Patent ID: 7634073

Claim:
A voice communication system for realizing conversation between a plurality of users through a virtual space, wherein: said voice communication system comprises a server apparatus which manages respective locations of said plurality of users relative to a common coordinate system in a real space, and a plurality of client terminals used respectively by said plurality of users; each of said plurality of client terminals comprises: a location detection means which detects positional information relating to a location of a user of the client terminal itself relative to the common coordinate system in the real space; a client sending means which sends the positional information of the user of the client terminal itself in the real space to said server apparatus, with said positional information being detected by said location detection means; a client receiving means which receives positional information relating to a location of each of other users other than the user of the client terminal itself relative to the common coordinate system in the real space from said server apparatus; a space modeling means which calculates respective locations of said plurality of users in said virtual space, based on said positional information of the user of the client terminal with respect to the common coordinate system in the real world and said positional information of each of said other users with respective to the common coordinate system in the real space; and a sound control means which controls sound effects applied to a voice of each of said other users, based on the locations calculated by said space modeling means, wherein the sound effects are applied in a manner that the voice of each other user originates from a direction reflecting the respective location of each other user relative to the user of the client terminal in the real space; and said server apparatus comprises: a server receiving means which receives said positional information of a user of a client terminal with respective to the common coordinate system in the real space from said client terminal, for each of said plurality of client terminals; a storing means which stores said positional information of each of said plurality of users with respective to the common coordinate system in the real space, with said positional information being received by said server receiving means; and a server sending means which sends the positional information of other users than a user of a client terminal to said client terminal, for each client terminal of said plurality of client terminals, with said positional information being stored in said storing means.