Musical entertainment system

Claim 3

The method of claim 1, wherein said prerecorded song is stored on a laser disk and wherein the step of reading a code that is stored with the prerecorded song that defines a pitch of the reference note comprises the step of: reading a subcode stored on the laser disk, said subcode indicating the fundamental frequency of the reference note.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1, wherein said prerecorded song is stored on a videotape and wherein the step of reading a code that is stored with the prerecorded song that defines a pitch of the reference note comprises the step of: reading a subcode stored on videotape, said subcode indicating the fundamental frequency of the reference note.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of: combining the pitch shifted input vocal signal and prerecorded song; and playing the combined pitch shifted input vocal signal and prerecorded song on the karaoke system.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of scaling the stored input vocal signal comprises the step of multiplying a portion of the stored input vocal signal by a smoothly varying function.

Claim 7

The method of claim 5, wherein the smoothly varying function is a piece-wise linear approximation of a Hanning window.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the code that indicates the pitch of a reference note is stored in a MIDI format.

Claim 11

The apparatus as in claim 7, wherein said prerecorded song is stored on a storage device that includes: a series of codes that indicate a pitch of a series of reference notes at which the pitch of the input vocal signal should be sung to be on key with the,prerecorded song.

Claim 12

The apparatus as in claim 9, further comprising: a mixer for combining the pitch shifted input vocal signal and the prerecorded song played by the karaoke system.

Claim 13

The apparatus as in claim 9, wherein said storage device comprises a laser disk.

Claim 14

The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the codes that indicate the pitch of the reference notes are stored as subcodes on the laser disk.

Claim 15

The apparatus as in claim 9, wherein said storage device comprises a videotape.

Claim 16

The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the codes that indicate the pitch of the reference notes are stored as subcodes on the videotape.

Claim 17

The apparatus as in claim 9, wherein said storage device comprises a ROM card.

Claim 18

In a karaoke machine including a storage device having stored thereon a prerecorded song and a set of lyrics to be sung to the prerecorded song, a microphone into which a participant sings, a sound system for playing the prerecorded song and a video display on which the lyrics are displayed, the improvement comprising: a series of codes stored on the storage device that are indicative of the pitch of a series of reference notes at which the lyrics are to be sung; means for reading the series of codes and for supplying the codes to a pitch corrector, the pitch corrector including: an analog-to-digital converter that samples an input vocal signal sung into the microphone thereby creating a digitized input vocal signal; a pitch detector for determining the pitch of the digitized input vocal signal; and a pitch shifter for shifting the pitch of the digitized input vocal signal to create an output signal having a pitch that is substantially equal to the pitch of the reference note; and a mixer for combining the output signal with the prerecorded song such that the combined output signal and prerecorded song are played by the sound system.

Claim 19

In a karaoke machine including a storage device having stored thereon a prerecorded song and a set of lyrics to be sung to the prerecorded song, a microphone into which a participant sings, a sound system for playing the prerecorded song and a video display on which the lyrics are displayed, the improvement comprising: a series of codes stored on the storage device that are indicative of the pitch of a series of reference notes at which the lyrics are to be sung; means for reading the series of codes and for supplying the codes to a pitch corrector, the pitch corrector including: an analog-to-digital converter that samples an input vocal signal sung into the microphone thereby creating a digitized input vocal signal; a pitch detector for determining the pitch of the digitized input vocal signal; and a pitch shifter for shifting the pitch of the digitized input vocal signal to create an output signal having a pitch that is substantially equal to the pitch of the reference note; and a mixer for combining the output signal with the prerecorded song such that the combined output signal and prerecorded song are played by the sound system.

Claim 22

In a karaoke machine including a storage device having a prerecorded song stored thereon, a microphone into which a participant sings and a sound system for playing the prerecorded song, the improvement comprising: the storage device having a series of codes that are indicative of a series of reference notes; means for reading the series of codes and for supplying the codes to a pitch corrector, the pitch corrector including: an analog-to-digital converter that samples the input vocal signal sung into the microphone thereby creating a digitized input vocal signal; a pitch detector for determining the pitch of the digitized input vocal signal; a pitch shifter for creating a pitch shifted output signal having a pitch substantially equal to the pitch indicated by a note of the series of reference notes; and a mixer for combining the pitch shifted output signal with the prerecorded song such that the pitch shifted output signal and the prerecorded song are played by the sound system.

Claim 23

In a karaoke machine including a storage device having a prerecorded song stored thereon, a microphone into which a participant sings and a sound system for playing the prerecorded song, the improvement comprising: the storage device having a series of codes that are indicative of a series of reference notes; means for reading the series of codes and for supplying the codes to a pitch corrector, the pitch corrector including: an analog-to-digital converter that samples the input vocal signal sung into the microphone thereby creating a digitized input vocal signal; a pitch detector for determining the pitch of the digitized input vocal signal; a pitch shifter for creating a pitch shifted output signal having a pitch substantially equal to the pitch indicated by a note of the series of reference notes; and a mixer for combining the pitch shifted output signal with the prerecorded song such that the pitch shifted output signal and the prerecorded song are played by the sound system.