Patent Publication Number: US-6215057-B1

Title: Sound generating educational musical toy and teaching device

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a music interactive toy and/or educational tool. More particularly, the present invention relates to such toys and/or educational tools for teaching people of all ages to recognize, by sound and name, the musical notes of the scale. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Music plays a major role in the lives of most people. Music is often a universal language, allowing people who do not speak the same language to nevertheless communicate in one form or another. For many people, listening to music is an enjoyable, often relaxing exercise. However, while children are taught the basics of the speaking language (a, b, c, . . . ) and the numeric language ( 1 ,  2 ,  3 , . . . ), very little, if any, emphasis is placed on the musical language (do, re, mi, . . . ). In fact, even musicians, while being extremely skilled at their particular instrument, sometimes have very little knowledge concerning the musical language. Many musicians learn to play by sound without ever associating musical notes with their given names (“do”, “re”, “mi”, “fa”, “sol”, “la”, and “ti”). 
     But most people do not have the natural born talent to learn how to play an instrument without knowing the musical language. Thus, it would be extremely beneficial to begin teaching the musical scale and the names of the musical notes (i.e., “do”, “re”, “mi”, “fa”, “sol”, “la”, and “ti”) to children at a relatively young age (even as young as under two years old), when their minds are the most receptive to new information. However, because most children have relatively short attention spans, any effective method of teaching the musical scale to children must hold their attention while simultaneously educating them. 
     A number of systems and aids have been proposed for teaching the musical scale to children. A form of such a device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,501 to Tanaka. That device includes plural dolls, each of which has a flexible bellows and a uniquely configured air chamber and air passageway to produce a unique noise in a particular pitch or tone. This device, however, provides no means for varying the sound output by the dolls to cater to different children&#39;s interests in an effort to capture and hold their attention. 
     Another proposed device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,132 to Hale, and includes plural puppet characters that incorporate tonal devices such as battery powered electronic devices that emit a sound in a tone which corresponds to that of the musical note with which the puppet character is associated. The tonal device is housed inside the puppet and includes a pressure sensitive switch to activate it. This device also suffers from the shortcoming that there is no way to change the output format of the sound being generated depending on the person using the device. 
     Accordingly, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that there continues to be a need for an improved music teaching device for teaching people to distinguish musical notes by sound, sight and/or name simultaneously. Furthermore, there exists a need for such a music teaching device that is adaptable to the particular user of the device and to his or her interests. Also, the present invention teaches understanding the relative changes in pitch between the notes by visualizing these changes in a graduated increase in size of the colored dolls, corresponding to each note. The present invention addresses these needs and others. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Briefly, and in general terms, the present invention provides a music teaching device for teaching users to recognize particular notes by sound and for associating those notes with their musical names (“do”, “re”, “mi”, etc.). The invention includes one or more sound generating devices operative to generate sound in a selected output format chosen from plural formats. The device provides an output format selector that allows a user to select the particular output format in which the sound will be generated. Upon selection of an output format and depression of a button corresponding with a particular pitch, the device retrieves from memory the corresponding sound bite in the format and pitch and audibly recreates the sound bite. At least one of the sound bites is the name of one of the notes; “do”, “re”, “mi”, “fa”, “sol”, “la”, and “ti”, 
     Thus, the music teaching device of the present invention in one preferred embodiment comprises: plural playback buttons being manipulable to generate discrete playback signals; a memory device storing sound bites in plural pitches and in plural output formats; an output format selector with plural settings to determine the output format of the sound bite to be generated; a processor in electrical communication with the playback buttons, memory, and output format selector, the processor being responsive to manipulation of one of the buttons and setting of the output format selector to retrieve the corresponding sound bite from the memory; and a sound playback device in communication with the processor and operative to audibly reproduce the sound bite retrieved by the processor. 
     In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the device includes figurines or dolls that are releasably mounted on a base unit. The dolls represent one note and the height of the dolls increase sequentially to correlate with its assigned note. Also, preferably, each doll is decorated in a particular color, with the three most dominant notes, “do”, “fa” and “sol” being represented by the three most dominant colors yellow, blue and red, respectively. By coloring the dolls in accordance with yellow, blue and red, their importance within the scale, the dolls color correspond in domination sequence to the domination sequence of the notes. 
     In accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention, the device can create the sound bite in the basic terms of music, such as, for example, varying pitch (e.g., high, low), dynamic (e.g., piano, forte), rate or tempo (e.g., slow, fast), duration (e.g. beats per second), half-notes, etc. 
     Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the features of the present invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the music teaching device of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a block diagram of electronic components included in the music teaching device of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the operation of the music teaching device of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the music teaching device of the present invention; 
     FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram ol a file storage architecture including an association table according to the present invention; and 
     FIG. 6 is a schematic of a figurine. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     In the following detailed description, like reference numerals will be used to refer to like or corresponding elements in the different figures of the drawings. Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown, generally, a music teaching device  10  comprising one preferred embodiment of the present invention. The music teaching device includes one or more sound generating devices  12 , an output format selector switch  14 , and plural playback buttons or switches  16 . Thus, a user may select a desired output format and sequentially depress one or more of the buttons in order to generate one or more sounds in the corresponding pitches and in the selected output format. 
     The music teaching device  10  includes a generally rectangular housing  18 . The housing includes a front face  20  in which is mounted the output format selector switch  14 , a speaker  22 , and an on-off switch  24 , the on-off switch being operative to selectively empower the music teaching device, as described in greater detail below. The housing still further includes a top wall  26  in which is mounted the plural playback buttons  16 . A handle  35  is connected, for example, to top wall  26  to permit the device  10  to be carried by a user. The top wall is further formed with plural receptacles (not shown), each of which is configured to releasably engage a respective box  28  formed with a hinged lid  30 , as described in greater detail below. 
     The output format selector  14  is preferably in the form of a slide switch (FIG. 1) with plural settings corresponding to different outputs. As shown in FIG. 1, and meant solely as examples of possible output formats, the settings may correspond with the names of the notes (“do”, “re”, “mi”, “fa”, “sol”, “la”, and “ti”), a cat&#39;s meow, a dog&#39;s bark, a particular song, or a musical instrument, such as, for example, bells. It will be apparent that the settings could correspond with any desired output. For example, the sound output could be the sound of a piano or other instruments. The notes could sound as “do”, “re”, “mi” “fa”, “sol”, “la”, and “ti” or as “A”, “B”, “C”, “D”, “E”, “F” and “G” as the notes are currently taught in the United States. Additionally, the sound can be emitted, for example, in the legato or staccato style. Additional rhythms, as in conventional synthesizers, can be played. In addition, in place of a slide switch, a knob with multiple settings could be used. Movement of the slide switch to one of the settings results in the generation of a corresponding signal, as described in greater detail below. 
     Each of the buttons  16  correspond to one of the boxes  28 , such that depression of one of the buttons causes the lid  30  of that box to open, allowing a doll  32  to project outwardly therefrom. Depression of the button also results in the generation of an identifiable signal transmitted to the sound generating device  12 , as described in greater detail below. For example, if switch  14  is aligned with the “song” output, when a user depresses a button, that figurine will sound out the first word in the song in the particular note assigned to that button/doll. Thereafter, the next button that is depressed will result in the next word of the song being sounded in that second depressed button&#39;s assigned note. In this manner, the user will be making or composing his or her own music. Additionally, if desired, the device can include a recording device to record the music composed by the user so that the recorded music can be played back. 
     Each of the boxes  28  includes indicia printed thereon, preferably in the form of the names of the notes of the scale (i.e., “do”, “re”, “mi”, etc.) on both the side and top of the box. The boxes are arranged from left to right, as shown in FIG. 1, in order from the lowest note (“do”) to the highest note (“ti”). Each of the dolls  32  is formed with a different height, with the shortest doll being housed in the “do” box, and the tallest doll in the “ti” box. The eighth box is for the note “do” from the next scale. In addition, each doll is preferably colored with a different color to assist a user in associating the dolls with the different musical notes. The higher the note, the larger or higher the doll. Preferably, each doll is decorated in a particular color, with the three most dominant notes “do”, “fa” and “sol” being represented by the three most dominant colors; yellow, blue and red, respectively. The remaining notes can be represented by sequentially less dominant colors. For example, “re”, “mi”, “la” and “ti” are preferably represented by dark green, light green, orange and purple. “Do” from the next scale or octave would be light blue. 
     Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a block diagram of the electronic components included in the sound generating device  12 . The sound generating device includes a microprocessor  34 , a sound bite storage device  36 , preferably in the form of a sound chip, a sound playback unit  38 , and memory  40 . The special features of the sound generating devices are implemented, in part, by software programs stored in the memory  40 . The software programs are stored in one or more preselected data files and are accessible by the processor, the function of which is described in greater detail in connection with FIG.  3 . The memory preferably takes the form of a non-volatile memory device, such as a magnetic or optical storage unit or the like. 
     The sound chip  36 , of well known design, includes a standard digital memory unit (not shown) and is controlled by the processor  34  to access and retrieve a particular sound bite data file stored in the memory unit at a location indicated by an entry in an association table included in the memory of the sound chip (FIG.  5 ), which is discussed in more detail below. Thus, the proper sound bite may be obtained by referring to the association table and looking for the user-selected parameters. Alternatively, a sound card or other similar device could be utilized in place of the sound chip. 
     The sound playback unit  38  includes the speaker  22  mounted on the front face  20  of the housing  18 , an amplifier, and a digital-to-analog converter to convert the digital sound data retrieved from the sound chip  36  into an analog signal. The amplifier then amplifies the converted analog signal and transmits the amplified analog signal to the speaker for playback. 
     The on-off switch  24  is operative to selectively transmit power from a power supply  42  to the microprocessor  34 . The power supply is preferably a battery, but may take virtually any other form. 
     Referring now to FIG. 3, the operation of the music teaching device  10  will be described in greater detail. After the device has been actuated by moving the on-off switch  24  to the “on” position, the processor  34 . waits for one of the playback buttons  16  to be depressed, at query block  50 . Once one of the playback buttons has been depressed, operation flows to query block  52 , and the processor determines whether the output format selector  14  has been set to a particular output format. If the selector has been set to an output format, then operation flows to function block  56 , and the processor retrieves from the sound chip  36  the corresponding sound bite in the desired output format and pitch. If not, then at function block  54  a default output format is selected, and operation flows to function block  56  where the processor retrieves the corresponding sound bite in the default output format. The default output format could be the actual name of the note in the note&#39;s pitch, or any other output. The sound bite retrieval is preferably accomplished by utilizing the association table, with the processor matching the data corresponding to the selected output format and particular depressed button with the data in the association table to determine the location of the corresponding sound bite. The processor then retrieves that sound bite and transmits the digital sound bite data to the playback unit  38 . At function block  58 , the retrieved sound bite is played back by the sound playback unit. The digital sound bite data is converted to an analog signal, amplified, and played through the speaker  22 . After the sound bite has been played back, operation flows back to query block  50  to await depression of another one of the buttons  16 . 
     It will be apparent that the music teaching device  10  of the present invention could take many different forms. For example, the device could be embodied in a personal computer, with the computer&#39;s microprocessor being programmed to perform the routine described above in connection with FIG.  3 . The computer&#39;s keyboard or mouse could be used to select the output format and the particular note to be audibly played back. The digital sound bites could be stored in the computer&#39;s memory or on a disk that is accessed by the microprocessor through its disk drive. 
     In a preferred embodiment, each doll  32  includes a separate playback unit  38  and sound chip  36  and is removable from its box  28 . In other words, each doll  32  includes a separate processor, memory and playback device to generate notes when detached from the base. Thus, the dolls can be removed from the housing and can still generate notes in their respective pitches upon actuation of a switch located on each doll. 
     Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown an alternative embodiment of the music teaching device  100  of the present invention. The device  100  includes a housing  102 , an output format selector  104 , speaker  106 , and an on-off switch  108 , all of which are identical to the components included in the device  10  shown in FIG.  1 . In place of the buttons  16 , boxes  28 , and dolls  32 , the device  100  includes a top surface  110  partitioned into plural discrete segments  112 , each of which corresponds to a particular note. The device is preferably provided with eight columns corresponding to the seven notes (plus the first note “do” being repeated in the next scale), and includes plural rows corresponding to the different octaves of the major scale. Each segment is sensitive to touch (i.e., it either comprises a depressible switch or a touch-sensitive display), such that selection of one of the segments causes the device to audibly generate the corresponding sound bite, as described above. 
     FIG. 5 shows a file storage architecture  120  comprising an association table section  122  and a sound data storage section  124  used by the microprocessor  34  as described above to locate the proper sound bite. The association table section  122  comprises a series of address lines  126 , each of which links an output format and button with a corresponding sound bite by means of an offset address designator  128  which points to a predefined start site in the remainder of the memory where the corresponding sound bite data is stored. Thus the microprocessor  34  simply accesses the association table and searches for the matching output format and button data and, once found, determines the offset location for the desired sound bite. The sound data storage section  124  comprises a series of memory blocks  130 , each of which stores sound information comprising a sound bite. 
     From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the music teaching device  10  of the present invention provides an educational, interactive device for teaching a user to recognize a note by sound, and to associate the note with the note&#39;s name. In addition, the music teaching device provides plural output formats to accommodate different user&#39;s interests. 
     While forms of the invention have been illustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and improvements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited by the illustrative examples set forth herein. For example, a user can test him or herself by utilizing the device in a “pick the note” mode. The device can randomly sound an audible note, and, thereafter, the user must pick the correct doll or other button or switch that corresponds to the sounded note. In this manner, the user learns to identify notes by sound and by association to a particular size and/or color of a doll. The device can include a record feature so that the sound bites played by the user can be recorded and played back for repeated entertainment. The device can also be operated by remote control, including remote operation of the dolls regardless of whether they are in or out of the base. Further, the device can be input as a computer program or game so that the dolls are illustrated on the screen. The dolls can be actuated by clicking on the doll to hear the preselected output format. Thus, the mouse of the computer can be the playback button and can be used to select the output format. Further, while only one octave has been illustrated for the device, it is clear that two, three or more octaves of notes may be utilized by the device in accordance with the present invention. Additionally, the device may play half-notes.