阅读说明：本技术 信息处理系统、信息处理装置、信息处理装置的控制方法，以及程序 (Information processing system, information processing apparatus, control method for information processing apparatus, and program ) 是由 小木曾彻 于 2020-04-14 设计创作，主要内容包括：一种信息处理装置连接到由用户穿戴或抓握的外围装置,所述外围装置中的至少一个外围装置包括收集周围的声音并输出代表所收集的声音的声音信号的装置。信息处理装置接收从由用户穿戴或抓握的外围装置输出的声音信号、基于预定规则从所接收的声音信号中选择声音信号的至少一部分,输出所选择的声音信号并切断其它声音信号。(An information processing apparatus is connected to peripheral devices worn or held by a user, at least one of the peripheral devices including a device that collects surrounding sound and outputs a sound signal representative of the collected sound. The information processing apparatus receives sound signals output from a peripheral device worn or held by a user, selects at least a part of the sound signals from the received sound signals based on a predetermined rule, outputs the selected sound signals, and cuts off other sound signals.)

1. An information processing apparatus connected to a plurality of peripheral devices to be worn or gripped and used by one or more users and individually including a sound input part that collects surrounding sounds and outputs a sound signal representing the collected sounds, comprising:

means for receiving a sound signal output from at least one of the peripheral devices worn or gripped by the user;

a selection component for selecting at least part of the received one or more sound signals based on a predetermined rule; and

means for outputting the one or more sound signals selected by the selection means and cutting off any other sound signal.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

The selection means that:

selecting a peripheral device of interest when the peripheral device used by the user is a peripheral device that is predetermined to be unlikely to collect any speech other than the user's speech, but

Selecting one of the relevant peripheral devices from the peripheral devices that the user will use but are not determined to be peripheral devices of the peripheral devices that are unlikely to collect any speech other than the user's speech.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein

The information processing apparatus outputs a display control signal to any peripheral apparatus whose output sound signal is cut off and which belongs to the peripheral apparatuses, so that the peripheral apparatus performs a display representing a state in which sound input through the relevant peripheral apparatus is unavailable.

4. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein

The one or more sound signals selected and output by the selection component are used in the processing of a chat application.

5. An information processing system comprising one or more peripheral devices to be worn or gripped and used by one or more users and an information processing device, wherein

At least one of the peripheral devices includes a sound input part for collecting surrounding sound and outputting a sound signal representing the collected sound, an

The information processing apparatus includes:

means for receiving one or more sound signals output from at least one of the peripheral devices worn or gripped by the user;

a selection component for selecting at least part of the received one or more sound signals based on a predetermined rule; and

means for outputting the one or more sound signals selected by the selection means and cutting off any other sound signal.

6. A control method for an information processing apparatus connected to a plurality of peripheral apparatuses to be worn or gripped and used by one or more users and individually including a sound input part that collects surrounding sounds and outputs a sound signal representative of the collected sounds, wherein the information processing apparatus performs the steps of:

receiving, by means for receiving a sound signal, a sound signal output from at least one of the peripheral devices worn or held by the user,

selecting, by a selection means, at least part of the received one or more sound signals based on a predetermined rule, an

Outputting the one or more sound signals selected by the selecting means and cutting off any other sound signal through means for controlling output of sound signals.

7. A program for causing an information processing apparatus connected to a plurality of peripheral devices to be worn or gripped and used by one or more users and individually including a sound input section that collects surrounding sounds and outputs a sound signal representative of the collected sounds to function as:

means for receiving one or more sound signals output from at least one of the peripheral devices worn or gripped by the user;

a selection component for selecting at least part of the received one or more sound signals based on a predetermined rule; and

means for outputting the one or more sound signals selected by the selection means and cutting off any other sound signal.

Technical Field

The invention relates to an information processing system, an information processing apparatus, a control method of the information processing apparatus, and a program.

Background

In recent years, in order to perform control by voice or chat processing, a plurality of peripheral devices that allow sound input are sometimes connected to an information processing device such as a home game machine or a personal computer.

Disclosure of Invention

[ problem ] to

However, if a voice or the like uttered by a user is processed in a field where a plurality of sound input devices exist in this way, the input voice sometimes becomes an unintended sound due to a difference in timing at which the same sound is collected by the sound input devices or a difference in characteristics of the sound input devices.

For example, in a case where several players among a plurality of players participating in a game executed through a network are gathered in one place, a problem as described below occurs when a player attempts to execute chatting.

In particular, speech uttered by one of the aggregated players is collected not only by the voice input device (e.g., microphone) of the speaking player, but also by the voice input devices of different players playing at locations adjacent to the relevant player. In this case, simply performing mixing processing on the player's voice may cause the voice to become an inaudible sound due to the muffling of the suppressed voice or the generation of an echo.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation as described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system, an information processing apparatus, a control method of an information processing apparatus, and a program by which control of a plurality of sound input devices can be achieved by taking into consideration the situation as described above.

[ solution of problem ]

According to an aspect of the present invention which solves the problems of the prior art described above, there is provided an information processing system including a peripheral device to be worn or gripped and used by a user, and an information processing device. In the information processing system, at least one of the peripheral devices includes sound input means for collecting surrounding sound and outputting a sound signal representing the collected sound, and the information processing device includes means for receiving one or more sound signals output from at least one of the peripheral devices worn or held by a user, selection means for selecting at least a part of the received one or more sound signals based on a predetermined rule, and means for outputting the one or more sound signals selected by the selection means and cutting out any other sound signals.

[ advantageous effects of the invention ]

With the present invention, it is possible to prevent a voice from becoming a sound that is difficult to hear due to the silencing of the voice or the generation of an echo, thereby realizing the control of a plurality of sound input peripheral devices.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram depicting a configuration example of an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram depicting a configuration example of a sound input control unit of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a functional block diagram depicting an example of a control unit of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 depicts an explanatory view depicting an operation example of the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The configuration of the information processing system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention is as illustrated in fig. 1, and includes an information processing apparatus 10 such as a home game machine or a Personal Computer (PC), and a controller 20. Here, a plurality of controllers 20 may be included. Further, the information processing system 1 may also include a plurality of peripheral apparatuses each including a sound input device (such as the chat controller 30, the headphone 40, or the head-mounted display 50) that can be connected to the information processing apparatus 10.

As illustrated in fig. 1, the information processing apparatus 10 includes a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, an operation control unit 13, an output control unit 14, a sound input control unit 15, and a communication unit 16. In addition, the controller 20 includes an operation unit 21, a microphone 22, a communication unit 23, a display unit 24, and a sound output unit 25. In addition, chat controller 30 includes operation unit 31, microphone 32, communication unit 33, and display unit 34.

The control unit 11 of the information processing apparatus 10 is a program control device such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) and operates according to a program stored in the storage unit 12. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the control unit 11 executes a plurality of application programs in parallel (executes a process generally called a multitasking process).

In particular, in the case where the information processing apparatus 10 is a home game machine, the control unit 11 executes various applications such as a game application for transmitting a sound signal through a network and a chat application. In addition, the control unit 11 executes the system program, and as processing of the system program, executes a process for authenticating a user who uses a relevant device (such as the controller 20 or the headphone 40) for each device, associates information (for example, a user name) for specifying the user with each information for specifying the device (such as the controller 20), and stores the associated information.

Then, if the control unit 11 receives an input of operation information together with information for specifying the controller 20 from the operation control unit 13, the control unit 11 selects an application that becomes an output destination of the operation information from among applications being executed. Here, it is sufficient that the condition for selecting the output destination is predetermined in the following manner: for example, when a game application is run, the game application is selected in principle and predetermined operation information is processed by a system exception and the selection is performed according to a condition.

As a process of an application or a system of an output destination of the operation information, the control unit 11 executes a process of using information for specifying the controller 20 and the operation information input from the operation control unit 13. In addition, when a plurality of pieces of sound information individually received from a plurality of devices are to be mixed, the control unit 11 determines the volume of mixing of each sound signal. The operation of the control unit 11 is described later.

The storage unit 12 is a memory device, a hard disk drive, or the like and holds a program to be executed by the control unit 11. In addition, the storage unit 12 also operates as a working memory of the control unit 11.

The operation control unit 13 is connected to the controller 20 by wireless or wired communication to communicate, and receives operation information representing the substance of an operation performed by a user using the controller 20 from the controller 20 to output the received operation information to the control unit 11 together with information for specifying the controller 20 as a transmission source of the operation information.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the operation control unit 13 sends out a display control signal or the like to the controller 20 instructed by an instruction input from the control unit 11 according to the instruction.

The output control unit 14 is connected to a display device such as a home television, a monitor, or a head-mounted display 50, and outputs signals of sound, video, or the like to the display device according to instructions input from the control unit 11. In addition, the output control unit 14 may output video and sound signals to devices different from each other. For example, video may be output to a monitor, and sound signals may be output to the controller 20 or the headset 40.

The sound input control unit 15 receives a sound signal from peripheral devices including, for example, a sound input device, such as the controller 20, the chat controller 30, the headphone 40, and the head-mounted display 50. In addition, as illustrated in fig. 2, the sound input control unit 15 includes a mixer unit 151, a mute unit 152, a switch unit 153, and an output unit 154, and synthesizes sound signals input from devices other than a predetermined device (e.g., other than the chat controller 30) among the received sound signals through the mixer unit 151.

In particular, the mixer unit 151 determines a volume of each sound signal received from the respective devices (such as the controller 20, the headset 40, and the head-mounted display 50) and synthesizes the sound signals received from the respective devices having the determined volumes. In a certain example of the present embodiment, the mixer unit 151 determines the volume of the sound signal received from each device according to an instruction input from the control unit 11.

In addition, for example, in the case where the control unit 11 sets the volume of the sound signal from the headphone 40 to "255" and sets the volume of the other sound signals to "0", the mixer unit 151 also functions as a selection means. In this example, the mixer unit 151 selectively outputs only the sound signal from the headphone 40. In addition, in this case, even if there is a sound signal received from the controller 20, the head mounted display 50, or the like other than the headphone 40, such a sound signal is not included in the output of the mixer unit 151.

In addition, in the example of the present embodiment, a plurality of controllers 20 may be connected to the information processing apparatus 10. Also in this case, the mixer unit 151 determines the volume of the sound signal received from each controller 20 according to an instruction input from the control unit 11. For example, in a case where an instruction is input from the control unit 11 to set the volume of the sound signal received from the controller 20a used by the user a to "255" and to set the volume of the sound signal received from the controllers 20B and 20C used by the other users B and C to "0", the mixer unit 151 selectively outputs the sound signal received from the controller 20 a.

The mute unit 152 switches the sound signal output from the mixer unit 151 between being output as it is or not (mute) in accordance with an instruction input from the control unit 11. When the control unit 11 outputs an instruction to not mute, the mute unit 152 outputs the sound signal output from the mixer unit 151 as it is. On the other hand, when the control unit 11 outputs a mute instruction, the mute unit 152 discards (mutes) the sound signal output from the mixer unit 151 without outputting the signal to the switch unit 153.

The switch unit 153 receives an input of a sound signal from the apparatus not input to the mixer unit 151 (such a sound signal is hereinafter referred to as an interruption sound signal; in the example herein, a sound signal received from the chat controller 30) from among the sound signals received by the information processing apparatus 10. In addition, when the mute unit 152 outputs a sound signal, the switch unit 153 receives an input of the sound signal. The switching unit 153 selectively outputs one of the sound signal (if any) received from the muting unit 152 and the interruption sound signal (if any) according to an instruction input from the control unit 11.

The output unit 154 outputs the sound signal output from the switch unit 153 to the control unit 11. In this way, the sound input control unit 15 according to one example of the present embodiment receives one of a sound signal, a mixed sound signal, or a selected sound signal from peripheral devices each including a sound input apparatus, and outputs the resulting sound signal for processing in the control unit 11.

The communication unit 16 is a network interface or the like, and transmits various information through a network according to an instruction input from the control unit 11. In addition, the communication unit 16 outputs information received through the network to the control unit 11.

The operation unit 21 of the controller 20 includes buttons, a joystick, and the like, and receives an operation by a user to output operation information representing the substance of the operation performed by the user to the communication unit 23. Meanwhile, the microphone 22 collects surrounding sounds and outputs a digital sound signal representing the collected sounds.

The communication unit 23 is a wireless communication means such as bluetooth (registered trademark), and outputs information (operation information) representing the substance of an operation performed by the user on the operation unit 21 to the information processing apparatus 10. In addition, the communication unit 23 outputs the sound signal output from the microphone 22 to the information processing apparatus 10. Further, the communication unit 23 outputs the display control signal output from the information processing apparatus 10 to the display unit 24. Further, upon receiving the sound signal from the information processing apparatus 10, the communication unit 23 outputs the received sound signal to the sound output unit 25.

The display unit 24 includes, for example, a Light Emitting Diode (LED) or the like. The display unit 24 receives an input of a display control signal from the communication unit 23 and turns on or off the LED. The sound output unit 25 is a device (such as a speaker) including a vibrator and generates sound based on a sound signal received from the information processing apparatus 10.

In addition, the chat controller 30 is a device generally called a push-to-talk device (PTT device) that receives and outputs an input of a voice only when a user gives an instruction on a voice input, and the operation unit 31 of the chat controller 30 includes, for example, a button. In addition, the microphone 32 collects surrounding sound and converts it into a sound signal and outputs the sound signal.

The communication unit 33 is a wireless communication means such as bluetooth (registered trademark) and outputs a sound signal output from the microphone 32 to the information processing apparatus 10 while the user presses a button of the operation unit 31. On the other hand, when the user does not press the button of the operation unit 31, the communication unit 33 discards the sound signal output from the microphone 32 without outputting the sound signal to the information processing apparatus 10. Further, the communication unit 33 outputs the display control signal output from the information processing apparatus 10 to the display unit 34.

The display unit 34 includes, for example, an LED or the like. The display unit 34 receives an input of a display control signal from the communication unit 33 and turns on or off the LED. The operation of chat controller 30 will also be described later.

The headphones 40 include, for example, earphones, a microphone, and the like. The headphone 40 causes the speaker to generate sound based on the sound signal output from the information processing apparatus 10. In addition, the headphone 40 sends out the sound signal collected by the microphone to the information processing apparatus 10.

The head mounted display 50 includes a display, speakers, and a microphone. The head mounted display 50 receives the video signal and the sound signal output from the information processing apparatus 10 to display an image on the display and cause the speaker to generate sound. In addition, the head mounted display 50 sends out the sound signal collected by the microphone to the information processing apparatus 10.

Here, the operation of the control unit 11 of the information processing apparatus 10 is described. In the present embodiment, the control unit 11 functionally includes a sound input processing unit 111, a mute processing unit 112, an interrupt processing unit 113, and a display processing unit 114, as exemplified by the processing of the system in fig. 3.

It is to be noted that, in the following description of the present embodiment, it is assumed that the control unit 11 determines one of the devices that is connected to the information processing apparatus 10 and includes the sound input device as the interrupting device in advance.

The sound input processing unit 111 performs the following processing on a target device as a device including the sound input apparatus (in the case where an interrupt device is determined, the interrupt device is excluded from the target device). The sound input processing unit 111 determines the mixed volume for each target device connected to the information processing device 10 according to a predetermined rule. This predetermined rule may be, for example, such as described below. Specifically, the control unit 11 determines the priority order of the target devices in advance, and sets the volume of the mixture of the sound signals received from the target device of which priority order is highest among the target devices connected thereto to a value that is determined in advance and is greater than 0 (excluding 0). For this value, for example, the highest value may be set, or a different value different depending on the type of the target device may also be set for each target device; in the following description, a value greater than 0 is referred to as an output value. In addition, the volume of the mixture of the sound signals received from the target devices other than the target device having the highest priority order among the connected devices is set to the lowest value. It is sufficient that this lowest value is a value representing, for example, volume "0". This lowest value is hereinafter referred to as the "cutoff value".

It is to be noted that the setting of the rule and the volume here is only an example, and various other methods are available. For example, the control unit 11 may set the volume of the mixture of sound signals received from the selected target device to a predetermined output value for the target device selected by the user, and set the volume of the mixture of sound signals received from any other target device to a cutoff value.

In addition, considering a case in which a plurality of users use the information processing apparatus 10, the rule may be such as described below. In particular, it is possible to use, for example,

(1) in principle, one target device is selected for each user;

(2) in the case where the target device selected for each user is a target device predetermined to include a sound input apparatus unlikely to collect sounds other than the voice of the relevant user, the volume of the mixture of the relevant target devices is set to an output value;

(3) in the case where the target device selected for each user is not a target device predetermined as a device including a sound input apparatus unlikely to collect sounds other than the voice of the relevant user (such a target device just described is referred to as a wide-range sound collecting device for convenience of description), one user is selected from among users whose selected target device is a wide-range sound collecting device, and the volume of the mixture of the target devices selected for the selected user is set to an output value; and

(4) the volume of the mixture of the target devices whose volumes in the mixture are not set to the output values in (2) and (3) is set to the cutoff value.

According to this example, for a user who uses the headphone 40 or the like in which the microphone directivity is relatively high as the sound input device, the sound signal collected by the headphone 40 is made to be used in the processing as an application. On the other hand, for a user who uses the controller 20 as a sound input device as a wide-range sound collection apparatus in which the microphone directivity is relatively low, only a sound signal collected by the controller 20 operated by one of the users using the controller 20 as a sound input device is made to be used in processing as an application.

It is to be noted that, in both cases, when the user using the wide-range sound collection apparatus operates the controller 20 to issue a request for an input sound signal, the mixed volume of the wide-range sound collection apparatus (such as the controller 20 of the user) is set to an output value, and the mixed volume of any other wide-range sound collection device is set to a cutoff value.

When the mute processing unit 112 receives operation information for muting as operation information received from the controller 20 operated by the user, it outputs a mute instruction to the sound input control unit 15.

The interrupt processing unit 113 may output an instruction to select a sound signal received from an interrupt device to the sound input control unit 15 according to an instruction (e.g., an instruction to request selection) input from a predetermined interrupt device. In addition, if an instruction to cancel the selection is received from the interrupting device, the control unit 11 outputs an instruction to select a sound signal received from any device other than the interrupting device to the sound input control unit 15.

The display processing unit 114 outputs a display control signal to indicate an input state of the sound signal to the device in response to the instructions output from the sound input processing unit 111, the mute processing unit 112, and the interrupt processing unit 113. A specific example of this display control signal is described later.

[ example of operation ]

The information processing system 1 of the present embodiment basically includes such a configuration as described above and operates in the following manner. Next, an example (fig. 4(a)) in which three users A, B and C play a game that shares one information processing apparatus 10 will be described.

At this time, it is assumed that the users A, B and C operate by holding the controllers 20a, 20b, and 20C, respectively. Specifically, the information processing apparatus 10 initially authenticates the user who operates the controller 20 and records information specifying the authenticated user in association with information specifying the controller. Further, it is assumed that chat controller 30 as an interrupting device is connected to information processing device 10.

At this time, it is assumed that the information processing apparatus 10 complies with the following rule as a predetermined rule.

(1) In principle, one target device is selected for each user;

(2) in the case where the target device selected for each user is a target device predetermined to include a sound input apparatus unlikely to collect sounds other than the voice of the relevant user, the volume of the mixture of the relevant target devices is set to an output value ("255" in fig. 4);

(3) in the case where the target device selected for each user is not a target device predetermined as a device including a sound input apparatus unlikely to collect sounds other than the voice of the relevant user (such a target device just described is referred to as a wide-range sound collecting device for convenience of description), one user is selected from among users whose selected target device is a wide-range sound collecting device, and the volume of the mixture of the target devices selected for the selected user is set to an output value; and

(4) the volume of the mixture of the target devices whose volumes in the mixture are not set to the output values in (2) and (3) is set to the cutoff value.

Thus, the controllers 20a, 20b, and 20c connected to the information processing apparatus 10 are set as target apparatuses, and the information processing apparatus 10 determines the volume of mixing for each target apparatus according to a predetermined rule. Here, it is assumed that the controller 20 is a wide-range sound collection device. In this example, based on the above-described predetermined rule, the information processing apparatus 10 sets, for example, the mixed volume of the controller 20 connected first (assuming that this is the controller 20a of the user a) to an output value, and sets the mixed volume of the sound signals output from any other target apparatus to a cutoff value.

Therefore, in the information processing apparatus 10, the sound signal collected by the controller 20a used by the user a and sent out to the information processing apparatus 10 is used in the processing of the application.

For example, if the application is a chat application, the information processing apparatus 10 sends out a sound signal that has been collected by the controller 20a and sent out to the information processing apparatus 10 to a chat partner. On the other hand, the information processing apparatus 10 outputs the sound signal received from the partner to the output destination (for example, the controllers 20a, 20b, and 20c here) determined by a predetermined method.

At this time, the sound signals transmitted from the controllers 20b and 20c are discarded by the operation of the sound input control unit 15 of the information processing apparatus 10. Therefore, the sounds collected by the controllers 20a, 20b, and 20c are prevented from being mixed, thereby avoiding the silencing of the voice or the generation of echo.

In addition, if the user C wears the headphone 40 here and is authenticated by the information processing apparatus 10 as the user of the headphone 40 (fig. 4(b)), the information processing apparatus 10 sets the headphones 40 used by the user C and the controllers 20a, 20b, and 20C connected to the information processing apparatus 10 as target apparatuses again using the authentication of the new apparatus as a trigger, and determines the mixed volume of each target apparatus according to the above-mentioned rule.

Here, assuming that the headphone 40 is not a wide-range sound collection device, the information processing device 10 here first determines the mixed volume of the headphone 40 as an output value for the user C based on the above-described predetermined rule. On the other hand, for the other users a and B, the information processing apparatus 10, for example, first determines the mixed volume of the connected controller 20 (here, the controller 20a of the user a) as an output value, and determines the mixed volume of the sound signal received from any other target apparatus (the controller 20B of the user B) as a cutoff value.

At this time, the sound emitted by the user C is collected by the headphone 40. Then, the sound signal collected and sent out to the information processing apparatus 10 by the controller 20a used by the user a and the sound signal sent out from the headphone 40 are mixed and used in the processing of the application.

At this time, the sound signals transmitted from the controllers 20b and 20c are discarded by the operation of the sound input control unit 15 of the information processing apparatus 10. Therefore, the sounds collected by the controllers 20a, 20b, and 20c are prevented from being mixed, thereby avoiding the silencing of the voice or the generation of echo. It is to be noted that, since the headphone 40 has a relatively high directivity, the sound of the user a included in the sound signal output from the headphone 40 is sufficiently small. Therefore, even if the sound signal obtained by sound collection of the headphone 40 is mixed with the sound signal transmitted from the controller 20a, the sound signal is prevented from being mixed, thereby avoiding the silencing of the voice or the generation of the echo.

In addition, if the user B here operates the controller 20B to perform an operation for requesting input of a sound signal, information representing the substance of the operation is transmitted to the information processing apparatus 10. The information processing apparatus 10 receives the request, and maintains the mixed volume of the headphones 40 at the output value for the user C. In addition, the information processing apparatus 10 sets the volume of the mixture of the controller 20b that has requested the input of the sound signal to the output value, and sets the volume of the mixture of the sound signals received from any other target apparatus (the controller 20a of the user a) to the cutoff value.

At this time, the sound signals transmitted from the controllers 20a and 20c are discarded by the operation of the sound input control unit 15 of the information processing apparatus 10. Therefore, the sounds collected by the controllers 20a, 20b, and 20c are prevented from being mixed, thereby avoiding the silencing of the voice or the generation of echo.

In addition, the information processing apparatus 10 that performs the processing of the chat application outputs the sound signal received from the chat partner to each controller 20 so that the sound is generated by the controller 20.

[ silence ]

In addition, in the example of the present embodiment, if one of the users operates its controller 20 to issue a mute instruction, a sound signal from each device (except the interrupting device) including the sound input apparatus is muted. In short, in the example of the present embodiment, if a mute instruction is issued from any one of the controllers 20 and the like, all sound inputs are cut off.

Specifically, if one of the users A, B and C operates the controller 20 operated by the user himself to issue a mute instruction, operation information indicating that a mute operation has been performed is sent out to the information processing apparatus 10.

The information processing apparatus 10 receives operation information indicating that muting is to be performed from the controller 20 and outputs a muting instruction to the sound input control unit 15. At this time, the mute unit 152 performs control in such a manner that the sound signal output from the mixer unit 151 is not output (muted) regardless of which volume setting the mixer unit 151 of the sound input control unit 15 is mixing the sound signals transmitted from the respective devices.

Therefore, muting is generally performed by one operation of the user, labor for setting muting for each device is not required, and operability of muting is improved.

In addition, depending on the nature of the mute instruction (for example, in the case where a button for the mute instruction is long-pressed or the like), the control unit 11 may perform such control that no sound signal is output (all mute) as a process of the output control unit 14. Thereby, the sound output from the television, the headphone, and the controller 20 is also stopped.

[ silencing of peripheral device side including Sound input apparatus ]

Here, in a case where it is possible for the side of a peripheral device (such as the controller 20) including the sound input apparatus to control whether or not to transmit a sound signal, when a certain user operates the controller 20 thereof to issue a mute instruction, the information processing apparatus 10 may instruct such a peripheral device as described above to stop transmitting a sound signal.

[ output mode ]

In addition, in the present embodiment, the control unit 11 that receives an input of a sound signal from the sound input control unit 15 generally performs such control that the input sound signal can be used by any application that the control unit 11 is executing. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, an operation mode in which the control unit 11 performs such control as just described is referred to as a sharing mode. However, in a certain example of the present embodiment, it is sometimes preferable that the inputted sound signal is used only by a specific application.

In particular, the sound signal from the interrupting device (in the example herein, from chat controller 30) may be used only by a particular application.

In addition, if the mute state is valid even if the application requires sound input, sound input is disabled. Therefore, when a state in which muting can be canceled is temporarily established in response to a request from the application side, a sound signal input in the state in which muting is temporarily canceled should be output only to the application through which this request has been made.

Therefore, if sound input becomes necessary in the processing of one application, the control unit 11 outputs display indicating that sound input is requested to a monitor or the like, and temporarily retains information (may be an application name) specifying the application.

Here, if the user performs a predetermined operation to cancel muting through his controller 20, the control unit 11 detects that the operation has been performed and controls the mixer unit 151 of the sound input control unit 15 so that the mixed volume of the controller 20 for which the operation has been performed is set to the maximum (the mixed volume is set to the cutoff value for the other controllers 20 and the like). It is to be noted that when the unmuting operation is performed on a plurality of controllers 20, the mixing volume may be set to the maximum only for the controller 20 that performs the unmuting operation earliest.

Then, the control unit 11 uses the sound signal that has been received from the controller 20 for a period of time until the user subsequently performs a mute operation by its controller 20 or until after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, for processing the application specified by the previously tentatively retained information (muting temporarily). This sound signal is set to be unavailable for any application other than the application specified by the information. For convenience of description, the operation mode of the control unit 11 when this setting is performed is referred to as an exclusive mode.

The control of such an exclusive mode just described is similar to the operation of a well-known operating system that uses input information in processing of only a specific application, and thus a detailed description is omitted here.

[ display of mute State or the like ]

Now, an example of the display control signal of the display processing unit 114 is described. In the example of the present embodiment, the control unit 11 outputs in each case

(1) A display control signal for turning off the LEDs of the display unit 24 in a non-mute state,

(2) a display control signal for turning on the LEDs of the display unit 24 in a mute state, an

(3) A display control signal for blinking the LED of the display unit 24 in a fully-silent state.

Accordingly, since the display control signal representing the mute/cancel mute state is output from the information processing apparatus 10 and the controller 20 or the like changes the display of the display unit 24 (to off, on, or blink) in accordance with the display control signal to clearly indicate that the mute state is valid, the user can easily recognize whether the state in which the sound is likely to be input is valid.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the control unit 11

(4) A display control signal that blinks the LED of the display unit 24 in a mode in which blinking can be distinguished from blinking in a fully silent state may be output to the apparatus whose mixed volume is set to a cutoff value.

Here, the mode in which the flicker can be distinguished from the flicker in the fully silent state may be such that the period of the flicker is longer than in the fully silent state. Accordingly, it is possible to clearly indicate a case where the sound input cannot be performed by the controller 20 owned by the user himself/herself as a case where the different person is performing the sound input.

In addition, although the LEDs of the display unit 24 are controlled here, the display unit 24 may be formed as, for example, a liquid crystal display unit such that the color of the backlight of the liquid crystal display unit is changed or the display content is changed to notify the user of the state.

[ list of reference numerals ]

1: information processing system

10: information processing apparatus

11: control unit

12: memory cell

13: operation control unit

14: output control unit

15: voice input control unit

16: communication unit

20: controller

21: the operation unit 22: microphone (CN)

23: the communication unit 24: the display unit 25: the sound output unit 30: chat controller 31: the operation unit 32: microphone (CN)

33: the communication unit 34: the display unit 40: the headphone 50: head-mounted display 111: the sound input processing unit 112: the mute processing unit 113: the interrupt processing unit 114: the display processing unit 151: the mixer unit 152: the mute unit 153: the switching unit 154: and an output unit.