JP7235376B1 - Pseudo player character control device, pseudo player character control method, and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a technique for making a new character appear in a virtual three-dimensional space generated by a metaverse management device, and for controlling the movement of the character, which can achieve both quality of movement and low cost. The Metaverse virtual three-dimensional space is generated by the Metaverse management device 200 . In the virtual three-dimensional space, there is a player character that performs an action by the Metaverse management device 200 that receives operation data generated by the user using the user terminal 100 . A pseudo player character control device 300 is combined with the Metaverse management device 200 . The pseudo player character control device 300 sends a pseudo player character into the virtual three-dimensional space created by the metaverse management device 200 . The pseudo player character control device 300 generates pseudo operation data in the same data format as the operation data, and sends it to the Metaverse management device 200 to cause the pseudo player character to act.

Description

In the present invention, a player character, which is a character that has existed in the past in a virtual three-dimensional space generated by a Metaverse management device and whose actions are controlled by a human user, is controlled by the Metaverse management device. The present invention relates to a technique for introducing a new character other than a non-player character, which is a character, and controlling its action.

Although the exact definition of the Metaverse is still uncertain, it generally means a virtual three-dimensional space constructed by a computer system or a service that provides users with a virtual three-dimensional space. A virtual three-dimensional space is generated by a metaverse management device.
The virtual three-dimensional space in the Metaverse can be modeled, for example, on a city that exists on the earth. You can perform your desired action in the space (or allow the character you operate to perform your desired action). The actions are modeled after actions that humans can perform, such as conversations with other characters and movement within a virtual three-dimensional space.
Recent advances in computer systems have made it easier to use the Metaverse, and along with this, the use of the Metaverse, which has hitherto been mainly for play and extension of games, is shifting toward commercial use.
For example, commercial use has been put into practical use, in which a specific company promotes its own products and services in a virtual three-dimensional space in the Metaverse. Among them, many companies set up booths in a virtual three-dimensional space, and introduce the products and services of each company to visitors (player characters). Attempts have also been made to hold large-scale virtual exhibitions in space.

A character operated by each user usually exists in the virtual three-dimensional space in the conventional metaverse. Since a character operated by each user is sometimes called a player character, such a character is called a "player character" in this application. A player character is typically an avatar selected, created, etc. by a user. A user can transfer movement data for moving a player character in a three-dimensional space from a user terminal (desktop personal computer, notebook personal computer, smartphone, tablet, stationary game machine, etc.) via the Internet. and send it to the metaverse management device. The Metaverse management device causes the player character to act based on the motion data. As a result, the user can operate his/her own player character as desired.
On the other hand, in the virtual three-dimensional space in the conventional Metaverse, there are also characters that are not operated by the user. Since such characters are generally called non-player characters, such characters are also called "non-player characters" in this application. A non-player character is a character under the control of the Metaverse management device. The non-player characters perform predetermined actions according to the functions of the computer program installed in the Metaverse management device.

Consider the commercial use of the metaverse as exemplified above.
In that case, it is necessary to have a character present near the player character in the virtual three-dimensional space in the Metaverse in order to promote sales of goods/services to the player character. If the effect of sales promotion is emphasized, the character is preferably a player character under the control of the company that is trying to promote sales.
By doing so, a player character operated by, for example, an employee of the company can give an appropriate answer to a question from a player character operated by a user who is a customer or a customer candidate. Also, a player character operated by a user who is a customer or a customer candidate can be guided to an appropriate booth during an exhibition by a player character operated by, for example, an employee of the company.
The above-described customer service provided to the player character using the player character is not much different from person-to-person customer service, except that it is performed in a virtual three-dimensional space, and fine-tuned correspondence is possible. becomes.
Although there are such advantages, it is a heavy burden on the company side to prepare a player character to be operated by an employee or the like of the company who serves the user's player character. This is because, if the number of player characters who serve customers increases, it is basically necessary to secure personnel to operate the same number of player characters as there are play characters. In the case of commercial use of the Metaverse, the primary aim of a company is to increase the sales of its products and services, but at the same time, it also aims to reduce costs. If the Metaverse cannot be used commercially without securing a large number of personnel, there is little point in using a player character operated by an employee of a company to serve a player character operated by a user.

In consideration of such points, it is conceivable to have a non-player character under the control of the Metaverse management device serve the player character operated by the user. Since the non-player characters are operated by the Metaverse management device, it is not necessary to secure personnel for the user's player characters to serve customers.
Nonetheless, non-player characters are controlled by the functions or instructions of computer programs pre-installed in the Metaverse management system. Therefore, it is the administrator of the Metaverse management device who creates the computer program for the non-player characters. However, for example, when a non-player character serves customers, the manager of the Metaverse management apparatus generally does not know what kind of action the player character should preferably perform. Therefore, it is difficult to sufficiently improve the quality of actions of non-player characters controlled by a computer program created by an administrator of such a Metaverse management apparatus.
Under such circumstances, when trying to improve the quality of the non-player character's actions, the cost of creating a computer program tends to become excessive.
In addition, there are many types of Metaverses and Metaverse management devices that manage them (many companies provide Metaverse services). Since there are differences such as different program languages used in each Metaverse management device for construction, even if the same non-player character is operated in the virtual three-dimensional space of many Metaverses, it is necessary to operate the non-player character. of computer programs must be created for each metaverse management device, which also increases costs.

In other words, it is difficult to select a non-player character as a character in contact with a player character operated by a user in the Metaverse and to make the character perform a high-quality action to some extent. It may be possible to lower costs, but the effect of cost containment is limited.
On the other hand, as a character that comes into contact with a player character operated by a user, a new character that is neither a player character nor a non-player character can perform high-quality actions to some extent and can reduce the cost required for its creation. can be made to appear in the virtual three-dimensional space of the Metaverse, the possibilities of the Metaverse will greatly expand.
This is because such characters can be applied not only to the above-mentioned commercial use mainly for customer service, but also to other uses.
For example, in the field of the Metaverse, a user puts his or her player character in a virtual three-dimensional space and sees it, but does not know where in the virtual three-dimensional space there is something or what he/she can do. The problem of not being able to enjoy the virtual three-dimensional space is often pointed out. In the real world, this is a situation where a person who arrives alone in an unfamiliar city without a guidebook sometimes feels at a loss. Such a problem can be solved if there is a character that guides the player character operated by the user in the virtual three-dimensional space. If the new character described above can be used as such a character, and if the character provides guidance in accordance with the user's preferences and mood at that time, it will be of great help to the users of the Metaverse services. It will also lead to an increase in the number of users of the Metaverse.
In addition, the above-described new characters can also be applied to a player character operated by the user in the three-dimensional space of the Metaverse, for example, to a character who acts together or simply becomes a companion. Moreover, if the player character operated by the user and the new character that acts act in accordance with the user's taste and personality, the user's satisfaction will increase. In particular, if the player character operated by the user and the character performing the action are always the same character, the character goes beyond the category of a mere guide or conversation partner and becomes a friend of the user or the player character operated by the user. It will be possible to identify them.

Characters such as those described above, which are neither player characters nor non-player characters, are applicable to various uses as described above, and are expected to greatly contribute to the spread of the Metaverse.
However, the characters that can appear in the virtual three-dimensional space in the current Metaverse are limited to player characters and non-player characters, and there is no known realistic method for realizing other characters.
In the present application, in a virtual three-dimensional space generated by a Metaverse management device, a character other than a player character or a non-player character, which is generated by a person other than the administrator of the Metaverse management device, has a certain high quality of action and suppresses the cost for its creation. To provide a technique for making a new character appear and controlling its motion.

In order to solve the above problems, the inventor of the present application proposes the following invention. It should be noted that characters other than player characters and non-player characters that appear in the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the Metaverse management device have a somewhat high quality of action, and the above-described new characters that can reduce the cost of creating them. The character is hereinafter referred to as a "pseudo player character".
The present invention has a function of constructing a virtual three-dimensional space in which a plurality of player characters, which are characters operated by a plurality of users respectively, exist. a receiving unit for receiving operation data, which is data for operating each of the plurality of player characters, from a user terminal operated by each user via the Internet; and based on the operation data received by the receiving unit and a character control unit for operating the player character in the virtual three-dimensional space. It is a pseudo player character control device having.
The pseudo player character control device includes an action determination unit that determines an action to be performed by the pseudo player character, and causes the pseudo player character to perform the action determined by the action determination unit. a pseudo operation data generation unit that creates pseudo operation data, which is data, in the same data format as the operation data; and a transmission unit that transmits the pseudo operation data to the reception unit of the metaverse management device via the Internet. ,have.

The pseudo player character control device of the present application is used in combination with the Metaverse management device. An existing metaverse management device may be used. The Metaverse management device consists of a space construction unit that constructs a virtual three-dimensional space, and operation data that is data for operating each of a plurality of player characters, to a user terminal (desktop personal computer, notebook computer, etc.) operated by each user. PCs, smartphones, tablets, stationary game consoles, etc.) are equipped with a receiving unit that receives data via the Internet. The operation data is data for moving the body of the player character, for example, to move in the virtual three-dimensional space, and for causing the player character to speak. Of course, the data format of the operation data is determined by the Metaverse management device or its administrator, and the operation data prepared in that data format is sent from the user terminal to the Metaverse management device. The Metaverse management device moves each player character in the virtual three-dimensional space according to the received operation data. A character controller in the Metaverse management device controls the actions of the player character.
A pseudo player character control device used in combination with such a metaverse management device includes an action determination unit that determines the action to be performed by the pseudo player character, and the motion that is determined by the action determination unit to be performed by the pseudo player character. A pseudo-operation data generating unit that creates pseudo-operation data, which is data to be performed by a player character, in the same data format as the operation data, and transmits the pseudo-operation data to the receiving unit of the Metaverse management device via the Internet. and a transmitter for The motion determination unit determines a motion to be performed by the pseudo player character. The action determination unit generally determines an action suitable for the pseudo player character to perform as the action to be performed by the pseudo player character. The pseudo operation data generation unit generates pseudo operation data. The pseudo operation data is data for causing the pseudo player character to perform the action determined by the action determination unit, and is data in the same data format as the operation data sent from the user terminal to the Metaverse management device via the Internet. . The pseudo player character control device has a transmission section, and the pseudo operation data generated by the pseudo operation data generation section is sent from the transmission section to the reception section of the Metaverse management device via the Internet.
As described above, the Metaverse management device causes the user's player character to act based on the operation data sent by the user from the user terminal and received by the receiving unit. On the other hand, the Metaverse management device moves the pseudo player character based on the pseudo operation data sent from the pseudo player character control device and received by the receiving unit. Since the pseudo operation data has the same data format as the operation data as described above, the Metaverse management device cannot distinguish the pseudo operation data from the operation data, or at least does not need to distinguish them. Therefore, the character control unit in the Metaverse management device that has received the pseudo operation data performs exactly the same processing as that for moving the player character when receiving the operation data, thereby performing a virtual three-dimensional image based on the pseudo operation data. A pseudo player character can be moved in space. This means that when the pseudo player character control device is used in combination with the Metaverse management device, no modification is required on the side of the Metaverse management device. This leads to cost reduction.
Also, the quality of the motion of such a pseudo-player character is basically determined by the computer programs and data sets installed in the pseudo-player-character control device. Such a computer program can also be created by an administrator of the pseudo player character control device. However, the administrator of the pseudo-player character control device may set the computer program for determining the behavior of the pseudo-player character to an external device (for example, a company that wants the pseudo-player character to serve customers, or a company that wants the pseudo-player character to guide the player character). If the pseudo-player character control device accepts a pseudo-player character from a company, etc., that wants to make the pseudo-player character perform an action by sending the pseudo-player character into the virtual three-dimensional space of the Metaverse, what kind of action will the pseudo-player character take? The person who best knows what action they want to make will be able to create the computer program and data set for making the pseudo-player character move. For this reason, if this pseudo-player character control device provided separately from the Metaverse management device is used, it is possible not only to send the pseudo-player character into the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the Metaverse management device, but also to , it is possible to improve the quality of the motion of the pseudo-player character without spending excessive costs. Furthermore, this pseudo-player character control device provides a new service of ``allowing a pseudo-player character that performs high-quality actions to enter the world of the Metaverse without modifying the Metaverse management device in any way''. It is expected that it will become a platform for realizing this.
As described above, the quality of the simulated player character's actions is basically determined by the computer programs and data sets installed in the simulated player character controller. More specifically, the quality of the action of the pseudo player character is determined by the degree of preparation of the action determining section that determines the action of the pseudo player character. As described above, in using the pseudo-player character control device of the present application, the functions of the action determining unit can be implemented in the plurality of pseudo-player character control devices without modifying the plurality of Metaverse management devices. Since it is possible to reuse the computer program and data set for determination, it is possible to spend money on creating the operation determination unit (more precisely, the computer program and data set that define the processing executed by the operation determination unit). can be done. This leads to improving the quality of the motion of the pseudo player character while suppressing the cost.

The action determination unit in the pseudo player character control device of the present invention determines the action to be performed by the pseudo player character. The motion determination unit may determine the motion of the pseudo player character as follows.
The pseudo-player character control device includes an acquisition unit that acquires environment data, which is data about the environment around the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, from the metaverse management device, and an operation pattern recording section recording the data of . In this case, the motion determination unit determines, based on the environment data received from the acquisition unit and the data recorded in the motion pattern recording unit, the motion of the pseudo player character suitable for the environment indicated by the environment data. may be adapted to determine
Data for causing the pseudo player character to perform actions is recorded in the action pattern recording section. For example, this is a set of a large number of data that associates actions of the pseudo player character with the conditions under which the actions occur, such as when the environment data satisfies such conditions, the pseudo player character performs such actions. be able to. Based on the environment data received from the acquisition unit and the data recorded in the motion pattern recording unit, the motion determination unit determines a motion of the pseudo-player character suitable for the environment indicated by the environment data. can do. By doing so, the action determination unit enables the pseudo player character to perform actions suitable for the surrounding environment.
The environment data, which is data about the environment around the simulated player character, is, for example, when the simulated player character is a player character, first-person or third-person viewpoint images and sounds provided from the Metaverse management device to the user terminal. etc. (or data extracted therefrom). However, the "surrounding" range of the simulated player character is not limited to the range described above, and can be set to a wider or narrower range that may affect the behavior of the simulated player character. can.
The environment data may include the content of a conversation between a player character who is having a conversation with the simulated player character. Regardless of the purpose, the pseudo player character contacts and communicates with the player character, thereby imparting knowledge and fun to the person operating the player character. When communicating with the player character, the content of the conversation performed by the player character plays the most important role. Therefore, by including the conversation of the player character in the environment data used by the action determining section to determine the action of the pseudo player character, the action of the pseudo player character determined by the action deciding section becomes more appropriate.

Further, the motion determination unit may determine the motion of the pseudo player character as follows.
The pseudo-player character control device may include an acquisition unit that acquires environment data, which is data about the environment around the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, from the metaverse management device. The environmental data and the content of the acquisition unit are as described above.
Further, motion artificial intelligence may be recorded in the motion pattern recording unit. The action artificial intelligence is an artificial intelligence that, when the environment data is input, outputs actions of the pseudo-player character that are suitable for the environment indicated by the environment data. In this case, the action determination unit, when the environmental data received from the acquisition unit is input to the action artificial intelligence recorded in the action pattern recording unit, determines the action output from the action artificial intelligence as follows: The motion of the pseudo-player character that is suitable for the environment indicated by the environment data may be determined.
By doing so, it is possible to make the action performed by the pseudo player character high-quality and appropriate.
The motion artificial intelligence may be a learned artificial intelligence obtained by performing learning in advance using the environment data and motions adopted by the player character in the environment as teaching data. In this case, a player character used to obtain teacher data in the process of creating action artificial intelligence, which is trained artificial intelligence, is operated by a predetermined user. For example, when trying to create artificial intelligence for a pseudo-player character that performs "customer service" as described in the background art column, a player character operated by a company employee or the like is used to perform customer service for a player character operated by a user. By doing so, it is possible to obtain teaching data for performing fine customer service. Once a certain amount of training data has been accumulated and motion artificial intelligence that has been learned from the training data can be obtained, the motion artificial intelligence can be used to cause the pseudo-player character to perform high-quality motions suitable for serving customers. It becomes possible.
Of course, the motion artificial intelligence is not limited to that for a pseudo-player character suitable for serving customers. If it is desired to create a motion artificial intelligence that is suitable for guiding a pseudo player character in a virtual three-dimensional space, suitable teaching data should be used for learning. In other words, in order to create motion artificial intelligence corresponding to motions desired to be performed by the pseudo-player character, suitable teacher data should be prepared in light of the purpose.

The motion pattern recording unit may be capable of recording predetermined motion artificial intelligence. For example, the motion pattern recording unit may be capable of recording a plurality of motion artificial intelligences, and the motion pattern recording unit may add or delete motion artificial intelligences. Further, the motion artificial intelligence recorded in the motion pattern recording unit may be rewritable.
By doing so, for example, it becomes possible to transplant motion artificial intelligence created in a certain pseudo player character control device to a motion pattern recording unit in another pseudo player character control device. By doing so, once created motion artificial intelligence can be used by a plurality of pseudo player characters, it becomes easy to reduce the cost of creating motion artificial intelligence.
The inventor of the present application also proposes, as one aspect of the present invention, a learned artificial intelligence that can be used as a motion artificial intelligence by incorporating it into a pseudo-player character control device that records the motion artificial intelligence in its motion pattern recording unit. The learned artificial intelligence is a learned artificial intelligence obtained by learning in advance using the environment data and the actions adopted by the player character in the environment as teacher data. Such learned artificial intelligence produces the effects described above. Therefore, this learned artificial intelligence has value in itself and can be the object of trading.

As described above, since many companies now provide Metaverse services, there are multiple Metaverse management devices that manage different Metaverses, and this situation is expected to continue.
When there are a plurality of Metaverse management devices, the pseudo operation data generation unit in the pseudo player character control device is designed so that the reception unit of each of the Metaverse management devices to which the pseudo operation data is transmitted receives. The pseudo operation data having the same data format as that of the operation data may be generated. In other words, the pseudo operation data generator adjusts or converts each of the pseudo operation data to be sent to each metaverse management device into the same data format as the data format of the operation data received by the metaverse management device that receives the pseudo operation data. You may be able to do so.
According to this, one pseudo-player character control device can send pseudo-operation data to a plurality of Metaverse management devices, and allow each of the plurality of Metaverse management devices to control the action of the pseudo-player character.

The inventor of the present application also proposes, as one aspect of the present invention, a method executed by a pseudo player character control device. The effect of such a method is equivalent to the effect of the pseudo player character control device according to the present invention.
An example of the method has a function of constructing a virtual three-dimensional space in which a plurality of player characters, which are characters operated by a plurality of users respectively, exist. a space construction unit; a reception unit that receives operation data, which is data for operating each of the plurality of player characters, from a user terminal operated by each user via the Internet; and the operation data received by the reception unit. and a character control unit that operates the player character in the virtual three-dimensional space based on the Metaverse management device, and controls the pseudo player character in the virtual three-dimensional space. A pseudo-player character control device having a function to perform information processing, and a transmission unit for transmitting predetermined data to the metaverse management device via the Internet. This is the method to be executed (pseudo player character control method).
The method includes an action determination process for determining an action to be performed by the pseudo player character, and a pseudo operation data for causing the pseudo player character to perform the action determined by the action determination process. a pseudo operation data generation process of creating data in the same data format as the operation data; and a transmission of transmitting the pseudo operation data to the receiving unit of the metaverse management device via the transmitting unit via the Internet. including a process; Each of these processes is executed by the control unit.

The inventor of the present application also proposes, as one aspect of the present invention, a computer program for causing a predetermined, for example, general-purpose computer to function as a pseudo player character control device. The effect of such a computer program is equivalent to the effect of the pseudo player character control device according to the present invention, and it is also an effect that a given computer can function as the pseudo player character control device according to the present invention.
The computer program, which is an example, has a function of constructing a virtual three-dimensional space in which a plurality of player characters, which are characters operated by a plurality of users respectively, exist, and constructs the virtual three-dimensional space. a receiving unit for receiving operation data, which is data for operating each of the plurality of player characters, from a user terminal operated by each user via the Internet; and the operation received by the receiving unit. and a character control unit that operates the player character in the virtual three-dimensional space based on data, and the virtual player character is operated in the virtual three-dimensional space. A computer program for causing a predetermined computer to function as a pseudo player character control device having a control function.
The computer program comprises an action determining unit that determines a motion to be performed by the pseudo player character, and a motion that is determined by the motion determining unit to be performed by the pseudo player character. A pseudo-operation data generation unit that creates pseudo-operation data, which is data to be performed, in the same data format as the operation data; and transmission that transmits the pseudo-operation data to the reception unit of the metaverse management device via the Internet. Let it function as a department.

1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a Metaverse system according to one embodiment; FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a user terminal in the Metaverse system shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the user terminal shown in FIG. 2; FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing functional blocks generated inside the user terminal shown in FIG. 2; FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of functional blocks generated inside the pseudo player character control device shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 6 is a diagram conceptually showing data recorded in an operation pattern recording unit shown in FIG. 5; FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of functional blocks generated inside the metaverse management device shown in FIG. 1; The figure which shows the whole structure of the metaverse system by a modification.

A preferred embodiment of a pseudo player character control device according to the present invention and a modification thereof will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In the description of the embodiment and modifications, the same objects are denoted by the same reference numerals, and overlapping descriptions will be omitted as the case may be.

FIG. 1 schematically shows the overall configuration of a preferred embodiment of the Metaverse system including the pseudo player character control device of the present invention.
The Metaverse system according to the first embodiment includes a plurality, in fact a large number, of user terminals 100, but not limited to this, a plurality of Metaverse management devices 200, and a pseudo player character control device 300. It is configured. Although not limited to this, the number of Metaverse management devices 200 and pseudo player character control devices 300 in this embodiment is the same. 300 is three each. The same number of Metaverse management devices 200 and pseudo-player character control devices 300 are in one-to-one correspondence in this embodiment, although not limited to this. Although not limited to this, the Metaverse management device 200-1 and the pseudo player character control device 300-1, the Metaverse management device 200-2 and the pseudo player character control device 300-2, the Metaverse management device 200-3 and the pseudo player character The controllers 300-3 correspond to each other.
User terminal 100, Metaverse management device 200, and pseudo-player character control device 300 are all connected to network 400, which is the Internet. They are configured to be able to communicate with each other. Data transmitted and received between the user terminal 100, the Metaverse management device 200, and the pseudo-player character control device 300 will be described later.

An outline of the user terminal 100, the Metaverse management device 200, and the pseudo player character control device 300 will be described.
The Metaverse management device 200 is for generating a virtual three-dimensional space, which is the world of the Metaverse, and providing Metaverse services to users. A player character operated by the user and a pseudo player character operated by the pseudo player character control device 300 exist in the virtual three-dimensional space. As is well known, the virtual three-dimensional space may also include roads, buildings, various objects and creatures, non-player characters, etc., but what is related to this application is basically Since there are only the player character and the pseudo player character, the following description will basically omit the description of the other characters existing in the virtual three-dimensional space. The Metaverse management device 200 generates Metaverse image data for a Metaverse image, which is an image in the virtual three-dimensional space of the Metaverse, and sends it to the user terminal 100 .
The user terminal 100 in this embodiment functions as an interface for users to enjoy Metaverse services. The user terminal 100 has a character as an input device for operating a player character, which is a character operated by a user who is sent into a virtual three-dimensional space as an incarnation of the user. Also, the user terminal 100 functions as a viewer for the user to enjoy the services of the Metaverse. As will be described later, the user terminal 100 has a display, and the display displays an image based on the above-described Metaverse image data received by the user terminal 100 from the Metaverse management device 200 . By looking at the image displayed on the display (of course, there may be audio output, and it is common to have audio output as is well known), the user can see the virtual 3D image. You can experience the phenomenon experienced by your own player character in the space. In addition, the user terminal 100 in this embodiment also has a function of generating a player character used by the user, as a prerequisite for the user to receive the Metaverse service.
The pseudo player character control device 300 is a device for controlling a pseudo player character, which is a player character that is not operated by the user, and its motion. In other words, the pseudo player character control device 300 has a function of operating a pseudo player character. The pseudo player character control device 300 has a one-to-one correspondence with the metaverse management device 200 as described above. The pseudo player character control device 300 operates the pseudo player character in the virtual three-dimensional space created by the Metaverse management device 200 associated therewith.
Details of the user terminal 100, the Metaverse management device 200, and the pseudo-player character control device 300 will be described below in order.

First, the configuration of the user terminal 100 will be described. The configuration of each user terminal 100 is the same in relation to the present invention. User terminal 100 includes a computer. More specifically, the user terminal 100 in this embodiment is composed of a general-purpose computer device. Although not limited to this, the user terminal 100 is a computer owned individually by each user.
The user terminal 100 may be any device as long as it can receive the provision of Metaverse services. Specifically, the user terminal 100 is a desktop personal computer, a notebook personal computer, a smart phone, a tablet, a stationary dedicated game machine, or the like. All of them are capable of communication via the network 400, and by installing a computer program described later, functional blocks described later can be generated inside them, and processes described later can be executed. is required, and if it is possible, other specifications do not particularly matter. The user terminal 100 includes a display, which may be an integral or external embodiment. As will be described later, the display will display an image of the three-dimensional space in the Metaverse. The external display may be a general stationary display, or may be a head-mounted display.
For example, if the user terminal 100 is a smartphone or a tablet, the user terminal 100 as a smartphone may be, for example, an iPhone (series of products) manufactured and sold by Apple Japan LLC, and the user terminal 100 as a tablet may be, for example, , iPad (series of products) manufactured and sold by Apple Japan LLC. "Apple Japan", "iPhone" and "iPad" are all trademarks.

An example of the appearance of the user terminal 100 is shown in FIG. Although not limited to this, FIG. 2 shows the appearance when the user terminal 100 is a smart phone.
The user terminal 100 has a display 101 . The display 101 is for displaying an image, which is a still image or a moving image, and a publicly known one can be used. The display 101 is, for example, a liquid crystal display or an organic EL display. The user terminal 100 also has an input device 102 . The input device 102 is used by the user to make a desired input to the user terminal 100 . The input device 102 can use a publicly known or well-known device. Although the input device 102 of the user terminal 100 in this embodiment is of a button type, it is not limited to this, and it is also possible to use a numeric keypad, keyboard, trackball, mouse, or the like. In particular, if the user terminal 100 is a notebook personal computer or a desktop personal computer, the input device 102 will be a keyboard, mouse, or the like. Further, when the user terminal 100 is a stationary dedicated game machine, the input device 102 is generally a dedicated controller. Also, when the display 101 is a touch panel, the display 101 also functions as the input device 102, which is the case in this embodiment.

A hardware configuration of the user terminal 100 is shown in FIG.
The hardware includes a CPU (central processing unit) 111 , ROM (read only memory) 112 , RAM (random access memory) 113 , interface 114 , mass storage medium 115 , which are interconnected by bus 116 . It is connected.
The CPU 111 is an arithmetic device that performs arithmetic operations. The CPU 111 executes the processing described later by executing a computer program recorded in the ROM 112, the RAM 113, or the large-capacity storage medium 115, for example.
The ROM 112 records computer programs and data necessary for the CPU 111 to execute processing described later. Mass storage medium 115 is similar. The mass storage medium 115 is, for example, an HDD (hard disk drive) or an SSD (solid state drive).
For example, if the user terminal 100 is a smartphone, the computer programs recorded in the ROM 112 or the mass storage medium 115 may be necessary for making the user terminal 100 function as a smartphone. or for realizing communication via the Internet 400, for example, general computer programs and data are recorded. The user terminal 100 is also capable of browsing homepages based on data received via the network 400, and is equipped with a known web browser for enabling this.
A RAM 113 provides a work area necessary for the CPU 111 to perform processing. In some cases, for example, part of the computer programs and data described above may be recorded.
The interface 114 exchanges data between the CPU 111, the RAM 113, and the like connected via the bus 116 and the outside. The display 101 and the input device 102 are connected to the interface 114 . Operation contents input from the input device 102 are input to the bus 116 from the interface 114 . Also, as is well known, image data for displaying an image on the display 101 is output from the interface 114 to the display 101 .
The interface 114 is also connected to a transmitting/receiving mechanism (not shown) which is a well-known device for communicating with the outside via a network 400 which is the Internet. Data can be sent via and data can be received via network 400 . Transmission and reception of data via the network 400 may be performed by wire or wirelessly. For example, if the user terminal 100 is a smart phone, such communication would normally be performed wirelessly. As long as communication via the Internet 400 is possible, the configuration of the transmitting/receiving mechanism can be known or known. Data received by the transceiver from the network 400 is received by the interface 114, and data passed from the interface 114 to the transceiver is transmitted by the transceiver via the network 400 to the outside world, e.g., to other users. It is designed to be sent to the terminal 100 . Details of data transmitted and received by each user terminal 100 via the network 400 using the transmission/reception mechanism will be described later.

As the CPU 111 executes the computer program, functional blocks as shown in FIG. 4 are generated inside the user terminal 100 . Note that the following functional blocks may be generated by the function of a single computer program for causing the user terminal 100 to function as the user terminal of the present invention, but the computer program, the OS installed in the user terminal 100, etc. may be generated in cooperation with a computer program of
At least an input unit 121, a control unit 122, an image control unit 123, and an output unit 124 are generated in the user terminal 100 as shown in FIG. 4 in relation to the functions of the present invention.
Among them, the input unit 121 and the output unit 124 correspond to the interface 114 when viewed as hardware, or are realized by the functions of the interface 114 . More specifically, the input section 121 and the output section 124 conceptually correspond to the connecting portion between the interface 114 and the bus 116 .
Further, the control unit 122 and the image control unit 123 correspond to the CPU 111 which is an arithmetic device as hardware, or are realized by the functions of the CPU 111 .

The input unit 121 receives input from the interface 114 .
Data input from the interface 114 includes data input by the input device 102 . Data that can be input to the input unit 121 from the interface 114 is also data that is input via the interface 114 from the transmitting/receiving mechanism. Data input from the input device 102 and the transmission/reception mechanism will be described later.
The input unit 121 receives these and sends them to the control unit 122 or the image control unit 123 .

The control unit 122 has a function of generating data necessary for receiving the service of the Metaverse or the service of the pseudo player character. Examples of data generated by the control unit 122 include account data, which is unique information for identifying the user who operates the user terminal 100, data for logging into the Metaverse service, and player data operated by the user. Character data, which is data for generating a character, and selection data (to be described later), which is data for selecting a pseudo-player character that acts together with a player character operated by the user, can be cited.
The control unit 122 also generates operation data when the user is receiving services of the Metaverse (the user is using the Metaverse). The operation data is data for operating a player character, which is a character operated by the user in the Metaverse. The operation data generated by the control unit 122 may be, for example, the same as in the conventional art, instructing the player character to perform actions such as movement that imitate human actions, or to cause the player character to have a conversation. do. The data format of the operation data that each Metaverse management device 200 can accept differs depending on the Metaverse management device 200 . The operation data generated by the control unit 122 is data in a data format that can be accepted by the Metaverse management device 200 that manages the Metaverse in which the user receives services.
The control unit 122 may also generate player character data, which is data for the Metaverse management device 200 to generate a player character operated by the user.
The control unit 122 is configured to send various data including generated operation data to the output unit 124 .

Image control unit 123 generates image data for an image displayed on display 101 . The image control unit 123 may generate image data for an image displayed on the display 101 based on metaverse image data generated by the metaverse management device 200 as described later. As will be described later, the Metaverse image, which is an image based on the Metaverse image data, reflects the situation around the player character in the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the Metaverse management device 200 . Metaverse image data is data specifying such a metaverse image. It should be noted that the metaverse image data may include audio data in spite of its name of "image data", and although not limited to this, is included in this embodiment.
The image control section 123 sends the generated image data to the output section 124 .

The output unit 124 outputs data to the interface 114 .
The data output by the output unit 124 to the interface 114 includes various data including operation data received from the control unit 122 and image data received from the image control unit 123 .
The output unit 124 outputs all of these data to the interface 114 . Data received by the output unit 124 from the control unit 122 is sent to the transmission/reception mechanism via the interface 114, and is sent from the transmission/reception mechanism to the Metaverse management device 200 or the pseudo player character control device 300 via the network 400. ing.
Image data received by the output unit 124 from the image control unit 123 is sent to the display 101 via the interface 114 . The display 101 displays an image corresponding to image data. Data about sound contained in the image data is sent to a speaker (not shown), and the speaker outputs sound based on the sound data contained in the metaverse image data.

Next, the configuration of the pseudo player character control device 300 will be described.
The pseudo player character control device 300 may be an existing known or well-known server device when viewed as hardware. Also, the hardware configuration may be a general one. The hardware configuration of the pseudo player character control device 300 is the same as the hardware configuration of the user terminal 100 shown in FIG. 3 in relation to the present invention.
The pseudo player character control device 300 is configured by connecting a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an interface, and a large-capacity storage medium via a bus.
The configurations and functions of the CPU, ROM, RAM, interface, bus, and large-capacity recording device provided in the pseudo player character control device 300 are the same as those in the user terminal 100 . Further, the interface provided in the pseudo player character control device 300 has a transmitting/receiving mechanism for communicating with equipment outside the pseudo player character control device 300 via the network 400, similar to that provided in the user terminal 100. It is connected. An interface included in the pseudo player character control device 300 is connected to an input device similar to that included in the user terminal 100, although not limited to this. Input devices are, for example, a keyboard and a mouse. A display similar to that provided in the user terminal 100 may be connected to the interface of the pseudo player character control device 300 as well.
A computer program for causing a server to function as the pseudo player character control device 300 is recorded in the pseudo player character control device 300 , for example, a ROM or a large-capacity storage medium. This computer program may be pre-installed in the server that serves as the pseudo player character control device 300, or may be post-installed. The installation of this computer program on the server may be performed via a predetermined recording medium such as a memory card or CD-ROM, or may be performed via a network such as a LAN or the Internet.

The execution of the computer program by the CPU creates functional blocks as shown in FIG. The following functional blocks may be generated by the function of a single computer program for causing the server to function as the pseudo player character control device 300 of the present invention, but the computer program, the OS installed on the server, etc. may be generated in cooperation with a computer program of
In relation to the functions of the present invention, the pseudo player character control device 300 includes at least an input unit 321, a control unit 322, an action determination unit 323, an action pattern recording unit 324, a pseudo operation, and a control unit 322, as shown in FIG. A data generation unit 325, an output unit 326, and an image analysis unit 327 are generated.
Of these, the input unit 321 and the output unit 326 correspond to interfaces when viewed as hardware, or are realized by interface functions. More specifically, the input section 321 and the output section 326 conceptually correspond to the connecting portion between the interface and the bus.
Among the functional blocks, the control unit 322, the action determination unit 323, the pseudo operation data generation unit 325, and the image analysis unit 327 correspond to the CPU, which is an arithmetic unit, as hardware, or are realized by the functions of the CPU.
Among the functional blocks, the operation pattern recording unit 324 is implemented as hardware by a recording medium for recording data, and more specifically by a ROM, RAM, or large-capacity storage medium.

The input section 321 receives input from the interface.
Data input from the interface to the input unit 321 includes data input from the transmission/reception mechanism via the interface. The data sent from the transmission/reception mechanism to the input unit 321 includes, for example, operation data sent from the user terminal 100, selection data, and Metaverse image data sent from the Metaverse management device 200, which will be described later.
The input unit 321 sends the metaverse image data of the data received from the transmission/reception mechanism to the image analysis unit 327 , and sends the other data to the control unit 322 .

The control unit 322 controls the pseudo player character control device 300 as a whole, and also has functions equivalent to some of the functions of the control unit 122 of the user terminal 100 . The control unit 122 of the user terminal 100 has a function of generating data necessary for receiving Metaverse services. A control section 322 also has a similar function. The data generated by the control unit 322 includes account data for identifying each of the simulated player characters operated by the simulated player character control device 300, and data for generating the simulated player characters operated by the simulated player character control device 300. There are character data and login data. As will be described later, from the perspective of the Metaverse management device 200, the player character operated by the user (operated by the user terminal 100) cannot be distinguished from the pseudo player character operated by the pseudo player character control device 300, or at least they can be distinguished. Since it is unnecessary, the account data, character data, and login data generated by the control unit 322 are all equivalent to the account data, etc., generated by the control unit 122 of the user terminal 100. . The control unit 322 sends the generated account data and login data to the operation determination unit 322, and in some cases to the output unit 326 as described later. The control unit 323 also sends the generated character data and login data to the output unit 326 .
As will be described later, the pseudo player character control device 300 is basically for automatically moving (operating) the pseudo player character. As will be described later, the pseudo player character is moved by pseudo operation data that is automatically generated by the pseudo player character control device 300 and will also be described later. However, although not limited to this, in the pseudo player character control device 300 of this embodiment, for example, before the pseudo operation data is generated (more specifically, before the action artificial intelligence described later is generated) ), or before the action artificial intelligence is installed in the pseudo player character control device 300, the administrator of the pseudo player character control device 300 (hereinafter simply referred to as “administrator” for simplicity) ) operates the pseudo-player character with operation data generated according to the data input from the input device. Although not limited to this, in the pseudo player character control device 300 of this embodiment, the control unit 322 generates operation data based on data input from the input device and received via the interface input unit 321 . The operation data generated by the control unit 323 is data in a data format that can be accepted by the Metaverse management device 200 associated with the pseudo player character control device 300 . That is, the data format is the same as the data format of the operation data sent from the user terminal 100 to the Metaverse management device 200 associated with the pseudo player character control device 300 .
The control section 322 sends the generated operation data to the output section 326 .

The motion determination unit 323 has a function of determining the motion to be performed by the pseudo player character.
The operation determination unit 323 may receive account data from the control unit 323 as described above. After receiving the account data, the action determination unit 323 determines the action to be performed by the pseudo-player character linked to the account, and generates action data that specifies the action.
The motion determination unit 323 uses the data recorded in the motion pattern recording unit 324 and environment data sent from the image analysis unit 327 to be described later when determining the motion to be performed by the pseudo player character.

The image analysis unit 327 has a function of generating environmental data based on metaverse image data. However, when learning the action artificial intelligence 324A (for example, when the pseudo player character control device 300 sends operation data instead of pseudo operation data to the metaverse management device 200), the image analysis unit 327 It generates not only environmental data but also operational data, which will be described later.
The image analysis unit 327 receives metaverse image data from the input unit 321 as described above. As will be described later, the Metaverse image, which is an image based on the Metaverse image data, reflects the situation around the pseudo player character in the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the Metaverse management device 200 . The image analysis unit 327 is adapted to generate environment data, which is data about the environment around the pseudo player character, from the metaverse image data. As described above, the metaverse image data in this embodiment also includes audio data. The image analysis unit 327 may be configured to generate data about the environment around the pseudo player character, including the voice, based on the metaverse image data, which is done in this embodiment. The environment data includes, for example, the position in the virtual three-dimensional space where the pseudo player character exists, whether the player character exists nearby, or if the player character exists nearby, the relative positional relationship with the pseudo player character, It is a feature point of a Metaverse image (including voice) specified by Metaverse image data such as character features, content of words uttered by a player character, and the like. The image analysis unit 327 may use artificial intelligence to extract these feature points. For example, artificial intelligence that performs image recognition and extracts feature points in an image, or artificial intelligence that recognizes the meaning of words (languages) is known or well-known. It can also be applied to data generation. However, the artificial intelligence referred to here is different from motion artificial intelligence, which will be described later.
The image analysis section 327 sends the generated environmental data to the action determination section 323 . Note that the image specified by the metaverse image data is usually a moving image. The image analysis unit 327 may continue to generate environmental data in real time, and may continue to send the generated environmental data to the action determination unit 323 in real time. The environment data may be generated batchwise at intervals, and the environment data may be sent to the operation determination unit 323 each time the environment data is generated. Further, the image analysis unit 327 generates environment data when, for example, a predetermined event occurs as a result of analyzing the metaverse image data, and sends the environment data to the operation determination unit 323 each time the environment data is generated. It's okay to be. Of course, the timing of generating environmental data and transmitting to the operation determining unit 323 can be a combination of the timings exemplified above.
In the above description, the image analysis unit 327 sends the environmental data to the action determination unit 323. It may be sent to the pattern recording section 324 in some cases. When the image analysis unit 327 sends the environment data to the action pattern recording unit 324, the image analysis unit 327 collects action data, which is data indicating what kind of action the pseudo player character performed, from the metaverse image data. Data is also generated, and motion data is also sent to the motion pattern recording unit 324 . This action data, like the action data generated by the action determination unit 323, is data specifying the action of the pseudo-player character. In what cases the image analysis unit 327 sends the environmental data to the motion pattern recording unit 324 will be described later.

On the other hand, the action pattern recording section 324 records data for determining the action pattern to be performed by the pseudo player character. The data recorded in the motion pattern recording unit 324 may be, for example, a table that is a set of multiple sets of data in which environmental data and motion pattern data are associated with each other. If such a table exists, the action determination unit 323 that has received the environment data from the image analysis unit 327 reads the data of the action pattern linked to the environment data, thereby allowing the pseudo player character to perform the action pattern. The motion can be determined from the motion pattern data. For example, the table as described above may be prepared for each pseudo player character. As described above, the action determination unit 323 receives account data that is associated with the pseudo player character one-to-one, in other words, unique information for identifying the pseudo player character. By associating each of the data of the plurality of tables with the account data, the action determination unit 323 can use the table associated with the account data received from the control unit 322, and the account data can be used. Based on the environment data, it is possible to determine a suitable action for the pseudo-player character associated with the . However, it is also possible to link one table with data of a plurality of accounts, thereby making it possible to determine actions of a plurality of pseudo-player characters with one table.

Although the table as described above may be recorded in the movement pattern recording unit 324, in this embodiment, although it is not limited to this, movement artificial intelligence, which is artificial intelligence, is used.
In this embodiment, there are a plurality of motion artificial intelligences, and each motion artificial intelligence is prepared for the number of simulated player characters controlled or operated by this simulated player character control device 300 . Of course, as in the case of the table described above, by linking a plurality of account data to a single AI motion, it is possible to determine the motions of a plurality of pseudo-player characters using a single AI motion. It is also possible to FIG. 6 conceptually shows data recorded in the motion pattern recording unit 324 . The motion pattern recording unit 324 records a plurality of motion artificial intelligences 324A. In FIG. 6, each of the action artificial intelligences 324A has a description of the character "ID", but the characters that follow it (for example, the characters "123XX" in the upper left action artificial intelligence 324A) are , indicates the account associated with the action artificial intelligence 324A.
The action artificial intelligence 324A is an artificial intelligence that, when environment data is input, outputs action data on actions of a pseudo-player character suitable for the environment specified by the environment data.
The behavioral artificial intelligence 324A is a trained artificial intelligence obtained by learning by deep learning in this embodiment, but not limited to this. In more detail, the motion artificial intelligence 324A uses environment data and a pseudo-player character in the environment (at this point, the pseudo-player character is actually a player character because it is operated by an administrator). It is a learned artificial intelligence obtained by learning in advance using motion data, which is data about motion adopted by , as teacher data. The action artificial intelligence 324A thus obtained becomes an artificial intelligence that, when environment data is input, outputs action data about actions of the pseudo-player character suitable for the environment specified by the environment data.
How to obtain the motion artificial intelligence 324A, that is, how to make the motion artificial intelligence 324A learn, will be described later.

As described above, the motion determination unit 323 determines the motion to be performed by the pseudo player character. use.
More specifically, the motion determining unit 323 assigns an account corresponding to the account data received from the control unit 322 to the motion artificial intelligence 324A recorded in the motion pattern recording unit 324, For example, after reading the motion artificial intelligence 324A and recording it in a RAM or other recording medium, the environmental data received from the image analysis unit 327 is input, and motion data is obtained as an output from the input motion artificial intelligence 324A. The motion determining unit 323 determines the motion specified by the motion data thus obtained as the motion to be performed by the pseudo player character.
The action determination unit 323 sends the environment data and the above-described action data generated using the action artificial intelligence 324A to the pseudo-operation data generation unit 325 .

The pseudo operation data generator 325 has a function of creating pseudo operation data.
The pseudo-operation data generator 325 receives motion data from the motion determiner 323 as described above. Upon receiving the action data, the pseudo-operation data generation unit 325 generates pseudo-operation data, which is data for causing the pseudo-player character specified by the above-described account data to perform the action specified by the action data. It is designed to The pseudo operation data is data in a data format that can be accepted by the Metaverse management device 200 with which the pseudo player character control device 300 is linked. The input device used by the user to operate the player character is generally different for each Metaverse management device 200 . For example, in one Metaverse management device 200, it is planned that the user will use a keyboard and a mouse when operating a player character, and in another Metaverse management device 200, a touch panel will be used when the user operates a player character. I am planning on using it. Due to such differences, the data format of the operation data received by each Metaverse management device 200 is not necessarily different for each Metaverse management device 200, but at least it may be different. The pseudo operation data generator 325 generates and sends pseudo operation data to the Metaverse management device 200 in a data format that is at least acceptable to the Metaverse management device 200 (that is, the Metaverse management device 200 is expected to accept the data). The data format is the same as the data format of the operation data) to generate pseudo operation data.
The pseudo operation data generating section 325 sends the generated pseudo operation data to the output section 326 .

The output unit 326 receives account data, character data, login data, and operation data from the control unit 322 . Also, the output unit 326 receives pseudo operation data from the pseudo operation data generation unit 325 .
The output unit 326 is adapted to send the received data to the transceiver. After receiving the data, the output unit 326 sends the data to the Metaverse management device 200 associated with the pseudo player character control device 300 via the network 400 .

Next, the configuration of the metaverse management device 200 will be described.
The Metaverse management device 200 may be an existing known or well-known server device when viewed as hardware. Also, the hardware configuration may be a general one. The hardware configuration of the metaverse management device 200 is the same as the hardware configuration of the user terminal 100 shown in FIG. 3 in relation to the present invention.
The metaverse management device 200 is configured by connecting a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an interface, and a large-capacity storage medium via a bus.
The configuration and functions of the CPU, ROM, RAM, interface, bus, and large-capacity storage device provided in the metaverse management device 200 are the same as those in the user terminal 100 . The interface of the Metaverse management apparatus 200 is also connected to a transmission/reception mechanism for communicating with devices outside the Metaverse management apparatus 200 via the network 400, similar to the one provided in the user terminal 100. . The same display and input device as those of the user terminal 100 may be connected to the interface of the Metaverse management device 200, but they are not related to the present application and will not be described.
A computer program for causing a server to function as the Metaverse management device 200 is recorded in, for example, a large-capacity storage medium of the Metaverse management device 200 . This computer program may be pre-installed in the server that will be the metaverse management device 200, or may be post-installed. The installation of this computer program on the server may be performed via a predetermined recording medium such as a memory card or CD-ROM, or may be performed via a network such as a LAN or the Internet.

Execution of the computer program by the CPU creates functional blocks as shown in FIG. Note that the following functional blocks may be generated by the functions of a single computer program for causing the server to function as the Metaverse management device 200 of the present invention. You may generate|occur|produce by cooperation with a program.
In relation to the functions of the present invention, the Metaverse management device 200 includes at least an input unit 221, a control unit 222, a virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223, and a player character data recording unit 224, as shown in FIG. , a metaverse data recording unit 225, a metaverse image data generating unit 226, and an output unit 227 are generated.
Of these, the input unit 221 and the output unit 227 correspond to interfaces when viewed as hardware, or are realized by the functions of interfaces. More specifically, the input section 221 and the output section 227 conceptually correspond to the connecting portion between the interface and the bus.
Among the functional blocks, the control unit 222, the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223, and the metaverse image data generation unit 226 correspond to the CPU, which is a computing device, as hardware, or are realized by the functions of the CPU.
Among the functional blocks, the player character data recording unit 224 and the meta data recording unit 225 are configured as hardware by a recording medium for recording data. realized by

The input unit 221 receives input from the interface.
Data input from the interface includes data input from the transmission/reception mechanism via the interface. The data sent from the transmission/reception mechanism to the input unit 221 includes, for example, account data, login data, character data, and operation data sent from the user terminal 100, and data sent from the pseudo player character control device 300. There are incoming account data, login data, character data, operation data, and pseudo-operation data.
The input unit 221 sends the above data received from the transmission/reception mechanism to the control unit 222 .

The control unit 222 has a function of executing processing as a precondition for the user to receive the Metaverse service via the user terminal 100 .
The premise processing is that the user terminal 100 or the pseudo-player character control device 300 logs into the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the Metaverse management device 200 or the Metaverse service provided by the Metaverse management device 200. processing. This processing will be described later.
The premise processing includes processing for generating a player character or pseudo player character. As described above, the control unit 222 may receive account data and character data transmitted from the user terminal 100 from the input unit 221 . When receiving it, the control unit 222 generates player character data used by the user to whom the received account data is allocated. As known or known, the player character can arbitrarily select characteristics such as gender, name, height, body type, facial features, and clothing. The character data is such as to specify each of these characteristics. The control unit 222 generates a player character based on the received character data, associates it with the account data, and records the player character data, which is the data of the player character, in the play character data recording unit 224. there is The control unit 222 may receive account data and character data transmitted from the pseudo player character control device 300 from the input unit 221 . When receiving it, the control unit 222 generates a player character by executing the same processing as when the account data and the character data sent from the user terminal 100 are received from the input unit 221. , the player character data, which is data of the generated player character, is recorded in the player character data recording unit 224 . The player character generated based on the character data sent from the pseudo player character control device 300 looks like the player character generated based on the character data sent from the user terminal 100 when viewed from the metaverse management device 200. Indistinguishable, or at least not necessary. However, since the player character is not a person but is basically operated or made to act by the pseudo player character control device 300, it is a pseudo player character in the present invention.
When the control unit 222 provides the user with the Metaverse service after the login process is performed based on the account data sent from the user terminal 100, the control unit 222 receives the account data from the input unit 221. It is sent to the virtual three-dimensional space data generator 223 . When the control unit 222 provides the Metaverse service to the simulated player character control device 300 after the login process is performed based on the account data sent from the simulated player character control device 300, the input unit The account data received from 221 is sent to the virtual three-dimensional space data generator 223 .
When providing the user with the Metaverse service, the control unit 222 also sends the operation data sent from the user terminal 100 received from the input unit 221 to the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 . ing. When the control unit 222 provides the Metaverse service to the simulated player character control device 300, the control unit 222 converts the operation data or the simulated operation data received from the input unit 221 and sent from the simulated player character control device 300 into a virtual It is sent to the three-dimensional space data generator 223 .

The virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 creates the virtual three-dimensional space provided to the user by the metaverse management device 200 by calculation, and also generates virtual three-dimensional space data that is data specifying the virtual three-dimensional space. is. It can be said that the virtual three-dimensional space data generator 223 constitutes the core of the Metaverse service provided to users.
In order for the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 to configure the virtual three-dimensional space, the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 receives the operation data sent from the user terminal 100 received from the control unit 222 and the control unit 222 The user terminal 100 and the pseudo player character which are recorded in the player character data recording unit 224 using the operation data or the pseudo operation data sent from the pseudo player character control device 300 received from The player character data associated with the account specified by the account data sent from the control device 300 and the meta birthday data recorded in the meta birthday data recording unit 225 are used.
Among the above-described data used by the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 to generate the virtual three-dimensional space, the data that has not been described so far is the meta-birth data. The meta-birth data is data about all objects other than the player character, which is necessary for the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 to generate the virtual three-dimensional space. For all objects, for example, natural objects such as the ground, mountains, rivers, etc. that exist in the virtual three-dimensional space, roads, buildings, furniture and fixtures in buildings, artificial objects such as exhibition booths and products, non-player characters, etc. Data for specifying, and data for specifying their positions and orientations in the virtual three-dimensional space can be included. It can also include data about dynamic objects such as weather and transportation within the virtual three-dimensional space. The meta-birthday data recording unit 225 records, as meta-birthday data, all data other than those related to player characters in such a metaverse.
When generating the virtual three-dimensional space, the virtual three-dimensional space data generator 223 reads the meta-data from the meta-data recording unit 225 and generates a virtual three-dimensional space within a necessary range. Then, the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 stores, in the virtual three-dimensional space, the player character for the user read from the player character data recording unit 224 and the pseudo player character for the pseudo player character control device 300 . Place the player character. Then, the action of the player character is determined based on the operation data sent from the user terminal 100 received from the control unit 222 . Also, the action of the pseudo player character is determined by the operation data sent from the pseudo player character control device 300 received from the control unit 222 or the pseudo operation data.
The technique used by the virtual three-dimensional space data generator 223 to generate the virtual three-dimensional space is well known or well-known. Examples of such technology include "Unity (trademark)", a service for generating 3D content in real time provided by Unity Technologies Japan Co., Ltd. in Japan, and provided by Epic Games, Inc. There is “Unreal Engine (trademark),” which is a service for generating 3D content in real time, for example.
For example, by using these techniques, the virtual three-dimensional space data generator 223 can generate a certain range of virtual three-dimensional space in which the player character and the pseudo player character exist. At this time, the action performed by the player character is intended by the user, and the action performed by the pseudo player character conforms to the operation data or pseudo operation data sent from the pseudo player character control device 300 .
Data specifying the virtual three-dimensional space generated in this manner is virtual three-dimensional space data. The virtual three-dimensional space data generator 223 sends the virtual three-dimensional space data to the metaverse image data generator 226 . The virtual three-dimensional space data generator 2263 continuously sends the virtual three-dimensional space data to the metaverse image data generator 226 in real time.

The metaverse image data generation unit 226 has a function of generating metaverse image data, which is data about a metaverse image.
The metaverse image data generator 226 receives virtual three-dimensional space data as described above. As described above, the virtual three-dimensional space data is data specifying a predetermined range of the virtual three-dimensional space including the player character and the pseudo player character. By the metaverse image data generation unit 226 performing calculations based on the virtual three-dimensional space data, the metaverse image data generation unit 226 generates a first-person viewpoint including at least one of the player character and the pseudo-player character viewed from a certain viewpoint. Metaverse image data, that is, Metaverse image data, is generated as an image in a virtual three-dimensional space within a certain range of the third-person viewpoint. A metaverse image is generated for each player character or each pseudo player character. The position of the viewpoint in each Metaverse image, whether it is a first-person viewpoint or a third-person viewpoint, and the range in the virtual three-dimensional space drawn in the Metaverse image are, of course, sent from the user terminal 100 in a known or well-known manner. It can be made selectable (or changeable) by data. However, since such techniques are completely well known rather than publicly known, a description of this point is omitted.
As will be described later, the Metaverse image data is sent to at least one of the user terminal 100 and the pseudo-player character control device 300, and is specified by the Metaverse image data sent to both when the Metaverse image data is sent to both. Metaverse images may differ from each other in terms of, for example, viewpoint positions and ranges, and usually differ from each other.
The metaverse image data generation unit 226 generates metaverse image data as moving image data.
The metaverse image data generation unit 226 sends the generated metaverse image data to the output unit 227 .

The output unit 227 sends the received metaverse image data to the transmission/reception mechanism.
The transmission/reception mechanism includes the user terminal 100 of the user who has an account associated with the player character that triggered the generation of the Metaverse image data, and the pseudo-player character that triggered the generation of the Metaverse image data. are sent to the pseudo-player character control device 300 having the same account. The metaverse image data sent to both may differ from each other as described above.

The usage and operation of the Metaverse system described above will now be described.

(Processing as a premise)
When a user uses the Metaverse system, the user first registers an account with the Metaverse management device 200 that provides the Metaverse service used by the user, and also registers the player character that the user uses. Similarly, the pseudo player character control device 300 also registers an account with the Metaverse management device 200 with which the pseudo player character control device 300 is linked, and also registers the pseudo player character operated by the pseudo player character control device 300. register.
The registration of the account and the player character performed by the user and the registration of the account and the simulated player character performed by the simulated player character control device 300 can be performed independently of each other. I don't mind.

The processing in which the user registers an account and a player character can be realized by a publicly known method.
In this embodiment, first, the user connects the user terminal 100 to the Metaverse management apparatus 200 via the network 400 using, for example, a browser function installed in the user terminal 100 .
Then, using the input device 102, the user inputs his/her own account. The input account is input from the input device 102 to the control unit 122 via the interface 114 and the input unit 121 . The control unit 122 generates account data, which is data for specifying an account.
The account data is sent from the control unit 122 to the output unit 124 and further to the transceiver. The transmission/reception mechanism sends account data to the Metaverse management device 200 via the network 400 .
The Metaverse management device 200 receives account data through the transmission/reception mechanism. The account data is sent from the transmission/reception mechanism to the input section 221 through the interface, and then sent to the control section 222 . For example, the control unit 222 records data for that account. As a result, the account of the user who uses the user terminal 100 is recorded in the Metaverse management device 200 .
Since many users register their accounts, the accounts of many users are recorded in the control unit 322 of the Metaverse management device 200, for example.
After the account registration is completed, the user registers the player character to be used by the user. Registration of the player character need not be performed continuously with registration of the account. For example, it is possible to register a player character after a login process, which will be described later, is performed. It is also possible to register a player character multiple times for one account, in other words, to change the characteristics of the player character.
In this embodiment, the user uses the input device 102 to input character data. In this embodiment, the user uses the input device 102 to input data for selecting characteristics such as gender, name, height, body type, facial features, and clothing of the player character. If there is a player character prepared by default by the Metaverse management device 200 and the user selects it, the user may perform only an input to select this character.
Input data is input from the input device 102 to the control unit 122 via the interface 114 and the input unit 121 . The flow of data from the input device 102 to the control unit 122 is the same hereafter, although the explanation may be omitted. The control unit 122 generates character data, which is data indicating characteristics of the player character.
Character data is sent from the control unit 122 to the output unit 124 and further to the transceiver. The transmission/reception mechanism sends account data to the Metaverse management device 200 via the network 400 . The data flow from the data generated by the control unit 122 to the metaverse management device 200 is the same hereafter, although the explanation may be omitted.
The metaverse management device 200 receives the character data by the transmission/reception mechanism. The character data is sent from the transmission/reception mechanism to the input section 221 through the interface, and further sent to the control section 222 . The data flow from the transmitting/receiving mechanism to the control unit 222 is the same hereafter, although the explanation may be omitted.
Upon receiving the character data, the control unit 222 generates a player character reflecting the characteristics of the player character, generates player character data that is data specifying the player character, and sends the data to the player together with the previously received account data. Character data is sent to the player character data recording unit 224 . Player character data is recorded in the player character data recording unit 224 in a state of being associated with account data. If many users register player characters, the number of player character data associated with the account data will increase.

The process of registering an account and a player character by the pseudo player character control device 300 can be realized by a method similar to the process of registering an account and a player character by a user using the user terminal 100 .
In this embodiment, for example, the administrator of the pseudo player character control device 300 connects the pseudo player character control device 300 to the Metaverse management device 200 via the network 400 using the browser function installed in the pseudo player character control device 300, for example. Connect via
Then, the administrator of the pseudo player character control device 300 uses the input device to enter his account. The input account is input from the input device to the control unit 322 via the interface and the input unit 321 . The control unit 322 generates account data, which is data for specifying an account.
Account data is sent from the control unit 322 to the output unit 326 and further to the transceiver. The transmission/reception mechanism sends account data to the Metaverse management device 200 via the network 400 .
The Metaverse management device 200 receives account data through the transmission/reception mechanism. The account data is sent from the transmission/reception mechanism to the input section 221 through the interface, and then sent to the control section 222 . For example, the control unit 222 records data for that account. Thereby, the account of the pseudo player character control device 300 is recorded in the Metaverse management device 200 . From the perspective of the Metaverse management device 200, the account of the pseudo player character control device 300 cannot be distinguished from the account of the user, or at least need not be distinguished.
Since the simulated player character control device 300 normally operates a large number of simulated player characters, the number of accounts registered with the Metaverse management device 200 from one simulated player character control device 300 is normally large. For example, in the control unit 222 of the Metaverse management device 200, accounts for many pseudo-player character control devices 300 are recorded.
After completing account registration, the administrator of the Metaverse management device 200, for example, registers a pseudo-player character, which is a player character operated by the Metaverse management device 200. FIG. As in the case of registering a player character from the user terminal 100, registration of a pseudo player character need not be performed consecutively with registration of an account, and can be performed multiple times for one account.
In this embodiment, the administrator of the simulated player character control device 300 uses an input device to input character data. In this embodiment, the user uses the input device to enter data for selecting characteristics of the player character.
The input data is input from the input device to the control section 322 via the interface and the input section 321 . The flow of data from the input device to the control unit 322 is the same hereafter, though the explanation may be omitted. The control unit 322 generates character data, which is data indicating characteristics of the player character.
Character data is sent from the control unit 322 to the output unit 326 and further to the transceiver. The transmission/reception mechanism sends account data to the Metaverse management device 200 via the network 400 . The data flow from data generated by the control unit 322 to the metaverse management device 200 may be omitted, but the same applies thereafter.
The metaverse management device 200 receives the character data by the transmission/reception mechanism. The character data is sent from the transmission/reception mechanism to the input section 221 through the interface, and further sent to the control section 222 . The data flow from the transmitting/receiving mechanism to the control unit 222 is the same hereafter, although the explanation may be omitted.
Upon receiving the character data, the control unit 222 generates a player character as a pseudo player character reflecting the characteristics of the player character, and also generates player character data, which is data specifying the player character. The player character data is sent to the player character data recording unit 224 together with the account data. Player character data is recorded in the player character data recording unit 224 in a state of being associated with account data.
In this embodiment, when the pseudo player character control device 300 registers an account and a character as a pseudo player character in the Metaverse management device 200, the administrator of the pseudo player character control device 300 or the like manually These registrations have been performed, but by adding a predetermined computer program to the pseudo player character control device 300, the above registration can be automatically performed by the pseudo player character control device 300. FIG.
Also, if there is an agreement between the administrator of the pseudo-player character control device 300 and the administrator of the Metaverse management device 200, for example, the administrator of the Metaverse management device 200 can control the control unit 222 by hand. Of course, it is also possible to adopt processing different from the above-described processing, such as recording account data at once, or recording a large number of pairs of account data and player character data in the player character data recording unit 224 at once. is possible.

(Learning motion artificial intelligence)
By completing the above registration, the user can use the user terminal 100 to receive the Metaverse service provided by the Metaverse management device 200. Now you can send characters.
Similarly, the simulated player character control device 300 can also send a simulated player character, which is a player character operated by itself, into the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the Metaverse management device 200 . However, for example, at the initial stage, learning of the action artificial intelligence 324A, which is the core of the function of the pseudo player character control device 300 to automatically operate or move the pseudo player character, is not performed.
Therefore, the motion artificial intelligence 324A is made to learn.

An example of the learning method of the motion artificial intelligence 324A is shown below.
In this case, the pseudo player character operated by the pseudo player character control device 300 is, of course, not limited to this, but is intended to promote sales of the company's products.

First, a user logs into the Metaverse management device 200 .
When a user logs into the Metaverse management device 200 , the user connects the user terminal 100 to the Metaverse management device 200 via the network 400 using, for example, a browser function installed in the user terminal 100 .
Then, using the input device 102, the user inputs his/her own account. Thereby, the control unit 122 generates account data, which is data for specifying the account. Also, the user inputs to log in. The control unit 122 receives the input and generates login data. Account data and login data are sent from the user terminal 100 to the Metaverse management device 200 via the network 400 .
The metaverse management device 200 receives account data and login data. The account data and login data are sent to the control unit 222 of the Metaverse management device 200 .
When the control unit 222 receives the account data and the login data, it determines whether the account specified by the account data matches any of the accounts recorded in the control unit 222 . As a result of such determination, if the account specified by the received account data matches one of a number of recorded accounts, the control unit 222 sends the account data and login data to the user terminal 100 or its The login of the user operating the user terminal 100 is permitted.
When the login is approved, the control unit 222 sends account data to the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 . Upon receiving it, the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 reads the player character data associated with the account specified by the account data from the player character data recording unit 224 . The player character specified by this player character data is the player character of the user who has the account data described above. In addition, the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 reads meta-birth data from the meta-birth data recording unit 225 as data necessary for creating the virtual three-dimensional space.
The virtual three-dimensional space data generator 223 generates virtual three-dimensional space data, which is data about the virtual three-dimensional space, based on the meta-birth data and the player character data. The virtual three-dimensional space data is a range of data about the virtual space in which the user's player character exists. A part other than the player and the character in the virtual three-dimensional space is specified by the meta data, and the player character is specified by the player character data. Note that the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 can also use data other than the meta-data when generating portions other than the player character data in the virtual three-dimensional space. This is the same in all cases where the virtual three-dimensional space data described below is generated. For example, the metaverse management device 200 can collect appropriate data from the network 400 by crawling or other well-known techniques, and use that data to generate the virtual three-dimensional space. For example, the weather in a certain area in the real world is matched with the weather in a certain area in the virtual three-dimensional space, or the result of a match in a professional soccer league in the real world is displayed in a soccer stadium in the virtual three-dimensional space. It is possible to reflect it in the result of a soccer match to be held.
The virtual three-dimensional space data generator 223 sends the generated virtual three-dimensional space data to the metaverse image data generator 226 . The metaverse image data generator 226 generates a metaverse image based on the received virtual three-dimensional space data, and generates metaverse image data, which is data about the metaverse image. The metaverse image in this case is as described above, and is, for example, an image of a certain range of virtual three-dimensional space including the player character viewed from a certain viewpoint.
The metaverse image data generation unit 226 sends the generated metaverse image data to the output unit 227 . The metaverse image data is sent from the output unit 227 to the transmitting/receiving mechanism, and is further sent via the network 400 to the user terminal 100 whose login is permitted.
The user terminal 100 receives the metaverse image data in its transmission/reception mechanism. The metaverse image data is sent from the transmission/reception mechanism to the image control unit 123 via the interface 114 and the input unit 121 . The image control unit 123 that has received it generates image data, which is data for displaying an image in the virtual three-dimensional space on the display, based on the metaverse image data.
The image data is sent to the interface 114 via the output unit 124 and then to the display 101 . The display 101 displays an image based on the image data. An image based on image data is an image in the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the metaverse management device 200 . By viewing the image displayed on the display 101, the user knows that the login to the Metaverse management device 200 has been successfully completed.

Similarly, the pseudo player character control device 300 logs into the Metaverse management device 200 .
When the pseudo-player character control device 300 logs into the Metaverse management device 200, in this example, a manager of the pseudo-player character control device 300 or a person (a sales promotion person) of a company that promotes sales of products logs into the pseudo-player character control device. 300 operations are performed. Such an operation may, of course, operate the pseudo player character control device 300 remotely. For the time being, we will proceed assuming that the promotioner performs such an operation.
The promotioner inputs account data, which is data associated with the pseudo player character for specifying the pseudo player character to be sent into the virtual three-dimensional space when the pseudo player character control device 300 logs in. Also, the sales promotion person inputs to log in. The control unit 322 receives the input and generates login data. Account data and login data are sent from the pseudo player character control device 300 to the Metaverse management device 200 via the network 400 .
The following processing performed in the Metaverse management device 200 is the same as when the user logs into the Metaverse management device 200 using the user terminal 100 . From the perspective of the Metaverse management device 200, the user terminal 100 and the pseudo-player character control device 300 cannot be distinguished from each other, or at least need not be distinguished from each other. In other words, the Metaverse management device 200, which is supposed to be used in combination with the user terminal 100, does not need new alterations or modifications when combined with the pseudo player character control device 300. FIG. At least no major alterations or modifications are required.
The Metaverse management device 200, which has received the account data and the login data, sends virtual tertiary data, which is a certain range of data about the virtual space in which the pseudo player character associated with the account identified by the received account data exists. A metaverse image is generated for the metaverse image data based on the original space data and the virtual three-dimensional space data.
The virtual three-dimensional space data generator 223 sends the generated virtual three-dimensional space data to the metaverse image data generator 226 . The metaverse image data generator 226 generates a metaverse image based on the received virtual three-dimensional space data, and generates metaverse image data, which is data about the metaverse image. The metaverse image in this case is, for example, an image of a certain range of virtual three-dimensional space including the pseudo player character viewed from a certain viewpoint.
The metaverse image data generation unit 226 sends the generated metaverse image data to the output unit 227 . The metaverse image data is sent from the output unit 227 to the transmission/reception mechanism, and further to the pseudo player character control device 300 via the network 400 . The Metaverse image or Metaverse image data in this case is usually different from that sent to the user terminal 100 .
Such processing performed by the Metaverse management device 200 from receiving operation data from the pseudo player character control device 300 to sending back the Metaverse image data to the pseudo player character control device 300 is performed by receiving operation data from the user terminal 100 and performing the metaverse. This is the same as the processing performed by the Metaverse management device 200 when sending back image data to the user terminal 100 .

At the user terminal 100 that received the Metaverse image data, an image based on the image data generated from the Metaverse image data was displayed on the display 101 .
The processing performed by the pseudo player character control device 300 that receives the Metaverse image data is different from this.
In the pseudo player character control device 300 , the metaverse image data received by the transmission/reception mechanism is sent to the image analysis section 327 via the interface input section 321 . The image analysis unit 327 generates environment data by extracting various feature points from the image.
As described above, the environmental data are feature points of the Metaverse image (including audio) specified by the Metaverse image data. In order to extract this feature point, the image analysis unit 327 estimates the feature point of the environment around the pseudo player character from the metaverse image data including the audio data.
This feature point includes, for example, the position in the virtual three-dimensional space where the pseudo player character exists. Such position estimation can be realized, for example, by a combination of grasping the map of the virtual three-dimensional space of the Metaverse and a position estimation engine, which is artificial intelligence for estimating the position of the pseudo-player character.
Feature points can also include whether there is a player character nearby, and if there is a player character nearby, what is the relative positional relationship with the pseudo player character. Such feature points are, for example, whether or not the player character is reflected in the Metaverse image specified by the Metaverse image data, and if the player character is reflected in the Metaverse image, what are the size and orientation of the player character? It is possible to grasp by executing image recognition (pattern recognition) on the Metaverse image. Artificial intelligence for image recognition can be used for such processing.
Feature points may also include the content of words uttered by the player character. The contents of the words uttered by the player character are recognized (or specified) by the voice recognition artificial intelligence for recognizing (or specifying) the words uttered by the player character and the meaning of the words recognized by the voice recognition artificial intelligence. It is possible to grasp by combining with artificial intelligence of semantic recognition to do.
In order to generate environment data in this way, the image analysis unit 327 may use a plurality of artificial intelligences. For example, a plurality of artificial intelligences used by the image analysis unit 327 to generate environment data can be common when generating environment data for all pseudo-player characters.
Environmental data containing information on these feature points is sent to the motion pattern recording unit 324 .
By starting the generation of the environment data, the pseudo player character control device 300 can grasp that the login to the Metaverse management device 200 has been completed.
It has been described above that the pseudo player character control device 300 basically does not require a display. In order to do so, a display should be provided for the pseudo player character control device 300 as well as for the user terminal 100 . Then, an image based on the Metaverse image should be displayed on the display, as in the case of the user terminal 100 .

Assume that a user has logged into the Metaverse management device 200 from the user terminal 100 and a sales promoter has logged into the Metaverse management device 200 from the pseudo player character control device 300 . In the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the Metaverse management device 200, a player character operated by the user using the user terminal 100 and a pseudo-player character operated by the sales promoter using the pseudo-player-character control device 300 simultaneously exist. ing.
In that state, the user performs input for generating operation data from the input device 102 . The input content is sent to the control unit 122 . The control unit 122 generates operation data according to the received input content. The operation data is data for causing the user's player character to perform actions desired by the user.
The operation data is sent from the control unit 122 to the transmission/reception mechanism via the output unit 124 and the interface 114, and further sent to the logged-in Metaverse management device 200 via the network 400. FIG.
The operation data is received by the transmission/reception mechanism of the metaverse management device 200 , sent from the transmission/reception mechanism to the control unit 222 via the interface and the input unit 221 , and then sent to the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 . The virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 causes the player character of the logged-in user in the virtual three-dimensional space to act according to the operation data. Actions include movement of the player character, change of posture, and utterance of words.
The virtual three-dimensional space data generator 223 generates virtual three-dimensional space data again and sends it to the metaverse image data generator 226 . A metaverse image data generation unit 226 generates a metaverse image and metaverse image data again based on the virtual three-dimensional space data.
The Metaverse image data is sent from the Metaverse management device 200 to the logged-in user terminal 100 as described above. When the user terminal 100 receives the Metaverse image data, an image based on the image data generated from the Metaverse image data is displayed on the display 101. The pseudo player character included in the image is displayed in the moving image according to the operation data. perform an action.
On the other hand, in the pseudo player character control device 300, the promotioner inputs from the input device 102 to generate operation data. The input content is sent to the control unit 322 . The control unit 322 generates operation data according to the received input content. The operation data is data for causing the pseudo-player character operated by the promotioner to behave as desired by the promotioner.
The operation data is sent from the control unit 322 to the transmission/reception mechanism via the output unit 326 and the interface, and further sent to the logged-in Metaverse management device 200 via the network 400 .
The operation data is received by the transmission/reception mechanism of the metaverse management device 200 , sent from the transmission/reception mechanism to the control unit 222 via the interface and the input unit 221 , and then sent to the virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 . The virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 causes the pseudo player character operated by the logged-in sales promoter in the virtual three-dimensional space to act according to the operation data. This action is also the movement of the pseudo-player character, the change in posture, the utterance of words, and the like.
The virtual three-dimensional space data generator 223 generates virtual three-dimensional space data again and sends it to the metaverse image data generator 226 . A metaverse image data generation unit 226 generates a metaverse image and metaverse image data again based on the virtual three-dimensional space data.
The Metaverse image data is sent from the Metaverse management device 200 to the logged-in user terminal 100 as described above. In the simulated player character control device 300 that has received the metaverse image data, the image analysis section 327 generates environment data again. The environment data is sent to the motion pattern recording unit 324 . On the other hand, the display connected to the pseudo-player character control device 300 displays an image based on the image data generated from the metaverse image data. Then, an operation is performed according to the operation data.

In this way, the user operating the user terminal 100 can cause his or her player character to act as desired in the virtual three-dimensional space provided by the Metaverse management device 200 . On the other hand, the sales promoter who operates the pseudo player character control device 300 can cause his or her pseudo player character to act as desired in the virtual three-dimensional space provided by the metaverse management device 200 .
Assume that a player character and a pseudo-player character meet in a virtual three-dimensional space. A pseudo player character for the purpose of sales promotion of a certain product waits for a player character operated by the user at an appropriate place in the virtual three-dimensional space for sales promotion of the product, for example. An encounter occurs in the virtual three-dimensional space between the character and the pseudo-player character.
At that time, the promotioner guides the player character to a place where the product is located so that the player character operated by the user can see the product for which he/she promotes, via the pseudo player character. I will explain the function, price, etc. For this purpose, the sales promoter operates the input device of the pseudo player character control device 300 to send operation data to the Metaverse management device 200 in order to cause the pseudo player character to perform an appropriate action.
The Metaverse management device 200 continues to generate Metaverse image data even while the pseudo-player character is performing actions necessary for sales promotion, and distributes the generated Metaverse image data to the user terminal 100 and the pseudo-player character control device 300. continue to send to
The user further operates the user terminal 100 to move the player character, and the promotioner operates the simulated player character control device 300 to move the simulated player character. Thereby, communication occurs between the player character and the pseudo-player character, or between the user operating them and the promoter. The communication is, for example, that the pseudo player character responds with an answer a to the player character's question A, or the pseudo player character responds with an answer b to the player character's question B, or from the player character. The pseudo-player character responds to the request C by performing the action c.
Even while such communication is occurring, the Metaverse management device 200 continues to generate Metaverse image data and continues to send the generated Metaverse image data to the user terminal 100 and the pseudo player character control device 300 .
In the pseudo player character control device 300 , environment data continues to be generated by the image analysis section 327 , and the environment data is continuously sent from the image analysis section 327 to the action pattern recording section 324 . However, as already described, when the motion artificial intelligence 324A advances learning, the image analysis unit 327, in addition to the environmental data, is data specifying what motion the pseudo-player character has performed. It also generates operational data. Therefore, in this case, what is sent from the image analysis unit 327 to the motion pattern recording unit 324 in succession is the environment data and the motion data paired.

The environment data and motion data sequentially sent from the image analysis unit 327 to the motion pattern recording unit 324 are input to the motion artificial intelligence 324A recorded in the motion pattern recording unit 324 as teacher data. As a result, the motion artificial intelligence 324A learns from the environment data and the motion data.
Specifically, the paired environment data and action data successively sent from the image analysis unit 327 to the action pattern recording unit 324 are associated with the pseudo-player character that triggered the generation of the environment data. Inputs to motion artificial intelligence 324A in turn. As a result, the motion artificial intelligence 324A learns motion data to be output when given environmental data is input. Since the pseudo player character is operated by a person called a sales promoter, the motion data input as teacher data is the environment data that is input at the same time when the motion data is input. It is environmentally friendly. Therefore, the action artificial intelligence 324A, which is recommended to learn by successively inputting such a set of environment data and action data, is suitable for the known environment of the pseudo-player character specified by the environment data. Learning is advanced so that it is possible to output motion data that is more accurate.
Learning of the action artificial intelligence 324A is not necessarily performed only when communication between the pseudo player character and the player character is occurring. Also, the learning of the motion artificial intelligence 324A does not need to be performed in real time while the pseudo player character is logged into the virtual three-dimensional space created by the Metaverse management device 200. So, for example, it may be performed at a timing when the pseudo player character is not logged in.
Such learning may be performed for all behavioral artificial intelligence 324A. However, it is not necessary for all motion artificial intelligence 324A to learn within the pseudo player character control device 300 through the process described above. For example, there is artificial intelligence that can be used as the action artificial intelligence 324A, for example, action artificial intelligence generated by another pseudo player character control device 300, or action artificial intelligence data generated by some other method. If there is, it is possible to record the learned motion artificial intelligence 324A in the motion pattern recording unit 324 by recording it in the motion pattern recording unit 324 . In that case, for example, a recording medium recording data of such learned motion artificial intelligence is inserted into a recording medium (eg, DVD-ROM) read/write device connected to the interface of the pseudo-player character control device 300. The control unit 322 records the data sent from the read/write device to the control unit 322 via the interface and the input unit 321 in the motion pattern recording unit 324, thereby allowing the motion artificial intelligence 324A to record motion patterns. It can be recorded in section 324 . The learned artificial intelligence data need not be input to the simulated player character control device 300 via a recording medium, and may be input to the simulated player character control device 300 via the network 400 .
For example, the data (computer program and data data set) of the learned motion artificial intelligence 324A generated by another device (another pseudo player character control device 300) can be stored in the motion pattern recording unit of the pseudo player character control device 300. 324 can be installed.

(Automatic operation of pseudo player character)
In the above explanation, the pseudo-player character was operated by a person called a sales promotion person. Basically, however, the pseudo player character is automatically operated or made to act by the pseudo player character control device 300 .
A case where the pseudo player character is automatically operated by the pseudo player character control device 300 will be described below.
In a state where a user logs into the Metaverse management device 200 from the user terminal 100 and a sales promoter logs into the Metaverse management device 200 from the virtual player character control device 300, a player character and a virtual player character are displayed in a virtual three-dimensional space. Suppose we meet
The processing up to this point is basically the same as the case described in (learning motion artificial intelligence). However, the pseudo-player character may be operated by the pseudo-player-character control device 300 instead of the promotioner even before meeting the player character.
A player character meets a pseudo player character in the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the metaverse management device 200 . Note that the control unit 322 sends the account data of the pseudo player character currently logged into the Metaverse management device 200 to the action determination unit 323 before and after the pseudo player character logs into the Metaverse management device 200 .
The user may further operate the user terminal 100 to cause the player character to act and, as described above, ask questions or make requests to the pseudo-player character who is trying to promote a certain product.
In the meantime, the Metaverse management device 200 continues to generate Metaverse image data and continues to send the generated Metaverse image data to the user terminal 100 and the pseudo player character control device 300 .
The image analysis unit 327 in the pseudo player character control device 300 continues to generate environment data (in this case, the motion of the pseudo player character is automatically controlled by the pseudo player character control device 300, and the motion artificial intelligence 324A is not performed), there is no need to generate motion data by the image analysis unit 327). The contents of the environmental data and the method of generating the environmental data have already been described. The generated environment data is sent from the image analysis unit 327 to the motion determination unit 323 instead of the motion pattern recording unit 324 this time.
The motion determining unit 323 reads out the motion artificial intelligence 324A recorded in the motion pattern recording unit 324 to which an account corresponding to the account data received from the control unit 322 is attached. Then, the environment data received from the image analysis unit 327 is input to the motion artificial intelligence 324A, and motion data is obtained from the input motion artificial intelligence 324A as an output for the environment data. In other words, the motion artificial intelligence 324A functions as a motion estimation engine that estimates what kind of motion should be performed under a certain environment in which the pseudo player character is placed. Then, the motion determination unit 323 determines the motion specified by the motion data obtained as the output of the motion artificial intelligence 324A as the motion to be performed by the pseudo player character. There is a high probability that this action is suitable for the environment in which the pseudo player character is placed at that time.
Note that the action determination unit 323 does not need to use the output itself from the action artificial intelligence 324A as data for determining the action to be performed by the pseudo player character. For example, appropriate data is collected from the network 400 by crawling or other well-known or well-known techniques, and based on the collected data, the output from the motion artificial intelligence 324A is changed, and the data after the change is transferred to the pseudo player character. It is possible to make it the data which should determine the operation|movement to perform. As a result, it is possible to make the behavior of the pseudo-player character more natural, for example, in line with circumstances in the real world (weather, current affairs, fashion, etc.). However, in order to make the behavior of the pseudo-player character more natural, the above-described data collected by crawling or the like is processed by the above-described various types of artificial intelligence used in the image analysis unit 327 to generate environment data. Other contrivances such as reflection or reflection in the motion artificial intelligence 324A are also possible.
The action determination unit 323 sends the environment data and the above-described action data generated using the action artificial intelligence 324 A to the pseudo-operation data generation unit 325 .
The pseudo-operation data generation unit 325 that receives the action data generates pseudo-operation data that is data for causing the pseudo-player character specified by the above-described account data to perform the action specified by the action data. do. The pseudo operation data is data in a data format that can be accepted by the Metaverse management device 200 with which the pseudo player character control device 300 is linked.
The pseudo operation data generation unit 325 may include artificial intelligence for adjusting the pseudo operation data so that the pseudo player character can perform natural actions. By having such artificial intelligence, the behavior of the pseudo player character that is operated under the control of the Metaverse management device 200 that has received the pseudo operation data becomes natural. For example, even if a pseudo-player character walking straight in the virtual three-dimensional space is made to turn left, it would be extremely difficult for the pseudo-player character to suddenly turn at a right angle at a certain place in light of normal human walking and turning. Unnatural. Humans usually bend while drawing a curve with a certain radius. If the pseudo operation data generation unit 325 has artificial intelligence that performs such adjustments (that is, artificial intelligence as an operation estimation engine that estimates the operation performed by the user using the input device 102), the virtual three-dimensional space The motion of the pseudo-player character in , becomes natural. Such artificial intelligence does not need to be different for each pseudo player character, and can be common when generating pseudo operation data for all pseudo player characters.
The pseudo operation data generator 325 sends the generated pseudo operation data to the output unit 326 . The pseudo operation data is sent from the output unit 326 to the transmission/reception mechanism, and further sent to the Metaverse management device 200 via the network 400 .

The metaverse management device 200 receives the pseudo-operation data with its transmitting/receiving mechanism. The pseudo operation data is sent from there to the control unit 222 and then to the three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 .
The pseudo operation data has the same data format as the operation data sent from the user terminal 100 . Therefore, the three-dimensional space data generation unit 223 that has received the pseudo operation data causes the pseudo player character to move according to the pseudo operation data in the same way that the player character performs actions according to the operation data when the operation data is received. In response, it is made to perform an action according to the pseudo operation data.
Subsequent processing is as described above.
The Metaverse management device 200 generates Metaverse image data and sends it to the user terminal 100 and the pseudo player character control device 300 respectively.
On the display 101 of the user terminal 100 that has received the Metaverse image data, an image based on the Metaverse image data is displayed as a moving image. In the image, the pseudo player character performs actions according to the pseudo operation data. The user may not know whether the pseudo player character is being operated by a human or by a machine called the pseudo player character control device 300 . That's fine, though. The user can experience communication between the player character operated by him/herself and the pseudo player character, at least without much discomfort.

In the example described above, the pseudo player character was intended to promote sales of a company's products.
However, this is of course only an example. For example, the pseudo player character may be one that provides guidance within the virtual three-dimensional space. In this case, the guidance by the pseudo-player character can be, for example, focused on food, scenery, or buildings, according to the preferences of the user or the player character operated by the user. . By appropriately preparing the motion artificial intelligence 324A that determines the motion of the pseudo-player character, the motion of the pseudo-player character can be made as desired.
In the above example, the pseudo player character and the player character communicate with each other in a one-to-one relationship, but it is also possible for the two to communicate in a one-to-many or many-to-one relationship. Of course it could happen.

Furthermore, the pseudo player character does not have to have a clear purpose as described above. For example, the pseudo player character may simply be a talking partner of the player character operated by the user in the virtual three-dimensional space. If the user desires such a pseudo-player character, the user should desire to meet the same pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space whenever he/she desires. For example, the motion artificial intelligence 324A associated with the pseudo-player character determines the behavior of the player character when it acted together with a certain player character in the virtual three-dimensional space in the past, and the preferences of the player character, for example, as described above. If the pseudo player character is learned by processing using such environmental data, or if at least the history of past actions of the player character is left in some kind of recording unit inside or outside the action artificial intelligence 324A, the pseudo player character performs The action is likely to be desirable for the user or the player character controlled by the user. Of course, historical data about events experienced by the pseudo-player character in the past can be used regardless of the purpose of the pseudo-player character, even when the pseudo-player character is used for sales promotion of a certain product as described above. is possible.
In such a case, for example, it is convenient for the user and the pseudo-player character to exchange account data with each other in the Metaverse service to keep track of each other. Such functions are implemented in existing metaverse management devices. The existing Metaverse management device has a function of mutually grasping each other's accounts by so-called "friend application" made by one player character to the other player character and "acceptance" by the other player character. It is
In such a state where each other's accounts are grasped, the user or the player character operated by the user already knows the account within the virtual three-dimensional space provided by the Metaverse management device 200. It becomes possible to call a predetermined pseudo player character. In this case, for example, the user operates the input device 102 of the user terminal 100 to make an input for calling a certain pseudo-player character. The input includes, for example, the account data of the pseudo-player character to be called. The control unit 122 that has received the input selects a pseudo player character and generates selection data that is data for calling the selected pseudo player character. The selection data is sent from the user terminal 100 to the pseudo player character control device 300 via the network 400 .
The selection data is received by the pseudo player character control device 300 . The selection data is sent to the control section 322 . Upon receiving the selection data, the pseudo player character control device 300 performs login processing to the Metaverse management device 200 using the account corresponding to the account data included in the selection data.
By doing so, the pseudo player character associated with that account will appear in the virtual three-dimensional space created by the Metaverse management device 200 . Thereby, the player character operated by the user and the pseudo player character called by the user can meet in the virtual three-dimensional space. In order to ensure that the player character and the pseudo-player character meet in the virtual three-dimensional space, measures such as adding position information in the virtual three-dimensional space where the player character is currently present to the selection data. may be appropriately adopted according to known or well-known techniques.
If the user calls a plurality of pseudo player characters, the user's player character can communicate with the plurality of pseudo player characters in the virtual three-dimensional space.

<Modification>
A metaverse stem including the pseudo player character control device 300 of the modified example will be described.
FIG. 8 shows an outline of the Metaverse system including the pseudo player character control device 300 of the modified example.
The modified Metaverse system has most points in common with the Metaverse system described in the embodiment. The difference is that in the modified example, there are only one pseudo player character control device 300, which was three in the embodiment.
In the Metaverse system described in the embodiment, each of the plurality of Metaverse management devices 200 and the same number of pseudo player character control devices 300 as the Metaverse management devices 200 correspond one-to-one. A pseudo-player character control device 300 linked to each Metaverse management device 200 sends a pseudo-player character into the original space.
On the other hand, the pseudo player character control device 300 according to the modified example sends the pseudo player character to all of the virtual three-dimensional spaces generated by the plurality of, in this modified example, the three metaverse management devices 200, respectively. to operate.

The configuration, function, operation, etc. of the user terminal 100 and the Metaverse management device 200 in the Metaverse system of the modified example are the functions of the control unit 122 of the user terminal 100 of the modified example and the functions of the control unit 122 of the user terminal 100 of the embodiment. are the same as those described in the embodiment, except that there is a slight difference as described later.
On the other hand, the pseudo player character control device 300 in the modified Metaverse system is different from the pseudo player character control device 300 described in the embodiment. However, the difference is slight.
First, in terms of hardware, there is no difference between the pseudo player character control device 300 of the modified example and the pseudo player character control device 300 of the embodiment.
5 and 6 show functional blocks generated in the pseudo player character control device 300 according to the modification by a computer program for causing the server to function as the pseudo player character control device of the present invention. It is the same as that described in the form. Also, functions of functional blocks generated in the pseudo player character control device 300 of the modified example are the same as those functions in the embodiment except for the control section 322 and the pseudo operation data generation section 325 .
The pseudo operation data generation unit 325 in the modified example can generate pseudo operation data in a data format that can be accepted by the metaverse management device 200 to which the generated pseudo operation data is sent. Its function is different from that of the pseudo operation data generator 325 in the pseudo player character control device 300 . For example, assume that the three Metaverse management devices 200 in the modified Metaverse system have different data formats for the operation data scheduled to be received from the user terminal 100 . In that case, the pseudo-operation data generation unit 325 of the modification can generate pseudo-operation data in three different data formats.

The usage and operation of the modified metaverse system will be described.

(Processing as a premise)
The processing as a premise is basically the same between the modified example and the embodiment.
The user uses the user terminal 100 to register an account and a player character with any one of the three Metaverse management devices 200 . A single user can register accounts and player characters with a plurality of Metaverse management devices 200 .
On the other hand, the pseudo-player character control device 300 registers accounts and pseudo-player characters by executing the same processing as described in the embodiment for the three Metaverse management devices 200 . However, the pseudo player character control device 300 of the modified example also manages which account is registered in which Metaverse management device 200 . For example, if account data is recorded in the control unit 322, the account data is added with information specifying in which metaverse management device 200 the account data is registered. be done. For example, if identification numbers 1, 2, and 3 are assigned to the three metaverse management devices 200 to distinguish them, the identification numbers are recorded in the control unit 322 together with the account data.

(Learning motion artificial intelligence)
In the case of motion artificial intelligence learning, there is basically no difference between the modified Metaverse system and the Metaverse system of the embodiment.
First, the user logs into the Metaverse management device 200 in which his/her account is registered using his/her user terminal 100 .
On the other hand, the pseudo player character control device 300 logs into at least one of the Metaverse management devices 200 .
A player character operated by a user and a pseudo player character operated by the pseudo player character control device 300 are sent into the same virtual three-dimensional space generated by a certain metaverse management device 200, and when they meet in the same virtual three-dimensional space, , communication occurs between the player character and the pseudo player character. Thereby, the same processing as described in the embodiment is executed, and learning of the motion artificial intelligence 324A is performed.
At that time, operation data sent from the user terminal 100 to the Metaverse management device 200 for operating the player character, and operation data sent from the pseudo player character control device 300 to the Metaverse management device 200 for operating the pseudo player character. have the same data format as long as they are sent to the same metaverse management device 200 .

(Automatic operation of pseudo player character)
In the case of automatic operation of a pseudo player character, there is basically no difference between the Metaverse system of the modified example and the Metaverse system of the embodiment.
First, the user logs into the Metaverse management device 200 in which his/her account is registered using his/her user terminal 100 .
On the other hand, the pseudo player character control device 300 logs into at least one of the Metaverse management devices 200 .
A player character operated by a user and a pseudo player character operated by the pseudo player character control device 300 are sent into the same virtual three-dimensional space generated by a certain metaverse management device 200, and when they meet in the same virtual three-dimensional space, , the same processing as described in the embodiment is executed, and communication between the player character and the pseudo player character occurs.
At that time, operation data sent from the user terminal 100 to the Metaverse management device 200 for operating the player character, and pseudo operation data sent from the pseudo player character control device 300 to the Metaverse management device 200 for operating the pseudo player character. have the same data format as long as they are sent to the same metaverse management device 200 .
The principle for making the data format of the pseudo operation data the same as that of the operation data scheduled to be received by the metaverse management device 200 to which it is sent is as follows.
For example, when logging into the Metaverse management device 200 in which the pseudo player character control device 300 is located, the identification number of the Metaverse management device 200 that logs in is sent from the control unit 322 to the pseudo operation data generation unit 325, for example. The data format of operation data that can be received by each Metaverse management device 200 is recorded in the pseudo operation data generator 325 in a state of being associated with the identification number of the Metaverse management device 200 . The pseudo-operation data generation unit 325 generates pseudo-operation data in a data format associated with the received identification number based on the action data. As a result, the data format of the pseudo operation data becomes the same data format as the operation data scheduled to be received by the Metaverse management device 200 to which it is sent.

It is assumed that the user calls a pseudo player character from the pseudo player character control device 300 into the virtual three-dimensional space generated by the Metaverse management device 200 in which the user's player character is logged in.
The user sends selection data from the user terminal 100 to the pseudo player character control device 300 . In the above-described embodiment, this selection data includes the account data of the simulated player character to be called. However, in the modified example, the selection data sent from the user terminal 100 to the pseudo player character control device 300 includes, in addition to account data, a virtual three-dimensional space in which the user desires to call the pseudo player character. The identification number of the metaverse management device 200 that is present is included. As a result, the pseudo-player character control device 300 can grasp which pseudo-player character the user wishes to send into the virtual three-dimensional space generated by which metaverse management device 200.例文帳に追加
Subsequent processing is as described above. A pseudo player character desired by the user is sent from the pseudo player character control device 300 into the virtual three-dimensional space in which the player character operated by the user exists. A pseudo player character operated by the player character control device 300 will meet.
After that, communication is performed between the player character and the pseudo player character. At that time, the data format of the pseudo operation data sent from the pseudo player character control device 300 to the Metaverse management device 200 for operating the pseudo player character was scheduled to be received by the Metaverse management device 200 through the above-described processing. It will be the same data format as the operation data.

100 User terminal 101 Display 102 Input device 121 Input unit 122 Control unit 123 Image control unit 124 Output unit 200 Metaverse management device 221 Input unit 222 Control unit 223 Virtual three-dimensional space data generation unit 224 Player character data recording unit 225 Metaverse data recording unit 226 Metaverse image data generation unit 227 Output unit 300 Pseudo player character control device 321 Input unit 322 Control unit 323 Action determination unit 324 Action pattern recording unit 324A Action artificial intelligence 325 Pseudo operation data generation unit 326 Output unit 327 Image analysis unit

Claims (7)

It has a function of constructing a virtual three-dimensional space in which a plurality of player characters, which are characters operated by a plurality of users respectively, exist therein. a receiving unit that receives operation data, which is data for operating each of the player characters, from a user terminal operated by each user via the Internet; A pseudo-player character having a function of controlling the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space. a controller,
an acquisition unit for acquiring environment data, which is data about the environment around the pseudo player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, from the metaverse management device;
When the environment data is input as data about the action pattern of the pseudo player character, the pseudo player character outputs a motion artificial intelligence that is suitable for the environment indicated by the environment data. an action pattern recording unit recorded for each character;
A motion to be made to be performed by the pseudo player character is determined, and when the environment data received from the acquisition unit is input to the motion artificial intelligence recorded in the motion pattern recording unit, the motion artificial intelligence a motion determining unit configured to determine a motion output from the intelligence as a motion to be performed by the simulated player character that is suitable for the environment indicated by the environment data;
a pseudo operation data generation unit that creates pseudo operation data, which is data for causing the pseudo player character to perform the action determined by the action determination unit, in the same data format as the operation data;
a transmitting unit that transmits the pseudo operation data to the receiving unit of the metaverse management device via the Internet;
and
The motion pattern recording unit stores a history of the environment around the simulated player character for each simulated player character based on the environment data generated when the simulated player character moves. Department is established,
The motion determining unit determines the motion to be performed by the pseudo player character based on the history recorded in the history recording unit when determining the motion to be performed by the pseudo player character.
Pseudo player character control device. The action artificial intelligence is learned artificial intelligence obtained by learning in advance using the environment data and actions adopted by the player character in the environment as teacher data.
2. The pseudo player character control device according to claim 1 . The environment data includes conversation content between a player character who is having a conversation with the simulated player character.
3. A pseudo player character control device according to claim 1 or 2 . The motion pattern recording unit is capable of recording a predetermined motion artificial intelligence,
2. The pseudo player character control device according to claim 1 . the metaverse management device is plural,
The pseudo operation data generation unit generates the pseudo operation data in the same data format as the data format of the operation data that each of the metaverse management devices to which the pseudo operation data is transmitted is scheduled to receive in the receiving unit. is designed to generate
2. The pseudo player character control device according to claim 1. It has a function of constructing a virtual three-dimensional space in which a plurality of player characters, which are characters operated by a plurality of users respectively, exist therein. a receiving unit that receives operation data, which is data for operating each of the player characters, from a user terminal operated by each user via the Internet; A pseudo-player character having a function of controlling the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space. The method is executed by the control unit, which is a control device and includes a control unit that executes information processing and a transmission unit that transmits predetermined data to the metaverse management device via the Internet. hand,
an acquisition step of acquiring environment data, which is data about the environment around the pseudo player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, from the metaverse management device;
When the environment data is input as data about the action pattern of the pseudo player character, the pseudo player character outputs a motion artificial intelligence that is suitable for the environment indicated by the environment data. a recording process of recording in a motion pattern recording unit recorded for each character;
When the environment data acquired in the acquisition process is input to the motion artificial intelligence recorded in the motion pattern recording unit, the motion output from the motion artificial intelligence is determined to be suitable for the environment indicated by the environmental data. an action determination process for determining an action to be performed by the pseudo player character ;
a pseudo operation data generation process for creating pseudo operation data, which is data for causing the pseudo player character to perform the action determined by the action determination process, in the same data format as the operation data;
a transmitting step of transmitting the pseudo operation data to the receiving unit of the metaverse management device via the transmitting unit and the Internet;
A history recording process of recording, in the action pattern recording unit, for each of the pseudo player characters, a history of the environment around the pseudo player character based on the environment data generated when the pseudo player character moves. and,
along with
In the motion determination process, when determining the motion to be performed by the pseudo player character, the motion to be performed by the pseudo player character is determined based on the history recorded in the motion pattern recording unit. ,
Pseudo player character control method. It has a function of constructing a virtual three-dimensional space in which a plurality of player characters, which are characters operated by a plurality of users respectively, exist therein. a receiving unit that receives operation data, which is data for operating each of the player characters, from a user terminal operated by each user via the Internet; A pseudo-player character having a function of controlling the pseudo-player character in the virtual three-dimensional space. A computer program for causing a predetermined computer to function as a control device,
said computer,
an acquisition unit for acquiring environment data, which is data about the environment around the pseudo player character in the virtual three-dimensional space, from the metaverse management device;
When the environment data is input as data about the action pattern of the pseudo player character, the pseudo player character outputs a motion artificial intelligence that is suitable for the environment indicated by the environment data. an action pattern recording unit recorded for each character;
A motion to be made to be performed by the pseudo player character is determined, and when the environment data received from the acquisition unit is input to the motion artificial intelligence recorded in the motion pattern recording unit, the motion artificial intelligence a motion determining unit configured to determine a motion output from the intelligence as a motion to be performed by the simulated player character that is suitable for the environment indicated by the environment data;
a pseudo operation data generation unit that creates pseudo operation data, which is data for causing the pseudo player character to perform the action determined by the action determination unit, in the same data format as the operation data;
a transmitting unit that transmits the pseudo operation data to the receiving unit of the metaverse management device via the Internet;
to function as
The motion pattern recording unit stores a history of the environment around the simulated player character for each simulated player character based on the environment data generated when the simulated player character moves. Department is established,
The motion determining unit determines the motion to be performed by the pseudo player character based on the history recorded in the history recording unit when determining the motion to be performed by the pseudo player character.
computer program.

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