Animated liquid droplet environments

Number: 10699609
Published: 2020-06-30
Filed: 2016-01-19
Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Inventors: Barton; Mark Robert, Goslin; Michael P., Haseltine; Eric C.
CPC: G09F19/12; B05B17/08; G09F13/005; G09F19/02; G09F19/20
Verdict: Low Hardware
Source: Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

The keeper's note

Physical animated liquid-droplet show effect hardware.

Abstract

Embodiments herein describe a dripping system that displays an animation using different colored light sources. In one embodiment, the dripping system includes red, green, and blue light sources which can be activated individually or in combination to emit light that reflects off liquid droplets emitted by the dripping system. Controlling the timing of the light sources permits the dripping system to illuminate the water droplets at different locations along their path which generate the animations. In one embodiment, the dripping system changes animations or alters the animation in response to user interaction. For example, different user hand gestures may be mapped to different water droplet animations. An input/output (I/O) system detects the user interaction and changes the displayed animation.

Background

BACKGROUND(1) Field of the Invention(2) Embodiments presented in this disclosure generally relate to displaying colored animations using liquid droplets.(3) Description of the Related Art(4) Lighting can be used to add effects to physical environments. For example, illuminating different portions of a physical environment can create different effects. Lighting effects can be used for various purposes such as highlighting certain objects, creating illusions, and the like. In some environments, the lighting effects and the medium being illuminated can both be manipulated to create different effects.SUMMARY(5) One embodiment presented herein is a method that includes dispensing a plurality of liquid droplets that free fall along a vertical path and illuminating the plurality of liquid droplets to generate a multi-colored animation with the plurality of liquid droplets as the droplets fall along the vertical path. The method also includes detecting a predefined user interaction and altering the multi-colored animation in response to the detected user interaction.(6) Another embodiment presented herein is a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied therewith. The computer-readable program code is configured to dispense a plurality of liquid droplets that free fall along a vertical path and illuminate the plurality of liquid droplets to generate a multi-colored animation with the plurality of liquid droplets as the droplets fall along the verti

Claims

1. A method, comprising: dispensing, via one or more moveable drip heads, a plurality of liquid droplets that free fall along a vertical path in an animated dripping system; illuminating, by a plurality of light sources in the animated dripping system, the plurality of liquid droplets to generate a multi-colored animation as the pluarality of liquid droplets fall along the vertical path; detecting, using one or more sensors of the animated dripping system, a predefined user interaction with the animated dripping system; matching the predefined user interaction to a predefined action taken by the animated dripping system; and altering the multi-colored animation according to the predefined action and in response to the detected predefined user interaction by: altering a position of the one or more moveable drip heads; and altering the illumination of the plurality of liquid droplets. 8. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the computer-readable program code configured to: dispense, via one or more moveable drip heads, a plurality of liquid droplets that free fall along a vertical path in an animated dripping system; illuminate, by a plurality of light sources in the animated dripping system the plurality of liquid droplets to generate a multi-colored animation as the plurality of liquid droplets fall along the vertical path; detect, using one or more sensors of the animated dripping system, a predefined user interaction with the animated dripping system; match the predefined user interaction to a predefined action taken by the animated dripping system and alter the multi-colored animation according to the predefined action and in response to the predefined detected user interaction by: altering a position of the one or more moveable drip heads; and altering the illumination of the plurality of liquid droplets.