초록 ▼

An electronic piano is controllable with a remote controller; since the remote controller is physically separated from the electronic piano, users are liable to mislay the remote controller somewhere around the electronic piano; in this situation, the user instructs the electronic piano to transmit

An electronic piano is controllable with a remote controller; since the remote controller is physically separated from the electronic piano, users are liable to mislay the remote controller somewhere around the electronic piano; in this situation, the user instructs the electronic piano to transmit a radio wave representative of inquiry, and the missing remote controller responds to the inquiry by transmitting a radio wave representative of annunciation; the electronic piano is equipped with antennas separated from each other on the piano cabinet, and the received power at the antennas is varied depending upon the location of the missing remote controller; the electronic piano analyzes the received power so as to notify the user of the possible location of the missing remote controller.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A musical instrument system for producing music sound, comprising: a remote controller outputting instructions for a behavior and an annunciation representative of a present location to the outside thereof; and a musical instrument, physically separated from said remote contr

What is claimed is: 1. A musical instrument system for producing music sound, comprising: a remote controller outputting instructions for a behavior and an annunciation representative of a present location to the outside thereof; and a musical instrument, physically separated from said remote controller, and including the following elements which are entirely distinct from the remote controller: a sound generator for producing said music sound, an electric system responsive to said instructions so as to assist said sound generator in at least producing said music sound and analyzing said annunciation for locating said remote controller in a space around said musical instrument and an information provider connected to said electric system and notifying users of a possible location of said remote controller. 2. The musical instrument system as set forth in claim 1, in which said electric system determines a magnitude of said annunciation received, and locates said remote controller on the basis of said magnitude. 3. The musical instrument system as set forth in claim 2, in which said annunciation is transmitted from said remote controller and said electric system through a radio wave. 4. The musical instrument system as set forth in claim 3, in which said electric system determines a received power of said radio wave, and locates said remote controller on the basis of said magnitude. 5. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 4, in which a value of said received power is variable depending upon a direction of said remote controller with respect to said musical instrument so that said electric system determines at least said direction of said remote controller on the basis of said value of said received power. 6. The musical instrument system as set forth in claim 4, in which a value of said received power is variable depending upon a distance between said remote controller and said musical instrument so that said electric system determines at least said distance of said remote controller on the basis of said value of said received power. 7. The musical instrument system as set forth in claim 4, in which said electric system determines said received power of said radio wave at plural reception points on said musical instrument, and compares the values of said received power with one another for locating said remote controller on the basis of the result of the comparison. 8. The musical instrument system as set forth in claim 7, in which a value of said received power is variable at each of said plural reception points so that said electric system determines a sub-space where said remote controller is to be found on the basis of a combination of the values of said received power at said plural reception points. 9. The musical instrument system as set forth in claim 1, in which said information provider notifies said user of said possible location through an information medium selected from a group consisting of sound, tones, visual images, light, illumination, voice message, a music passage and motion of a component of said musical instrument. 10. The musical instrument system as set forth in claim 9, in which said information provider notifies said user of said possible location through another information medium selected from said group concurrently with said information medium. 11. The musical instrument system as set forth in claim 1, in which said remote controller is responsive to an inquiry transmitted from said electric system so as to output said annunciation. 12. The musical instrument system as set forth in claim 11, in which said remote controller further draws the attention of said user thereto by generating an information medium. 13. The musical instrument system as set forth in claim 12, in which said information medium is at least light. 14. The musical instrument system as set forth in claim 12, in which said information medium is at least advisory sound. 15. A musical instrument controllable with a remote controller physically separated therefrom, and comprising the following elements which are entirely distinct from the remote controller: a sound generator for producing music sound; an electric system responsive to instructions for a behavior of said musical instrument so as to assist said sound generator in at least producing said music sound and analyzing an annunciation supplied from said remote controller for locating said remote controller in a space around said musical instrument; and an information provider connected to said electric system and notifying users of a possible location of said remote controller. 16. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 15, in which said sound generator includes: a keyboard having plural keys selectively depressed and released, and an electric tone generating sub-system connected to said keyboard and selectively producing tones at pitches equal to those assigned to the depressed keys. 17. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 16, in which said electric tone generating sub-system includes a data processing sub-system and a tone generating sub-system for producing electric tones on the basis of music data codes supplied from said data processing sub-system, and said data processing sub-system is shared with said electric system. 18. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 17, in which said electric system further includes an interface through which said data processing sub-system communicates with at least said remote controller. 19. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 18, in which said interface includes a radio receiver for receiving a radio wave carrying said annunciation. 20. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 19, in which said radio receiver is connected to plural antennas spaced from each other so that said radio wave is captured at said plural antennas, and a received power of said radio wave is variable at each of said plural antennas depending upon a location of said remote controller so that said data processing sub-system determines a sub-space in said space where said remote controller is to be found on the basis of a combination of values of said received power at said plural antennas. 21. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 20, in which said data processing sub-system determines at least a direction of said remote controller with respect to said plural antennas on the basis of said combination. 22. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 20, in which said data processing sub-system determines at least a distance between said remote controller and one of said plural antennas on the basis of one of said values of said received power. 23. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 15, in which said sound generator includes a keyboard having plural keys selectively depressed and released, plural action units respectively connected to said plural keys and actuated by the depressed keys, and plural hammers driven for rotation by said plural action units, respectively, plural strings respectively struck with said plural hammers at the end of said rotation for generating acoustic tones. 24. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 23, in which said sound generator further includes plural key actuators causing said plural keys to move without fingering of a human player under the control of a controller of an automatic playing system, and a data processing sub-system is shared between said controller and said electric system for analyzing said annunciation. 25. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 24, in which selected ones of said plural key actuators, the keys associated with said selected ones of said plural key actuators, the action units linked with said keys, the hammers driven for rotation by said action units and the strings to be struck with said hammers form in combination said information provider. 26. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 23, further comprising a hammer stopper changed between a free position for permitting said plural hammer to strike said plural strings and a blocking position for causing said plural hammers to rebound thereon before striking said plural strings, and an electronic sound generating system responsive to said plural keys selectively depressed and released so as to produce electric tones and having a data processing sub-system shared between said electric system. 27. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 15, in which said information provider includes an electric tone generating sub-system shared with said sound generator so that said user is notified of said possible location through electric tones. 28. The musical instrument as set forth in claim 15, in which said information provider includes a display controller connected to said electric system and a display unit for producing visual images, and said electric system supplies pieces of visual data representative of said possible location to said display controller for producing visual images on said display unit. 29. A method performed by a musical instrument capable of producing predetermined tones for locating a remote controller which is physically separate from the musical instrument and is located in a space around the musical instrument, the method comprising the steps of: a) receiving an annunciation indicative of a present location of said remote controller; b) analyzing a physical quantity represented by said annunciation in terms of directions around said musical instrument for determining a possible location of said remote controller; and c) notifying a user of said possible location of said remote controller. 30. The method as set forth in claim 29, in which said step b) includes the sub-steps of b-1) determining values of said physical quantity at plural reception points spaced from one another, b-2) comparing said values with one another to see whether or not one of said values is much greater than the others of said values, b-3) selecting one of a plurality of sub-spaces of said space on the basis of a negative answer given at said sub-step b-2) or a combination of a maximum value and other values when an answer at said sub-step b-2) is given positive, and b-4) determining said possible location in said one of said sub-spaces. 31. The method as set forth in claim 30, in which said maximum value is compared with thresholds for determining a distance to said remote controller in said sub-step b-3). 32. The method as set forth in claim 29, in which said step a) includes the sub-steps of a-1) transmitting an inquiry from said musical instrument to said remote controller, and a-2) responding to said inquiry so that said remote controller transmits said annunciation to said musical instrument so that said musical instrument receives said annunciation. 33. The method as set forth in claim 29, in which said step c) includes the sub-steps of c-1) producing pieces of music data representative of one of said predetermined tones representative of said possible location, c-2) supplying said pieces of music data to a tone generator incorporated in said musical instrument, and c-3) producing said one of said predetermined tones on the basis of said pieces of music data so that said user is notified of said possible location through said one of said predetermined tones. 34. The method as set forth in claim 29, in which said step c) includes the sub-steps of c-1) producing pieces of visual data representative of a space around said musical instrument and said possible location in said space, c-2) supplying said pieces of visual data to a display controller, and c-3) producing said visual images from said pieces of visual data on a display provided in the vicinity of said musical instrument.