apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a front view showing an example of an editing screen for era division information of the karaoke apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a front view showing an example of an editing screen for era division information of the karaoke apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a front view showing an example of an editing screen for era division information of the karaoke apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a front view showing an example of an editing screen for era division information of the karaoke apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a table showing an example of era division information and singing history of the karaoke device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[First embodiment]
A karaoke machine 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will now be described.

[Karaoke system]
1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a karaoke system 100 including a karaoke device 1 according to the first embodiment. The karaoke system 100 includes the karaoke device 1 and a server device 101.

[Server device]
The server device 101 has a function of managing the karaoke device 1 and the users who use the karaoke device 1. The server device 101 stores user identification information (user ID) of the user of the karaoke device 1, and further stores the birthdate information and singing history of the user in association with the user ID. The server device 101 is connected to the karaoke device 1 so as to be able to communicate with each other via a network such as the Internet.

When a singer sings karaoke along with the karaoke performance of a song by the karaoke device 1, the server device 101 receives and stores a singing history of the karaoke singing of that song from the karaoke device 1. For example, the singing history is a history of all karaoke singing performed by the user from the first time the user uses the karaoke device 1 to the present time, and includes song identification information (song ID) of the song sung karaoke, the song title, the date the karaoke singing was performed, the scoring history of the karaoke singing, etc.

In response to a request from the karaoke device 1, the server device 101 transmits the user's date of birth information and singing history to the karaoke device 1. Specifically, the server device 101 receives the user ID of the user from the karaoke device 1 to which the user has logged in, and obtains and transmits the user's date of birth information and singing history corresponding to the user ID.

[Karaoke equipment]
The karaoke machine 1 comprises a karaoke main unit 2, a microphone 3, a speaker 4, a display device 5 such as a monitor, and a remote control device 6. The karaoke machine 1 is installed in a location such as a karaoke room. The karaoke machine 1 has a function of providing the user with karaoke performances of selected (reserved) songs, as well as a function of providing the user with a unique medley performance in a medley mode. The karaoke main unit 2 also has a function of evaluating and scoring the singing voice of the singer singing karaoke in sync with the karaoke performance.

The karaoke main unit 2 is connected to a microphone 3, a speaker 4, a display device 5, and a remote control device 6 by wire or wirelessly. The microphone 3 converts the singer's singing voice into an audio signal and inputs it to the karaoke main unit 2. The speaker 4 emits the singer's singing voice along with the karaoke performance of the song based on the sound emission signal from the karaoke main unit 2. The display device 5 displays lyrics subtitles together with a background image in sync with the karaoke performance based on the video signal etc. from the karaoke main unit 2.

The remote control device 6 is mainly composed of a touch panel. The remote control device 6 displays various screens and various operation buttons on the touch panel, and also accepts login operations and song selection (reservation) operations via the touch panel. The remote control device 6 and the karaoke main unit 2 are paired via wireless communication, allowing various information to be transmitted and received between the remote control device 6 and the karaoke main unit 2.

The remote control device 6 transmits user identification information (user ID) and the like input in response to a login operation by the user to the karaoke main unit 2. The remote control device 6 accepts song selection (reservation) by searching for songs or selecting recommended songs, and transmits song identification information (song ID) of the song selected (reserved) in response to the song selection (reservation) operation by the user to the karaoke main unit 2 as reserved song information. The remote control device 6 accepts an operation by the user to execute medley mode, and transmits an instruction to execute medley mode to the karaoke main unit 2.

The karaoke main unit 2 comprises a control unit 10, a memory unit 11, and a karaoke performance unit 12. The control unit 10 is made up of a computer such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and controls the karaoke main unit 2. The memory unit 11 is made up of storage media such as a ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), and HDD (Hard Disc Drive).

The storage unit 11 stores programs and data for controlling each part and function of the karaoke device 1. For example, the storage unit 11 stores the user ID of each user of the karaoke device 1 to identify each user. The storage unit 11 also stores basic information such as the song ID, song title, singer name, and genre for each song that the karaoke device 1 can play. The storage unit 11 also stores song data for multiple songs, and the song data includes performance data, reference data, and lyric data. The performance data is MIDI format data that serves as the basis for the accompaniment sounds of the karaoke performance. The reference data is data used as a standard for evaluating and scoring the karaoke singing by the singer. The lyric data is video data that serves as the basis for the lyric captions displayed on the display device 5.

The karaoke performance unit 12 is composed of a sound source, a mixer (digital mixer), an amplifier, etc., and performs karaoke performance of songs. The karaoke performance unit 12 generates an accompaniment sound signal for karaoke performance based on the performance data of the song data using the sound source. The karaoke performance unit 12 mixes the accompaniment sound signal for karaoke performance and the singing voice signal for karaoke singing using the mixer, amplifies the mixed signal using the amplifier, and emits it from the speaker 4.

The control unit 10 controls each unit and each function of the karaoke device 1 by executing calculations based on the programs and data stored in the memory unit 11. For example, the control unit 10 of this embodiment operates as a login processing unit 20, an acquisition unit 21, a generation unit 22, an extraction unit 23, a medley performance unit 24, and a scoring unit 25 by executing the programs stored in the memory unit 11.

The login processing unit 20 receives a user ID from the remote control device 6 in response to a login operation of the remote control device 6 by the user, and stores the user ID in the storage unit 11 to perform login processing for the user corresponding to the user ID. Note that the karaoke main unit 2 may have a function for inputting a user ID instead of the remote control device 6. The login processing unit 20 transmits the user ID that has been logged in to the server device 101.

The acquisition unit 21 acquires the user's date of birth information and singing history from the server device 101. Specifically, when the server device 101 receives a user ID from the login processing unit 20 and transmits the date of birth information and singing history corresponding to the user ID, the acquisition unit 21 receives the date of birth information and singing history and stores them in the memory unit 11 in association with the user ID.

The generating unit 22 generates era division information indicating the past eras of the user based on the user's date of birth information acquired by the acquiring unit 21.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the generation unit 22 calculates, from the user's date of birth, the period during which the user is predicted to be an elementary school student, the period during which the user is predicted to be a junior high school student, and the period during which the user is predicted to be a high school student, and generates these as age group division information. The generation unit 22 generates age group division information to include at least the elementary school student, junior high school student, and high school student age groups. The generation unit 22 stores the generated age group division information in the storage unit 11 in association with the user ID.

The generation unit 22 may generate age division information for the period after high school age by consolidating it into a single age group for high school students and above, or may generate age division information for the age group for college students and above (or adult age group) as shown in FIG. 2, or may generate age division information by dividing it into the age group for college students and the age group for working adults and above (or adult age group).

The extraction unit 23 extracts performance data for a predetermined number of songs performed for each era indicated by the era division information acquired by the generation unit 22 based on the singing history of the user acquired by the acquisition unit 21.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the extraction unit 23 determines which era in the era division information the singing date in each singing history of the user corresponds to, and counts the number of singing histories sung by each age group of the user as the singing frequency based on this determination result. The extraction unit 23 calculates the ratio of the singing frequency for each age group to the singing frequency (total singing frequency) of the entire user (all age groups), and determines the number of songs played when a medley is performed for each age group in the era division information based on this ratio. The total number of songs played when a medley is performed is the sum of the numbers of songs played by age group for all age groups. Furthermore, the extraction unit 23 extracts performance data for songs that are the number of songs played by age group from the songs in the singing history sung by each age group of the user in order of the most number of times they have been sung.

The medley performance unit 24 sequentially performs a medley of the performance data extracted by the extraction unit 23.

Specifically, the order of performance of the medley performance of the performance data extracted by the extraction unit 23 is determined in the chronological order of the user's era division information, and the order of performance data included in the same era is determined in the release order of the songs in the singing year of the performance data. The chronological order and release order for determining the order of performance data may be either newest or oldest, but are unified to one of them. The medley performance unit 24 extracts a portion of each performance data extracted by the extraction unit 23, for example, the chorus part, connects them in the performance order determined as above, and has the karaoke performance unit 12 perform karaoke.

The medley performance unit 24 also extracts a portion of the lyrics data, for example the chorus, in the same manner as the performance data, and connects them together in the performance order determined as described above, and outputs them to the display device 5 in synchronization with the karaoke performance.

The scoring unit 25 evaluates and scores the singing voice of the singer singing karaoke in sync with the karaoke performance of the song.

Specifically, while the karaoke main unit 2 is performing karaoke based on the performance data of the song, the scoring unit 2 evaluates and scores the singing voice by comparing the voice signal of the singing voice (singing voice signal) input by the karaoke main unit 2 from the microphone 3 with the reference data of the song. When the karaoke performance ends, the scoring unit 25 outputs the scoring result of the singing voice to the display device 5 and stores it in the memory unit 11 in association with the user ID as a scoring history.

[Karaoke performance operation in the first embodiment]
Next, the karaoke performance operation of the karaoke device 1 in the first embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a flow chart showing the performance operation of the karaoke device 1 in the first embodiment.

First, when user U1 operates the remote control device 6 to input ID****U1 as the user ID, the remote control device 6 designates the user ID (ID****U1) and sends a login instruction to the karaoke main unit 2. In the karaoke main unit 2, the login processing unit 20 receives the user ID (ID****U1) from the remote control device 6 and stores it in the memory unit 11, thereby performing login processing (step S1). Subsequent operations are considered to be operations of user U1 corresponding to the logged-in user ID (ID****U1).

The login processing unit 20 transmits the user ID (ID****U1) that has been logged in to the server device 101, and in response, the server device 101 identifies the birth date and singing history of the user U1 that corresponds to the user ID (ID****U1) and transmits them to the karaoke unit 2.

In the karaoke main unit 2, the acquisition unit 21 receives and acquires the birth date information and singing history transmitted from the server device 101, and stores them in the storage unit 11 in association with the user ID (ID****U1) (step S2). For example, the birth date information of user U1 is "August 8, 2000", and user U1 is currently a third-year university student as of "April 30, 2021".

When user U1 operates remote control device 6 to reserve a regular song, karaoke main unit 2 receives reserved song information including a song ID and user ID from remote control device 6, and control unit 10 registers the reserved song information in the reservation management table in storage unit 11. Control unit 10 reads the reserved song information from the reservation management table in the order of registration, reads performance data of the song corresponding to the reserved song information from storage unit 11, and performs karaoke using karaoke performance unit 12. Control unit 10 reads lyric data of the song corresponding to the reserved song information from storage unit 11, and displays lyric subtitles and background images based on the lyric data on display device 5 in synchronization with the karaoke performance. Scoring unit 25 scores the singing voice of the singer singing karaoke in time with the karaoke performance, and when the karaoke performance is finished, outputs the scoring result to display device 5 and stores the scoring history in storage unit 11. In addition, when the karaoke performance is finished, the control unit 10 stores the singing history, including the song ID, song title, singing date, and scoring history of the song sung karaoke, in the storage unit 11 and transmits it to the server device 101.

In particular, in this embodiment, when user U1 operates remote control device 6 to execute medley mode, remote control device 6 transmits an instruction to execute medley mode to karaoke unit 2. In karaoke unit 2, in response to the instruction to execute medley mode, generation unit 22 calculates the period when user U1 was "elementary school student or younger", the period when user U1 was "junior high school student", the period when user U1 was "high school student", and the period until the present time when user U1 will be "college student or older" based on the birth date information "August 8, 2000" acquired by acquisition unit 21, and generates these as age division information (step S3). As shown in FIG. 2, generation unit 22 associates the age division information with each of the age groups "elementary school student or younger", "junior high school student", "high school student", and "college student or older", and stores them in storage unit 11.

Next, the extraction unit 23 counts the number of singing histories for each age group indicated by the age group division information generated by the generation unit 22 as the singing frequency for the singing histories acquired by the acquisition unit 21. For example, as shown in Fig. 4, the number of times user U1 sang karaoke in the age group "elementary school students and below" is 100, the number of times he sang karaoke in the age group "junior high school students" is 500, the number of times he sang karaoke in the age group "high school students" is 1500, and the number of times he sang karaoke in the age group "college students and above" is 1000, resulting in a total singing frequency of 3100. The extraction unit 23 calculates the ratio of the number of times each age group has sung to the total number of times (3100). For example, the ratio of the number of times "elementary school students and below" is estimated to be 100/3100 ≒ 0.03, the ratio of the number of times "junior high school students" is estimated to be 500/3100 ≒ 0.16, the ratio of the number of times "high school students" is estimated to be 1500/3100 ≒ 0.48, and the ratio of the number of times "college students and above" is estimated to be 1000/3100 ≒ 0.32.

Based on these ratios, the extraction unit 23 allocates the number of songs performed for each age group in the age division information to the total number of songs performed in the medley performance (number of songs performed by age group). The extraction unit 23 sets the number of songs performed by age group to at least one song. If the total number of songs performed is 10, the number of songs performed by age group for "elementary school students and below" is estimated to be 0.03 x 10 ≒ 0 songs (rounded off to the nearest whole number), and the extraction unit 23 sets the number of songs performed by age group for "elementary school students and below" to the minimum of one song. The number of songs performed by age group for "junior high school students" is estimated to be 0.16 x 10 ≒ 2 songs, for "high school students" to be 0.48 x 10 ≒ 5 songs, and for "college students and above" to be 0.32 x 10 ≒ 3 songs. Here, the extraction unit 23 has set the number of songs played by the age group "elementary school students and under," which was estimated to be 0, to 1, so in order to adjust the total number of songs played to 10, the extraction unit 23 reduces the number of songs played by the age group "high school students" by one and sets it to 4.

The extraction unit 23 also extracts performance data for the number of songs performed by age group from the songs in the singing history of each age group of the user in order of the most frequently sung number of times (step S4). In FIG. 4, the singing history is listed from top to bottom in order of the most frequently sung number of times for each age group. For example, the extraction unit 23 extracts performance data for song A, which has been sung the most, from the songs in the singing history of "elementary school students and below." The extraction unit 23 also extracts performance data for songs C and D, which have been sung the first and second most, from the songs in the singing history of "junior high school students," extracts performance data for songs F, G, H, and I, which have been sung the first to fourth most, from the songs in the singing history of "high school students," and extracts performance data for songs J, K, and L, which have been sung the first to third most, from the songs in the singing history of "college students and above."

Next, the medley performance unit 24 determines the performance order of the performance data extracted by the extraction unit 23 in chronological order, and determines the performance order of the performance data included in the same era in chronological order of the release of the songs. The medley performance unit 24 extracts the chorus parts of each performance data, connects them in the medley performance order, and performs karaoke using the karaoke performance unit 12 (step S5). As a result, the extracted songs with singing histories from each era are sequentially performed as a medley. The control unit 10 also connects the lyric data of the extracted chorus parts in the determined performance order, and displays lyric captions and background images based on the lyric data on the display device 5 in synchronization with the karaoke performance by the karaoke performance unit 12.

As described above, the karaoke device 1 of the first embodiment of the present invention is a karaoke device 1 communicably connected to the server device 101, and has a storage unit 11 that stores performance data of multiple songs, and a control unit 10. The control unit 10 functions as an acquisition unit 21, a generation unit 22, an extraction unit 23, and a medley performance unit 24. The acquisition unit 21 acquires the user's date of birth information and singing history from the server device 101. The generation unit 22 generates era division information indicating the user's past eras based on the date of birth information acquired by the acquisition unit 21. The extraction unit 23 extracts performance data of a predetermined number of songs for each era indicated by the era division information based on the singing history acquired by the acquisition unit 21. The medley performance unit 24 sequentially performs a medley of the performance data extracted by the extraction unit.

As a result, when a medley is performed using the era division information indicating the user's past eras, the performance data for each of the user's past eras can be played as karaoke in sequence. This allows the user to enjoy singing karaoke while looking back on each era and feeling the change of eras. Furthermore, not only does the medley performance promote the excitement of karaoke singing, it also encourages the singing of karaoke songs from the era being looked back on individually, thereby promoting the use of the karaoke device 1. In this way, it is possible to provide a karaoke device 1 that allows a medley to be played of songs that the user has sung karaoke from each era.

In addition, in the karaoke device 1 of the first embodiment, the generation unit 22 generates age division information to include at least the elementary school, junior high school, and high school age groups.

This allows users to look back on the songs they sang at karaoke at each stage of their lives as students, further increasing the excitement of karaoke singing through medley performances.

Furthermore, in the karaoke device 1 of the first embodiment, the extraction unit 23 calculates the singing frequency for each era indicated by the era division information based on the singing history, and extracts performance data for the number of songs played according to the singing frequency for each era indicated by the era division information.

This allows users to look back on the songs they frequently sang at karaoke when they were students at each age, further increasing the excitement of karaoke singing through medley performances.

In the above first embodiment, an example has been described in which the generation unit 22 generates era division information in response to a user's operation of executing the medley mode on the remote control device 6, but the present invention is not limited to this example. In another example, the generation unit 22 may generate era division information when the acquisition unit 21 acquires the user's date of birth information and singing history from the server device 101.

In the above first embodiment, an example has been described in which when the generation unit 22 generates the era division information, the extraction unit 23 extracts performance data for a predetermined number of songs performed for each era of the era division information based on the singing history, and the medley performance unit 24 sequentially performs a medley of the performance data, but the present invention is not limited to this example. In another example, after the generation unit 22 generates the era division information, the extraction unit 23 may extract performance data for each era and the medley performance unit 24 may perform a medley in response to a user's operation to execute a medley mode on the remote control device 6.

In the above first embodiment, an example has been described in which the generation unit 22 calculates the era division information based on the user's date of birth information, but the present invention is not limited to this example. In another example, various patterns of era division information corresponding to various pieces of date of birth information may be stored in advance in a table or the like, and the generation unit 22 may be configured to detect the corresponding era division information by referring to the table based on the date of birth information.

In the above first embodiment, an example was described in which the generation unit 22 generates age division information by dividing the user's past ages into "elementary school students or younger," "junior high school students," "high school students," and "college students or older" based on the user's date of birth information, but the present invention is not limited to this example. In another example, the generation unit 22 may generate age division information by equally dividing the period from a predetermined age (e.g., age 13) onward into predetermined periods (e.g., two years) up to the present time. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, based on the birth date information of user U1, "August 8, 2000," and the current date, "April 30, 2021," the generation unit 22 generates "Age 1" era division information for the period "2013/08/08-2015/08/07," generates "Age 2" era division information for the period "2015/08/08-2017/08/07," generates "Age 3" era division information for the period "2017/08/08-2019/08/07," and generates "Age 4" era division information for the period "2019/08/08-2021/04/30."

Alternatively, the generation unit 22 may generate age group information by dividing the user's past ages into predetermined age ranges, such as "early teens," "late teens," "early twenties," "late twenties," "early thirties," and "late thirties."

In the above first embodiment, an example was described in which the extraction unit 23, when allocating the number of songs played for each era in the era division information, sets the number of songs played for each era to at least one song, regardless of the ratio of the number of songs sung for each era to the total number of songs sung, but the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, the extraction unit 23 may set the number to 0 songs if the result of multiplying the ratio and the total number of songs played (rounded off to the nearest whole number) is less than 1.

In the above first embodiment, an example has been described in which the extraction unit 23 allocates the number of songs performed for each era in the era division information according to the ratio of the number of times each era has been sung to the total number of times it has been sung, but the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, the extraction unit 23 may allocate an equal number of songs performed for each era (e.g., two songs) and extract performance data for an equal number of songs performed from the singing history of each era.

Furthermore, in the above first embodiment, an example has been described in which the extraction unit 23 extracts performance data for the number of songs performed by era from among the songs in the singing history for each era in order of the number of times they have been sung, but the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, the extraction unit 23 may extract performance data for the number of songs performed by era from among the songs in the singing history for each era based on the scoring history. Specifically, the extraction unit 23 may extract performance data for songs from the singing history in order of the highest maximum score in the scoring history, or in order of the highest average score in the scoring history.

Incidentally, when a user uses the karaoke device 1, the user may select songs biased towards a particular era depending on the day. Therefore, the karaoke device 1 may analyze the trends of the era of songs selected during the current login, and the extraction unit 23 may set a larger number of songs to be played by era for the era division information the closer the era division information is to the era with a high tendency of song selection.

[Second embodiment]
A karaoke machine 1 according to a second embodiment of the present invention will now be described. Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the karaoke machine 1 according to the second embodiment. In the description of the second embodiment, the same components as those in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment, and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the karaoke device 1 of the second embodiment, in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment, the control unit 10 is configured to execute a program stored in the storage unit 11, thereby functioning as an editing unit 26 that edits the era division information indicating the user's past eras generated by the generation unit 22.

The editing unit 26 allows the user to edit the era division information, for example, by using the remote control device 6. The remote control device 6 accepts an operation by the user to execute the era division information edit mode, and transmits an instruction to execute the edit mode to the karaoke main unit 2. The editing unit 26 causes the display device 5 to display the era division information (existing era division information) indicating the user's past eras generated by the generation unit 22. The editing unit 26 displays a notification on the display device 5 prompting the user to input new era division information, and accepts the input of new era division information (new era division information) using the remote control device 6. The editing unit 26 edits the existing era division information based on the input new era division information, and stores it in the memory unit 11.

The extraction unit 23 extracts performance data for a predetermined number of songs for each era indicated by the era division information edited by the editing unit 26.

[Karaoke performance operation in the second embodiment]
Next, in the second embodiment, the karaoke performance operation of the karaoke device 1 will be described with reference to Fig. 6. Fig. 7 is a flow chart showing the performance operation of the karaoke device 1 of the second embodiment.

In the karaoke performance operation of the karaoke device 1 of the second embodiment, the operations (steps S11 to S13) from the login process by the login processing unit 20 to the generation of era division information by the generation unit 22 are the same as the operations (steps S1 to S3) of the first embodiment.

After the generation division information for user U1 is generated by the generation unit 22, if user U1 operates the remote control device 6 to execute the edit mode for the generation division information, the remote control device 6 transmits an instruction to execute the edit mode to the karaoke main unit 2.

If the edit mode is not executed (step S14: NO), the extraction unit 23 extracts performance data based on the era division information generated by the generation unit 22, in the same manner as in the first embodiment (steps S4 to S5), and the medley performance unit 24 performs a medley of the extracted performance data (steps S15 to S16).

On the other hand, if the edit mode is selected (step S14: YES), the editing unit 26 starts editing the era division information in response to the edit mode selection command (step S17), and displays an editing screen 30 of the generated era division information (existing era division information) on the display device 5, as shown in FIG. 8. At this time, the editing unit 26 displays a notification 31, "Please enter new era division information:", on the editing screen 30 of the display device 5 to prompt the user to enter new era division information, and accepts the entry of new era division information (new era division information) using the remote control device 6.

For example, when user U1 operates remote control device 6 to input the first day "2019/04/01" and the last day "2020/03/31" of new era division information, the input new era division information is transmitted from remote control device 6 to karaoke main unit 2. When editing unit 26 in karaoke main unit 2 receives the new era division information, it adds the new era division information to notification 31 and displays it on display device 5, as shown in FIG. 9.

When input of new era division information is decided by operating the remote control device 6, the editing unit 26 edits the existing era division information by replacing the period that overlaps with the new era division information with the new era division information, and displays an editing screen 30 on the display device 5 with the new era division information "2019/04/01-2020/03/31" inserted, as shown in FIG. 10. The editing unit 26 may display the existing era division information, the new era division information, and the edited era division information in a distinguishable manner.

The editing unit 26 also displays a notification 32, "Please enter a new era name:," on the editing screen 30 of the display device 5 to prompt the user to enter a new era name, and accepts the entry of a new era name (new era) using the remote control device 6.

For example, when user U1 operates remote control device 6 to input a new age group of "ronin students," the input new age group is transmitted from remote control device 6 to karaoke main unit 2. When editing unit 26 in karaoke main unit 2 receives the new age group, it adds the new age group to notification 32 and displays it on display device 5, as shown in FIG. 11.

When the input of a new era is confirmed by operating the remote control device 6, the editing unit 26 edits the era to correspond to the new era division information, and causes the display device 5 to display the editing screen 30 with the new era "ronin students" inserted, as shown in FIG. 11. The editing unit 26 stores the edited era division information with the new era and the new era division information added in the storage unit 11 (step S17).

The extraction unit 23 extracts performance data of a predetermined number of songs for each age group indicated by the age group division information edited by the editing unit 26 (step S15). For example, as shown in FIG. 12, assume that the singing frequency of user U1 in the "elementary school students and below" age group is 100, the singing frequency of the "junior high school students" age group is 500, the singing frequency of the "high school students" age group is 1500, the singing frequency of the "ronin students" age group is 100, and the singing frequency of the "college students and above" age group is 1000, resulting in a total singing frequency of 3200. The extraction unit 23 allocates the number of songs performed by age group to the total number of songs performed in the medley performance (10 songs) based on the ratio of the singing frequency of each age group to the total singing frequency (3200). For example, as shown in FIG. 12, the extraction unit 23 allocates the number of songs performed by user U1's age group "elementary school students and below" to 1, the number of songs performed by age group "junior high school students" to 2, the number of songs performed by age group "high school students" to 3, the number of songs performed by age group "ronin students" to 1, and the number of songs performed by age group "college students and above" to 3.

The extraction unit 23 also extracts performance data for the number of songs performed by age group from the songs in the singing history of each age group of the user in order of the most frequently sung number of times (step S15). In FIG. 12, the singing history is listed from top to bottom in order of the most frequently sung number of times for each age group. For example, the extraction unit 23 extracts performance data for song A, which is the most frequently sung number of times, from the songs in the singing history of "elementary school students and below." The extraction unit 23 also extracts performance data for songs C and D, which are the first and second most frequently sung number of times, from the songs in the singing history of "junior high school students," extracts performance data for songs F, G, and H, which are the first to third most frequently sung number of times, from the songs in the singing history of "high school students," extracts performance data for song J, which is the first most frequently sung number of times, from the songs in the singing history of "ronin students," and extracts performance data for songs M, N, and O, which are the first to third most frequently sung number of times, from the songs in the singing history of "college students and above."

Next, the medley performance unit 24 sequentially performs a medley of the performance data extracted by the extraction unit 23 (step S16).

The editing unit 26 may not only store the edited era division information for user U1 in the storage unit 11, but may also transmit it to the server device 101 and store it in association with user U1. Then, the next time user U1 logs into the karaoke device 1, the server device 101 may read out the edited era division information corresponding to user U1 and transmit it to the karaoke device 1. This eliminates the need for user U1 to edit the era division information every time he logs into the karaoke device 1, and allows him to easily play medleys using the era division information.

As described above, the karaoke device 1 of the second embodiment of the present invention has the same configuration as the karaoke device 1 of the first embodiment, and also has an editing unit 26 that edits the age division information based on the user's operation.

This allows users to edit the age-group information to match their own educational and career history, and enjoy singing karaoke medleys that allow them to look back on their own educational and career history and feel the changes that have occurred over time.

In the above embodiment, the editing unit 26 edits the era division information displayed on the editing screen 30 of the display device 5 in response to the operation of the remote control device 6, but the present invention is not limited to this example. In another example, the editing unit 26 may edit the era division information in response to the operation of an operating device provided in the karaoke main unit 2.

In the above embodiment, the editing unit 26 displays the era division information editing screen 30 on the display device 5 of the karaoke device 1, but the present invention is not limited to this example. In another example, the editing unit 26 may display the era division information editing screen 30 on the remote control device 6 and edit the era division information in response to the operation of the remote control device 6.

In the above embodiment, an example was described in which the user edits the age division information for the "college student or above" age group to separate it into "ronin students" and "college student or above." However, the present invention is not limited to this example, and the editing unit 26 can edit age division information for various age groups according to the user's educational background and career history. For example, by using the editing unit 26, it is also possible to edit the age division information for the "college student or above" age group to separate it into "college student" and "working adult."

Alternatively, by using the editing unit 26, the age group information generated as "elementary school students or younger", "junior high school students", "high school students", and "college students or older" can be edited by dividing it into a predetermined age range, such as "early teens", "late teens", "early twenties", "late twenties", "early thirties", and "late thirties". Alternatively, by using the editing unit 26, the age group information generated as "elementary school students or younger", "junior high school students", "high school students", and "college students or older" can be edited by dividing it into equal parts for each predetermined period (e.g., two years) from a predetermined age (e.g., 13 years old) up to the present time.

The present invention may be modified as appropriate without going against the gist or concept of the invention as can be read from the claims and the entire specification, and karaoke devices with such modifications are also included in the technical concept of the present invention.

Reference Signs List 1 Karaoke device 2 Karaoke main unit 5 Display device 10 Control unit 11 Storage unit 21 Acquisition unit 22 Generation unit 23 Extraction unit 24 Medley performance unit 26 Editing unit

Claims (3)

A karaoke machine communicably connected to a server device,
A storage unit for storing performance data of a plurality of pieces of music;
An acquisition unit that acquires the user's birth date information and singing history from the server device;
a generation unit that generates era division information indicating past eras of the user based on the birth date information acquired by the acquisition unit;
an extracting unit that extracts the performance data of a predetermined number of songs for each era indicated by the era division information based on the singing history acquired by the acquiring unit;
a medley playing section that sequentially plays a medley of the performance data extracted by the extraction section;
having
The extraction unit calculates the number of times each era has been sung based on the singing history, calculates the ratio of the number of times each era has been sung to the total number of times each era has been sung, and extracts the performance data for the number of songs performed based on the ratio for each era indicated by the era division information relative to the total number of songs performed in the medley . The karaoke device according to claim 1, characterized in that the generation unit generates the age division information to include at least the ages of elementary school students, junior high school students, and high school students. 3. The karaoke apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an editing section for editing the age division information based on an operation by a user.

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