JP3296471B2 - Sound field control method and device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a virtual computer system which is formed on a system in which a plurality of computers are connected to a network.
The present invention relates to a virtual space sharing system for constructing a virtual environment in which a plurality of participants exist by arranging a character as a self alter ego and a character of another user in a dimensional space.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A three-dimensional CAD system, a three-dimensional computer graphic or virtual reality (V)
R) Using the technology of the system, a three-dimensional virtual space is realized by imitating the real world, and the user using the computer is the same on a computer connected via a network using a public line or LAN. Has been realized.

[0003]

In the system for sharing the virtual space, each user character can freely move around in the shared three-dimensional shared space, and each user uses the shared three-dimensional space. Data on computer (3
D) was also changed. However, in this system, it is impossible to control sound information (sound of another user or sound output from an object in a three-dimensional space) at the same time as the surrounding landscape image changes with the movement of each user. there were.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a sound field control method and apparatus for performing sound field control with high convenience for the user.

[0005]

[0006]

[0007]

[0008]

According to the sound field control method of the present invention, only sound information from a character of another user existing in a rectangular parallelepiped specified by two vertices farthest from each other is output to its own terminal. I do.

[0009]

A sound field control device according to the present invention comprises: a coordinate value input means for inputting a coordinate value of a character of itself; and a coordinate field input device for inputting the coordinate value of the character of the character to a sound field control device in another computer via a network. Coordinate value transmitting means for transmitting, coordinate value receiving means for receiving coordinate values of another user's character transmitted from a sound field control device in another computer via a network, and designating a range for outputting sound information. a range specifying information input means for inputting the coordinate values of the two or more points, by the coordinate values received in the coordinate value receiving means for comparing the coordinate value input by the range specifying information input means, of the other users Determining means for determining whether or not the character is within a specified range; and sound output means for outputting sound information of the character of another user determined to be within the specified range to its own terminal. To.

The present invention is based on the position information of one's own character, the position information of another user character, and the position information of a specific point in a three-dimensional space using a computer.
Within a specified range in the dimensional space (the two
Only the sound information from the user's character existing in the rectangular parallelepiped specified by the vertex is output to the terminal itself.

[0012]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0013]

[0014]

[0015]

[0016]

[0017]

[0018]

[0019]

[0020]

[0021]

[0022]

[0023]

[0024]

[0025]

[0026]

[0027]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of one embodiment of a sound field control method according to the present invention.

In this embodiment, the range of the rectangular parallelepiped is specified (coordinate values are C (x1, y1, z
1), D (x2, y2, z2)), and the coordinate value (x3, y3, z3) of the user character is x1 ≦ x3
When all the relationships of ≤ x2, y1 ≤ y3 ≤ y2, z1 ≤ z3 ≤ z2 are satisfied, the sound information of the user character is output.

By doing so, for example, the lecture hall is arranged in a three-dimensional space, the lecture hall is designated as a range in a situation where a speaker speaks, and the lecture is designated so that sound can be heard in the same way. You can hear the voice of the other user, and also hear the voice of the question of the other user. Also, since the sound outside the auditorium cannot be heard, it can be heard without confusion. In addition, the present invention can be applied to a restriction in an undivided space such as a blue sky square.

[0031]

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of one embodiment of a virtual space sharing system to which the present invention is applied.

This virtual space sharing system comprises computers 1, 2, 2 connected to each other by a computer network cable 4.
3.

Computers 1-3 comprise a sound information input device (such as a microphone) 11, a position information input device (such as a joystick) 12, a sound information output device (such as a speaker) 13,
Each information input from the sound information input device 11 is converted into analog /
A / D converter 14 that performs digital conversion, and network transmission device 1 that transmits the coordinate values of the own character input from digital sound information and position information input device 12 to other computers 1 to 3 via computer network cable 4.
5, a network receiving device 17 for receiving data from other computers 1 to 3 via the computer network cable 4, an adder 16 for determining whether or not another user character is within a specified range, and the like. Adder 16
Digital / analog conversion of the sound information output from
It has a D / A converter 18 for outputting to the sound information output device 13 and a range designation information input device 19 for inputting two or more coordinate values for designating a range for outputting sound information.

In the computer 1, the generated sound information is input from the sound information input device 1, and is subjected to analog / digital conversion by the A / D converter 14. Are transmitted to other computers (in this case, computers 2 and 3) via the computer network cable 4 by multicast transmission. The other is sent to the adder 16.

In the adder 16, apart from the input from the A / D converter 14, data transmitted by multicast from another computer and arrived via the computer network 4 are transmitted to the computer 1 by the network receiving device 17. Is input after it is determined whether the data has been
From the data received by the network receiver 17, other users
The position data of the character is extracted, and if the position data is within the range of the coordinate values input from the range designation information input device 19, the sound information of the other user is converted to the sound of the own character. It is added to the information and output.

The added voice is digital-to-analog converted by the D / A converter 18, and is output from the sound information output device 13.
Output from

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of sound field control in the present embodiment. First, the range designation information input device 19 inputs coordinate values of two or more points which are ranges in which sound is output (step 21). Next, the multi-scan data is received by the network receiver 17 (step 22), and the following processing is performed. First, position data of another user character is extracted from the multicast packet (step 23),
This is compared with the coordinate value input by the range designation information input device 19 to determine whether or not to output a voice (step 2).
4). If it is determined that a voice is to be output, sound information of another user character is extracted from the multicast packet (step 25). These are the processes performed by the adder 16. Finally, it outputs the sound information from the sound information output apparatus 1 3 (step 26).

[0039]

[0040]

[0041]

[0042]

[0043] Note that the position information input device 12, a network transmission device 15, a network reception device 17, the range coordinate values input means specifying information input device 19, respectively claim 2, coordinate value transmission means, the coordinate value receiving means, range specification The information input means constitutes, the adder 16 constitutes the judgment means of claim 2 , and the sound information output device 13 constitutes the sound output means of claim 2 , and these constitute a sound field control device. I have.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention, a rectangular shape specified by two vertices farthest from each other in a three-dimensional space is used.
By outputting only sound information of the other user character present in the body, can be a flexible sound field control, there is a made effective can provide services related to various speech in virtual space .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of one embodiment of a sound field control method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a virtual space sharing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of sound field control in the embodiment of FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 2, 3 computer 4 computer network table 11 sound information input device 12 position information input device 13 sound information output device 14 A / D converter 15 network transmission device 16 adder 17 network reception device 18 D / A converter 19 range Designated information input device 21 to 26 steps

Continuation of the front page (56) References WO 95/8793 (WO, A1) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06T 15/00-17/40 G06F 13/00 H04S 7 / 00 H04M 3/56

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of participants exist by arranging a character as an alter ego and a character of another user in a virtual three-dimensional space created on a system in which a plurality of computers are connected to a network. In a sound field control method in a virtual space sharing system for constructing a virtual environment, only sound information from a character of another user existing in a rectangular parallelepiped specified by two vertices farthest from each other is output to its own terminal. A sound field control method characterized by the following. 2. A virtual system in which a plurality of participants exist by arranging a character as an alter ego and another user character in a virtual three-dimensional space created on a system in which a plurality of computers are connected to a network. In a virtual space sharing system for constructing an environment, a sound field control device provided in each computer, the coordinate value input means for inputting the coordinate value of the own character, and the input coordinate value of the own character Coordinate value transmitting means for transmitting to a sound field control device in another computer via a network, and coordinate values for receiving coordinate values of another user's character transmitted from the sound field control device in another computer via the network Receiving means, range specifying information inputting means for inputting coordinate values of two or more points for specifying a range for outputting sound information, and the coordinate value receiving means By comparing the coordinate values input coordinate values in the range specifying information input means, and determining whether the determination means are within the range of the character of the other user is specified, and are within the specified range determined A sound field control device having sound output means for outputting the sound information of the character of another user to the terminal itself.