This collection includes 6 granted patents from NetEase (2), Activision Blizzard (1), Sony (1), Voyetra Turtle Beach (1), and Meta (1).
The patents cover spatial audio systems that adapt sound based on player position and movement, including NetEase's dynamic audio for projectiles and Meta's speech clarity enhancement for VR/AR environments. Voyetra Turtle Beach describes technology for real-time audio detection and voice alerts in gaming headsets, while Sony's patent details methods for controlling gameplay through player-generated sounds like clapping or humming. NetEase and Activision Blizzard each address voice synthesis, with NetEase focusing on text-to-speech for custom character names and Activision describing AI-trained systems that generate NPC vocal reactions based on recorded player audio.
NetEase received 2 patents addressing different aspects of game audio. The first tackles the challenge of rendering realistic sound for fast-moving objects like projectiles by calculating how audio should change as the object travels through the player's detection zone, taking into account the full movement path rather than treating it as a single fixed point. The second enables non-player characters to vocalize custom player names by generating speech for the name on the server side and then stitching that audio together with pre-recorded dialogue on the client, maintaining consistent vocal style across the combined output.
Voyetra Turtle Beach received 1 patent for a headset that performs its own audio analysis of gameplay sounds and delivers spoken alerts to the player based on what it detects. The system operates independently within the headset hardware itself, identifying sound characteristics like direction and intensity without requiring any integration with the game software or participation from developers.
Meta received 1 patent describing a spatial audio approach for virtual and augmented reality that improves how clearly users can hear specific speakers when multiple voices and background sounds are present. The system analyzes perceptual cues such as pitch patterns and the spatial positioning of sounds reaching each ear, using these factors to selectively enhance the intelligibility of target speech rather than simply increasing overall volume.
Activision Blizzard received 1 patent for a neural network system that learns from real player vocal reactions captured during gameplay. The technology connects recorded player audio to the specific in-game events that triggered those reactions, then trains an AI model to generate similar vocal responses for non-player characters when comparable situations occur, creating NPC audio rooted in actual human expressions.
Sony received 1 patent that reverses the typical relationship between game audio and gameplay by treating sound as a control input. Players can clap, hum, or supply other audio signals that the system analyzes in real time to drive the movements and behaviors of non-player characters, synchronizing in-game actions to live audio without pre-programmed sequences.
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.