Patent ID: 6515213
Filing Date: 2003-02-04
Classification: G01D,G10F,G10G

Abstract:
A keyboard musical instrument for producing tones, comprising:plural keys independently movable between respective rest positions to respective end positions; plural action mechanisms respectively connected to said plural keys so that moving keys actuate the associated action mechanisms; plural hammers respectively associated with said plural action mechanisms, and driven for rotation by said associated action mechanisms; and a music data generating system including plural hammer sensors respectively monitoring said plural hammers for detecting a physical quantity of said plural hammers respectively rotatable on virtual planes with respect to a member, each of said plural hammer sensors having a photo radiating element stationary with respect to said member and radiating a light beam along an optical path at least a part of which extends in a direction crossing the virtual plane of the associated hammer, a photo receiving element stationary with respect to said member and provided on said optical path for producing a hammer signal representative of the amount of incident light and a converter rotatable together with said associated hammer and radiated with said light beam for converting a variation of said physical quantity to a variation of said amount of incident light, and a data processing sub-system connected to said plural hammer sensors for receiving the hammer signals and analyzing a hammer motion represented by said variation of said amount of incident light for each of said plural hammers so as to produce an audio signal representative of the tone to be produced through said hammer motion.