Pseudo-player character control device, pseudo-player character control method, and computer program

Abstract

Provided is technology for introducing a new character capable of achieving both quality of movement and low costs into a virtual three-dimensional space generated by a metaverse management device, and for managing the movement of the character.　A metaverse management device 200 generates a virtual three-dimensional space in a metaverse. The metaverse management device 200 receives operation data generated as a result of a user using a user terminal 100, and a player character that performs movement by means of the metaverse management device 200 is present in the virtual three-dimensional space. A pseudo player character control device 300 is combined with the metaverse management device 200. The pseudo player character control device 300 sends a pseudo player character into the virtual three-dimensional space created by the metaverse management device 200. The pseudo player character control device 300 causes the pseudo player character to perform movement by generating pseudo operation data in the same data format as that of operation data and transmitting the result to the metaverse management device 200.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a technology for introducing a new character other than a player character, which is a character operated by a human user to control its actions and has existed conventionally in a virtual three-dimensional space generated by a metaverse management device, and a non-player character whose actions are controlled by the metaverse management device, and controlling the actions thereof.

Background Art

[0002] Although the exact definition of the metaverse is still indefinite, generally, it means a virtual three-dimensional space constructed by a computer system or a service that provides the virtual three-dimensional space to users. The virtual three-dimensional space is generated by a metaverse management device. The virtual three-dimensional space in the metaverse can be, for example, modeled after a city existing on the earth. By sending a character, which is their avatar, into the virtual three-dimensional space, users can perform actions they desire (or cause the character they operate to perform actions they desire) in the virtual three-dimensional space in the metaverse. The actions are modeled after actions that humans can perform. For example, they can be interactions with other characters or movements within the virtual three-dimensional space. Due to the progress of computer systems in recent years, the use of the metaverse has become easier. Along with this, the uses of the metaverse, which were mainly for play and an extension of games in the past, are tending towards commercial use. For example, commercial uses such as promoting the sale of a company's own products and services within the virtual three-dimensional space in the metaverse have been put into practical use. Some have attempted to hold a large-scale virtual exhibition in the virtual three-dimensional space, such as constructing a large number of booths where many companies have set up shop in the virtual three-dimensional space and introducing the products and services of each company to people (player characters) who visit there.

[0003] In conventional metaverses, a virtual three-dimensional space typically contains a character controlled by each user. Since this character is sometimes referred to as a "player character," this application will use that term. A player character is usually an avatar selected or created by the user. The user sends motion data for operating the player character within the virtual three-dimensional space from their user terminal (desktop PC, notebook PC, smartphone, tablet, home game console, etc.) to the metaverse management device via the internet. The metaverse management device then operates the player character based on this motion data. This allows the user to control their player character as they wish. On the other hand, in the virtual three-dimensional space of a conventional metaverse, there are characters that are not controlled by the user. Such characters are generally referred to as non-player characters, and in this application, such characters will also be referred to as "non-player characters." Non-player characters are characters under the management of a metaverse management device. Non-player characters perform predetermined actions through the functions of a computer program implemented in the metaverse management device. The metaverse management device generates metaverse image data, which is data about metaverse images (moving images within a virtual three-dimensional space), and sends it to the user terminal via the internet. As a result, metaverse images based on the metaverse image data are displayed on the user terminal's screen. Metaverse images can include both player characters and non-player characters. This allows the user to view the metaverse images, which are moving images within a virtual three-dimensional space, displayed on the screen, and experience events within that virtual three-dimensional space. [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0004] Let's consider a case where the metaverse is used commercially, as illustrated above. In that case, alongside the player character in the virtual three-dimensional space of the metaverse, there needs to be a character that promotes the sale of goods and services to that player character. If the goal is to maximize the effectiveness of sales promotion, it is preferable that this character be a player character under the control of the company that is promoting the goods or services. By doing so, a player character controlled by a company employee, for example, can provide appropriate answers to questions from a player character controlled by a customer or potential customer. Furthermore, a player character controlled by a company employee, for example, can guide the customer or potential customer to the appropriate booth during the exhibition. The customer service described above, provided to a player character using the player character, is not so different from person-to-person customer service, except that it takes place in a virtual three-dimensional space, and allows for meticulous attention to detail. Despite these advantages, preparing player characters operated by company employees to interact with user-controlled player characters places a significant burden on companies. This is because, as the number of player characters providing customer service increases, companies will essentially need to secure the same number of personnel to operate them. When using the metaverse commercially, a company's primary goal is to increase sales of its products and services, but at the same time, it also aims to reduce costs. If commercial use of the metaverse requires securing a large number of personnel, then the point of using player characters operated by company employees to interact with user-controlled player characters diminishes.

[0005] Considering these points, it is conceivable to have non-player characters, under the management of the metaverse management device, provide customer service to the player character controlled by the user. Since the non-player characters are operated by the metaverse management device, there is no need to secure personnel to provide customer service to the user's player character. However, non-player characters are controlled by the functions or instructions of computer programs pre-installed on the metaverse management device. Therefore, the administrator of the metaverse management device is responsible for creating the computer programs related to non-player characters. However, the administrator of the metaverse management device generally does not know what actions are preferable for a player character to perform, for example, when a non-player character is providing customer service. Therefore, it is difficult to ensure that the quality of the actions of non-player characters controlled by computer programs created by such metaverse management device administrators is sufficiently high. Under such circumstances, attempting to improve the quality of non-player character movements often results in excessive costs for creating computer programs. Furthermore, there are many types of metaverses, or metaverse management devices that manage them (many companies offer metaverse services). Because each metaverse management device has differences such as the data format of operation data and the programming language used to construct the metaverse, even when operating the same non-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space of multiple metaverses, it is usually necessary to create a separate computer program for each metaverse management device to operate the non-player character, which also drives up costs.

[0006] In other words, within the metaverse, it is difficult to select non-player characters as characters that interact with the player character controlled by the user and have them perform actions of a reasonably high quality. Furthermore, while it may be possible to reduce costs compared to preparing a large number of player characters controlled by humans, the effect of cost reduction is limited. On the other hand, if it becomes possible to introduce a new type of character—neither a player character nor a non-player character—into the virtual three-dimensional space of the metaverse, a character that can perform reasonably high-quality actions as a character that interacts with the player character controlled by the user, while also reducing the costs required for its creation, then the possibilities of the metaverse will expand greatly. Such character creations can be applied to commercial use, primarily customer service, as described above, but they can also be applied to other purposes. For example, in the field of the metaverse, a common problem is that users cannot enjoy the virtual 3D space because, even after placing their player character in it, they don't know where things are or what they can do within that space. This is like someone arriving alone in an unfamiliar city without a guidebook and sometimes feeling lost. This problem could be solved if there were a character that could guide the player character controlled by the user within the virtual 3D space. The aforementioned Shin-Tama character could be used as such a character, and if that character could provide guidance tailored to the user's preferences and mood at the time, it would be a great help to users of metaverse services and could also lead to an increase in the number of metaverse users. Furthermore, the aforementioned new characters can also be applied to characters that accompany the player character controlled by the user within the virtual three-dimensional space of the metaverse, for example, characters that act alongside the player character or simply act as conversation partners. Moreover, if the new characters that act alongside the player character controlled by the user behave according to the user's preferences and personality, user satisfaction will increase. In particular, if the character that acts alongside the player character controlled by the user is always the same character, that character will go beyond being merely a guide or conversation partner and can be considered identical to a friend of the user or the player character controlled by the user.

[0007] Characters like those described above, which are neither player characters nor non-player characters, can be applied to a variety of uses as described above and are expected to greatly contribute to the spread of the metaverse. However, currently, the characters that can appear in the virtual three-dimensional space of the metaverse are limited to player characters and non-player characters, and no practical method for realizing other types of characters is known. The present invention aims to provide a technology for introducing new characters into the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the metaverse management device. These characters, created by individuals other than the administrator of the metaverse management device, are of a certain quality and have reduced creation costs. The technology also aims to provide a technology for controlling the actions of these new characters. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] To solve the above problems, the inventors of this application propose the following invention. A new character that can appear in the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the metaverse management device, other than a player character or non-player character, that has a certain level of quality of movement and can reduce the cost of its creation, will hereafter be referred to as a "pseudo-player character." The present invention has the function of constructing a virtual three-dimensional space in which multiple player characters, each character operated by a multiple user, reside, and is used in combination with a metaverse management device, which comprises: a space construction unit that constructs the virtual three-dimensional space; a receiving unit that receives operation data, which is data for operating each of the multiple player characters, from a user terminal operated by each user via the Internet; a character control unit that operates the player characters in the virtual three-dimensional space based on the operation data received by the receiving unit; a metaverse image data generation unit that generates metaverse image data, which is data about the metaverse image, which is a moving image in the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the character control unit; and a transmitting unit that transmits the metaverse image data to the user terminal via the Internet, so that each user can view the metaverse image based on the metaverse image data at the user terminal, and is a pseudo-player character control device that has the function of controlling pseudo-player characters in the virtual three-dimensional space. The pseudo-player character control device includes an acquisition unit that acquires environment data, which is data about the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, based on the metaverse image data received from the metaverse management device; an action pattern recording unit that records for each pseudo-player character an action artificial intelligence, which is an artificial intelligence that outputs the action of the pseudo-player character appropriate to the environment indicated by the environment data when the environment data is input as data about the action pattern of the pseudo-player character; and a unit that determines the action to be performed by the pseudo-player character. The system includes: an action determination unit that, when the environmental data received is input to the action artificial intelligence recorded in the action pattern recording unit, determines that the action output from the action artificial intelligence is an action to be performed by the pseudo-player character appropriate to the environment indicated by the environmental data; a pseudo-operation data generation unit that creates pseudo-operation data, which is data to be performed by the pseudo-player character, in the same data format as the operation data, based on the action determined by the action determination unit; and a transmission unit that transmits the pseudo-operation data to the receiving unit of the metaverse management device via the internet. Furthermore, the motion pattern recording unit is provided with a history recording unit that records history data, which is data about the past history of the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, for each pseudo-player character. The motion determination unit determines the action to be performed by the pseudo-player character based on the history data recorded in the history recording unit.

[0009] The pseudo-player character control device of this invention is used in combination with a metaverse management device. The metaverse management device may be an existing one. The metaverse management device comprises a space construction unit that constructs a virtual three-dimensional space, and a receiving unit that receives operation data, which is data for operating each of multiple player characters, from user terminals operated by each user (desktop PCs, notebook PCs, smartphones, tablets, home game consoles, etc.) via the internet. The operation data is data for moving the player character's body, for example, to move within the virtual three-dimensional space, or for making the player character speak. Naturally, the data format of the operation data is determined by the metaverse management device or its administrator, and operation data prepared in that data format is sent from the user terminal to the metaverse management device. The metaverse management device operates each player character within the virtual three-dimensional space according to the received operation data. The character control unit within the metaverse management device controls the movement of the player characters. Furthermore, the metaverse management device includes a metaverse image data generation unit that generates metaverse image data, which is data about metaverse images, which are moving images in a virtual three-dimensional space generated by the character control unit, and a transmission unit that transmits the metaverse image data to the user terminal via the internet. As a result, each user can view the metaverse images based on the metaverse image data on a head-mounted display or other display installed in or connected to the user terminal, using the user terminal that has received the metaverse image data. A pseudo-player character control device used in combination with such a metaverse management device includes: an acquisition unit that acquires environment data, which is data about the environment surrounding a pseudo-player character in a virtual three-dimensional space, based on metaverse image data received from the metaverse management device; an action pattern recording unit that records an action artificial intelligence for each pseudo-player character, which is an artificial intelligence that outputs actions of the pseudo-player character appropriate to the environment indicated by the environment data when the environment data is input as data about the action pattern of the pseudo-player character; an action determination unit that determines the actions to be performed by the pseudo-player character, and when the environment data received from the acquisition unit is input to the action artificial intelligence recorded in the action pattern recording unit, the action output by the action artificial intelligence is determined to be an action to be performed by the pseudo-player character appropriate to the environment indicated by the environment data; a pseudo-operation data generation unit that creates pseudo-operation data, which is data to be performed by the pseudo-player character, in the same data format as operation data, based on the actions to be performed by the pseudo-player character determined by the action determination unit; and a transmission unit that transmits the pseudo-operation data to the receiving unit of the metaverse management device via the internet. Simply put, these systems combine a mechanism that allows the metaverse management device to recognize the pseudo-player character control device as a user terminal, and a mechanism that generates pseudo-operation data, which is data for operating the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, in place of operation data, which is data for operating the player character in the virtual three-dimensional space. As described above, the metaverse management device generates metaverse image data, which is data about metaverse images, which are moving images in a virtual three-dimensional space, and sends it to the user terminal. The pseudo-player character control device is recognized by the metaverse management device in the same way as the user terminal, so the metaverse image data is also sent to the pseudo-player character control device from the metaverse management device. The pseudo-player character control device receives the metaverse image data. If it is a user terminal operated by a user, the user can understand the current situation in the virtual three-dimensional space by viewing metaverse images based on metaverse image data, and perform actions according to that situation. On the other hand, in the pseudo-player character control device, the acquisition unit acquires environment data, which is data about the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, based on metaverse image data received from the metaverse management device. This is equivalent to a user using a user terminal understanding the current situation in the virtual three-dimensional space by viewing a metaverse image based on the metaverse image data. The pseudo-player character control device also has an action determination unit and an action artificial intelligence recorded in an action pattern recording unit. The action artificial intelligence is an artificial intelligence that, when environment data is input, outputs the action of the pseudo-player character appropriate to the environment indicated by the environment data. The action determination unit inputs the environment data generated by the acquisition unit from the metaverse image data to the action artificial intelligence read from the action pattern recording unit, and as output, obtains the action of the pseudo-player character appropriate to the environment indicated by the environment data. It then determines that this action should be performed by the pseudo-player character appropriate to the environment indicated by the environment data. This is equivalent to a user using a user terminal deciding what action to have the player character perform based on the situation in the virtual three-dimensional space understood based on the metaverse image. In addition, the pseudo-player character control device includes a pseudo-operation data generation unit that generates pseudo-operation data, which is data that causes the pseudo-player character to perform the actions determined by the action determination unit. The pseudo-operation data is in the same data format as the operation data generated on the user terminal. The pseudo-operation data generation unit generates the pseudo-operation data, which is equivalent to a user operating a user terminal to generate operation data. The pseudo-operation data is sent from the transmission unit to the metaverse management device via the internet. This is equivalent to operation data being transmitted from the user terminal operated by the user to the metaverse management device. As described above, the metaverse management device controls the user's player character based on operation data sent by the user from the user terminal and received by the receiving unit. On the other hand, the metaverse management device controls the pseudo-player character based on pseudo-operation data sent from the pseudo-player character control unit and received by the receiving unit. The metaverse management device also transmits metaverse image data to the user terminal and similarly transmits metaverse image data to the pseudo-player character control unit. As described above, the pseudo-operation data is in the same data format as the operation data; therefore, the metaverse management device cannot distinguish the pseudo-operation data from the operation data, or at least does not need to distinguish it. Consequently, the character control unit within the metaverse management device that receives the pseudo-operation data will operate the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space based on the pseudo-operation data by performing the exact same processing as when it receives the operation data to operate the player character. In other words, from the perspective of the metaverse management device, both the user terminal and the pseudo-player character control device are perceived as the same type of device that transmits data in the same data format (operation data or pseudo-operation data) and receives the same data (metaverse image data). This means that when the pseudo-player character control device is used in combination with a metaverse management device that is intended to be used in combination with a user terminal from the outset, no modifications are required on the metaverse management device side. This means that when the pseudo-player character control device of this application is used in combination with a metaverse management device, there is no cost, or very little, of modification on the metaverse management device side. Furthermore, the quality of the actions of such a simulated player character is basically determined by the set of computer programs and data installed in the simulated player character control device, for example, the degree to which the aforementioned action artificial intelligence and action determination unit are built. Such action artificial intelligence can also be created by the administrator of the simulated player character control device. However, if the administrator of the simulated player character control device accepts computer programs for determining the actions of the simulated player character from an external source (for example, a company that wants the simulated player character to provide customer service, or a company that wants the simulated player character to guide the player character), then the person who wants to send the simulated player character into the virtual three-dimensional space of the metaverse and make the simulated player character perform actions—that is, the person who best knows what kind of actions the simulated player character should perform—will be able to create the action artificial intelligence for making the simulated player character perform actions. For these reasons, using this pseudo-player character control device, which is separate from the metaverse management device, not only makes it possible to send pseudo-player characters into the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the metaverse management device, but also makes it possible to improve the quality of the pseudo-player character's movements without incurring excessive costs. Furthermore, this pseudo-player character control device is expected to become a platform for realizing a new service that "allows high-quality pseudo-player characters to be sent into the metaverse world without any modifications to the metaverse management device." As described above, the quality of a pseudo-player character's movements is fundamentally determined by the computer program and data set installed in the pseudo-player character control device. More specifically, the quality of a pseudo-player character's movements is determined by the degree to which the movement artificial intelligence and movement determination unit are developed. Incidentally, the data format of the operation data that a metaverse management device receives from a user terminal generally differs for each metaverse management device. However, if multiple metaverse management devices are intended to receive operation data in the same data format, then by sending pseudo-operation data in the same data format generated by a single pseudo-player character to those multiple metaverse management devices, it becomes possible to make the pseudo-player character move as intended by the pseudo-player character control device within the virtual three-dimensional space generated by each metaverse management device. As a result, the pseudo-player character control device of this application can reuse its movement artificial intelligence and movement determination unit when combined with multiple metaverse management devices. Furthermore, if you want multiple pseudo-player characters to perform similar actions within a virtual three-dimensional space managed by a single metaverse management device (for example, if you want multiple pseudo-player characters to promote the same product in a single store within a virtual three-dimensional space), the set of data created for one pseudo-player character can be reused to determine the actions of other pseudo-player characters. The ability to reuse the most expensive part of the creation process—the AI ​​for actions and the action determination unit—means that the budget that can be spent on creating them can be significantly reduced. This also contributes to improving the quality of pseudo-player character actions while keeping costs down. In addition, the motion pattern recording unit of the pseudo-player character control device of the present invention is provided with a history recording unit that records history data for each pseudo-player character, which is data about the past history of the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, in addition to the motion artificial intelligence. The motion determination unit determines the action to be performed by the pseudo-player character based on the history data recorded in the history recording unit. The history data is equivalent to past memories in humans. For example, information such as what the pseudo-player character did at what point in the past, who they talked to, and what the content of the conversation was is recorded in the history recording unit as history data. As a result, the motion determination unit uses the history data recorded in the history recording unit when inputting environmental data into the motion artificial intelligence to determine the action of the pseudo-player character. The use of history data may be performed as needed. As a result, the action that the pseudo-player character should take, as determined by the motion determination unit, changes based on the history data. As a result, the actions determined by the action decision unit for the simulated player character become natural, based on past memories, similar to how humans would react. Moreover, the historical data can be continuously accumulated while the simulated player character is being controlled by the simulated player character control unit. This allows the simulated player character's actions to become more natural over time. As described above, the action determination unit determines the action to be performed by the simulated player character based on the history data recorded in the history recording unit, but this may be done as needed. Whether or not to use the history data can be determined by the action determination unit based on the environment data, for example. For example, if a specific keyword appears in a conversation between the simulated player character and another player character, or if the location of the simulated player character is a specific location in the virtual three-dimensional space (if such a thing is indicated by the environment data), the action determination unit may determine the action to be performed by the simulated player character based on the history data recorded in the history recording unit.

[0010] In this application, the environment data, which is data about the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character, is, for example, data generated by the acquisition unit from the metaverse image, which is a first-person or third-person perspective video provided from the metaverse management device to the user terminal when the pseudo-player character is a player character. However, the range of the pseudo-player character's "surroundings" is not limited to the range described above, and can be set to a wider or narrower range that may affect the pseudo-player character's movements. In addition, the metaverse image data provided from the metaverse management device to the user terminal or pseudo-player character control device may also include audio data (for example, audio of conversations with other player characters, or audio about events that occurred in the virtual three-dimensional space) and text data (for example, text in a text chat conducted to converse with other player characters) in addition to the image data. If the environment data includes audio or text data, the acquisition unit may generate the environment data not only based on the video data included in the metaverse image data, but also on the audio and text data. When the acquisition unit generates environment data from metaverse image data, the acquisition unit may utilize artificial intelligence. It should be noted that this artificial intelligence is different from the action artificial intelligence that outputs actions that should be performed by the pseudo-player character based on the input environment data. Artificial intelligence that, when video data is input, understands what kind of "situation" a video image represents and outputs that "situation." Similarly, artificial intelligence that, when audio data is input, understands what kind of "situation" an audio recording represents, or what kind of "meaning" the language contained in the audio has, and outputs that "situation" or "meaning." Furthermore, artificial intelligence that, when text data is input, understands what kind of "meaning" a text has and outputs that "meaning" is also already known. It is possible to use the "meaning" data output by such artificial intelligence as the environment data of this application. However, it is not necessarily required that the environmental data be as described above, nor is it essential to use artificial intelligence to generate the environmental data. For example, the environmental data may be obtained by extracting some data or certain features from metaverse image data in some way. As described above, the environmental data may include the content of a conversation between the simulated player character and the player character with whom it is conversing. The content of the conversation may be identified by voice or by text. Regardless of its purpose, the simulated player character communicates with the player character, thereby imparting knowledge or providing enjoyment to the person controlling the player character. The content of the conversation between the player character and the simulated player character plays the most significant role in this communication. Therefore, by including the conversation of the player character in the environmental data used by the action determination unit to determine the actions of the simulated player character, the actions of the simulated player character determined by the action determination unit become more appropriate.

[0011] The motion artificial intelligence in the pseudo-player character control device of the present invention may be a trained artificial intelligence obtained by pre-training using the environment data and the actions adopted by the player character in that environment as training data. In this case, the player character used to obtain training data in the process of creating the motion artificial intelligence, which is a trained artificial intelligence, is operated by a predetermined user. For example, when trying to create an artificial intelligence for a pseudo-player character that performs "customer service" as described in the background technology section, training data for performing detailed customer service can be obtained by having a player character operated by a company employee or the like perform customer service with a player character operated by a user. Once a certain amount of training data has been accumulated and a trained motion artificial intelligence can be obtained using that training data, it will be possible thereafter to make the pseudo-player character perform high-quality actions suitable for customer service using the motion artificial intelligence. Of course, behavioral AI is not limited to those designed for simulated player characters suitable for customer service. If you want to create behavioral AI suitable for guiding a simulated player character in a virtual three-dimensional space, you should use appropriate training data for that purpose. In other words, to create behavioral AI that corresponds to the actions you want a simulated player character to perform, you just need to prepare training data that is appropriate for that purpose.

[0012] The aforementioned operation pattern recording unit may be capable of recording a predetermined operation artificial intelligence. For example, the operation pattern recording unit may be capable of recording multiple operation artificial intelligences, and it may also be possible to add or delete operation artificial intelligences to the operation pattern recording unit, and furthermore, the operation artificial intelligence recorded in the operation pattern recording unit may be rewritable. By doing so, for example, it becomes possible to transfer the motion artificial intelligence created in one pseudo-player character control device to the motion pattern recording unit of another pseudo-player character control device. This makes it possible to use the motion artificial intelligence, once created, with multiple pseudo-player characters, thus easily reducing the cost of creating motion artificial intelligence. The inventors of this invention also propose, as one aspect of the present invention, a trained artificial intelligence that can be incorporated into a pseudo-player character control device that records the motion artificial intelligence in its motion pattern recording unit and used as the motion artificial intelligence. This trained artificial intelligence is obtained by pre-training using the environmental data and the actions adopted by the player character in that environment as training data. Such a trained artificial intelligence produces the effects described above. Therefore, this trained artificial intelligence has value in itself and can be a subject of trade.

[0013] As described above, the operation pattern recording unit of the pseudo-player character control device of the present invention is provided with a history recording unit that records history data, which is data about the past history of the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, in addition to the operation artificial intelligence. Furthermore, when the operation determination unit determines the operation to be performed by the pseudo-player character, it determines the operation to be performed by the pseudo-player character based on the history data recorded in the history recording unit. The history data may be generated and recorded in the history recording unit as follows, for example. For example, the environment data may be input to the history recording unit, and at least a part of the environment data may be recorded. In this case, at least a part of the environment data is recorded in the history recording unit as history data. Since the environment data is, as described above, "data about the environment around the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space", it is reasonable to record a part of it in the history recording unit as history data about the history of the past environment around the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space. As described above, when determining the action to be performed by the pseudo-player character, the action determination unit determines the action to be performed by the pseudo-player character based on the history data recorded in the history recording unit. For example, in addition to the environment data, when the action determination unit inputs the history data recorded in the history recording unit to the action artificial intelligence, the action output from the action artificial intelligence may be determined as the action to be performed by the pseudo-player character corresponding to the environment indicated by the environment data. This shows a specific example of the use of history data. Thus, the history data may be used as data input to the action artificial intelligence. As described above, when determining the action to be performed by the pseudo-player character, the action determination unit may determine the action to be performed by the pseudo-player character based on the history data recorded in the history recording unit, but this may be done as needed. For example, the action determination unit may be configured to determine whether to input the history data recorded in the history recording unit to the action artificial intelligence in addition to the environment data based on the environment data.

[0014] The operation pattern recording unit includes an external data recording unit that records external data, which is data collected from the Internet and affects the output from the operation artificial intelligence when input to the operation artificial intelligence. The operation determination unit may be configured to determine, based on the environmental data, whether to input the external data recorded in the external data recording unit to the operation artificial intelligence in addition to the environmental data. This is a device for making the actions of the pseudo-player character natural. In the present invention, the actions of the pseudo-player character are determined solely by the operation artificial intelligence and the history data. However, the operation artificial intelligence may have difficulty outputting appropriate actions of the pseudo-player character in an environment other than the environment learned based on the environmental data used for learning. Also, there may be cases where it is difficult to cause the operation artificial intelligence to output natural actions of the pseudo-player character based on the history data. However, various types of information exist on the Internet. If such information is collected by a known or well-known technique for collecting information on the Internet, such as a crawling technique, and recorded in the external data recording unit as external data, it may be possible to cause the pseudo-player character to perform natural actions by using the external data. That is, the external data is a part of the somewhat general-purpose data existing on the Internet. By using such external data, the actions of the pseudo-player character can be made natural. The method of using the external data can follow the method of using the history data. For example, the external data can be used always or as needed. Whether the use of the external data is necessary can be determined by the operation determination unit based on the environmental data. Also, when the operation determination unit determines to use the external data, the external data can be input to the operation artificial intelligence in addition to the environmental data and the history data.

[0015] The operation pattern recording unit includes an extrapolation data recording unit that records extrapolation data, which is data recorded by a person authorized to access the pseudo-player character control device, that, when input to the operation artificial intelligence, affects the output from the operation artificial intelligence. The operation determination unit may also be configured to determine, based on the environment data, whether or not to input the extrapolation data recorded in the extrapolation data recording unit, in addition to the environment data, to the operation artificial intelligence. This, too, is an effort to make the movements of the simulated player character more natural. In the present invention, the movements of the simulated player character are determined solely by the behavioral artificial intelligence and historical data. However, as already mentioned, the behavioral artificial intelligence may have difficulty outputting appropriate movements of the simulated player character in environments other than the environment in which it was learned using the environmental data used for training. Even with historical data, it is difficult to make movements that the simulated player character has never experienced before look natural. On the other hand, there is information that is not generally applicable but is known in detail by certain individuals. While it is difficult to collect such information from the internet, it is easy for someone who knows that information to generate data about it and record that generated data as extrapolated data in the extrapolated data recording unit. By using such extrapolated data, it becomes possible to reflect data that is not generally applicable and is somewhat dependent on the person in the actions of the simulated player character. The method of using extrapolated data is the same as that of external data, and can be based on the method of using historical data. For example, extrapolated data can be used at all times or as needed, and the decision of whether or not to use it can be determined by the operation decision unit based on the environmental data. Furthermore, if the operation decision unit decides to use extrapolated data, the extrapolated data can be input to the operation artificial intelligence in addition to the environmental data and historical data. Extrapolated data can be used in conjunction with external data; for example, the action decision unit can, as needed, input external data and extrapolated data into the action artificial intelligence, in addition to environmental data and historical data.

[0016] As mentioned above, many companies now offer metaverse services, resulting in multiple metaverse management systems each managing different metaverses, and this situation is expected to continue. If there are multiple metaverse management devices, the pseudo-operation data generation unit in the pseudo-player character control device may generate the pseudo-operation data in the same data format as the operation data that each of the metaverse management devices to which the pseudo-operation data is transmitted is expected to receive at its receiving unit. In other words, the pseudo-operation data generation unit may be able to adjust, change, or convert each of the pseudo-operation data sent to each metaverse management device to the same data format as the operation data that the metaverse management device receiving the pseudo-operation data will receive. According to this, a single pseudo-player character control device can send pseudo-operation data to multiple metaverse management devices, allowing each of the multiple metaverse management devices to control the pseudo-player character's movements. In this case, the data format of the pseudo-operation data sent from one pseudo-player character control device to multiple metaverse management devices will be appropriate for each metaverse management device and may differ as needed. However, the motion artificial intelligence and motion determination unit that decide what actions the pseudo-player character should perform before the pseudo-operation data is generated can be the same. By doing so, the motion artificial intelligence and motion determination unit, which are the most expensive to create, can be reused, and the amount of money that can be spent on creating them can be greatly reduced. This leads to an improvement in the quality of the pseudo-player character's movements while suppressing costs.

[0017] The inventors of the present invention also propose a method implemented in a pseudo-player character control device as one aspect of the present invention. The effect of such a method is equivalent to the effect of the pseudo-player character control device according to the present invention. One example of such a method is a pseudo-player character control device that has the function of constructing a virtual three-dimensional space in which multiple player characters, each operated by multiple users, exist, and is used in combination with a metaverse management device that has the function of constructing a virtual three-dimensional space in which multiple player characters exist, each of which are characters operated by multiple users, and is equipped with a space construction unit that constructs the virtual three-dimensional space, a receiving unit that receives operation data, which is data for operating each of the multiple player characters, from a user terminal operated by each user via the Internet, a character control unit that operates the player characters in the virtual three-dimensional space based on the operation data received by the receiving unit, a metaverse image data generation unit that generates metaverse image data, which is data for metaverse images, which are moving images in the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the character control unit, and a transmitting unit that transmits the metaverse image data to the user terminal via the Internet, thereby enabling each user to view the metaverse image based on the metaverse image data on the user terminal, and is used in combination with a pseudo-player character control device that has the function of controlling pseudo-player characters in the virtual three-dimensional space, and is equipped with a control unit that performs information processing and a transmitting unit that transmits predetermined data to the metaverse management device via the Internet, and is a method executed by the control unit (pseudo-player character control method). The method includes an acquisition process to acquire environment data, which is data about the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, based on the metaverse image data received from the metaverse management device; a recording process to record in the motion pattern recording unit for each pseudo-player character an action artificial intelligence, which is an artificial intelligence that outputs the actions of the pseudo-player character appropriate to the environment indicated by the environment data when the environment data is input as data about the action pattern of the pseudo-player character; and when the environment data acquired in the acquisition process is input to the action artificial intelligence recorded in the motion pattern recording unit, the actions output from the action artificial intelligence are recorded in the environment data The system includes: an action determination process that determines an action to be performed by the pseudo-player character appropriate to the environment indicated; a pseudo-operation data generation process that creates pseudo-operation data, which is data to be performed by the pseudo-player character, in the same data format as the operation data, based on the action determined by the action determination process; a transmission process that transmits the pseudo-operation data to the receiving unit of the metaverse management device via the transmission unit and the internet; and a history recording process that records history data, which is data about the history of the past environment surrounding the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, for each pseudo-player character in the action pattern recording unit. Each of these processes is executed by the control unit. Furthermore, in the aforementioned action determination process, when determining the action to be performed by the pseudo-player character, the action to be performed by the pseudo-player character is determined based on the history data recorded in the action pattern recording unit.

[0018] The inventors of the present invention also propose, as an embodiment of the present invention, a computer program for causing a predetermined, for example, general-purpose computer to function as a pseudo-player character control device. The effects of such a computer program are equivalent to the effects of the pseudo-player character control device according to the present invention, and also include the ability to make a predetermined computer function as a pseudo-player character control device according to the present invention. One example of such a computer program is a computer program used in combination with a metaverse management device, which has the function of constructing a virtual three-dimensional space in which multiple player characters, each of which are characters operated by multiple users, reside, and which has the function of constructing a virtual three-dimensional space in which multiple player characters reside, and which has the function of constructing the virtual three-dimensional space, a receiving unit that receives operation data, which is data for operating each of the multiple player characters, from a user terminal operated by each user via the Internet, a character control unit that operates the player characters in the virtual three-dimensional space based on the operation data received by the receiving unit, a metaverse image data generation unit that generates metaverse image data, which is data for metaverse images, which are moving images in the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the character control unit, and a transmitting unit that transmits the metaverse image data to the user terminal via the Internet so that each user can view the metaverse images based on the metaverse image data on the user terminal. This computer program has the function of constructing a virtual three-dimensional space in which multiple player characters, each of which are characters operated by multiple users, reside, and is used in combination with a metaverse management device, which has the function of constructing the virtual three-dimensional space, and which has the function of controlling pseudo-player characters. The computer program includes an acquisition unit that acquires environment data, which is data about the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, based on the metaverse image data received from the metaverse management device; an action pattern recording unit that records for each pseudo-player character an action artificial intelligence, which is an artificial intelligence that outputs the actions of the pseudo-player character appropriate to the environment indicated by the environment data when the environment data is input as data about the action pattern of the pseudo-player character; and a function to determine the actions to be performed by the pseudo-player character. The system is configured to function as follows: an action determination unit that, when the received environmental data is input to the action artificial intelligence recorded in the action pattern recording unit, determines that the action output from the action artificial intelligence is an action to be performed by the pseudo-player character appropriate to the environment indicated by the environmental data; a pseudo-operation data generation unit that creates pseudo-operation data, which is data to be performed by the pseudo-player character, in the same data format as the operation data, based on the action determined by the action determination unit; and a transmission unit that transmits the pseudo-operation data to the receiving unit of the metaverse management device via the internet. Furthermore, the motion pattern recording unit is provided with a history recording unit that records history data, which is data about the past history of the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, for each pseudo-player character. The motion determination unit determines the action to be performed by the pseudo-player character based on the history data recorded in the history recording unit. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0019] [Figure 1] A diagram showing the overall configuration of the metaverse system according to the first embodiment. [Figure 2] Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a user terminal in the metaverse system. [Figure 3] Figure 2 shows the hardware configuration of the user terminal. [Figure 4] A block diagram showing the functional blocks generated inside the user terminal shown in Figure 2. [Figure 5] A block diagram showing an example of a functional block generated inside the pseudo-player character control device shown in Figure 1. [Figure 6] Figure 5 conceptually illustrates the data recorded in the operation pattern recording unit. [Figure 7] A block diagram showing an example of a functional block generated within the metaverse management device shown in Figure 1. [Figure 8] A diagram showing the overall structure of the metaverse system through a modified example. [Figure 9] Figure 6 conceptually illustrates the data recorded in the motion dataset shown. [Figure 10] A diagram conceptually illustrating the data input to and output from an AI system. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0020] A preferred first embodiment of the pseudo-player character control device according to the present invention, its modifications, and a second embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the descriptions of each embodiment and modification, the same reference numerals shall be used for the same parts, and redundant descriptions shall be omitted as appropriate. Furthermore, unless otherwise inconsistent, the contents described in each embodiment and modification are applicable to any embodiment and modification.

[0021] ≪First Embodiment≫ Figure 1 schematically shows the overall configuration of a first embodiment of a metaverse system, which includes the pseudo-player character control device of the present invention. The metaverse system according to the first embodiment is composed of multiple, actually numerous, user terminals 100, multiple, but not limited to, metaverse management devices 200, and pseudo-player character control devices 300. In this embodiment, however not limited to, the number of metaverse management devices 200 and pseudo-player character control devices 300 are equal, and in this embodiment, however not limited to, there are three metaverse management devices 200 and three pseudo-player character control devices 300. In this embodiment, however not limited to, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the equal number of metaverse management devices 200 and pseudo-player character control devices 300. In this embodiment, however not limited to, metaverse management device 200-1 corresponds to pseudo-player character control device 300-1, metaverse management device 200-2 corresponds to pseudo-player character control device 300-2, and metaverse management device 200-3 corresponds to pseudo-player character control device 300-3. The user terminal 100, the metaverse management device 200, and the pseudo-player character control device 300 are all connected to the Internet, which is a network 400, and are configured to communicate with each other via the Internet 400. The data that the user terminal 100, the metaverse management device 200, and the pseudo-player character control device 300 send and receive from each other will be described later.

[0022] The user terminal 100, the metaverse management device 200, and the pseudo-player character control device 300 will be described in more detail. The metaverse management device 200 generates a virtual three-dimensional space, which is the world of the metaverse, and provides metaverse services to the user. In the virtual three-dimensional space, there are player characters operated by the user and pseudo-player characters operated by the pseudo-player character control device 300. As is well known, the virtual three-dimensional space may also contain roads, buildings, various objects and living things, non-player characters, etc., but since the present invention is basically only concerned with player characters and pseudo-player characters, the following explanation will basically omit explanations of other things that exist in the virtual three-dimensional space. The metaverse management device 200 generates metaverse image data of metaverse images, which are moving images in the virtual three-dimensional space of the metaverse, and sends it to the user terminal 100. In this embodiment, the user terminal 100 functions as an interface for the user to enjoy the metaverse services. The user terminal 100 has the characteristics of an input device for controlling the player character, which is a character operated by the user and sent into the virtual three-dimensional space as the user's avatar. The user terminal 100 also has the characteristics of a viewer for the user to enjoy the metaverse services. As will be described later, the user terminal 100 is equipped with a display, on which an image based on the metaverse image data received by the user terminal 100 from the metaverse management device 200 is displayed. As will be described later, the display may be a device other than the user terminal 100 that is connected to the user terminal 100. By viewing the image displayed on the display (of course, there may be sound output, and as is well known, sound output is common), the user can experience the events experienced by their player character in the virtual three-dimensional space. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the user terminal 100 also has the function of generating a player character for the user to use, as a prerequisite for the user to receive the metaverse services. The pseudo-player character control device 300 is a device that controls a pseudo-player character, which is a player character not operated by the user, and its movements. In other words, the pseudo-player character control device 300 has the function of operating the pseudo-player character. As mentioned above, the pseudo-player character control device 300 has a one-to-one correspondence with the metaverse management device 200. The pseudo-player character control device 300 is designed to operate the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space created by the metaverse management device 200 to which it is linked. The details of the user terminal 100, the metaverse management device 200, and the pseudo-player character control device 300 will be described below in order.

[0023] First, the configuration of the user terminal 100 will be described. The configuration of each user terminal 100 is the same as that of the present invention. The user terminal 100 includes a computer. More specifically, the user terminal 100 in this embodiment is composed of a general-purpose computer device. However, it is not limited to this, but the user terminal 100 is a computer owned personally by each user. The user terminal 100 can be any device capable of receiving services from the metaverse. Specifically, the user terminal 100 can be a desktop PC, notebook PC, smartphone, tablet, or dedicated game console. All of these devices must be capable of communication via the network 400, and by installing the computer program described later, they must be able to generate the functional blocks described later within themselves and execute the processes described later. As long as they can do this, no other specifications are particularly required. The user terminal 100 is equipped with a display that is either integrated or external. The display will show images of the three-dimensional space in the metaverse, as described later. The external display may be a general-purpose desktop display, but it may also be a head-mounted display. For example, if user terminal 100 is a smartphone or a tablet, then user terminal 100 as a smartphone could be, for example, an iPhone (series product) manufactured and sold by Apple Japan LLC, and user terminal 100 as a tablet could be, for example, an iPad (series product) manufactured and sold by Apple Japan LLC. Note that "Apple Japan," "iPhone," and "iPad" are all trademarks.

[0024] Figure 2 shows an example of the appearance of the user terminal 100. While not limited to this example, Figure 2 shows the appearance when the user terminal 100 is a smartphone. The user terminal 100 is equipped with a display 101. The display 101 is for displaying images, whether still images or moving images, and can be a publicly known or well-known type. For example, the display 101 may be a liquid crystal display or an organic EL display. The user terminal 100 is also equipped with an input device 102. The input device 102 is for the user to provide desired input to the user terminal 100. The input device 102 can be a publicly known or well-known type. In this embodiment, the input device 102 of the user terminal 100 is a button type, but is not limited to this, and can also be a numeric keypad, keyboard, trackball, mouse, etc. In particular, if the user terminal 100 is a notebook PC or a desktop PC, the input device 102 will likely be a keyboard or mouse. Also, if the user terminal 100 is a stationary game console, the input device 102 is generally a dedicated controller. Furthermore, if the display 101 is a touch panel, the display 101 will also function as the input device 102, and this is the case in this embodiment.

[0025] The hardware configuration of user terminal 100 is shown in Figure 3. The hardware includes a CPU (central processing unit) 111, ROM (read-only memory) 112, RAM (random access memory) 113, an interface 114, and a mass storage medium 115, which are interconnected by a bus 116. The CPU 111 is an arithmetic unit that performs calculations. The CPU 111 executes the processes described later by running computer programs recorded in, for example, the ROM 112, RAM 113, or mass storage medium 115. ROM 112 stores computer programs and data necessary for the CPU 111 to perform the processes described later. The same applies to the mass storage medium 115. Examples of mass storage mediums 115 include HDDs (hard disk drives) and SSDs (solid state drives). The computer programs recorded in the ROM 112 and the mass storage medium 115 include, for example, general computer programs and data necessary for the user terminal 100 to function as a smartphone, such as programs for making calls and sending emails, or for enabling communication via the Internet 400, if the user terminal 100 is a smartphone. The user terminal 100 is also capable of browsing homepages based on data received via the network 400, and implements a well-known web browser to enable this. RAM113 provides the work area necessary for the CPU111 to perform processing. In some cases, it may contain, for example, some of the aforementioned computer programs or data. Interface 114 is used for data exchange between the CPU 111, RAM 113, etc., connected via bus 116, and the outside world. The display 101 and input device 102 are connected to interface 114. The operation information input from input device 102 is input to bus 116 from interface 114. Also, as is well known, image data for displaying images on display 101 is output from interface 114 to display 101. Interface 114 is also connected to a known transmitting / receiving mechanism (not shown) for communicating with the outside world via the network 400, which is the Internet. This allows the user terminal 100 to transmit and receive data via the network 400. Such data transmission and reception via the network 400 may be done via wired or wireless connections. For example, if the user terminal 100 is a smartphone, such communication would typically be done wirelessly. The configuration of the transmitting / receiving mechanism can be publicly known or widely accepted, as long as communication via the Internet 400 is possible. Data received by the transmitting / receiving mechanism from the network 400 is received by interface 114, and data passed from interface 114 to the transmitting / receiving mechanism is sent by the transmitting / receiving mechanism via the network 400 to the outside world, for example, another user terminal 100. Details of the data that each user terminal 100 transmits and receives using the transmitting / receiving mechanism via the network 400 will be described later.

[0026] When the CPU 111 executes a computer program, functional blocks as shown in Figure 4 are generated inside the user terminal 100. These functional blocks may be generated solely by the computer program that enables the user terminal 100 to function as the user terminal of the present invention, or they may be generated through the cooperation of that computer program and the OS or other computer programs installed in the user terminal 100. Within the user terminal 100, in relation to the functions of the present invention, at least an input unit 121, a control unit 122, an image control unit 123, and an output unit 124 are generated, as shown in Figure 4. Of these, the input section 121 and the output section 124, when viewed as hardware, correspond to the interface 114, or are realized by the functions of the interface 114. More specifically, the input section 121 and the output section 124 conceptually correspond to the connection between the interface 114 and the bus 116. Furthermore, the control unit 122 and the image control unit 123 correspond to the CPU 111, which is a processing unit, in terms of hardware, or are realized by the functions of the CPU 111.

[0027] The input unit 121 receives input from the interface 114. The data input from interface 114 includes data input by input device 102. Other data that can be input to input unit 121 from interface 114 include data input from the transmitting / receiving mechanism via interface 114. The data input from input device 102 and the transmitting / receiving mechanism will be described later. When the input unit 121 receives these, it sends them to either the control unit 122 or the image control unit 123.

[0028] The control unit 122 has a function to generate data necessary for receiving services from the metaverse or from a simulated player character. Examples of data generated by the control unit 122 include account data, which is unique information for identifying the user operating the user terminal 100; data for logging into metaverse services; character data, which is data for generating a player character operated by the user; and selection data, which will be described later, for selecting a simulated player character that acts together with the player character operated by the user. The control unit 122 also generates operation data when the user is receiving services in the metaverse (when the user is using the metaverse). Operation data is data for controlling the player character, which is the character controlled by the user in the metaverse. The operation data generated by the control unit 122 may, for example, instruct the player character to perform actions such as movement that mimic human actions, or to make the player character engage in conversation, as in the conventional system. The data format of the operation data that each metaverse management device 200 can accept may differ from one metaverse management device 200 to another, depending on the circumstances. The operation data generated by the control unit 122 is in a data format that can be accepted by the metaverse management device 200 that manages the metaverse from which the user is receiving services. The control unit 122 may also generate player character data, which is data for the metaverse management device 200 to generate for the player character operated by the user. The control unit 122 sends various types of data, including the generated operation data, to the output unit 124.

[0029] The image control unit 123 generates image data for the image displayed on the display 101. The image control unit 123 may generate image data for the moving image displayed on the display 101 based on the metaverse image data generated by the metaverse management device 200, as will be described later. The metaverse image, which is an image based on the metaverse image data, reflects the surroundings of the player character in the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the metaverse management device 200, as will be described later. The metaverse image data is data that identifies such a metaverse image. Although the name "image data" is used, the metaverse image data may also include audio data and text data for performing text chat, and is not limited to this in this embodiment, but is used as such. The image control unit 123 sends the generated image data to the output unit 124.

[0030] The output unit 124 outputs data to the interface 114. The data that the output unit 124 outputs to the interface 114 includes various data, including operation data, received from the control unit 122, and image data received from the image control unit 123. The output unit 124 outputs all of this data to the interface 114. The data received by the output unit 124 from the control unit 122 is sent to the transmission / reception mechanism via the interface 114, and from the transmission / reception mechanism, it is sent to the metaverse management device 200 or the pseudo-player character control device 300 via the network 400. The output unit 124 receives image data from the image control unit 123, which is then sent to the display 101 via the interface 114. The display 101 displays an image corresponding to the image data. The image data may include text related to text chat based on text data contained in the metaverse image data. Audio data contained in the image data is sent to a speaker (not shown), and the speaker outputs audio based on audio data contained in the metaverse image data.

[0031] Next, the configuration of the pseudo-player character control device 300 will be described. The pseudo-player character control device 300, in terms of hardware, can be an existing, publicly known, or well-known server device. Furthermore, its hardware configuration can be a general one. In relation to the present invention, the hardware configuration of the pseudo-player character control device 300 is the same as the hardware configuration of the user terminal 100 shown in Figure 3. The pseudo-player character control device 300 consists of a CPU, ROM, RAM, interface, and mass storage medium connected by a bus. The configuration and functions of the CPU, ROM, RAM, interface, bus, and mass storage medium of the pseudo-player character control device 300 are the same as those of the user terminal 100. Furthermore, the interface of the pseudo-player character control device 300 is connected to a transmission and reception mechanism, similar to that of the user terminal 100, for communication with devices outside the pseudo-player character control device 300 via the network 400. The interface of the pseudo-player character control device 300 is also connected to input devices similar to those of the user terminal 100, although these are not limited to such devices. These input devices may include, for example, a keyboard and a mouse. The interface of the pseudo-player character control device 300 may also be connected to a display similar to that of the user terminal 100. The pseudo-player character control device 300 contains, for example, a computer program for enabling the server to function as the pseudo-player character control device 300, stored in its ROM or mass storage medium. This computer program may be pre-installed on the server that will become the pseudo-player character control device 300, or it may be post-installed. The installation of this computer program on the server may be performed via a predetermined recording medium such as a memory card or CD-ROM, or via a network such as a LAN or the Internet.

[0032] When the CPU executes a computer program, functional blocks as shown in Figure 5 are generated within the pseudo-player character control device 300. These functional blocks may be generated solely by the computer program used to make the server function as the pseudo-player character control device 300 of the present invention, or they may be generated through the cooperation of that computer program with the OS and other computer programs installed on the server. Within the pseudo-player character control device 300, in relation to the functions of the present invention, at least an input unit 321, a control unit 322, an operation determination unit 323, an operation pattern recording unit 324, a pseudo-operation data generation unit 325, an output unit 326, and an image analysis unit 327 are generated, as shown in Figure 5. Of these, the input section 321 and the output section 326, when viewed as hardware, correspond to an interface, or are realized by the functions of the interface. More specifically, the input section 321 and the output section 326 conceptually correspond to the connection part between the interface and the bus. Furthermore, among the functional blocks, the control unit 322, the operation determination unit 323, the pseudo-operation data generation unit 325, and the image analysis unit 327 correspond to a CPU as hardware, or are realized through the functions of the CPU. Furthermore, the operation pattern recording unit 324 among the functional blocks is, in hardware terms, composed of a recording medium for recording data, and more specifically, is implemented by ROM, RAM, or a large-capacity storage medium.

[0033] The input unit 321 receives input from the interface. The data input to the input unit 321 from the interface includes data input from the transmission / reception mechanism via the interface. The data sent to the input unit 321 from the transmission / reception mechanism includes, for example, operation data and selection data sent from the user terminal 100, and metaverse image data, which will be described later, sent from the metaverse management device 200. The input unit 321 sends the metaverse image data from the data received from the transmission / reception mechanism to the image analysis unit 327, and sends the remaining data to the control unit 322.

[0034] The control unit 322 controls the entire pseudo-player character control device 300 and also has some functions equivalent to those of the control unit 122 of the user terminal 100. The control unit 122 of the user terminal 100 had the function of generating data necessary to receive metaverse services. The control unit 322 has a similar function. The data generated by the control unit 322 includes account data that identifies each pseudo-player character operated by the pseudo-player character control device 300, character data which is data for generating the pseudo-player characters operated by the pseudo-player character control device 300, and login data. As will be described later, from the perspective of the metaverse management device 200, the player characters operated by the user (operated by the user terminal 100) and the pseudo-player characters operated by the pseudo-player character control device 300 are indistinguishable, or at least do not need to be distinguished. Therefore, the account data, character data, and login data generated by the control unit 322 are all equivalent to the account data etc. created by the control unit 122 of the user terminal 100. The control unit 322 sends the generated account data and login data to the operation determination unit 323, but as will be described later, it may also send them to the output unit 326 in some cases. The control unit 322 also sends the generated character data and login data to the output unit 326. As will be described later, the pseudo-player character control device 300 is basically for automatically operating (controlling) the pseudo-player character. As will be described later, the pseudo-player character is operated by pseudo-operation data, which will also be described later, and is automatically generated by the pseudo-player character control device 300. However, although not limited to this, in the pseudo-player character control device 300 of this embodiment, for example, before the pseudo-operation data is generated (more specifically, before the operation artificial intelligence described later is generated), or before the operation artificial intelligence is installed in the pseudo-player character control device 300, the pseudo-player character is operated by operation data generated according to data input from the input device by the administrator of the pseudo-player character control device 300 (hereinafter simply referred to as "administrator" for simplicity). Although not limited to this, in the pseudo-player character control device 300 of this embodiment, the control unit 322 generates operation data based on data input from the input device and received via the interface and input unit 321. The operation data generated by the control unit 322 is in a data format that can be accepted by the metaverse management device 200 linked to the pseudo-player character control device 300. In other words, it is in the same data format as the operation data sent from the user terminal 100 to the metaverse management device 200 linked to the pseudo-player character control device 300. The control unit 322 sends the generated operation data to the output unit 326.

[0035] The action determination unit 323 has the function of determining the action to be performed by the simulated player character. As described above, the action determination unit 323 may receive account data from the control unit 322. Upon receiving the account data, the action determination unit 323 determines the action that the pseudo-player character associated with that account should perform and generates action data, which is data that identifies that action. The action determination unit 323 uses the data recorded in the action pattern recording unit 324 and the environmental data sent from the image analysis unit 327 (described later) to determine the action that the simulated player character should perform.

[0036] The image analysis unit 327 has the function performed by the acquisition unit of this application, and has the function of generating environment data based on metaverse image data. However, when training the operational artificial intelligence 3241A (for example, when the pseudo-player character control device 300 sends operation data, not pseudo-operation data, to the metaverse management device 200), the image analysis unit 327 generates not only environment data but also operation data, which will be described later. As described above, the image analysis unit 327 receives metaverse image data from the input unit 321. The metaverse image, which is an image based on the metaverse image data, reflects the surrounding environment of the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the metaverse management device 200, as will be described later. The image analysis unit 327 generates environment data from the metaverse image data, which is data about the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character. As described above, in this embodiment, the metaverse image data includes not only video data but also audio data and text data for, for example, text chat. The image analysis unit 327 may also generate data about the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character based on the video data included in the metaverse image data, as well as on the audio and text data, and this is done in this embodiment. Environmental data includes, for example, the position (e.g., coordinates) of the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space where it exists, whether a player character is nearby, the relative positional relationship with the pseudo-player character if a player character is nearby, the characteristics of the player character, and the situation (or feature points indicating the situation) indicated by the metaverse image (including audio and text) identified by the metaverse image data, such as the content of the words spoken by the player character. To extract these situations, the image analysis unit 327 may use artificial intelligence (the artificial intelligence referred to here is different from the operational artificial intelligence described later). For example, artificial intelligence that performs image recognition and extracts feature points from images is already publicly known or well-known. Such artificial intelligence, or artificial intelligence that, when given video data as input, understands what kind of "situation" the video shows and outputs that "situation," can be used as artificial intelligence to understand the "situation" shown by video data contained in metaverse image data. Similarly, artificial intelligence that, when audio data is input, understands what kind of "situation" the audio represents or what kind of "meaning" the language contained in the audio has, and outputs that "situation" or "meaning," is already publicly known or well-known. Therefore, such artificial intelligence can be used to understand the "situation" indicated by the audio data contained in the video in the metaverse image data. Similarly, artificial intelligence that, when given text data as input, understands the "meaning" of that text and outputs that "meaning" is already known or widely recognized. It is possible to use the "meaning" data output by such artificial intelligence as the environmental data of this application. The image analysis unit 327 sends the generated environmental data to the operation decision unit 323. The images identified by the metaverse image data are moving images. The image analysis unit 327 may continuously generate environmental data in real time and send the generated environmental data to the operation decision unit 323 in real time, or it may generate environmental data in batches at intervals of approximately 0.5 to 2 seconds and send the environmental data to the operation decision unit 323 each time it is generated. Alternatively, the image analysis unit 327 may generate environmental data when, for example, a predetermined event occurs as a result of analyzing the metaverse image data, and send the environmental data to the operation decision unit 323 each time it is generated. Of course, the timing of generating environmental data and sending it to the operation decision unit 323 can be any combination of the timings exemplified above. In the above explanation, the image analysis unit 327 sends environmental data to the motion determination unit 323. However, in this embodiment, the environmental data is sent not only to the motion determination unit 323 but also to the motion pattern recording unit 324. Furthermore, the image analysis unit 327 may, in some cases (for example, when training the motion artificial intelligence), send environmental data to the motion artificial intelligence in the motion pattern recording unit 324. When the image analysis unit 327 sends environmental data to the motion pattern recording unit 324, it also generates motion data from the metaverse image data, which indicates what actions the simulated player character performed, and sends this motion data to the motion pattern recording unit 324 as well. This motion data, like the motion data generated by the motion determination unit 323, identifies the actions of the simulated player character. The circumstances under which the image analysis unit 327 sends environmental data to the motion pattern recording unit 324 will be described later.

[0037] On the other hand, the motion pattern recording unit 324 records data for determining the motion patterns that the simulated player character should perform. The data used to determine the action patterns that each pseudo-player character should perform is recorded in the action pattern recording unit 324 in a one-to-one correspondence with each pseudo-player character, for example. The set of data used to determine the action patterns that each pseudo-player character should perform will be conveniently referred to as the action data set. In this embodiment, each pseudo-player character and the action data set are recorded in the action pattern recording unit 324 in a one-to-one correspondence, although this is not an exhaustive example. As described above, the action determination unit 323 receives account data, which is unique information that identifies a pseudo-player character and is associated with it on a one-to-one basis. By linking multiple action datasets to account data, the action determination unit 323 can select an action dataset that was linked to the account data received from the control unit 322, and determine an appropriate action for the pseudo-player character linked to that account data, based on the received environment data and the data contained in the action dataset. However, it is also possible to link one action dataset to multiple accounts or multiple pseudo-player characters, thereby making it possible to determine the actions of multiple pseudo-player characters using one action dataset.

[0038] Figure 6 conceptually illustrates the contents of the data recorded in the operation pattern recording unit 324. The motion pattern recording unit 324 records multiple motion datasets 3241. The data contained in each motion dataset 3241 includes account data associated with each pseudo-player character to which it is linked. In Figure 6, each motion dataset 3241 has the word "ID" written on it, and the characters that follow it (for example, "123XX" in the upper left motion dataset 3241) indicate the account associated with that motion dataset 3241.

[0039] Each action dataset 3241 contains data as shown in Figure 9(A). The operation dataset 3241 records operation artificial intelligence 3241A and history data 3241B. The portion of the operation pattern recording unit 324, which is part of the recording medium, that records the history data 3241B is referred to as the history recording unit in this application. The behavioral artificial intelligence 3241A is an artificial intelligence for determining the actions of a pseudo-player character linked to account data associated with the behavioral dataset 3241 in which it is contained. While the behavioral artificial intelligence 3241A primarily determines the actions of one pseudo-player character, if the behavioral dataset 3241 containing the behavioral artificial intelligence 3241A is linked to multiple pseudo-player characters, it may also determine the actions of multiple pseudo-player characters linked to the behavioral dataset 3241. The AI ​​3241A is an artificial intelligence that, upon input of environmental data and, depending on the case, historical data, outputs operational data for the actions of a simulated player character that are appropriate to the environment identified by the environmental data (and historical data), and the history of the simulated player character in the past (which corresponds to the simulated player character's past memories). The behavioral artificial intelligence 3241A, in this embodiment but not limited to this, is a trained artificial intelligence obtained by performing training using deep learning. More specifically, the behavioral artificial intelligence 3241A is a trained artificial intelligence obtained by performing training in advance using environmental data and behavioral data, which is data about the actions taken by a pseudo-player character (at the time of training, the pseudo-player character is operated by a human administrator, so the pseudo-player character here is effectively a player character) in that environment, as training data. The behavioral artificial intelligence 3241A obtained in this way is an artificial intelligence that, when environmental data, or environmental data and history data, is input, outputs behavioral data about the actions of a pseudo-player character appropriate for the environment identified by the environmental data. Details on how to obtain the operational artificial intelligence 3241A, that is, how to train the operational artificial intelligence 3241A, will be described later.

[0040] On the other hand, the history data 3241B conceptually contains data that corresponds to the memories of encounters that the pseudo-player character, linked to the account data recorded in each action dataset 3241, has had in the virtual three-dimensional space in the past. History data 3241B is data about the past history of the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space. In this embodiment, history data 3241B is input to the operational artificial intelligence 3241A along with the environment data, as will be described later, and is data that influences the "actions" that the pseudo-player character should perform, as output as a result. However, the use of history data 3241B is not limited to influencing the "actions" that the simulated player character should perform by inputting it into the action artificial intelligence 3241A. It may also influence the "actions" that the simulated player character should perform by other means. For example, history data 3241B can also be used to modify the "actions" that the simulated player character should perform by performing predetermined information processing on the "actions" that the action artificial intelligence 3241A outputs as actions that the simulated player character should perform by inputting environment data. For example, if the "actions" that the action artificial intelligence 3241A outputs as a result of inputting environment data contradict actions that the simulated player character has taken in the past, the action determination unit 323 can cancel or modify those "actions" based on the referenced history data. In this way, history data 3241B can also modify the "actions" that the simulated player character should perform to be more natural.

[0041] The history data 3241B can be any data that describes the past history of a pseudo-player character linked to the account data included in the action dataset 3241 in which it is contained, that is, data about the surrounding environment of the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space in the past, and to that extent, the method of generating it is also free. The history data 3241B may be generated as follows, for example, and recorded in the operation pattern recording unit 324. As previously described, in this embodiment, the image analysis unit 327 generates environment data at predetermined timings when the pseudo-player character is acting in the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the metaverse management device 200. The environment data is sent to the operation decision unit 323, but in this embodiment, at least a portion of it is sent to the operation pattern recording unit 324. In this embodiment, the operation pattern recording unit 324 records at least a portion of the received environment data as history data 3241B. Which environment data the image analysis unit 327 sends to the operation pattern recording unit 324 as history data 3241B (of course, all environment data may be sent to the operation pattern recording unit 324), and which environment data received by the operation pattern recording unit 324 is recorded as history data 3241B (for example, this selection can be controlled by the control unit 322, the operation decision unit 323, or the image analysis unit 327), can be determined as appropriate. As a result, the environmental data is accumulated as historical data 3241B, along with data such as a timestamp indicating when the environmental data was generated (the date and time specified by the timestamp may be a date and time within the virtual three-dimensional space) and location information indicating where the environmental data was generated (the location information may only indicate which virtual three-dimensional space the action of the pseudo-player character that caused the environmental data to be generated took place in, or it may indicate the exact location within that virtual three-dimensional space, such as the position coordinates within that virtual three-dimensional space). By doing so, the set of historical data 3241B will show what happened, where, and when in the past around the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space where the pseudo-player character acted. It should be obvious that this is equivalent to human memory.

[0042] As described above, the action determination unit 323 determines the action to be performed by the simulated player character, using the data recorded in the action pattern recording unit 324 and the data sent from the image analysis unit 327. More specifically, when the operation determination unit 323 receives account data from the control unit 322, it reads the operation data set 3241 associated with that account data from the operation pattern recording unit 324 and records it on, for example, RAM or other recording medium (Figure 10(A)). Figure 10(A) conceptually shows, for example, the operation artificial intelligence 3241A and history data 3241B deployed on RAM. The motion determination unit 323 inputs the environmental data received from the image analysis unit 327, and possibly the history data 3241B, to the motion artificial intelligence 3241A. The motion artificial intelligence 3241A then outputs motion data. The action determination unit 323 determines the action that the simulated player character should perform based on the action data obtained in this manner. The circumstances under which the action determination unit 323 inputs history data 3241B in addition to environment data to the action artificial intelligence 3241A will be described later. On the other hand, the action determination unit 323 may always input history data 3241B in addition to environment data to the action artificial intelligence 3241A. The operation determination unit 323 sends the aforementioned operation data, generated using environmental data and, depending on the case, history data 3241B, to the pseudo-operation data generation unit 325.

[0043] The simulated operation data generation unit 325 has the function of generating simulated operation data. As described above, the pseudo-operation data generation unit 325 receives operation data from the operation determination unit 323. Upon receiving the operation data, the pseudo-operation data generation unit 325 generates pseudo-operation data, which is data for causing the pseudo-player character identified by the account data described above to perform the operation identified by the operation data. The pseudo-operation data is in a data format that can be accepted by the metaverse management device 200 to which the pseudo-player character control device 300 is linked. The input devices used by the user to operate the player character generally differ for each metaverse management device 200. For example, one metaverse management device 200 is intended for the user to use a keyboard and mouse when operating the player character, while another metaverse management device 200 is intended for the user to use a touch panel. Due to such differences, the data format of the operation data accepted by each metaverse management device 200 is not necessarily different for all metaverse management devices 200, but it is at least likely to be different. The pseudo-operation data generation unit 325 generates pseudo-operation data such that the pseudo-operation data to be generated and sent to the metaverse management device 200 is in a data format that the metaverse management device 200 can accept (i.e., the same data format as the operation data that the metaverse management device 200 is expected to accept). The simulated operation data generation unit 325 sends the generated simulated operation data to the output unit 326.

[0044] The output unit 326 receives account data, character data, login data, and operation data from the control unit 322. The output unit 326 also receives pseudo-operation data from the pseudo-operation data generation unit 325. The output unit 326 sends the received data to the transmission / reception mechanism. Upon receiving the data, the transmission / reception mechanism sends it via the network 400 to the metaverse management device 200, which is linked to the pseudo-player character control device 300.

[0045] Next, the configuration of the metaverse management device 200 will be described. The metaverse management device 200, in terms of hardware, can be an existing, publicly known, or well-known server device. Furthermore, its hardware configuration can be a general one. In relation to the present invention, the hardware configuration of the metaverse management device 200 is the same as that of the user terminal 100 shown in Figure 3. The metaverse management device 200 consists of a CPU, ROM, RAM, interface, and mass storage medium connected via a bus. The configuration and functions of the CPU, ROM, RAM, interface, bus, and mass storage medium of the metaverse management device 200 are the same as those of the user terminal 100. Furthermore, the interface of the metaverse management device 200 is connected to a transmission / reception mechanism, similar to that of the user terminal 100, for communication with devices outside the metaverse management device 200 via the network 400. The interface of the metaverse management device 200 may also be connected to a display and input devices similar to those of the user terminal 100, but this is not particularly relevant to the present invention and will therefore not be explained. The metaverse management device 200, for example, stores a computer program on its large-capacity storage medium that enables the server to function as the metaverse management device 200. This computer program may be pre-installed on the server that will become the metaverse management device 200, or it may be post-installed. The installation of this computer program on the server may be performed via a predetermined storage medium such as a memory card or CD-ROM, or via a network such as a LAN or the Internet.

[0046] When the CPU executes a computer program, functional blocks like those shown in Figure 7 are generated within the metaverse management device 200. These functional blocks may be generated solely by the computer program used to make the server function as the metaverse management device 200 of the present invention, or they may be generated through the cooperation of that computer program with the OS and other computer programs installed on the server. Within the metaverse management device 200, in relation to the functions of the present invention, at least an input unit 221, a control unit 222, a virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223, a player character data recording unit 224, a metaverse data recording unit 225, a metaverse image data generation unit 226, and an output unit 227 are generated, as shown in Figure 7. Of these, the input section 221 and the output section 227, when viewed as hardware, correspond to an interface, or are realized by the functions of the interface. More specifically, the input section 221 and the output section 227 conceptually correspond to the connection part between the interface and the bus. Furthermore, among the functional blocks, the control unit 222, the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223, and the metaverse image data generation unit 226 correspond to a CPU as hardware, or are realized by the functions of the CPU. Furthermore, among the functional blocks, the player character data recording unit 224 and the metaverse data recording unit 225 are, in terms of hardware, composed of recording media for recording data, and more specifically, are implemented by ROM, RAM, or mass storage media.

[0047] The input unit 221 receives input from the interface. The data input from the interface includes data input from the transmission / reception mechanism via the interface. Examples of data sent from the transmission / reception mechanism to the input unit 221 include account data, login data, character data, and operation data sent from the user terminal 100, and account data, login data, character data, operation data, and simulated operation data sent from the simulated player character control device 300. The input unit 221 sends the aforementioned data received from the transmission / reception mechanism to the control unit 222.

[0048] The control unit 222 has the function of performing processing that is a prerequisite for the user to receive metaverse services via the user terminal 100. The prerequisite processing involves the user terminal 100 or the pseudo-player character control device 300 logging in to the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the metaverse management device 200, or to the metaverse services provided by the metaverse management device 200. This process will be described later. The prerequisite processing includes the process of generating a player character or a pseudo-player character. As described above, the control unit 222 may receive account data and character data sent from the user terminal 100 via the input unit 221. Upon receiving this data, the control unit 222 generates player character data to be used by the user to whom the received account data is assigned. As is well known, player characters can have features such as gender, name, height, body type, facial features, and clothing arbitrarily selected. The character data is such that each of these features is identified. The control unit 222 generates a player character based on the received character data, links it to the account data, and then records the player character data, which is the data of the player character, in the player character data recording unit 224. The control unit 222 may also receive account data and character data sent from the pseudo-player character control device 300 via the input unit 221. Upon receiving this data, the control unit 222 generates a player character by performing the same processing as when it receives account data and character data sent from the user terminal 100 via the input unit 221, and records the generated player character data, which is the data of the player character, in the player character data recording unit 224. From the perspective of the metaverse management device 200, the player character generated based on the character data sent from the pseudo-player character control device 300 is indistinguishable from, or at least does not need to be distinguished from, the player character generated based on the character data sent from the user terminal 100. However, since this player character is not a person but is basically operated or made to operate by the pseudo-player character control device 300, it becomes a pseudo-player character in the present invention. When the control unit 222 provides metaverse services to the user after the login process is performed based on the account data sent from the user terminal 100, it sends the account data received from the input unit 221 to the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223. When the control unit 222 provides metaverse services to the pseudo-player character control device 300 after the login process is performed based on the account data sent from the pseudo-player character control device 300, it sends the account data received from the input unit 221 to the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223. The control unit 222 also sends operation data received from the user terminal 100 via the input unit 221 to the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 when providing metaverse services to a user. The control unit 222 also sends operation data or pseudo-operation data received from the pseudo-player character control device 300 via the input unit 221 to the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 when providing metaverse services to the pseudo-player character control device 300.

[0049] The virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 creates the virtual three-dimensional space that the metaverse management device 200 provides to the user through computation, and also generates virtual three-dimensional space data, which is data that identifies the said virtual three-dimensional space. The virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 can be said to form the core of the metaverse service provided to the user. In order for the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 to construct the virtual three-dimensional space, the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 uses the operation data sent from the user terminal 100, which it receives from the control unit 222, and the operation data or pseudo-operation data sent from the pseudo-player character control device 300, which it also receives from the control unit 222. In addition to these, it also uses the player character data associated with the account identified by the account data sent from the user terminal 100 and the pseudo-player character control device 300, which was recorded in the player character data recording unit 224, and the metaverse data recorded in the metaverse data recording unit 225. Of the data used by the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 to generate the virtual three-dimensional space, any data not described so far is metaverse data. Metaverse data is data about all objects except player characters that are necessary for the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 to generate the virtual three-dimensional space. All objects may include, for example, data to identify natural objects such as land, mountains, and rivers that exist in the virtual three-dimensional space, roads and buildings, furniture and fixtures inside buildings, exhibition booths and products, non-player characters, etc., as well as data to identify their position and orientation within the virtual three-dimensional space. It may also include data about dynamic objects within the virtual three-dimensional space, such as non-player characters, weather, and means of transportation (this data may also include data for moving dynamic objects within the virtual three-dimensional space). The metaverse data recording unit 225 records all such data in the metaverse, other than that related to player characters, as metaverse data. The virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 generates a virtual three-dimensional space by reading metaverse data from the metaverse data recording unit 225. The virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 then places the user's player character, read from the player character data recording unit 224, and the pseudo-player character, which is the player character for the pseudo-player character control device 300, within that virtual three-dimensional space. The operation of the player character is then determined by operation data sent from the user terminal 100, which is received from the control unit 222. The operation of the pseudo-player character is also determined by operation data or pseudo-operation data sent from the pseudo-player character control device 300, which is received from the control unit 222. The technology used by the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 to generate the virtual three-dimensional space is sufficiently publicly known or well-known. Examples of such technologies include, for example, "Unity™," a service provided by Unity Technologies Japan Inc. for generating 3D content in real time, and "Unreal Engine™," a service provided by Epic Games, Inc. for generating 3D content in real time. For example, by using these technologies, the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 can generate a certain range of virtual three-dimensional space in which the player character and the pseudo-player character exist. At this time, the actions performed by the player character are assumed to be those intended by the user, and the actions performed by the pseudo-player character are in accordance with the operation data or pseudo-operation data sent from the pseudo-player character control device 300. The data that identifies the virtual three-dimensional space generated in this manner is called virtual three-dimensional space data. The virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 sends the virtual three-dimensional space data to the metaverse image data generation unit 226. The virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 sends the virtual three-dimensional space data to the metaverse image data generation unit 226 continuously in virtually real time.

[0050] The metaverse image data generation unit 226 has the function of generating metaverse image data, which is data about a metaverse image. As described above, the metaverse image data generation unit 226 receives virtual three-dimensional space data. As described above, the virtual three-dimensional space data is data that specifies a predetermined range within a virtual three-dimensional space that includes the player character and the pseudo-player character. Based on this virtual three-dimensional space data, the metaverse image data generation unit 226 performs calculations to generate data for a metaverse image, that is, metaverse image data, which is an image of a virtual three-dimensional space within a certain range from a first-person or third-person viewpoint that includes at least one of the player character and the pseudo-player character as seen from a certain viewpoint. A metaverse image is generated for each player character or for each pseudo-player character. The viewpoint position in each metaverse image, whether it is a first-person or third-person viewpoint, and the range within the virtual three-dimensional space drawn in the metaverse image can, as is well known, be selected (or changed) by data sent from the user terminal 100. However, since such technology is not just publicly known but completely well known, an explanation of this point will be omitted. Furthermore, as will be described later, the metaverse image data is sent to at least one of the user terminal 100 and the pseudo-player character control device 300. However, when the metaverse image data is sent to both, the metaverse images identified by the metaverse image data sent to both may differ from each other in terms of, for example, the position and range of the viewpoint, and are usually different. The metaverse image data generation unit 226 generates metaverse image data as video data. As already mentioned, the metaverse image data includes video data. In addition, although not limited to this embodiment, the metaverse image data also includes audio data about sounds occurring in the virtual three-dimensional space identified by the metaverse image data, and text data from text chats exchanged between pseudo-player characters and player characters in the virtual three-dimensional space. The metaverse image data generation unit 226 sends the generated metaverse image data to the output unit 227.

[0051] The output unit 227 is configured to send the received metaverse image data to the transmission / reception mechanism. The transmission / reception mechanism sends the received metaverse image data to the user terminal 100 of a user whose account is linked to the player character that triggered the generation of the metaverse image data, and to the pseudo-player character control device 300, whose account is linked to the pseudo-player character that triggered the generation of the metaverse image data. As mentioned above, the metaverse image data sent to both may be different.

[0052] The usage and operation of the metaverse system described above will now be explained.

[0053] (Processing as a prerequisite) When a user uses the metaverse system, the user first registers an account with the metaverse management device 200 that provides the metaverse service they will use, and also registers the player character they will use. Similarly, the pseudo-player character control device 300 also registers an account with the metaverse management device 200 to which it is linked, and also registers the pseudo-player character that the pseudo-player character control device 300 will operate. The registration of an account and player character by the user and the registration of an account and player character by the pseudo-player character control device 300 can be performed independently of each other, and it does not matter which is done first or whether they are done simultaneously.

[0054] The process of users registering accounts and player characters can be implemented by publicly known or widely recognized methods. In this embodiment, first, the user connects the user terminal 100 to the metaverse management device 200 via the network 400, for example, using the functions of a browser implemented on the user terminal 100. Then, the user enters their account using the input device 102. The entered account information is transmitted from the input device 102 to the control unit 122 via the interface 114 and input unit 121. The control unit 122 generates account data, which is data that identifies the account. The account data is sent from the control unit 122 to the output unit 124, and then to the transmission / reception mechanism. The transmission / reception mechanism sends the account data to the metaverse management device 200 via the network 400. The metaverse management device 200 receives account data via a transmission / reception mechanism. The account data is sent from the transmission / reception mechanism to the input unit 221 via an interface, and further to the control unit 222. For example, the control unit 222 records the account data. As a result, the accounts of users using the user terminal 100 are recorded in the metaverse management device 200. Since many users register accounts, the control unit 222 of the metaverse management device 200 will record the accounts of many users. Once account registration is complete, users register their player character. Player character registration does not need to be done immediately after account registration. For example, it is possible to register a player character after the login process described later. Furthermore, it is possible to register multiple player characters for a single account, in other words, to change the characteristics of the player character. In this embodiment, the user inputs character data using the input device 102. In this embodiment, the user inputs data using the input device 102 to select the player character's characteristics such as gender, name, height, body type, facial features, and clothing. If the metaverse management device 200 has prepared a player character by default and the user selects one of these characters, the user may only need to input an indication that they are selecting this character. The input data is transmitted from the input device 102 to the control unit 122 via the interface 114 and input section 121. The data flow from the input device 102 to the control unit 122 is the same throughout, although explanations may be omitted. The control unit 122 generates character data, which is data that describes the characteristics of the player character. The character data is sent from the control unit 122 to the output unit 124, and then to the transmission / reception mechanism. The transmission / reception mechanism sends the account data to the metaverse management device 200 via the network 400. The data flow from the data generated by the control unit 122 to the metaverse management device 200 is the same as described below, although explanations may be omitted. The metaverse management device 200 receives character data via a transmission / reception mechanism. The character data is sent from the transmission / reception mechanism to the input unit 221 via an interface, and further sent to the control unit 222. The data flow from the transmission / reception mechanism to the control unit 222 is the same throughout, although explanations may be omitted. When the control unit 222 receives character data, it generates a player character that reflects the characteristics of that character, and also generates player character data that identifies that player character. The control unit 222 then sends the player character data, along with the previously received account data, to the player character data recording unit 224. The player character data is recorded in the player character data recording unit 224, linked to the account data. The amount of player character data linked to account data will increase if many users register player characters.

[0055] The process by which the pseudo-player character control device 300 registers an account and a pseudo-player character can be implemented in the same manner as the process by which a user registers an account and a player character using the user terminal 100. In this embodiment, for example, the administrator of the pseudo-player character control device 300 connects the pseudo-player character control device 300 to the metaverse management device 200 via the network 400, for example, using the browser functions implemented in the pseudo-player character control device 300. Then, the administrator of the pseudo-player character control device 300 enters their account using the input device. The entered account is input from the input device to the control unit 322 via the interface and input unit 321. The control unit 322 generates account data, which is data that identifies the account. The account data is sent from the control unit 322 to the output unit 326, and then to the transmission / reception mechanism. The transmission / reception mechanism sends the account data to the metaverse management device 200 via the network 400. The metaverse management device 200 receives account data via a transmission / reception mechanism. The account data is sent from the transmission / reception mechanism to the input unit 221 via an interface, and further to the control unit 222. For example, the control unit 222 records the account data. As a result, the account of the pseudo-player character control device 300 is recorded in the metaverse management device 200. From the perspective of the metaverse management device 200, the account of the pseudo-player character control device 300 is indistinguishable from a user's account, or at least does not need to be distinguished. Since the pseudo-player character control device 300 typically operates on a large number of pseudo-player characters, the number of accounts registered with the metaverse management device 200 from a single pseudo-player character control device 300 is usually large. For example, the control unit 222 of the metaverse management device 200 will record accounts for a large number of pseudo-player character control devices 300. Once account registration is complete, the administrator of the metaverse management device 200, for example, registers a pseudo-player character, which is a player character operated by the metaverse management device 200. Similar to registering a player character from the user terminal 100, the registration of the pseudo-player character does not need to be performed consecutively with account registration, and it is possible to perform it multiple times for a single account. In this embodiment, the administrator of the pseudo-player character control device 300 inputs character data using an input device. In this embodiment, the user inputs data for selecting the characteristics of the player character using an input device. The input data is transmitted from the input device to the control unit 322 via the interface and input section 321. The data flow from the input device to the control unit 322 is the same throughout, although explanations may be omitted in some cases. The control unit 322 generates character data, which is data that describes the characteristics of the player character. The character data is sent from the control unit 322 to the output unit 326, and then to the transmission / reception mechanism. The transmission / reception mechanism sends the character data to the metaverse management device 200 via the network 400. The data flow from the data generated by the control unit 322 to the metaverse management device 200 is the same throughout, although explanations may be omitted. The metaverse management device 200 receives character data via a transmission / reception mechanism. The character data is sent from the transmission / reception mechanism to the input unit 221 via an interface, and further sent to the control unit 222. The data flow from the transmission / reception mechanism to the control unit 222 is the same throughout, although explanations may be omitted. When the control unit 222 receives character data, it generates a player character as a pseudo-player character that reflects the characteristics of that character, and also generates player character data that identifies that player character. The control unit 222 then sends the player character data, along with the previously received account data, to the player character data recording unit 224. The player character data is recorded in the player character data recording unit 224, linked to the account data. In this embodiment, when the pseudo-player character control device 300 registers accounts and characters as pseudo-player characters with the metaverse management device 200, the administrator of the pseudo-player character control device 300 manually performs these registrations. However, by adding a predetermined computer program to the pseudo-player character control device 300, it is also possible to have the pseudo-player character control device 300 perform the above registrations automatically. Furthermore, if an agreement has been reached between the administrator of the pseudo-player character control device 300 and the administrator of the metaverse management device 200, it is naturally possible for the administrator of the metaverse management device 200 to employ a different process than those described above, such as recording data for multiple accounts at once in the control unit 222, or recording multiple account data and player character data sets at once in the player character data recording unit 224.

[0056] (Learning of behavioral artificial intelligence) By completing the above registration, the user can, for the time being, receive metaverse services from the metaverse management device 200 using the user terminal 100, that is, they can send their own player character into the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the metaverse management device 200. Similarly, the pseudo-player character control device 300 can now send a pseudo-player character, which is the player character it operates, into the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the metaverse management device 200. However, for example, in the initial stages, the operational artificial intelligence 3241A, which is central to the function of the pseudo-player character control device 300 to automatically operate or make the pseudo-player character move, has not yet been trained. Therefore, we will have the AI ​​3241A perform training.

[0057] The following is an example of the learning method for the AI ​​3241A. In this case, although it is not limited to this example, we will proceed with the assumption that the pseudo-player character operated by the pseudo-player character control device 300 is intended to promote the sale of a company's products.

[0058] First, the user logs in to the metaverse management device 200. When a user logs in to the metaverse management device 200, the user connects their user terminal 100 to the metaverse management device 200 via the network 400, for example, using the browser functionality implemented on the user terminal 100. Then, the user enters their account information using the input device 102. The control unit 122 then generates account data, which identifies the account. The user also enters information indicating they wish to log in. The control unit 122 receives this input and generates login data. The account data and login data are sent from the user terminal 100 to the metaverse management device 200 via the network 400. The metaverse management device 200 receives account data and login data. The account data and login data are sent to the control unit 222 of the metaverse management device 200. When the control unit 222 receives the account data and login data, it determines whether the account identified by the account data matches any of the accounts recorded in the control unit 222. If the result of this determination matches one of the many accounts recorded, the control unit 222 approves the login of the user terminal 100 that sent the account data and login data, or the user operating that user terminal 100. Once login is approved, the control unit 222 sends the account data to the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223. Upon receiving it, the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 reads the player character data associated with the account identified by the account data from the player character data recording unit 224. The player character identified by this player character data is the player character of the user who has the aforementioned account data. In addition, the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 reads metaverse data from the metaverse data recording unit 225 as data necessary to create the virtual three-dimensional space. Based on the metaverse data and player character data, the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 generates virtual three-dimensional space data, which is data about the virtual three-dimensional space. The virtual three-dimensional space data is data for a certain range of the virtual space in which the user's player character exists. The part of the virtual three-dimensional space other than the player character is identified by the metaverse data, and the player character is identified by the player character data. The virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 can also use data other than the metaverse data when generating the part of the virtual three-dimensional space other than the player character data. This is the same in all cases in which virtual three-dimensional space data is generated, as will be explained later. For example, the metaverse management device 200 can collect appropriate data from the network 400 by crawling or other known or well-known techniques, and use that data to generate the virtual three-dimensional space. For example, it is possible to match the weather in a certain region in the real world with the weather in a certain region in a virtual three-dimensional space, or to reflect the result of a match in a certain professional soccer league in the real world in the result of a soccer match held in a certain soccer stadium in a virtual three-dimensional space. The virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 sends the generated virtual three-dimensional space data to the metaverse image data generation unit 226. The metaverse image data generation unit 226 generates a metaverse image based on the received virtual three-dimensional space data and generates metaverse image data, which is data about the metaverse image. In this case, the metaverse image is as described above, for example, an image of a certain range of virtual three-dimensional space including the player character as seen from a certain viewpoint. Although not limited to this, the metaverse image data in this embodiment includes, as described above, video data, audio data, and text data. The metaverse image data generation unit 226 sends the generated metaverse image data to the output unit 227. The metaverse image data is sent from the output unit 227 to the transmission / reception mechanism, and further transmitted via the network 400 to the user terminal 100 whose login has been approved. The user terminal 100 receives metaverse image data through its transmission / reception mechanism. The metaverse image data is sent from the transmission / reception mechanism to the image control unit 123 via the interface 114 and input unit 121. Upon receiving it, the image control unit 123 generates image data, which is data for displaying an image in a virtual three-dimensional space on the display 101, based on the metaverse image data. Image data is sent to interface 114 via output unit 124, and further sent to display 101. Display 101 displays an image based on the image data. The image based on the image data is an image in a virtual three-dimensional space generated by the metaverse management device 200. By viewing the image displayed on display 101, the user knows that they have been able to log in to the metaverse management device 200. The user can then operate their player character in the virtual three-dimensional space by sending operation data from the user terminal 100 to the metaverse management device 200. Furthermore, the user can experience events in the virtual three-dimensional space through their player character by viewing moving images displayed on the display 101 of the user terminal 100 using metaverse image data.

[0059] Similarly, the pseudo-player character control device 300 logs into the metaverse management device 200. When the pseudo-player character control device 300 logs into the metaverse management device 200, in this example, the administrator of the pseudo-player character control device 300 or a person from the company promoting the product (a sales promoter) operates the pseudo-player character control device 300. Such operations could, of course, be performed remotely. For now, we will proceed assuming that a sales promoter performs such operations. The salesperson inputs account data, which is data linked to a pseudo-player character, in order to identify the pseudo-player character to be sent into the virtual three-dimensional space when the pseudo-player character control device 300 logs in. The salesperson also inputs a message indicating that they are logging in. The control unit 322 receives this input and generates login data. The account data and login data are sent from the pseudo-player character control device 300 to the metaverse management device 200 via the network 400. The following processes performed within the metaverse management device 200 are the same as when a user logs into the metaverse management device 200 using the user terminal 100. From the perspective of the metaverse management device 200, the user terminal 100 and the pseudo-player character control device 300 are indistinguishable, or at least do not need to be distinguished. In other words, the metaverse management device 200, which is intended to be used in combination with the user terminal 100, does not require any new modifications or alterations when combined with the pseudo-player character control device 300. At least, no major modifications or alterations are required. The metaverse management device 200, having received account data and login data, generates virtual three-dimensional space data, which is data for a certain range of the virtual space where the pseudo-player character associated with the account identified by the received account data exists. Furthermore, based on this virtual three-dimensional space data, it generates a metaverse image for the metaverse image data. The virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 sends the generated virtual three-dimensional space data to the metaverse image data generation unit 226. The metaverse image data generation unit 226 generates a metaverse image based on the received virtual three-dimensional space data and generates metaverse image data, which is data about the metaverse image. In this case, the metaverse image is, for example, an image of a certain range of virtual three-dimensional space that includes a pseudo-player character as seen from a certain viewpoint. The metaverse image data generation unit 226 sends the generated metaverse image data to the output unit 227. The metaverse image data is sent from the output unit 227 to the transmission / reception mechanism, and further transmitted to the pseudo-player character control device 300 via the network 400. In this case, the metaverse image, or metaverse image data, is usually different from the one sent to the user terminal 100. The process performed by the metaverse management device 200 from receiving operation data from the pseudo-player character control device 300 to sending back metaverse image data to the pseudo-player character control device 300 is the same as the process performed by the metaverse management device 200 when receiving operation data from the user terminal 100 and sending back metaverse image data to the user terminal 100.

[0060] Upon receiving the metaverse image data, the user terminal 100 displayed an image on the display 101 based on the image data generated by the metaverse image data. The processing performed by the pseudo-player character control device 300 upon receiving metaverse image data is different from this. In the pseudo-player character control device 300, metaverse image data received by the transmission / reception mechanism is sent to the image analysis unit 327 via the interface and input unit 321. In this embodiment, the image analysis unit 327 generates environmental data using artificial intelligence, as described above, but not limited to this. The environmental data may be created based on moving image data contained in the metaverse image data, or based on audio data contained in the metaverse image data, or based on text data contained in the metaverse image data. As described above, environmental data is the "situation (e.g., feature points in the metaverse image)" indicated by the metaverse image data, which is identified by the metaverse image data. To extract this "situation," the image analysis unit 327 generates environmental data from the metaverse image data, which includes video data, audio data, and text data. The "situation" indicated by metaverse image data, as identified by metaverse image data, includes, for example, the location of a pseudo-player character within a virtual three-dimensional space. Such location estimation can be achieved, for example, by combining an understanding of the metaverse's virtual three-dimensional space map with a known or well-known artificial intelligence location estimation engine that estimates the position of the pseudo-player character. The aforementioned "situation" may also include whether a player character is nearby, and if so, what the relative positional relationship is between the player character and the pseudo-player character. Such "situation" can be determined, for example, by performing image recognition (pattern recognition) on the metaverse image to determine whether a player character is captured in the metaverse image identified by the metaverse image data, and if so, what the size and orientation of the player character are. Publicly known or well-known artificial intelligence for image recognition can be used for such processing. The aforementioned "situation" may also include the content of words spoken by the player character. The content of words spoken by the player character can be grasped by a combination of publicly known or well-known artificial intelligence for speech recognition to recognize (or identify) the words spoken by the player character, and publicly known or well-known artificial intelligence for semantic recognition to recognize (or identify) the meaning of the words recognized by the speech recognition artificial intelligence. The speech artificial intelligence may, of course, be capable of recognizing speech other than human language. Furthermore, the content of words spoken by the player character in text can be grasped by publicly known or well-known artificial intelligence for semantic recognition to recognize (or identify) the meaning of the words identified by the text. Thus, the image analysis unit 327 may use multiple artificial intelligences to generate environmental data. Furthermore, the multiple artificial intelligences used by the image analysis unit 327 to generate environmental data can be common to all simulated player characters when generating environmental data for all of them. The environmental data, which includes information about these "situations," is sent to the operation pattern recording unit 324. Once the generation of environmental data has begun, the pseudo-player character control device 300 can determine that it has been able to log in to the metaverse management device 200. Although it has been stated that the pseudo-player character control device 300 does not fundamentally require a display, if the pseudo-player character is to be operated by a human such as a salesperson, a display should be provided for the pseudo-player character control device 300, just like the user terminal 100, in order to enable human operation of the pseudo-player character. Furthermore, the display should show a metaverse image, which is an image based on metaverse image data, just as it does for the user terminal 100.

[0061] Assume that a user has logged into the metaverse management device 200 from user terminal 100, and a salesperson has logged into the metaverse management device 200 from pseudo-player character control device 300. Within the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the metaverse management device 200, a player character operated by the user using user terminal 100 and a pseudo-player character operated by the salesperson using pseudo-player character control device 300 exist simultaneously. In this state, the user inputs data from the input device 102 to generate operation data, thereby controlling the simulated player character. This input is sent to the control unit 122. The control unit 122 generates operation data corresponding to the received input. This operation data is used to make the user's player character perform actions desired by the user. The operation data is sent from the control unit 122 to the output unit 124 and the interface 114 to the transmission / reception mechanism, and further sent to the logged-in metaverse management device 200 via the network 400. Operation data is received by the transmission / reception mechanism of the metaverse management device 200, sent from the transmission / reception mechanism to the control unit 222 via the interface and input unit 221, and further sent to the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223. The virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 makes the player character of the logged-in user in the virtual three-dimensional space move according to the operation data. Actions include the player character moving, changing posture, or speaking. The virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 generates virtual three-dimensional space data again and sends it to the metaverse image data generation unit 226. The metaverse image data generation unit 226 generates metaverse images and metaverse image data again based on the virtual three-dimensional space data. As described above, metaverse image data is sent from the metaverse management device 200 to the logged-in user terminal 100. Upon receiving the metaverse image data, the user terminal 100 displays an image based on the image data generated by the metaverse image data on the display 101, and the player character included in that image performs actions according to the operation data within the video.

[0062] On the other hand, in the pseudo-player character control device 300, the salesperson inputs data from the input device to generate operation data. This input is sent to the control unit 322. The control unit 322 generates operation data according to the received input. The operation data is data that causes the pseudo-player character operated by the salesperson to perform actions desired by the salesperson. The operation data is sent from the control unit 322 to the output unit 326, then to the transmission / reception mechanism via the interface, and further sent to the logged-in metaverse management device 200 via the network 400. Operation data is received by the transmission / reception mechanism of the metaverse management device 200, sent from the transmission / reception mechanism to the control unit 222 via the interface and input unit 221, and further sent to the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223. The virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 makes the pseudo-player character operated by the logged-in salesperson in the virtual three-dimensional space move according to the operation data. This movement includes the pseudo-player character moving, changing posture, or speaking. The virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 generates virtual three-dimensional space data again and sends it to the metaverse image data generation unit 226. The metaverse image data generation unit 226 generates metaverse images and metaverse image data again based on the virtual three-dimensional space data. As described above, metaverse image data is sent from the metaverse management device 200 to the logged-in pseudo-player character control device 300. Upon receiving the metaverse image data, the pseudo-player character control device 300 generates environment data again in its image analysis unit 327. The environment data is sent to the operation pattern recording unit 324. On the other hand, the display connected to the pseudo-player character control device 300 displays an image based on the image data generated by the metaverse image data, and the pseudo-player character included in that image performs actions according to the operation data in the video.

[0063] In this way, a user operating the user terminal 100 can make their player character move as they wish within the virtual three-dimensional space provided by the metaverse management device 200. On the other hand, a salesperson operating the pseudo-player character control device 300 can make their pseudo-player character move as they wish within the virtual three-dimensional space provided by the metaverse management device 200. Let's assume that a player character and a simulated player character meet in a virtual three-dimensional space. A simulated player character, whose purpose is to promote a certain product, for example, waits for the user-controlled player character in an appropriate location within the virtual three-dimensional space to promote the product. Therefore, there is a certain probability that the player character and the simulated player character will meet in the virtual three-dimensional space. At that time, the salesperson, through the simulated player character, guides the player character controlled by the user to the location of the product they are promoting, and explains the product's features, price, etc. To do this, the salesperson operates the input device of the simulated player character control device 300 to send operation data to the metaverse management device 200 in order to make the simulated player character perform the appropriate actions. While the simulated player character is performing actions necessary for sales promotion, the metaverse management device 200 continues to generate metaverse image data and sends the generated metaverse image data to the user terminal 100 and the simulated player character control device 300. The user operates the user terminal 100 to activate the player character, and the salesperson operates the pseudo-player character control device 300 to activate the pseudo-player character. This creates communication between the player character and the pseudo-player character, or between the user and the salesperson who operate them. This communication may take the form of the pseudo-player character responding to a question A from the player character with answer a, or responding to a question B from the player character with answer b, or responding to a request C from the player character with action c. Even while such communication is taking place, the metaverse management device 200 continues to generate metaverse image data and sends the generated metaverse image data to the user terminal 100 and the pseudo-player character control device 300. Within the simulated player character control device 300, the image analysis unit 327 continuously generates environmental data, which is then sent from the image analysis unit 327 to the motion pattern recording unit 324. However, as already mentioned, when the motion artificial intelligence 3241A is learning, the image analysis unit 327 generates motion data in addition to environmental data, which is data that identifies what actions the simulated player character performed. Therefore, in this case, what is sent from the image analysis unit 327 to the motion pattern recording unit 324 is a pair of environmental data and motion data.

[0064] The environmental data and motion data sent sequentially from the image analysis unit 327 to the motion pattern recording unit 324 are input as training data to the motion artificial intelligence 3241A recorded in the motion pattern recording unit 324. This allows the motion artificial intelligence 3241A to learn using the environmental data and motion data. Specifically, pairs of environmental data and motion data are successively sent from the image analysis unit 327 to the motion pattern recording unit 324 and input sequentially to the motion artificial intelligence 3241A, which is linked to the simulated player character that triggers the generation of the environmental data. In this way, the motion artificial intelligence 3241A learns the motion data that should be output when a certain environmental data is input. The motion data input as training data is tailored to the environment surrounding the simulated player character, which is identified by the environmental data input simultaneously with the motion data, because the simulated player character is operated by a human, a salesperson. Therefore, the motion artificial intelligence 3241A, which has been trained by successive inputs of such pairs of environmental data and motion data, learns to output appropriate motion data for the environment surrounding the simulated player character identified by the environmental data. In other words, the simulated player character operated by the motion artificial intelligence 3241A that has been trained in this way will naturally perform the actions that the salesperson should perform. Furthermore, the learning of the operational artificial intelligence 3241A is not limited to situations where communication occurs between a simulated player character and a player character. Also, the learning of the operational artificial intelligence 3241A does not need to occur in real time when the simulated player character is logged into the virtual three-dimensional space created by the metaverse management device 200. For example, it may be performed when a certain amount of training data has been accumulated, for example, when the simulated player character is not logged in. Such learning may be performed for all of the motion artificial intelligence 3241A. However, it is not necessary for all of the motion artificial intelligence 3241A to undergo learning within the pseudo-player character control device 300 through the process described above. For example, if there is data for an artificial intelligence that can be used as the motion artificial intelligence 3241A, such as an artificial intelligence generated by another pseudo-player character control device 300 or an artificial intelligence generated by some other method, it is possible to record the learned motion artificial intelligence 3241A in the motion pattern recording unit 324 by recording this data in the motion pattern recording unit 324. In that case, for example, the recording medium on which the data of such a learned motion artificial intelligence is recorded is inserted into the reading / writing device of a recording medium (e.g., DVD-ROM) connected to the interface of the pseudo-player character control device 300, and the data sent from the reading / writing device to the control unit 322 via the interface and input unit 321 is recorded in the motion pattern recording unit 324 by the control unit 322 recording the data in the motion pattern recording unit 324. The data for the trained behavioral artificial intelligence does not need to be input to the pseudo-player character control device 300 via a recording medium; it may be input to the pseudo-player character control device 300 via the network 400. For example, it is possible to install data (a dataset of computer programs and data) of a trained behavioral artificial intelligence 3241A generated by another device (another pseudo-player character control device 300) into the behavioral pattern recording unit 324 of a certain pseudo-player character control device 300.

[0065] Furthermore, while the operational artificial intelligence 3241A is being trained, the image analysis unit 327 continues to generate environmental data at predetermined intervals, as described above. At least a portion of this environmental data may be sent to the operation pattern recording unit 324. At least a portion of the environmental data sent to the motion pattern recording unit 324 is recorded in the history data 3241B contained within the motion dataset 3241, which is linked to the pseudo-player character that triggered the generation of that environmental data. This allows for the accumulation of history data 3241B even while the motion artificial intelligence 3241A is being generated, although this is not strictly necessary.

[0066] (Automatic control of simulated player characters) In the above explanation, the simulated player character was operated by a human, a salesperson. Therefore, the operational artificial intelligence 3241A is not used to operate the simulated player character. Furthermore, while environmental data paired with operational data may be input to the operational artificial intelligence 3241A, this is solely for the purpose of learning the operational artificial intelligence 3241A. Neither environmental data nor historical data 3241B is input to the operational artificial intelligence 3241A in order to obtain operational data output from it. On the other hand, once the training of the operational artificial intelligence 3241A is complete, the simulated player character is basically automatically operated or made to operate by the simulated player character control device 300. The following describes the case where the simulated player character is automatically controlled by the simulated player character control device 300.

[0067] Assume that a user logs into the metaverse management device 200 from user terminal 100, and a salesperson logs into the metaverse management device 200 from pseudo-player character control device 300, and that a player character and a pseudo-player character meet in a virtual three-dimensional space. The process up to this point is basically the same as described in (Learning of the Action Artificial Intelligence). However, the pseudo-player character may be operated by the pseudo-player character control device 300 rather than the promoter even before it meets the player character. In the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the metaverse management device 200, the player character encounters a pseudo-player character. The control unit 322 sends the account data of the pseudo-player character currently logged into the metaverse management device 200 to the operation determination unit 323 before and after the pseudo-player character logs into the metaverse management device 200. The user may further operate the user terminal 100 to make the player character move, and as described above, may ask questions or make requests to the simulated player character that is trying to promote the sale of a certain product. Meanwhile, the metaverse management device 200 continues to generate metaverse image data and sends the generated metaverse image data to the user terminal 100 and the pseudo-player character control device 300. Then, the image analysis unit 327 within the pseudo-player character control device 300 continues to generate environmental data (in this case, that is, when the pseudo-player character's movements are automatically controlled by the pseudo-player character control device 300 and the movement artificial intelligence 3241A is not learning, the image analysis unit 327 does not need to generate movement data). The contents of the environmental data and the method of generating the environmental data have already been described. The generated environmental data is then sent from the image analysis unit 327 not to the movement pattern recording unit 324, but to the movement determination unit 323. The motion determination unit 323 reads out the motion artificial intelligence 3241A recorded in the motion pattern recording unit 324 that has an account corresponding to the account data received from the control unit 322. Then, it inputs the environment data received from the image analysis unit 327 to the motion artificial intelligence 3241A, and obtains motion data as output for that environment data from the motion artificial intelligence 3241A that received the input. In other words, the motion artificial intelligence 3241A functions as a motion estimation engine that estimates what kind of action is appropriate for a given environment in which the simulated player character is placed. The motion determination unit 323 then determines the action that the simulated player character should perform based on the action data obtained as output from the motion artificial intelligence 3241A. This action has a high probability of being appropriate for the environment in which the simulated player character is placed at that time. Furthermore, the action determination unit 323 does not necessarily have to use the output from the action artificial intelligence 3241A directly as data to determine the actions to be performed by the simulated player character. For example, as already mentioned, the action determination unit 323 may read necessary data from the history data 3241B included in the action dataset 3241 to which the action artificial intelligence 3241A belongs, and modify the action data based on that history data 3241B. This makes it possible to make the actions of the simulated player character more natural, for example, by making them more in line with the simulated player character's past surrounding environment.

[0068] In this embodiment, in addition to environmental data, historical data 3241B is also input to the operational artificial intelligence 3241A. As already mentioned, the history data 3241B may always be input to the operational artificial intelligence 3241A in addition to the environment data. However, in this embodiment, the operation decision unit 323 determines which data from the history data 3241B to input to the operational artificial intelligence 3241A in addition to the environment data. In this embodiment, whether or not to input the history data 3241B (at least a portion of it) to the operational artificial intelligence 3241A in addition to the environment data is determined based on the environment data, for example, by the operation decision unit 323 that receives the environment data. Specifically, it is determined as follows, for example. For example, suppose there are multiple player characters in the virtual three-dimensional space who have asked question X followed by question Y in the past, and this history is recorded as history data 3241B. Suppose the answer to question X is x, and the answer to question Y is y. Then, suppose such history data 3241B exists, and a pseudo-player character is asked question X by a player character. At that time, the action decision unit 323, which receives environment data indicating the "situation" that the pseudo-player character was asked question X by the player character, inputs the history data 3241B related to that "situation," which states that "question X and question Y were received consecutively from the player character," along with the environment data. In this case, even though the only question received from the player character was question X, the action data output from the action artificial intelligence 3241A may, depending on the degree of learning of the action artificial intelligence 3241A, result in "causing the pseudo-player character to give the answers x and y." Such answers are very thoughtful from the perspective of the user controlling the player character, as they even include answers to the question they were about to ask next. However, such clever responses can also be achieved by advancing the training of the operational artificial intelligence 3241A. In that sense, it can be said that the training of the operational artificial intelligence 3241A and the accumulation of historical data 3241B should be carried out in conjunction. Furthermore, let's assume that the simulated player character is intended to promote a specific product, and that the player character currently being served by that simulated player character has previously purchased some product from that simulated player character. Also, let's assume that the history data 3241B records the products previously purchased by the customer player character. In such a case, along with the environmental data indicating that the player character is currently being served, the history data 3241B indicating that the player character has previously purchased a certain product is input to the operational artificial intelligence 3241A. In this case, depending on the level of learning of the operational artificial intelligence 3241A, the action data output by the operational artificial intelligence 3241A may recommend to the simulated player character that the person who previously purchased the product that player character bought is likely to be interested in other products (which may be the specific product that the simulated player character is promoting). Using the history data 3241B makes it possible to cause the operational artificial intelligence 3241A to output such action data, or to increase the likelihood of it outputting such action data. This benefits both the promotional effectiveness of specific products and the users who control the player characters, as it increases their chances of obtaining products of their choice. Let's consider another example. If a simulated player character is a stall clerk in a virtual three-dimensional space, then that simulated player character's purpose is to sell goods at the stall. In such a case, let's assume that a player character visits the stall as a customer. At that time, the environmental data indicates that the temperature around the stall is high, and from the conversation with the player character, it is understood that the player character is thirsty. In such a case, if only the environmental data is input to the AI ​​3241A, the output action data might be that the simulated player character vaguely offers the player character a drink. However, if the historical data 3241B, which indicates that the player character has previously mentioned liking alcohol, is input to the AI ​​3241A along with the environmental data, then the output action data might be that the simulated player character offers the player character a beer. Human purchasing behavior in reality is not determined solely by the conversation at the time, but rather arises as a result of a mix of past experiences and conversations, as well as the current conversation and environment. By inputting historical data 3241B in addition to environmental data into the operating artificial intelligence 3241A, it becomes possible to make the simulated player character perform actions appropriate to the situation, and in some cases, it may even be possible to guide the player character's actions. As explained above, the operation determination unit 323 can decide whether or not to input a portion of the history data 3241B along with the environment data to the operation artificial intelligence 3241A, depending on the content of the received environment data. Furthermore, the following points should be considered when deciding which parts of the historical data 3241B to input into the operating artificial intelligence 3241A. For example, even in conversations between humans, there are things that are acceptable to talk about with one person but not another. Similarly, there are actions performed by a simulated player character that are appropriate for one player character but inappropriate for another. Furthermore, there are many cases where a simulated player character should not disclose private information about one player character to another. It is preferable to restrict the use of history data 3241B that should not be used under certain conditions by ensuring that it is only input to the operational artificial intelligence 3241A when the environmental information meets certain conditions, or by ensuring that it is not input to the operational artificial intelligence 3241A when the environmental information does not meet certain conditions. To determine whether or not to use history data 3241B based on "conditions," for example, additional information corresponding to the "conditions" for use can be attached to a part of the history data 3241B, and the load conditions can be compared with the environmental information.

[0069] The operation determination unit 323 sends the aforementioned operation data, generated using the environmental data, history data 3241B, and operation artificial intelligence 3241A, to the simulated operation data generation unit 325. The pseudo-operation data generation unit 325, upon receiving the operation data, generates pseudo-operation data, which is data for causing the pseudo-player character identified by the account data described above to perform the operation identified by the operation data. The pseudo-operation data is in a data format that can be accepted by the metaverse management device 200 to which the pseudo-player character control device 300 is linked. Furthermore, the pseudo-operation data generation unit 325 may include artificial intelligence for adjusting the pseudo-operation data to allow the pseudo-player character to perform natural movements. Having such artificial intelligence makes the movements of the pseudo-player character, which is operated under the control of the metaverse management device 200 that receives the pseudo-operation data, more natural. For example, even when making a pseudo-player character that is walking straight in a virtual three-dimensional space turn left, it is extremely unnatural for the pseudo-player character to suddenly change direction at a right angle at a certain point, compared to the normal way humans walk and turn. Humans normally turn while drawing a curve of a certain radius. If the pseudo-operation data generation unit 325 has artificial intelligence that performs such adjustments (that is, artificial intelligence as an operation estimation engine that estimates the operations that the user will perform using the input device 102), the movements of the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space will be more natural. Such artificial intelligence does not need to be different for each pseudo-player character; it can be common when generating pseudo-operation data for all pseudo-player characters. The simulated operation data generation unit 325 sends the generated simulated operation data to the output unit 326. The simulated operation data is sent from the output unit 326 to the transmission / reception mechanism, and further sent to the metaverse management device 200 via the network 400.

[0070] The metaverse management device 200 receives the simulated operation data through its transmission and reception mechanism. The simulated operation data is then sent to the control unit 222, and further to the three-dimensional spatial data generation unit 223. The simulated operation data is the same in data format as the operation data sent from the user terminal 100. Therefore, the three-dimensional spatial data generation unit 223, upon receiving the simulated operation data, causes the simulated player character to perform actions according to the simulated operation data, just as it does when it receives operation data and causes the player character to perform actions according to the operation data. The subsequent steps are as already described. The metaverse management device 200 generates metaverse image data and sends it to the user terminal 100 and the pseudo-player character control device 300, respectively. The display 101 of the user terminal 100, which has received the metaverse image data, will display an image based on the metaverse image data as a video. In that video, the simulated player character will perform actions according to the simulated operation data. The user may not know whether the simulated player character is being operated by a human or by a machine called the simulated player character control device 300. However, this is not a problem. The user will be able to experience communication between the player character they are controlling and the simulated player character with at least no major sense of incongruity.

[0071] On the other hand, at least a portion of the environmental data is sent from the image analysis unit 327 to the motion pattern recording unit 324, and at least a portion of it is stored in the history data 3241B of the motion dataset 3241 recorded in the motion pattern recording unit 324, specifically the data associated with the pseudo-player character that performed the action that triggered the generation of the environmental data. In this way, the accumulation of history data 3241B progresses.

[0072] In the examples described above, the simulated player character was used for the purpose of promoting the sales of a certain company's products. However, this is of course merely an example. For instance, the pseudo-player character may provide guidance within a virtual three-dimensional space. In this case, the guidance provided by the pseudo-player character could be tailored to the user's or the player character's preferences, for example, focusing on food, scenery, or architecture. By preparing an appropriate AI 3241A for determining the pseudo-player character's actions, the pseudo-player character's actions can be made to be as desired. Furthermore, while the above example described a one-to-one communication relationship between a simulated player character and a player character, it is naturally possible for them to communicate in a one-to-many or many-to-one relationship.

[0073] Furthermore, a pseudo-player character does not necessarily have to have such a clear purpose as described above. For example, a pseudo-player character may simply be a conversational partner for the player character controlled by the user in a virtual three-dimensional space. If a user desires such a pseudo-player character, they will naturally want to meet the same pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space whenever they wish. For example, if the behavioral artificial intelligence 3241A associated with that pseudo-player character has learned the player character's behavior and preferences from past interactions with that player character in a virtual three-dimensional space, for example, by processing environmental data as described above, or at least has recorded the history of the player character's past actions as history data 3241B in the behavioral dataset 3241 associated with that pseudo-player character, then the actions performed by that pseudo-player character are likely to be desirable for the user or the player character controlled by the user. This is because the actions of the simulated player character often reflect the simulated player character's past memories (past environments in the virtual three-dimensional space that the simulated player character has experienced), which were recorded in the action dataset 3241 as history data 3241B. Of course, the history data of events that the simulated player character has experienced in the past can be used regardless of the purpose of the simulated player character, even if the simulated player character is used for the sales promotion of a certain product as described above. When a player character interacts with a simulated player character multiple times within a virtual three-dimensional space, it is convenient for the user and the simulated player character to exchange account data within the metaverse service and be aware of each other's information. Such functionality is implemented in existing metaverse management devices. For example, existing metaverse management devices have a function that allows one player character to send a so-called "friend request" to another player character, and for the other player character to "accept" it, enabling them to be aware of each other's accounts. If users are aware of each other's accounts in this way, then a user or the player character they control can summon a specific pseudo-player character whose account is already known within the virtual three-dimensional space provided by the metaverse management device 200. In this case, for example, the user operates the input device 102 of the user terminal 100 to make an input to summon a certain pseudo-player character. This input includes, for example, the account data of the pseudo-player character to be summoned. The control unit 122, upon receiving this input, selects a pseudo-player character and generates selection data, which is data for summoning the selected pseudo-player character. The selection data is sent from the user terminal 100 to the pseudo-player character control device 300 via the network 400. The selection data is received by the pseudo-player character control device 300. The selection data is sent to the control unit 322. Upon receiving the selection data, the pseudo-player character control device 300 performs a login process to the metaverse management device 200 using the account corresponding to the account data included in the selection data. By doing so, the pseudo-player character linked to that account will appear in the virtual three-dimensional space created by the metaverse management device 200. This allows the player character controlled by the user and the pseudo-player character summoned by the user to meet within the virtual three-dimensional space. To ensure that the player character and the pseudo-player character meet reliably within the virtual three-dimensional space, measures such as adding location information of the player character's current position in the virtual three-dimensional space to the selected data should be appropriately adopted according to publicly known or well-established technologies. If a user summons multiple virtual player characters, the user's player character can communicate with those multiple virtual player characters within the virtual three-dimensional space.

[0074] <Variation> A metaverse system including a modified pseudo-player character control device 300 is described below. Figure 8 shows an outline of a metaverse system including a modified pseudo-player character control device 300. The modified metaverse system is similar in most respects to the metaverse system described in the first embodiment. The difference is that in the modified version, there is only one pseudo-player character control device 300, whereas there were three in the first embodiment. In the metaverse system described in the first embodiment, each of the multiple metaverse management devices 200 is in one-to-one correspondence with the same number of pseudo-player character control devices 300 as the metaverse management devices 200, and each pseudo-player character control device 300 linked to each metaverse management device 200 sends pseudo-player characters into the virtual three-dimensional space created by each metaverse management device 200. In contrast, the modified pseudo-player character control device 300 sends pseudo-player characters into all of the virtual three-dimensional spaces generated by multiple metaverse management devices 200, in this modified version, which are three in all cases, and makes the pseudo-player characters operate.

[0075] The configuration, functions, and operation of the user terminal 100 and the metaverse management device 200 in the modified metaverse system are all the same as those described in the first embodiment, except for a few minor differences between the functions of the control unit 122 of the modified user terminal 100 and the functions of the control unit 122 of the user terminal 100 in the first embodiment, which will be described later. On the other hand, the pseudo-player character control device 300 in the modified metaverse system differs from the pseudo-player character control device 300 described in the first embodiment. However, the differences are minor. First, from a hardware standpoint, there is no difference between the modified pseudo-player character control device 300 and the pseudo-player character control device 300 of the first embodiment. Furthermore, the functional blocks generated within the modified pseudo-player character control device 300 by a computer program that causes the server to function as a pseudo-player character control device of the present invention are as shown in Figures 5 and 6, and are no different from those described in the first embodiment. In addition, the functions of the functional blocks generated within the modified pseudo-player character control device 300 are the same as those in the first embodiment, except for the control unit 322 and the pseudo-operation data generation unit 325. The pseudo-operation data generation unit 325 in the modified version differs in function from the pseudo-player character control device 300 in the first embodiment in that it is capable of generating pseudo-operation data in a data format that can be accepted by the metaverse management device 200 to which the generated pseudo-operation data is sent. For example, suppose that each of the three metaverse management devices 200 in the modified metaverse system is expected to receive operation data from the user terminal 100 in a different data format. In that case, the pseudo-operation data generation unit 325 in the modified version is capable of generating pseudo-operation data in three different data formats.

[0076] This section explains how to use and operate the modified metaverse system.

[0077] (Processing as a prerequisite) The processing procedures, which are the prerequisites, are basically the same in both the modified form and the first embodiment. The user registers their account and player character with any of the three metaverse management devices 200 using the user terminal 100. A single user can register their account and player character with multiple metaverse management devices 200. On the other hand, the pseudo-player character control device 300 registers accounts and pseudo-player characters with respect to the three metaverse management devices 200 by performing the same processing as described in the first embodiment. However, in the modified pseudo-player character control device 300, it is also managed which account is registered with which metaverse management device 200. For example, if account data is recorded in the control unit 322, information is added to the account data that identifies which metaverse management device 200 the account data is registered with. For example, if the three metaverse management devices 200 are distinguished by assigning them identification numbers 1, 2, and 3, then these identification numbers will be recorded in the control unit 322 along with the account data.

[0078] (Learning of behavioral artificial intelligence) In the case of learning behavioral artificial intelligence, there is basically no difference between the modified metaverse system and the metaverse system of the first embodiment. First, the user logs in to the metaverse management device 200, to which their account is registered, using their user terminal 100. On the other hand, the pseudo-player character control device 300 logs in to at least one of the metaverse management devices 200. The player character operated by the user and the pseudo-player character operated by the pseudo-player character control device 300 are sent to the same virtual three-dimensional space generated by a metaverse management device 200. When they meet in the same virtual three-dimensional space, communication occurs between the player character and the pseudo-player character. This executes the same process as described in the first embodiment, and the operational artificial intelligence 3241A is trained. History data 3241B may also be accumulated at this time. At that time, the operation data sent from the user terminal 100 to the metaverse management device 200 for controlling the player character and the operation data sent from the pseudo-player character control device 300 to the metaverse management device 200 for controlling the pseudo-player character will be in the same data format, as long as they are sent to the same metaverse management device 200.

[0079] (Automatic control of simulated player characters) Even in the case of automatic operation of a simulated player character, there is basically no difference between the modified metaverse system and the metaverse system of the first embodiment. First, the user logs in to the metaverse management device 200, to which their account is registered, using their user terminal 100. On the other hand, the pseudo-player character control device 300 logs in to at least one of the metaverse management devices 200. A player character operated by a user and a pseudo-player character operated by a pseudo-player character control device 300 are sent to the same virtual three-dimensional space generated by a metaverse management device 200. When they meet in the same virtual three-dimensional space, the same process described in the first embodiment is executed, and communication occurs between the player character and the pseudo-player character. At that time, the operation data sent from the user terminal 100 to the metaverse management device 200 for controlling the player character and the pseudo-operation data sent from the pseudo-player character control device 300 to the metaverse management device 200 for controlling the pseudo-player character are in the same data format as long as they are sent to the same metaverse management device 200. The method for generating the pseudo-operation data is the same as described in the first embodiment. By inputting environmental data to the operation artificial intelligence 3241A and, if necessary, inputting history data 3241B, the pseudo-operation data generation unit 325 generates pseudo-operation data based on the operation data generated by the operation determination unit 323. The principle for ensuring that the data format of the simulated operation data is the same as the data format of the operation data that the metaverse management device 200 to which it is sent is expected to accept is as follows, for example. For example, when a pseudo-player character control device 300 logs into a metaverse management device 200, the control unit 322 sends the identification number of the metaverse management device 200 to the pseudo-operation data generation unit 325. The pseudo-operation data generation unit 325 stores the data format of the operation data that each metaverse management device 200 can receive, linked to the identification number of the metaverse management device 200. The pseudo-operation data generation unit 325 generates pseudo-operation data in the data format linked to the received identification number, based on the operation data. As a result, the data format of the pseudo-operation data becomes the same as the data format of the operation data that the metaverse management device 200 to which it is sent is scheduled to receive.

[0080] In the modified version as well, at least a portion of the environmental data is sent from the image analysis unit 327 to the motion pattern recording unit 324, and at least a portion of it is stored in the history data 3241B of the motion dataset 3241 recorded in the motion pattern recording unit 324, specifically the data associated with the pseudo-player character that performed the action that triggered the generation of the environmental data. In this way, the accumulation of history data 3241B can be advanced. Furthermore, history data 3241B that is dependent on the type of virtual three-dimensional space should be recorded separately for each of the multiple virtual three-dimensional spaces. For example, history data about events that a pseudo-player character can only experience in a virtual three-dimensional space generated by a particular metaverse management device 200 should not be reflected in the actions of the pseudo-player character in virtual three-dimensional spaces generated by other metaverse management devices 200. Therefore, such history data should be recorded separately within the history data 3241B for each of the multiple metaverse management devices 200. To achieve this, for example, it would suffice to attach an identifier that identifies each metaverse to the history data. By making such appropriate adjustments, even when using only one action artificial intelligence 3241A, the simulated player character can perform different natural actions using different history data 3241B in each of the different virtual three-dimensional spaces managed by different metaverse management devices 200 into which the simulated player character logs.

[0081] Consider a scenario where a user summons a pseudo-player character from a pseudo-player character control device 300 into a virtual three-dimensional space generated by a metaverse management device 200, where their player character is logged in. The user sends selection data from the user terminal 100 to the pseudo-player character control device 300. In the embodiment described above, this selection data included the account data of the pseudo-player character to be summoned. However, in the modified version, the selection data sent from the user terminal 100 to the pseudo-player character control device 300 includes, in addition to the account data, the identification number of the metaverse management device 200 that is generating the virtual three-dimensional space in which the user wishes to summon the pseudo-player character. This allows the pseudo-player character control device 300 to understand which pseudo-player character the user wishes to send to which metaverse management device 200's generated virtual three-dimensional space. The subsequent processing is as already described. The pseudo-player character desired by the user is sent from the pseudo-player character control device 300 into the virtual three-dimensional space where the player character controlled by the user is located, and the player character controlled by the user and the pseudo-player character controlled by the pseudo-player character control device 300 meet within that virtual three-dimensional space. From this point onward, communication takes place between the player character and the simulated player character. At that time, the data format of the simulated operation data sent from the simulated player character control device 300 to the metaverse management device 200 for the operation of the simulated player character becomes the same as the data format of the operation data that the metaverse management device 200 was scheduled to receive, due to the processing described above.

[0082] ≪Second Embodiment≫ In the second embodiment, the pseudo-player character control device 300 is used as part of the metaverse system described in the first embodiment shown in Figure 1. The user terminal 100 and the metaverse management device 200 are the same in both the first and second embodiments. Furthermore, the pseudo-player character control device 300 is also virtually identical between the first and second embodiments. The difference between the first embodiment and the second embodiment of the pseudo-player character control device 300 lies in the method of generating the action data that identifies the actions that the pseudo-player character should perform. In the first embodiment, the operation data is generated by the operation determination unit 323. In the first embodiment, when the operation determination unit 323 generates the operation data, it uses the operation artificial intelligence 3241A and inputs environmental data and, if necessary, a portion of the history data 3241B to the operation artificial intelligence 3241A. As a result, the operation artificial intelligence 3241A, which has been input with the environmental data, or with the environmental data and history data 3241B, outputs operation data. The operation determination unit 323 outputs this operation data as operation data that determines the action that the pseudo-player character should take. In contrast, in the second embodiment, operation data is generated as follows. In the second embodiment as well, the operation data is generated by the operation determination unit 323. In the second embodiment, the operation determination unit 323 uses the operation artificial intelligence 3241A to generate the operation data. In the second embodiment, the operation artificial intelligence 3241A receives environmental data and, if necessary, a portion of the history data 3241B. However, in the second embodiment, the data that may be input to the operation artificial intelligence 3241A along with the environmental data includes not only the history data 3241B, but also external data and extrapolated data (Figure 10(B)). External data and extrapolated data will be explained later. This is the difference between the first and second embodiments. Furthermore, the second embodiment can also be combined with the modified examples described above.

[0083] Due to the differences described above, the data recorded in the operation pattern recording unit 324 differs between the first embodiment and the second embodiment. As shown in Figure 6, the operation pattern recording unit 324 of the first embodiment recorded an operation data set 3241 corresponding to each pseudo-player character. Similarly, the operation pattern recording unit 324 of the second embodiment also records an operation data set 3241 corresponding to each pseudo-player character. This point is common to both embodiments. On the other hand, as shown in Figure 9(A), in the first embodiment, each motion dataset 3241 recorded motion artificial intelligence 3241A for the pseudo-player character associated with that motion dataset 3241, and history data 3241B. In contrast, as shown in Figure 9(B), in the second embodiment, each motion dataset 3241 recorded motion artificial intelligence 3241A for the pseudo-player character associated with that motion dataset 3241, history data 3241B, external data 3241C, and extrapolated data 3241. The same applies to the second embodiment, but in the first embodiment, the portion of the operation pattern recording unit 324, which is part of the recording medium, that records the history data 3241B is referred to as the history recording unit in this application. Similarly, in the second embodiment, the portion of the operation pattern recording unit 324, which is part of the recording medium, that records the external data 3241C is referred to as the external data recording unit in this application, and the portion that records the extrapolated data 3241D is referred to as the extrapolated data recording unit in this application.

[0084] External data 3241C is data that, when input to the operational artificial intelligence 3241A, affects the output from the operational artificial intelligence 3241A. External data 3241C is also data collected from the Internet, which is at least part of network 400. External data 3241C is intended to make the actions of the simulated player character, as identified by the action data output by the action artificial intelligence 3241A, more natural than when only environmental data and historical data 3241B are input to the action artificial intelligence 3241A. The action artificial intelligence 3241A may have difficulty outputting appropriate actions for the simulated player character in environments other than the environment in which it was learned using the environmental data used for training. Furthermore, even when using historical data 3241B that corresponds to what the simulated player character has experienced in the past, it is not possible to make the actions of the simulated player character natural for events that the simulated player character has not experienced in the past. In contrast, the internet contains a vast amount of information that could be called "common sense," "public knowledge," or "well-known." If such somewhat general information is collected using publicly known or well-known techniques for collecting information from the internet, such as crawling techniques, and recorded in the motion dataset 3241 as external data 3241C for a given pseudo-player character, then the pseudo-player character's movements can be made more natural by using that external data 3241C. For example, when a simulated player character is conversing with a player character in a virtual three-dimensional space, even if the player character is known to like the topic of last night's La Liga football match, it will be difficult to bring up that topic unless the AI ​​3241A, which determines the simulated player character's actions, has learned the result of last night's match from the environmental data. Also, if the AI ​​has no experience with that match, such data will not be included in the historical data 3241B. On the other hand, information about the result of a specific La Liga match from last night is readily available on the internet. If such data is collected from the internet and recorded as external data 3241C, it becomes possible to have the simulated player character converse about the result of that particular match. As described above, known and widely accepted techniques for collecting data from the Internet, such as crawling techniques, can be used to collect external data 3241C. Crawling can be performed, for example, by the operation decision unit 323. The timing of crawling can be predetermined, for example, every 5 minutes or every hour. Alternatively, the operation decision unit 323, upon receiving environmental data, can collect the external data 3241C when it determines that it is needed. In this case, the external data 3241C can be recorded on a recording medium, such as RAM, for only a short time before and after it is used, and then immediately erased. Of course, the external data 3241C collected in this way may be recorded for a long period of time by copying it to another recording medium, such as a large-capacity storage medium. Furthermore, the collected external data 3241C may be included as part of the history data 3241B at an appropriate timing under predetermined conditions.

[0085] Extrapolated data 3241D is data that, when input to the operating artificial intelligence 3241A, affects the output from the operating artificial intelligence 3241A. Extrapolated data 3241D is also data generated by someone and recorded in the operation data set 3241 in the operation pattern recording unit 324. The extrapolated data 3241D is intended to make the actions of the simulated player character, as identified by the action data output by the action AI 3241A, more natural than when only environmental data and historical data 3241B are input to the action AI 3241A. The action AI 3241A may have difficulty outputting appropriate actions for the simulated player character in environments other than the environment in which it was trained using the environmental data used for training. Furthermore, even when using historical data 3241B that corresponds to what the simulated player character has experienced in the past, it is not possible to make the actions of the simulated player character natural for events that the simulated player character has not experienced in the past. In addition, as mentioned above, the external data 3241C is data about somewhat general information that exists on the internet, so it may be difficult to collect data about human-dependent information from the internet as external data 3241C. On the other hand, information that depends on a person can be easily generated by someone who is familiar with that information. The data generated by someone familiar with that information becomes extrapolated data 3241D. Extrapolated data 3241D is recorded in the operation pattern recording unit 324 when the person who generated it provides it to the administrator of the pseudo-player character control device 300. For example, the person who generated the extrapolated data 3241D hands the recording medium (e.g., DVD-ROM) on which the extrapolated data 3241D was generated to the administrator of the pseudo-player character control device 300. The administrator inserts the recording medium into a recording medium reader / writer connected to the interface of the pseudo-player character control device 300, and the data sent from the reader / writer to the control unit 322 via the interface and input unit 321 is recorded in the operation pattern recording unit 324 by the control unit 322. Alternatively, the administrator can record the extrapolated data 3241D received by the pseudo-player character control device 300 via the network 400 to the operation pattern recording unit 324, for example, by the control unit 322. As a result, extrapolated data 3241D, which is suitable for each pseudo-player character, is recorded in each of the motion data sets 3241 of the motion pattern recording unit 324. An example of extrapolated data 3241D is information about a specific product, in which a pseudo-player character is scheduled to promote the product. For example, data such as product specifications, price, and discount information can be used as extrapolated data 3241D. While this information may not exist on the internet, it is easy for the manufacturer or seller of the product to generate such data. Furthermore, by making such information available as extrapolated data 3241D, the pseudo-player character, whose actions are determined using this data, can perform more natural actions.

[0086] The method for using the external data 3241C and the extrapolated data 3241D is the same as the method for using the history data 3241B when the operational artificial intelligence 3241A outputs operational data, as described in the first embodiment. In the first embodiment, the operation determination unit 323 determined whether to input the history data 3241B, in addition to the environmental data, to the operation artificial intelligence 3241A. Similarly, in the second embodiment, the operation determination unit 323 may be configured to determine whether to input history data 3241B, external data 3241C, or extrapolated data 3241D to the operational artificial intelligence 3241A, in addition to the environmental data. As in the first embodiment, external data 3241C, extrapolated data 3241D, or both thereof, may always be input to the operational artificial intelligence 3241A when environmental data is input to the operational artificial intelligence 3241A. In the second embodiment, whether or not to input the history data 3241B, external data 3241C, and extrapolated data 3241D to the operational artificial intelligence 3241A can be determined by the operation decision unit 323 based on the content of the environmental data, for example, in the case of the history data 3241B in the first embodiment. As a result, in the second embodiment, as shown in Figure 10(B), the operational artificial intelligence 3241A may receive input from all of the following: environmental data, historical data 3241B, external data 3241C, and extrapolated data 3241D. Consequently, the operational artificial intelligence 3241A outputs operational data influenced by the input data. The processing after the operation data is output is the same in both the second and first embodiments. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0087] 100 user terminals 101 displays 102 Input device 121 Input section 122 Control Unit 123 Image Control Unit 124 Output section 200 Metaverse Management Device 221 Input section 222 Control Unit 223 Virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 224 Player Character Data Recording Unit 225 Metaverse Data Recording Unit 226 Metaverse Image Data Generation Unit 227 Output section 300 Pseudo-Player Character Control Device 321 Input section 322 Control Unit 323 Operation Determination Unit 324 Operation Pattern Recording Unit 3241A Operating Artificial Intelligence 325 Pseudo-operation data generation unit 326 Output section 327 Image Analysis Department

Claims

1. A pseudo-player character control device is used in combination with a metaverse management device, which has the function of constructing a virtual three-dimensional space in which multiple player characters, each character operated by multiple users, reside, and comprises: a space construction unit that constructs the virtual three-dimensional space; a receiving unit that receives operation data, which is data for operating each of the multiple player characters, from a user terminal operated by each user via the Internet; a character control unit that operates the player characters in the virtual three-dimensional space based on the operation data received by the receiving unit; a metaverse image data generation unit that generates metaverse image data, which is data for metaverse images, which are moving images in the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the character control unit; and a transmission unit that transmits the metaverse image data to the user terminal via the Internet, so that each user can view the metaverse images based on the metaverse image data on the user terminal. The pseudo-player character control device has the function of controlling pseudo-player characters in the virtual three-dimensional space. An acquisition unit that acquires environment data, which is data about the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, based on the metaverse image data received from the metaverse management device, The system includes a motion pattern recording unit that records, for each pseudo-player character, an artificial intelligence that, when the environmental data is input, outputs the pseudo-player character's actions appropriate to the environment indicated by the environmental data, as data regarding the pseudo-player character's actions. The operation determination unit determines the actions to be performed by the simulated player character, and when the environment data received from the acquisition unit is input to the operation artificial intelligence recorded in the operation pattern recording unit, the operation determination unit determines the action output from the operation artificial intelligence as an action to be performed by the simulated player character that is appropriate for the environment indicated by the environment data. A pseudo-operation data generation unit creates pseudo-operation data, which is data to be performed by the pseudo-player character, in the same data format as the operation data, based on the actions to be performed by the pseudo-player character determined by the action determination unit. A transmitting unit that transmits the aforementioned simulated operation data to the receiving unit of the metaverse management device via the Internet, It has, The operation pattern recording unit is provided with a history recording unit that records history data, which is data about the past history of the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, for each pseudo-player character. The operation determination unit, when inputting the history data recorded in the history recording unit in addition to the environment data, determines the operation output by the operation artificial intelligence as an operation to be performed by the pseudo-player character appropriate to the environment indicated by the environment data. Pseudo-player character control device.

2. The aforementioned behavioral artificial intelligence is a trained artificial intelligence obtained by pre-training using the environmental data and the actions adopted by the player character in that environment as training data. The pseudo-player character control device according to claim 1.

3. The aforementioned environmental data includes the content of the conversation between the simulated player character and the player character with whom the conversation is taking place. The pseudo-player character control device according to claim 1 or 2.

4. The aforementioned operation pattern recording unit is capable of recording predetermined operation artificial intelligence. The pseudo-player character control device according to claim 1.

5. The history recording unit is configured to receive the environmental data and to record at least a portion of the environmental data. The pseudo-player character control device according to claim 1.

6. The operation determination unit is configured to determine, based on the environmental data, whether or not to input the history data recorded in the history recording unit, in addition to the environmental data, to the operation artificial intelligence. The pseudo-player character control device according to claim 1.

7. The aforementioned motion pattern recording unit includes an external data recording unit that records external data, which is data collected from the internet, that, when input to the motion artificial intelligence, affects the output from the motion artificial intelligence. The operation determination unit determines, based on the environmental data, whether or not to input the external data recorded in the external data recording unit, in addition to the environmental data, to the operation artificial intelligence. The pseudo-player character control device according to claim 6.

8. The aforementioned motion pattern recording unit includes an extrapolation data recording unit that records extrapolation data, which is data recorded by a person authorized to access the pseudo-player character control device, that, when input to the motion artificial intelligence, affects the output from the motion artificial intelligence. The operation determination unit determines, based on the environmental data, whether or not to input the extrapolated data recorded in the extrapolated data recording unit, in addition to the environmental data, to the operation artificial intelligence. The pseudo-player character control device according to claim 6.

9. The aforementioned metaverse management devices are multiple, The pseudo-operation data generation unit is configured to generate the pseudo-operation data in the same data format as the operation data that each of the metaverse management devices to which the pseudo-operation data is transmitted is scheduled to receive at its receiving unit. The pseudo-player character control device according to claim 1.

10. A pseudo-player character control device has the function of constructing a virtual three-dimensional space in which multiple player characters, each character operated by multiple users, reside, and is used in combination with a metaverse management device which has the function of constructing a virtual three-dimensional space in which multiple player characters reside, and comprises a space construction unit that constructs the virtual three-dimensional space, a receiving unit that receives operation data, which is data for operating each of the multiple player characters, from a user terminal operated by each user via the Internet, a character control unit that operates the player characters in the virtual three-dimensional space based on the operation data received by the receiving unit, a metaverse image data generation unit that generates metaverse image data, which is data for metaverse images, which are moving images in the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the character control unit, and a transmitting unit that transmits the metaverse image data to the user terminal via the Internet so that each user can view the metaverse image based on the metaverse image data on the user terminal, and is used in combination with a pseudo-player character control device which has the function of controlling pseudo-player characters in the virtual three-dimensional space, and comprises a control unit that performs information processing and a transmitting unit that transmits predetermined data to the metaverse management device via the Internet, and is a method executed by the control unit, An acquisition process for acquiring environment data, which is data about the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, based on the metaverse image data received from the metaverse management device, The recording process involves recording, for each pseudo-player character, an action artificial intelligence, which is an artificial intelligence that outputs the actions of the pseudo-player character appropriate to the environment indicated by the environment data when the environment data is input, as data regarding the action patterns of the pseudo-player character, in the action pattern recording unit. A motion determination process is performed in which, when the environmental data acquired in the acquisition process is input to the motion artificial intelligence recorded in the motion pattern recording unit, the motion output from the motion artificial intelligence is determined as an action to be performed by the pseudo-player character appropriate to the environment indicated by the environmental data. A pseudo-operation data generation process that creates pseudo-operation data, which is data to be performed by the pseudo-player character, in the same data format as the operation data, based on the actions to be performed by the pseudo-player character determined by the aforementioned action determination process, A transmission process in which the aforementioned simulated operation data is transmitted via the transmission unit to the receiving unit of the metaverse management device via the internet, The operation pattern recording unit includes a history recording process that records history data, which is data about the past history of the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, for each pseudo-player character. It includes, In the aforementioned action determination process, when the historical data recorded in the history recording process is input to the action artificial intelligence in addition to the environmental data, the action output by the action artificial intelligence is determined as an action to be performed by the pseudo-player character appropriate to the environment indicated by the environmental data. A method for controlling a simulated player character.

11. A computer program for causing a predetermined computer to function as a pseudo-player character control device having the function of controlling pseudo-player characters within a virtual three-dimensional space, the device comprising: a space construction unit for constructing the virtual three-dimensional space; a receiving unit that receives operation data, which is data for controlling each of the multiple player characters, from a user terminal operated by each user via the Internet; a character control unit that operates the player characters in the virtual three-dimensional space based on the operation data received by the receiving unit; a metaverse image data generation unit that generates metaverse image data, which is data for metaverse images, which are moving images within the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the character control unit; and a transmission unit that transmits the metaverse image data to the user terminal via the Internet, thereby enabling each user to view the metaverse images based on the metaverse image data at the user terminal. The aforementioned computer, An acquisition unit that acquires environment data, which is data about the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, based on the metaverse image data received from the metaverse management device, The system includes a motion pattern recording unit that records, for each pseudo-player character, an artificial intelligence that, when the environmental data is input, outputs the pseudo-player character's actions appropriate to the environment indicated by the environmental data, as data regarding the pseudo-player character's actions. The operation determination unit determines the actions to be performed by the simulated player character, and when the environment data received from the acquisition unit is input to the operation artificial intelligence recorded in the operation pattern recording unit, the operation determination unit determines the action output from the operation artificial intelligence as an action to be performed by the simulated player character that is appropriate for the environment indicated by the environment data. A pseudo-operation data generation unit creates pseudo-operation data, which is data to be performed by the pseudo-player character, in the same data format as the operation data, based on the actions to be performed by the pseudo-player character determined by the action determination unit. A transmitting unit that transmits the aforementioned simulated operation data to the receiving unit of the metaverse management device via the Internet, It is intended to function in that way. The operation pattern recording unit is provided with a history recording unit that records history data, which is data about the past history of the environment surrounding the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, for each pseudo-player character. The operation determination unit, when inputting the history data recorded in the history recording unit in addition to the environment data, determines the operation output by the operation artificial intelligence as an operation to be performed by the pseudo-player character appropriate to the environment indicated by the environment data. Computer program.

Images