Apparatus and methods for synthesis of simulated internal combustion engine vehicle sounds
Computer-implemented techniques are provided for synthesizing sounds of an internal combustion engine vehicle using a physical model of the vehicle. In general terms, the method includes independently generating and/or synthesizing separate components of the vehicle sound, then combining these components to produce a final sound. Using a physical model of the vehicle, the separate components of the vehicle sound are independently generated from vehicle control parameters characterizing the operating conditions of the vehicle. The components are then combined using mixers and equalizers to produce a realistic vehicle sound. The present technique allows independent control of the separate components of the vehicle sound, is not limited to specific vehicles, and does not require recorded sounds taking large amounts of storage space.
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This application claims priority based upon provision patent application patent application Ser. No. 60/199,011, “Methods for Synthesis of International Combustion Engine Vehicle Sounds”, filed Apr. 20, 2000.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to electronic and computer synthesis of sounds. More specifically, it relates to devices and methods for the synthesis of internal combustion engine vehicle sounds using physical models.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONMany computer-implemented games and simulations involve internal combustion engine vehicles such as automobiles, motorcycles, airplanes, and boats. An important part of the simulation is the generation of sounds, which should resemble real vehicle sounds as much as possible. In particular, as the simulated vehicle conditions change, the computer generated sound should change accordingly. One known technique for generating such vehicle sounds uses a set of digitized recordings of the vehicle's sound under a few specific conditions (e.g., at certain vehicle speeds). These recordings are then played back using an interpolation technique to generate a vehicle sound under any conditions (e.g., at any vehicle speed). This technique, however, has several problems and disadvantages. For example, the recordings require significant memory storage space, and are limited to a single vehicle. Moreover, the recordings typically vary only one parameter (e.g., vehicle speed) while ignoring the possible variations of other independent parameters (e.g., engine load). As a result, the generated sound is either unrealistic or requires many more recordings and much more memory storage space to account for these additional parameters. Another problem with this technique is that the interpolation techniques introduce unrealistic distortions into the generated sounds. For example, an interpolation between two recorded vehicle speeds might involve oversampling a recording at a higher speed and/or undersampling a recording at a slower vehicle speed. Some components of the vehicle sound, however, do not scale with the engine speed in this manner. The result is that the generated sound will be unrealistic. Yet another disadvantage of using recordings is that they are specific to particular vehicles. In order for a game or simulation to allow for a variety of vehicle types, a very large number of recordings must be made under a large number of different vehicle operating conditions, and all the recordings must be stored. Clearly, there is a need for improved techniques for generating vehicle sounds for computer simulators and games.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn one aspect of the present invention, computer-implemented techniques are provided for synthesizing sounds of an internal combustion engine vehicle using a physical model of the vehicle. In general terms, the method includes independently generating and/or synthesizing separate components of the vehicle sound, then combining these components to produce a final sound. Using a physical model of the vehicle, the separate components of the vehicle sound are independently generated from vehicle control parameters characterizing the operating conditions of the vehicle. The components are then combined using mixers and equalizers to produce a realistic vehicle sound. The present technique allows independent control of the separate components of the vehicle sound, is not limited to specific vehicles, and does not require recorded sounds taking large amounts of storage space.
In preferred embodiments of the invention, the physical model of the vehicle has sound-producing and sound-modifying signal processing blocks (e.g., spark generators, fuel ignition, and exhaust system), and also provides for additional noises (e.g., wind and road noise, suspension noise, and transmission noise). By adjusting the synthesis parameters, the techniques can be used to synthesize sounds produced by a wide variety of vehicle types, including but not limited to cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, propeller airplanes, and trains.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The following description and related figures illustrate the techniques of the present invention in the context of various specific embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that many of the details of the following embodiments are not necessary for the practice of the invention, and are included for illustrative purposes only. The techniques of the present invention may be implemented in the form of instructions stored in a memory and executed by a general purpose microprocessor present in a desktop computer, laptop computer, video arcade game, and the like. The techniques of the present invention may also be implemented in hardware, i.e., using an ASIC that is part of a computer system. The synthesized signals from the microprocessor or ASIC are output to a user using an audio sound system that is either internal to the system or part of an external sound system connected to the computer system. The hardware preferably includes conventional state-of-the-art components well known in the art. Because the primary distinguishing features of the present invention relate to the specific synthesis techniques, the following description will focus on these techniques.
The embodiment 12b shown in
1. A throttle input drives an RPM and load output directly through first order smoothing effects such that RPM lags behind the throttle position modeling engine inertia at a Longer T60 (e.g., 5-10 sec.), and Load tracks throttle position much more quickly (e.g., at a T60 of 0.3 sec.).
2. RPM tracks an RPM input directly, and Load corresponds to an acceleration derived as a first derivative of RPM.
3. Load and RPM are controlled directly by an external Car physics model generated from another application program (such as a race car simulation game).
Unpredictable behaviors (e.g., a “rough” engine) can be introduced using a stochastic modulation of the RPM.
The sparks signal 18 from the spark timing model 76 is sent to a spark-force-to-velocity converter 78 which models the physics of the engine that turns an electrical spark into angular shaft velocity. The converter 78 comprises an integrator implemented using a second-order filter for flexibility in tuning. The poles of the filter are preferably placed near z=1, although other frequencies are possible. The computed shaft velocity is sent to a velocity regulator 80 which also models some of the physics of the engine. In particular, the velocity regulator models such factors as load, friction, and throttle. The primary purpose of this block 80 is to prevent the engine from increasing its RPM in an unbounded manner, and to provide a means for controlling the RPM (e.g., with the throttle control signal). The resulting shaft velocity output 82 is injected back into the loop, and the cycle continues.
The engine inertia and load model 30 of
The spreaded signal 86 from the explosion spreading model 84 is then input to a turbulence model 88, which simulates the various constrictions and/or bends in the exhaust system waveguide. These bends and constrictions introduce noise into the signal, with the amount of noise depending on the velocity of the pressure wave. The turbulence model is preferably implemented using filtered white noise that is introduced into the signal in proportion with the signal intensity.
After passing through the turbulence model 88, the signal enters a filtering resonance model 90, which is designed to simulate the exhaust muffler. This filter is preferably implemented using a few second-order resonant lowpass filters connected in parallel.
Because filtering and turbulence happen at various places along the exhaust path, and because turbulence is not a linear filtering, it is preferred in a more realistic exhaust system implementation to cascade multiple turbulence-filtering pairs, rather than just one pair as shown in the figure. In addition, certain pairs may be connected in parallel rather than cascaded. Very realistic sounds, however, can be produced using just one turbulence-filtering pair.
The load effect module simulates the “load” sound effect which happens, for example, when you push the gas pedal to the floor and accelerate a car. In this case, the load control signal would increase the scaling of the audio input, causing the non-linear distortion to produce a more “loaded” (i.e., broader spectrum) sound.
An alternative implementation of the load effect module has a scale and low pass boosting filter instead of just a scale alone. In this way, when the load control signal is increased, the audio signal input is bass boosted and then this lower frequency signal is distorted in the nonlinear distortion element giving a more “beefy” loaded sound.
Claims
1. The method of claim 8, further comprising:
- artificially simulating, in a non-vehicle environment and without actual engine inputs, at least one engine control parameter which characterizes a corresponding simulated engine operating condition, and
- generating at least one engine related sound signal corresponding to said engine control parameters,
2-3. (canceled)
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the generation of said engine related and vehicle sound signals are controlled independently.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein said engine related and vehicle sound signals are mixed together to produce a combined audio output.
6-7. (canceled)
8. A method of synthesizing sound signals corresponding to a vehicle having an engine, comprising:
- artificially simulating, in a non-vehicle environment and without actual vehicle inputs, at least one vehicle control parameter which characterizes a corresponding simulated vehicle operating condition other than an engine operating condition, and
- generating at least one vehicle sound signal corresponding to said vehicle control parameters.
9. The method of claim 8, at least one of said vehicle control parameters comprising vehicle speed.
10. The method of claim 9, said vehicle sound signal corresponding to vehicle speed comprising at least one of road noise, wind noise, tire noise and water noise.
11. The method of claim 8, wherein multiple vehicle sound signals are generated and mixed together to produce a combined audio output.
12. (canceled)
13. A method of synthesizing sound signals corresponding to a vehicle having an engine, comprising:
- artificially simulating, in a non-vehicle environment and without actual engine inputs, a plurality of engine control parameters which characterize respective simulated engine control conditions, and
- generating engine related sound signals corresponding to said engine control parameters.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein said engine control parameters are provided to an engine process model, and said engine related sound signals are generated in response to an output from said engine process model.
15. The method of claim 14, said engine control parameters comprising at least two of engine rotational speed, engine load, vehicle acceleration, transmission gear ratio, throttle position, propeller pitch and fuel mixture.
16. The method of claim 14, wherein the outputs from said engine process model comprise engine load, spark event and engine rotational speed signals.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein spark timing controlled sound signals are generated in response to said engine load and spark event outputs from said engine process model.
18-20. (canceled)
21. The method of claim 16, wherein engine rotational speed related sound signals are generated in response to said engine load and engine rotational speed outputs from said engine process model.
22. (canceled)
23. The method of claim 16, wherein said engine process model comprises an engine physical model which generates said spark event and engine rotational speed outbursts, and a load behavior model which generates said engine load output.
24-25. (canceled)
26. The method of claim 14, wherein the outputs from said engine process model comprise engine load and spark event signals which cooperate to generate at least one of engine resonance, air chop, one-shot sound file playback and exhaust system sound signals.
27-29. (canceled)
30. The apparatus of claim 37, further comprising:
- an engine control input which artificially simulates, in a non-vehicle environment and without actual engine inputs, at least one engine control parameter characterizing a corresponding simulated engine operating condition, and
- an engine related sound signal synthesizer which generates at least one engine related sound signal corresponding to said engine control parameters.
31-32. (canceled)
33. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein said engine related and vehicle sound signal synthesizers are controlled independently.
34. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising a mixer connected to mix said engine related and vehicle sound signals together to produce a combined audio output.
35-36. (canceled)
37. Apparatus for synthesizing sound signals corresponding to a vehicle having an engine, comprising:
- a vehicle control input which artificially simulates, in a non-vehicle environment and without actual vehicle inputs, at least one vehicle control parameter characterizing a corresponding simulated vehicle operating condition other than an engine operating condition, and
- a vehicle sound signal synthesizer which generates at least one respective vehicle sound signal corresponding to said vehicle control parameters.
38-39. (canceled)
40. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein said vehicle sound signal synthesizer generates multiple vehicle sound signals, and further comprising a mixer connected to mix said vehicle sound signals together to produce a combined audio output.
41. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein said vehicle control input artificially simulates at least some of said vehicle control parameters as dynamically varying inputs.
42. Apparatus for synthesizing sound signals corresponding to a vehicle having an engine, comprising:
- an engine control input which artificially simulates, in a non-vehicle environment and without actual engine inputs, a plurality of engine control parameters characterizing respective simulated engine control conditions, and
- an engine related sound synthesizer which generates engine related sound signals corresponding to said engine control parameters.
43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein said engine control input provides said engine control parameters to an engine process model, and said engine related sound signal synthesizer generates said engine related sound signals in response to an output from said engine process model.
44. (canceled)
45. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the outputs from said engine process model comprise engine load, spark event and engine rotational speed signals.
46. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein said engine related sound signal synthesizer generates spark timing controlled sound signals in response to said engine load and spark event outputs from said engine process model.
47-51. (canceled)
52. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein said engine process model comprises an engine physical model which generates said spark event and engine rotational speed outputs, and a load behavior model which generates said engine load output.
53-54. (canceled)
55. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the outputs from said engine process model comprise engine load and spark event signals which cooperate to generate at least one of engine resonance, air chop, one-shot sound file playback and exhaust system sound signals.
56. The apparatus of claim 55, wherein said engine load and spark event signals cooperate to generate an engine resonance sound signal, and said engine load signal and engine resonance sound signal cooperate to generate a turbulence sound signal.
57. The apparatus of claim 55, wherein said engine process model supplies said engine load and spark event signals to an exhaust system model that includes at least one of explosion spreading, turbulence and filtering resonance models to generate said exhaust system sound signal.
58. (canceled)
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 4, 2005
Publication Date: Aug 4, 2005
Applicant:
Inventors: Kim Cascone (Pacifica, CA), Daniel Petkevich (San Jose, CA), Gregory Scandalis (Mountain View, CA), Timothy Stilson (Mountain View, CA), Kord Taylor (San Jose, CA), Scott Van Duyne (Palo Alto, CA)
Application Number: 11/073,086