Patent ID: 7248701

Claim:
A method of acoustically rendering a virtual environment including: receiving a subset of polygons derived for an acoustic display from a set of polygons generated for a graphical display; determining acoustic reflections from a sound source that bounce off of polygons in the subset of polygons to a listener position in the virtual environment; determining whether one or more polygons in the subset of polygons cause occlusions of the sound source at the listener position; and generating a play list of sounds based on the reflections and occlusions; wherein: acoustic reflections, if present, cause sound from the sound source to arrive to the listener position via a path that is not a direct path; the subset is a first subset; the first subset corresponds to a first frame of the virtual environment; and determining whether one or more polygons in the first subset of polygons cause occlusions of the sound source at the listener position includes determining that a first polygon in the first subset of polygons causes an occlusion of the sound source; and further including: receiving a second subset of polygons associated with a second frame of the virtual environment; and checking for a subsequent occluding polygon in the second subset of polygons that causes occlusions of the sound source including: first checking whether a second polygon in the second subset of polygons that corresponds to the first polygon occludes the sound source; in the event that the second polygon occludes the source, not checking remaining polygons in the second subset of polygons for occlusions; and in the event that the second polygon does not occlude the source, checking the remaining polygons in the second subset of polygons until an occlusion is found.