Information processing device and noise sound control method

Abstract

A game processing unit 110 controls the movement of a player character in a virtual space on the basis of information regarding operation by a user. A noise cancellation control unit 124 controls a noise cancelling function in an electroacoustic transducer on the basis of the situation of the player character in a game virtual space and / or the situation of the user playing a game.

Description

Information Processing Apparatus and Noise Sound Control Method

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a technique for controlling a noise cancellation function in an electroacoustic conversion device such as headphones or earphones.

[0002] Headphones equipped with a noise cancellation function include a microphone, a noise cancellation circuit, and a speaker. The microphone picks up the noise sound around the headphones, and the noise cancellation circuit generates a noise cancellation signal with an opposite phase to the noise signal. By converting the noise cancellation signal into a noise cancellation sound and outputting it through the speaker, the noise sound entering from the outside into the ear pads is reduced. During game play, the user can enhance the sense of immersion in the game by wearing headphones equipped with the noise cancellation function.

[0003] The present disclosure inventors focused on the noise cancellation function installed in headphones and came up with a method to achieve unprecedented effects and new actions on users by controlling the noise cancellation function during game play.

[0004] An information processing apparatus according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a game processing unit that controls the operation of a player character in a virtual space based on user operation information, and a noise cancellation control unit that controls the noise cancellation function in an electroacoustic conversion device. The noise cancellation control unit controls the noise cancellation function based on the situation of the player character in the game virtual space and / or the situation of the user playing the game.

[0005] A noise sound control method according to another aspect of the present disclosure is a method for controlling the noise cancellation function in an electroacoustic conversion device, the method including a step of controlling the operation of a player character in a virtual space based on user operation information, and a step of controlling the noise cancellation function in the electroacoustic conversion device based on the situation of the player character in the game virtual space and / or the situation of the user playing the game.

[0006] 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.

[0007] This figure shows an information processing system according to an embodiment. This figure shows the hardware configuration of the information processing device. This figure shows the functional blocks of the information processing device. This figure shows an example of a game image. This figure shows the functional blocks of headphones.

[0008] Figure 1 shows an information processing system 1 according to an embodiment. The information processing system 1 comprises an information processing device 10, an input device 6, an output device 4, headphones 9, an auxiliary storage device 2, and an access point (AP) 8. The AP 8 has the functions of a wireless access point and a router, and the information processing device 10 connects to the AP 8 wirelessly or via a wired connection to connect to an external network.

[0009] The information processing device 10 is connected wirelessly or via a wired connection to an 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 and application 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 game software, and the input device 6 may be a device such as a game controller that supplies user operation information to the information processing device 10. The input device 6 may also be an input interface such as a keyboard or mouse.

[0010] The auxiliary storage device 2 is a high-capacity storage device such as an HDD (hard disk drive) or SSD (solid-state drive), and may be an external storage device connected to the information processing device 10 by USB (Universal Serial Bus) or the like, or it may be an internal storage device. The output device 4 may be a television having a display that outputs images and a speaker that outputs sound. The output device 4 may be connected to the information processing device 10 by a wired cable or by a wireless connection.

[0011] The imaging device, camera 7, is located near the output device 4 and images the space around the output device 4. Figure 1 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 a user located in front of the output device 4. Camera 7 may be a stereo camera. The information processing device 10 may have a function to recognize the user's situation from the user's appearance captured by camera 7.

[0012] In this embodiment, the user wears headphones 9. The headphones 9 are equipped with a noise-canceling function and may be connected to the information processing device 10 by a wired cable or wirelessly. The headphones 9 are an example of an electroacoustic converter that converts electrical signals into sound waves using a sound-producing element (for example, a speaker), and the user may wear earphones equipped with a noise-canceling function instead of headphones 9.

[0013] Figure 2 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.

[0014] 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 the OS and executing game programs installed on the auxiliary storage device 2 within the environment provided by the OS. The subsystem 50 includes a sub-CPU, main memory (memory and memory controller), and other components, but does not have a GPU.

[0015] The main CPU has the function of executing game programs installed on the auxiliary storage device 2 and the ROM medium 44, while the sub-CPU does not have such functions. However, the sub-CPU has the function of accessing the auxiliary storage device 2 and sending and receiving data with the server system 12. The sub-CPU is configured to have only these limited processing functions and therefore can 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.

[0016] 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.

[0017] 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.

[0018] 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.

[0019] 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.

[0020] 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, for example, the input device 6 using a communication protocol such as the Bluetooth® protocol or the IEEE 802.11 protocol. The wired communication module 40 communicates with external devices via a wired connection and connects to the network 3 via, for example, the AP8.

[0021] Figure 3 shows the functional blocks of the information processing device 10. The information processing device 10 of this embodiment includes a processing unit 100 and a communication unit 102. The processing unit 100 includes an operation reception unit 104, a game processing unit 110, a game status acquisition unit 120, a user status acquisition unit 122, a noise cancellation control unit 124, and an output processing unit 126. The game processing unit 110 includes a game image generation unit 112 and a game sound generation unit 114.

[0022] The functions of the components in the information processing device 10 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.

[0023] 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.

[0024] 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.

[0025] The communication unit 102 receives operation information from the user operating the input unit of the input device 6 and provides it to the operation reception unit 104. The communication unit 102 may also have the functions of a wireless communication module 38 and a wired communication module 40.

[0026] The operation reception unit 104 receives operation information from the input device 6 via the communication unit 102. In this embodiment, the game processing unit 110 executes a game program based on the user's operation information to control the movement of the player character in the virtual game space and generate game images and game sounds. The functions shown as the game processing unit 110 are realized by system software, game programs, hardware such as a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) that executes rendering processes, etc.

[0027] During gameplay by the user, the operation reception unit 104 supplies operation information from the input device 6 to the game processing unit 110, which then performs calculations to move the player character in the virtual space based on the operation information. The game image generation unit 112 includes a GPU and, upon receiving the results of calculations in the virtual space, generates game images from the viewpoint position (virtual camera) in the virtual space. The game sound generation unit 114 generates game sounds in the virtual space. Figure 4 shows an example of a game image displayed on the output device. The output processing unit 126 displays the game image on the output device 4 and outputs game sounds from the headphones 9.

[0028] Figure 5 shows the functional blocks of headphones 9 with noise-canceling functionality. The headphones 9 include a microphone 200, a right speaker 202a, a left speaker 202b, a cancellation signal generation unit 204, a gain adjustment unit 206, a synthesis unit 208, and a receiving unit 210. The headphones 9 may be connected to the information processing device 10 by a wired cable or by wireless connection.

[0029] The microphone 200 picks up external noise from the headphones 9 and generates a noise signal. Alternatively, the microphone 200 may pick up noise from inside the ear pads of the headphones 9 and generate a noise signal. The cancellation signal generation unit 204 has a noise cancellation circuit that inverts the phase of the noise signal (makes it out of phase), and the noise cancellation circuit inverts the phase of the noise signal to generate a noise cancellation signal.

[0030] The gain adjustment unit 206 adjusts the gain of the noise cancellation circuit. That is, the gain adjustment unit 206 adjusts the signal level of the noise cancellation signal. As will be described later, the gain adjustment unit 206 adjusts the signal level of the noise cancellation signal based on the control signal transmitted from the information processing device 10. The cancellation signal generation unit 204 supplies the noise cancellation signal with the adjusted signal level to the synthesis unit 208.

[0031] The receiving unit 210 receives the game sound signal transmitted from the information processing device 10 and supplies it to the combining unit 208. The combining unit 208 combines the received game sound signal and the noise cancellation signal and supplies it to the right speaker 202a and the left speaker 202b. The right speaker 202a and the left speaker 202b convert the supplied combined signal into sound and output a sound that is a mixture of the game sound and the noise cancellation sound. The noise cancellation sound cancels out the noise sound leaking from outside the headphones 9, thereby realizing the noise cancellation function.

[0032] The noise cancellation control unit 124 in the information processing device 10 has the function of controlling the noise cancellation function based on the status of the player character in the game virtual space and / or the status of the user playing the game. Specifically, the noise cancellation control unit 124 changes the degree of noise cancellation in the headphones 9. The degree of noise cancellation is determined by the signal level I of the noise entering the ear pads of the headphones 9. １ And, the signal level I of the noise cancellation signal ２ It may be expressed by an index based on the difference between the two. An example of a noise cancellation index is given below. (Noise cancellation index) = (I １ -I ２ ) / I １

[0033] The degree of noise cancellation is highest when the noise cancellation index is 0. Ideally, the noise signal level is 1. １ And, the signal level I of the noise-canceling sound ２ By making these two values ​​equal, it is possible to completely cancel out the noise leaking from outside the headphones 9.

[0034] In this embodiment, the noise cancellation control unit 124 does not aim for the noise cancellation index to become 0 under predetermined conditions, but rather deliberately sets the gain of the noise cancellation circuit in the headphones 9 so that it does not become 0. In other words, the noise cancellation control unit 124 sets the gain of the noise cancellation circuit to reduce the current degree of noise cancellation (to move away from the index value of 0). By controlling in this way, the noise cancellation control unit 124 causes the right speaker 202a and the left speaker 202b to output a blurred sound (noise).

[0035] The noise cancellation control unit 124 may control the noise cancellation function of the headphones 9 based on events that occur to the player character in the virtual game space. For example, in a combat game, when a bomb explodes in front of the player character, the game processing unit 110 notifies the game situation acquisition unit 120 of the bomb explosion event. Upon receiving the event notification, the game situation acquisition unit 120 instructs the noise cancellation control unit 124 to control the noise cancellation function. Upon receiving the control instruction, the noise cancellation control unit 124 decides to lower the gain of the noise cancellation circuit in the headphones 9 and sends a control signal including the gain value to the headphones 9. The noise cancellation control unit 124 may also decide to increase the gain of the noise cancellation circuit in the headphones 9.

[0036] In the headphones 9, the receiving unit 210 receives a control signal and supplies the received control signal to the gain adjustment unit 206. The gain adjustment unit 206 adjusts the gain of the noise cancellation circuit based on the control signal, and the cancellation signal generation unit 204 outputs the noise cancellation signal with the adjusted signal level to the synthesis unit 208, causing a muffled sound to be output from the right speaker 202a and the left speaker 202b. By hearing the muffled sound along with the explosion sound, the user is given a feeling of ear blockage, which enhances the realism of the game.

[0037] The noise cancellation control unit 124 may control the noise cancellation function of the headphones 9 when the player character's situation in the virtual game space changes. For example, in a car racing game, when the vehicle driven by the player character enters a tunnel, the game processing unit 110 notifies the game situation acquisition unit 120 of information indicating that the vehicle has entered a tunnel. Upon receiving this information, the game situation acquisition unit 120 instructs the noise cancellation control unit 124 to control the noise cancellation function. Upon receiving the control instruction, the noise cancellation control unit 124 decides to lower the gain of the noise cancellation circuit in the headphones 9 and sends a control signal including the gain value to the headphones 9. The noise cancellation control unit 124 may also decide to increase the gain of the noise cancellation circuit in the headphones 9.

[0038] In the headphones 9, the receiving unit 210 receives a control signal and supplies the received control signal to the gain adjustment unit 206. The gain adjustment unit 206 adjusts the gain of the noise cancellation circuit based on the control signal, and the cancellation signal generation unit 204 outputs the noise cancellation signal with the adjusted signal level to the synthesis unit 208, causing a blurred sound to be output from the right speaker 202a and the left speaker 202b. By hearing the blurred sound at the moment of entering the tunnel, the user is given a feeling of ear blockage, which enhances the realism of the game.

[0039] The noise cancellation control unit 124 may control the noise cancellation function of the headphones 9 when the user's situation changes while playing the game. The user situation acquisition unit 122 acquires information indicating the user's situation. For example, if the user situation acquisition unit 122 acquires information indicating that the user is feeling stressed, it instructs the noise cancellation control unit 124 to reduce the level of noise cancellation. Upon receiving this instruction, the noise cancellation control unit 124 decides to reduce the level of noise cancellation and transmits a control signal including a gain value to the headphones 9. Since noise cancellation can cause discomfort or a feeling of pressure in some people, the noise cancellation control unit 124 may reduce the level of noise cancellation (or disable the noise cancellation function) to allow the user to hear the noise sounds of the real world. The information processing device 10 may have a function to detect whether the user is feeling stressed from the user's image captured by the camera 7 or from biometric data such as the user's pulse rate.

[0040] The user status acquisition unit 122 may measure the user's continuous play time and, when the continuous play time reaches a predetermined time (for example, 2 hours), instruct the noise cancellation control unit 124 to reduce the degree of noise cancellation. Upon receiving this instruction, the noise cancellation control unit 124 may reduce the degree of noise cancellation so that the user can hear the noise sounds of the real world. By sensing the change in noise sounds during gameplay, the user can reset their immersion in the game and become aware that their continuous play time has increased.

[0041] The noise cancellation control unit 124 may have a function of separately adjusting the degree of noise cancellation in the right speaker 202a of the headphones 9 and the degree of noise cancellation in the left speaker 202b. In this case, the game processing unit 110 may identify the direction of the player character with respect to the position of the generated event and notify the identified direction to the game situation acquisition unit 120 together with the generated event. The game situation acquisition unit 120 provides the noise cancellation control unit 124 with the direction of the player character with respect to the event occurrence position together with the control instruction of the noise canceling function. The noise cancellation control unit 124 may determine the degree of noise cancellation in the right speaker 202a and the degree of noise cancellation in the left speaker 202b based on the direction of the player character with respect to the event occurrence position.

[0042] For example, when a bomb explodes on the left side of the player character, the noise cancellation control unit 124 may set the degree of noise cancellation in the left speaker 202b to be lower than the degree of noise cancellation in the right speaker 202a. As a result, a more blurred sound is output from the left speaker 202b. The user can recognize from the left-right difference in the degree of noise cancellation in which direction the bomb has exploded, and the sense of immersion in the game can be enhanced.

[0043] As described above, the present disclosure has been described based on the embodiments. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that these embodiments are illustrative, and various modifications are possible for each combination of these components and each processing process, and such modifications are also within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0044] This disclosure may include the following embodiments: [Item 1] An information processing device comprising a circuit configured to the following, wherein the circuit controls the movement of a player character in a virtual space based on user operation information, and controls the noise-canceling function of an electroacoustic converter based on the status of the player character in the game virtual space and / or the status of the user playing the game. [Item 2] The information processing device according to Item 1, wherein the circuit changes the degree of noise cancellation. [Item 3] The information processing device according to Item 2, wherein the degree of noise cancellation is expressed by an index based on the difference between the signal level of noise entering the ear pad and the signal level of a noise-canceling signal that is in the opposite phase of the noise signal. [Item 4] The information processing device according to Item 2, wherein the circuit reduces the degree of noise cancellation. [Item 5] The information processing device according to Item 1, wherein the circuit controls the noise-canceling function based on events occurring to the player character in the game virtual space. [Item 6] The information processing device according to Item 1, wherein the circuit controls the noise canceling function when the status of the player character in the virtual game space changes. [Item 7] The information processing device according to Item 1, wherein the circuit controls the noise canceling function when the user's status changes. [Item 8] A noise control method for controlling the noise canceling function in an electroacoustic converter, comprising controlling the movement of the player character in the virtual space based on user operation information, and controlling the noise canceling function in the electroacoustic converter based on the status of the player character in the virtual game space and / or the status of the user playing the game.[Item 9] A recording medium storing a program to be executed on a computer, the program causing the computer to: - control the movement of a player character in a virtual space based on user operation information; - control a noise cancellation function in an electroacoustic conversion device based on the situation of a player character in a game virtual space and / or the situation of a user playing the game.

[0045] The present disclosure can be used in a technique for controlling a noise cancellation function in headphones.

[0046] 1... Information processing system, 9... Headphones, 10... Information processing device, 100... Processing unit, 102... Communication unit, 104... Operation reception unit, 110... Game processing unit, 112... Game image generation unit, 114... Game sound generation unit, 120... Game situation acquisition unit, 122... User situation acquisition unit, 124... Noise cancellation control unit, 126... Output processing unit, 200... Microphone, 202a... Right speaker, 202b... Left speaker, 204... Cancellation signal generation unit, 206... Gain adjustment unit, 208... Synthesis unit, 21

Claims

1. An information processing device comprising: a game processing unit that controls the movement of a player character in a virtual space based on user operation information; and a noise cancellation control unit that controls the noise cancellation function of an electroacoustic converter, wherein the noise cancellation control unit controls the noise cancellation function based on the status of the player character in the game virtual space and / or the status of the user playing the game.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the noise cancellation control unit changes the degree of noise cancellation.

3. The information processing device according to claim 2, characterized in that the degree of noise cancellation is expressed by an index based on the difference between the signal level of the noise entering the ear pad and the signal level of the noise cancellation signal which is in the opposite phase of the noise signal.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that the noise cancellation control unit reduces the degree of noise cancellation.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the noise cancellation control unit controls the noise cancellation function based on events occurring to the player character in the virtual game space.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the noise cancellation control unit controls the noise cancellation function when the status of the player character in the virtual game space changes.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the noise cancellation control unit controls the noise cancellation function when the user's situation changes.

8. A noise control method for controlling the noise-canceling function in an electroacoustic converter, comprising: a step of controlling the movement of a player character in a virtual space based on user operation information; and a step of controlling the noise-canceling function in the electroacoustic converter based on the status of the player character in the game virtual space and / or the status of the user playing the game.

9. A program for a computer that enables the following functions: a function to control the movement of a player character in a virtual space based on user operation information, and a function to control the noise-canceling function of an electroacoustic converter based on the status of the player character in the game virtual space and / or the status of the user playing the game.

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