Avatar Audio Scene Rendering via Minimum Spanning Tree
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current inter-player communication mechanisms in visually immersive virtual environments are primitive, relying on text chat or voice communications, and implementing natural voice placement is complex and costly, with high bandwidth and CPU requirements for audio exchange in massively multi-player games.
Innovation Solution
A method using a minimum spanning tree link structure between avatars to render immersive audio scenes, eliminating the need for central servers by leveraging peer-to-peer communication, reducing bandwidth and CPU costs, and allowing scalable resource allocation as the number of avatars grows.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If a minimum spanning tree link structure is used for peer-to-peer audio communication, then bandwidth requirements are reduced, but audio quality and immersion may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the audio communication network into hierarchical levels (peer-to-peer links, regional aggregation, central server) where different routing strategies apply at each level. This segmentation allows optimized bandwidth usage at peer level while maintaining audio quality through selective use of central server for complex routing scenarios.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces central servers as intermediary nodes that mediate between peer-to-peer audio streams and the broader network. These intermediaries handle audio mixing, spatial rendering, and routing decisions, ensuring audio quality is maintained even when peer-to-peer bandwidth is limited.
2Reliability
If audio streams are sent to every player within hearing range, then audio immersion is improved, but upstream and downstream bandwidth requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple audio streams at regional aggregation points and central servers before redistributing them to players. Instead of sending individual streams to every player, the system combines streams into regional mixes, reducing total bandwidth consumption while maintaining immersion through spatial audio processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds spatial and hierarchical dimensions to audio distribution. Audio streams are organized in a three-dimensional space (x, y, z coordinates) and distributed through hierarchical levels (peer, regional, central). This dimensional organization allows efficient bandwidth usage by transmitting audio only to players within specific spatial ranges and hierarchical levels.
3Reliability
If powerful processing units are employed to render all received audio streams, then audio rendering quality is improved, but hardware requirements and CPU costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments audio rendering tasks across multiple levels (peer devices, regional servers, central server). Each segment handles a subset of audio processing responsibilities, distributing the computational burden and reducing the power requirements for individual processing units while maintaining overall rendering quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables peer devices to perform self-service audio processing by rendering audio streams locally before transmission. This self-service approach reduces the processing burden on central servers and distributes computational requirements across the network, lowering overall hardware demands.
4Device complexity
If a central server architecture is used for audio communication, then audio mixing and spatial rendering are simplified, but server costs and bandwidth requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the central server architecture into hierarchical levels (regional servers, central server). Each level handles a subset of audio processing tasks, reducing the resource requirements for each individual server while maintaining the benefits of centralized mixing and spatial rendering.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces regional servers as intermediary nodes between peer devices and the central server. These intermediaries perform preliminary audio mixing and processing, reducing the workload on the central server and overall system resource requirements while maintaining audio quality.
Data Source
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AI summary
An audio scene is created for an avatar in a virtual environment of multiple avatars. A link structure is created between the avatars. An audio scene is created for each avatar, based on an avatar's associations with other linked avatars.