Audio-signal generation device

#The present invention contains subject matter related to Japanese Patent Application JP 2005-216682 filed in the Japanese Patent Office on Jul. 27, 2005, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

#1. Field of the Invention

#The present invention relates to an audio-signal generation device.

#FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a device according to another embodiment of the present invention;

#FIG. 3A shows an example display image used for inputting information;

#FIG. 1 shows an example appearance of a generation device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, the generation device 10 being provided, so as to generate an audio signal. The entire generation device 10 is manufactured, as a substantially-flat parallelepiped in such a size that the generation device 10 can be put into a breast pocket. A liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel 11 is provided on upper part of the front of the generation device 10. Further, various operation keys 12 including cursor keys (direction keys), an enter key, a cancel key, and so forth are provided on lower part of the front of the generation device 10, as input devices. Further, a headphone jack 13 is provided on a top face of the generation device 10 so that a plug 41 of a pair of headphones (an earphone) 40 can be connected thereto.

#Upon receiving various information items and/or condition information items transmitted from a user (an exerciser) via the operation key 12, the generation device 10 automatically composes a track according to the input information items and/or condition information items, where the track has characteristics which will be described later. Then, the generation device 10 transmits an audio signal of the track to the headphones 40. Subsequently, the user can exercise with enjoyment to the track output from the headphones 40.

#FIG. 2 shows an example circuit configuration of the generation device 10 which generates the audio signal. The generation device 10 has a microcomputer 20 provided, as a system-control circuit. The microcomputer 20 includes a central-processing unit (CPU 21) executing a program, a read-only memory (ROM) 22 storing various programs, a random-access memory (RAM) 23 which is used, as a work area, and a nonvolatile memory 24. Each of the above-described memories 22, 23, and 24 is connected to the CPU 21 via a system bus 29. In that case, the nonvolatile memory 24 is provided, so as to store information about the profile of the exerciser (the user of the generation device 10) and data on the exercise result or the like. A program stored in the ROM 22 will be described later.