Outer Rim Archives
Archives · 2017 · 9839856

Granted patent

Method and system for providing interactivity based on sensor measurements

Number
9839856
Published
2017-12-12
Filed
2008-03-11
Assignee
Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Inventors
Crawford; David, Durham; David, Georges; Jon
CPC
A63G31/00; A63G9/00; A63G5/00; A63G13/00; A63G19/00; A63G21/00; A63G25/00; A63G3/00; A63G7/00; A63G17/00; A63G11/00; A63G27/00; G06Q10/103; A63G1/00; A63G23/00; A63G15/00; A63G4/00; A63G31/02; A63J25/00; G05B13/00
Verdict
Medium Hardware
Source
Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

The keeper's note

A theme-park ride system that senses guest biometrics, gestures, or eye movement to provide personalized interactivity during the experience.

Abstract

There is provided a system for providing interactivity to a guest of an experiential venue, based on sensor measurement of the guest. The system comprises a sensor configured to sense a guest variable of the guest, where the sensor may be a biometric sensor, a facial recognition sensor, a voice stress analysis sensor, a gesture recognition sensor, a motion tracking sensor, or an eye tracking sensor, and may sense heart rate or another guest variable.The system also comprises a control system, which may be implemented as a computer, in communication with the sensor. The control system is configured to determine a guest state from the guest variable, and to modify a venue variable, for example by selecting a path a theme park ride follows. The control system modifies the venue variable according to the guest state to provide increased satisfaction to the guest of the experiential venue.

Background

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS(1) The features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, wherein:(2) FIG. 1 shows a diagram of an exemplary system for providing interactivity based on sensor measurements, according to one embodiment of the present invention; and(3) FIG. 2 is aflowchart presenting a method for providing interactivity based on sensor measurements, according to one embodiment of the present invention.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION(4) The present application is directed to methods and systems for providing interactivity based on sensor measurements. The following description contains specific information pertaining to the implementation of the present invention. One skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention may be implemented in a manner different from that specifically discussed in the present application. Moreover, some of the specific details of the invention are not discussed in order not to obscure the invention. The specific details not described in the present application are within the knowledge of a person of ordinary skill in the art. The drawings in the present application and their accompanying detailed description are directed to merely exemplary embodiments of the invention. To maintain brevity, other embodiments of the invention, which use the principles of the present inv

Claims

1. A method for providing interactivity to a guest of a theme park based on sensor measurement of the guest, the method comprising: sensing, using a sensor, a variable characteristic of the guest located in a theme park ride and indicative of an emotional state ofthe guest, wherein the variable characteristic includes at least one or more of variable biometric and nonbiometric characteristics of the guest; transmitting the variable characteristic of the guest indicative of the emotional state of the guest from the sensor to a control system; analyzing the variable characteristic of the guest utilizing the control system; indicating an emotional state of the guest based on analyzing the variable characteristic of the guest; and modifying a one or more elements of the theme park ride by the control system using an actuator according to the guest emotional state, wherein the modifying of the one or more elements of the theme park ride is in direct response to the guest emotional state, and wherein the one or more elements of the theme park ride include at least one of a speed of the theme park ride, a length of the theme park ride, an onboard lighting device of a ride car of the theme park ride, an onboard audio of the ride car of the theme park ride, an onboard video of the ride car of the theme park ride, a ride scene of the theme park ride, a motion base device installed on the ride car and a rotation device installed on the ride car. 4. A system for providing interactivity to a guest of a theme park based on sensor measurement of the guest, the system comprising: a sensor configured tosense a variable characteristic of the guest located in a theme park ride and indicative of an emotional state of the guest, wherein the variable characteristic includes at least one or more of variable biometric and nonbiometric characteristics of the guest; a transmitter configured to transmit the variable characteristic of the guest indicative of the emotional state of the guest from the sensor to a control system; a control system configuredto: analyze the variable characteristic of the guest; indicate an emotional state of the guest based on analyzing the variable characteristic of the guest; and modify a one or more elements of the theme park ride by the control system using an actuator according to theguest emotional state, wherein the modifying of the one or more elements of the theme park ride is in direct response to the guest emotional state, and wherein the one or more elements of the theme park ride include at least one of a speed of the theme park ride, a length of the theme park ride, an onboard lighting device of a ride car of the theme park ride, an onboard audio of the ride car of the theme park ride, an onboard video of the ride car of the theme park ride, a ride scene of the theme park ride, a motion based device installed on the ride car and a rotation device installed on the ride car. 7. A method of providing interactivity to a theme park ride based on sensor measurements of one or more guests in a ride car, the theme park ride having a plurality of ride segments include a ride beginning segment, a first ride alternate segment, a second ride alternate segment, and a ride end segment, the method comprising: moving the ride car including the one or more guests in the ride beginning segment; sensing, using a sensor, a variable characteristic of theone or more guests located in the ride car and indicative of an emotional state of the one or more guests while moving in the ride beginning segment, wherein the variable characteristic includes at least one or more of variable biometric and nonbiometric characteristics of the guest; transmitting the variable characteristic of the one or more guests indicative of the emotional state of the one or more guests from the sensor to a control system; analyzing the variable characteristic of the one or more guests using the control system indicating an emotional state of the one or more guests in the ride car based on analyzing the variable characteristic of the one or more guests in the ride car; and selecting, by the control system using an actuator, between one of the first ride alternate segment and the second ride alternate segment based on the emotional state of the one or more guests inthe ride car; and moving the ride car including the one or more guests in the selected one of the first ride alternate segment and the second ride alternate segment, wherein the moving of the ride car in the selected one of the first ride alternate segment and the second ride alternate segment is to affect a physical change of the theme park ride in direct response to the emotional state of the one or more guests in the ride car. 13. A method for providing interactivity to a guest of a theme park based on sensor measurement of the guest, the method comprising: determining that the guest is within a sensing range of a sensor; sensing, using the sensor and in response to the determining, a variable characteristic of the guest located in a theme park ride and indicative of an emotional state of the guest, wherein the variable characteristic includes at least one or more of variable biometric and nonbiometric characteristics of the guest; transmitting the variable characteristicof the guest indicative of the emotional state of the guest from the sensor to a control system; analyzing the variable characteristic of the guest utilizing the control system; indicating an emotional state of the guest based on analyzing the variable characteristic of the guest; and modifying a one or more elements of the theme park ride by the control system using an actuator according to the guest emotional state, wherein the modifying of the one or more elements of the theme park ride is in direct response to the guest emotionalstate, and wherein the one or more elements of the theme park ride include at least one of a speed of the theme park ride, a length of the theme park ride, an onboard lighting device of a ride car of the theme park ride, an onboard audio of the ride car of the theme park ride, an onboard video of the ride car of the theme park ride, a ride scene of the theme park ride, a motion base device installed on the ride car and a rotation device installed on the ride car. 15. A system for providing interactivity to a guest of a theme park based on sensor measurement of the guest, the system comprising: a sensor configured to sensea variable characteristic of the guest located in a theme park ride and indicative of an emotional state of the guest, wherein the variable characteristic includes at least one ormore of variable biometric and nonbiometric characteristics of the guest; a transmitter configured to transmit the variable characteristic of the guest indicative of the emotionalstate of the guest from the sensor to a control system; a control system configured to: determine that the guest is within a sensing range of the sensor, prior to the sensor performing sensing the variable characteristic of the guest located in the theme park ride; analyze the variable characteristic of the guest; indicate an emotional state of the guest based on analyzing the variable characteristic of the guest; and modify a one or more elements of the theme park ride by the control system using an actuator according to the guest emotional state, wherein the modifying of the one or more elements of the theme park ride is in direct response to the guest emotional state, and wherein the one or more elements ofthe theme park ride include at least one of a speed of the theme park ride, a length of the theme park ride, an onboard lighting device of a ride car of the theme park ride, an onboard audio of the ride car of the theme park ride, an onboard video of the ride car of the theme park ride, a ride scene of the theme park ride, a motion base device installed on the ride car and a rotation device installed on the ride car. 16. A method of providing interactivity to a theme park ride based on sensor measurements of one or more guests in a ride car, the theme park ride having a plurality of ride segments include a ride beginning segment, a first ride alternate segment, a second ride alternate segment, and a ride end segment, the method comprising: moving the ride car including the one or more guests in theride beginning segment; determining that the one or more guests are within a sensing range of a sensor; sensing, using the sensor and in response to the determining, a variable characteristic of the one or more guests located in the ride car and indicative of an emotional state of the one or more guests while moving in the ride beginning segment, wherein the variable characteristic includes at least one or more of variable biometric and nonbiometric characteristics of the guest; transmitting the variable characteristic of the one or more guests indicative of the emotional state of the one or more guests from the sensor toa control system; analyzing the variable characteristic of the one or more guests using the control system indicating an emotional state of the one or more guests in the ride car based on analyzing the variable characteristic of the one or more guests in the ride car; and selecting, by the control system using an actuator, between one of the first ride alternate segment and the second ride alternate segment based on the emotional state of the one or more guests in the ride car; and moving the ride car including the one or more guestsin the selected one of the first ride alternate segment and the second ride alternate segment.