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Method and apparatus for providing a virtual world sound system

  • US 5,633,993 A
  • Filed: 02/10/1993
  • Issued: 05/27/1997
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/10/1993
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A method for delivering sounds in a virtual three-dimensional auditory environment complementing a virtual three-dimensional graphic world rendered by a computer graphic system, the rendition capable of being displayed to a viewer from viewpoints having specific positions and orientations within the virtual world, and said sounds being delivered to said viewer using a sound reproduction system having a programmable controller and sound channels of localized and non-localized types, the method comprising the steps of:

  • A. storing data representative of a plurality of sounds in the virtual world;

    B. generating logical sound channel objects corresponding to virtual sound sources in the virtual world, said logical sound channel objects having first parameters for associating sound channels with said virtual sound sources, and second parameters for associating graphic objects in the virtual world with said virtual sound sources;

    C. programming said controller with a script of events in the virtual world, said script comprising instructions to associate specified ones of said virtual sound sources with specified graphic objects or specified positions in the virtual world, said association differentiating localized virtual sound sources from non-localized virtual sound sources, and instructions directing specified ones of said sounds to be produced by specified ones of said localized and non-localized virtual sound sources;

    D. programming said controller to respond to an instruction to associate a specified virtual sound source with a specified graphic object or position, said response including the steps of;

    (a) determining whether a localized sound channel is allocated to the logical sound channel object corresponding to the specified virtual sound source;

    (b) responsive to a determination that a localized sound channel is not allocated to the corresponding logical sound channel object, (i) attempting to allocate to the corresponding logical sound channel object a localized sound channel based on the availability of said localized type of sound channel;

    (ii) if said localized type of sound channel is unavailable, attempting to allocate a non-localized sound channel to the corresponding logical sound channel object based on the availability of said non-localized type of sound channel; and

    (iii) if a sound channel is available for allocation to the corresponding logical sound channel object, assigning a value identifying the sound channel to the first parameter of the corresponding logical sound channel object, thereby associating the specified virtual sound source with the allocated sound channel; and

    (c) if the allocated sound channel is of the localized type, assigning a position to the allocated sound channel, said assigning of a position including, where said position is for a graphic object, using the second parameter of the corresponding logical sound channel object to associate the specified virtual sound source with the graphic object; and

    E. programming said controller to respond to an instruction directing a specified virtual sound source to produce a specified sound, said response including the steps of;

    (a) determining whether a sound channel is allocated to the logical sound channel object corresponding to said specified virtual sound source;

    (b) responsive to a determination that a sound channel is not allocated to the corresponding logical sound channel object, (i) attempting to allocate to the corresponding logical sound channel object a non-localized sound channel based on the availability of said non-localized type of sound channel, and (ii) if a non-localized sound channel is available for allocation, assigning a value identifying the sound channel to the first parameter of the corresponding logical sound channel object, thereby associating the specified virtual sound source with the allocated sound channel; and

    (c) if a sound channel is allocated to the logical sound channel object corresponding to the specified virtual sound source, processing the data representative of the specified sound to produce a signal representative of the specified sound and manipulating the sound system to deliver the specified sound to the viewer using the allocated sound channel and the signal representative of the specified sound.

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