RFID-BASED COMMUNICATION DEVICES AND METHODS FOR LOCATION-BASED ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEMS

• US 20100308964A1
• Filed: 06/03/2009
• Published: 12/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Rice, Kevin R., Ackley, Jonathan Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,148,202 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07327 Passive means, e.g. Faraday cages Faraday-type protection of electric circuits in general H05K9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/0031 for data transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/0037 for power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/0062 in RFID [Radio Frequency Identification] Systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer

Abstract

An interactive entertainment system using radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to allow participants to communicate user input to the system. The system includes an interactive station including an RFID reader and wireless communication devices that each has a user input portion operable by a user. Each communication device includes an RFID assembly that operates to broadcast to the RFID reader tag data, which is selectable by a user by operating the user input portion. The RFID assembly may use passive RFID tags that are activated or operable in response to user input such as pressing a button associated with an RFID tags, which causes the RFID tag to be read by the RFID reader to obtain a button ID. The RFID assembly may include an active RFID tag and a computing device that selectively modifies tag memory based on user input to communicate user messages to the RFID reader.

Claims

1. An interactive entertainment system, comprising:

an interactive station comprising a radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader; and

a plurality of communication devices each including a user input portion operable by a user of the interactive entertainment system, wherein each of the communication devices comprises an RFID assembly broadcasts to the RFID reader a set of tag data that is user selectable by operation of the user input portion.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the RFID assembly comprises at least two passive RFID tags each having a differing data payload and wherein the user input portion is operable to selectively activate one of the passive RFID tags to broadcast the set of tag data comprising the data payload of the activated one of the passive RFID tags.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the user input portion comprises a set of buttons with each of the buttons being associated with one of the passive RFID tags whereby pressing one of the buttons activated the associated one of the passive RFID tags and wherein the data payload of each of the passive RFID tags comprises a unique ID and a button ID indicating the associated one of the buttons.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein each of the communication devices further comprises a tag activation mechanism associated with the user input portion and responding to operation of the user input portion to activate one of the passive RFID tags, the tag activation mechanism comprising means for selectively shielding the passive RFID tags to allow broadcasting to the RFID reader by activated ones of the passive RFID tags or comprising means for selectively completing an antenna circuit for an activated one of the passive RFID tags.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the RFID assembly comprises an active or semi-active RFID tag and a computing device processing input from the user input portion and, in response, modifying the set of tag data broadcast to the RFID reader by the RFID tag.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the user input portion comprises a set of buttons and the set of tag data comprises a byte stream including a first portion providing the state of each of the buttons and a second portion comprising an RFID UID.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the computing device separates the input from the user input portion into a set of user input data messages, wherein the modifying of the set of tag data comprises transmitting a series of RFD data broadcasts each comprising one of the user input data messages, a UID, and data for use in assembling the series of RFID data broadcasts.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising a computing device running logic for assembling the series of RFID data broadcasts to produce the set of user input data messages and for operating the interactive station in response to the set of user input data messages.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the data for use in assembling the series of RFID data broadcasts comprises a packet identification or comprises a time stamp indicating a time of transmittal from the communication device.

10. A communication device for use with an interactive system having an RFID reader, comprising:

an RFID assembly including a set of passive RFID tags each comprising an antenna and memory storing tag data;

a data input portion receiving user input; and

a tag activation mechanism operating in response to the received user input to selectively enable reading of the passive RFID tags with the RFID reader.

11. The communication device of claim 10, wherein the tag data differs for each of the passive RFID tags.

12. The communication device of claim 10, wherein the data input portion comprises a set of input components, wherein each of the input components is associated with one of the passive RFID tags, and wherein the tag activation mechanism operates in response to pressing of one of the input components to activate the associated one of the passive RFID tags.

13. The communication device of claim 12, wherein the tag data for each of the passive RFID tags includes a UID and an ID for the associated one of the input components.

14. The communication device of claim 10, wherein the tag activation mechanism is operable to complete a circuit associated with the antenna of each of the passive RFID tags to selectively enable reading by the RFID reader.

15. The communication device of claim 10, wherein the tag activation mechanism is operable to separate a shield from each of the passive RFID tags to enable reading by the RFID reader when the shield and a paired one of the passive RFID tags are in a separated state.

16. An RFID-based communication device, comprising:

a data input assembly;

an active RFID tag comprising an antenna and a tag memory component; and

a computing device communicatively linked to the data input assembly, wherein the computing device operates in response to user input via the data input assembly to modify at least a portion of the tag memory component, whereby a data broadcast by the active RFID tag is defined in part by the user input.

17. The communication device of claim 16, wherein the data input assembly comprises buttons, wherein the computing device operates to determine a set of the buttons that have been pressed, and wherein the modified portion of the tag memory component includes data indicating the set of pressed buttons.

18. The communication device of claim 16, wherein the computing device operates in response to the user input to sequentially modify the portion of the tag memory component to transmit a series of differing broadcasts using the active RFID tag.

19. The communication device of claim 18, wherein the computing device processes the user input to generate a message and the differing broadcasts each include a subset of data from the generated message.

20. The communication device of claim 16, wherein the tag memory component further stores a UID and data identifying the data broadcast for reassembly of a number of data broadcasts by a receiving device.