Patent ID: 8609972
Filing Date: 2013-12-17
Classification: G10H

Abstract:
1. A performance apparatus used with musical-tone generating equipment for generating musical tones, the apparatus comprising: a holding member extending in an longitudinal direction to be held by a player with his or her hand; a first acceleration sensor provided in a head portion of the holding member, for obtaining a first acceleration-sensor value, which contains three components along three axes, respectively; a second acceleration sensor provided in a base portion of the holding member, for obtaining a second acceleration-sensor value, which contains three components along said three axes, respectively, wherein the base portion of the holding member is a portion opposite to the head portion of the holding member; and a controlling unit for giving the musical-tone generating equipment an instruction of generating a musical tone; wherein the controlling unit comprises: wherein the operation-mode determining unit calculates (i) a first displacement value of the head portion of the holding member during a period from a first timing to a second timing, based on the first acceleration-sensor value obtained by the first acceleration sensor, and (ii) a second displacement value of the base portion of the holding member during the period from the first timing to the second timing, based on the second acceleration-sensor value obtained by the second acceleration sensor, and determines the operation mode of the holding member based on the first displacement value and the second displacement value; wherein the operation-mode determining unit calculates (i) the first displacement value based on a component among the three components of the first acceleration-sensor value along an axis among the three axes which is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the holding member, obtained by the first acceleration sensor, and (ii) the second displacement value based on a component among the three components of the second acceleration-sensor value along the axis perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the holding member, obtained by the second acceleration sensor; wherein the performance apparatus is operable in four operation modes including a first operation mode, a second operation mode, a third operation mode, and a fourth operation mode, wherein the operation-mode determining unit determines which of the four operation modes the operation of the holding member satisfies; wherein the operation-mode determining unit determines that the operation of the holding member satisfies the first operation mode when the operation of the holding member meets conditions such that both an absolute value of the first displacement value and an absolute value of the second displacement value are larger than a first threshold value, and an absolute value of a difference between the first displacement value and the second displacement value is smaller than a second threshold value, the second threshold value being smaller than the first threshold value, and the first displacement value and the second displacement value have the same sign; wherein the operation-mode determining unit determines that the operation of the holding member satisfies the second operation mode when the operation of the holding member meets conditions such that the absolute value of the first displacement value is larger than the first threshold value, and the absolute value of the second displacement value is smaller than the second threshold value; wherein the operation-mode determining unit determines that the operation of the holding member satisfies the third operation mode when the operation of the holding member meets conditions such that the absolute value of the first displacement value is larger than the first threshold value, and the absolute value of the second displacement value falls into a range between the second threshold value and the first threshold value, and the first displacement value and the second displacement value have the same sign; and wherein the operation-mode determining unit determines that the operation of the holding member satisfies the fourth operation mode when the operation of the holding member meets conditions such that both the absolute value of the first displacement value and the absolute value of the second displacement value are larger than a third threshold value, and the first displacement value and the second displacement value have a different sign from each other.