RFID-based communication devices and methods for location-based entertainment systems

• US 9,148,202 B2
• Filed: 06/03/2009
• Issued: 09/29/2015
• 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: Ackley, Jonathan Michael, Rice, Kevin R.
• Primary Examiner(s): YANG, JAMES J
• Application Number:
  US12/477,693
• Publication Number:
  US 20100308964A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,309 Days
• Field of Search: 340/1.1, 340/12.1, 340/12.15, 340/12.22, 340/12.5, 340/12.51, 340 101- 106, 3405721-5729, 235375-385
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 5/72 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 that broadcasts to the RFID reader a set of tag data that is user selectable by operation of the user input portion,

wherein the RFID assembly comprises an active or semi-active RFID tag with a tag memory component 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, whereby an operator defines data broadcast to the RFID reader through operation of the user input portion,

wherein the modifying by the computing device operates comprises sequentially modifying the a portion of the tag memory component to transmit a series of differing broadcasts using the active or semi-active RFID tag, and

wherein the computing device processes the input from the user input portion to generate a message and the differing broadcasts each includes a subset of data from the generated message.

2. The system of claim 1, 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.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device separates the input from the user input portion into a plurality of user input data messages, and wherein the modifying of the set of tag data comprises transmitting a series of RFID 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 into a received message.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising a computing device running logic for assembling the series of RFID data broadcasts to produce the received message and for operating the interactive station in response to the user input data messages.

5. The system of claim 3, 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.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the modifying of the set of tag data in response to operation of the user input portion includes combining two or more user selections and updating the set of tag data to include two or more data elements associated with the user selections.

6. 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,

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, and

wherein the computing device processes the user input to generate a message and the differing broadcasts each includes a subset of data from the generated message.

7. The communication device of claim 6, 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.

8. The communication device of claim 6, wherein the tag memory component further stores a UID and data identifying the subset of data broadcast in each of the differing broadcasts for reassembly of the differing broadcasts by a receiving device into a received message linked to the communication device and corresponding to the generated message.