SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRACKING A PASSIVE WAND AND ACTUATING AN EFFECT BASED ON A DETECTED WAND PATH

• US 20140240102A1
• Filed: 02/19/2014
• Published: 08/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Universal City Studios LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Universal City Studios LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Schwartz, Justin Michael, Blum, Steven C., Kawash, Sameer
• Granted Patent: US 10,134,267 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/12.5
• CPC Class Codes: A63G 31/00 Amusement arrangements hoop exercising apparatus driven by the user A63B19/00
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 30/04 using wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: A63J 21/00 Conjuring appliances; Auxiliary apparatus for conjurers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0308 comprising a plurality of distinctive and separately oriented light emitters or reflectors associated to the pointing device, e.g. remote cursor controller with distinct and separately oriented LEDs at the tip whose radiations are captured by a photo-detector associated to the screen
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link

Abstract

A system in accordance with present embodiments includes a source of electromagnetic radiation that operates to emit electromagnetic radiation into an active playing area. The system also includes a sensing device that operates to receive the electromagnetic radiation after being reflected from a retro-reflective material of an article positioned in the active playing area and operable to generate data based on receiving reflected electromagnetic radiation from a series of article positions. Further, the system includes a controller that operates to process the data generated by the sensing device to determine whether the series of article positions correlate to a stored gesture and output a control signal to actuate an effect when the series of article positions correlate to the stored gesture.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a source of electromagnetic radiation configured to emit electromagnetic radiation into an active playing area;

a sensing device configured to receive the electromagnetic radiation after being reflected from a retro-reflective material of an article positioned in the active playing area and configured to generate data based on receiving reflected electromagnetic radiation from a series of article positions; and

a controller configured to process the data generated by the sensing device to determine whether the series of article positions correlate to a stored gesture and output a control signal to actuate an effect when the series of article positions correlate to the stored gesture.

2. The system of claim 1, comprising the article including the retro-reflective material, wherein the retro-reflective material is a solid component of the article or the retro-reflective material is a coating on the article.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the retro-reflective material is designed to reflect radiation back to its source.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the article comprises a wand.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to interpolate between the series of article positions to facilitate determining whether the series of article positions correlate to the stored gesture.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the source of electromagnetic radiation is configured to flood the active playing area with the electromagnetic radiation.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the source of electromagnetic radiation is configured to emit a series of light beams into the active playing area.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the source of electromagnetic radiation and the sensing device are located apart from one another.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the active playing area includes a portion of a path for a ride vehicle and the sensing device is configured to detect activity occurring in a passenger compartment of the ride vehicle when positioned on the portion of the path.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensing device is within a ride vehicle.

11. The system of claim 1, comprising an effect device configured to perform the effect.

12. The system of claim 1, comprising a ride vehicle within the active playing area and an effect device configured to perform the effect positioned outside of the active playing area.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensing device and the controller are configured to communicate via one or more cables.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises a gesture recognition module including a plurality of pre-programmed gesture characteristics.

15. A method comprising:

emitting electromagnetic radiation into an active playing area from an emitter;

receiving the electromagnetic radiation at a sensing device after the electromagnetic radiation has been reflected from a retro-reflective material of an article positioned in the active playing area;

generating data with the sensing device based on receiving reflected electromagnetic radiation from a series of article positions; and

processing the data generated by the sensing device with a controller to determine whether the series of article positions correlate to a stored gesture and outputting a control signal from the controller when the series of article positions correlate to the stored gesture.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising actuating an effect based on the control signal.

17. The method of claim 16, comprising receiving an actuation signal from the controller at an effect device and then actuating the effect.

18. The method of claim 15, comprising flooding the active playing area with the electromagnetic radiation.

19. The method of claim 15, comprising emitting light beams into the active playing area in series or simultaneously.

20. The method of claim 15, comprising generating the series of article positions with a wand comprising the article with the retro-reflective material.

21. A system, comprising:

an electromagnetic radiation emitter;

a sensing device configured to receive the electromagnetic radiation after being reflected from a retro-reflective material of an article positioned in the active playing area and configured to generate data based on receiving reflected electromagnetic radiation from a series of article positions;

a controller;

a processing engine of the controller;

a feature extraction module of the processing engine configured to extract relevant data from the data generated by the sensing device; and

a gesture recognition module of the processing engine configured to analyze the relevant data to determine whether the series of article positions correspond to a known gesture.

22. The system of claim 21, comprising a pre-processing module of the processing engine configured to modify operation of the sensing device based on light conditions in the active playing area.