Electronic music box

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9728171-B2
Application number	US-201615160132-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 20, 2016
Priority date	Apr 17, 2010
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

Music data memory includes pieces of music within a group and other pieces of music outside the group. The next piece to be played is automatically determined by random table among pieces within the group. Favorite or newest piece is weighted to be more frequently played in the group. Piece in music data memory is automatically included into the group by random table. Newly downloaded piece into music data memory is included into the group by priority. Most frequently played piece is excluded from the group in place of newly included piece. Favorite or newest piece may be an exception of exclusion. Next piece is capable of being played in tempo similar to that of preceding piece by means of tempo-adjusted or piece replacement or repetition of the same piece for the purpose of continued baby cradling in synchronism with the same tempo of succeeding pieces.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device for playing a plurality of pieces of music downloaded from a music server through internet comprising:
a music data memory arranged to store data of a plurality of pieces of music, the stored pieces of music including pieces of music within a first group including pieces of music without limitation of resemblance for avoiding monotony and pieces of music within a second group including a new piece of music resembling other pieces of music in the second group;
a group former arranged to automatically determine the new piece of music to be included within the second group;
a controller arranged to automatically determine the next piece of music to be played among the pieces of music within the first group or the second group;
an operation portion arranged to be manually operated to set a playing mode according to the second group; and
a playing mode selector arranged to normally select the first group for the controller determine the next piece of music within the first group, to select the second group for the controller determine the next piece of music within the second group in response to the operation portion setting the playing mode according to the second group, and to come back to the normal selection of the first group for the controller determine the next piece of music within the first group in response to the operation portion cancelling the setting.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1 further comprising a random table memory arranged to store a random table, wherein the controller is arranged to automatically determine the next piece of music to be played in accordance with the random table in the random table memory.

3. The electronic device according to claim 1 further comprising a random table memory arranged to store a random table, wherein the group former is arranged to automatically determine the new piece of music for inclusion into the second group in accordance with the random table in the random table memory.

4. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the group former is arranged to weight a predetermined piece of music downloaded from the music server through internet to be included into the second group, whereby the weighted piece has a priority of being included to the other pieces of music downloaded from the music server through internet.

5. The electronic device according to claim 1 further comprising a communicator arranged to receive data of a piece of music from the music server for storage in the music data memory, wherein the group former is arranged to automatically determine the new piece of music to be included into the second group so that the piece of music received by the communicator is given priority.

6. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the group former is arranged to exclude from the first group a piece of music different from other pieces of music in the first group and to include into the first group a piece of music resembling other pieces of music in the first group to form the second group.

7. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the music data memory is arranged to save the pieces of music without limitation of resemblance in the first group while the playing mode selector is selecting the second group so that the playing mode is possible to come back to the normal selection of the first group in response to the operation portion not setting the playing mode according to the second group.

8. The electronic device according to claim 5 , wherein the communicator arranged to receive data of a piece of music from the music server my way of a cellar phone capable of communicating with the music server with identification number and a password.

9. An electronic device for playing a plurality of pieces of music cooperating with a cellar phone capable of communicating with a music server with identification and a password through internet comprising:
a music data memory arranged to store data of a plurality of pieces of music, the stored pieces of music including pieces of music within a first group including pieces of music without limitation of resemblance for avoiding monotony and pieces of music within a second group including a new piece of music resembling other pieces of music in the second group;
a group former arranged to automatically determine the new piece of music to be included within the second group;
an operation portion arranged to be manually operated to set a playing mode according to the second group; and
a playing mode selector arranged to normally select the first group for the electronic device to play one of the pieces of music within the first group, to select the second group for the electronic device to play one of the pieces of music within the second group in response to the operation portion setting the playing mode according to the second group, and to come back to the normal selection of the first group for the electronic device to play one of the pieces of music within the first group in response to the operation portion cancelling the setting.

10. The electronic device according to claim 9 further comprising a controller arranged to automatically determine the next piece of music to be played among the pieces of music within the first group or the second group.

11. The electronic device according to claim 10 further comprising a random table memory arranged to store a random table and a controller arranged to automatically determine the next piece of music to be played in accordance with the random table in the random table memory.

12. The electronic device according to claim 9 further comprising a random table memory arranged to store a random table, wherein the group former is arranged to automatically determine the new piece of music for inclusion into the second group in accordance with the random table in the random table memory.

13. The electronic device according to claim 9 , wherein the group former is arranged to weight a predetermined piece downloaded from the music server through internet to be included into the second group, whereby the weighted piece has a priority of being included to the other pieces downloaded from the music server through internet.

14. The electronic device according to claim 9 further comprising a communicator arranged to receive data of a piece of music from the cellar phone for storage in the music data memory, wherein the group former is arranged to automatically determine the new piece of music to be included into the second group so that the piece of music received by the communicator is given priority.

15. The electronic device according to claim 9 , wherein the group former is arranged to exclude from the first group a piece of music different from other pieces of music in the first group and to include into the first group a piece of music resembling other pieces of music in the first group to form the second group.

16. The electronic device according to claim 9 , wherein the music data memory is arranged to save the pieces of music without limitation of resemblance in the first group while the playing mode selector is selecting the second group so that the playing mode is possible to come back to the normal selection of the first group in response to the operation portion not setting the playing mode according to the second group.

Assignees

• Tanaka Masahide
• NL Giken Incorporated

Inventors

• Tanaka Masahide

Classifications

• G10H2210/125

  Medley, i.e. linking parts of different musical pieces in one single piece, e.g. sound collage, DJ mix · CPC title

• G06F3/165

  Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path · CPC title

• G10H2240/145

  Sound library, i.e. involving the specific use of a musical database as a sound bank or wavetable; indexing, interfacing, protocols or processing therefor · CPC title

• G10H2210/021

  Background music, e.g. for video sequences or elevator music · CPC title

• G10H2210/121

  using a knowledge base · CPC title