Search index for a music file

Abstract

The invention includes a music file that includes a search index and a formatted music data block. The formatted music data block includes a complete formatted musical piece. The information in the search index includes a header data block, one or more melody data blocks, a lyrics data block and an auxiliary data block. The header data block, lyrics data block, and auxiliary data block are plain text data. The melody data block includes a melody that is included in the formatted music data block. The melody included in the formatted music data block may be a part of a melody included in the formatted music data block. The melody data blocks may be integer data, ASCII data or MIDI data. Each data block in the search index may include an identifier and a block size. In an alternative embodiment, the block size information may be included in the header data block. The search index data blocks may include pointers to the musical piece. Also, a method for searching a music file including a search index for a musical piece is presented. The method includes selecting a type of search to perform, either a melody search or a text based search. If the type of search selected is a text based search, then text search input is received from a user. The text based search is then performed on stored music file including the search index. If the type of search selected is a melody-based search, then note information is received representing the melody provided by a user.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.