US Patent 7294777 Electronic tone generation system and batons therefor

An electronic tone generation system including a plurality of separate, portable, handheld transmitters, or batons, that are provided as “instruments” to one or more players. Each baton can be activated to send a signal, preferably a wireless signal, to a single receiver which produces an output signal fed to a tone generator, preferably a MIDI tone generator, which produces audible sounds via an amplifier and speakers. For example, the batons can correspond to different musical notes as played by a selected musical instrument and the batons can be played in concert to produce a musical or other audible presentation. Alternatively, selected batons can be designated to play in one voice, while others batons are set to play other voices.