JP3193254B2 - 3D virtual space sharing system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication network comprising a plurality of terminals capable of displaying a three-dimensional virtual space which can be freely moved by a user's will and the other user's alter ego in the virtual space. The present invention relates to a three-dimensional virtual space sharing system in which a plurality of users share the same virtual space at a remote place by connecting to a server via the virtual server.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a system in which a plurality of users share a three-dimensional virtual space, all terminals sharing the virtual space have the same virtual space model, and the user of each terminal uses a mouse or a joystick. It can move freely in the virtual space by using the operating device such as. At this time, the user transmits position information in the virtual space to the server, and the server transmits the position information to another user terminal. The terminal receiving the moved position information moves the position of the user's alter ego in the virtual space.

Conventionally, in this type of three-dimensional virtual space sharing system, as a method of transmitting a face image of a user between a plurality of terminals, as shown in FIG. When a certain distance from the alter ego of the user is reached, a method of connecting a video switcher connected to the user's camera to the terminal and displaying the image in picture-in-picture has been common. FIG. 4 shows a case where three terminals 20-1, 20-2, and 20-3 are connected to the server 10 for simplicity. The server 10 controls the video switcher 30 by a control signal. Then, the video information of the user by the camera of a certain terminal is transmitted to another certain terminal. The terminal that has received the video information displays the image (face image) in a specific area in the virtual space separately from the alter ego, as shown in FIG.

[0004]

In the above prior art, the realization that the alter ego of another user and the video displayed by picture-in-picture do not match on the virtual space screen, and that the user is communicating with that user. There was a problem that lacked.

An object of the present invention is to provide a three-dimensional virtual space sharing system in which a user can simultaneously view and communicate with a plurality of opponents' moving images in a three-dimensional virtual space in which a user can freely move on his / her own will. Is to provide.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there are provided a plurality of terminals capable of displaying a three-dimensional virtual space in which a user can freely move on his / her own will and an alter ego of another user in the virtual space. A plurality of users can connect to the same virtual space by connecting to a server via a communication network and distributing the user's image received from each terminal and the position information in the virtual space to other terminals. In a three-dimensional virtual space sharing system that is shared at a remote location, the server includes a means for storing existence positions of a plurality of users in a space after a certain time α after a certain time t and t; A means for detecting a vector that has moved within α time, and a function for comparing a user's image according to a relative relationship between a user's own motion vector and a user's motion vector for each of a plurality of users. And Means for changing the allocation of the number of frames.

[0007]

Each terminal displays images of a plurality of other users in the virtual space according to the respective position information. At this time, since the number of video frames of the user located near the user is assigned much, the expression of the user can be easily understood. As a result, a plurality of persons can appropriately communicate with each other in a three-dimensional virtual space in which the user can move freely according to his / her own intention.

[0008]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a three-dimensional virtual space sharing system according to the present invention.
20-3 are terminals connected to the server 10 via a communication network. In this embodiment, only three terminals are shown, but it is not necessary that three terminals be used. Each terminal 20-1 to 20-2
0-3 share the same virtual space model by being distributed in advance from the server 10, for example. Each of the terminals 20-1 to 20-3 is provided with a camera, and captures a user's face and the like every moment.

From each of the terminals 20-1 to 20-30 sharing the same virtual space model, using an operating device such as a mouse or a joystick, the position information when the user moves in the virtual space, Video information of each person is on communication line 2
The data is transmitted to the server 10 via 1, 22, and 23.

The server 110 receives information from each terminal at the line interface units 11, 12, and 13,
The video information 24, 25, and 26 are stored in the video thinning / distribution unit 19.
The position information 27, 28, and 29 are transmitted to the position information storage unit 15 and the position information distribution unit 1 via the delay circuit 14.
6 and the motion vector calculation unit 17. Location information distribution unit 1
In step 6, in order to distribute the location information 27, 28, and 29 to other terminals, the location information 217, 218, and 219 are re-edited for each terminal so that their own location information is not included. On the other hand, the motion vector calculation unit 17 stores the position information 211 from each terminal one unit time ago and the current position information 2 from each terminal held in the position information storage unit 15.
7, 28 and 29 are input to calculate a motion vector of each user for one unit time, and the calculated motion vector information 21 is calculated.
2 is sent to the video thinning-out rate determination unit 18. The video thinning rate determination unit 18 calculates, for each user, the angle difference between the user's own motion vector and the motion vector of the other user, and according to the angle difference, the user's video thinning rate (the number of frames). Allocation ratio). The video thinning / distribution unit 19 re-edits the video information 24, 25, and 26 so as to be distributed to other terminals. Thins the video information of the terminal. That is, the allocation of the number of frames is changed. In this manner, the video signals 214, 215, and 216 thinned out for each terminal are used as the position information 21.
7, 218 and 219 together with the line interface unit 1
Terminals 20-1, 20-2, 20 via 1, 12, 13
-3.

In the terminals 20-1, 20-2, and 20-3,
On the basis of the received position information, a video (for example, a face image) of each of the other users is placed at a corresponding position in the virtual space.
It is displayed according to the frame allocation rate from 0.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between a user motion vector and frame allocation. That is, as shown in (a), when the user B approaches the user (it is assumed to be the user) A and the angle difference θ between the two motion vectors increases, the user B allocates more video frames. I do. Conversely, as shown in (b), when the user B moves away from the user (which is assumed to be himself) A and the angle difference θ between the two motion vectors becomes small, the number of video frames assigned to the user B is reduced. .

FIG. 3 shows an image of a motion vector and a frame allocation in a virtual space. FIG.
(A) is an image of the virtual space of a certain terminal viewed from above, and shows the relationship between the motion vectors of the user and other users (here, A, B, and C). In this example,
User A approaches and user B moves away. In this case, the video frames of the users A, B and C are allocated as shown in FIG. That is, it can be seen that the number of updates of the video frame of the user A is important. In this example, it is assumed that each image displays the previously received image until the image is updated.

In the above description of the embodiment, the allocation of video frames is made variable according to the motion vector, that is, according to the distance of the user. May be displayed clearly, and the image of a distant user may be displayed in a blurred manner. Alternatively, the distance of the user may be determined by obtaining a distance from the position information one unit time ago and the current position information.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a three-dimensional virtual space in which a user can freely move by his / her own intention, it is possible to simultaneously watch moving images of a plurality of opponents and perform communication. Will be possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a three-dimensional virtual space sharing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a motion vector and video frame assignment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of user movement in a virtual space and video frame assignment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a conventional system.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of a conventional user image.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 server 11, 12, 13 line interface unit 14 delay circuit 15 position information storage unit 16 position information distribution unit 17 motion vector calculation unit 18 video decimation rate calculation unit 19 video decimation / distribution unit 20-1, 20-2, 20- 3 terminal 21, 22, 23 communication line

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06T 15/00-17/40 G06F 13/00 H04N ⁷ /14-7/173

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of terminals capable of displaying a three-dimensional virtual space in which a user can move freely according to his / her own intention and an alter ego of another user in the virtual space, to a server via a communication network. Connected, the server distributes the user's image received from each terminal and the position information in the virtual space to other terminals, so that a plurality of users can share the same virtual space at a remote place, and In the space sharing system, the server includes a means for storing existence positions in a space of a plurality of users at a certain time α after a certain time t and t, and a vector moved within α time for each of the plurality of users. Means for detecting, and, for each of the plurality of users, means for changing the allocation of the number of frames of the face image of the user according to the relative relationship between the motion vector of the user and the motion vector of the user other than the user. Ingredient 3-dimensional virtual space sharing system, characterized by.