Techniques for representing imaginary participants in an immersive play environment

Number: 10039975
Published: 2018-08-07
Filed: 2015-01-13
Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Inventors: Olson; Joseph; Olson; Blade; Goslin; Michael P.; Moneypenny; Charles; Alexandre; Ivone
CPC: A63F13/28; A63F13/216; A63F13/537
Verdict: Medium Notable software
Source: Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

The keeper's note

Immersive play environment with imaginary participants.

Abstract

An immersive play environment providing techniques for generating an imaginary enemy within the environment is disclosed. A tracker device is provided in the play environment for determining a location of a user. A controller device is provided to generate an invisible interactive object (an “imaginary enemy”), to engage the user during gameplay. The controller device generates tracking information indicating a location of the imaginary enemy. The controller device determines the location of the enemy relative to the location of the user and transmits that information to the tracker device. The tracker device can communicate the location of the imaginary enemy to the user for engagement.

Background

BACKGROUND(1) Field(2) Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to inter-device communications, and more specifically to techniques for using interactive devices to present cues to suggest the presence of imaginary elements in an immersive play.(3) Description of the Related Art(4) Many approaches exist for delivering a play experience to a user. For instance, video games engage participants using interactive game play using a video game console, a hand-held controller, and a display (e.g., a television, a monitor on the video game system, etc.). A participant interacts with the controller to send commands to the video game system to control a video game or other simulation. However, while video games allow participants to interact directly with the video game system, such interactions are often limited to the graphical depiction shown on the display and rarely influence any other objects outside of the world provided by the video game.(5) An immersive playtime environment addresses such limitations by simulating a play experience in a physical environment (e.g., a living room, a car, a city park) using a combination of devices, such as a controller device, wearable sensors, etc. The devices are used to engage the user in a variety of ways. For example, a controller device could detect that a user has performed a particular action, such as firing a toy laser gun at a toy object and, in response, cause other devices in the environment (e.g., such as the toy objec

Claims

1. An immersive play experience platform, comprising: a sensor device configured to generate tracking information corresponding to a location of a user wearing the sensor device in a physical space; a beaconing device associated with a virtual location in the immersive play experience; and a controller device configured to perform an operation for presenting a scenario in the physical space suggesting a presence of a plurality of imaginary elements in the physical space, wherein the plurality of imaginary elements are not visually depicted by the immersive play experience platform, the operation comprising: receiving first tracking information from the sensor device, generating one or more sensory cues suggesting a presence of at least a first imaginary element of the plurality of imaginary elements in the physical space, wherein the plurality of imaginary elements are not visually depicted by the immersive play experience platform, and presenting the one or more sensory cues to the user, wherein the one or more sensory cues indicate that the first virtual element is located at the virtual location associated with the beaconing device. 14. A method for presenting a scenario in a physical space suggesting a presence of a plurality of imaginary elements in the physical space, wherein the plurality of imaginary elements are not visually depicted by an immersive play experience platform, the method comprising: receiving first tracking information corresponding to a location of a user in the physical space; generating one or more sensory cues suggesting a presence of at least a first imaginary element of the plurality of imaginary elements in the physical space, wherein the plurality of imaginary elements are not visually depicted by the immersive play experience platform; and presenting the one or more sensory cues to the user, wherein the one or more sensory cues indicate that the first virtual element is located at a virtual location in the immersive play experience that is associated with a physical beaconing device. 18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, which, when executed on a processor, perform an operation for presenting a scenario in a physical space suggesting a presence of a plurality of imaginary elements in the physical space, wherein the plurality of imaginary elements are not visually depicted by an immersive play experience platform, the operation comprising: receiving first tracking information corresponding to a location of a user in the physical space, generating one or more sensory cues suggesting a presence of at least a first imaginary element of the plurality of imaginary elements in the physical space, wherein the plurality of imaginary elements are not visually depicted by the immersive play experience platform, and presenting the one or more sensory cues to the user, wherein the one or more sensory cues indicate that the first virtual element is located at a virtual location in the immersive play experience that is associated with a physical beaconing device.