Abstract:
The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for mixing music. The method includes: utilizing a portable device to play an audio file, detecting a motion path of the portable device to generate a control signal, and mixing the audio file according to the control signal in order to mix a specific sound effect with a sound effect corresponding to the audio file, wherein the specific sound effect is selected from a plurality of sound effects.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for mixing music, and more specifically, to a method and an apparatus for mixing music by detecting a movement of a mobile phone.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     Mobile phones have enabled modern life to become increasingly convenient, so the popularity of mobile phones is significantly increasing. Mobile phones not only have a function of communication, but also have many additional functions making the mobile phone more useful and interesting. The mobile phones available on the market nowadays have an increasing number of additional functions, enabling users to play games, take photos, listen to music, mix ring tones etc. More mobile phones nowadays have a ring tone mixing function, so that the user can create a specific ring tone for their own mobile phone according to their personal preference.  
         [0005]     A keyboard input method is typically utilized during a ring tone mixing process. That is, the user can select a melody stored in the mobile phone using the mobile phone keyboard, and then mix a ring tone with the selected melody. As mobile phone sizes become smaller and more compact, the size of individual keys on the keyboard becomes limited, often creating some inconvenience when utilizing the keyboard, and therefore when mixing ring tones.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     One of the objectives of the claimed invention is therefore to provide a method and an apparatus for mixing music, to solve the above-mentioned problem.  
         [0007]     According to the claimed invention, a method for mixing music is disclosed. The method comprises: utilizing a portable device to play an audio file; detecting a motion path of the portable device to generate a control signal; and mixing the audio file according to the control signal in order to mix a specific sound effect with a sound effect corresponding to the audio file, wherein the specific sound effect is selected from a plurality of sound effects.  
         [0008]     In addition, the claimed invention provides a portable device capable of mixing music. The portable device comprises: a storage device for storing an audio file; a control circuit, coupled to the storage device, for playing the audio file; and a detector, coupled to the control circuit, for detecting a motion path of the portable device to generate a control signal; wherein the control circuit mixes the audio file according to the control signal to mix a specific sound effect with a sound effect corresponding to the audio file.  
         [0009]     These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  is diagram of a mobile phone capable of mixing music according to the present invention.  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a diagram of a first embodiment of a music-mixing interface according to the present invention.  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a diagram of a second embodiment of the music-mixing interface according to the present invention.  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is a diagram of a third embodiment of the music-mixing interface according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0014]     Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a diagram of a mobile phone capable of mixing music according to the present invention. The mobile phone  100  comprises a detector  110 , a control circuit  120  and a storage device  130 . In order to provide more flexibility for users&#39; selections, the storage device  130  of the mobile phone  100  according to the present invention stores several audio files. The storage device  130  of the mobile phone  100  can be a built-in non-volatile memory, and the audio files are grouped according to different modes. For example, when the mobile phone  100  displays a menu for mixing ring tones, this means the mobile phone  100  provides the users with a plurality of modes to select. The audio files are grouped according to areas the audio files belong to, meaning that the audio files of different music types are divided into different groups according to attributes (i.e. areas) of the audio files. For example, there are four music types in the present invention, such as Asian, African, American, or European music.  
         [0015]     Before the music-mixing process is started, a user selects a preferred music type through the user interface of the mobile phone  100 . Assume the user selects African music. Several audio files in the African music group are shown on the user interface for the user to select. When the user selects one of the audio files, the control circuit  120  reads the audio file from the storage device  130  and then plays the audio file. The user can then listen to the music corresponding to the audio file.  
         [0016]     According to the present invention, a piece of music is composed of melodies generated by several instruments. Assume the selected music is composed of melodies generated by four instruments. The four instruments are represented as A, B, C, and D, wherein each instrument (A, B, C, D) can generate four different melodies. The selected music can be composed of 16 kinds of melodies. In the present embodiment, A 1 ˜A 4 , B 1 ˜B 4 , C 1 ˜C 4 , and D 1 ˜D 4  are utilized for representing the 16 different melodies. In the implementation, three of the four instruments are selected as the predetermined instruments for the piece of music. A background music is composed of the 12 melodies generated by the three predetermined instruments, and the four melodies generated by the remaining instrument (i.e. not one of the three predetermined instruments) are provided for the users to select and mix into the background music. For example, when starting the mixing music process, the control circuit  120  repeatedly plays a plurality of sections of the selected audio file. Please refer to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is a diagram of a first embodiment of a music-mixing interface according to the present invention. Assume the selected audio file comprises four sections. The control circuit  120  sequentially and repeatedly plays the four sections until the music-mixing process is accomplished. As shown in  FIG. 2 , three instruments, A, C, and D, are set to be predetermined instruments for the selected audio file. The instrument B is reserved for the user to select a preferred melody. The selected melody is mixed with the background music composed of melodies generated by the three predetermined instruments A, C and D.  
         [0017]     Next, the selection process of four melodies B 1 , B 2 , B 3  and B 4  generated by the instrument B is detailed. When the control circuit  120  plays the first section of the music file, the user can hear the background music composed of the melodies A 2 , C 4  and D 1 . When the control circuit  120  plays the background music, the user can move his body and the music mixing-process can be initialized in this way. The mobile phone  100  held by the user generates a corresponding motion path when the user moves his body. Meanwhile, the detector  110  detects a motion path of the mobile phone  100  in each section to generate a control signal S C , and transmits the control signal S C  to the control circuit  120 . Afterwards, the control circuit  120  mixes a melody corresponding to the control signal S C  with the background music. In the present embodiment, four melodies B 1 , B 2 , B 3  and B 4  generated by the instrument B are provided for the user to select, where the four melodies B 1 , B 2 , B 3  and B 4  respectively correspond to four motion paths. When the detector  110  detects one of the four motion paths, the detector  110  generates a corresponding control signal S C . For example, assume four motion paths “S”, “|”, “Δ” and “O” respectively correspond to the four melodies B 1 , B 2 , B 3 , B 4 . When the control circuit  120  plays a first section of the background music, the detector  110  detects the motion path of the mobile phone  100  is “O”. The control circuit  120  then adds the melody B 4  into the first section of the background music, as shown in  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  is a diagram of a second embodiment of the music-mixing interface according to the present invention. The arrangement of the first section of the background music is therefore accomplished. The above-mentioned procedures are repeated for the following sections. Please note that in each section, a motion path of the mobile phone  100  can be any one of the four motion paths and is not limited to be “O”. Assume the motion paths of the mobile phone  100  respectively corresponding to the second, third, and fourth sections are “S”, “|” and “S”, respectively. The results of the arrangements are shown in  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 4  is a diagram of a third embodiment of the music-mixing interface according to the present invention. After the control circuit  120  has finished playing the fourth section, the control circuit  120  will play the first section again. At this time, if the detector  110  detects a different motion path (i.e. “Δ”), the melody B 4  of the first section will be replaced with the melody B 3 . During the arrangement, if the detector  110  detects a new motion path in each section, the control circuit  120  replaces a current melody with a new melody according to a new control signal S C .  
         [0018]     The music-mixing process proceeds until the control circuit  120  receives a control signal S T . When the control circuit  120  receives the control signal S T , that means the current music-mixing process is accomplished. There are several ways to trigger the control signal S T . The control signal S T  can be triggered by pressing a key on the keyboard. Alternatively, if the mobile phone  100  is a flip-style mobile phone (clamshell) or a slide-style mobile phone, the control signal S T  can be triggered by flipping or sliding the cover back, therefore ending the music-mixing process.  
         [0019]     The above-mentioned detector  110  can be a motion sensor to directly detect a motion path of the mobile phone  100  to generate a corresponding control signal S C . The detector  110  can be implemented using an image capturing device (not shown) in conjunction with a logical computation unit (not shown). The logical computation unit can determine the motion path of the mobile phone  100  by performing a specific algorithm according to the images captured by the image capturing device, and then generate a corresponding control signal S C .  
         [0020]     In conclusion, by detecting a motion path of a mobile phone to generate a control signal to mix music, a user can mix their own music when moving their body without the inconvenience caused by the keyboard input.  
         [0021]     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method 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.