Multimedia system for transforming any room into a show environment

Number: 10917683
Published: 2021-02-09
Filed: 2016-10-12
Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Inventors: Reichow; Mark A., Voris; Jeffrey L., Smith; John David, Kennedy; Zachery W., Landry; Preston Timothy
CPC: H04N9/3147; H04N21/2143; H04N21/43074; H04N9/3141; H04N7/002; H04N9/3179; H04N21/4122; H04N9/3185; H05B47/155; H04N21/4131
Verdict: Low Hardware
Source: Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

The keeper's note

Immersive projection/lighting show-environment hardware.

Abstract

A show system or in-room entertainment or show system configured to provide engaging and immersive multimedia shows or presentations in nearly any space (or “room”) that is defined by one or more walls. The in-room show system generally includes a controller for selectively operating a display device (e.g., a television or the like), a video projector, an audio system (e.g., one or more speakers), and other show components (e.g., one or more lights, a fan, a mechanical device, and so on). Media content is predefined for the room, and the controller operates (such as in response to a triggering switch or remote control device that may take the form of a show prop activated by someone in the room) to serve the media content to tell a story and/or magically transform the space into a multidimensional and immersive entertainment space.

Background

BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Description (1) The present description relates, in general, to entertainment and show systems and, more particularly, to a show system (e.g., an in-room multimedia entertainment or show system) for transforming any space (or any room) into a location for a multimedia show presentation and experience. 2. Relevant Background (2) There are many settings where it is desirable to provide in-room entertainment to make people's stay in that room or space more enjoyable. These spaces may range from waiting areas (e.g., airport and other transportation staging areas, health and other service waiting rooms, and so on) to hotel rooms to a room in someone's home, and each of these spaces may be considered a “room” in this description. To date, the types of entertainment provided in these spaces or “in-room” has been quite limited. (3) For example, hotel rooms have long been rather generic environments distinguished from each other mainly by their furnishings, decor, the hotel's location, and out-of-room amenities provided in the hotel or its grounds. Conventional thinking in the hotel industry has been that it is desirable to make their guest very comfortable while they sleep but to otherwise encourage their guests to leave their room to partake in entertaining activities such as shopping and dining on-site or elsewhere in a resort or nearby city. (4) The idea of in-room entertainment generally has been to provide room service for dining and providing a televi

Claims

1. A system for providing entertainment with multimedia content matched to a particular space or room, comprising: a display device positioned in a room; a projector positioned in the room for projecting on one or more surfaces in the room; an audio system for providing audio output into the room; and a show controller operating, based on a show file defining display content, projector content, and audio content for a show, the display device to display the display content, the projector to project the projector content onto the one or more surfaces in the room, and the audio system to output the audio content for the show into the room, wherein the projector content is mapped, prior to the show controller operating, to the one or more surfaces in the room using projection mapping, wherein the projection mapping includes determining size, shape, and location of the one or more surfaces in the room and at least one of fitting and aligning the projector content to the size, shape, and location of the one or more surfaces in the room, wherein during a first time period the display content includes an object, and wherein during a second time period the projector content includes the object and the display content is free of the object, whereby the object moves from the display device onto the one or more surfaces between the first and second time periods. || 10. A system for providing entertainment with multimedia content matched to a particular space or room, comprising: a display device positioned in a room; a projector positioned in the room for projecting on one or more surfaces in the room; an audio system for providing audio output into the room; a show controller operating, based on a show file defining display content, projector content, and audio content for a show, the display device to display the display content, the projector to project the projector content onto the one or more surfaces in the room, and the audio system to output the audio content for the show into the room, wherein the projector content is mapped to the one or more surfaces in the room using projection mapping that includes spatially mapping the one or more surfaces prior to operating the projector and modifying at least one of size and location of the projector content to fit or align the projector content to the spatially mapped one or more surfaces; and a lighting system with lighting elements, separate from the projector and display device, that are independently operable to turn on and off, to have a range of brightness, and to have two or more colors, wherein the show file defines lighting for the show, and wherein the show controller operates each of the lighting elements to provide the lighting defined by the show file by turning one or more of the lighting elements on or off, by adjusting a brightness of one or more of the lighting elements, or by selecting a color of one or more of the lighting elements.