Patent ID: 8627213
Filing Date: 2014-01-07
Classification: G06F,G10L,H04M,H04R,H04S

Abstract:
1. A chat room method comprising: sending a signal representative of a sound at a first user location to a second user location; establishing, in a chat room, a first user at a virtual first user location and a second user at a virtual second user location, wherein chat room acoustics are a function of a number of users in the chat room such that increasing the number of users in the chat room reduces accuracy of a sound field simulated in the chat room; processing the signal at one or more of a plurality of levels of realism related to sound to provide a binaural sound at the second user location having an analogous spatial relationship between the second user location and the first user location as a virtual spatial relationship between the virtual second user location and the virtual first user location; and selecting a level of realism from the plurality of levels of realism related to sound based on at least one of a number of users in the chat room and a load on computational resources hosting the chat room system, wherein for a first number of users a first level of realism is selected, processing the signal comprises using a frequency-independent sound model with frequencies that are attenuated or delayed, wherein for a second number of users that is less than the first number of users a second level of realism is selected, processing the signal comprises using a frequency-dependent sound model with frequencies that are attenuated or delayed, and wherein for a third number of users that is less than the second number of users a third level of realism is selected, processing the signal comprises using a reflection sound model, wherein a reflection from a structure or object is calculated.