JP7723710B2 - Program, image generating device, and image generating method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a program for generating an image of an object in a virtual three-dimensional space as seen from a virtual camera.

Conventionally, game systems have been known in which a game space is formed by placing characters and other objects within a virtual three-dimensional space, and a virtual camera is placed within this game space to generate a game space image of the image seen from the camera. To generate a game space image, image data (texture data) representing the appearance of objects within the field of view of the virtual camera is mapped as appropriate to generate an object image for each object. In this case, if an object newly comes within the field of view of the virtual camera, texture data relating to the appearance of that object is read from a storage unit or received from an external device connected via communication, transferred to and expanded in image generation memory, and used to generate the object image.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-167291

To achieve high-quality representation of the appearance of an object, it is necessary to use high-quality image data as its texture data. However, using high-quality image data for texture data increases the data size accordingly. Furthermore, because the capacity of image generation memory is limited, determining which data to store in image generation memory and whether to delete data that has already been stored is one of the keys to high-speed image generation. In other words, if the image data is not stored in image generation memory, the time it takes for it to be expanded into image generation memory and become available for use becomes an issue. In particular, the acquisition time required to obtain the image data from an external source can be a bottleneck. For example, in image generation that requires a high frame rate, delays in the generation of object images are unacceptable. Therefore, there is a need for technology that enables the generation of object images using high-quality image data without delay as needed.

The problem that this invention aims to solve is to provide technology that can improve the image quality of object images by enabling the generation of object images using high-quality image data without delay as needed.

A first invention for solving the above problem is a program for causing a computer to generate an object image in a virtual three-dimensional space as seen from a virtual camera, comprising: a storage control means (e.g., the player terminal calculation unit 210 and low-quality texture storage control unit 231 in FIG. 5) for storing first image data for expressing the appearance of the object in an image generation memory (e.g., the image generation memory 240 in FIG. 5) provided in the computer; a storage determination means (e.g., the storage determination unit 215 in FIG. 5) for determining whether second image data having a data size larger than the first image data for expressing the appearance of the object in higher quality than the first image data is stored in the image generation memory; and a storage determination means (e.g., the storage determination unit 215 in FIG. 5) for determining whether a high-quality image condition indicating that the object image should be generated using the second image data is met. and object image generation control means (e.g., object image generation control unit 233 in FIG. 5) that (1) generates the object image using the second image data stored in the image generation memory when the memory determination means determines yes, (2) generates the object image using the first image data when both the memory determination means and the situation determination means determine no, and (3) generates the second image data based on the first image data and stores it in the image generation memory when the memory determination means determines no and the situation determination means determines yes, and then generates the object image using the second image data.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, first image data can be stored in the image generation memory and used to generate an object image. Specifically, the high-image-quality condition is determined to be met, for example, when the image quality of the object image may affect its visibility. In such a case, second image data with higher image quality than the first image data stored in the image generation memory is generated and stored in the image generation memory, and then the object image is generated using the second image data. On the other hand, if the high-image-quality condition is not met, the object image can be generated using the first image data. This allows the object image to be generated using high-image-quality second image data only when the high-image-quality condition is met. Furthermore, in this case, the second image data is generated based on the first image data in the image generation memory and used to generate the object image. In other words, the object image can be generated without acquiring second image data from a storage unit or external device during the game. Therefore, object images can be generated using high-image-quality second image data without delay as needed, thereby improving the image quality of the object image.

In a second aspect of the present invention, the program of the first aspect may be configured such that the situation determination means determines whether the high image quality situation conditions are met by including in the high image quality situation conditions at least that the distance between the object and the virtual camera satisfies a predetermined short distance condition.

According to the second invention, if the virtual camera is close to the object, it is determined that the high image quality condition is met, and second image data can be generated.

Also, as a third invention, the program of the second invention may be configured such that the situation determination means determines whether the high image quality situation conditions are satisfied, including the satisfaction of a visibility improvement condition indicating that the field of view of the virtual camera has changed from a predetermined poor field of view to a predetermined good field of view.

According to the third invention, when the field of view of the virtual camera changes from poor to good, it is determined that the high image quality condition is met, and second image data can be generated.

As a fourth invention, the program of any one of the first to third inventions may be configured to cause the computer to further function as a discard candidate setting means (e.g., the discard candidate setting unit 219 in Figure 5) that sets the second image data as discard candidate data to be discarded from the image generation memory when a discard status condition indicating that the second image data should be discarded from the image generation memory is met.

According to the fourth invention, second image data stored in the image generation memory that satisfies the discard status conditions can be set as discard candidate data.

Also, as a fifth invention, the program of the fourth invention may be configured such that the second image data discarding means determines whether the discard status conditions are met, with the discard status conditions including at least the distance between the object and the virtual camera satisfying a predetermined long distance condition.

According to the fifth aspect, if the virtual camera is far from the object, it is determined that the discard status condition is met, and second image data relating to the object's appearance can be set as discard candidate data.

As a sixth invention, the program of any one of the first to fifth inventions may be configured to cause the computer to further function as discarding means (e.g., the high-quality texture discarding unit 239 in Figure 5) that discards the second image data from the image generation memory when the free space in the image generation memory meets a predetermined small-capacity condition.

According to the sixth aspect, the second image data in the image generation memory can be discarded depending on the free space in the image generation memory.

As a seventh invention, the program of any of the first to sixth inventions may further cause the computer to function as game progress control means (e.g., the game progress control unit 211 in FIG. 5) that communicates with a server system and controls the progress of a given online game in which the virtual three-dimensional space is the game space, and the storage control means acquires the first image data from the server system and stores it in the image generation memory.

According to the seventh aspect, first image data relating to the appearance of an object to be placed within the game space is obtained from the server system and stored in an image generation memory, and can be used to generate an object image of the object in the online game and second image data relating to its appearance.

An eighth aspect of the present invention is an image generation device that generates an object image of an object in a virtual three-dimensional space as viewed from a virtual camera, comprising: a storage control means for storing first image data for expressing the appearance of the object in an image generation memory provided in the image generation device; a storage determination means for determining whether second image data having a data size larger than that of the first image data for expressing the appearance of the object with higher image quality than that of the first image data is stored in the image generation memory; and a situation determination means for determining whether a high image quality situation condition indicating that the object image should be generated using the second image data has been met. (1) An image generation device (e.g., player terminal 1500 in FIG. 1) comprising: (1) object image generation control means that, if the memory determination means determines yes, generates the object image using the second image data stored in the image generation memory; (2) if both the memory determination means and the situation determination means determine no, generates the object image using the first image data; and (3) if the memory determination means determines no and the situation determination means determines yes, generates the second image data based on the first image data, stores it in the image generation memory, and generates the object image using the second image data.

According to the eighth aspect, an image generation device that achieves the same effects as the first aspect can be realized.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a game system. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the device configuration of a player terminal. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a game screen. Schematic diagrams illustrating the principle of generating an object image. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a player terminal. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of a field-of-view object table. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a server system. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of a game process. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of an object image generation control process.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below, and the forms to which the present invention can be applied are not limited to the following embodiments. In addition, identical parts will be designated by the same reference numerals throughout the drawings.

[Overall configuration]
Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a game system 1000 according to this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 1, the game system 1000 includes a server system 1100 and a player terminal 1500 as an image generating device owned by a user who is a player 2 of the game according to this embodiment, and these are connected via a communication line N so as to be able to communicate data with each other.

A communication line N refers to a communication path that allows data communication. In other words, a communication line N includes a dedicated line (dedicated cable) for direct connection, a LAN (Local Area Network) such as Ethernet (registered trademark), as well as communication networks such as telephone networks, cable networks, and the Internet, and the communication method can be either wired or wireless.

The server system 1100 comprises a main unit 1101, a keyboard 1106, a touch panel 1108, and storage 1140, and the main unit 1101 has a built-in control board 1150.

The control board 1150 is equipped with electronic components such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 1151, various microprocessors such as a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), various IC memories 1152 such as VRAM, RAM and ROM, and a communication device 1153. Note that part or all of the control board 1150 may be realized using an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), or SoC (System on a Chip).

This server system 1100 performs processing to operate the game of this embodiment by having the CPU 1151 and the like perform calculations based on predetermined programs and data. Specifically, the server system 1100 issues a unique account (player ID) to Player 2 who has completed user registration, and centrally manages information about Player 2 as user registration data 530 (see Figure 7). The server system 1100 also handles processing related to Player 2's login/logout and distributes data necessary for running the game on the player terminal 1500. In other words, the game of this embodiment is realized as a kind of client-server online game. Player 2 accesses the server system 1100 with their respective player terminal 1500, logs in using the issued player ID, and enjoys the game of this embodiment.

Note that server system 1100 is not limited to the standalone configuration shown in Figure 1, but may instead be configured with multiple blade servers that share various functions and are connected to each other via an internal bus for data communication. Alternatively, multiple independent servers installed in remote locations may be configured to communicate data via communication line N, functioning as server system 1100 as a whole.

The player terminal 1500 is a computer system that functions as a man-machine interface, and is capable of connecting to a communication line N via a mobile phone base station, a wireless communication base station, etc., and communicating data with the server system 1100. This player terminal 1500 can take the form of, for example, a smartphone, a mobile phone, a portable game device, a home game device, a controller for a home game device, an arcade game device, a personal computer, a tablet computer, a wearable computer, etc.

Figure 2 is a diagram showing an example of the device configuration of a smartphone, which is an example of a player terminal 1500. As shown in Figure 2, the player terminal 1500 is equipped with directional input keys 1502, a home key 1504, a touch panel 1506 that functions as an image display device and a contact position input device, an internal battery 1509, a speaker 1510, a microphone 1512, a control board 1550, and a memory card reader 1542 that can read and write data from a memory card 1540, which is a computer-readable storage medium. Other features include a power button, volume adjustment button, etc., not shown.

The control board 1550 is equipped with various microprocessors such as a CPU 1551, a GPU, and a DSP; various IC memories 1552 such as VRAM, RAM, and ROM; and a wireless communication module 1553 for wireless communication with mobile phone base stations and wireless LAN base stations connected to communication line N. The control board 1550 also includes so-called I/F circuits (interface circuits) 1557, such as a circuit for receiving signals from the directional input keys 1502 and home key 1504, a driver circuit for the touch panel 1506, an output amplifier circuit for outputting audio signals to the speaker 1510, an audio signal generation circuit for generating audio signals collected by the microphone 1512, and a signal input/output circuit for the memory card reader 1542. These elements mounted on the control board 1550 are electrically connected via bus circuits or the like, enabling data reading and writing and signal transmission and reception. Note that part or all of the control board 1550 may be configured using an ASIC, FPGA, or SoC.

The IC memory 1552 stores the game program and various setting data required to execute the game program. The game program, etc. is downloaded from the server system 1100 at an appropriate time. Alternatively, the game program, etc. may be read from a separately obtained storage medium such as a memory card 1540. The CPU 1551, etc. then executes the game program, performs calculations, and controls each part of the player terminal 1500 in response to operational inputs made to the touch panel 1506, directional input keys 1502, and home key 1504, thereby enabling Player 2 to play the game.

[Game Overview]
3 is a diagram showing an example of a game screen in this embodiment. In the game of this embodiment, background objects and the like are placed in a virtual three-dimensional space to form a game space, and character objects such as a player character 3 and a target enemy character 4 are placed within this space and their movements are controlled. The enemy character 4's appearance position and movements are defined in advance by script data, and the enemy character 4 is controlled by AI, so that its movements are automatically controlled so that it approaches while attacking the player character 3.

The game screen is generated from the player character 3's first-person viewpoint. Specifically, a virtual camera CM (see Figure 4) is positioned behind the player character 3 so that its shooting direction coincides with the player character 3's line of sight, and is controlled to follow the player character 3. A game space image (so-called 3DCG) is then generated by capturing an image of the game space with the virtual camera CM from the player character 3's first-person viewpoint, and a game screen is displayed on the touch panel 1506, combining this with various information displays such as a hit point gauge 12 indicating the player character 3's remaining hit points, a bullet gauge 14 indicating the number of remaining bullets, and a sight 16. The gun 5 at the bottom center of the screen is the weapon held by the player character 3. Player 2 controls the player character 3 to move around the game space, and when they encounter an enemy character 4, they aim the sight 16 at it and fire.

[principle]
4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the principle of generating an object image in the player terminal 1500. In this embodiment, when generating an object image of an enemy character 4 (for example, 4a), the texture data used to generate the object image is changed depending on the distance from the virtual camera CM (hereinafter referred to as the "camera distance").

1. Object Image Generation In this embodiment, low-quality texture data is prepared in advance as first image data as texture data for representing the appearance of an enemy character. When multiple types of texture data are used to generate an object image for one enemy character, low-quality texture data is prepared for each type. Prior to the start of the game, this low-quality texture data is downloaded from the server system 1100 to the player terminal 1500 along with the game program and stored in the storage unit 500 (see FIG. 5 ) (the low-quality texture data stored in the character initial setting data in the game setting data 511 in the storage unit 500). Furthermore, the low-quality texture data of enemy characters that come within the field of view of the virtual camera during the course of the game is read from the storage unit 500 and stored in the image generation memory 240 (see FIG. 5 ) (the low-quality texture data 241 in the image generation memory 240).

The player terminal 1500 then monitors whether predetermined high-quality image condition conditions are met during gameplay. The high-quality image condition is a condition indicating that a situation exists in which an object image should be generated using high-quality texture data as second image data, and is, for example, "the inter-camera distance between the enemy character and the virtual camera satisfies a predetermined close-distance condition." The close-distance condition can be, for example, "the inter-camera distance is equal to or less than a predetermined distance Dt1." The high-quality texture data is texture data for expressing the appearance of the enemy character with higher quality than the low-quality texture data, and is texture data with a larger data size than the low-quality texture data.

Specifically, in this embodiment, enemy characters positioned within the field of view of the virtual camera are defined as in-field enemy characters, and a determination is made for each in-field enemy character as to whether or not the high-image-quality situation conditions are met (hereinafter referred to as a "high-image-quality determination"). Then, for in-field enemy characters for which the high-image-quality determination is positive, object images are generated using high-image-quality texture data, and for in-field enemy characters for which the high-image-quality determination is negative, object images are generated using low-image-quality texture data.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4(a), an in-field-of-view enemy character 4a whose inter-camera distance D from the virtual camera CM is greater than a predetermined distance Dt1 is determined not to satisfy the high-image-quality condition. In this case, an object image of the in-field-of-view enemy character 4a is generated using low-image-quality texture data related to its appearance. The object image based on this low-image-quality texture data is then used to generate the game space image A11. This is because an in-field-of-view enemy character 4a that is far from the virtual camera CM occupies a small area in the game space image A11, and even if an object image is generated using low-image-quality texture data, the image quality does not significantly affect the appearance of the in-field-of-view enemy character 4a.

However, as the in-field enemy character 4a approaches the virtual camera CM, the area occupied by that in-field enemy character 4a in the game space image A13 also increases, as shown in Figure 4(b). Therefore, if an object image is generated using low-quality texture data, the image quality will affect the appearance of the in-field enemy character 4a. The appearance of the in-field enemy character 4a will be perceived as a rough image (rough texture), which may hinder immersion in the game. Therefore, as shown in Figure 4(b), for an in-field enemy character 4a whose inter-camera distance D from the virtual camera CM is less than or equal to a predetermined distance Dt1, it is determined that the high-quality image condition is met, and an object image of that in-field enemy character 4a is generated using high-quality texture data related to its appearance. The object image based on that high-quality texture data is then used to generate the game space image A13.

2. Generation of High-Quality Texture Data High-quality texture data is generated based on low-quality texture data. In this embodiment, a known high-resolution process that converts a low-resolution image into a high-resolution image is performed as the high-quality image processing, and high-quality texture data is generated from the low-quality texture data. For example, the high-quality image processing can be achieved by applying a high-resolution process using super-resolution technology that utilizes a deep learning convolutional neural network.

Furthermore, when lossy compressed texture data is used as low-quality image data, noise removal processing using machine learning models, etc. may be included in the image quality improvement processing.

By doing the above, it is possible to determine that the high-image-quality situation conditions are met for a field-of-view enemy character whose inter-camera distance from the virtual camera is less than or equal to the predetermined distance Dt1. In this case, high-image-quality texture data 243 is generated based on the low-image-quality texture data 241 stored in the image generation memory 240, and the high-image-quality texture data 243 is then stored in the image generation memory 240. An object image of the field-of-view enemy character can then be generated using the high-image-quality texture data 243. If high-image-quality texture data 243 has already been generated for the field-of-view enemy character and stored in the image generation memory 240, the object image can be generated using the high-image-quality texture data. Therefore, for field-of-view enemy characters that are close to the virtual camera and displayed large on the game screen, object images can be generated using high-image-quality texture data. This allows for a high-image-quality appearance representation of the field-of-view enemy character, thereby improving its image quality. On the other hand, for field-of-view enemy characters that do not meet the high-image-quality situation conditions, object images can be generated using low-image-quality texture data. However, if high-quality texture data 243 is already stored in image generation memory 240, then object images for the enemy characters within the field of view are generated using the high-quality texture data 243, even if the high-quality image condition is not met. Furthermore, by doing as described above, there is no need to acquire high-quality texture data from storage unit 500 or server system 1100 and expand it into image generation memory 240 in order to generate object images using the high-quality texture data during the game. Therefore, object images can be generated using high-quality texture data without delay as needed, improving the image quality of the object images.

It is also possible to consider a configuration in which lossy compressed texture (e.g., JPEG image data) that cannot be directly used by the GPU (image generation unit 230 in Figure 5) is obtained from the server system 1100 as low-quality texture data, noise is removed using a noise removal process, and the data is then recompressed into a lossy compressed texture that can be directly used by the GPU, stored in the image generation memory 240, and used to generate an object image. If the data size of the lossy compressed texture that cannot be directly used by the GPU is smaller than the lossy compressed texture that can be directly used by the GPU, the same effect as above can be achieved.

[Functional configuration]
5 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a player terminal 1500 according to this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 5, the player terminal 1500 includes an operation input unit 100, a device processing unit 200, an image display unit 390, a sound output unit 392, a communication unit 394, and a device storage unit 500.

The operation input unit 100 allows the player to input various operations, and can be realized using, for example, button switches, a joystick, a touchpad, a trackball, an acceleration sensor, an angular velocity sensor, a CCD module, etc. In Figure 2, this corresponds to the directional input keys 1502, the home key 1504, and the touch panel 1506.

The device processing unit 200 can be realized by electronic components such as a processor, which is an arithmetic circuit such as a CPU, GPU, ASIC, or FPGA, or IC memory, and controls the input and output of data between each part of the device, including the operation input unit 100 and the terminal memory unit 500. It then performs various arithmetic processing based on predetermined programs and data, operation input signals from the operation input unit 100, data received from the server system 1100, etc., and provides overall control of the operation of the player terminal 1500. In Figure 2, this corresponds to the control board 1550 and its CPU 1551.

This device processing unit 200 includes a player device calculation unit 210, an image generation unit 230, a sound generation unit 292, and a communication control unit 294.

Prior to the start of the game, the player terminal calculation unit 210 downloads and acquires the game program 501 and game setting data 511 from the server system 1100, and executes various calculation processes to make the player terminal 1500 function as a terminal for the player's game play. For example, the player terminal calculation unit 210 includes a game progress control unit 211, a field-of-view object management unit 213, a memory determination unit 215, a high-image-quality status determination unit 217, and a discard candidate setting unit 219.

The game progression control unit 211 controls the progress of the game using the game setting data 511. Specifically, it performs the following processes: (1) placing background objects and the like to form a game space; (2) placing a player character in the game space and controlling the player character's actions in response to operational inputs to the operation input unit 100; (3) placing a virtual camera behind the player character and controlling it to follow; (4) placing an enemy character in the game space and automatically controlling its actions; (5) attack hit and damage determination and processing related to their reflection; and (6) determining whether the game end conditions have been met.

The field-of-view object management unit 213 manages enemy characters positioned within the field of view of the virtual camera as field-of-view enemy characters. Specifically, if a new enemy character comes within the field of view of the virtual camera, it adds it to the field-of-view object table 513 as an in-field enemy character, and also calculates the inter-camera distance between each in-field enemy character and the virtual camera as needed, and sets and manages it in the field-of-view object table 513.

For each in-field enemy character, the memory determination unit 215 determines whether high-quality texture data 243 relating to the appearance of that in-field enemy character is stored in the image generation memory 240 (hereinafter referred to as "memory determination"). In this embodiment, when the high-quality texture data generation unit 235 (described later) in the image generation unit 230 generates high-quality texture data 243 and stores it in the image generation memory 240, the storage area (storage destination address) is registered in the storage destination list 515. The memory determination unit 215 performs a memory determination depending on whether a storage area is registered in this storage destination list 515. In other words, if the storage area of the in-field enemy character being determined is registered in the storage destination list 515, a positive determination is made for the memory determination, and if it is not registered, a negative determination is made for the memory determination.

The high image quality situation determination unit 217 determines whether or not the high image quality situation conditions are met for each enemy character within the field of view (high image quality determination). In this embodiment, the high image quality situation conditions are determined to be met for enemy characters within the field of view whose inter-camera distance from the virtual camera meets the close distance condition described above.

The discard candidate setting unit 219 determines (discard status determination) whether each piece of high-quality texture data 243 stored in the image generation memory 240 satisfies a discard status condition indicating that the data should be discarded from the image generation memory 240. Then, the high-quality texture data 243 that satisfies the discard status condition is set as discard candidate data.

In this embodiment, the discard status condition is that "the inter-camera distance between the in-field enemy character and the virtual camera satisfies a predetermined long-distance condition." The long-distance condition can be, for example, "the inter-camera distance is greater than or equal to a predetermined distance Dt2." The discard candidate setting unit 219 then monitors whether the discard status condition is met for each in-field enemy character, and if there is an in-field enemy character whose inter-camera distance is greater than or equal to the predetermined distance Dt2, it registers the high-quality texture data 243 related to its appearance as discard candidate data in the discard candidate list 517. It is preferable that the distance Dt2 be greater than the distance Dt1, which is the distance threshold for the short-distance condition.

The image generation unit 230 generates a game space image (e.g., 3DCG) of the virtual three-dimensional space as seen from the virtual camera based on the processing results of the player terminal calculation unit 210. Then, based on the generated game space image, it generates an image signal for displaying one game screen per frame time (e.g., 1/60 seconds) and outputs the generated image signal to the image display unit 390. This is realized, for example, by a processor such as a GPU or digital signal processor (DSP), a video signal IC, a program such as a video codec, an IC memory for drawing frames such as a frame buffer, and an IC memory used for expanding texture data. In this embodiment, the image generation unit 230 includes a low-quality texture storage control unit 231, an object image generation control unit 233, a high-quality texture discarding unit 239, and an image generation memory 240.

The low-quality texture storage control unit 231 reads low-quality texture data relating to the appearance of an enemy character newly designated as an enemy character within the field of view of the virtual camera by the field-of-view object management unit 213 from the storage unit 500 (character initial setting data of the game setting data 511), and controls storage in the image generation memory 240. At this time, the storage area in the image generation memory 240 for the low-quality texture data 241 is also registered in the storage destination list 515.

The object image generation control unit 233 sequentially processes enemy characters within the field of view (hereinafter referred to as "target enemy characters within the field of view") and controls the generation of their object images based on the results of memory determinations and/or image quality improvement determinations for those target enemy characters within the field of view.

Specifically, (1) if the memory determination for the enemy character within the target field of view is positive, control is exercised to generate an object image of the enemy character within the target field of view using high-quality texture data 243 related to its appearance. Also, (2) if the memory determination and high-quality image determination for the enemy character within the target field of view are both negative, control is exercised to generate an object image of the enemy character within the target field of view using low-quality texture data 241 related to its appearance. Also, (3) if the memory determination for the enemy character within the target field of view is negative and the high-quality image determination is positive, control is exercised to generate high-quality texture data from the low-quality texture data 241 related to its appearance, store it in image generation memory 240, and use it to generate an object image of the enemy character within the target field of view.

This object image generation control unit 233 includes a high-quality texture data generation unit 235 and an object image generation unit 237.

Under the control of the object image generation control unit 233, the high-quality texture data generation unit 235 performs high-quality processing on the low-quality texture data 241 to generate high-quality texture data. The generated high-quality texture data 243 is then stored in the image generation memory 240, and the storage area in the image generation memory 240 is registered in the storage destination list 515.

Under the control of the object image generation control unit 233, the object image generation unit 237 generates an object image using low-quality texture data 241 or high-quality texture data 243 relating to the appearance of the enemy character within the target field of view.

The high-quality texture discard unit 239 performs free space monitoring processing to discard high-quality texture data 243 in the image generation memory 240. Specifically, the free space monitoring processing repeatedly determines whether the free space in the image generation memory 240 satisfies a small space condition (discard determination), and monitors whether the small space condition is met. The small space condition can be, for example, "free space is equal to or less than a predetermined capacity Ct." If the small space condition is met, the high-quality texture data 243 is discarded from the image generation memory 240. In this embodiment, the high-quality texture data 243 that has been designated as discard candidate data by the discard candidate setting unit 219 and set in the discard candidate list 517 is discarded from the image generation memory 240.

The sound generation unit 292 is realized, for example, by a digital signal processor (DSP), a processor such as a voice synthesis IC, or an audio codec for playing audio files, and generates audio signals for game sound effects, background music, and various operation sounds, and outputs them to the sound output unit 392.

The communication control unit 294 establishes a communication connection and processes data for data communication with an external device (e.g., the server system 1100) via the communication unit 394, enabling data exchange with the external device.

The image display unit 390 displays various screens, such as game screens, based on the image signals input from the image generation unit 230. For example, this can be realized by an image display device such as a flat panel display, projector, or head-mounted display. In Figure 2, this corresponds to the touch panel 1506.

The sound output unit 392 emits sound effects, background music, etc. related to the game based on the audio signal input from the sound generation unit 292. In Figure 2, this corresponds to the speaker 1510.

The communication unit 394 connects to the communication line N to realize communication. For example, it can be realized by a wireless communication device, modem, TA, a jack for a wired communication cable, a control circuit, etc. In Figure 2, this corresponds to the wireless communication module 1553.

The terminal storage unit 500 stores in advance or temporarily stores each processing session programs used during the execution of the programs that operate the player terminal 1500 and implement the functions of the player terminal 1500. For example, this can be implemented using IC memory such as RAM or ROM, magnetic disks such as hard disks, or optical disks such as CD-ROMs or DVDs. In Figure 2, this corresponds to the IC memory 1552 and memory card 1540.

The device storage unit 500 also stores a game program 501, game setting data 511, a field-of-view object table 513, a storage destination list 515, a discard candidate list 517, and play data 519. It also stores information such as timers, counters, and various flags, as well as other data necessary for the progression of the game, such as game sounds, as appropriate.

The game program 501 is application software that is read and executed by the device processing unit 200 to realize the functions of the player terminal calculation unit 210, image generation unit 230, sound generation unit 292, and communication control unit 294. Alternatively, the game program 501 may be a dedicated program corresponding to the technical method for realizing an online game, or may be composed of a web browser program and a plug-in for realizing interactive image display. In this embodiment, the game program 501 is downloaded from the server system 1100 along with game setting data 511, etc., and stored in the memory unit 500.

As shown in Figure 7 as its original game setting data 560, game setting data 511 includes game space initial setting data and character initial setting data. Furthermore, character initial setting data related to enemy characters includes low-quality texture data related to their appearance.

The field-of-view object table 513 stores a list of enemy characters (field-of-view enemy characters) positioned within the field of view of the virtual camera. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the field-of-view object table 513 stores the object ID of the field-of-view enemy character and its distance from the virtual camera (inter-camera distance).

The storage destination list 515 stores the storage areas (storage destination addresses) of the low-quality texture data 241 and high-quality texture data 243 stored in the image generation memory 240.

The discard candidate list 517 stores a list of high-quality texture data 243 that have been designated as discard candidate data by the discard candidate setting unit 219.

Play data 519 stores various data describing the progress of the game. For example, it includes the player ID (account), current player level, a list of characters that can be used as player characters and their current ability values, and the status of the player character and enemy characters in the game being played.

2. Server System Fig. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a server system 1100. As shown in Fig. 7, the server system 1100 of this embodiment includes an operation input unit 100s, a server processing unit 200s, an image display unit 390s, a sound output unit 392s, a communication unit 394s, and a server storage unit 500s.

The operation input unit 100s is used to input various operations for system management, maintenance, etc., and can be realized using, for example, a keyboard, mouse, or touch panel. In Figure 1, this corresponds to the keyboard 1106 and touch panel 1108.

The server processing unit 200s can be realized by electronic components such as a processor, which is an arithmetic circuit such as a CPU, GPU, ASIC, or FPGA, or IC memory, and controls the input and output of data between each device unit, including the operation input unit 100s and server storage unit 500s. It then performs various arithmetic processing based on predetermined programs and data, operation input signals from the operation input unit 100s, data received from the player terminal 1500, etc., and provides overall control of the operation of the server system 1100. In Figure 1, this corresponds to the control board 1150 and its CPU 1151.

This server processing unit 200s includes an account management unit 270, a game management unit 280, an image generation unit 290s, a sound generation unit 292s, and a communication control unit 294s.

The account management unit 270 handles processes related to user registration and manages the data of each registered user (player) linked to an account. For example, it can issue an account to a user who has completed the registration procedure and generate user registration data 530, register and manage personal information for each account, and manage login and logout processes and their history.

The game management unit 280 performs various processes related to managing the execution of the game on the player terminal 1500. For example, it can perform processes such as sending distribution data 550 to the player terminal 1500 in response to a request from the player terminal 1500, and obtaining data necessary for managing game play from the player terminal 1500 and updating the user registration data 530.

The image generation unit 290s generates images related to system management of the server system 1100 and outputs them to the image display unit 390s.

The sound generation unit 292s is realized by executing an IC or software that generates and decodes audio data, and generates or decodes audio data such as operation sounds and background music related to system management and video distribution of the server system 1100. Audio signals related to system management are output to the sound output unit 392s.

The communication control unit 294s establishes a communication connection and processes data for data communication with an external device (e.g., the player terminal 1500) via the communication unit 394s, enabling data exchange with the external device.

The image display unit 390s displays various screens for system management, etc. based on the image signals input from the image generation unit 290s. For example, this can be realized by an image display device such as a flat panel display, projector, or head-mounted display. In Figure 1, this corresponds to the touch panel 1108.

The sound output unit 392s emits the audio signal input from the sound generation unit 292s. In Figure 1, this corresponds to a speaker (not shown) provided in the main device 1101 or the touch panel 1108.

The communication unit 394s connects to the communication line N to realize communication. For example, this can be realized by a wireless communication device, modem, TA (terminal adapter), a jack for a wired communication cable, a control circuit, etc. In Figure 1, this corresponds to the communication device 1153.

The server storage unit 500s stores in advance or temporarily stores each processing session programs used during the execution of the programs that operate the server system 1100 and realize the various functions of the server system 1100. For example, this can be realized by IC memory such as RAM or ROM, a magnetic disk such as a hard disk, or an optical disk such as a CD-ROM or DVD. In Figure 1, this corresponds to IC memory 1152 and storage 1140.

The server storage unit 500s also stores an account management program 503, a game management program 505, user registration data 530, and distribution data 550. It also stores other information such as timers, counters, and various flags as appropriate.

The account management program 503 is a program that is read and executed by the server processing unit 200s to realize the functions of the account management unit 270. The game management program 505 is a program that is read and executed by the server processing unit 200s to realize the functions of the game management unit 280.

User registration data 530 is prepared for each player registered by the account management unit 270, and stores various management data related to the player's gameplay, including the player ID (account).

The distribution data 550 includes a game program 551 and game setting data 560. These are the originals of the game program 501 and game setting data 511 distributed to the player terminal 1500.

The game setting data 560 stores various initial setting data for executing the game of this embodiment. This game setting data 560 includes game space initial setting data 561 and character initial setting data 563.

Game space initial setting data 561 is initial setting data for forming the game space. For example, for each background object, it stores its model data, texture data, placement position data, etc.

The character initial setting data 563 is initial setting data that defines character objects such as the player character and enemy characters. This character initial setting data 563 is prepared for each character object. It stores model data, texture data, motion data, and initial values for various ability parameters such as attack power, defense power, and HP, in association with the object ID. In this embodiment, the character initial setting data 563 for at least enemy characters includes one or more low-quality texture data 565 related to their appearance.

[Processing flow]
8 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of game processing in the player terminal 1500. The processing described here is realized by the terminal processing unit 200 reading and executing the game program 501.

In game processing, the game progress control unit 211 first begins controlling the progress of the game (step S1). Specifically, the game progress control unit 211 arranges background objects to form a game space, and places the player character and enemy characters within it. It then begins automatic control of the enemy character and moves the player character in response to the player's operational input. It also places a virtual camera behind the player character and begins tracking control of it. It also appropriately begins other controls that are fundamentally required for controlling the progress of the game.

The high-quality texture discarding unit 239 also starts free space monitoring processing (step S3). This processing monitors the free space in the image generation memory 240, and if it falls below a predetermined capacity Ct, the high-quality texture data 243 that has been designated as discard candidate data and registered in the discard candidate list 517 is discarded from the image generation memory 240.

Once game progress control and necessary processing have begun, the field-of-view object management unit 213 then monitors whether any enemy characters have newly entered the field of view of the virtual camera. If an enemy character has entered the field of view (step S5: YES), the enemy character is added (set) as an in-field-of-view enemy character in the field-of-view object table 513, and management of the inter-camera distance begins (step S7). In other words, the field-of-view object management unit 213 continually calculates the inter-camera distance between the virtual camera and the in-field-of-view enemy character, and updates the field-of-view object table 513.

Then, upon addition of the in-field enemy character in step S7, the low-quality texture storage control unit 231 in the image generation unit 230 reads the low-quality texture data 241 of the new in-field enemy character from the storage unit 500 and stores it in the image generation memory 240 (step S9).

The discard candidate setting unit 219 also performs a discard status determination for each enemy character within the field of view to determine whether the discard status conditions are met based on the inter-camera distance (step S11). If there is an enemy character within the field of view for which the discard status determination is positive (step S13: YES), the high-quality texture data 243 relating to its appearance is set as discard candidate data and registered in the discard candidate list 517 (step S15).

Next, the memory determination unit 215 refers to the storage destination list 515 and performs a memory determination for each enemy character within the field of view to determine whether high-quality texture data 243 relating to its appearance is stored in the image generation memory 240 (step S17).

In addition, the high image quality status determination unit 217 performs a high image quality determination for each enemy character within the field of view based on the inter-camera distance to determine whether the high image quality status conditions are met (step S19).

Then, the object image generation control unit 233 in the image generation unit 230 performs object image generation control processing (step S20). Figure 9 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of the object image generation control processing.

As shown in Figure 9, in the object image generation control process, the enemy characters within the field of view are sequentially treated as target enemy characters within the field of view, and loop A processing is performed for each enemy character within the field of view (steps S201 to S215).

In Loop A, processing first branches depending on the result of the memory determination for the enemy character within the target field of view. That is, if the memory determination is positive (step S203: YES), processing proceeds to step S211.

On the other hand, if the memory determination is negative (step S203: NO), processing branches depending on the result of the image quality improvement determination for the enemy character within the target field of view. Then, if the image quality improvement determination is positive (step S205: YES), processing proceeds to step S207. That is, if the memory determination is negative and the image quality improvement determination is positive, processing proceeds to step S207. Then, in step S207, the high-quality texture data generation unit 235 performs image quality improvement processing using known high-resolution processing, and generates high-quality texture data from the low-quality texture data 241 related to the appearance of the enemy character within the target field of view. Thereafter, the generated high-quality texture data 243 is stored in the image generation memory 240, and the storage area is registered in the storage destination list 515 (step S209), after which processing proceeds to step S211.

Also, if the image quality improvement judgment is negative (step S205: NO), that is, if the results of both the storage judgment and the image quality improvement judgment are negative, the process proceeds to step S213.

Then, in step S211, the object image generation unit 237 generates an object image of the enemy character within the target field of view using high-quality texture data 243 related to the appearance of the enemy character within the target field of view, which is stored in the image generation memory 240. Also, in step S213, the object image generation unit 237 generates an object image of the enemy character within the target field of view using low-quality texture data 241 related to the appearance of the enemy character within the target field of view, which is stored in the image generation memory 240.

Then, once loop A has been processed for all enemy characters within the field of view, the object image generation control process ends. Then, as shown in FIG. 8, the image generation unit 230 generates a game space image using the object images of the enemy characters within the field of view as the object images generated in the previous object image generation control process (step S31), and causes the image display unit 390 to display the game screen (step S33).

Then, a determination is made as to whether the game has ended, and if the game has not ended (step S35: NO), the process returns to step S5 and repeats the above process.

As described above, according to this embodiment, object images can be generated using high-quality image data without delay as needed, thereby improving the image quality of the object images.

Note that the forms to which the present invention can be applied are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and components can be added, omitted, or modified as appropriate.

For example, in the above embodiment, an example was shown in which the principles of object image generation were applied to generating object images of enemy characters, but they can also be applied to generating object images of various objects in the game space, such as player characters, various items such as equipment for player characters and enemy characters, and background objects, other than enemy characters. Furthermore, applicable games are not limited to games that generate first-person perspective game screens, as exemplified above.

The high-image-quality situation condition can also be set as appropriate, other than "the camera distance satisfies the close-distance condition" as exemplified in the above embodiment. For example, a high-image-quality situation condition may be set such that "an improved visibility condition indicating that the virtual camera's field of view has changed from a predetermined poor field of view to a predetermined good field of view is met," and a high-image-quality judgment is made. In this case, when the player character's surroundings change and the improved visibility condition is met, object images of enemy characters within the field of view and other objects within the field of view of the virtual camera are generated using high-image-quality texture data. Specifically, if the player character moves from a dark location to a bright location, or the weather setting around the player character changes from rainy to sunny, or the fog clears, the improved visibility condition is deemed to be met, and a positive high-image-quality judgment is made.

Alternatively, the high image quality determination may be made using the high image quality condition "being a locked-on enemy character." In that case, an object image is generated for the locked-on enemy character using high image quality texture data. Also, when a multiplayer game in which multiple players participate is played as an online game, the high image quality determination may be made using the high image quality condition "being a player character controlled by a player who is registered as a friend." In that case, an object image is generated for the player character of the player who is registered as a friend using high image quality texture data.

It is also possible to perform a high image quality judgment by combining multiple of the example high image quality situation conditions. For example, the high image quality situation conditions may include both satisfying the close distance condition and satisfying the visibility improvement condition, and the high image quality judgment may be performed. A positive judgment for high image quality may be made if either one of the conditions is met, or if both conditions are met.

The player may also be able to specify the magnification for the high-resolution processing. For example, the player may specify the magnification by inputting a number within the range of available magnifications, or the magnification may be specified in stages, such as by selecting from three levels: "large," "medium," and "small."

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1000... Game system 1500... Player terminal 100... Operation input unit 200... Terminal processing unit 210... Player terminal calculation unit 211... Game progress control unit 213... In-field object management unit 215... Memory determination unit 217... High image quality status determination unit 219... Discard candidate setting unit 230... Image generation unit 231... Low-quality texture storage control unit 233... Object image generation control unit 235... High-quality texture data generation unit 237... Object image generation unit 239... High-quality texture discard unit 240... Image generation memory 241... Low-quality texture data 243... High-quality texture data 292... Sound generation unit 294... Communication control unit 390... Image display unit 392... Sound output unit 394... Communication unit 500... Terminal memory unit 501... Game program 511... Game setting data 513... In-field object table 515...Storage destination list 517...Candidate list for discard 519...Play data 1100...Server system 100s...Operation input unit 200s...Server processing unit 270...Account management unit 280...Game management unit 290s...Image generation unit 292s...Sound generation unit 294s...Communication control unit 390s...Image display unit 392s...Sound output unit 394s...Communication unit 500s...Server storage unit 503...Account management program 505...Game management program 530...User registration data 550...Distribution data 560...Game setting data 561...Game space initial setting data 563...Character initial setting data 565...Low-quality texture data N...Communication line 2...Player

Claims (10)

A program for causing a computer to generate an object image of an object in a virtual three-dimensional space viewed from a virtual camera, the program comprising:
a storage control means for storing first image data for expressing the appearance of the object in an image generation memory provided in the computer;
a situation determination means for determining whether or not a high image quality situation condition is satisfied, which indicates that the object image should be generated using second image data having a data size larger than that of the first image data in order to express the appearance of the object with higher image quality than that of the first image data;
an object image generation control means for, when the second image data is not stored in the image generation memory, 1) generating the object image using the first image data when the situation determination means determines "No," and 2) generating the second image data based on the first image data and then generating the object image using the second image data when the situation determination means determines "Yes."
causing the computer to function as
the situation determination means determines whether the high image quality situation conditions are satisfied, including a condition that a visibility improvement condition indicating that the visibility of the virtual camera has changed from a predetermined worse visibility to a predetermined good visibility being satisfied as the high image quality situation conditions.
program. A program for causing a computer to generate an object image of an object in a virtual three-dimensional space viewed from a virtual camera, the program comprising:
a storage control means for storing first image data for expressing the appearance of the object in an image generation memory provided in the computer;
a storage determination means for determining whether second image data having a data size larger than that of the first image data, for expressing the appearance of the object with higher image quality than that of the first image data, is stored in the image generation memory;
(1) when the storage determination means determines that the object image is generated using the second image data stored in the image generation memory, (2) when the storage determination means determines that the object image is generated using the second image data and the image quality is not high, which indicates that the object image should be generated using the second image data, the object image is generated using the first image data, and (3) when the storage determination means determines that the object image is generated using the first image data and the image quality is high, the object image is generated using the second image data.
A program for causing the computer to function as a a discard candidate setting means for setting the second image data as discard candidate data to be discarded from the image generation memory when a discard situation condition indicating that the second image data should be discarded from the image generation memory is satisfied;
3. The program according to claim 2 , for causing the computer to further function as: the discard candidate setting means determines whether the discard situation conditions are satisfied, including at least a condition that the distance between the object and the virtual camera satisfies a predetermined long distance condition.
The program according to claim 3 . a discarding means for discarding the second image data from the image generation memory when the free space in the image generation memory satisfies a predetermined small space condition;
The program according to any one of claims 2 to 4 , for causing the computer to further function as a game progress control means for communicating with a server system and controlling the progress of a given online game in which the virtual three-dimensional space is used as a game space;
and further causing the computer to function as
the storage control means acquires the first image data from the server system and stores it in the image generation memory;
The program according to any one of claims 2 to 5 . An image generation device that generates an object image of an object in a virtual three-dimensional space viewed from a virtual camera,
a storage control means for storing first image data for expressing the appearance of the object in an image generation memory included in the image generation device;
a situation determination means for determining whether or not a high image quality situation condition is satisfied, which indicates that the object image should be generated using second image data having a data size larger than that of the first image data in order to express the appearance of the object with higher image quality than that of the first image data;
an object image generation control means for, when the second image data is not stored in the image generation memory, 1) generating the object image using the first image data when the situation determination means determines "no," and 2) generating the second image data based on the first image data and then generating the object image using the second image data when the situation determination means determines "yes."
Equipped with
the situation determination means determines whether the high image quality situation conditions are satisfied, including a condition that a visibility improvement condition indicating that the visibility of the virtual camera has changed from a predetermined worse visibility to a predetermined good visibility being satisfied as the high image quality situation conditions.
Image generating device. An image generation device that generates an object image of an object in a virtual three-dimensional space viewed from a virtual camera,
a storage control means for storing first image data for expressing the appearance of the object in an image generation memory included in the image generation device;
a storage determination means for determining whether second image data having a data size larger than that of the first image data, for expressing the appearance of the object with higher image quality than that of the first image data, is stored in the image generation memory;
(1) when the storage determination means determines that the object image is generated using the second image data stored in the image generation memory, (2) when the storage determination means determines that the object image is generated using the second image data and the image quality is not high, which indicates that the object image should be generated using the second image data, the object image is generated using the first image data, and (3) when the storage determination means determines that the object image is generated using the first image data and the image quality is high, the object image is generated using the second image data and the second image data is stored in the image generation memory, and the object image is generated using the second image data.
An image generating device comprising: 1. An image generation method for a computer to generate an object image of an object in a virtual three-dimensional space viewed from a virtual camera, comprising:
storing first image data for expressing the appearance of the object in an image generating memory included in the computer;
performing a situation determination to determine whether or not a high image quality situation condition is satisfied, which indicates that the object image should be generated using second image data that is larger in data size than the first image data and that expresses the appearance of the object with higher image quality than the first image data;
When the second image data is not stored in the image generation memory, 1) when the situation determination is negative, the object image is generated using the first image data, and 2) when the situation determination is positive, the second image data is generated based on the first image data, and then the object image is generated using the second image data, performing object image generation control.
Including,
The determination of the situation includes determining whether or not the high image quality situation condition is satisfied, the high image quality situation condition including a condition that a visibility improvement condition indicating that the visibility of the virtual camera has changed from a predetermined worse visibility to a predetermined good visibility being satisfied as the high image quality situation condition.
Image generation method. 1. An image generation method for a computer to generate an object image of an object in a virtual three-dimensional space viewed from a virtual camera, comprising:
storing first image data for expressing the appearance of the object in an image generating memory included in the computer;
performing a storage determination to determine whether second image data having a data size larger than that of the first image data, for expressing the appearance of the object with higher image quality than that of the first image data, is stored in the image generation memory;
(1) When the memory determination is determined to be positive, the object image is generated using the second image data stored in the image generation memory; (2) When the memory determination is determined to be negative and the image quality is not high, which indicates that the object image should be generated using the second image data, the object image is generated using the first image data; and (3) When the memory determination is determined to be negative and the image quality is high, the object image is generated based on the first image data, stored in the image generation memory, and then the object image is generated using the second image data, performing object image generation control.
An image generation method comprising: