Celebrity Inventors
Glam girl Heddy Lamar may have used her good looks to good effect on the silver screen, but she put her smarts to better use as an inventor. During World War II, she co-patented a frequency-switching system for torpedo guidance that was considered years ahead of its time.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8178773 | System and methods for the creation and performance of enriched musical composition A System and method for the creation and performance of enriched musical composition. One aspect of the invention allows a composer to associate content with one or more triggers, and to define behavior characteristics that control the functioning of each trigger. A... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8173886 | Electronic percussion instrument A baseplate carries on its surface a pad constituting a strike surface and a tubular rim surrounding the pad and constituting a strike ring. A pad sensor is provided on the surface of the baseplate in the central area thereof for detecting the vibration of the basep... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8148623 | Apparatus for assisting in playing musical instrument An apparatus is to assist an unskilled player in playing a musical instrument by detecting the quantity of the player's manipulation against the instrument, modifying the detected manipulation quantity with reference to a recommended manipulation to a degree accordi... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8134064 | Method of improving sound quality of a musical instrument An apparatus and method are disclosed for artificially aging a musical instrument is provided. The apparatus and method include oscillating the sound board of the instrument by an energy source at specific frequencies over the playing frequency range of the instrume... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8129607 | Electromagnetic field pickup for musical instruments An electromagnetic field pickup (10) for a musical instrument including an electromagnetic signal generator (12), an electromagnetic field transducer (18), a mixer (28), the electromagnetic signal generator (12), the electromagneti... | 03/06/2012 |
| 8088988 | Triangular mode guitar pickup An improved transducer structure for musical instruments, principally for stringed instruments, permitting the production of an electrical analog signal which faithfully reproduces sound waves conducted to a sensor from the surface of the instrument through the atta... | 01/03/2012 |
| 8084678 | Sensor bow for stringed instruments A sensor bow system is described which generates various types of data representing various movements of and forces exerted upon a sensor bow intended for use with any of a variety of stringed instruments. The sensor bow data may be used to control a wide variety of... | 12/27/2011 |
| 8063297 | Marimba suspended microphone system Improvements in a microphone system for a musical instrument and more particularly for a marimba or similar musical instrument. The microphone system includes a vibration isolation system. A horizontal tracking system bridges across the vertical supports of a marimb... | 11/22/2011 |
| 8035025 | Acoustic musical instrument with transducers A stringed musical instrument may include various features, including any of a soundboard designed for efficient production of acoustic tone, a removable cover for easy access to the instrument's interior, a tailpiece mounted to receive and tension strings, one or m... | 10/11/2011 |
| 8017857 | Methods and apparatus for stringed controllers and/or instruments Stringed instruments, game controllers, and related structures and methods are described. A game controller having one or more strings is described for a computer gaming application. Output signals may be sent from the controller to the gaming application indicative... | 09/13/2011 |
| 8003878 | Electroacoustic transducer system An electroacoustic transducer system for converting sound waves propagating from a musical instrument drum to an electric signal is generally provided. The system includes a housing, an electroacoustic transducer, and a cover. The housing includes a concave inner su... | 08/23/2011 |
| 7994412 | Sound system and method for creating a sound event based on a modeled sound field A sound system and method for modeling a sound field generated by a sound source and creating a sound event based on the modeled sound field is disclosed. The system and method captures a sound field over an enclosing surface, models the sound field and enables repr... | 08/09/2011 |
| 7989689 | Electronic music stand performer subsystems and music communication methodologies An electronic music stand system and methodologies relating thereto are presented. The electronic music stand system is comprised of a performer subsystem comprising a processing subsystem, librarian logic, performance logic, and communications management logic. The... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7977565 | Vibration apparatus and method for seasoning stringed musical instruments Apparatus and method for seasoning stringed musical instruments comprises an electric vibration generator coupled to a string cradle. The string cradle is detachably attachable to the strings of the instrument through a plurality of flanges extending between the str... | 07/12/2011 |
| 7932457 | Accelerated aging process for acoustic stringed instruments A method of artificially aging a musical instrument is provided by placing the instrument in an enclosure, providing at least one electromechanical transducer proximate to the instrument and providing an electrical signal to the transducer. The transducer is a three... | 04/26/2011 |
| 7928313 | Variable slippage control for a disc jockey control surface The disclosure pertains to a scratch effect controller for use by a disk jockey, wherein at least one electromagnet creates the slippage tension or friction effect between the user manipulated disc, which includes a vinyl-like surface thereby simulating a vinyl reco... | 04/19/2011 |
| 7858871 | Playing device A playing device includes a hollow blowing body in which a vibration is applied to an internal air in the hollow blowing body in response to a vibration of lips of a player, a detecting portion which generates a detecting signal in response to the vibration in the b... | 12/28/2010 |
| 7851690 | Method and system for automatic calibration of pedal actuator in a reproducing piano A piano is equipped with an actuator that moves the piano pedal mechanism in a mariner that reproduces the pedaling effects of an original performance with high accuracy. The actuator comprises a solenoid, a permanent magnet, a velocity sense coil, and a Hall-effect... | 12/14/2010 |
| 7812243 | Stringed instrument with embedded DSP modeling for modeling acoustic stringed instruments Disclosed is a stringed instrument with embedded DSP modeling capabilities to model an acoustic stringed instrument. The stringed instrument has a body and a plurality of strings and each of the plurality of strings is respectively coupled to a pickup to detect a vi... | 10/12/2010 |
| 7786372 | Wind musical instrument with pitch changing mechanism and supporting system for pitch change Three valve assemblies are linked with finger buttons and inserted into a pipe structure of a trumpet for changing the length of air column, and a supporting system assists a player in fingering on the finger buttons; sensors are adhered to the finger buttons so as ... | 08/31/2010 |
| 7781666 | Apparatus and method for detecting performer's motion to interactively control performance of music or the like Performance interface system includes a motion detector provided for movement with a performer, and a control system for receiving detection data transmitted from the motion detector and controlling a performance of a tone in response to the received detection data.... | 08/24/2010 |
| 7781667 | Electronic wind instrument Electronic wind instrument includes a body section, and a blowing unit pivotably supported on the body section. The blowing unit includes a lip plate section that abuts with a lower lip part of a human player, and a blowing detection section that detects a flow rate... | 08/24/2010 |
| 7772481 | Synthetic drum sound generation by convolving recorded drum sounds with drum stick impact sensor output Methods and apparatus for simulating the sound of an acoustic percussion instrument. A first stored waveform signal representative of the impulse response of an acoustic percussion instrument is convolved with a waveform produced by a sensor circuit attached to a ph... | 08/10/2010 |
| 7759571 | Transcending extensions of classical south Asian musical instruments South Asia's unique musical instruments and raag systems have provided many rich treasures to Western music. This invention melds Western-music technologies with the innovations, timbre, playing techniques, and performance environments of South Asian musical instrum... | 07/20/2010 |
| 7678987 | Apparatus and method for vibrating stringed musical instruments This invention provides apparatus and methods for seasoning stringed musical instruments. For stringed instruments having a bridge, the apparatus comprises an electric vibration generator attached to a bridge cradle, the bridge cradle being sized and configured for ... | 03/16/2010 |
| 7667130 | Percussion detecting apparatus and electronic percussion instrument A percussion detecting apparatus and an electronic percussion instrument, which are capable of not only providing excellent percussion feeling, but also visually indicating a percussion pattern of a beat applied to a percussion surface, so as to serve for percussion... | 02/23/2010 |
| 7667128 | Transducer for converting between mechanical vibration and electrical signal A transducer for converting mechanical vibrations to an electrical signal and/or for converting an electrical signal to mechanical vibration. Damping liquid damps the relative vibration of transducer components. The damping liquid can be selected to optimize the sou... | 02/23/2010 |
| 7667129 | Controlling audio effects An audio effects control for and method of controlling the application of special audio effects applied to an audio signal, comprises a sensor configured to sense movement associated with the generation of the audio signal, wherein the sensor produces a control sign... | 02/23/2010 |
| 7655857 | Apparatus and method for detecting displacement of a movable member of an electronic musical instrument An apparatus for detecting the displacement of a movable member of an electronic musical instrument. The apparatus has superior mechanical durability compared to displacement sensors of the past and can withstand long-term use. The apparatus includes a sensor that p... | 02/02/2010 |
| 7605324 | Apparatus for assisting in playing musical instrument An apparatus is to assist an unskilled player in playing a musical instrument by detecting the quantity of the player's manipulation against the instrument, modifying the detected manipulation quantity with reference to a recommended manipulation to a degree accordi... | 10/20/2009 |
| 7589275 | Electronic hi-hat cymbal An electronic hi-hat cymbal comprises a hi-hat having a strike detector, a pedal unit having a stepped degree detector, a waveform data memory for storing a plurality of electronic hi-hat sound waveform data, corresponding to respective stepped degrees, in a plurali... | 09/15/2009 |
| 7572971 | Sound system and method for creating a sound event based on a modeled sound field A sound system and method for modeling a sound field generated by a sound source and creating a sound event based on the modeled sound field is disclosed. The system and method captures a sound field over an enclosing surface, models the sound field and enables repr... | 08/11/2009 |
| 7566827 | Variable slippage control for a disk jockey control surface The disclosure pertains to a scratch effect controller for use by a disk jockey, wherein at least one electromagnet creates the slippage tension or friction effect between the user manipulated disc, which includes a vinyl-like surface thereby simulating a vinyl reco... | 07/28/2009 |
| 7560638 | Electronic percussion instrument, system, and method with vibration An electronic percussion instrument includes input means and musical tone generation control means. The input means allows for a vibration level of a vibration of an operator and position information that conforms to a position of the operator to be input. The music... | 07/14/2009 |
| 7538268 | Keys for musical instruments and musical methods A keyboard (25) has keys (10) mounted to pivot about a vertical axis as well as about a horizontal axis. Movement of the keys (10) about tile vertical axis is detected to adjust the sounds provided by the musical instrument resulting from striki... | 05/26/2009 |
| 7514625 | Electronic keyboard musical instrument An electronic keyboard musical instrument which can realize natural sounds with favorable sound quality as an acoustic piano. A sound board 33 made of a plate member is vibrated so as to generate musical tones. A first performance signal generator 22 g... | 04/07/2009 |
| 7507902 | Transcending extensions of traditional East Asian musical instruments East Asia's unique musical instruments and traditions have sadly been increasingly loosing favor to Western music and musical instruments. This invention intends to help reverse this trend by melding cutting-edge Western-music technologies with the noble innovations... | 03/24/2009 |
| 7504577 | Music instrument system and methods A system and methods which allow even a novice performer to easily play music which is not disharmonious and which is pleasing to the performer and his or her audience. The music is preferably created by a performer breaking one or more beams of light, which are emi... | 03/17/2009 |
| 7501570 | Electric wind instrument and key detection structure thereof Wind instrument includes a tubular body having a plurality of tone holes, and a plurality of keys capable of opening and closing the tone holes. Via a retaining member, detector units are provided within the tubular body in corresponding relation to the keys, and ea... | 03/10/2009 |
| 7468483 | Electronic percussion instrument and displacement detection apparatus An electronic percussion instrument with a single cymbal and a displacement detection apparatus that detects the displacement of an electronic cymbal. The electronic percussion instrument is designed to allows users to simulate the performance feel of an acoustic cy... | 12/23/2008 |
