Patent ID: 8553906

Claim:
An apparatus for enabling karaoke, the apparatus including: a casing for the apparatus; a microphone array incorporated within the casing, the microphone array being concealed from a user by the casing; a controller coupled to the microphone array to at least process audio signals from the user input at the microphone array; a receiver coupled to the controller, the receiver being configurable to receive audio signals from the user using a wireless microphone and when the audio signals are received from the wireless microphone, the controller is configurable to disable the microphone array such that audio input is only input through the wireless microphone; a data storage device coupled to the controller, the data storage device being for storing pre-recorded songs used for karaoke, and for storing songs as sung by the user; and an image capturing device coupled to the controller, the image capturing device being for capturing images of the user while the user is singing, with the captured images of the user being stored on the data storage device, wherein the microphone array detects the audio signals from the user when the user is within a predefined field of detection of the microphone array, and wherein the controller also performs a method for processing the pre-recorded songs, the method including: (a) assessing audible lyrics of the pre-recorded songs; (b) converting the audible lyrics to text for display on a screen connected to the apparatus; and (c) muting audible lyrics from the pre-recorded songs.