JP7680668B2 - Audio playback program and audio playback device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an audio playback program and an audio playback device.

Conventionally, there have been three-dimensional game devices that change the game sounds that the user hears related to a moving object based on the relationship between the user's viewpoint and the moving object moving within the object space in order to improve the sense of realism and presence felt by the user (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2002-346210 A

Meanwhile, devices such as game consoles and PCs play audio data from an externally connected playback device (such as an external speaker) or a built-in playback device (built-in speaker). Since the audio that can be played back differs depending on the performance of the playback device, the audio played back by each playback device may differ even for the same audio data. For this reason, a configuration in which the same audio data is played back regardless of the performance of the playback device may lack interest for the user.

The object of the present invention is to provide an audio playback program and an audio playback device that enhances the user's interest.

A first aspect of the present invention provides a computer comprising:
a playback unit that plays back audio data;
a determining unit that determines the audio data to be reproduced by the reproduction unit;
the voice data is configured to produce a plurality of pronunciations;
The determination unit is an audio playback program that determines the number of pronunciations to be reproduced by the playback unit from the audio data based on the playback device that reproduces the audio data, or determines the content of acoustic processing to be applied to the audio data.

In the first invention, the determination unit may determine the pronunciation to be reproduced by the reproduction unit according to priorities set for the multiple pronunciations.

In the first invention, the determination unit may determine the pronunciation to be reproduced by the reproduction unit based on the volume level set for the pronunciation.

In the first invention, the reproduction unit may emphasize a predetermined band when the determination unit determines the number of sounds to be produced.

A second aspect of the present invention is a method for controlling a voice reproduction device, comprising:
and a control unit that executes the audio playback program.

The present invention provides an audio playback program and an audio playback device that enhances the user's interest.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a game device. 4 is a conceptual diagram of pronunciation included in the voice data according to the first embodiment. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the game device in embodiment 1. 11A to 11C are diagrams for explaining the content of reverb processing in the second embodiment. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of a game device according to a second embodiment.

A game program and a game device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The audio playback program of the present invention is implemented as one function of the game program. The audio playback device is realized as the game device.

The game program described in this embodiment is executed on a game device such as a personal computer, PlayStation (registered trademark), Xbox (registered trademark), or PlayStation Vita (registered trademark).

In games using this game program, the user's operation is received, and the user's character is made to move about in a three-dimensional virtual game space (hereafter simply referred to as the virtual space) and to perform various actions on the user's companions.

In this game, a sound is played when a specific trigger condition is met during the movement or action of the user character. Examples of specific trigger conditions include the movement of the user character to a specific location, the appearance of an enemy character, the discovery of an item after defeating an enemy character, etc.

When the game device that executes this game is externally connected to a playback device such as a speaker, it causes the playback device to play back the audio data. Also, when the game device is not connected to an external playback device, it causes the audio data to be played back through a built-in speaker. In particular, this game device changes the audio data to be played back depending on the type of playback device that is playing back the audio data.

(Embodiment 1)
<Configuration of the Game Device>
1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a game device 5 according to this embodiment. The game device 5 executes a predetermined game based on a user's operation. A display 61, a speaker 62 (playback device), and a controller 63 are externally connected or built into the game device 5. In the game device 5, a game progresses based on the installed game program and game data.

The game device 5 has a network interface 51, a graphics processing unit 52, an audio processing unit 53, an operation unit 54, a memory unit 55, and a control unit 56. The network interface 51, the graphics processing unit 52, the audio processing unit 53, the operation unit 54, and the memory unit 55 are electrically connected to the control unit 56 via a bus 59.

The network interface 51 is communicatively connected to the communication network to transmit and receive various data between, for example, the game device 5 and an external server device (not shown).

The graphics processing unit 52 renders game images including the user character and various objects related to the game space in a moving image format according to the game image information output from the control unit 56. The graphics processing unit 52 is connected to the display 61, and the game images rendered in a moving image format are displayed on the display 61 as a game screen.

The audio processing unit 53 plays and synthesizes digital game sounds according to instructions from the control unit 56. The audio processing unit 53 is connected to a speaker 62, and the played and synthesized game sounds are output from the speaker 62.

As described above, the speaker 62 is externally connected to the game device 5 or built into it. Examples of the speaker 62 that is externally connected to the game device 5 include speakers made up of multiple speaker units such as those used in home theaters (hereinafter also referred to as "home theater speakers") and speakers built into a TV (hereinafter also referred to as "TV speakers"). In general, the performance increases in the order of speakers built into the game device 5 (hereinafter also referred to as "built-in speakers"), TV speakers, and home theater speakers.

The operation unit 54 is connected to the controller 63, and transmits and receives data related to operation inputs between the controller 63. For example, the user inputs operation signals to the game device 5 by operating an operator (not shown) such as a button provided on the controller 63.

The storage unit 55 is composed of a HDD, RAM, ROM, etc. The storage unit 55 can store game programs and game data. The storage unit 55 also stores other account information received from other game devices 5, etc.

The control unit 56 is composed of a microcomputer including a CPU and a semiconductor memory, and controls the operation of the game device 5 itself. For example, the control unit 56 operates the graphics processing unit 52 and the audio processing unit 53 by executing the game program.

<Functional configuration of the control unit>
The control unit 56 executes the game program, and thereby functions as a communication unit 561, a game progression unit 562, a judgment unit 563, a determination unit 564, and a reproduction unit 565.

The communication unit 561 is a function for communicating with other game devices 5 via the network interface 51. The communication unit 561 transmits various operation signals received by the operation unit 54 from the controller 63 to the other game devices 5.

The game progression unit 562 executes the game program and generates two-dimensional or three-dimensional game image information using data such as game space objects and textures contained in the game data read from the storage unit 55 in response to user operations. As the game image information is processed by the graphics processing unit 52, the processed game images are displayed sequentially on the display 61.

The game progression unit 562 also moves the character operated by the user in the virtual space in response to the user's operation. For example, the game progression unit 562 moves the character in response to an operation signal from the controller 63.

The determination unit 563 determines the type of speaker 62 that reproduces the audio data. For example, when a speaker 62 is externally connected to the game device 5, the determination unit 563 detects a signal from the speaker 62 and determines the type of the speaker 62 (for example, a TV speaker, a home theater speaker, etc.). On the other hand, when a speaker 62 is not externally connected to the game device 5, the determination unit 563 determines that the type of the speaker 62 is a built-in speaker.

The determination unit 564 determines the number of sounds to be played by the speaker 62 based on the type of speaker 62 determined by the determination unit 563.

Figure 2 is a conceptual diagram of the pronunciation included in the voice data in embodiment 1. For example, suppose that a large enemy character, monster C1, a medium-sized enemy character, and monster C2, a small enemy character, C3, are placed in a virtual space. Sounds emitted by monsters C1 to C3 are set as sound_1 to sound_3, respectively, and the priorities are set from high to low, respectively.

In this case, when the speaker 62 is a home theater speaker, the determination unit 564 determines that all of the pronunciations sound_1 to sound_3 are to be reproduced by the playback unit 565. Home theater speakers are generally high performance, so that even if multiple pronunciations are reproduced simultaneously, each pronunciation can be reproduced accurately. In other words, when the speaker 62 is a home theater speaker, the determination unit 564 determines that all of the pronunciations are to be reproduced by the playback unit 565.

Furthermore, when speaker 62 is a TV speaker, determination unit 564 determines sound_1 and sound_2, excluding sound_3, which is a pronunciation with a low priority, as the pronunciations to be reproduced by playback unit 565. When a TV speaker reproduces multiple pronunciations simultaneously, some pronunciations may overlap with other pronunciations, making it impossible to reproduce each pronunciation accurately. For this reason, when speaker 62 is a TV speaker, determination unit 564 determines other pronunciations, excluding the pronunciations with a low priority, from the audio data as the pronunciations to be reproduced by playback unit 565.

Furthermore, when the speaker 62 is a built-in speaker, the determination unit 564 determines that only the pronunciation with high priority, sound_1, is to be reproduced by the playback unit 565. Built-in speakers generally have low performance and can only produce a small number of pronunciations simultaneously. For this reason, when the speaker 62 is a built-in speaker, the determination unit 564 determines that only the pronunciation with high priority is to be reproduced by the playback unit 565 from the audio data.

The playback unit 565 plays back the audio data based on the pronunciation (number of pronunciations) determined by the determination unit 564.

(Operation of the Game Device)
A series of operations in the game device will be described with reference to Figures 1 to 3. Figure 3 is a flow chart showing the operation of the game device 5.

First, the determination unit 563 determines the type of speaker 62 that reproduces the audio data (step S1). Specifically, when the speaker 62 is externally connected to the game device 5, the determination unit 563 communicates with the speaker 62 and determines the type of the speaker 62 (for example, a TV speaker, a home theater speaker, etc.). On the other hand, when the speaker 62 is not externally connected to the game device 5, the determination unit 563 determines that the type of the speaker 62 is a built-in speaker.

The determination unit 564 determines the number of sounds to be played by the speaker 62 based on the type of speaker 62 determined by the determination unit 563 (step S2).

In the case of FIG. 2, when the speaker 62 is a home theater speaker, the determination unit 564 determines that all of the pronunciations sound_1 to sound_3 are to be reproduced by the playback unit 565. When the speaker 62 is a TV speaker, the determination unit 564 determines that sound_1 and sound_2, excluding sound_3, which has a low priority, are to be reproduced by the playback unit 565. When the speaker 62 is a built-in speaker, the determination unit 564 determines that only sound_1, which has a high priority, is to be reproduced by the playback unit 565.

The playback unit 565 plays back the audio data based on the pronunciation determined by the determination unit 564 (step S3).

To summarise the above, the game program of this embodiment causes the game device 5 (computer) to function as a playback unit 565 that plays back audio data and a determination unit 564 that determines the audio data to be played by the playback unit 565, the audio data being configured to produce multiple pronunciations sound_1 to sound_3, and the determination unit 564 determines the number of pronunciations to be played by the playback unit 565 from the audio data based on the speaker 62 (playback device) that plays back the audio data.

<Effects of the Invention>
As described above, the determination unit 564 determines the number of pronunciations to be reproduced by the reproduction unit 565 from the audio data based on the speaker 62 that reproduces the audio data. For example, if the performance of the speaker 62 is low, the determination unit 564 determines the number of pronunciations to be reproduced so as to reduce the number of pronunciations, thereby allowing the speaker 62 to accurately reproduce sounds. This can increase the user's interest.

The determination unit 564 also determines the pronunciation to be reproduced by the reproduction unit 565 according to the priorities set for the multiple pronunciations sound_1 to sound_3. By setting a high priority for pronunciations that are important to gameplay (such as the sound of a boss monster), it is possible to increase the user's interest.

(Embodiment 2)
In the first embodiment, the determination unit 564 determines the number of sounds to be reproduced by the speaker 62 based on the type of the speaker 62, but in the second embodiment, the determination unit 564 determines the content of the acoustic processing to be performed on the audio data based on the type of the speaker 62. Note that in this embodiment, a case in which reverberation processing is performed based on the type of the speaker 62 will be described as an example.

Figure 4 is a diagram for explaining the acoustic processing applied to audio data. Figures 4(a) to (c) show the state of audio data being played based on the type of speaker 62. Figures 4(a) to (c) respectively show the cases when the speaker 62 is a home theater speaker, a TV speaker, and a built-in speaker.

As shown in FIG. 4(a), when the speaker 62 is a home theater speaker, the audio data to which impact-emphasizing bass, which is an audio for emphasizing bass, has been added is subjected to home theater reverb processing (processing load: high) and then the audio data is played from the speaker 62.

Since a home theater speaker has multiple speaker units, it is possible to play different sounds from each speaker unit. For this reason, the decision unit 564 decides to apply reverb processing (home theater reverb processing), which imposes a high processing load, to the audio data played from each speaker unit. This makes it possible to provide the user with realistic sound.

As shown in FIG. 4(b), when the speaker 62 is a TV speaker, standard reverb processing (processing load: medium) is applied to the audio data, and then the audio data is played back from the speaker 62. That is, when the speaker 62 is a TV speaker, the determination unit 564 determines to apply standard reverb processing (standard reverb processing) to the audio data.

As shown in FIG. 4(c), if the speaker 62 is a built-in speaker, the audio data is subjected to treble emphasis effect processing and built-in speaker reverb processing (processing load: low) before being played back from the speaker 62.

For example, built-in speakers have inferior performance to home theater speakers and TV speakers, so the audio that can be accurately reproduced is limited. For this reason, the determination unit 564 applies effect processing to the audio data that emphasizes the high-frequency range (high-frequency emphasis effect processing), and then determines to perform reverb processing (reverb processing for built-in speakers) that has a low processing load according to the characteristics of the built-in speakers. This makes it possible to reproduce audio data that is suitable for the built-in speakers.

(Operation of the Game Device)
Fig. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of the game device 5 in this embodiment. In Fig. 5, compared to Fig. 3, step S4 is carried out instead of step S2.

In step S4, the determination unit 564 determines the content of the reverb processing to be applied to the audio data based on the type of speaker 62.

In FIG. 4, if the speaker 62 is a home theater speaker, the determination unit 564 determines to apply home theater reverb processing (processing load: high) to the audio data to which impact-emphasizing bass has been added. If the speaker 62 is a TV speaker, the determination unit 564 determines to apply standard reverb processing (processing load: medium) to the audio data. The determination unit 564 determines to apply treble emphasis effect processing and built-in speaker reverb processing (processing load: low) to the audio data.

To summarise the above, the game program of this embodiment causes the game device 5 (computer) to function as a playback unit 565 that plays back audio data and a determination unit 564 that determines the audio data to be played by the playback unit 565, the audio data being configured to produce multiple sounds, and the determination unit 564 determines the content of the reverb processing (acoustic processing) to be applied to the audio data.

<Effects of the Invention>
As described above, the determination unit 564 determines the content of the reverb processing to be applied to the audio data based on the speaker 62 that reproduces the audio data. For example, by applying reverb processing to the audio data according to the characteristics of the speaker 62, it is possible to reproduce the audio data according to the characteristics of the speaker. This can increase the user's interest.

[Other embodiments]
In the first embodiment, the determination unit 564 determines the pronunciation to be reproduced based on the priority set for each pronunciation, but this is not limited to the above. For example, the determination unit 564 may determine the pronunciation to be reproduced by the reproduction unit 565 based on the volume set for the pronunciation.

Specifically, the determination unit 564 determines that the pronunciation to be reproduced by the reproduction unit 565 is preferentially a pronunciation with a loud volume. For example, large monsters are often boss monsters, and a loud volume is set for the pronunciations of large monsters. This allows pronunciations that are important to gameplay (such as the voice of a boss monster) to be preferentially reproduced, thereby increasing the user's interest. Note that the volume set for a pronunciation may change depending on the state (anger, sleep, etc.) of the monster (character) that produces the pronunciation.

In addition, when the determination unit 564 determines the number of sounds to be generated, the reproduction unit 565 may emphasize a specific frequency band. For example, when the speaker 62 is a home theater speaker, the reproduction unit 565 emphasizes the low frequency range. This makes it possible to obtain a powerful sound effect. This can therefore increase the user's interest.

In addition, in the second embodiment, the acoustic processing is described as reverberation processing, but this is not limited to this. The acoustic processing may be, for example, reverberation processing (echo processing), processing to emphasize or attenuate a specific frequency band, processing to distort audio, or other effect processing.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the speaker 62 is a home theater speaker, a TV speaker, or a built-in speaker, but this is not limited to the above. The speaker 62 may be any type that is externally connected to or built into the game device 5, and the determination unit 564 may determine the number of sounds to be generated and the content of the sound processing according to the characteristics of the speaker 62.

In addition, the speaker 62 does not necessarily have to be built into the game device 5, but may be externally connected to the game device 5.

When multiple speakers 62 are connected to the game device 5, the playback unit 565 (or the determination unit 564) may select the speaker 62 that will play back the audio data according to a predetermined priority. This priority may be set by the user or may be set in advance. When the priority of the built-in speaker is set higher than that of an externally connected speaker, the playback unit 565 (or the determination unit 564) preferentially plays back the audio data from the built-in speaker.

The games executed by the game device 5 may be of any genre, such as adventure games, action games, FPS (First Person Shooter), racing games, sports games, RPGs (Role Playing Games), shooting games, etc.

The game program may also be implemented as a game program for so-called online games. When the game program is for online games, the processing that was previously performed by the control unit 56 may be performed on the server side instead, or may be shared between the server side and the client (game device 5). In this case, an authentication server and a matching server may be provided in the game system including the game device 5, and user matching may be performed in response to a request from the game device 5.

In the above embodiment, the game device 5 is a personal computer, a PlayStation, or the like, but the type of game device 5 is not limited to this. For example, the game device 5 may be a smartphone, a tablet, or an arcade game cabinet provided at game centers.

The game device 5 of the above embodiment can also be applied to a playback device that plays video content such as movies and animations. In this case, the determination unit 564 can determine the number of sounds to be played back or the content of the acoustic processing to be applied to the audio data according to the type of playback device.

The effects of the present invention can be achieved even when these other embodiments are adopted. In addition, this embodiment can be combined with other embodiments, and other embodiments can be combined with each other as appropriate.

5 Game device 53 Audio processing unit 55 Memory unit 56 Control unit 561 Communication unit 562 Game progression unit 563 Determination unit 564 Decision unit 565 Playback unit 62 Speaker

Claims (5)

Computer,
a playback unit that plays back audio data;
a determination unit that determines the audio data to be reproduced by the reproduction unit;
a determining unit that determines the type of speaker that reproduces the audio data;
the audio data is configured to simultaneously reproduce a plurality of pronunciations;
When the determination unit determines that the type of the speaker is a high-performance speaker, the determination unit causes the playback unit to play back all pronunciations of the voice data, or processes the voice data so as to increase the processing load on the speaker. When the determination unit determines that the type of the speaker is a low-performance speaker, the determination unit causes the playback unit to play back only a portion of the pronunciations of the voice data, or processes the voice data so as to reduce the processing load on the speaker.
The determination unit determines whether the type of the speaker is a high-performance speaker or a low-performance speaker based on the number of sounds that can be simultaneously reproduced by the speaker . In claim 1,
The determination unit determines the pronunciation to be reproduced by the reproduction unit in accordance with priorities set for the multiple pronunciations. In claim 1 or 2,
The determination unit determines the pronunciation to be reproduced by the reproduction unit based on a volume set for the pronunciation. In any one of claims 1 to 3,
An audio playback program, wherein the playback unit plays back the audio data to emphasize low-frequency sounds when the determination unit determines that the speaker type is a high-performance speaker, and plays back the audio data to emphasize high-frequency sounds when the determination unit determines that the speaker type is a low-performance speaker. A storage unit that stores the audio playback program according to any one of claims 1 to 4;
and a control unit that executes the audio playback program.

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