Information providing system, information providing method, and non-transitory computer-readable medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023319499-A1
Application number	US-202318190220-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 27, 2023
Priority date	Mar 30, 2022
Publication date	Oct 5, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

An information providing system includes: a processor; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the information providing system to perform operations including: acquiring position information indicating a user position; acquiring at least one of pieces of data information, each including sound information representing a sound, range information associated with the sound information and representing a predetermined range on a map, and reproduction information associated with the sound information and indicating settings related to reproduction of the sound in the sound information; and reproducing a sound by referring to the at least one of pieces of data information based on the position information. In a case in which there are one or more pieces of range information representing ranges including the user position, the reproduction processing is executed for each of the one or more pieces of range information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An information providing system for providing information by a sound, the information providing system comprising:
a processor; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the information providing system to perform operations, the operations comprising: acquiring position information indicating a user position where a user is present; acquiring at least one of a plurality of pieces of data information, each of the plurality of pieces of data information including sound information representing a sound, range information associated with the sound information and representing a predetermined range on a map, and reproduction information associated with the sound information and indicating settings related to reproduction of the sound in the sound information; and reproducing a sound by referring to the at least one of the plurality of pieces of data information based on the position information, wherein the reproducing the sound comprises executing reproduction processing of reproducing a sound in one piece of sound information associated with one piece of range information, in accordance with one piece of reproduction information associated with the one piece of sound information, and wherein in a case in which there are one or more pieces of range information representing ranges including the user position represented by the position information, the reproduction processing is executed for each of the one or more pieces of range information.

2 . The information providing system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the reproduction information includes a priority of reproduction of the sound information, and wherein in the reproduction processing, a sound in sound information associated with first reproduction information which is reproduction information of one of the plurality of pieces of the data information is reproduced at a sound volume higher than that of a sound in sound information associated with second reproduction information which is reproduction information of another of the plurality of pieces of the data information including a priority lower than a priority included in the first reproduction information.

3 . The information providing system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the reproduction information includes a priority of reproduction of the sound information, and wherein in a case in which there are two or more pieces of range information representing ranges including the user position represented by the position information, and also in a case in which there are two or more pieces of priority range information among the two or more pieces of range information, each of the priority range information being range information associated with reproduction information having a highest priority, the reproduction processing is executed for any one of the two or more pieces of priority range information.

4 . The information providing system according to claim 2 ,
wherein in a case in which the user moves from a position included in a first range represented by first range information for which the reproduction processing is being executed and not included in a second range which overlaps a part of the first range and enters a position included in a region in which the first range and the second range overlap, and also in a case in which a priority included in reproduction information associated with the first range information and a priority included in reproduction information associated with second range information representing the second range are the same, the reproduction processing for the first range information is stopped, and the reproduction processing for the second range information is executed.

5 . The information providing system according to claim 2 ,
wherein in a case in which the user moves from a position included in a first range represented by first range information for which the reproduction processing is being executed and not included in a second range which overlaps a part of the first range and enters a position included in a region in which the first range and the second range overlap, and also in a case in which a priority included in reproduction information associated with the first range information and a priority included in reproduction information associated with second range information representing the second range are the same, the reproduction processing for the first range information is continued without executing the reproduction processing for the second range information.

6 . The information providing system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the reproduction information includes sound source information indicating a position of a sound source that is a generation source of the sound in the sound information, and attenuation information indicating a relationship between a sound source distance and a sound volume of the sound information, the sound source distance being a distance from the sound source to the user position, wherein in a case in which the attenuation information indicates that the sound volume of the sound information is changed in accordance with a position of the user, the sound information is reproduced at a sound volume decreasing as the sound source distance increases, and wherein in a case in which the attenuation information does not indicate that the sound volume of the sound information is changed in accordance with the position of the user, the sound information is reproduced at a constant sound volume regardless of a change in the sound source distance.

7 . The information providing system according to claim 6 ,
wherein the attenuation information includes first attenuation information to be applied to a portion of the sound information whose frequency is equal to or higher than a threshold frequency, and second attenuation information to be applied to a portion of the sound information whose frequency is lower than the threshold frequency, and wherein a sound volume attenuation degree indicated by the first attenuation information is larger than a sound volume attenuation degree indicated by the second attenuation information.

8 . The information providing system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a sound reproduction device mountable on a head of the user, wherein the reproduction information includes sound source information indicating a position of a sound source that is a generation source of the sound in the sound information, and wherein in the reproduction processing, the sound reproduction device is caused to reproduce a sound obtained by performing stereophonic processing on the sound information in accordance with the user position and the position of the sound source.

9 . The information providing system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the operations further comprise: acquiring movement history information indicating a movement history of the user; determining, in the reproduction processing, in a case in which the reproduction information indicates that the sound information is reproduced only in a case in which the user enters the range from a predetermined direction, whether the user enters the range from the direction by using the movement history information; and reproducing the sound in the sound information only in a case in which it is determined that the user enters the range from the direction.

10 . The information providing system according to claim 1 ,
wherein in a case in which the user leaves a third range represented by third range information which is range information of one of the plurality pieces of data information for which the reproduction processing is being executed and then enters the third range again

Assignees

• Jtekt Corp
• Connectome Design Inc

Inventors

• Umezawa Hiroki
• Shibata Yoshiyuki
• Sato Akira

Classifications

• H04S7/303 Primary

  Tracking of listener position or orientation · CPC title

• H04S2400/13

  Aspects of volume control, not necessarily automatic, in stereophonic sound systems · CPC title

• H04S7/304 Primary

  For headphones · CPC title

• H04R2460/07

  Use of position data from wide-area or local-area positioning systems in hearing devices, e.g. program or information selection · CPC title

• G06F3/165 Primary

  Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path · CPC title