Abstract:
A breath controlled actuating device for actuating another transducer device, the actuating device having a pipe including a mouthpiece and a second end, a force converter located within the second end, the force converter for converting air blown into the device into movement of a ball housed within the force converter; and a cap assembly affixed to the second end, wherein when a force is applied to the mouthpiece, the force travels through the pipe and is applied to the force converter, thereby causing the ball to impact the cap assembly and actuating the other transducer device. A method of actuating a device by blowing into the above device, flowing the blown air through the pipe and into the force converter causing the force converter to move the ball, impacting the ball against the cap assembly, sensing the impact, and transmitting the impact signal to a transducer device to be actuated, thereby actuating the transducer device.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. Section 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/764,858, filed Feb. 3, 2006, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Technical Field 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a breath-controlled activating device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a breath-controlled activating device for use with an electronic musical instrument. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0005]    Electronic musical instruments have been developed that provide excellent simulation of a wide variety of musical instruments. The most common approach to controlling generation of such electronically generated musical tones is by way of a conventional keyboard. In addition to the typical musical voices controlled by keyboard, such as a piano, organ, harpsichord, etc., keyboard controlled electronic musical instruments can also generate a wide variety of other musical voices including stringed instruments, percussion instruments, etc. The advantages of keyboard control include familiarity of the keyboard layout, flexibility to provide different types of chords, split keyboard effects and other forms of tone control, as well as individual note generation. Other types of control systems have also been used, including drum pads for generating electronic drum sounds and other percussion sounds, and some breath controllers that simulate wind instruments. Such keyboards, drum pads and breath controllers have generally been relatively restricted in the number of tone patterns that can be generated and are typically limited to a specific instrument they are designed to emulate. 
         [0006]    One musical instrument that has not received as significant a degree of emulation in the electronic musical instrument field as other musical instruments, is the harmonica. The harmonica has a number of advantages as an electronic musical control device, especially for novice musicians. In particular, the harmonica is a relatively simple instrument for most performers to learn to play and provides the ability to sound individual notes as well as chords. Nonetheless, the use of a suitable breath controller configured similarly to a harmonica has not been developed which can achieve the desired flexibility and compatibility with electronic musical instrument tone generation systems. However, several devices have been developed that utilize a harmonica-like breath controller. Examples of prior approaches to developing an electronic musical instrument employing a harmonica-like breath controller are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,175 to Matsuzaki, issued Oct. 28, 1986, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,363 to Arai, issued Jan. 28, 1986. Although these patents are directed to providing an electronic musical instrument control device modeled after a harmonica, they suffer from a number of disadvantages and fail to fully exploit the potentials of a breath controlled electronic musical instrument. One example of such disadvantages is that the patents do not disclose a breath controlled electronic musical instrument capable of fully simulating the effect of a harmonica in a performance environment. 
         [0007]    More particularly, the aforementioned prior art electronic musical instruments employing harmonica type controllers require separate through holes, or apertures, to detect the sucking and blowing action of the performer of the instrument, respectively. This results in an unfamiliar breath hole layout (or spacing) for the performer as compared to a conventional harmonica. Due to the importance of slight variations of breath into the holes, this difference in the breath hole layout renders the breath control different from a harmonica. Also, the breath controllers disclosed in the aforementioned patents do not provide a system capable of rendering a live harmonica performance sound. A typical live performance of a harmonica will employ a standard hand held acoustic harmonica and a microphone held by the performer adjacent the outlet holes of the harmonica to pick up and amplify the sound. Thus, the sound that is amplified includes not only the harmonica sounds but also related sounds generated by the blowing action, as well as any related sound effects generated by the performer. In these breath controlled electronic musical instruments, the tone of the harmonica is amplified from signals in the airflow apertures which are responsive only to the air flow pressure and produce only a corresponding harmonica tone. Thus, the related sound effects provided by the performer in a live performance are omitted from the electronic musical instrument, and thus an unrealistic effect is the ultimate result. 
         [0008]    Additionally, the above-noted prior art harmonica-like breath controllers fail to exploit the potential flexibility of an electronic musical instrument that enables the performer to control the instrument in a natural way. In particular, the &#39;363 patent attempts to provide additional flexibility in tone generation by including a keyboard on the top of the harmonica-like breath controller unit. However, such a keyboard cannot be activated while the performer holds the harmonica-like controller unit in a natural manner adjacent his mouth. As a result, the keyboard is operated separately and independently from a harmonica-like mouth activated mode in response to a mode-setting switch. Therefore, for a given performance, little flexibility is added over a conventional acoustic harmonica despite the potential capability of an electronic musical instrument tone generation system. 
         [0009]    U.S. Pat. No. 3,516,326 issued Jun. 23, 1970 to Hilliaret et al, discloses a harmonica in which air flow variations are sensed by piston and cylinder arrangements and motion of this mechanical transponder is directly transformed into electronic signals. The transponder is within the pipe and is necessarily operating in wet conditions under the influence of the breath and saliva of the operator. It may be difficult or impossible to prevent the condensation of moisture from the breath and/or the accumulation of saliva within the pipes. Nobel et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,833, discloses a somewhat similar system to that of Hilliaret, but Noble&#39;s device has only one pipe, different notes being achievable by keying. 
         [0010]    For the foregoing reasons, a need presently exists for a breath controlled electronic musical instrument which is capable of triggering a device, as well as providing flexibility for additional electronic musical instrument based on sampled sounds and tones, which may be readily controlled by a performer during a performance. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    According to the present invention, there is provided a breath controlled actuating device for actuating another transducer device, the actuating device having a pipe including a mouthpiece and a second end, a force converter located within the second end, the force converter for converting air blown into the device into movement of a ball housed within the force converter; and a cap assembly affixed to the second end, wherein when a force is applied to the mouthpiece, the force travels through the pipe and is applied to the force converter, thereby causing the ball to impact the cap assembly and actuating the other transducer device. A method of actuating a device by blowing into the above device, flowing the blown air through the pipe and into the force converter causing the force converter to move the ball, impacting the ball against the cap assembly, sensing the impact, and transmitting the impact signal to a transducer device to be actuated, thereby actuating the transducer device. 
     
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]    Other advantages of the present invention are readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein: 
           [0013]      FIG. 1  is a side view of the device of the present invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  is a side view of the device of the present invention with dimensions; 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  is a side view of an alternative embodiment of the device of the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  is a side view of an alternative embodiment of the device of the present invention; 
           [0017]      FIGS. 5A through 5D  are photographs of alternative embodiments of the device of the present invention; and 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  is a side view of an alternative embodiment of the device of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0019]    Generally, the present invention provides a breath-controlled activating device, generally shown at  10  in the figures, which can be operated by the user&#39;s mouth. The breath-controlled activating device can be used to produce signals that can be used to operate existing electronic musical instruments. The device  10  is also suitable for producing signals to correspond with keys on a typewriter, a computer keyboard, or that correlate to movements of a computer mouse. The breath-controlled activating device can be sized such that it can be placed in another part, such as a microphone or on a headband (see  FIGS. 5A and 5B ) for easier use. 
         [0020]    The term “breath-controlled activating device” as used herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, a mechanism that creates a signal that in turn activates a device. The breath-controlled activating device of the present invention is a breath-controlled activating device that is capable of being actuated controlled by the user&#39;s mouth, more specifically the user&#39;s breath. 
         [0021]    The device  10  includes a pipe  12 , force converter  14 , ball  16 , and cap assembly  18 . The pipe  12  is a hollow tube as shown in the Figures. The pipe  12 ′ can be a straight tube as shown in  FIGS. 4-6  or the pipe  12  can be include a bend  13  as shown in  FIGS. 1-3 . When the pipe is bent, the bend  13  is at least 30 degrees. In the preferred embodiment, as shown in  FIGS. 1-3 , the bend  13  is 90 degrees. The bend  13  is designed to keep the device  10  upright. However, as shown in  FIGS. 4-6 , the device  10  can be designed so that a bend in the pipe  12  is not necessary for proper use. 
         [0022]    The pipe  12  is made of a resilient material such as plastic. Examples of such materials are well known to those of skill in the art. The pipe  12  is sized sufficiently to enable actuation of an electronic musical instrument or other device to which the device  10  is attached, but the diameter of the device  10  is also small enough to fit inside the user&#39;s mouth. For example, the pipe  12  can have a ½ inch or ⅜ inch diameter. Alternatively, a variety of diameters can be used without departing from the spirit of the present invention. 
         [0023]    The pipe  12  includes a cap affixing device  20  and a mouthpiece  22 . The cap affixing device  20  is located on an end of the pipe  12  opposite the mouthpiece  22 . The cap affixing device  20  can be any device that is capable of engaging and maintaining the cap assembly  18  in place. Examples of such devices include, but are not limited to, threads  24 , screw holes  26  (for maintaining screws  28  therein), or a snap fit lock (not shown). The snap fit lock includes a groove in the cap affixing device  20  for receiving a lip on the cap assembly  18 , thereby maintaining the cap assembly  18  in place. Other affixing devices known to those of skill in the art can also be used without departing from the spirit of the present invention. 
         [0024]    The mouthpiece  22  is sized to fit within the user&#39;s mouth. The mouthpiece  22  can be an opening  30  on the end of the pipe  12 . Preferably, the mouthpiece  22  is formed as a single unit with the pipe  12  and thus is made of the same material as the pipe  12 . Alternatively, the mouthpiece  22  can be a separate piece of material that can be affixed either to, about, or within the pipe  12 . In such case, the mouthpiece  22  can either be made of the same material as the pipe  12  or another material capable of being inserted into the user&#39;s mouth. Additionally, the mouthpiece  22  can include an extender piece  32  that enables the user to be further away from the mouthpiece  22 . The extender piece  32  is preferably a piece of plastic or vinyl tubing. However, other pliable and bendable materials that are known to those of skill in the art can also be used without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Further, the extender piece  32  can be encased in a pliable material that can retain a position, as shown in  FIGS. 5A-5D . The material enables the extender piece  32  to be shaped into a specific configuration so that the extender piece  32  maintains that position. 
         [0025]    The ball  16  is a round hard ball that does not deform after repeatedly impacting the cap assembly  18 . The ball  16  can be formed of a metal, for example steel, ceramic material, or glass material. Examples of such balls include, but are not limited to, ball bearings and other metal balls known to those of skill in the art. 
         [0026]    The force converter  14  of the present invention is held in place within of the pipe  12  at the cap affixing device  20  end of the pipe  12 . Since the pipe  12  is hollow, the force converter  14  is located at the end of the pipe  12  containing the cap affixing device  20 . The force converter  14  is sized to fit within the pipe  12 . The force converter  14  can be affixed to the pipe  12 . Examples of affixing devices include, but are not limited to, rubber collars, rubber bands, glue, and other affixing devices known to those of skill in the art for affixing one object to another. Alternatively, the converter  14  can be crush locked in place between the cap affixing device  20  and the cap assembly  18 . More specifically, the force converter  14  is a generally cup shaped device  36  with a lip  34 . The lip  34  is the portion of the converter  14  that is affixed to the pipe  12 . The lip  34  enables the converter  14  to be affixed without adversely affecting the functionality of the converter  14 . In other words, while the lip  34  can be maintained in place, the lip  34  does not limit the ability for the cup  36  to deform. The lip  34  is a ring of rolled material the rests in a slot  56  on the outside of the pipe  12 . The cup  36  is of sufficient strength to both hold the ball  16  when the ball  16  is in a resting position and, when force is applied to the cup  36 , from the breath of the user, move so as to cause the ball  16  to come into contact with the cap assembly  18  and then catch the call  16  when the ball lands. The converter  14  can also include walls  38  for ensuring that the ball  16  only impacts the cap assembly  18  at a single location. The walls  38  are preferably formed as a single unit with the converter  14 . The converter  14  is preferably made of a deformable, resilient material. One example of such a material is latex; however, other materials having these characteristics can also be used without departing from the spirit of the present invention. 
         [0027]    The cap assembly  18  includes a cap  40 , an impact sensor  42 , and a mating device  44  for matingly engaging the cap affixing device  20  and thus maintaining the cap assembly  18  in place. The cap assembly  18  can also include air release holes (not shown) in the cap  40 . The air release holes allow air to escape from the cap assembly  18 . The mating device  44  can be any device capable of engaging the cap affixing device  20 . Examples of such mating devices can include, but are not limited to, threads  46 , screw assemblies  48 , and a lip. The cap threads  46  matingly engage the threads of the cap affixing device threads  24 . This allows the cap assembly&#39;s position to be adjusted by altering the degree of engagement of the threads  24 , 46 . Alternatively, a screw assembly  48  can be used to affix the cap assembly  18 . The screw assembly  48  includes screws  28  and apertures  50  on the cap  40  through which the screws  28  traverse in order to secure the cap assembly  18  to the cap affixing device  20 . The screws  28  traverse through the cap assembly apertures  50  and into the screw holes  26  of the cap affixing device  20 . The screw apertures  50  can either be located in the cap  40  itself or in arms  52  extending from the cap  40 . 
         [0028]    The cap  40  is formed of a rigid material. Preferably, the rigid material is a plastic, but other materials known to those of skill in the art can also be used without departing from the spirit of the present invention. The cap  40  also includes a transducer impact sensor  42 . The impact sensor  42  can be located within or on an exterior surface of the cap assembly  18 . The impact sensor  42  can be any sensor known to those of skill in the art that is able to detect an impact and that is small enough to fit within the device of the present invention. The impact sensor  42  is in communication with an electronic musical instrument, or other device, such that when the impact sensor  42  senses an impact the sensor  42  causes the instrument to make a noise, or in the instance of a different device, causes the device to function in a predetermined manner. The impact sensor  42  can either be hard wired to the electronic musical instrument or can be attached via a wireless communication device. Examples of both connections are well known to those of skill in the art. 
         [0029]    Generally, the device is assembled as follows. A cap is affixed on top of the vertical portion of the junction. The cap assembly  18  covers the force converter  14  and ball  16  to maintain the entire mechanism in place. An impact sensor  42 , preferably a velocity sensing transducer, can be affixed on top of the cap assembly  18 . The cap assembly  18  can then be affixed the pipe  12  to create the device  10  of the present invention. 
         [0030]    The device can be used to trigger any device that can be operated via a trigger or actuator. Examples of such triggerable devices include, but are not limited to an electronic drum module, a musical instrument digital interface (MIDI), a video game, medical devices, and other devices. 
         [0031]    In use, the device  10  functions such that air is blown into the mouthpiece  22  of the device  10 . The air flows through the pipe  12  and the force of the air pushes the converter  14  and thereby moves/forces the ball  16  upward against the cap assembly  18 . The force that the ball  16  impacts the cap assembly  18  is transmitted to the sensor  42  on the cap assembly  18  and affects the musical instrument, or other device, that is being used. For example it can affect tempo of the musical instrument if the device is a musical device or it can affect how far something progresses. 
         [0032]    Throughout this application, author and year, and patents, by number, reference various publications, including United States patents. Full citations for the publications are listed below. The disclosures of these publications and patents in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference into this application in order to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains. 
         [0033]    The invention has been described in an illustrative manner, and it is to be understood that the terminology that has been used is intended to be in the nature of words of description rather than of limitation. 
         [0034]    Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the described invention, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.