Patent ID: 6330486
Filing Date: 2001-12-11
Classification: G06F,H04S

Abstract:
A method of positioning an audio source in a computer representation of a three-dimensional environment comprising the steps of:determining a first coordinate location of said audio source in said computer representation of a three-dimensional environment;determining a visual perspective location of said audio source in said computer representation of a three dimensional environment;positioning said audio source at an acoustic perspective location corresponding to said visual perspective location in said computer representation of a three-dimensional environment;determining a field of view of an observer of said audio source;determining whether said visual perspective location of said audio source is within said field of view of said observer; andattenuating said audio source if said visual perspective location of said audio source is outside of said field of view of said observer, wherein said step of attenuating said audio source if said visual perspective location of said audio source is outside of said field of view of said observer comprises determining the field of view of a viewpoint through which said observer views said computer representation of a three-dimensional environment, determining the ratio of said field of view of said viewpoint to said field of view of said observer, determining how far said visual perspective location of said audio source is outside of said field of view of said observer, and attenuating said audio source in accordance with said ratio and said determination of how far said visual perspective location of said audio source is outside of said field of view of said observer.