Patent 7935880 was granted and assigned to Harmonix on May, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Described are methods, systems, and apparatuses, including computer program products, for dynamically displaying a pitch range in a rhythm-action game. In one aspect this is accomplished by a game platform dividing a musical composition into a plurality of portions each comprising one or more notes. Then the game platform determines a pitch range between a highest note and a lowest note for each portion. Then the game platform determines a display density for each portion based on the pitch range of each portion, or alternatively, a display density for the entire song based on the greatest pitch range of all portions. Then, the game platform displays each portion within a viewable area. The viewable area has a density alterable based on the portion to be displayed or a position that is alterable based on the portion to be displayed, or has both an alterable position and alterable pitch density.