Abstract:
A data processing method utilized in network system includes: utilizing a first transmitter to transmit an audio signal and a selection signal to a network receiver in a server, selecting a corresponding accompaniment signal from a database according to the selection signal, mixing the audio signal and the accompaniment signal with a mixer, utilizing a second transmitter to transmit a login signal and an identification signal corresponding to a second terminal to the network receiver in the server, comparing the login signal and a predetermined account number, and utilizing a network transmitter to transmit a music signal to the second terminal according to the identification signal if the login signal is the same as the predetermined account.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a data processing method of a karaoke system based on a network system, and more particularly, to a method that uses a mixer of a server to mix an audio signal of users and an accompaniment signal inside a database of the server.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0004]    In this busy industry and commerce society, users always like to get together to have fun and relax with friends. Activities such as karaoke are good ways for people to get together and enjoy singing. However, since people are busy with work, it is difficult for all people to meet at the same time and place. Although network systems are developed nowadays, they still cannot allow users to enjoy karaoke without being in the same location.  
           [0005]    Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the prior art network system  10  in which users use the network system  10  to enjoy karaoke. As shown in FIG. 1, when users use the prior art network system to enjoy karaoke, users must first dialup to connect a terminal  12  (such as a cellular phone or personal computer) to a server  14  through the network system  10 . After connecting to the server  14 , users can download electronic accompaniment signals (such as numbered musical notation data)  18  stored inside the server  14  to the terminal  12 . A converter  22  inside the terminal  12  can convert the accompaniment signals  18  into an accompaniment melody  24  and play the accompaniment melody  24 , so that users can sing by using the accompaniment melody  24  as background music.  
           [0006]    In prior art technology, although the server  14  has stored many accompaniment signals  18  for users to download, users still cannot enjoy singing together with friends without being together in the same location. That means, when users want to sing with friends, all people must match the meeting time and place. Therefore, the prior art network system  10  is inconvenient for users. The prior art network system  10  is unable to simultaneously provide karaoke service to many users when users are not in the same place, so that users cannot enjoy singing with friends.  
           [0007]    Therefore, in the 3G (third generation) mobile communication age, it is an important research target to use wide communication bandwidth and internet service to develop a network karaoke system so as to allow users to enjoy singing with friends without having to be together in the same location.  
         SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
         [0008]    It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to provide a data processing method of a karaoke system based on a network system, and more particularly, to a method that uses a mixer of a server to mix an audio signal of users and an accompaniment signal inside a database of the server.  
           [0009]    The claimed invention, briefly summarized, discloses a data processing method utilized in a network system. The data processing method includes: utilizing a first transmitter to transmit an audio signal and a selection signal to a network receiver in a server, selecting a corresponding accompaniment signal from a database according to the selection signal, mixing the audio signal and the accompaniment signal with a mixer, utilizing a second transmitter to transmit a login signal and an identification signal corresponding to a second terminal to the network receiver in the server, comparing the login signal and a predetermined account number, and utilizing a network transmitter to transmit a music signal to the second terminal according to the identification signal if the login signal is the same as the predetermined account.  
           [0010]    It is an advantage of the claimed invention that the claimed invention provides the music mixing service and the image mixing service. Users can enjoy karaoke fun without limitations of time, traffic, and place.  
           [0011]    These and other objectives of the claimed invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the prior art network system in which users use network system to enjoy karaoke.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the present invention network system that provides karaoke service.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an image processing method according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0015]    Please refer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a present invention network system  100  that provides karaoke service. As shown in FIG. 2, the present invention network system  100  comprises a plurality of terminals (such as cellular phones, personal computers, or information appliances) and a server  104 . Although FIG. 2 shows only two terminals  102 A and  102 B, the present invention is not limited to that. The present invention method can be used in network system that has any quantity of terminals. The function of the terminals  102 A and  102 B are same. Using terminal  102 A as an example, the terminal  102   a  comprises a microphone  106 A, a controller  108 A, a transmitter  112 A, a receiver  114 A, and a speaker  116 A. The terminal  102 B comprises a microphone  106 B, a controller  108 B, a transmitter  112 B, a receiver  114 B, and a speaker  116 B. The server  104  comprises a network receiver  118 , a database  122 , a mixer  124 , a selection circuit  125 , and a network transmitter  126 . The terminals shown in FIG. 2 are two cellular phones  102 A and  102 B. That means, the present invention can be used by several terminals which are located in different places. All of these terminals connect to the server  104  through the network. The transmitters  112 A,  112 B of cellular phones  102 A,  102 B transmit signals to server  104  through wireless transmission. Similarly, the network transmitter  126  also uses wireless transmission to transmit signals to the cellular phones  102 A,  102 B. If the terminals are personal computers, the terminals and server  104  transmit signals to each other through network cords.  
         [0016]    The following uses the cellular phone  102 A as an example to illustrate the function of the terminals. The microphone  106 A is used to receive an acoustic wave  134 A generated by a user of the cellular phone  102 A and then convert the acoustic wave  134 A into a corresponding audio signal  136 A. The controller  108  provides a plurality of input buttons or other input devices (such as a contact panel) as a human-machine interface. The controller  108  can generate a corresponding selection signal  138  according to an instruction inputted by a user  132 A of the cellular phone  102 A. The cellular phone  102 A includes an identification signal  152 A for identifying the cellular phone  102 A by each terminal in the network system  100 . The transmitter  112 A is used to transmit signals to server  104 . The receiver  114 A is used to receive signals transmitted from the network transmitter  126 . The speaker  116  converts the signals received by the receiver  114  into acoustic waves. Similarly, the cellular phone  102 B also has an identification signal  152 B. The function of the cellular  102 B is similar to the function of the cellular phone  102 A. In the server  104 , the network receiver  118  is used to receive signals transmitted from the cellular phones  102 A,  102 B. The database  122  is used to store a plurality of electronic accompaniment signals  142 . The selection circuit  125  can select a specific accompaniment signal  142  according to the signal received by the network receiver  118 . Each accompaniment signal  142  corresponds to an accompaniment melody, such as the background music of the karaoke. The mixer  124  is used to mix the audio signal  136  and the accompaniment signal  142  so as to form a music signal. The music signal is transmitted to the cellular phones  102 A,  102 B through the network transmitter  126 .  
         [0017]    The main point of the present invention is using the network system  100  to provide far-end karaoke service. Therefore, although users of the terminals are located in different places or countries, users also can enjoy karaoke with friends through network system  100 . The following illustrates the present invention method of using the network system  100  to provide karaoke service. Before using the karaoke service, users must apply for karaoke service from the server  104 . The server  104  has a predetermined account  137 . User of the terminals must get this predetermined account  137  (get through the network system) so as to use the karaoke service through the network system  100 .  
         [0018]    After users get the predetermined account  137 , users can use the predetermined account  137  to login to the server  104 . For example, user  132 A can use the cellular phone  102 A to transmit the login signal  139 A and the identification signal  152 A to the server  104  through the transmitter  112 A. When the network receiver  118  of the server  104  receives the login signal  139 A transmitted from the terminal  102 A, the server  104  compares the login signal  139 A with the predetermined account  137  (also can identify the identification signal  152 A at the same time). If the login signal  139 A matches the predetermined account  137 , the cellular phone  102 A can use the karaoke service provided by the server  104 . If the login signal  139 A does not match the predetermined account  137 , that means the user of the cellular phone  102 A does not have the real predetermined account  137 , and the user of the cellular phone  102 A cannot use the karaoke service provided by the server  104 .  
         [0019]    After user  132 A has logged in to the karaoke service provided by the server  104 , the server  104  can provide service items to the user of the cellular phone  102  according to the identification signal  152 A of the cellular phone  102 A. The fundamental service item of the present invention server  104  is to use the accompaniment signals  142  inside the database to provide several background music of the karaoke. User  132 A can use the controller  108 A of the cellular phone  102 A to transmit the selection signal  138 A so as to select a specific accompaniment signal  142  inside the database  122 . As mentioned before, each accompaniment signal  142  corresponds to a specific accompaniment melody (background music). The selection signal  138 A is transmitted to the selection circuit  125  of the server  104  through the transmitter  112 A and the network receiver  118 . The selection circuit  125  selects the specific accompaniment signal  142  according to the selection signal  138 A, and then transmits the accompaniment signal  142  to the mixer  124 . Finally, the accompaniment signal  142  is transmitted to the receiver  114 A of the cellular phone  102 A through the network transmitter  126  (according to the identification signal  152 A). After receiving the accompaniment signal  142 , the receiver  114 A transmits the accompaniment signal  142  to the speaker  116 A. The speaker  116 A transforms the accompaniment signal  142  into the accompaniment melody and plays the melody so that user  132 A can hear the accompaniment melody of the accompaniment signal  142  corresponding to the selection signal  138 . The accompaniment melody is the background music of the karaoke. Of course, the acoustic wave of user  132 A can also be converted into the audio signal  136 A through the microphone  106 A of the cellular phone  102 A. The audio signal  136 A is transmitted to the mixer  124  of the server  104  through the transmitter  112 A and the network receiver  118 . The mixer  124  mixes the audio signal  136 A with the accompaniment signal  142  in real-time so as to form a music signal  146 . The music signal  146  is transmitted to the speaker  116 A through the network transmitter  126  and the receiver  114 A. The speaker  116 A converts the music signal into the music wave and plays the music wave so that user  132 A can simultaneously hear the accompaniment melody  144  and the acoustic wave  134 A.  
         [0020]    Of course, the main purpose of the present invention is to allow users of several terminals to simultaneously enjoy the karaoke service without the limitation of being in the same location. If user  132 B has a login signal  139 B matching the predetermined account  137 , the cellular phone  102 B of user  132 B can use the login signal  139 B and the identification signal  152 B to login the same karaoke service of the server  104 . At that time, the server  104  tells each user who uses the same karaoke service that there are two users (and also tells the identity of users because the server  104  receives the identification signal of each login user when users login to the karaoke service). Each user who has logged into the karaoke service can use the controller of the terminals to generate the selection signal. The selection signal is transmitted to the server  104  through the transmitter of each terminal. The server  104  chooses the accompaniment signal  142  from the database  122  according to the selection of each user inside the same karaoke service. The acoustic wave of each user is converted into the audio signal through the microphone of each terminal. The audio signal then is transmitted to the mixer  124  of the server  104 . The mixer  124  mixes the audio signal of each user inside the same karaoke service with the accompaniment signal  142  so as to form the music signal  146 . The music signal  146  is transmitted back to each terminal through the network transmitter  126 . The speaker of each terminal converts the music signal  146  into the music wave. Because the music signal  146  is mixed by the accompaniment signal and the audio signal of each user, users of each terminal can hear the acoustic wave of other users. Since users  132 A and  132 B of the network system  100  have logged into the same karaoke service, the acoustic wave  134 A,  134 B of each user is transmitted to the mixer  124  through the corresponding transmitter  112 A,  112 B and the network receiver  118 . The mixer  124  mixes the audio signal of each user with the selected accompaniment signal  142  in real-time so as to form the music signal  146 . The music signal  146  is transmitted back to the cellular phones  102 A,  102 B through the network transmitter  126 . The speakers of cellular phones  102 A,  102 B convert the music signal  146  into music waves and play the music waves. Therefore, although users  132 A,  132 B are in the different places, they also can simultaneously hear the acoustic wave  134 A,  134 B of others, as shown in FIG. 2. Therefore, users who have logged into the same karaoke service can sing with the same background music, and can also simultaneously hear the singing sound of other users.  
         [0021]    With the progress of optical image technologies, more and more cellular phones, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), and personal computers have an image capture device installed. The image shot by the image capture device can be transmitted to the network system  104 . If each terminal of the present invention has an image capture device installed, the function of the karaoke service can be improved. Please refer to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an image processing method according to the present invention. Besides the function blocks shown in FIG. 2, the cellular phones  102 A,  102 B of the network system  100  further comprise image capture devices  158 A,  158 B, and display panels  164 A,  164 B, respectively, as shown in FIG. 3. The image capture device  158 A of the cellular phone  102 A can shoot a scene  159 A (such as facial expression of user  132 A), and convert the scene into a corresponding electronic image signal  162 A. The electronic image signal  162 A is transmitted to the network receiver  118  through the transmitter  112 A. The receiver  114 A of the cellular phone  102 A can receive the image signal and transmit the image signal to the display panel  164 A. The display panel  164 A can convert the image signal into the image and display the image. Therefore, user  132 A can see the image corresponding to the image signal from the display panel  164 A. The image capture device  158 B and the display panel  164 B of the cellular phone  102 B have the same function of the cellular phone  102 A. In addition, the network receiver  118  of the server  104  can receive the image signal transmitted from each terminal, and can then transmit the image signals to the mixer  124 . In addition to the various accompaniment signals  142 , the database  122  further stores a plurality of electronic image data  166 . Each image data corresponds to the reference image. Under the karaoke service, each image data  166  corresponds with the reference image of the specific accompaniment melody. The selection circuit  125  can choose not only the accompaniment signal, but can also choose the specific image data and transmit the image data to the mixer  124 . The mixer  124  can mix not only the accompaniment signal and the audio signal of each user in real-time, but can also mix the image signal of each user and the image data chosen from the database  122  so as to form an image processing signal. The image processing data is transmitted back to each terminal (according to the identification signal of each terminal) through the network transmitter  126 .  
         [0022]    The karaoke service, provided by the present invention network system  100  shown in FIG. 3, can mix not only the audio signals with the accompaniment signal, but can also mix the image signal with the image data. Therefore, each user who has logged into the same karaoke service can see the image of others. For example, users  132 A and  132 B have logged into the same karaoke service. Users  132 A,  132 B can use the image capture devices  158 A,  158 B of the terminals (cellular phones  158 A,  158 B) to shoot scenes  159 A,  159 B respectively. The image signals  162 A,  162 B corresponding to the scenes  159 A,  159 B are transmitted to the mixer  124  through the respective transmitter  112 A,  112 B and the network receiver  118 . Of course, the selection signals of users of each terminal are also transmitted to the selection circuit  125 , which is similar to the music mixing process. The selection circuit  125  can choose the corresponding accompaniment signal  142  and the image data  166  according to the selection signal. The image data  166  is mixed with the image signals  162 A,  162 B in real-time, and transmitted from each terminal (cellular phones  102 A,  102 B) so as to form an image processing signal  147 . The image processing signal  147  is transmitted to the receiver  114 A,  114 B of each terminal through the network transmitter  126 . The display panel of each terminal converts the image processing signal  147  into the image and displays the image. Therefore, users  132 A,  132 B can see and scene  159 A,  159 B of each other and the reference image  168  (such as lyrics of a song) corresponding to the image data. The mixed image can be a superimposed image, in which the lyrics of a song (reference image) are on top of the scene of users. The mixed image also can be displayed side by side, in which the scenes  159 A,  159 B stand side by side. Therefore, the present invention can provide not only the music mixing service, but can also provide the image mixing service. Each user can hear not only the acoustic waves of others, but can only see the scenes of others. Therefore, users can enjoy karaoke service without the limitation of space.  
         [0023]    Since each terminal transmits the corresponding identification signal to the network system  100  when terminals are logged into the network system  100 , network system  100  can provide specific service to each user. For example, user  132 A in FIG. 2 can choose not to listen the acoustic wave of user  132 B. In this case, the mixer  124  selectively excludes the acoustic wave (the audio signal  136 B) of user  132 B, only mixes the accompaniment signal and the audio signal  136 A, and then transmits the mixed music to the cellular phone  102 A. At the same time, if user  132 B wants to hear the acoustics of all users, the mixer  124  can also mix the audio signal of all users with the accompaniment signal by using a multiplexing manner so as to form the music signal, and then transmits the music signal to the cellular phone  102 B. Similarly, the mixer  124  also can provide the specific image mixing service to each user. In addition, if the cellular phone  102 B shown in FIG. 3 does not have the image capture device  158 B installed, the server  104  cannot provide the scene of user  132 B, but can still provide the scene  159 A of user  132 A and reference image  168  to each user. That means, although the equipment of each terminal is different, the server  104  can elastically provide different karaoke services to each user. Of course, it is possible that one of the terminals  102 A,  102 B shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 is a cellular phone, and another one is a personal computer with video function. Although the equipment of the terminals is different, as long as the terminals can login to the server  104 , users of the terminals can enjoy karaoke fun with friends.  
         [0024]    In conclusion, the present invention can provide not only the music mixing service, but can also provide the image mixing service. When a group of friends want to enjoy karaoke fun, they can do so without limitations of time, traffic, and place. That means the present invention provides a mobile remote karaoke, which overcomes the problems of traffic, time, and place.  
         [0025]    The present invention fully uses the wide communication band provided by 3G, and internet service. The mobile remote karaoke service increases the interaction of users without the limitations of time and place.  
         [0026]    Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.