Patent ID: 7319186
Filing Date: 2008-01-15
Classification: G10H

Abstract:
1. A machine readable medium for use in a sound generating apparatus, the medium containing music sequence data which represents a music piece and which enables a compatible sound generating apparatus to reproduce the music piece at a first quality while allowing a non-compatible sound generating apparatus to reproduce the music piece at a second quality different from the first quality, wherein the music sequence data comprises: event data that represents various types of musical events occurring during the course of reproducing the music piece; timing data that specifies occurrence timing of each musical event, wherein the event data representing at least one type of the musical events is scrambled such as to affect performance of the non-compatible sound generating apparatus without affecting performance of the compatible sound generating apparatus, so that the compatible sound generating apparatus can maintain the first quality of the music piece even when the music piece is reproduced from the music sequence data containing the scrambled event data, while the non-compatible sound generating apparatus cannot maintain the second quality of the music piece when the music piece is reproduced from the music sequence data containing the scrambled event data; and timbre data which represents a set of timbres applicable to sounds of the music piece and identified by program change numbers, wherein said one type of the musical events are program change events which contain the program change numbers for specifying the timbres, and wherein the program change numbers are scrambled such that the non-compatible sound generating apparatus cannot apply equivalent timbres corresponding to the specified timbres by setting the timbre data to the compatible sound generating apparatus in response to the program change events thereby failing to maintain the second quality, while the compatible sound generating apparatus can properly apply the specified timbres in response to the program change events thereby maintaining the first quality.