This category contains 2 granted patents across 2 companies, NetEase (1) and Sony (1).
The patents cover audio-driven interactions within game environments, including systems for converting custom character names into synthesized speech that blends with pre-recorded NPC dialogue. NetEase's patent addresses on-the-fly name-to-speech conversion so NPCs can vocalize player-defined names, while Sony's patent describes technology that synchronizes real-time audio input, such as clapping, humming, or music, with NPC movements and interactions during live gameplay.
Sony received 1 patent covering a system that flips the traditional relationship between audio and gameplay. Rather than sound responding to what happens in a game, this technology turns audio into an active input that drives NPC behavior, allowing players to control character movements and interactions in real time by clapping, humming, or playing music. The system works with live or user-supplied audio signals and requires no pre-scripted choreography to function.
NetEase received 1 patent describing a way for NPCs to speak player-defined character names aloud during dialogue. The system converts a custom name to synthesized speech on the server side, then splices that audio with pre-recorded dialogue on the client side, keeping the synthesized name consistent in style with the surrounding recorded voice. This architecture sidesteps the two approaches that came before it, which either skipped name vocalization entirely or relied on expensive pre-recorded libraries covering only a limited set of names.
All data sourced from USPTO patent filings. Google Patents may take several weeks to index recent publications. If a link is unavailable, search for the patent number at USPTO Patent Public Search.