JP5132058B2 - Simulator system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a simulator system that simulates the behavior of a plurality of types of objects that can interfere with each other.

  In recent years, for example, the movement of an object such as a bird or fish in a virtual space on a game is simulated, and information on the object such as a bird or fish that can be visually recognized from a user object operated by the user is provided to the user side device. As a result, an apparatus that provides a virtual reality as if the user has entered a virtual world has been developed.

  However, in such conventional devices that provide virtual reality, the interaction between different types of objects, such as when a bird feeds on a fish, or a left turn vehicle stops until a pedestrian passes at an intersection, When this occurs, it is necessary to constantly monitor the positional relationship between the objects, which increases the processing load. In addition, when an individual simulator is assigned to each type of object and distributed processing is performed, it is complicated to exchange object information between the individual simulators.

  In addition, if the moving operation of the user object and the moving simulation of another object are executed by different computer elements, the position of each object must be communicated between each computer element for each frame. As the number increases, the communication burden increases, and the processing burden also increases in this respect.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a simulator system capable of reducing the processing load and the communication load.

  The present invention for solving the problems of the conventional example includes a plurality of individual simulators for simulating the behavior of a predetermined simulation target, and an intercommunication control device connected to each of the individual simulators. The individual simulator selects a simulation target satisfying a predetermined notification condition from among the simulation targets, and transmits information related to the selected simulation target to the mutual communication control device. The intercommunication control device is associated with information identifying at least one individual simulator, and is executed when information related to a simulation target is received from the individual simulator identified by the information. Holding means for holding processing specification information for specifying the processing content to be performed, and the individual simulation Mutual processing execution means for executing processing of the contents defined in the processing specification information based on information relating to the simulation target received from each of the data, and notifying the individual simulator of the result of the execution; It is characterized by having.

  In this way, by selectively transmitting the simulation target related to the notification condition to other individual simulators, the processing burden and communication burden on each individual simulator can be reduced.

  Here, the processing specification information includes information for specifying an individual simulator and information on notification conditions to be set for the individual simulator specified by the information, and the mutual processing execution means is configured to specify the specified Set notification conditions for the individual simulator, and execute the processing of the contents defined in the processing specification information based on the information related to the simulation target selectively notified based on the set notification conditions It is good.

  Further, one aspect of the present invention is an intercommunication control device connected to a plurality of individual simulators that simulate a predetermined behavior of a simulation target, and is associated with information specifying at least one individual simulator, A holding means for holding processing specification information for specifying processing contents to be executed when information related to a simulation target is received from the individual simulator specified by the information, and a predetermined notification condition from the individual simulator. When the information related to the target to be simulated is received, the information is stored, and based on the information related to the target to be simulated received from each of the individual simulators, the processing defined in the processing specification information is performed. An interactive processing execution means for executing and notifying the individual simulator of the result of the execution It is characterized by a door.

  Here, the processing specification information includes information for specifying an individual simulator and information on notification conditions to be set for the individual simulator specified by the information, and the mutual processing execution means is configured to specify the specified Set notification conditions for the individual simulator, and execute the processing of the contents defined in the processing specification information based on the information related to the simulation target selectively notified based on the set notification conditions It is good.

  Further, a program according to another aspect of the present invention causes a computer to function as a plurality of individual simulators for simulating a behavior of a predetermined simulation target, and a predetermined notification condition in the operation as each individual simulator. The simulation target is selected from the individual simulator specified by the information in association with the procedure for selecting the simulation target satisfying the above and outputting the information related to the selected simulation target and the information specifying at least one individual simulator. The process definition information is based on a procedure for holding process definition information for defining the processing content to be executed when receiving the information related to the information, and information on the simulation target input from each of the individual simulators Execute the process with the contents specified in, and change the result of the execution It is characterized in that to execute a step of notifying the simulator, to the computer.

  Furthermore, another feature of the present invention is a simulator system including an individual simulator that simulates a predetermined behavior to be simulated, and a user terminal that determines the behavior of a user object according to an instruction input from a user. The user terminal includes, at a predetermined synchronization timing, acquisition means for acquiring simulation target information from a synchronization target individual simulator determined based on a predetermined target determination rule; Based on the simulation target information acquired last from the simulator, a prediction unit that predicts the behavior of the simulation target related to the individual simulator that is not the synchronization target, and a display unit that presents the prediction result to the user. It is to prepare.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the simulation system according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes a user terminal 1, an intercommunication control device 2, and a plurality of individual simulators 3, which are mutually connected. Connected via network.

  In the following, for the sake of explanation, an example in which a user moves in a virtual city space is assumed, and a user object and a car object, a building object, a pond object, a road object, a bird object, and a non-user object, and Assume that fish objects that inhabit a pond in the city are moving in predetermined areas in the city space. For example, the user object is a person and is defined as being able to move on a sidewalk, a pedestrian crossing, or a land portion of a park in the city near the ground in the virtual city space. The vehicle object is defined as being movable on the roadway near the ground. Furthermore, it is defined that the bird object can move within the virtual city space from the entire upper part of the ground except the deep part of the pond or a predetermined depth of the pond. The fish object is defined as movable within the pond. It should be noted that objects such as buildings, ponds, roads, and the like are held as information that does not move between the user terminal 1 and the individual simulator 3.

  The user terminal 1 can be realized using a general personal computer. In the user terminal 1, user objects are managed as described later.

  Each individual simulator 3 manages a specific type of object. For example, the first individual simulator 3a simulates and manages the movement of a car object, the second individual simulator 3b simulates and manages the movement of a bird object, and the third individual simulator 3c Simulate and manage object movement.

  Each individual simulator 3 is a server computer, and includes a control unit 31, a storage unit 32, and a communication unit 33 as illustrated in FIG. Here, the control unit 31 is a program control device such as a CPU, and simulates the movement of at least one object in charge in accordance with a program stored in the storage unit 32. In addition, the control unit 31 selectively notifies the mutual communication control device 2 of information on objects satisfying a predetermined condition (notification condition) among objects to be simulated. This process will be described in detail later.

  Further, the control unit 31 performs a process of sending out a list of objects included in the designated area (object search process).

  The storage unit 32 includes a memory element and the like, and stores a program related to each process executed by the control unit 31. The storage unit 32 stores parameter information and the like used for each process. Furthermore, the storage unit 32 also operates as a work memory for the control unit 31.

  The communication unit 33 is a network interface or the like, and sends specified information to a specified destination according to an instruction input from the control unit 31 via the network. In addition, the communication unit 33 outputs information received via the network to the control unit 31.

  The mutual communication control device 2 can be realized by a server computer or the like, and includes a control unit 21, a storage unit 22, and a communication unit 23 as shown in FIG. Here, the control unit 21 is a CPU or the like, and performs processing according to a program stored in the storage unit 22.

  The storage unit 22 includes a memory element and stores programs related to each process. The storage unit 22 stores parameter information used in the processing of the control unit 21. Further, the storage unit 22 also operates as a work memory for the control unit 21.

  The communication unit 23 is a network interface or the like, and transmits specified information to a specified transmission destination via a network in accordance with an instruction input from the control unit 21. Further, the communication unit 23 outputs information received via the network to the control unit 21.

  The simulator system according to the present embodiment has the above-described configuration. Functionally, as shown in FIG. 5, the user object management unit 41, the user visual field display unit 42 in the user terminal 1, and the mutual communication control device 2, an intercommunication control unit 51, a search processing unit 52, a dependency relationship determination unit 53, a collision determination unit 54, a dependency relationship database 55, a simulation engine unit 61 in each individual simulator 3, and an object data storage unit 62. And a notification determination unit 63.

  The user object management unit 41 updates the position of the user object in the virtual space in response to an operation of moving the user object by the user. Here, the user terminal 1 restricts the user's operation so that the user object does not move out of an area predetermined as being movable when the user performs a moving operation. For example, when an instruction operation for moving from a sidewalk to a roadway is performed, it is determined whether or not the roadway part is a pedestrian crossing.

  The user visual field display unit 42 transmits information related to the visual field range of the user to the mutual communication control device 2, receives information of other objects included in the visual field range from the mutual communication control device 2, and displays the information on a display or the like. .

  When receiving the notification of the object information from the individual simulator 3, the mutual communication control unit 51 associates the notified object information with the object type (or information for specifying the individual simulator 3 that is the notification source), and notifies it. The data is stored in the storage unit 22 as a database.

  In accordance with an instruction received from the user terminal 1, the search processing unit 52 acquires information on objects belonging to the user's visual field range by causing each individual simulator to perform object search processing, and acquires the acquired object information. 1 to send.

  The dependency relationship determination unit 53 refers to the notification database and the dependency relationship database 55 stored in the storage unit 22, and when the processing to be executed is determined in the dependency relationship database 55, the determined processing (for example, An instruction to start execution of (collision determination processing) is output.

  The collision determination unit 54 refers to the notification database stored in the storage unit 22 when the dependency determination unit 53 outputs an instruction to start execution of the collision determination process, so that the objects of different types can interact with each other. When it is determined whether or not the simulation considering the action should be performed, and when it is determined that the simulation considering the interaction should be performed, the individual simulators 3 respectively managing the objects related to the interaction are Outputs information about the object that acts as an action partner, and requests to execute the process related to the interaction.

  In the present embodiment, the dependency determination unit 53 and the collision determination unit 54 implement the mutual processing execution unit of the present invention.

  The dependency relationship database 55 is stored in the storage unit 22 as a holding unit, and as shown in FIG. 4, the individual simulator 3 that manages at least one object type (or at least one type of object) is specified. Information) R1, R2,... Are associated with information P specifying the content of the process to be executed.

  The simulation engine unit 61 in each individual simulator 3 simulates the behavior (movement, etc.) of the object to be simulated. Here, the simulation engine unit 61 attaches an object identifier to each object to be simulated, calculates the movement position after each predetermined time (one step), calculates the movement position, etc. Information related to the simulation is stored in the object database in association with the identifier of each object.

  For example, movement of a bird object or a fish object is performed by a process of simulating the behavior of a flock. As a specific example, simulation is performed based on simulation parameter information such as ease of gathering, ease of separation, position of concentration target, and position of repelling target. Here, the concentration target is a target (object) to be approached closer. For example, in the case of a bird, a fish as a predation target is an example of the concentration target. In addition, if the repelling target is a target (object) that is going to be further away, for example, if it is a fish, a predator bird is an example of the repelling target. In the process of simulating the behavior of such a group, the movement position in the next step of each individual (individual object) belonging to the group is calculated using these simulated parameter information.

  Further, the simulation engine unit 61 executes processing related to behavior other than movement determined according to the type of managed object. For example, for a bird object, a process of determining whether to prey on a fish object located within a predetermined range is executed.

  Further, when receiving an instruction from the collision determination unit 54 that the process related to the interaction is to be executed, the simulation engine unit 61 continues the simulation process using the object information received together with the instruction.

  For example, in the case of a fish object, the position information of a bird object that is a repelling target is received as information about an object that is an interaction partner, the position information is set as repelling target position information, and the simulation may be continued.

  The object data storage unit 62 stores information about the position in the storage unit 22 for each object that is a simulation target.

  The notification determination unit 63 corresponds to the selection notification unit of the present invention. If there is a managed object that satisfies a given notification condition, information on the object that satisfies the notification condition is controlled by mutual communication. A process (notification process) to be transmitted to the unit 2 is executed. Here, the notification condition is stored in the storage unit 33 as parameter information. The notification condition is, for example, a condition related to the location area of the object in the virtual space. As a specific example, in a bird object, an object located in a range of a pond where a prey target is present and which is less than a predetermined height above the ground (a region set to be able to prey by catching a prey target fish) is set as a notification target. Then, the conditions are determined.

  Next, an operation example of the simulation system of the present embodiment will be described. In the following operation example, an individual simulator 3a that simulates the behavior of a car object, an individual simulator 3b that simulates the behavior of a bird object, and an individual simulator 3c that simulates the behavior of a fish object are connected via a network. The case where an object in a virtual city space is managed will be described as an example.

  At this time, there is no interaction between the bird and the car, and the fish and the car, but it is assumed that a relationship that the bird prey on the fish is virtually set between the bird and the fish. In order to set this predation relationship, the bird has entered an area where fish can be eaten, for example, a bird object that is in the area above the predetermined height above the ground or inside the pond, Is set in the storage unit 32 of the individual simulator 3b.

  In addition, regarding the fish object, a notification condition that a fish object existing in an area from the water surface of the pond to a separately defined depth D is to be notified is determined and set in the storage unit 32 of the individual simulator 3c. Keep it.

  A car object may interact with a human object such as a user object (such as a collision). However, the movable range of the human object is limited to only a sidewalk or a pedestrian crossing. The movable range is limited to roadways only. For this reason, the interaction between the human object and the car object is only a pedestrian crossing, which is a region where the movable ranges of various types of objects intersect. Therefore, a notification condition that the vehicle object entering the pedestrian crossing is a notification target is set in the individual simulator 3a that manages the vehicle object. Similarly, a notification condition that a person object that has entered the pedestrian crossing is a notification target is set on the person object management side. That is, here, the user terminal 1 is set to be notified when the user object enters the pedestrian crossing.

  Further, in the dependency relationship database 55 of the intercommunication control device 2, as illustrated in FIG. 4, information specifying the individual simulator 3b that manages the bird object and information specifying the individual simulator 3c that manages the fish object As a key, in association with this key, the notified fish object information (stored in the notification database) is sent to the individual simulator 3b to perform a process of determining whether or not to prey. The dependency entry (hereinafter referred to as a predation relation entry for distinction) is set as the process definition information.

  In this example of operation, as shown in FIG. 6, each individual simulator 3a, 3b, 3c performs behavioral simulation with a predetermined algorithm for each type of object in charge of each, Are sequentially changed (S1a, S1b, S1c). For example, in the individual simulator 3b in charge of a bird object, an algorithm for simulating a flock (for example, Reynolds, CW (1987) Flocks, Herds, and Schools: A Distributed Behavioral Model, in Computer Graphics, 21 (4) (SIGGRAPH '87 Conference Proceedings) pages 25-34.) Is used to simulate the situation where individual bird objects fly through a virtual city space.

  Each individual simulator 3 determines whether or not there is an object satisfying the set notification condition among the objects (generally a plurality) to be simulated in this movement process (S2a, S2b, S2c). For example, the individual simulator 3b that manages a bird object determines whether or not there is a bird object (notification target) that has been moved to an area that is set as a notification condition above the pond or inside the pond and that is below a predetermined height on the ground. If there is a bird object to be notified, if there is a bird object to be notified, predetermined information, for example, information on the position of the bird object to be notified is sent to the mutual communication control device 2 as information on the bird object to be notified. Send and notify (S3).

  The intercommunication control unit 51 of the intercommunication control device 2 receives the notified information, and stores in the storage unit 22 a notification database in which the information for specifying the individual simulator 3b is associated with the notified information.

  Then, the dependency relationship determination unit 53 of the mutual communication control device 2 refers to the dependency relationship database 55 stored in the storage unit 22 and is included in the information that is the key of each dependency relationship entry set in the dependency relationship database 55. Whether or not notifications are received from all the individual simulators 3 is checked with reference to the notification database. Thus, it is determined whether or not the process to be executed is defined in the dependency database 55 (S4).

  In the stage of this example, the notification of the fish object is not received from the individual simulator 3c that manages the fish object, that is, from the current state of the behavior simulation of the fish object in the individual simulator 3c to the depth D from the water surface of the pond. Since there is no fish object present, the notification database only stores information for specifying the individual simulator 3b related to the bird object. For this reason, it is determined that notifications from the individual simulators 3b and 3c included in the key of the predation relationship entry set in the dependency relationship database 55 are not made, and the process returns to the process S1 and the simulation in the next step is performed. Executed. At this time, the mutual communication control device 2 deletes the notification database from the storage unit 22.

  Each individual simulator 3 performs the movement process in the next step again (S5), and whether or not there is an object satisfying the set notification condition among the objects (generally plural) to be simulated. Is determined (S6). Here, assuming that there is a bird object to be notified, the individual simulator 3b transmits, for example, information on the position of the bird object to be notified to the mutual communication control device 2 as information on the bird object to be notified. Then, the notification is made again (S7).

  In addition, when the individual simulator 3c that manages the fish object finds the fish object that has moved to the range from the water surface of the pond to the set depth D, the fish object is the notification target, and the fish that has been the notification target. As the object information, for example, information (such as an identifier of the fish object) for identifying the fish object to be notified and the position information thereof are transmitted to the mutual communication control device 2 for notification (S8).

  The intercommunication control unit 51 of the intercommunication control device 2 that has received these notifications receives the notified information, and associates the information specifying the individual simulators 3b and 3c with the information notified from each of them. The database is stored in the storage unit 22.

  Then, the dependency relationship determination unit 53 of the intercommunication control device 2 determines whether or not the processing to be executed is defined in the dependency relationship database 55 (S9). Here, since both information for specifying the individual simulators 3b and 3c is stored in the notification database, information for specifying all the individual simulators 3 included in the key of the predation-related entry is stored in the notification database. The collision determination unit 54 executes the process associated with the key. As already described, in this example, the information of the fish object stored in the notification database is sent to the individual simulator 3b, and a process for determining whether or not to prey is performed (S10). ).

  In the simulation engine unit 61 of the individual simulator 3b, it is determined whether or not the bird to be notified performs a behavior of eating the fish object received from the mutual communication control device 2 here, for example, a random value or a predetermined simulation. A determination is made according to a parameter (such as a hungry parameter) (S11), and the result of the determination is sent to the mutual communication control device 2 (S12). For example, when the prey is preyed, the identifier of the preyed fish object is sent to the mutual communication control device 2, and when the prey is not preyed, that fact is sent to the mutual communication control device 2.

  The collision determination unit 54 of the mutual communication control device 2 notifies the individual simulator 3 of the result of the process related to the dependency relationship. Here, it is checked whether or not predation has been performed based on the received information of the determination result. If predation is performed, the identifier of the predated fish object is sent to the individual simulator 3c, and the fish identified by the identifier is sent. The object is deleted from the object database (S13). Moreover, the mutual communication control apparatus 2 transmits the information to the effect that the fish object which was supposed to be eaten out of the fish object which became the notification object as a result of predation disappeared to the individual simulator 3b (S14).

  Thereafter, each individual simulator 3 is repeatedly executed from the process of simulating the behavior of each managed object.

  According to the present embodiment, the individual simulator 3b that manages the bird object and the individual simulator 3c that manages the fish object are predetermined ranges to which the managed objects can interact in the virtual space. As long as it is not entered, it does not receive information about other objects, and therefore it is not necessary to perform a process of simulating interactions. Thereby, the processing load of simulation can be reduced.

  Further, as in the example of FIG. 6, information is not transmitted and received between objects (car and fish, car and bird) that have no interaction setting. That is, even if there is a bird object to be notified, information on the bird object is not transmitted to the individual simulator 3a that simulates the behavior of the car object. Thereby, the communication burden can be reduced.

  Here, every time the simulation about the behavior of each object is advanced, the notification database is deleted and the notification database is updated by receiving a new notification. When a change occurs in the notification target to be notified this time, the change (information on the object to be added to the notification database and information on the object to be deleted from the notification database) is notified to the mutual communication control device 2. It may be. In this way, as long as there is no change in the notification target, it is not necessary to notify every time, and the communication load can be reduced.

  In addition, here, the case where the notification condition is set in advance in each individual simulator 3 has been described as an example, but the notification condition may not be set in advance as described below.

  For example, in the above-described example, the individual simulator 3c that manages the fish object is preliminarily set with the information on the depth D that determines the notification target, but this depth D information is initially set to D = 0, That is, it is generally set as a condition that notification is not performed, such as a fish object on the surface of the water, and the mutual communication control device 2 has received a notification from a specific individual simulator 3. As a condition, the information of the depth D may be set to D = d (d> 0) and the individual simulator 3c to notify the fish object up to the depth d.

  That is, in this case, the information for specifying the individual simulator 3b that manages the bird object is used as a key, and the depth D information is D = d (d> 0) for the individual simulator 3c that manages the fish object in association with this key. ) And a dependency entry (hereinafter referred to as a depth setting entry for distinction) set to perform processing to be set is stored in the dependency database 55.

  In this way, at the stage of the process S4 shown in FIG. 6 above, when determining whether or not the dependency relation determining unit 53 of the intercommunication control apparatus 2 should execute the dependency relation database 55, the relevant stage Since the information for identifying the individual simulator 3b related to the bird object is stored in the notification database, all the information included in the key of the depth setting entry is stored in the notification database. Instructs the individual simulator 3c that manages the fish object to set the depth D information as D = d (d> 0).

  In response to this instruction, the individual simulator 3c sets the depth D information to d, and checks whether there is a fish object existing in the range from the water surface of the pond to the set depth D = d. If there is such a fish object, the fish object is set as a notification target. For example, information (such as an identifier of the fish object) for specifying the fish object that is the notification target and information on the position thereof are sent to the mutual communication control device 2. Send to and notify.

  The mutual communication control device 2 receives the notified information, associates the information for specifying the individual simulator 3c with the notified information, and stores them in the notification database. Then, the dependency relationship determining unit 53 of the intercommunication control device 2 determines whether or not the processing to be executed is defined in the dependency relationship database 55. At this stage, since both the information for identifying the individual simulators 3b and 3c are stored in the notification database, the processing after the processing S10 in FIG. 6 related to the predation-related entry is executed, and the fish stored in the notification database. The object information is sent to the individual simulator 3b, and processing for determining whether or not to prey is performed.

  In addition, in order to simplify explanation so far, the dependency database 55 shows an example in which a dependency entry related to a predation relationship between a bird and a fish is stored, but this is the only dependency entry. For example, as a dependency relationship between the human object and the car object, a collision determination, a parameter setting for avoidance behavior (the car object stops until the human object disappears, etc.) may be performed.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the user terminal 1 acquires and displays information on objects belonging to the visual field range from the user object at every predetermined timing. That is, the user visual field display unit 42 of the user terminal 1 transmits information related to the user's visual field range (information representing a region in the virtual space that defines the user's visual field range) to the mutual communication control device 2.

  The search processing unit 52 of the intercommunication control device 2 sends information on objects within the field of view defined by the information received from the user terminal 1 to each individual simulator 3, and sends the object information to each individual simulator 3. Perform search processing. Each individual simulator 3 sends out a list of objects included in the area designated by the mutual communication control device 2. This list of objects lists information that determines the appearance of the object, information related to the position of the object, and the like.

  The mutual communication control device 2 sends a list of objects received from each individual simulator 3 to the user terminal 1. In this way, the user terminal 1 receives information on other objects (other than the user object) included in the user visual field range from the mutual communication control device 2 and displays the information on a display or the like.

  If the user terminal 1 acquires and displays information about the position of each object for each step of the simulation, the communication burden increases when the number of objects increases. Therefore, the user terminal 1 may acquire information on an object belonging to the visual field range from the user object at a synchronization timing determined based on a predetermined timing determination rule. In this case, at a time other than the synchronization timing, the user terminal 1 predicts the behavior such as the position of the object at the time of display based on the last received object information, and displays the result.

  That is, in this example, the user terminal 1 functionally includes a user object management unit 41, a user visual field display unit 42 ', a synchronization unit 43, as shown in FIG. 7 instead of the example shown in FIG. And a simulation result prediction unit 44.

  The user visual field display unit 42 ′ is included in the visual field range based on the prediction information (object prediction information) of the simulation result stored in a memory (not shown) as a list of objects existing in the visual field range of the user. Information on other objects is displayed on a display or the like.

  The synchronization unit 43 determines synchronization timing based on a predetermined timing determination rule, and at the synchronization timing, an instruction for requesting information on an object included in the field-of-view range together with information that defines the user's field-of-view range is intercommunication controlled. The information is transmitted to the device 2, and information on other objects included in the visual field range is received from the mutual communication control device 2 and stored in the memory.

  The simulation result prediction unit 44 predicts the behavior (simulation result) of each object by using the object information stored in the memory by the synchronization unit 43 for each time related to one step of the simulation, and stores it in the memory. Update the stored object prediction information.

  Here, the simulation result prediction unit 44 uses, for example, a Kalman filter or the like to predict information such as the position of the object while correcting the prediction value based on the actual simulation result acquired by the synchronization unit 43.

  As described above, the user terminal 1 predicts and displays the position of the other object, so that it is not necessary to constantly acquire the position information of the other object, and the communication burden can be reduced.

  Some individual simulators 3 simulate the behavior of the object in charge using information such as the position of the user object. For example, if there is an individual simulator 3 in charge of an object such as a user's pet, it is necessary to simulate the position of the pet according to the position of the user object.

  Therefore, the individual simulator 3 notifies the user terminal 1 to provide information on the position of the user object. Then, the user terminal 1 sends user object information to the individual simulator 3 that is the source of the notification. In this case as well, the user object information may be transmitted only at the synchronization timing determined based on a predetermined timing determination rule, instead of transmitting the user object information for each step of the simulation.

  In this case, the individual simulator 3 that receives the user object information stores the user object information received at the synchronization timing in the storage unit 32, and stores the movement position of the user object at a step outside the synchronization timing. And predicting the behavior of the object based on the prediction result. The movement position of the user object at this time can also be predicted using, for example, a Kalman filter.

  In these examples, the timing determination rule for determining the synchronization timing can be determined according to, for example, the elapsed time since the last synchronization, the moving speed of the user object, the moving speed of other objects, and the like. For example, the synchronization timing may be determined every time when the elapsed time since the last synchronization reaches a certain time (in this case, synchronization is performed at a certain interval), the movement speed of the user object and the other objects A time threshold that is set shorter as the moving speed becomes faster may be calculated, and the synchronization timing may be determined when the elapsed time from the last synchronization exceeds the calculated time threshold.

  Further, the synchronization timing may be determined by the mutual communication control device 2. In this case, the mutual communication control device 2 inquires of each individual simulator 3 whether or not there is an object existing in the visual field range, using the information on the visual field range of the user received from the user terminal 1. .

  Each individual simulator 3 determines whether or not there is an object that exists within the specified visual field range, and if there is an object that exists within the visual field range, sends information to the mutual communication control device 2. To do. The intercommunication control device 2 stores a list of information for identifying the individual simulator 3 that has sent a reply that there is an object that exists within the visual field range. This list of information (hereinafter referred to as a target simulator list) is updated periodically, for example, at predetermined timings.

  The intercommunication control device 2 initially requests (at the time of initialization) information on objects existing within the visual field range from all the individual simulators 3 specified by the stored list information (described above). Search process). Then, a list of objects transmitted by each individual simulator 3 is acquired and transmitted to the user terminal 1.

  In addition, if there is an individual simulator 3 that is newly added to the target simulator list, the mutual communication control device 2 can detect an object existing within the visual field range of the user object with respect to the newly added individual simulator 3. Request information (search process described above). Then, a list of objects sent out by the individual simulator 3 is acquired and transmitted to the user terminal 1.

  When the mutual communication control device 2 receives the object information from the individual simulator 3 as described above, the mutual communication control device 2 acquires time stamp information indicating the time when the data is acquired from a clock unit (not shown), and the amount of data received from each individual simulator 3 And the time stamp information are stored in the storage unit 22 as a received data amount database in association with information specifying each individual simulator 3.

  When updating the display, the user terminal 1 sends a signal (display update signal) indicating that to the mutual communication control device 2.

  When the intercommunication control device 2 receives the display update signal from the user terminal 1, the intercommunication control device 2 examines the time (margin time) until the individual simulator 3 performs the simulation and completes the calculation of the object position in the next step. .

  Then, the amount of data that can be acquired within the margin time is calculated as the amount of data that can be acquired. The mutual communication control device 2 refers to the received data amount database stored in the storage unit 22 and identifies the individual simulator 3 that is associated with the calculated data amount equal to or less than the obtainable data amount and included in the target simulator list. Select information preliminarily.

  Then, one piece of information for specifying the individual simulator 3 associated with the oldest time stamp information is selected from the information for specifying the preliminary selected individual simulator 3. If there is a plurality of pieces of information specifying the individual simulator 3 associated with the oldest time stamp information, one of them may be selected at random.

  When the mutual communication control device 2 performs the process registered in the dependency relationship entry in the dependency relationship database 55, the information for specifying the plurality of individual simulators 3 in the dependency relationship entry (or the plurality of individual simulators 3). When the information specifying such an object) is included, it is necessary to simultaneously notify the plurality of individual simulators 3 of the result of the process registered in the dependency entry. Otherwise, there is a possibility that a contradiction may occur in the simulation result displayed on the user terminal 1.

  Therefore, in such a case, not only the amount of data for each individual simulator 3 but also the group of individual simulators 3 that need to be synchronized all at once is registered in the received data amount database in association with each individual simulator 3 belonging to the group. Is obtained, and the data amount values recorded in association with each of the individual simulators 3 belonging to the group are added together to calculate the data amount value for the entire group, In association with information to be specified (for example, a list of information specifying a plurality of individual simulators 3 belonging to a group), the data amount value of the entire group calculated for the group is stored in the received data amount database.

  The mutual communication control device 2 calculates the amount of data that can be acquired within the spare time as the amount of data that can be acquired, and associates the amount of data that is less than the calculated amount of data that can be acquired from the received data amount database stored in the storage unit 22. And information for specifying the individual simulator 3 or information for specifying the group included in the target simulator list is preliminarily selected.

  Hereinafter, one of the information for specifying the individually selected individual simulator 3 or the information for specifying the group is selected according to a predetermined condition. For this selection condition, for example, the time stamp information for a group is set to be the oldest among the time stamp information associated with each of the individual simulators 3 belonging to the group, and is associated with the oldest time stamp information. It may be a condition for selecting information for specifying the individual simulator 3 or information for specifying a group, or a condition for selecting one at random.

  As a result, synchronization can be performed in units of groups, and inconsistency can be prevented from occurring in the simulation results displayed on the user terminal 1.

  The mutual communication control device 2 requests information on an object existing within the visual field range of the user object from the individual simulator 3 specified by the finally selected information (the above-described search process). Then, a list of objects sent out by the individual simulator 3 is acquired and transmitted to the user terminal 1. Then, the intercommunication control device 2 acquires time stamp information indicating the time point when the data is acquired from a clock unit (not shown), and individually determines the amount of data received from the finally selected individual simulator 3 and the time stamp information. The simulator 3 is stored in association with information for specifying, and the content of the received data amount database is updated.

  Further, each time the user terminal 1 receives information related to the object simulation result from the mutual communication control device 2, the user terminal 1 determines that the synchronization timing has arrived and sends the user object information to the mutual communication control device 2. To do.

  The individual simulator 3 may also send information such as the position of the user object predicted in the individual simulator 3 when sending the object list to the mutual communication control device 2. The mutual communication control device 2 sends the received predicted information of the user object to the user terminal 1, and the user terminal 1 receives the predicted information and the information of the user object that has actually changed by the user's operation. For example, when the predicted position and the actual position are separated from each other by a predetermined threshold value or more, the user object information may be sent to the mutual communication control device 2.

  The mutual communication control device 2 sends the received user object information to the finally selected individual simulator 3. The individual simulator 3 that has received the user object information stores the user object information in the storage unit 32 and uses it for the subsequent simulations.

  According to this example, the user terminal 1 and the individual simulator 3 selected by the intercommunication control device 2 are synchronized with time (step (a) in FIG. 8), and the user terminal 1 side performs the last synchronization. The display is performed while predicting the movement of the object acquired in step (step (b) in FIG. 8), and similarly the movement of the user object is predicted on the individual simulator 3 side to simulate the behavior of the object ( Step (c) in FIG. 8) When the next synchronization is performed, the prediction result is corrected based on the received object information and user object information (step (d) in FIG. 8). ). As a result, it is not necessary to perform synchronization for each step, and the communication burden can be reduced.

  In the description so far, object information (including user object information) is transmitted and received via the mutual communication control device 2, but the object information is separately transmitted from the user terminal 1. You may send and receive directly with the simulator 3.

  Next, a simulation system according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 9, the simulation system according to the second embodiment includes a user terminal 1 and a plurality of individual simulators 3. These are connected to each other via a network.

  In this embodiment, the user terminal 1 is functionally similar to the one shown in FIG. 7 in terms of functionality, the user object management unit 41, the user visual field display unit 42 ', the synchronization unit 43, and the simulation result prediction unit 44. And comprising.

  In this example, the synchronization unit 43 determines the synchronization timing based on a predetermined timing determination rule, and at the synchronization timing, issues an instruction to request information on the object included in the field of view range together with information that defines the user's field of view range. The information is transmitted to each individual simulator 3, and information on other objects included in the visual field range is received from each individual simulator 3 and stored in the memory.

  In addition, the simulation result prediction unit 44 predicts the behavior (simulation result) of each object by using the object information stored in the memory by the synchronization unit 43 for each time related to one step of the simulation. Update prediction information for objects stored in memory.

  Here, the simulation result prediction unit 44 uses, for example, a Kalman filter or the like to predict information such as the position of the object while correcting the prediction value based on the actual simulation result acquired by the synchronization unit 43.

  As described above, the user terminal 1 predicts and displays the position of the other object, so that it is not necessary to constantly acquire the position information of the other object, and the communication burden can be reduced.

  In addition, the individual simulator 3 that uses the user object information notifies the user terminal 1 to provide information on the position of the user object. Then, the user terminal 1 directly sends user object information to the individual simulator 3 that is the source of the notification.

  In this case as well, the user object information is sent only at the synchronization timing determined based on a predetermined timing determination rule, instead of sending the user object information for each step of the simulation. Good. In this case, the individual simulator 3 stores the information of the user object received at the synchronization timing in the storage unit 32, and predicts based on the information stored in the movement position of the user object at a step outside the synchronization timing. Then, the behavior of the object is simulated based on the result of the prediction. The movement position of the user object at this time can also be predicted using, for example, a Kalman filter.

  In these examples, the timing determination rule for determining the synchronization timing can be determined according to, for example, the elapsed time since the last synchronization, the moving speed of the user object, the moving speed of other objects, and the like. For example, the synchronization timing may be determined every time when the elapsed time since the last synchronization reaches a certain time (in this case, synchronization is performed at a certain interval), the movement speed of the user object and the other objects A time threshold that is set shorter as the moving speed becomes faster may be calculated, and the synchronization timing may be determined when the elapsed time from the last synchronization exceeds the calculated time threshold.

  Furthermore, it is not always necessary to synchronize with all the individual simulators 3 at the synchronization timing. For example, the user terminal 1 inquires of each individual simulator 3 whether there is an object existing in the visual field range, using the information on the visual field range of the user object.

  Each individual simulator 3 determines whether or not there is an object that exists within the designated visual field range, and if there is an object that exists within the visual field range, sends it to the user terminal 1. The user terminal 1 stores a list of information that identifies the individual simulator 3 that has sent an answer that there is an object that exists within the visual field range. This list of information (hereinafter referred to as a target simulator list) is updated periodically, for example, at predetermined timings.

  Initially (at initialization), the user terminal 1 requests information on objects existing in the visual field range from all the individual simulators 3 specified by the stored list information. Each individual simulator 3 generates a list of objects within the visual field range of the user object and transmits the list to the user terminal 1.

  In addition, if there is an individual simulator 3 that is newly added to the target simulator list, the user terminal 1 sends information on an object that exists within the visual field range of the user object to the newly added individual simulator 3. Request (search process described above). Each individual simulator 3 generates a list of objects within the visual field range of the user object and transmits the list to the user terminal 1.

  When the user terminal 1 receives the object information from the individual simulator 3 as described above, the user terminal 1 acquires time stamp information indicating the time when the data is acquired from a clock unit (not shown), and the data amount received from each individual simulator 3 The time stamp information is stored as a received data amount database in association with information specifying each individual simulator 3.

  The user terminal 1 examines the time (margin time) from the time when it is determined that the synchronization timing has arrived until the individual simulator 3 performs the simulation and completes the calculation of the object position in the next step. Then, the amount of data that can be acquired within the margin time is calculated as the amount of data that can be acquired.

  The user terminal 1 refers to the stored received data amount database, and preliminarily stores information specifying the individual simulator 3 associated with the calculated data amount equal to or less than the acquirable data amount and included in the target simulator list. Select

  Then, one piece of information for specifying the individual simulator 3 associated with the oldest time stamp information is selected from the information for specifying the preliminary selected individual simulator 3. If there is a plurality of pieces of information specifying the individual simulator 3 associated with the oldest time stamp information, one of them may be selected at random.

  The user terminal 1 requests information on an object existing in the visual field range of the user object from the individual simulator 3 specified by the finally selected information. Then, a list of objects sent out by the individual simulator 3 is acquired. Then, time stamp information indicating the time when data is acquired from a clock unit (not shown) is acquired, and the data amount received from the finally selected individual simulator 3 and the time stamp information are used as information for specifying the individual simulator 3. Store the data in association and update the contents of the received data volume database.

  Each time the user terminal 1 receives information related to the simulation result of an object from at least one individual simulator 3, the user terminal 1 determines that the synchronization timing has arrived, and the individual simulator 3 that is the transmission source of the received information In response, the user object information is transmitted.

  The individual simulator 3 may also send information such as the position of the user object predicted in the individual simulator 3 when sending the object list to the mutual communication control device 2. In the user terminal 1, the predicted information is compared with the information of the user object that has actually changed by the user's operation. For example, the predicted position and the actual position are equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value. When the user is away, the user object information may be transmitted to the individual simulator 3.

  The individual simulator 3 that has received the user object information stores the user object information in the storage unit 32 and uses it for the subsequent simulations.

  According to this example, as in the first embodiment, the user terminal 1 and the individual simulator 3 selected by the user terminal 1 are synchronized over time (step (a) in FIG. 8). On the user terminal 1 side, display is performed while predicting the movement of the object acquired in the last synchronization (step (b) in FIG. 8). Similarly, the movement of the user object is also predicted on the individual simulator 3 side. The behavior of the object is simulated (step (c) in FIG. 8), and when the next synchronization is performed, the prediction result is corrected based on the received object information and user object information. (Step (d) in FIG. 8). As a result, it is not necessary to perform synchronization for each step, and the communication burden can be reduced.

  Further, in the description so far, the example in which the user terminal 1, the mutual communication control device 2, and the individual simulator 3 are realized by separate computer devices and connected to each other via a network has been described. Embodiments of the present invention are not limited to these. For example, the user terminal 1, the intercommunication control device 2, and the individual simulator 3 may be configured as an integrated computer device. In another example, the mutual communication control device 2 and the individual simulator 3 may be configured as an integrated computer device and connected to the user terminal 1 so as to be communicable. At this time, the control unit 21 and the control unit 31, the storage unit 22 and the storage unit 32, the communication unit 23 and the communication unit 33 may be common in the computer apparatus, or other hardware (for example, a multi-processor). In the case of a processor, the control unit 21 and the control unit 31 may be individual processors). When the user terminal 1, the mutual communication control device 2, and the individual simulator 3 are configured as an integrated computer device, the processor is defined as each of the user terminal 1, the mutual communication control device 2, and the individual simulator 3. A program to be functioned is stored in the storage unit 22 or the storage unit 32 as a computer-readable storage medium. Similarly, when the mutual communication control device 2 and the individual simulator 3 are configured as an integrated computer device, a program that causes the processor to function as each of the mutual communication control device 2 and the individual simulator 3 is stored in a computer-readable storage. It is stored in the storage unit 22 or the storage unit 32 as a medium.

  In these cases, the computer device that realizes the mutual communication control device 2 and the individual simulator 3 operates the process as the mutual communication control device 2 and a plurality of processes as the individual simulator 3 in parallel. When the user terminal 1 is also realized by an integrated device, the process as the user terminal 1 is also operated in parallel. For this parallel operation, various methods can be adopted. However, if the computer device includes a plurality of processors (program control devices), a cluster system, a grid, a mode in which each processor is connected by a virtual network, etc. It can be realized with various configurations.

  As described above, when the user terminal 1, the mutual communication control device 2, and the individual simulator 3 are realized by an integrated computer device, the mutual communication control device 2 and the individual simulator 3 are realized by an integrated computer device. Also, when connecting to the user terminal 1 so as to be communicable, it is checked whether or not there is an object to be notified among the operations as each individual simulator 3, and if there is an object to be notified, The object information is output to the process of the communication control device 2. In the process as the mutual communication control device 2, information on each object is received in association with information (such as a program execution process ID) specifying the individual simulator 3 that has received the information on the object and has output the information on each object. And refer to the recorded information and dependency database to determine whether there is a process to be executed. If there is a process to be executed, execute the process and obtain the result. The information is output to the process as the individual simulator 3 recorded in the dependency database in association with the processing.

  Even in these cases, some of the plurality of individual simulators 3 managed by the mutual communication control device 2 may be executed in another computer device via a network. In this case, the program that functions as the intercommunication control device 2 receives the information related to the object from another computer device, holds the program module that is used for determination of the dependency relationship, and the result of the processing related to the dependency relationship. Program modules related to processing to be sent to the computer apparatus.

1 is a configuration block diagram of a simulation system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram showing the structural example of the separate simulator which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram showing the structural example of the mutual communication control apparatus which concerns on the 1st, 2nd embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing showing the example of the content of the dependence relationship database which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram concerning an example of a simulation system concerning an embodiment of the invention. It is a flowchart showing the operation example of the simulation system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram concerning another example of a user terminal of a simulation system concerning an embodiment of the invention. It is explanatory drawing showing another example of operation | movement of the simulation system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of the configuration of a simulation system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 User terminal, 2 Intercommunication control apparatus, 3 Individual simulator, 21,31 Control part, 22,32 Storage part, 23,33 Communication part, 41 User object management part, 42 User visual field display part, 51 Intercommunication control part, 52 a search processing unit, 53 a dependency determination unit, 54 a collision determination unit, 55 a dependency relationship database, 61 a simulation engine unit, 62 an object data storage unit, and 63 a notification determination unit.

Claims (6)

A plurality of individual simulators for simulating the behavior of a predetermined simulation target;
An intercommunication control device connected to each of the individual simulators, and a simulator system comprising:
The individual simulator includes a selection notification unit that selects a simulation target satisfying a predetermined notification condition from among the simulation targets, and transmits information related to the selected simulation target to the mutual communication control device. Prepared,
The intercommunication control device is:
A holding means for holding processing specification information that specifies processing contents to be executed when information related to a simulation target is received from an individual simulator specified by the information in association with information specifying at least two individual simulators When,
Whether simulation should be performed in consideration of the interaction between the simulation targets defined in the processing specification information based on the information about the simulation targets received from each of the at least two individual simulators And a mutual processing execution means for executing a process for determining whether or not to notify each of the at least two individual simulators of a result of the execution. The simulator system according to claim 1,
The processing specification information includes information for specifying an individual simulator and information on notification conditions to be set for the individual simulator specified by the information, and the mutual processing execution unit is configured to specify the specified individual simulator. A notification condition is set, and based on the information related to the simulation target selectively notified based on the set notification condition, the process defined in the process specification information is executed. A simulator system. An intercommunication control device connected to a plurality of individual simulators for simulating the behavior of a predetermined simulation target,
A holding means for holding processing specification information that specifies processing contents to be executed when information related to a simulation target is received from an individual simulator specified by the information in association with information specifying at least two individual simulators When,
When receiving information related to a simulation target satisfying a predetermined notification condition from the individual simulator, the information is stored, and information related to the simulation target received from each of the at least two individual simulators is stored. On the basis of the process definition information, the process for determining whether or not to perform the simulation in consideration of the interaction between the simulation targets is performed, and the result of the execution is determined as the at least two individual An intercommunication control unit for notifying each of the simulators. The intercommunication control device according to claim 3,
The processing specification information includes information for specifying an individual simulator and information on notification conditions to be set for the individual simulator specified by the information, and the mutual processing execution unit is configured to specify the specified individual simulator. A notification condition is set, and based on the information related to the simulation target selectively notified based on the set notification condition, the process defined in the process specification information is executed. An intercommunication control device. To a computer connected to a plurality of individual simulators that simulate the behavior of a predetermined simulation target,
In association with information that specifies at least two individual simulators, process definition information that specifies the processing contents to be executed when receiving information related to the simulation target from the individual simulator specified by the information is held. Procedure and
Whether simulation should be performed in consideration of the interaction between the simulation targets defined in the processing specification information based on information about the simulation targets input from each of the at least two individual simulators and executes a process to determine whether a procedure for notifying the result of the execution to each of the at least two individual simulators, the
Program for causing runs. A program executed by a computer connected to a plurality of individual simulators for simulating a behavior of a predetermined simulation target,
In association with information that specifies at least two individual simulators, process definition information that specifies the processing contents to be executed when receiving information related to the simulation target from the individual simulator specified by the information is held. Module,
Whether simulation should be performed in consideration of the interaction between the simulation targets defined in the processing specification information based on information about the simulation targets input from each of the at least two individual simulators A computer-readable storage medium characterized by storing a program including: a module that executes a process for determining whether or not and notifies each of the at least two individual simulators of the result of the execution.

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