Preference implementation system for acting on preferences of facility visitors

Number: 10915738
Published: 2021-02-09
Filed: 2018-11-13
Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Inventors: Egger; James Lee, Ambrozie; Mihail A., Hernandez; Luis M. Bracamontes, Patil; Mangesh, Antunes; Ravel A., Ramasamy; Hariraghav, Worrall; John David, Martin; Ernest L.
CPC: G06V40/50; G06Q30/0201; G06V40/103; G06V40/173; G06V40/172; G06V40/166
Verdict: Set aside guest preference profiling, business
Source: Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

Abstract

A system for implementing visitor customizations at a facility using selective image recognition. The system includes a processor and memory storing an optical marker definition and, for potential visitors to the facility, a reference file for image-based recognition of a person. The system includes a camera in a space of the facility capturing an image of the space. The system includes an opt-in verification module run by the processor that processes the captured image of the space to identify, based on the optical marker definition, presence of an optical marker. The system includes an image recognition module run by the processor that compares recognizable features in the captured image with the reference files for the potential visitors to recognize the visitor. The memory stores opt-in records for the potential visitors, and permission to use recognition technology is obtained prior to processing by the image recognition module.

Background

BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Description (1) The present description relates, in general, to systems and methods for providing goods or services to visitors or customers of a facility, such as a sports stadium, a shopping mall, a restaurant, a hotel, any entertainment venue, or the like, based on their stated or known preferences regarding those goods or services. More particularly, the present description relates to a system, and corresponding method, to offer visitors to a facility a way to communicate their preferences and to subsequently ascertain such visitors' choices in a manner that is not potentially inconsistent with their communicated preferences. 2. Relevant Background (2) There are many settings where it may be desirable to offer visitors of a facility the opportunity for enhanced experiences by recognizing the visitor. By recognizing a visitor, interactions can be personalized with the visitor's specific characteristics such as name or preferred nickname, the visitor's geographic data, the visitor's VIP (very important person) status, history of previous interactions and future scheduled activities, and other data for personalizing and improving the visitor's experience at a particular facility. For example, a season ticket holder for a sports team may be granted access to the sports team's stadium through an express gate with reduced security requirements. In another example, a visitor to a store may be greeted by name and directed to goods that the visitor has p

Claims

1. A system for implementing visitor preferences at a facility using selective image recognition, comprising: a processor; memory storing an optical marker definition and, for a set of potential visitors to the facility, a reference file; a camera in a space of the facility capturing an image of the space; an opt-in verification module run by the processor processing the captured image of the space to identify, based on the optical marker definition, presence of an image of an optical marker; and an image recognition module run by the processor comparing features, differing from those used by the opt-in verification module to identify the optical marker, in the captured image with the reference files for the set of potential visitors to recognize one of the potential visitors, wherein the features are associated with a person physically associated with the optical marker, and wherein the image recognition module is run by the processor to compare the features only after the opt-in verification module successfully identifies the presence of the image of the optical marker in the captured image. || 9. A system for implementing visitor customizations at a facility using selective image recognition, comprising: an opt-in verification module processing a digital image of space of the facility to detect presence of an image of an optical marker; a facial region locator operating, the presence of the image of the optical marker has been verified by the opt-in verification module, to determine a location of a face associated with the optical marker in the digital image; after the presence of the image of the optical marker has been verified by the opt-in verification module and after the facial region locator has operated to determine the location of the face, an image recognition module obtaining an image of the face based on the location of the face determined by the facial region locator and comparing the image of the face with a plurality of reference files to recognize a visitor in the space of the facility; and a customizations implementation module retrieving a set of customizations for the visitor based on the recognition by the image recognition module. || 15. A method for implementing visitor preferences at a facility using selective image recognition, comprising: with a camera, capturing an image of a space of the facility; processing the image of the space to detect an opt-in identifier; when the opt-in identifier is not detected during the processing of the image of the space, repeating the capturing and processing steps; when the opt-in identifier is detected, capturing an image of a person, in the image of the space, associated with the opt-in identifier; with image recognition technology, comparing a set of recognizable features of the persons in the image references files in an opt-in database to identify a match and a visitor identity; when a match is identified in the comparing step, retrieving customizations linked to the visitor identity, wherein the set of recognizable features differ between at least first and second sets of visitors to the facility, whereby the visitors can choose the set of recognizable features to be used by the image recognition technology; and performing an action within the facility based on the retrieved customizations.