Sound file generation device, sound file reproduction device, sound file generation method, and sound file reproduction method

Abstract

A sound data acquisition unit 110 acquires recording data obtained by recording environmental sound. A sound source separation unit 112 separates the recording data into environmental sound data and sound effect data. A first generation unit 116 generates an environmental sound file including the separated environmental sound data. A second generation unit 118 generates a sound effect file including the separated sound effect data.

Description

Sound file generation device, sound file playback device, sound file generation method, and sound file playback method

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a technique for generating and / or playing back sound files such as environmental sounds used in games and the like.

[0002] In games, various types of environmental sounds are output to enhance the sense of immersion. Environmental sounds are sounds that are heard from the surrounding space, and in games, for example, sounds of forests, underwater, big cities, parks, rain, waves, etc. are prepared. By outputting appropriate environmental sounds at a timing corresponding to the game scene, the sense of immersion in the game can be enhanced. Environmental sounds are produced by sound creators using various techniques, but by recording actual natural sounds in a natural environment and using them as environmental sounds, real-world sounds can be provided to users.

[0003] When recording environmental sounds outdoors, unintended sounds may enter. For example, when recording the sound of a forest, animal cries or car sounds may enter. Currently, sound creators play back sound files recorded with an editing device (personal computer) and manually remove unnecessary sounds while listening to the output environmental sounds, which requires a great deal of time and effort. Therefore, one object of the present disclosure is to provide a technique for automatically generating an environmental sound file including environmental sound data in order to reduce the burden on sound creators.

[0004] In games that use many types of environmental sounds, the number of environmental sound files becomes enormous, so it is required to reduce the size of each environmental sound file. For this reason, when outputting environmental sounds, an environmental sound file with a short time length is repeatedly played back (loop playback). However, the shorter the time length of the environmental sound file, the easier it is for the user to notice that it is loop playback. Therefore, one object of the present disclosure is to provide a technique that makes it difficult for the user to notice that loop playback is occurring.

[0005] A sound file generation device according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes: a sound data acquisition unit that acquires recording data of ambient sounds; a sound source separation unit that separates the recording data into ambient sound data and sound effect data; a first generation unit that generates an ambient sound file containing the separated ambient sound data; and a second generation unit that generates a sound effect file containing the separated sound effect data.

[0006] A method for generating sound files according to another aspect of the present disclosure includes the steps of: acquiring recording data of ambient sounds; separating the recording data into ambient sound data and sound effect data; generating an ambient sound file containing the separated ambient sound data; and generating a sound effect file containing the separated sound effect data.

[0007] A sound file playback device in yet another aspect of the present disclosure comprises an ambient sound playback unit that loops playback of ambient sound files, a sound effect playback unit that plays sound effect files at predetermined timings, and an output unit that outputs the played ambient sound and sound effect.

[0008] A sound file playback method in yet another aspect of the present disclosure includes the steps of looping playback of an ambient sound file, outputting the ambient sound, playing a sound effect file at a predetermined timing, and outputting the sound effect superimposed on the ambient sound.

[0009] Furthermore, any combination of the above components, as well as conversions of the expressions of this disclosure between methods, apparatus, systems, recording media, computer programs, etc., are also valid as aspects of this disclosure.

[0010] This diagram shows the functional blocks of the sound file generation device. This diagram shows an example of recorded data. This diagram shows a flowchart of the sound file generation procedure. (a) shows an example of ambient sound data, and (b) shows an example of sound effect data. This diagram shows an example of ambient sound data for a predetermined time. This diagram shows an example of extracted sound effect data. This diagram shows the information processing system. This diagram shows the hardware configuration of the information processing device. This diagram shows the functional blocks of the information processing device. This diagram shows the functional blocks of the sound file playback unit.

[0011] <Sound File Generation Function> Figure 1 shows the functional block of a sound file generation device that automatically generates sound files from recorded ambient sounds. The recorded data 104 contains ambient sounds, but it may also contain sounds other than ambient sounds, such as animal noises or car horns. The sound file generation device 100 of this embodiment has a function to separate sound data by sound source, separating the recorded data 104 into ambient sound data and sound data of sounds other than ambient sounds, and generating separate sound files for each. The sound file generation device 100 does not discard the sound data of sounds other than ambient sounds, but effectively utilizes it as sound data for sound effects superimposed on the ambient sounds.

[0012] The recording data 104 of this embodiment includes ambient sounds (environmental noise) recorded by the sound creator in the forest, as well as bird calls recorded at random intervals. Although the sounds of birds and frogs are sometimes referred to as forest ambient sounds, in this embodiment, the sounds of birds and frogs are not called ambient sounds and are treated as sounds that should be separated from the ambient sounds (environmental noise). For example, if the recording data 104, which contains underwater sounds, also includes dolphin calls, in this embodiment, the dolphin calls are not treated as part of the ambient sounds, but rather as sounds that should be separated from the ambient sounds.

[0013] Figure 2 shows an example of recording data 104. Recording data 104 is created by recording sounds in a natural environment. In the following, we will explain the case where recording data 104 includes forest ambient sounds and bird calls, but other sounds such as frog croaks or car horns may also be recorded. In recording data 104, forest ambient sounds are recorded continuously, but bird calls are recorded at the moment a bird sings during the recording.

[0014] The sound file generation device 100 comprises a processing device 102 and a sound file recording device 120. The processing device 102 has the function of separating the sound source from the recorded data 104 and automatically generating ambient sound files and sound effect files, and comprises a sound data acquisition unit 110, a sound source separation unit 112, and a sound file generation unit 114. The sound file generation unit 114 has a first generation unit 116 and a second generation unit 118. The sound file recording device 120 has an ambient sound file recording unit 122 that records ambient sound files generated by the processing device 102, and a sound effect file recording unit 124 that records sound effect files generated by the processing device 102. The sound file recording device 120 is a large-capacity recording device such as an HDD (hard disk drive) or SSD (solid state drive), and may be an internal recording device or an external recording device connected to the processing device 102 by USB (Universal Serial Bus) or the like.

[0015] The functions of the components in the processing unit 102 may be realized in a circuit or processing circuitry, including a general-purpose processor, an application-specific processor, an integrated circuit, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a CPU (a Central Processing Unit), a conventional circuit, and / or a combination thereof, configured or programmed to realize the functions described herein. A processor is considered to be a circuit or processing circuitry that includes transistors and other circuits. A processor may also be a programmed processor that executes a program stored in memory.

[0016] In this specification, circuits, units, and means are hardware programmed to perform or execute the functions described herein. Such hardware may be any hardware disclosed herein, or any hardware known to be programmed to perform or execute the functions described herein.

[0017] If the hardware is a processor that is considered to be of the type of circuit, the circuit, means, or unit may be a combination of hardware and software used to constitute the hardware and / or processor.

[0018] Figure 3 shows a flowchart of the sound file generation procedure in the embodiment. When the sound data acquisition unit 110 acquires the recording data 104 input from an external source (S10), it provides it to the sound source separation unit 112. The sound source separation unit 112 separates the recording data 104 into sound data of ambient sounds and sound data of sounds other than ambient sounds. In this embodiment, the sound file generation device 100 extracts sounds other than ambient sounds as sound effects, so the sound source separation unit 112 separates the recording data 104 into ambient sound data and sound effect data (S12).

[0019] Figure 4(a) shows an example of separated ambient sound data, and Figure 4(b) shows an example of separated sound effect data. The sound source separation unit 112 has the function of separating recording data 104 in which multiple sound sources are mixed. The sound source separation unit 112 may separate the recording data 104 using a pre-trained sound source separation model. The sound source separation model is a pre-trained model that has been trained to extract regularities (features) of ambient sound data and sound effect data by machine learning multiple ambient sound data and sound effect data.

[0020] The sound source separation model is a neural network trained to extract regularities (features) in sound signals corresponding to the types of ambient sounds and sound effects by performing machine learning using training recording data, ambient sound data and sound effect data separated from the recording data, and type information of the ambient sound data and sound effect data as training data. When the sound source separation model is input to the recording data 104, it is trained to output ambient sound data and sound effect data separated from the recording data 104, as well as type information of the ambient sound and type information of the sound effect.

[0021] The sound source separation unit 112 inputs the recorded data 104 into the sound source separation model and receives the output of the sound source separation model. As a result, the sound source separation unit 112 receives the ambient sound data shown in Figure 4(a) and the sound effect data shown in Figure 4(b), as well as information indicating that the ambient sound data is the ambient sound of a forest and information indicating that the sound effect data is the sound of birdsong. The sound source separation unit 112 supplies this sound data and type information to the sound file generation unit 114. The sound source separation unit 112 may separate the recorded data 104 using a multi-channel sound source separation method that uses multiple microphones.

[0022] In the sound file generation unit 114, the first generation unit 116 generates an ambient sound file containing separated ambient sound data, and the second generation unit 118 generates a sound effect file containing separated sound effect data (S16). The first generation unit 116 records the generated ambient sound file in the ambient sound file recording unit 122, and the second generation unit 118 records the generated sound effect file in the sound effect file recording unit 124.

[0023] <Processing for generating ambient sound files> The first generation unit 116 cuts out the ambient sound data separated from the recording data 104 for a predetermined length of time. When ambient sound data is used in a game, it is necessary to reduce the data size, so the first generation unit 116 may cut out a predetermined length of ambient sound data (for example, 30 seconds).

[0024] Figure 5 shows an example of ambient sound data for a predetermined time to be cut. In this example, the first generation unit 116 cuts 30 seconds of ambient sound data. The longer the ambient sound data, the less likely the user is to notice that it is being played in a loop when it is played back on a game device. Therefore, if the data size constraints allow, the first generation unit 116 may cut ambient sound data longer than 30 seconds.

[0025] The first generation unit 116 generates an ambient sound file by applying a fade process to the extracted ambient sound data. Specifically, the first generation unit 116 performs a fade-in process on the beginning of the ambient sound data so that the volume level at the beginning starts at a minimum value (for example, zero), and performs a fade-out process on the end of the ambient sound data so that the volume level at the end ends at a minimum value (for example, zero). By applying a fade process to the ambient sound data, the first generation unit 116 can prevent the user from feeling any discomfort when the ambient sound data is looped on the user's game device. The first generation unit 116 may also generate an ambient sound file by applying looping techniques other than fade processing to the ambient sound data.

[0026] The first generation unit 116 also includes information indicating the type of ambient sound as metadata in the ambient sound file. In this embodiment, since the ambient sound is the sound of a forest, the first generation unit 116 may include information indicating that the ambient sound is the sound of a forest as metadata in the ambient sound file. The first generation unit 116 records the generated ambient sound file in the ambient sound file recording unit 122.

[0027] <Sound effect file generation process> The second generation unit 118 extracts sound effect data separated from the recording data 104. Figure 6 shows an example of the extracted sound effect data. In this example, the second generation unit 118 extracts three sound effect data within the range enclosed by the dashed line. The second generation unit 118 may apply a fade process to the extracted sound effect data to generate a sound effect file. Specifically, the second generation unit 118 performs a fade-in process on the beginning portion and a fade-out process on the end portion. The second generation unit 118 includes information indicating the type of sound effect as metadata in the sound effect file. In this embodiment, since the sound effect is a bird's song, the second generation unit 118 may include information indicating that the sound effect is a bird's song as metadata in the sound effect file. The second generation unit 118 records the generated sound effect file in the sound effect file recording unit 124.

[0028] As described above, the sound file generation device 100 generates ambient sound files and sound effect files. The sound file generation device 100 can generate ambient sound files and sound effect files from a single recording data 104 by utilizing sound data of sounds different from ambient sounds separated from the recording data 104 as sound effect data. The ambient sound files and sound effect files generated in this way may be incorporated as audio files into game software and played back during the user's gameplay.

[0029] <Audio File Playback Function> Figure 7 shows an information processing system 1 according to an embodiment. The information processing system 1 comprises an information processing device 10 operated by the user and a server device 5. The access point (hereinafter referred to as "AP") 8 has the functions of a wireless access point and a router, and the information processing device 10 connects to the AP 8 via wireless or wired connection and is connected to the server device 5 on the network 3 so as to be able to communicate. The information processing device 10 of this embodiment operates as an audio file playback device that outputs ambient sounds during the user's gameplay.

[0030] The information processing device 10 is connected wirelessly or via a wired connection to the input device 6 operated by the user, and the input device 6 outputs information operated by the user to the information processing device 10. When the information processing device 10 receives operation information from the input device 6, it reflects it in the processing of system software or game software, and outputs the processing result from the output device 4. In the information processing system 1, the information processing device 10 is a game device (game console) that runs games, and the input device 6 is a device that supplies user operation information, such as a game controller, to the information processing device 10. The input device 6 may also be an input interface such as a keyboard or mouse.

[0031] The auxiliary storage device 2 is a high-capacity storage device such as an HDD (hard disk drive) or an SSD (solid-state drive), and may be an internal storage device or an external storage device connected to the information processing device 10 by USB (Universal Serial Bus) or the like. The output device 4 may be a television having a display for outputting images and a speaker for outputting sound. The output device 4 may be connected to the information processing device 10 by a wired cable or by wireless connection.

[0032] The imaging device, camera 7, is located near the output device 4 and images the space around the output device 4. Figure 7 shows an example where camera 7 is mounted on top of the output device 4, but it may also be located on the side or bottom of the output device 4. In any case, it is positioned to capture images of the user located in front of the output device 4. Camera 7 may also be a stereo camera.

[0033] Server device 5 provides network services to users of information processing system 1. Server device 5 manages user identifiers (user accounts) that identify each user, and each user signs in to the network services provided by server device 5 using their user account. By signing in to the network services from information processing device 10, users can register game save data and trophies, which are virtual rewards earned during gameplay, with server device 5. Once save data and trophies are registered with server device 5, the save data and trophies can be synchronized even if the user uses an information processing device other than information processing device 10.

[0034] Figure 8 shows the hardware configuration of the information processing device 10. The information processing device 10 consists of a main power button 20, a power-on LED 21, a standby LED 22, a system controller 24, a clock 26, a device controller 30, a media drive 32, a USB module 34, a flash memory 36, a wireless communication module 38, a wired communication module 40, a subsystem 50, and a main system 60.

[0035] The main system 60 includes a main CPU (Central Processing Unit), main memory (memory and memory controller), and a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The GPU is primarily used for processing game programs. The main CPU has the function of starting system software and executing game software installed on the auxiliary storage device 2 within the environment provided by the system software. The subsystem 50 includes a sub-CPU, main memory (memory and memory controller), and other components, but does not have a GPU.

[0036] The main CPU has the function of executing game software installed on the auxiliary storage device 2, while the sub-CPU does not have such a function. However, the sub-CPU has the function of accessing the auxiliary storage device 2 and sending and receiving data with the server device 5. The sub-CPU is configured with only these limited processing functions and can therefore operate with less power consumption compared to the main CPU. These functions of the sub-CPU are executed when the main CPU is in standby mode.

[0037] The main power button 20 is an input unit that receives user input and is located on the front of the housing of the information processing device 10. It is operated to turn the power supply of the information processing device 10 to the main system 60 on or off. The power-on LED 21 lights up when the main power button 20 is turned on, and the standby LED 22 lights up when the main power button 20 is turned off. The system controller 24 detects when the user presses the main power button 20.

[0038] Clock 26 is a real-time clock that generates current date and time information and supplies it to the system controller 24, subsystem 50, and main system 60.

[0039] The device controller 30 is configured as a Large-Scale Integrated Circuit (LSI) that performs information transfer between devices, similar to a Southbridge. As shown in the figure, devices such as the system controller 24, media drive 32, USB module 34, flash memory 36, wireless communication module 38, wired communication module 40, subsystem 50, and main system 60 are connected to the device controller 30. The device controller 30 absorbs the differences in electrical characteristics and data transfer speeds of each device and controls the timing of data transfer.

[0040] The media drive 32 is a drive device that drives a ROM medium 44 containing application software such as games and license information, and reads programs and data from the ROM medium 44. The ROM medium 44 is a read-only recording medium such as an optical disc, magneto-optical disc, or Blu-ray disc.

[0041] The USB module 34 is a module that connects to external devices via a USB cable. The USB module 34 may also be connected to the auxiliary storage device 2 and the camera 7 via a USB cable. The flash memory 36 is an auxiliary storage device that constitutes the internal storage. The wireless communication module 38 communicates wirelessly with the input device 6 using a communication protocol such as Bluetooth® protocol or IEEE802.11 protocol. The wired communication module 40 communicates with external devices via a wired connection and connects to the network 3 via AP8.

[0042] Figure 9 shows an example of a functional block of the information processing device 10. The information processing device 10 of this embodiment includes a processing unit 200 and a communication unit 202. The processing unit 200 includes a game execution unit 210, a game image generation unit 212, a game sound generation unit 214, and an output unit 220. The game sound generation unit 214 includes a voice file playback unit 216 and a sound file playback unit 218.

[0043] The functions of the components in the information processing apparatus 10 may be realized in a circuit (circuitry) or processing circuitry including a general-purpose processor, a specific-purpose processor, an integrated circuit, ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), a CPU (a Central Processing Unit), a conventional circuit, and / or a combination thereof, which is configured or programmed to realize the functions described in this specification. The processor may be regarded as a circuitry or processing circuitry including transistors and other circuits. The processor may be a programmed processor that executes a program stored in a memory.

[0044] In this specification, a circuitry, unit, or means is hardware programmed to realize the described functions or hardware that executes the functions. The hardware may be any hardware disclosed in this specification or any hardware known to be programmed or execute to realize the described functions.

[0045] When the hardware is a processor regarded as a type of circuitry, the circuitry, means, or unit may be a combination of the hardware and software used to configure the hardware and / or the processor.

[0046] The communication unit 202 has the functions of the wireless communication module 38 and the wired communication module 40 combined. During the user's game play, the communication unit 202 receives information (game operation information) on the user's operation of the input device 6 and provides it to the game execution unit 210.

[0047] The game execution unit 210 executes a game according to the user's operation. During the game play by the user, the game execution unit 210 executes the game program based on the game operation information and performs arithmetic processing to move the player character in the virtual space. The game image generation unit 212 includes a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), receives the arithmetic processing result in the virtual space, and generates a game image from the viewpoint position (virtual camera) in the virtual space. The game sound generation unit 214 generates game sounds in the game space, the voice file playback unit 216 plays back voice files of the player character and enemy characters, and the sound file playback unit 218 plays back environmental sound files and / or effect sound files. The output unit 220 outputs the game image to the display of the output device 4, and outputs the voice of the character, environmental sounds, and effect sounds to the speaker of the output device 4. The user operates the input device 6 while viewing the game image and game sounds output from the output device 4 to advance the game.

[0048] FIG. 10 shows a configuration example of the sound file playback unit 218 in the embodiment. The sound file playback unit 218 includes an environmental sound playback unit 230, an effect sound playback unit 232, and a mixer 234. The mixer 234 mixes the environmental sound played back by the environmental sound playback unit 230 and the effect sound played back by the effect sound playback unit 232 and supplies it to the output unit 220.

[0049] The environmental sound playback unit 230 plays back an environmental sound file according to an instruction from the game. For example, in a scene where the player character is walking in the forest, the environmental sound playback unit 230 is instructed by the game to play back the environmental sound of the forest, and in a scene where the player character is swimming in the water, the environmental sound playback unit 230 is instructed by the game to play back the underwater sound. The environmental sound playback unit 230 continues to play back the environmental sound file until it receives an end-of-playback instruction from the game.

[0050] As described above, since the ambient sound files included in the game software are short in length, the ambient sound playback unit 230 loops one ambient sound file during the ambient sound playback period. For example, if the ambient sound file is 30 seconds long, the ambient sound playback unit 230 repeatedly plays the 30-second ambient sound file, and the output unit 220 outputs the played ambient sound from the speaker.

[0051] When an ambient sound file of about 30 seconds is played on a loop, if a distinctive sound is present in the ambient sound data, that sound will be output every 30 seconds, which can make the user aware that it is being played on a loop. Therefore, in this embodiment, a distinctive sound effect is deliberately superimposed on the ambient sound at a predetermined timing to make it less likely for the user to notice that the ambient sound is being played on a loop.

[0052] During loop playback of ambient sound files, the sound effect playback unit 232 plays sound effect files at predetermined timings. The mixer 234 superimposes the sound effect to be played onto the ambient sound, and the output unit 220 outputs the mixed ambient sound and sound effect from the speaker. Game software includes various ambient sound files and sound effect files, but it is preferable that the sound effect files are associated with the ambient sound files. In other words, when the ambient sound playback unit 230 loops playback of an ambient sound file, the sound effect playback unit 232 plays the sound effect file associated with that ambient sound file at predetermined timings. For example, an ambient sound file of forest sounds may be associated with a sound effect file of bird calls, and an ambient sound file of underwater sounds may be associated with a sound effect file of dolphin calls. Note that there may be more than one sound effect file associated with an ambient sound file.

[0053] During loop playback of the ambient sound file, the sound effect playback unit 232 may play the sound effect file at a predetermined period. Here, the predetermined period is preferably longer than the duration of the ambient sound file. For example, if the duration of the ambient sound file is T, the playback period P of the sound effect file may be 3T or longer. By making the playback period P of the sound effect file longer than the duration T of the ambient sound file, it is possible to make it less likely for the user to notice that the ambient sound is being played in a loop. Furthermore, it is preferable that the playback period P of the sound effect file is set to a time that is not a multiple of T by N (a natural number).

[0054] While the ambient sound file is looping, the sound effect playback unit 232 may play sound effect files at random timings. When the duration of the ambient sound file is T, the playback interval may be randomly selected within the range of N × T, for example, N may be 5. In this case, after playing a sound effect file, the sound effect playback unit 232 plays another sound effect file at a random timing within 5 × T time. The sound effect playback unit 232 may determine the timing for playing the next sound effect file immediately after playing the current sound effect file. By making the playback interval of the sound effect files random, it becomes less likely for the user to notice that the ambient sound is looping.

[0055] During loop playback of ambient sound files, the sound effect playback unit 232 may change the frequency of playback of sound effect files depending on the game scene. For example, in scenes where ambient sounds are not prominent, the frequency of playback of sound effect files may be lowered, and in scenes where ambient sounds are prominent, the frequency of playback of sound effect files may be increased. Lowering the playback frequency of sound effect files in scenes where ambient sounds are not prominent has the advantage of reducing the processing load. The sound effect playback unit 232 may also be provided with information indicating the playback frequency from the game.

[0056] The present disclosure has been described above based on embodiments. These embodiments are illustrative, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications are possible in combinations of their components and processing processes, and that such modifications are also within the scope of the present disclosure. Loop playback of the ambient sound file may end in synchronization with the timing when the enemy character in the game is defeated, or it may end considering the beat or measure divisions of the ambient sound.

[0057] This disclosure may include the following embodiments: [Item 1] A sound file generating device comprising a circuit configured to, the circuit, acquires recording data of ambient sounds, separates the recording data into ambient sound data and sound effect data, generates an ambient sound file containing the separated ambient sound data, and generates a sound effect file containing the separated sound effect data. [Item 2] The sound file generating device according to Item 1, wherein the circuit applies a fade process to the ambient sound data to generate an ambient sound file. [Item 3] The sound file generating device according to Item 1, wherein the circuit includes information indicating the type of ambient sound in the ambient sound file as metadata. [Item 4] The sound file generating device according to Item 1, wherein the circuit includes information indicating the type of sound effect in the sound effect file as metadata. [Item 5] A method for generating sound files, comprising: acquiring recording data of ambient sounds; separating the recording data into ambient sound data and sound effect data; generating an ambient sound file containing the separated ambient sound data; and generating a sound effect file containing the separated sound effect data. [Item 6] A recording medium on which a program executed on a computer is recorded, wherein the program enables the computer to perform the following functions: acquiring recording data of ambient sounds; separating the recording data into ambient sound data and sound effect data; generating an ambient sound file containing the separated ambient sound data; and generating a sound effect file containing the separated sound effect data. [Item 7] A sound file playback device that outputs ambient sounds, comprising a circuit configured to, wherein the circuit loops playback of an ambient sound file, outputs ambient sounds, plays sound effect files at predetermined timings, and outputs sound effects superimposed on ambient sounds. [Item 8] The circuit is a sound file playback device as described in Item 7, which plays sound effect files at a predetermined interval while an ambient sound file is looped.[Item 9] The sound file playback device according to Item 7, wherein the circuit plays sound effect files at random timings while an ambient sound file is looped. [Item 10] The sound file playback device according to Item 7, wherein the circuit changes the frequency of playing sound effect files depending on the game scene. [Item 11] A method for playing sound files, comprising looping an ambient sound file, outputting ambient sounds, playing sound effect files at predetermined timings, and outputting sound effects superimposed on ambient sounds. [Item 12] A recording medium on which a program executed on a computer is recorded, wherein the program causes the computer to perform the following functions: looping an ambient sound file, outputting ambient sounds, playing sound effect files at predetermined timings, and outputting sound effects superimposed on ambient sounds.

[0058] This disclosure can be used in the technical field of generating and / or playing audio files.

[0059] 10... Information processing device, 100... Sound file generation device, 102... Processing device, 104... Recorded data, 110... Sound data acquisition unit, 112... Sound source separation unit, 114... Sound file generation unit, 116... First generation unit, 118... Second generation unit, 120... Sound file recording device, 122... Ambient sound file recording unit, 124... Sound effect file recording unit, 200... Processing unit, 202... Communication unit, 210... Game execution unit, 212... Game image generation unit, 214... Game sound generation unit, 216... Voice file playback unit, 218... Sound file playback unit, 220... Output unit, 230... Ambient sound playback unit, 232... Sound effect playback unit, 234... Mixer.

Claims

1. A sound file generation device comprising: a sound data acquisition unit that acquires recording data of ambient sounds; a sound source separation unit that separates the recording data into ambient sound data and sound effect data; a first generation unit that generates an ambient sound file containing the separated ambient sound data; and a second generation unit that generates a sound effect file containing the separated sound effect data.

2. The sound file generation device according to claim 1, characterized in that the first generation unit generates an ambient sound file by applying a fade process to ambient sound data.

3. The sound file generation device according to claim 1, characterized in that the first generation unit includes information indicating the type of ambient sound as metadata in the ambient sound file.

4. The sound file generation device according to claim 1, characterized in that the second generation unit includes information indicating the type of sound effect in the sound effect file as metadata.

5. A method for generating sound files, comprising the steps of: acquiring recording data of ambient sounds; separating the recording data into ambient sound data and sound effect data; generating an ambient sound file containing the separated ambient sound data; and generating a sound effect file containing the separated sound effect data.

6. A program to enable a computer to perform the following functions: acquire recording data of ambient sounds; separate the recording data into ambient sound data and sound effect data; generate an ambient sound file containing the separated ambient sound data; and generate a sound effect file containing the separated sound effect data.

7. A sound file playback device that outputs ambient sounds, comprising: an ambient sound playback unit that loops and plays ambient sound files; a sound effect playback unit that plays sound effect files at predetermined timings; and an output unit that outputs the played ambient sounds and sound effects.

8. The sound file playback device according to claim 7, characterized in that, during loop playback of an ambient sound file, the sound effect playback unit plays a sound effect file at a predetermined period.

9. The sound file playback device according to claim 7, characterized in that, while the ambient sound file is being looped, the sound effect playback unit plays the sound effect file at random timings.

10. The sound file playback device according to claim 7, characterized in that the sound effect playback unit changes the frequency at which it plays sound effect files depending on the game scene.

11. A method for playing an audio file, comprising the steps of: looping playback of an ambient sound file; outputting the ambient sound; playing a sound effect file at a predetermined timing; and outputting the sound effect superimposed on the ambient sound.

12. A program to enable a computer to perform the following functions: loop playback of ambient sound files, output ambient sounds, play sound effect files at predetermined timings, and output sound effects superimposed on ambient sounds.

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