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Melody retrieval systemRelated Patent Categories: Music, Instruments, Electrical Musical Tone Generation, Data Storage, Digital Memory Circuit (e.g., Ram, Rom, Etc.), Note SequenceMelody retrieval system description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070163425, Melody retrieval system. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims priority from U.S. provisional application serial no. 60/188,730, entitled, Humming Search Music Recognition System, filed March 13, 2000, which application is hereby incorporated herein by reference. COPYRIGHT NOTICE [0002] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. FIELD OF INVENTION [0003] The invention relates to the field of music retrieval systems and more particularly to retrieval systems which take a melody vocalized by a user as the query. BACKGROUND OF INVENTION [0004] With the proliferation of musical databases now available, e.g., through the Internet or jukebox machines, consumers now have ready access to individual songs or pieces of music available for purchase or listening. However, being surrounded by so much music, it is often difficult for a listener to catch or remember the title of a song or the artist's name. Nevertheless, if the song is of interest to the listener, he or she can often remember at least a portion of its musical melody. The following disclose retrieval of information relating to audio data from a hummed or sung melody taken as a query: U.S. Pat. No. 6,121,530 (Sonoda); A. Ghias, J. Logan, D. Chamberlin, B. C. Smith, Query by Humming, Musical Information Retrieval in an Audio Database, Multimedia '95, San Francisco, pp. 231-236; N. Kosugi, Y. Nishihara, S. Kon'ya, M. Yamamuro, K. Kushima, Music Retrieval by Humming, Using Similarity Retrieval over High Dimensional Feature Vector Space, 1999 IEEE Pacific Rim Conference on Communications, Computers and Signal Processing, Page(s) 404-407; and P. V. Rolland, Raskinis, J-G Ganascia, Musical Content-based Retrieval, an overview of the Melodiscov Approach and System. [0005] The invention provides an approach different from those described in the above-mentioned documents in identifying a musical composition in response to a query that is a melody. SUMMARY OF INVENTION [0006] The invention provides methods and systems for retrieving musical selections or data identifying musical selections based on a digital version of a melody which originated from a sound or electronic source, e.g., a person humming, singing, whistling or otherwise vocalizing the melody; a musical instrument's audio or electronic output; an analog or digital recording of the melody, etc. Breakpoints between notes are identified as are distinct notes represented by pitch. In addition, one or more confidence levels may be associated with the input melody. [0007] A value or confidence level may be assigned to each breakpoint to provide a measure of confidence that the identified breakpoint is in fact a breakpoint. Similarly, a value or confidence level assigned to each note may provide a measure of confidence that the identified note is a single note, e.g., does not include two or more notes. [0008] One aspect of the invention provides a method and system for converting a digitized melody into a series of notes. The method and system receive a digitized representation of an input melody, identify breakpoints in the melody in order to define notes therein, determine a pitch and beat duration for each note of the melody, and associate a confidence level with each breakpoint, or each note, or both. [0009] The confidence levels associated with breakpoints and/or notes may be determined using different techniques, some of which are described herein. [0010] In the preferred embodiment, segmentation of the input melody into distinct notes divided by breakpoints is based on changes or differences in the distribution of energy across the frequency spectrum over time. The confidence levels associated with each breakpoint and/or note may be based on changes in pitch, as well as absolute and relative values of a spectral energy distribution indicator. [0011] One aspect of the invention provides a method and related system for converting a digitized melody into a sequence of notes. Generally speaking, the method involves estimating breakpoints in the input melody based on changes in the distribution of energy across the frequency spectrum over time. In the preferred embodiment, the melody is segmented into a series of frames. A spectral energy distribution (SED) indicator is computed for each frame and at least initial breakpoints estimates are derived based on the SED indicator. Notes are defined between adjacent breakpoints. [0012] Another aspect of the invention provides another method and related system for converting a digitized melody into a sequence of notes. The method includes: segmenting the melody into a series of frames; computing the auto-correlation of each frame; estimating the pitch of each frame based on (i) a pitch period corresponding to a shift where the auto-correlation coefficient associated with the frame is relatively large and (ii) the closeness of the pitch estimate to estimates in one or more adjacent frames; and estimating breakpoints in the melody based on changes in the pitch estimates, wherein the notes are defined between adjacent breakpoints. [0013] Another aspect of the invention provides a method and related system for identifying breakpoints in a digitized melody. The method includes: segmenting the melody into a series of frames; computing the auto-correlation of each frame; estimating the pitch of each frame based on (i) a pitch period corresponding to a shift where the auto-correlation coefficient associated with the frame is relatively large and (ii) the closeness of the pitch estimate to estimates in one or more adjacent frames; determining regions of said melody where pitch estimates are likely to be invalid; and identifying the breakpoints in the melody based on transitions between frames having valid pitch estimates and transitions having invalid pitch estimates. [0014] Other aspects of the invention relate to methods and systems for determining confidence levels for breakpoints and/or notes in a waveform representing a melody. These methods include segmenting the waveform into a series of frames, wherein adjacent breakpoints encompass one or more sequential frames, each note being defined between adjacent breakpoints. Then, at least one of the following three steps may be executed: (a) computing a spectral energy distribution (SED) indicator for each frame; (b) estimating the pitch of each frame; and (c) determining the energy level of each frame. The confidence levels may be based on any of the following three characteristics: (i) the SED indicator, (ii) changes in pitch, and (iii) the energy level. [0015] An entry may be retrieved from a music database of sequences of pitches and beat durations in accordance with a match function that receives the digitized melody obtained from a melody source as described herein. A method and system for implementing the retrieval may determine a score for each entry based on a search which minimizes the cost of matching the pitches and beat durations of the melody and the entry, and which may be based on minimizing a cost computation which may take into account one or more note insertion and/or deletion errors and penalize the cost in accordance with confidence levels pertaining thereto. [0016] Another aspect of the invention relates to a method and system of retrieving at least one entry from a music database, wherein each entry is associated with a sequence of pitches and beat durations. The method includes receiving a digitized representation of an input melody; identifying breakpoints in the melody in order to define notes therein; associating each breakpoint and/or note with a confidence level; and determining a pitch and beat duration for each note of the melody. Then, a score is determined for each database entry based on a search which minimizes the cost of matching the pitches and beat durations of the melody and the entry. The search considers at least one deletion or insertion error in a selected note of the melody and, in this event, penalizes the cost of matching based on the confidence level of the selected note or breakpoint associated therewith. At least one entry may then be presented to a user based on its score. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS [0017] The foregoing and other aspects of the invention will become more apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments thereof and the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention. In the drawings: [0018] FIG. 1 is a system block diagram showing the major components of a music recognition system according to a preferred embodiment of the invention; Continue reading about Melody retrieval system... Full patent description for Melody retrieval system Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Melody retrieval system patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Melody retrieval system or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Automatic musical performance device Next Patent Application: Systems and methods for generating video game content Industry Class: Music ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Melody retrieval system patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 0.10976 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Novartis , Pfizer , Philips , Polaroid , Procter & Gamble , 174 |
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