Abstract:
This specification provides a karaoke player, system and the method thereof. A goal of the player, the system and the method is to reduce the download data flux. Playing data that do not contain video signal are transmitted by a server to a signal processing device/karaoke player, which then decodes the playing data into audio signal and subtitle signal. A player/karaoke player plays the video signal, the audio signal, and the subtitle signal. Therefore, the player, the system and the method can enhance the data transmission efficiency.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of Invention 
         [0002]    The invention relates to a karaoke player, system and the method thereof. In particular, the invention relates to a karaoke player and system that store a video signal at the non-server end and the method thereof. 
         [0003]    2. Related Art 
         [0004]    Singing has become one the common leisure activities of modern life. In addition to singing at KTV, more and more families have purchased karaoke systems to sing at home. The biggest drawback of the home karaoke systems is that the songs cannot be updated in real time or the user has to update them manually. This is quite inconvenient for most users. 
         [0005]    Thanks to advances in network technology, digital TV (or set top box) has started providing services similar to those of karaoke systems. In such a system, songs are stored on a server. The digital TV (or set top box) downloads a play list for the user from the server via a network. After the user selects songs from the play list, the digital TV (or set top box) downloads the requested songs from the server. 
         [0006]    The song played by a conventional karaoke system is usually an audio-video (AV) signal composed of video, audio, and subtitle signals. Therefore, the karaoke services provided by the digital TV (or set top box) are also done by downloading the AV signals of requested songs from the server and then playing them for the user. However, in order to play a song, video, audio, and subtitle signals have to be downloaded via the network. The AV-signal files are often very large in size. Therefore, downloading a song demands a lot of network flux, occupying a good portion of the bandwidth. This inevitably affects the overall data transmission efficiency. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    In view of the foregoing, the invention provides a karaoke player, system, and the method thereof to reduce the necessary download data. 
         [0008]    The karaoke player disclosed herein includes a storage module, a request generating module, a transmission module, a signal decoding module, and a player module. The request generating module generates a request. The transmission module receives the playing data in response to the request. The signal decoding module decodes the playing data into an audio signal and a subtitle signal. Finally, the player module plays the audio, video, and subtitle signals stored in the storage module. Since the storage module has stored the video signal that occupies the most space, the invention can solve the problem of a large data flux when downloading songs via the network. 
         [0009]    The disclosed karaoke playing system includes: a signal processing device, a server, and a player. The server includes: a first transmission module and a server module. The signal processing device includes: a storage module, a request generating module, a second transmission module, a signal decoding module, and a third transmission module. The player includes: a fourth transmission module, and a player module. The storage module of the signal processing device stores a video signal. The request generating module sends a request for playing data to the server module on the server. The signal decoding module on the signal processing device decodes the playing data into an audio signal and a subtitle signal. Afterwards, the playing module of the player plays the video, audio, and subtitle signals. The disclosed system thus solves the problem of large network flux for downloading songs. 
         [0010]    The disclosed karaoke playing method includes the steps of: storing a video signal in the signal processing device; generating a request by the signal processing device; sending the request to the server from the signal processing device; transmitting playing data corresponding to the request from the server to the signal processing device; decoding the playing data into an audio signal and a subtitle signal at the signal processing device; transmitting the video, audio, and subtitle signals from the signal processing device to the player; and playing the video, audio, and subtitle signals using the player. The signal processing device stores the video signal. After it sends a request for the playing data to the server, the signal processing device decodes the playing data into the audio signal and the subtitle signal and plays the video, audio, and subtitle signals. The disclosed method thus solves the problem of large network flux for downloading songs. 
         [0011]    In comparison with the requirement of a large network flux for downloading songs in the prior art, the invention can indeed reduce the download data to increase the data transmission efficiency. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]    The invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below illustration only, and thus is not limitative of the present invention, and wherein: 
           [0013]      FIG. 1  shows the system structure of the disclosed karaoke playing system. 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart of the disclosed karaoke playing method. 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  is a schematic view of the disclosed karaoke player. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0016]    The present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same references relate to the same elements. 
         [0017]    The audio signal and the subtitle signal referred herein have a temporal correspondence relation, such as the background music and subtitle in a song. However, they are not limited to such examples. 
         [0018]    Please refer to  FIG. 1  for the system structure of the disclosed karaoke playing system. As shown in the drawing, the disclosed system includes: a server  100 , a signal processing device  200 , and a player  300 . The server  100  includes: a first transmission module  110  and a server module  120 . The signal processing device  200  includes: a request generating module  210 , a second transmission module  220 , a storage module  230 , a signal decoding module  240 , and a third transmission module  250 . The player  300  includes: a fourth transmission module  310  and a playing module  320 . 
         [0019]    The first transmission module  110  receives a request send from the second transmission module  220  of the signal processing device  200 . It further transmits the playing data corresponding to the received request to the second transmission module  220  of the signal processing device  200 . 
         [0020]    The playing data are encoded so that an audio signal and a subtitle signal can be concurrently stored therein. For example, the audio signal and the subtitle signal can be stored in different channels in a way similar to the customized musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) format. However, the playing data referred herein are not limited to the MIDI format. Any other format that can concurrently store audio and subtitle can be employed by the invention. Moreover, if there are two or more subtitle signals, more different channels should be used. 
         [0021]    After the first transmission module  110  receives the request sent from the second transmission module  220  of the signal processing device  200 , the server module  120  reads the playing data corresponding to the request. It lets the first transmission module  110  to return the playing data to the second transmission module  220  of the signal processing signal  200 . 
         [0022]    The request generating module  210  generates a request for downloading the playing data. 
         [0023]    The second transmission module  220  sends the request generated by the request generating module  210  to the first transmission module  110  of the server  100 . It also receives the requested playing data returned by the first transmission module  110  of the server  100 . 
         [0024]    The storage module  230  stores a video signal. The stored the video signal is stored in advance in the storage module  230  of the signal processing device  200 . 
         [0025]    The signal decoding module  240  decodes the playing data received by the second transmission module  220  into an audio signal and at least one subtitle signal. 
         [0026]    The third transmission module  250  transmits the video signals stored in the storage module  230  and the audio signal and the subtitle signal generated by the signal decoding module  240  to the fourth transmission module  310  of the player  300 . 
         [0027]    The fourth transmission module  310  receives the video, audio, and subtitle signals transmitted from the third transmission module  250  of the signal processing device  200 . 
         [0028]    The playing module  320  simultaneously plays the video and audio signals received by the fourth transmission module  310 . At the same time, each section of subtitle in each subtitle signal is played according to the corresponding time tag by the playing module  320 . 
         [0029]    In the hardware implementation, the signal processing device  200  and the player  300  can be parts of a digital TV, in addition to connecting the third transmission module  250  and the fourth transmission module  310  using a transmission line. In the digital TV, the third transmission module  250  and the fourth transmission module  310  are connected directly by a circuit. 
         [0030]    In the following, an explicit embodiment is used to explain the operations of the disclosed system and method. Please refer to  FIG. 2  for a flowchart of the disclosed karaoke playing method. 
         [0031]    In this embodiment, the server  100  is a web server. The invention, however, is not limited by this example. Any other server that can transmit playing data to the signal processing device  200  can be used in the invention. The signal processing device  200  is a set top box. Again, the invention is not limited to this example. Any device that combines received the video, audio, and subtitle signal into AV signal playable by the player  300  can be used. The player  300  in this embodiment is a TV. The invention is not limited to this example, either. Any player that can play the AV signal transmitted from the signal processing device  200  can be used by the invention. The playing data in this embodiment include the audio and subtitle signal of a song for singing. In general, the playing data of the invention are not limited to songs. Moreover, the playing data in this embodiment utilizes the customized MIDI format to store the audio and subtitle signal. However, the playing data of the invention are not restricted to the customized MIDI format. 
         [0032]    The storage module  230  in the set top box (signal processing device  200 ) has already been stored with a video signal of songs from the vendor (step  400 ). Besides, the storage module  230  also stores other information related to the songs as well. 
         [0033]    When a user wants to play a song in order to sing along, the request generating module  210  in the set top box generates a request (step  410 ). Afterwards, the second transmission module  220  in the set top box sends the request generated by the request generating module  210  to the web server of the embodiment (server  100 ). 
         [0034]    After the first transmission module  110  on the web server receives the request (step  420 ), the server module  120  thereon obtains and receives playing data corresponding to the request (step  430 ). The method for the server module  120  to obtain the playing data can be reading in the storage module (not shown) of the server  100  (web server) or downloading from the storage device (not shown) connected with the server  100 . However, the invention is not restricted by these two examples. 
         [0035]    After the server module  120  obtains the audio and subtitle signal of the song, it returns the playing data in the MIDI format to the second transmission module  220  of the set top box via the first transmission module  110 . 
         [0036]    After the second transmission module  220  receives the playing data transmitted from the first transmission module  110  of the web server (step  440 ), the signal decoding module  240  on the set top box extracts an audio signal and at least one subtitle signal stored in different channels of the playing data. That is, the playing data are decoded into audio signal and at least one subtitle signal (step  450 ). If there is only one subtitle signal, the audio signal and the subtitle signal use distinct channels. If there are two subtitle signals, then the audio signal uses one channel and the two subtitle signals use two distinct channels. 
         [0037]    After the signal decoding module  240  on the set top box extracts audio signal and at least one subtitle signal stored in different channels of the playing data (step  450 ), the third transmission module  250  of the set top box transmits the audio and subtitle signals decoded by the signal decoding module  240  and the video signal stored in the storage module  230  to the fourth transmission module  310  of the TV (player  300 ) (step  460 ). 
         [0038]    After the fourth transmission module  310  of the TV receives the audio, subtitle, and video signals transmitted from the third transmission module  250  of the set top box, the playing module  320  of the TV plays these signals (step  470 ). As described, the invention does not need to download the video signal of the request song. The download data size is reduced. Therefore, it solves the problem of large network flux for download data in the prior art. 
         [0039]    Moreover, the disclosed web server (server  100 ) can further includes an encrypting module  170  and the set top box (signal processing device  200 ) includes a decrypting module  270 , so that the web server uses the encrypting module  180  to encrypt the playing data before sending them to the set top box using the first transmission module  110  (step  480 ). After the set top box receives the playing data returned from the web server (step  440 ), it first decrypts the playing data (step  490 ) and then decodes the playing data into audio and subtitle signal (step  450 ). This mechanism can prevent the playing data from being eavesdropped during the transmission. 
         [0040]    Besides, the web server (server  100 ) can transmit video signal to the set top box (signal processing device  200 ) via the first transmission module  110  by streaming. The second transmission module transmits the received video signal to the storage module  230  to store. This can increase the video signal stored in the storage module  230 . 
         [0041]    The above-mentioned embodiment uses the set top box (signal processing device  200 ) to download the playing data and decode them into audio signal and subtitle signal. Afterwards, the TV (player  300 ) plays the video, audio, and subtitle signals. In practice, the signal processing device  200  and the player  300  can be combined into a karaoke player  500 , such as a digital TV that can process and play signal. 
         [0042]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , the disclosed karaoke player  500  includes a request generating module  510 , a transmission module  520 , a storage module  530 , a signal decoding module  540 , and a playing module  550 . 
         [0043]    The request generating module  510 , the transmission module  520 , the storage module  530 , and the signal decoding module  540  are the same as the request generating module  210 , the second transmission module  220 , the storage module  230 , and the signal decoding module  240  in the karaoke playing system of  FIG. 1 . The playing module  550  plays the audio and subtitle signal decoded by the signal decoding module  540  and the video signal stored in the storage module  530 . 
         [0044]    The karaoke player  500  can further include a decrypting module  570 . If the playing data received by the transmission module  520  are encrypted, the decrypting module  570  can decrypt the encrypted playing data so that the signal decoding module  540  can combine the decrypted playing data with the video signal into AV signal. 
         [0045]    Besides, when the transmission module  520  of the karaoke player  500  receives the video signal transmitted from the server  100  by streaming, the storage module  230  is enabled to store the video signal received by the transmission module  520 . 
         [0046]    Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover all modifications that fall within the true scope of the invention.