Audio rendering device and program

Abstract

To reduce the number of users who take a long time to discover and perceive an indispensable object when the users are guided in a direction to the indispensable object by an attention-calling voice object.SOLUTION: An audio rendering device 1 includes: a relative angle calculation unit 11 for calculating a first relative angle of an attention-calling audio object with respect to a front direction of a user and a second relative angle of a non-attention-calling audio object with respect to the front direction of the user based on position information of the attention-calling audio object and the non-attention-calling audio object and user information; a relative angle correction unit 12 for obtaining a third relative angle by correcting the first relative angle according to a value of the first relative angle; and a rendering unit 13 for performing rendering based on the second relative angle, the third relative angle, and the audio signal. When the attention-calling audio object is in a peripheral visual field portion of the user, the relative angle correction unit 12 adds a first correction angle of a predetermined value or less to the first relative angle to obtain the third relative angle.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an audio rendering device and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, 6DoF (degrees of freedom) content, which allows users to freely move around in a virtual space, has been put into practical use in VR, AR, and some games. It is sometimes distinguished between 3DoF, which allows users to face any direction (yaw, roll, pitch) at a specific position in the virtual space, and 6DoF (x, y, z), which allows users to move freely in the virtual space not only in terms of direction but also in terms of position.

[0003] When playing 6DoF content, the user wears a presentation device with an acceleration sensor built in, such as an HMD (head mounted display) or tablet, and the video and audio signals within the user's field of view in the virtual space are generated (rendered) and presented based on the user's orientation, positional movement, and operation. In other words, the video and audio actually presented to the user depend on the user's movements. Therefore, if the user is in a position or facing a different direction than the creator intended, the creator's intentions cannot be fully conveyed because the user misses events that are essential for understanding the content. In particular, in fast-moving viewing content such as action and science fiction, and in content such as some games that require short interactions, missing an event can be a fatal flaw in enjoying the content. However, forcibly changing the user's orientation and position to forcefully present essential events is undesirable because it hinders the enjoyment of 6DoF content, which is the fundamental premise of "being able to move around freely." Therefore, methods are being explored to guide the user to move to the orientation and position where the event occurs.

[0004] The simplest guidance method is to make characters, items, and other objects (hereafter referred to as "essential objects") that are expected to be viewed visually prominent by making them shine, but this is not effective if the prominent object is out of the user's field of vision, such as when the user is facing the opposite direction, so currently attention is being paid to guidance using sound. Specifically, an audio object (hereafter referred to as "attention-attracting audio object") is played from the position and direction of the essential object, using a sound effect such as "beep beep" or a call from the essential object (character) such as "Hey you there." to call the user's attention.

[0005] In general, reaction times to sounds vary from person to person, but it has been pointed out that the distribution should not be normal, but should take into account other distribution shapes. In a study on the Audio-Visual Exogenous Cross-modal Spatial Cuing Effect, which promotes the perception of nearby visual information when auditory information is presented from a certain direction in space, an exponential normal distribution is used, and according to Non-Patent Document 1, it is reported that the mismatch between the angles of visual and auditory information does not slow down the entire reaction time distribution, but rather changes the shape of the distribution. Specifically, as shown in Figure 10, the probability of being near the right tail of the exponential normal distribution (the probability of taking a long time to react) increases depending on the conditions. In addition, there are previous studies on the perception of a misalignment between the localization of video and sound images (see, for example, Non-Patent Documents 2 to 4). [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0006] [Non-Patent Document 1] Takakazu Naka and Katsuya Yamauchi, "A study on audiovisual information arrangements that promote visual information search under workload conditions," Acoustical Society of Japan 2022 Fall Research Presentation, 1-10-1, 2022 [Non-Patent Document 2] Koichi Kurozumi, "Mechanisms of Hearing", Journal of the Television Society of Japan, Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 438-445, 1991 [Non-Patent Document 3] Setsu Komiyama, "Sound image localization when viewing large-screen television," Journal of the Acoustical Society of Japan, Vol. 43, No. 9, pp. 664-669, 1987. [Non-Patent Document 4] Masahiro Kimura and 3 others, "Ventriloquism effect in peripheral vision," Transactions of the Virtual Reality Society of Japan, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 253-260, 1999. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] Since attention-calling audio objects are sounds related to required objects, they are often played immediately before an event. Therefore, if it takes a user longer than the content creator expected to turn toward the required object, there is a high possibility that the user will miss the beginning of the event or be put at a disadvantage in the game. Therefore, shortening the reaction time was a challenge in guiding users by sound.

[0008] When applying the results shown in Figure 10 to guidance in 6DoF content, a mismatch between the directions of the attention-grabbing audio object (auditory information) and the required object (visual information) will result in an increase in users taking a long time to discover and perceive the required object.

[0009] In consideration of the above circumstances, the object of the present invention is to provide an audio rendering device and program that can reduce the number of users who take a long time to find and perceive a required object when guiding the user in the direction of the required object using an attention-grabbing audio object. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] The gist of the present invention for solving the above problems is as follows.

[0011] (1) An acoustic rendering device that guides a user in the direction of a required object that is expected to be viewed by a user using an attention-warning audio object that warns the user of the user's attention, the acoustic rendering device comprising: a relative angle calculation unit that calculates a first relative angle of the attention-warning audio object with respect to a front direction of the user and a second relative angle of the non-attention-warning audio object with respect to the front direction of the user based on positional information of the attention-warning audio object and non-attention-warning audio object, and user information indicating the user's orientation and position; a relative angle correction unit that calculates a third relative angle by correcting the first relative angle in accordance with the value of the first relative angle; and a rendering unit that performs rendering based on the second relative angle, the third relative angle, and an audio signal, wherein when the attention-warning audio object is in the user's peripheral visual field, the relative angle correction unit adds a first correction angle that is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value to the first relative angle to obtain the third relative angle.

[0012] (2) The acoustic rendering device described in (1), wherein the relative angle correction unit, when the attention warning audio object is outside the user's field of view, adds a second correction angle larger than the first correction angle to the first relative angle to obtain the third relative angle.

[0013] (3) The acoustic rendering device described in (1), wherein the relative angle correction unit corrects the first correction angle so that the third relative angle is closer to 90 degrees when the attention warning sound object is outside the user's field of view.

[0014] (4) An acoustic rendering device described in any of (1) to (3), wherein the relative angle correction unit corrects the first correction angle so that the third relative angle does not exceed 180 degrees when the attention warning audio object is between 180 degrees from the user's rear central field of view angle.

[0015] (5) The acoustic rendering device according to any one of (1) to (4), wherein the relative angle correction unit keeps a rate of change of the correction angle added to the first relative angle substantially constant when the first relative angle changes.

[0016] (6) A program for causing a computer to function as an acoustic rendering device according to any one of (1) to (5). Effect of the Invention

[0017] According to the present invention, when a user is guided in the direction of a required object by an attention-grabbing audio object, the number of users who miss all or part of an event because they take time to find and perceive the required object can be reduced. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an audio rendering device according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure of an audio rendering device according to an embodiment. [Diagram 3] 13 is a diagram showing an example of XML description in the case where the audio of a mandatory object is treated as an attention-calling audio object as is. FIG. [Figure 4] 13 is a diagram showing an example of XML description in the case where an independent voice object dedicated to calling attention is used as an attention calling voice object. FIG. [Diagram 5] 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating a relative angular relationship between a user and an attention-attracting audio object. [Figure 6] 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between a first relative angle θ and a third relative angle φ in the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 7] 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between a first relative angle θ and a correction angle λ in the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 8] 13 is a diagram showing the relationship between a first relative angle θ and a corrected third relative angle φ in the second embodiment. FIG. [Figure 9]13 is a diagram showing the relationship between a first relative angle θ and a correction angle λ in the second embodiment. FIG. [Figure 10] This is an image diagram showing the distribution of reaction times caused by the angular mismatch between visual and auditory information. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0020] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an acoustic rendering device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The acoustic rendering device 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a relative angle calculation unit 11, a relative angle correction unit 12, and a rendering unit 13.

[0021] In 6DoF content, metadata such as the orientation and position of an object is generally recorded together with the playback data of the content, and an audio signal and audio metadata are input together to the audio rendering device 1. In addition, information indicating the orientation and position of the user (hereinafter referred to as "user information") is input separately from a device such as an HMD or tablet. The user information is updated successively according to the user's movements.

[0022] The audio rendering device 1 is a device that guides the user in the direction of a required object that is expected to be viewed in 6DoF content by using an attention-warning audio object that alerts the user to the intended attention. Based on the input positional information of all objects and user information, the device corrects the direction in which the attention-warning audio object is played, and then presents the rendered audio signal to the user.

[0023] The attention-calling audio object is an audio object used to guide the user to the required object, and may be the audio of the required object as it is, such as a character, or may be an independent audio object dedicated to calling attention, such as a sound effect. The position of the attention-calling audio object before correction follows the audio metadata, but is basically expected to be the same as the required object.

[0024] The relative angle calculation unit 11 calculates the relative angle of each object with respect to the front direction of the user based on the input position information of all objects and user information. Then, the relative angle calculation unit 11 outputs the relative angle of the attention-attention voice object with respect to the front direction of the user (hereinafter referred to as the "first relative angle") to the relative angle correction unit 12, and outputs the relative angle of the non-attention-attention voice object (object other than the attention-attention voice object) with respect to the front direction of the user (hereinafter referred to as the "second relative angle") to the rendering unit 13.

[0025] Relative angle correction unit 12 obtains a third relative angle by correcting the first relative angle according to the value of the first relative angle. The correction also includes a case where the correction angle is 0 degrees (i.e., no correction is performed). Then, relative angle correction unit 12 outputs the third relative angle to rendering unit 13. A specific example of the correction will be described later.

[0026] The rendering unit 13 performs rendering based on the second relative angle, the third relative angle, and the audio signal, and generates an audio signal to be presented to the user. Then, the rendering unit 13 outputs the rendered audio signal to the outside of the acoustic rendering device 1. By correcting the first relative angle to the third relative angle, the playback position of the attention-attracting audio object is corrected to the third relative angle.

[0027] 2 is an example of a flowchart showing a procedure for correcting the playback direction of an attention-attracting audio object and performing rendering in the audio rendering device 1. Each step of the process will be described below based on the flow of FIG.

[0028] In step S11, the relative angle calculation unit 11 calculates the relative angle of each object with respect to the front direction of the user based on the position information of all objects and user information input from the outside. The position information of the object may be input sequentially, or in the case of content in which the movement of the object is fixed, the position information up to the end of the content or scene may be input together at the start of playback and stored in the relative angle calculation unit 11 or the audio rendering device 1. Note that, since 6DoF content has a feature that the video and audio presented by the device change depending on the movement of the user, rendering dedicated to each user is basically performed for each user. Therefore, what is required in the final rendering is mainly the relative angle and relative distance with respect to each object, and information on the orientation and position (coordinates, etc.) of the object itself is not necessarily required.

[0029] In step S12, the first relative angle is corrected as necessary in the relative angle correction unit 12. The relative angle correction unit 12 discriminates the attention-calling audio object based on information recorded in the acoustic metadata in the 6DoF content, such as an importance element of ADM (Audio Definition Model; Rec. ITU-R BS.2076-2), which is acoustic metadata defined by ITU-R (ITU Radiocommunication Sector), and an element indicating that the object is dedicated to attention-calling linked to any of the required objects.

[0030] Figure 3 shows an example of XML (Extensible Markup Language) description when the audio of a required object is treated as an attention-warning audio object as is. In this example, the determination of the required object, which is performed by the importance element that indicates the importance of each object in the ADM, can be used as is to determine the attention-warning audio object. The importance element has a value from 1 to 10, and the higher the value, the higher the importance of the content in question.

[0031] FIG. 4 shows an example of XML description in which an independent audio object dedicated to warnings is used as the attention-warning audio object. In this example, audioObjectID="AO_1001" is a non-attention-warning audio object emitted by a required object (character), and audioObjectID="AO_1002" is an attention-warning audio object. The attention-warning audio object can be identified by the positionGuideObject element, which indicates that the object is dedicated to warnings and is linked to one of the required objects in the ADM. When the positionGuideObject element is 1, the object is an attention-warning audio object, and audioObjectID="AO_1002" is an attention-warning audio object. The positionGuideObjectIDRef element references the attention-warning audio object linked to the object, and from this it can also be determined that audioObjectID="AO_1002" is an attention-warning audio object.

[0032] Note that while the examples of Figures 3 and 4 show an example of description in XML, it will be clear to those skilled in the art that equivalent content can be expressed by using different XML element names or by using a description format other than XML, such as JSON.

[0033] 5 is a diagram for explaining the relative angle relationship between the user and the attention-calling audio object. θ is the first relative angle before correction, φ is the third relative angle after correction, and λ is the correction angle, where θ, φ, and λ are variables that are successively updated based on the position of the attention-calling audio object and user information. In addition, α is the viewing angle, β is the front central viewing angle, and γ is the rear central viewing angle, where α, β, and γ are variables that can be determined prior to the reproduction of the 6DoF content by the settings of the audio rendering device 1, etc.

[0034] When making the correction, it is necessary to prevent a misalignment between the video of the required object and the attention-calling audio object from causing a user to feel uncomfortable. For example, Non-Patent Documents 3 and 4 disclose the following. When the screen is opened up to approximately 60 degrees and when the screen is opened up to approximately 30 degrees to the left or right, the user can perceive the presence of a misalignment of approximately 4 degrees. If the deviation is more than 8 to 11 degrees, the image and sound will no longer seem to match. The discrimination threshold widens when the screen is opened more than 60 degrees, or more than 30 degrees to the left or right, and the image and sound are perceived as being in the same direction even when the screen is 15-18 degrees apart. Therefore, it is desirable to adjust the correction method between the central visual field and the peripheral visual field.

[0035] Furthermore, Non-Patent Document 1 discloses the following: There is a between-hemifield cueing effect, which means that perception can be facilitated when the visual and audio images are in the same hemisphere rather than in different hemispheres (when the visual image is in the left hemisphere and the audio image is in the right hemisphere, or vice versa). The Within-hemifield Cuing Effect, which was previously accepted as a theory that perception can be facilitated when visual and audio images are in the same position within the same hemisphere, could not be confirmed in actual experiments, and no significant difference was observed in average reaction times even when the images were misaligned within the same hemisphere. When an image is played at 40 degrees to the left or right of the visual field in the peripheral vision, and a sound stimulus is played from a 60-degree position in the same hemisphere, the probability of obtaining a response on the right tail of the distribution (which takes longer to respond) is lower (i.e., fewer people will take longer to respond) than when a sound stimulus is played from the same position (40 degrees) as the image in the same hemisphere.

[0036] Based on these findings, the relative angle correction unit 12 performs correction according to the following policy.

[0037] As a first policy, when the attention-calling sound object is in the central visual field of the user (inside the forward central visual field angle β), the required object can be found in a very short time based on visual information, so the correction of the first relative angle is not performed or is only performed very slightly. In other words, the correction angle is set to 0 degrees or a predetermined value or less.

[0038] As a second policy, when the attention calling audio object is in the user's peripheral visual field (outside the forward central visual field angle β and inside the visual field angle α), the importance of guidance by the attention calling audio object increases, so the first correction angle λ1 is added to the first relative angle θ to obtain the third relative angle φ. This allows the attention calling audio object to be played from the position of the third relative angle φ, and the effect of guidance by the attention calling audio object can be achieved. However, the correction angles in the first and second policies are set to be equal to or below a predetermined discrimination threshold at which the directions of the video and sound images are perceived as being consistent in each visual field, depending on the position of the attention calling audio object before correction, such as the central visual field or peripheral visual field of the user.

[0039] As a third policy, when the attention-calling audio object is outside the user's field of view (outside the field of view angle α), no discomfort is caused by a mismatch with the visual information (required object), so the third relative angle φ may be obtained by adding the second correction angle λ2 larger than the first correction angle λ1 to the first relative angle θ. This can further enhance the effect of guidance by the attention-calling audio object without causing discomfort.

[0040] As a fourth policy, in an environment where erroneous determination of front and rear is likely to occur, such as when binaural processing using a head-related transfer function is additionally performed, if the attention-calling audio object is outside the user's field of view (outside the field of view angle α), the first relative angle θ may be corrected so that the third relative angle φ approaches 90 degrees (horizontal direction as seen from the user). This makes it possible to make erroneous determination of front and rear less likely to occur.

[0041] As a fifth policy, when the attention-calling audio object is located directly behind the user (between the rear central viewing angle γ and 180 degrees), the correction angle λ for the first relative angle θ may be made small so that the third relative angle φ does not exceed 180 degrees. The correction angle λ may be set to 0 degrees ultimately, or the correction angle λ may be always set to 0 degrees. This makes it possible to prevent the attention-calling audio object from being played from a different hemisphere from the required object due to the correction.

[0042] As a sixth policy, when the first relative angle changes while the attention-calling audio object is being played back, the rate of change of the correction angle λ may be made substantially constant, and the correction angle λ may be determined by a function whose value changes gradually. When the first relative angle changes, it is considered that the user is making a movement to turn toward the required object (a movement that is desirable in the present invention). If the correction angle λ changes stepwise while turning, a significant sense of incongruity may occur. However, by making the rate of change of the correction angle λ substantially constant, it is possible to prevent abrupt changes in the correction angle λ and make it difficult for a sense of incongruity to occur.

[0043] As described above, the explanation was given on the assumption that the attention-calling audio object before and after the correction is in the same hemisphere as seen by the user. However, the present invention can be used in either the left or right hemisphere, and different variables (α left , α right It is clear that there is no problem in managing the first relative angle as an object orientation. The relative angle calculation unit 11 may input orientation information of the object. When correcting the first relative angle, if the relative orientation between the user and the attention-calling audio object changes, the orientation of the attention-calling audio object may be further corrected so that the relative orientation is maintained before and after the correction.

[0044] Referring again to Fig. 2, in step S13, the rendering unit 13 performs rendering based on the second relative angle, the third relative angle, and the audio signal for each object, and generates an audio signal to be presented to the user. Any process can be used for the rendering process, and for example, an ADM renderer for production specified by ITU-R (Rec. ITU-R BS.2127-0) or the like may be used.

[0045] In step S14, the audio rendering device 1 determines whether or not a stop instruction has been input. The audio rendering device 1 repeats a series of processes from step S11 to step S13 at regular intervals, such as 100 ms, until a stop instruction is input.

[0046] <Example 1> Here, an example will be described in which the viewing angle α is 100 degrees on each side, the forward central viewing angle β is 30 degrees on each side, and the rear central viewing angle γ is 150 degrees on each side as angles that can be determined in advance. In the first embodiment, the first relative angle is corrected according to the above policy as follows. If the attention-calling audio object before correction is in the central viewing area of ​​the user (inside the forward central viewing angle β), the first relative angle is not corrected (first policy). If the attention-calling audio object before correction is in the peripheral viewing area of ​​the user (outside the forward central viewing angle β) and in the viewing area (inside the viewing angle α), a correction angle λ of up to 10 degrees is gradually added to the first relative angle θ (second and sixth policies). If the attention-calling audio object before correction is outside the viewing area of ​​the user (outside the viewing angle α), a correction angle λ of up to 18 degrees is gradually added to the first relative angle θ (third and sixth policies). When the uncorrected attention calling audio object is located directly behind the user (between the angle between the viewing angle α and the rear central viewing angle γ and 180 degrees), the correction angle λ is gradually relaxed so as to approach 0 degrees (fifth and sixth policies). When the uncorrected attention calling audio object is located even further directly behind the user (between the angle between the rear central viewing angle γ and 180 degrees), the correction angle λ is set to 0 degrees (fifth policy).

[0047] Fig. 6 shows the relationship between the first relative angle θ and the third relative angle φ in Example 1. The dashed auxiliary line in Fig. 6 indicates the position of the attention-attention sound object when no correction is performed.

[0048] 7 shows the relationship between the first relative angle θ and the correction angle λ in Example 1. When the first relative angle θ is gradually increased, no correction is performed when the angle is less than 30 degrees forward, the correction angle λ approaches 10 degrees linearly when the angle is 30 degrees or more and less than 100 degrees, the correction angle λ approaches 18 degrees linearly when the angle is 100 degrees or more and less than 125 degrees, the correction angle λ approaches 0 degrees linearly when the angle is 125 degrees or more and less than 150 degrees, and no correction is performed when the angle is 150 degrees or more and within 180 degrees.

[0049] When the first relative angle θ is less than 30 degrees forward, the correction angle λ may be slightly added, for example, so that it approaches 5 degrees linearly. When the first relative angle θ is 125 degrees or more and less than 180 degrees, the correction angle λ may approach 0 degrees linearly. Although the value of 125 degrees is set between the viewing angle α = 100 degrees and the rear central viewing angle γ = 150 degrees, this angle may be any angle between the viewing angle α and the rear central viewing angle γ. When the first relative angle θ is 100 degrees or more and less than 150 degrees, the correction angle λ may approach 18 degrees linearly, and when the first relative angle θ is 150 degrees or more and less than 180 degrees, the correction angle λ may approach 0 degrees linearly.

[0050] <Example 2> Here, an example will be described in which the viewing angle α is 100 degrees on each side, the forward central viewing angle β is 30 degrees on each side, and the rear central viewing angle γ is 150 degrees on each side as angles that can be determined in advance. In the second embodiment, the first relative angle is corrected according to the above policy as follows. If the attention calling voice object before correction is in the central viewing area of ​​the user (inside the forward central viewing angle β), the first relative angle is not corrected (first policy). If the attention calling voice object before correction is in the peripheral viewing area of ​​the user (outside the forward central viewing angle β), a correction angle λ of up to 15 degrees is gradually added to the first relative angle θ with the attention calling voice object (second and sixth policies). If the attention calling voice object before correction is outside the user's viewing area (outside the viewing angle α), a correction angle of up to -15 degrees is gradually added so that the attention calling voice object becomes closer to the lateral direction as seen from the user, so that erroneous front / rear determination is less likely to occur (fourth and sixth policies). When the pre-correction attention-calling audio object is located directly behind the user (between the rear central visual field angle γ and 180 degrees), the correction angle λ is gradually relaxed so as to approach 0 degrees (fifth and sixth policies).

[0051] Fig. 8 shows the relationship between the first relative angle θ and the third relative angle φ in Example 2. The dashed auxiliary line in Fig. 8 indicates the position of the attention-attention sound object when no correction is performed.

[0052] 9 shows the relationship between the first relative angle θ and the correction angle λ in Example 2. When the first relative angle θ is gradually increased, no correction is performed when the angle is less than 30 degrees forward, the correction angle λ approaches 15 degrees linearly when the angle is 30 degrees or more and less than 100 degrees, the correction angle λ approaches -15 degrees linearly when the angle is 100 degrees or more and less than 150 degrees, and the correction angle λ approaches 0 degrees linearly when the angle is 150 degrees or more and within 180 degrees.

[0053] It is needless to say that the manner of correcting the first relative angle is not limited to that in the first and second embodiments. For example, the correction angle λ may be changed in a curved manner rather than in a linear manner. In addition, various variables such as the viewing angle may be changed dynamically.

[0054] As described above, in the present invention, when a required object is at the edge of the user's field of view, outside the field of view, or in other positions that are out of the user's line of sight, guidance is provided by playing an attention-calling audio object with reference to the direction of the required object. In this case, if there is a large deviation between the center of the field of view before the user turns and the direction of the required object, the attention-calling audio object is intentionally corrected to an angle that is larger than the direction of the required object that the user is actually intended to face, and then played. This correction shortens the right tail of the distribution of reaction times when guiding the user with the attention-calling audio object, making it possible to reduce the number of users who take a long time to react and to reduce the number of users who miss all or part of an event.

[0055] In addition, by taking into account the process of turning around and gradually aligning the playback position of the attention warning audio object with the required object depending on the angle of the required object from the line of sight, it is possible to prevent discontinuous changes in the positioning of the attention warning audio object even when the user performs an action such as turning around.

[0056] <Program> A computer capable of executing program instructions can be used to function as the above-mentioned sound rendering device 1. Here, the computer may be a wearable computer, a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a workstation, a PC (Personal Computer), an electronic notepad, etc. The program instructions may be program code, code segments, etc. for performing the necessary tasks.

[0057] The computer includes a processor, a storage unit, an input unit, an output unit, and a communication interface. The processor may be a central processing unit (CPU), a micro processing unit (MPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), a system on a chip (SoC), or the like, and may be composed of multiple processors of the same type or different types. The processor reads out a program from the storage unit and executes it to control each of the above components and perform various arithmetic processing. At least a part of the processing contents may be realized by hardware. The input unit is an input interface that receives a user's input operation and acquires information based on the user's operation, and is a pointing device, a keyboard, a microphone, or the like. The output unit is an output interface that outputs information, and is a display, a speaker, or the like. The communication interface is an interface for communicating with an external device.

[0058] The program may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. By using such a recording medium, the program can be installed on the computer. Here, the recording medium on which the program is recorded may be a non-transitory recording medium. The non-transitory recording medium is not particularly limited, and may be, for example, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory. In addition, the program may be in a form that is downloaded from an external device via a network.

[0059] For example, a program for functioning as the acoustic rendering device 1 includes a first step of calculating a first relative angle and a second relative angle based on positional information of an attention-warning sound object and a non-attention-warning sound object, and user information indicating the user's orientation and position, a second step of determining a third relative angle by correcting the first relative angle according to the value of the first relative angle, and a third step of performing rendering based on the second relative angle, the third relative angle, and the sound signal, and when the attention-warning sound object is in the user's peripheral vision, the second step adds a first correction angle of a predetermined value or less to the first relative angle to obtain the third relative angle.

[0060] The above-described acoustic rendering device 1 may be configured with one or more semiconductor chips. The semiconductor chip may include a CPU that executes a program that describes the processing contents for implementing each function of the acoustic rendering device 1.

[0061] Although the above-mentioned embodiment has been described as a representative example, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that many modifications and substitutions can be made within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention should not be interpreted as being limited by the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modifications and changes are possible without departing from the scope of the claims. For example, it is possible to integrate multiple configuration blocks shown in the configuration diagram of the embodiment, or to divide one configuration block. [Explanation of symbols]

[0062] 1. Sound Rendering Equipment 11 Relative angle calculation unit 12 Relative angle correction section 13 Rendering section

Claims

1. An audio rendering device that guides a user in a direction of a required object that is expected to be viewed by using an attention-attracting audio object that alerts the user, comprising: a relative angle calculation unit that calculates a first relative angle of the attention-attention sound object with respect to a front direction of the user and a second relative angle of the non-attention-attention sound object with respect to a front direction of the user based on position information of the attention-attention sound object and the non-attention-attention sound object and user information indicating a direction and position of the user; a relative angle correction unit that determines a third relative angle by correcting the first relative angle in accordance with a value of the first relative angle; a rendering unit that performs rendering based on the second relative angle, the third relative angle, and an audio signal, The relative angle correction unit, when the attention warning sound object is in the user's peripheral vision, adds a first correction angle that is less than a predetermined value to the first relative angle to obtain the third relative angle.

2. The acoustic rendering device of claim 1 , wherein when the attention-warning sound object is outside the user's field of view, the relative angle correction unit adds a second correction angle larger than the first correction angle to the first relative angle to obtain the third relative angle.

3. The audio rendering device according to claim 1 , wherein the relative angle correction unit corrects the first correction angle so that the third relative angle approaches 90 degrees when the attention-attention sound object is outside the user's field of view.

4. The acoustic rendering device of claim 1 , wherein the relative angle correction unit corrects the first correction angle so that the third relative angle does not exceed 180 degrees when the attention-warning sound object is between 180 degrees from the user's rear central field of view angle.

5. The sound rendering device according to claim 1 , wherein the relative angle correction unit keeps a rate of change of the correction angle added to the first relative angle substantially constant when the first relative angle changes.

6. A program for causing a computer to function as the acoustic rendering device according to claim 1.

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