Recreational facility with security and medical screening

• US 20040138535A1
• Filed: 03/07/2003
• Published: 07/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: John W.L. Ogilvie
• Original Assignee: John W.L. Ogilvie
• Inventors: Ogilvie, John W.L.
• Application Number:
  US10/384,904
• Publication Number:
  US 20040138535A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2011/02 related to amusement parks
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/23 by means of a password
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

Abstract

The present invention provides tools and techniques for recreational facilities (100) in which medical screening (710) results are made known to facility patrons, thereby permitting better-informed recreational interactions. Facilities (100) may include medical screening regions (112), recreational regions (114, 116, 118), exit processing regions (130) and other regions. Methods for use in recreational facilities may include medical screening (710, 810), permissioning (724, 824), entry (726, 826) to recreational regions, sharing (730, 830) of medical screening results through badges (500), displays (238), or other means, recreational activities (742, 744, 842, 844), and other steps.

Claims

1. A recreational facility, comprising:

a secured recreational region;

a medical screening region;

within the medical screening region, a medical screening means for screening patrons of the recreational facility to determine their medical status with respect to at least one of two sex-related conditions, namely, sexually transmitted disease status and fertility status;

an authentication region;

within the authentication region, an authentication means for authenticating employees of the recreational facility and other authorized persons and for detecting unauthorized persons through a lack of authentication;

physical security means which separate the secured recreational region from the medical screening region and which define a secured path containing the medical screening region and the secured recreational region, the secured path configured to allow patrons of the recreational facility to enter the secured recreational region after passing through the medical screening region and being medically screened there, and to inhibit patrons from entering the secured recreational region without first passing through the medical screening region; and

a security perimeter which encompasses at least the secured recreational region, the medical screening region, and the authentication region, the security perimeter being defined by physical security barriers that operate to direct patrons such that a patron who leaves the regions encompassed by the security perimeter can return to the secured recreational region only after again passing through the medical screening region and again being screened there, and that operate to inhibit unauthorized persons from entering the secured recreational region.

2. The recreational facility of claim 1, further comprising an exit processing region which has an exit at the security perimeter and has an entrance adjoining the secured recreational region, wherein physical security means in the facility operate to direct patrons such that a patron who enters the exit processing region from the secured recreational region can return to the secured recreational region only after again passing through the medical screening region.

3. The recreational facility of claim 1, wherein the secured recreational region comprises at least one of the following:

a lodging region which includes private rooms for patrons to use while they stay overnight in the secured recreational region;

an eating region which includes furniture for patrons to use while they eat food in the secured recreational region;

a dancing region which includes a dance floor for patrons to use while they dance in the secured recreational region.

4. The recreational facility of claim 1, wherein the secured recreational region comprises a physically demarcated preference zone for patrons to use while they participate in recreational activities in the secured recreational region.

5. The recreational facility of claim 1, wherein the secured recreational region comprises a physically demarcated and secured requirements zone for patrons to use while they participate in recreational activities in the secured recreational region.

6. The recreational facility of claim 1, further comprising a locker room outside the secured recreational region with lockable storage to hold personal belongings of patrons before they enter the secured recreational region.

7. The recreational facility of claim 1, further comprising a display that is readily visible inside the secured recreational region, that is not readily visible outside the security perimeter, that is secured to prevent unauthorized changes to the information it displays, and that is capable of displaying medical status information obtained within the medical screening region.

8. The recreational facility of claim 1, wherein the facility'"'"'s construction and physical security serve to define a secured path in which a reception region is followed by the medical screening region which is followed by the secured recreational region, such that patrons enter the secured recreational region only after passing through the reception region and then passing through the medical screening region.

9. The recreational facility of claim 1, wherein the secured path includes an exit processing region following the secured recreational region, such that patrons exit the facility only through the exit processing region, and having entered the exit processing region are barred from returning to the secured recreational region except by passing again through the reception region and through the medical screening region.

10. The recreational facility of claim 1, wherein the medical screening region comprises a physical examination room, a medical counseling office, and a lab area for processing medical tests of at least one of two sex-related conditions, namely, sexually transmitted disease status and fertility status.

11. A medical screening method to be performed by personnel of a recreational facility for improving recreational activities in the recreational facility, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a medical screening region and a physically separate recreational region, both being in the recreational facility;

medically screening people in the medical screening region to determine their medical status with respect to at least one of three conditions, namely, sexually transmitted disease status, other contagious disease status, and fertility status;

admitting to the recreational region at least two people whose medical status has been thus determined by the medical screening and who have stayed in the recreational facility continually since being screened, such that the recreational region contains at least two medically screened people whose screening results are likely still accurate at the time of admission to the recreational region; and

facilitating recreational activities by the medically screened people within the recreational region.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises barring people from the recreational region by at least one of the following actions:

barring prostitutes from the recreational region regardless of whether they have been medically screened;

barring people from entering the recreational region after traveling through a security perimeter around at least the medical screening region and the recreational region, because they have not been medically screened after their most recent passage through the security perimeter and before their subsequent attempt to enter the recreational region; and

/or

barring people from the recreational region because they refuse to share results of their medical screening with people in the recreational region who are not related to them and are not medical personnel.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the method is performed in a recreational facility having patrons who are not employees of the facility, the medical screening step medically screens the patrons with respect to at least their sexually transmitted disease (STD) status, and the method further comprises allowing medically screened patrons to enter the recreational region only if their STD status will be readily visible to other patrons inside the recreational region.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the method comprises placing, on a medically screened patron, a badge having an indication of the patron'"'"'s STD status, thereby making the patron'"'"'s STD status readily visible to other patrons inside the recreational region.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the method comprises placing, on a display that is readily visible to patrons inside the recreational region, an indication of the STD status of another patron who has been medically scanned.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the method is performed in a recreational facility having patrons who are not employees of the facility, the medical screening step medically screens the patrons with respect to at least their sexually transmitted disease (STD) status, and the method further comprises allowing medically screened patrons to enter the recreational region only if they satisfy an STD compatibility criterion which requires that all patrons in the recreational region have a single specified STD status, and two patrons have the same STD status when exactly one of the following is true:

each patron has no STDs as determined by the medical screening;

each patron has the same STD as determined by the medical screening;

each patron has the same multiple STDs as determined by the medical screening.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the facility has multiple recreational regions subject to different STD compatibility criteria, and the method comprises allowing medically screened patrons to enter a given recreational region only if they satisfy an STD compatibility criterion for that recreational region.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the method allows into the recreational region both medically screened patrons whose STD medical status is visible on a badge and/or a display, and patrons who have not been medically screened for an STD since their most recent entry into the recreational facility.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the method is performed in a recreational facility having patrons who are not employees of the facility, the medical screening step medically screens at least some patrons with respect to at least their fertility status, and the method further comprises making the fertility status of at least some medically screened patrons readily visible to other patrons inside the recreational region.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the method comprises placing, on a medically screened patron, a badge having an indication of the patron'"'"'s fertility status, thereby making the patron'"'"'s fertility status readily visible to other patrons inside the recreational region.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the method comprises placing, on a display that is readily visible to patrons inside the recreational region, an indication of the fertility status of another patron who has been medically scanned.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the method allows into the recreational region both medically screened patrons whose fertility status is visible on a badge and/or a display, and patrons who have not been medically screened for fertility since their most recent entry into the recreational facility.

23. The method of claim 11, wherein the method is performed in a recreational facility having patrons who are not employees of the facility, the medical screening step medically screens the patrons with respect to at least their fertility status, and the method further comprises allowing medically screened patrons to enter the recreational region only if they satisfy a fertility compatibility criterion which requires that all patrons in the recreational region as a group meet at least one of the following criteria:

each patron is the same gender as the other patrons in the recreational region;

each patron in the recreational region is infertile;

no patron in the recreational region is fertile as a male;

no patron in the recreational region is fertile as a female.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the facility has multiple recreational regions subject to different fertility compatibility criteria, and the method comprises allowing medically screened patrons to enter a given recreational region only if they satisfy a fertility compatibility criterion for that recreational region.

25. The method of claim 11, wherein the method medically screens people both for at least two STDs and to determine their fertility status.

26. A method for reducing risks to be performed by a person seeking use of a recreational facility, the method comprising:

being medically screened to determine one'"'"'s medical status with respect to at least three sexually transmitted diseases;

giving permission to a facility representative to share medical status results of one'"'"'s medical screening with other people in a specified region of the recreational facility, the other people being neither medical personnel nor one'"'"'s family;

entering the specified region of the recreational facility; and

witnessing as one'"'"'s medical status results are shared with another person who learns those results in the specified region of the recreational facility.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the method medically screens one to determine one'"'"'s status with respect to HIV as one of the sexually transmitted diseases.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the method medically screens one to determine one'"'"'s status with respect to at least four sexually transmitted diseases.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the method also medically screens one to determine one'"'"'s fertility status.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of participating in recreational activities within the specified region of the recreational facility.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of viewing from outside the specified region of the recreational facility demographic information about people who are inside the specified region.

32. A recreational facility badge which comprises:

a substrate of durable wearable material;

at least one strap extending from the substrate;

a medical screening result displayed on the substrate visibly indicating results obtained by medically screening a person with respect to at least one of sexually transmitted disease status and fertility status; and

a fastening means for fastening the strap to the badge after wrapping the strap about a portion of the person'"'"'s body, thereby attaching the badge to that person.

33. The recreational facility badge of claim 32, further comprising at least one of the following anti-counterfeiting components:

a holographic logo displayed on the substrate;

an anti-theft tag fastened to the substrate;

a transponder fastened to the substrate;

an encoded checksum or signature printed on the substrate.

34. The recreational facility badge of claim 32, further comprising a timestamp result displayed on the substrate visibly indicating when the medical screening results were obtained.

35. The recreational facility badge of claim 32, further comprising a bearer limited identification displayed on the substrate visibly indicating physical identifying characteristics of the person to whom the badge is attached.

36. The recreational facility badge of claim 32, further comprising preference assertions displayed on the substrate visibly indicating preferences of the person to whom the badge is attached.

37. The recreational facility badge of claim 32, wherein the badge comprises a tamper-evident component.

38. A recreational facility badge produced and used by a process comprising the steps of:

medically screening an adult person to determine their sexually transmitted disease status;

linking to that person a display of information which indicates their sexually transmitted disease status; and

admitting that person to a recreational region, the recreational region containing other adults who have also been medically screened and who display to one another their sexually transmitted disease status.

39. A badge produced and used by a process according to claim 38, wherein the linking step comprises printing the person'"'"'s sexually transmitted disease status on a substrate and physically attaching that substrate to the person.

40. A badge produced and used by a process according to claim 38, wherein the linking step comprises printing the person'"'"'s sexually transmitted disease status on the person'"'"'s skin.

41. A badge produced and used by a process according to claim 38, wherein the process further comprises medically screening the person to determine their fertility status and linking to that person a display of information which indicates their fertility status, and wherein the admitting step admits that person to a recreational region containing other adults who have also been medically screened and who display to one another both their sexually transmitted disease status and their fertility status.

42. A method of promoting recreational activities, comprising the steps of:

displaying, for a commercial purpose other than news reporting, information indicating that medical screening is used to determine the status of people with respect to at least one of three conditions, namely, sexually transmitted disease status, other contagious disease status, and fertility status;

displaying, for a commercial purpose other than news reporting, information indicating that people whose status has been thus determined by medical screening may then enter a recreational region and participate in recreational activities there;

displaying, for a commercial purpose other than news reporting, information indicating at least one of the following;

that persons who have not been medically screened are inhibited from entering the recreational region;

that persons who enter the recreational region do so bearing a badge that displays their medical status;

that persons who enter the recreational region will there witness their medical status being shared with other people who are not medical personnel and to whom they are not related;

displaying, for a commercial purpose other than news reporting, contact information whereby a person interested in at least part of the aforesaid information can learn more about it; and

failing to prominently display with the aforesaid information a true and understandable statement which;

identifies patent owners and/or patent licensees of the present patent and/or corresponding patents in other jurisdictions; and

states whether the aforesaid information is displayed with the permission of such an owner or licensee.