USER VOICE MIXING DEVICE, VIRTUAL SPACE SHARING SYSTEM, COMPUTER CONTROL METHOD, AND INFORMATION STORAGE MEDIUM

• US 20100145701A1
• Filed: 06/07/2006
• Published: 06/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Konami Digital Entertainment Company Limited (Konami Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Konami Digital Entertainment Company Limited (Konami Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Kaneko, Hiromasa, Takeuchi, Masaki
• Granted Patent: US 8,219,388 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/258
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/54 involving acoustic signals, e.g. for simulating revolutions per minute [RPM] dependent engine sounds in a driving game or reverberation against a virtual wall
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/87 Communicating with other players during game play, e.g. by e-mail or chat
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/572 Communication between players during game play of non game information, e.g. e-mail, chat, file transfer, streaming of audio and streaming of video
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6081 generating an output signal, e.g. under timing constraints, for spatialization
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8082 Virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/033 Voice editing, e.g. manipulating the voice of the synthesiser

Abstract

A sensation of presence of voice chat in a virtual space is enhanced. A user speech synthesizer used in a virtual space sharing system where information processing devices share the virtual space. The user speech synthesizer comprises a speech data acquiring section (60) for acquiring speech data representing a speech uttered by the user of one of the information processing devices, an environment sound storage section (66) for storing an environment sound associated with one or more regions defined in the virtual space, a region specifying section (64) for specifying a region corresponding to the user in the virtual space, and an environment sound synthesizing section (68) for acquiring the environment sound associated with the specified region from the environment sound storage section (66), combining the acquired environment sound and the speech data and synthesizing synthesized speech data.

Claims

1. A user voice mixing device used in a virtual space sharing system in which a plurality of information processing devices share a virtual space, comprising:

a voice data acquiring means for acquiring voice data representing a voice uttered by a user of one of the plurality of information processing devices;

an environmental sound storing means for storing an environmental sound in association with each of one or more regions defined in the virtual space;

a region specifying means for specifying a region corresponding to the user in the virtual space; and

an environmental sound mixing means for creating mixed voice data by acquiring an environmental sound associated with a region specified by the region specifying means from the environmental sound storing means and mixing the acquired environmental sound and the voice data.

2. A user voice mixing device according to claim 1, wherein:

the user voice mixing device is communicably connected to the plurality of information processing devices through a communication network;

the voice data acquiring means receives the voice data from the one of the plurality of information processing devices;

the user voice mixing device further comprises a mixed voice data transmitting means for transmitting the mixed voice data to another one of the plurality of information processing devices; and

the other one of the plurality of information processing devices receives the mixed voice data and outputs the mixed voice data.

3. A user voice mixing device according to claim 2, further comprising a transfer destination identification data receiving means for receiving, from the one of the plurality of information processing devices, transfer destination identification data for identifying the other one of the plurality of information processing devices, wherein

the mixed voice data transmitting means transmits the mixed voice data based on the transfer destination identification data.

4. A user voice mixing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a position coordinate acquiring means for acquiring a position coordinate corresponding to the user in the virtual space, wherein

the region specifying means specifies a region corresponding to the user in the virtual space according to the position coordinate acquired by the position coordinate acquiring means.

5. A user voice mixing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a region identification data receiving means for receiving, from the one of the plurality of information processing devices, region identification data for identifying a region corresponding to the user in the virtual space, wherein

the region specifying means specifies a region corresponding to the user in the virtual space based on the received region identification data.

6. A control method for a computer used in a virtual space sharing system in which a plurality of information processing devices share a virtual space, the control method for a computer comprising:

a voice data acquiring step of acquiring voice data representing a voice uttered by a user of one of the plurality of information processing devices;

a region specifying step of specifying a region corresponding to the user in the virtual space; and

an environmental sound mixing step of creating mixed voice data by acquiring, with reference to an environmental sound storing means storing environmental sounds in association with each of one or more regions defined in the virtual space, an environmental sound associated with a region specified in the region specifying step and mixing the acquired environmental sound and the voice data.

7. An information storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to function, the computer being used in a virtual space sharing system in which a plurality of information processing devices share a virtual space, the program causing the computer to function as:

a voice data acquiring means for acquiring voice data representing a voice uttered by a user of one of the plurality of information processing devices;

an environmental sound storing means for storing an environmental sound in association with each of one or more regions defined in the virtual space;

a region specifying means for specifying a region corresponding to the user in the virtual space; and

an environmental sound mixing means for creating mixed voice data by acquiring an environmental sound associated with a region specified by the region specifying means from the environmental sound storing means and mixing the acquired environmental sound and the voice data.

8. A virtual space sharing system in which a plurality of information processing devices share a virtual space, comprising:

a voice data acquiring means for acquiring voice data representing a voice uttered by a user of one of the plurality of information processing devices;

an environmental sound storing means for storing an environmental sound in association with each of one or more regions defined in the virtual space;

a region specifying means for specifying a region corresponding to the user in the virtual space; and

an environmental sound mixing means for creating mixed voice data by acquiring an environmental sound associated with a region specified by the region specifying means from the environmental sound storing means and mixing the acquired environmental sound and the voice data.