Patents Examined by Christina M Schreiber
  • Patent number: 11423870
    Abstract: A guitar multi-effects pedalboard is provided. The pedalboard has footswitches and a memory storing guitar-effect presets for processing an inputted guitar signal when the processing is triggered by pressing a footswitch. The pedalboard has one or more processors coupled to the memory and configured to process a first portion of an inputted guitar signal on a first audio-engine thread with a first guitar-effect preset when processing the first portion is triggered by pressing a footswitch. The one or more processors also process a second portion of the inputted guitar signal on a second audio-engine thread with a second guitar-effect preset while simultaneously processing the first portion of the inputted guitar signal on the first audio-engine thread with the first guitar-effect preset when processing the second portion is triggered by pressing a footswitch. The one or more processors simultaneously output the processed first portion and the processed second portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: INMUSIC BRANDS, INC.
    Inventors: Manuel Kaletta, Mario Reinsch, John E. O'Donnell
  • Patent number: 11417233
    Abstract: The present disclosure is related to systems and methods for assisting a user in practicing a smart musical instrument. The method includes obtaining a real-time image of the user playing the smart musical instrument. The method also includes obtaining information associated with a current key being pressed and information associated with a plurality of reference fingerings from the smart musical instrument. The method also includes displaying the real-time image in real-time. The method also includes determining whether a current fingering associated with the current key being pressed matches with a reference fingering, of the plurality of reference fingerings, associated with the current key being pressed. In response to a determination that the current fingering associated with the current key being pressed does not match the reference fingering, the method further includes generating a reminder. The method still further includes displaying the reference fingering corresponding to the current fingering.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: SUNLAND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CO., LID.
    Inventors: Xiaolu Liu, Bin Yan, Gang Tong, Guodong Zhou
  • Patent number: 11417304
    Abstract: An electronic percussion instrument includes a body having a top opening and an internal support area, and a drumhead having a striking surface and a drumhead bottom surface opposite thereto, the drumhead is stretched over the top opening of the body and is configured to receive a percussion strike thereon, and at least one peripheral sensor disposed on the internal support area of the body, and at least one rising element configured to be flexible and disposed on the internal support area of the body, and a peripheral carrier, adapted to receiving vibrations from the periphery of the drumhead, the peripheral carrier is supported by the at least one rising element such that a pressing force is formed for setting a top circumferential edge of the peripheral carrier in contact with the drumhead bottom surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Inventor: Guy Shemesh
  • Patent number: 11404032
    Abstract: A foldable stringed instrument having a neck and/or body that may assume a reduced profile by folding an upper neck portion away from the playing position through the use of a translating bridge assembly and a translating truss assembly, wherein the foldable stringed instrument is capable of housing or otherwise being coupled to any of a variety of electronics or electrical components (e.g. a smart phone or tablet computer) having one or more applications (apps) for driving the operation, functionality and/or effects associated with the foldable stringed instrument.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Ciari Guitars, Inc.
    Inventors: Jonathan Spangler, James Lee, Philip Simpson
  • Patent number: 11404037
    Abstract: An electronic percussion instrument and sound production control method thereof are provided. In an electronic cymbal, the output of a musical sound is controlled in accordance with the results of detection from a strike sensor when the strike sensor detects a strike on a striking surface. While the musical sound is output, if a user touches the striking surface, an electrostatic capacitance sensor outputs an output value in accordance with the contact condition so that the musical sound is attenuated in accordance with the output value while being output. Therefore, the user can attenuate the musical sound being output in accordance with the contact conditions on the striking surface, thereby silencing the musical sound by way of the action similar to that of the acoustic cymbal choke that is the action of touching the striking surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Roland Corporation
    Inventors: Ryo Takasaki, Yoshiaki Mori, Kenji Morita, Norihiro Yoshikuni
  • Patent number: 11393441
    Abstract: A device for switching electrical or electronical systems for picking up the vibrations of the strings of a musical instrument having a front face includes: a cradle to be fastened or integrated to the front face and provided with a unit for electrical connection to an amplification circuit; at least one barrel that is provided with at least two pickup systems, which is fitted to the cradle so as to be mobile in rotation with respect to the cradle between at least two positions so as to place, in each position, one pickup system in working position opposite the strings and that includes a unit for electrically coupling at least the pickup system opposite the strings to the connection unit; and a unit for rotating the barrel. The axis of rotation of the barrel is substantially parallel to the front face when the cradle is fastened to the latter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: WILD CUSTOMS
    Inventor: Laurent Picciotto
  • Patent number: 11393442
    Abstract: The electric guitar contains at least one pickup in a recess on the guitar body. This pickup can be installed in a mounting frame and has electrical contact points which lead via a cable to the output port on the guitar body. The pickup has a fixing plate on its rear side, which is screwed onto the height adjuster of the pickup via a threaded bush at a variable distance from the base plate of the pickup. It contains spring-loaded pins which are electrically connected to the coils of the pickup. The fixing plate can be inserted without tools from the rear of the guitar body into a recess in the pickup frame and removed again from the pickup frame without tools. When the pickup is inserted, the pins on the fixing plate are connected to the electrical contact points on the mounting frame and the fixing plate is held in place on the mounting frame by means of permanent magnets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Inventors: Pirmin Giger, Silvan Küng
  • Patent number: 11386876
    Abstract: A method for extracting big beat information from music beat points includes: acquiring at least one candidate beat cycle according to beat points of music; generating at least one beat point sequence corresponding to the candidate beat cycle and calculating a weight of the beat point sequence, wherein two adjacent beat points in the beat point sequence take the candidate beat cycle as an interval; selecting a beat point sequence with a maximum weight from the at least one beat point sequence of the candidate beat cycle as a maximum weight sequence of the candidate beat cycle; and acquiring the big beat information according to the maximum weight sequence of the at least one candidate beat cycle and the corresponding weight.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: BIGO TECHNOLOGY PTE. LTD.
    Inventors: Fan Lou, Jing Li
  • Patent number: 11386877
    Abstract: Sound equipment includes: a beat position acquiring unit configured to analyze a beat position of music piece data to be reproduced or acquire an analysis result; and a beat position displaying unit configured to display a scale of a differential numerical value of the number of beats in a plus direction and a minus direction of the music piece data with reference to a currently reproduced position of the music piece data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: ALPHATHETA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daisuke Tanaka, Hitoshi Kudo, Nao Takagi
  • Patent number: 11380295
    Abstract: A sustaining device is described for prolonging the vibration of the strings of a stringed musical instrument, such as an electric guitar having two or three electromagnetic pickups. The pickups are all low impedance transducers that can function either as pickups or driver transducers, depending on whether they are connected to the input of the instrument pickup amplifier or to the output of the sustainer amplifier, respectively. When a transducer is being used as a sustainer driver, it cannot be simultaneously used as a pickup. Different methods of selecting transducers to function as pickups or drivers are described. The transducers, having only hundreds of wire turns instead of the usual thousands of turns for common pickups, have a flat audio frequency response that can be modified to produce a multitude of common pickup sounds by manipulating the transducer resonance frequency, bandwidth, and amplifier gain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Inventor: Alan Anderson Hoover
  • Patent number: 11380294
    Abstract: A keyless synthesizer t can stimulate all three senses (hearing, muscle movement and visual) at once in patients born with C.H.A.R.G.E. syndrome while they play and, at the same time, enjoy and have fun with the device. A keyless synthesizer operational by a single hand of the user includes an ultrasound range sensor responsive to the distance “d” of a user's hand from the sensor for generating a sensor signal corresponding to the distance “d”. A programmable microcontroller programmed to convert the sensor signal to one of a plurality of discrete signals. A synthesizer is responsive to each discrete signal for generating a discrete tone. A multi-color generator is responsive to each discrete signal for generating a discrete color so that for each discrete signal corresponding to a distance “d” both a discreet tone and an associated discreet color are generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Inventor: Muhammad Ali Ummy
  • Patent number: 11355095
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a mixer apparatus (30) for mixing audio signals from a musical instrument (10). The mixer apparatus (30) comprises plural input circuits (34) and an audio signal mixer (36). Each of the plural input circuits (34) has an audio signal input which, in use, is coupled electrically with and thereby receives an audio signal from a different one of plural musical instrument pickups (32) comprised in the musical instrument. The audio signal mixer (36) receives audio signals from the plural input circuits (34) and mixes the received audio signals with one another. Each of the plural input circuits (34) comprises a linear active circuit in an audio signal path between the audio signal input and the audio signal mixer (36).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: DALSERF CONSULTING LIMITED
    Inventor: Barry Hochfield
  • Patent number: 11355094
    Abstract: A human interface device including a processor coupled to a memory. A plurality of switch banks, also coupled to the processor and a rotary dial and a slider, both coupled to control circuitry, said control circuitry operable to provide positional information from the dial and the slider to the processor. The rotary dial and slider are disposed on the human interface device to form an association with the switch bank, a drive transducer coupled to said processor, said drive transducer including a plurality of LED sources spatially positioned on a positioning ring, a set of non-transitory processor instructions operable to direct the processor to provide MIDI commands through a BLE port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: BadVR, Inc.
    Inventor: Jad Meouchy
  • Patent number: 11355093
    Abstract: Techniques are described herein for tracking and analyzing musical activity (e.g., musical performances) captured by a music controller device. Data indicative of a musical performance by an individual is received. Metadata characterizing the musical data is generated. One or more analytics of the musical data is generated based, at least in part, on the metadata.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: QRS MUSIC TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Thomas A. Dolan, Jarrod Cook, Aaron Yost, Daniel Shirey, Parker Welch
  • Patent number: 11348562
    Abstract: An acoustic device includes an audio recording playback unit, an analysis unit, and an acoustic effect imparting unit. The audio recording playback unit records and plays back string independent acoustic signals for each string independent acoustic signal. The string independent acoustic signals respectively correspond to different strings of a stringed instrument and being independent from each other. The analysis unit analyzes at least one string independent acoustic signal from among the recorded string independent acoustic signals. The acoustic effect imparting unit imparts an acoustic effect to the at least one string independent acoustic signal for each string independent acoustic signal, based on a result of the analysis by the analysis unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventors: Tetsuya Nagasawa, Petr Choulik, Kazuhiro Tani, Yu Inoue, Shinichi Ito
  • Patent number: 11348561
    Abstract: A reproduction control method realized by a computer includes analyzing an actual performance of an actual performer, controlling a reproduction of a performance sound of a musical piece represented by music data in accordance with a result of the analyzing of the actual performance, and outputting a message relating to the actual performance in accordance with the result of the analyzing of the actual performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: YAMAHA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akira Maezawa
  • Patent number: 11348563
    Abstract: In several embodiments of the invention, a pickup saddle for a stringed instrument includes a U-shaped top cap having two legs, each leg including a receiving portion configured to mate with a mating portion of a base, a base fitted to the interior of the top cap, where two surfaces of the base include a mating portion matching with and affixed to a receiving portion of the top cap, a piezoelectric transducer placed between the top cap and the base and electrically connected to the base, a positive wire connected to the piezoelectric transducer, and a ground wire connected to the base.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: Lloyd Baggs Innovations, LLC
    Inventors: Lloyd R. Baggs, Robert Radis, Daniel Baggs, Thomas Linn
  • Patent number: 11341946
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method and an apparatus for determining a karaoke singing score, and belongs to the technical field of karaoke singing systems. The method includes: capturing a singing audio by an audio capture device upon detection of a karaoke singing instruction to a target song; acquiring a plurality of time units obtained by dividing a preset voice period of the target song; for each time unit, performing time offset adjustment on the time unit based on a preset adjustment duration to obtain at least one offset time unit, determining pitch values corresponding to the time unit and each time offset unit respectively in the captured singing audio, scoring each of the determined pitch values based on a preset reference pitch value of the time unit, and determining the highest score as a score corresponding to the time unit; and determining a total score of the singing audio based on the score corresponding to each time unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: GUANGZHOU KUGOU COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Zhenfeng Lao
  • Patent number: 11335309
    Abstract: A connector device for electronic musical instruments. The connector device comprising input electrical connector means that receives electrical signals generated by pickup means for an instrument. The instrument being played and a vibration transducer mechanically attached to the input electrical connector means or provided as an integral part of the input electrical connector means, such that vibrations from the instrument are transferred to the vibration transducer. The vibration transducer generates an electrical output signal based on the vibrations. The connector device comprises electrical output connector means that receives the electrical signals generated by the pickup means and the electrical output signal from the vibration transducer and provides these signals to equipment. The connector device further comprises a mixer that combines the signals vg(t) from the pickup means and the signal vvib(t) from the vibration transducer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Inventor: Lars Norman Larsen
  • Patent number: 11322124
    Abstract: A chord identification method selects from among a plurality of chord identifiers a chord identifier that corresponds to an attribute of a piece of music represented by an audio signal, where the plurality of chord identifiers corresponds to respective ones of a plurality of attributes relating to pieces of music; and identifies a chord for the audio signal by applying a feature amount of the audio signal to the selected chord identifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventor: Kouhei Sumi