3D spatialisation of voice chat
AssigneeSony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited
InventorsCalum Armstrong, Christopher Buchanan, Danjeli Schembri
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention provides techniques for intelligently positioning speech in a virtual environment. Factors such as user preferences, the location of virtual environment audio and/or visual events, avatar location, and others can be taken into account when selecting a suitable location for the speech. The virtual environment can be a game environment, a meeting environment, an augmented reality environment, a virtual reality environment, and the like. The invention can be implemented by an audio processing unit which may be part of a game console.
Claims14
An audio processing unit configured to:
- receive an input signal comprising speech produced by a first user;
- assign a 3-dimensional (3D) location to the speech, wherein the 3D location is within a game environment in which a second user listening to the speech has a user virtual location that is also within the game environment, and wherein the 3D location is defined relative to the user virtual location;
- adjust the 3D location based on detection of an event in the game environment and prevent the 3D location from overlapping with a location of the event;
- generate an output signal by processing the input signal to modify the speech so as to simulate an origin of the speech at the adjusted 3D location;
- and
- transmit the output signal to an audio generation unit for playback to the second user.
A method performed by an audio processing unit, the method comprising:
- receiving an input signal comprising speech produced by a first user;
- assigning a 3-dimensional (3D) location to the speech, wherein the 3D location is within a game environment in which a second user listening to the speech has a user virtual location that is also within the game environment, and wherein the 3D location is defined relative to the user virtual location;
- adjusting the 3D location based on detection of an event in the game environment and preventing the 3D location from overlapping with a location of the event;
- generating an output signal by processing the input signal to modify the speech so as to simulate an origin of the speech at the adjusted 3D location;
- and
- transmitting the output signal to an audio generation unit for playback to the second user.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.