INTERACTIVE DOCUMENT READER

• US 20090298586A1
• Filed: 09/16/2008
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Short, Shelley, Smoot, Lanny S., Van Gilder, Amy K., Ackley, Jonathan, Samdahl, Amber
• Granted Patent: US 8,899,474 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/31
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/213 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. cameras, photodiodes or infrared cells A63F13/219, A63F13/655 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/235 using a wireless connection, e.g. infrared or piconet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/25 Output arrangements for video game devices
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/208 for storing personal settings or data of the player
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/30 characterized by output arrangements for receiving control signals generated by the game device
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5573 player location
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00291 with receiver circuitry television receiver circuitry per se H04N5/44

Abstract

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to systems for providing an interactive document reader.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting orientation of a physical document via a document reader; and

projecting information onto said document via said document reader wherein the manner in which the information is projected is based, at least in part, on said detected orientation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said document comprises a sheet of media having fixed information depicted thereon and the manner in which the information is projected is based on aligning the projected information with the fixed information.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising sensing a selection of a portion of said document via said document reader based, at least in part, on a touch activation of said document reader through said document.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein said projecting information comprises rear projecting an image of said document through an underside of said document.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said projecting information comprises illuminating a hidden portion of said document.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying a user of said document based, at least in part, on detection of a signature associated with said document.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a user of said document based, at least in part, on detection of a signature associated with said document; and

presenting media content to said identified user based, at least in part, on said identification.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the projected information comprises information selected from the group consisting of:

text, animation, video, a static image, highlighting, graphic information; and

symbols.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the document comprises a map having a plurality of locations depicted thereon and the projected information comprises a path connecting two or more of the depicted locations.

10. A method comprising:

detecting presence of a physical document via a document reader; and

altering an appearance of the document to present information based, at least in part, on said detected presence.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

sensing an orientation of said document; and

wherein said altering the appearance of the document is based, at least in part, on said sensed orientation.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

identifying a user of said document based, at least in part, on detection of a signature associated with said document; and

wherein said altering the appearance of the document is based, at least in part, on said identification of said user.

13. A method comprising:

providing an interactive gaming experience to one or more game participants associated with corresponding physical documents;

detecting a presence of the one or more game participants in a gaming area in response to detection of said documents at said gaming area via a document reader; and

communicating a path message indicating directions from a current location to one or more subsequent destinations to the one or more game participants via said document reader based, at least in part, on said detected presence.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising sensing a selection of a portion of said document via said document reader based, at least in part, on a touch activation of said document reader through said document.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising altering an appearance of the document to present a special effect to the one or more game participants via said document reader based, at least in part, on said detected presence.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

altering an appearance of the document to present a special effect to the one or more game participants via said document reader based, at least in part, on said detected presence; and

wherein said altering the appearance of the document to present a special effect comprises rear projecting an image to a front-side of said document through an underside of said document via said document reader.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

sensing an orientation of said document with respect to said document reader via said document reader; and

altering an appearance of the document to present a special effect to the one or more game participants via said document reader based, at least in part, on said detected presence and on said sensed orientation.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

assigning a first game participant to a first group of document readers comprising a first route;

assigning a second game participant to a second group of document readers comprising a second route; and

wherein said communicating a path message comprises communicating an indication of whether said first and/or second participants are on said corresponding first and/or second assigned routes.

19. An interactive document reader, comprising:

a document sensor indicating presence of a physical document;

an orientation sensor indicating orientation of the sensed document;

a projector displaying information on the document in a manner that is based, at least in part, on the indications from the document sensor and the orientation sensor.

20. The interactive document reader of claim 19, further comprising:

a signature reader operable to read a signature associated with the document and transmit the signature.

21. The interactive document reader of claim 19, further comprising:

a metadata reader operable to read metadata from said document and transmit the metadata.

22. The interactive document reader of claim 19, further comprising:

a metadata writer operable to store metadata on said document.

23. The interactive document reader of claim 19, further comprising:

a touch sensor operable to sense a selection of a portion of said document based, at least in part, on a touch activation through said document.

24. An apparatus, comprising:

means for detecting a presence of one or more physical documents; and

means for altering an appearance of the document to present a special effect based, at least in part, on said detected presence.

25. An interactive document, comprising:

a sheet of media having a first portion information depicted thereon, wherein placement of the first portion of the information has a suitable orientation and arrangement;

a device on the sheet of media configured to communicate the orientation of the sheet of media to an external interactive document reader; and

a projection surface integrated with the sheet of media, wherein appearance of the sheet of media is alterable to present a second portion of information projected by the external interactive document reader to the projection surface, wherein the second portion of information is projected in alignment with the first portion of information.