Interactive systems and methods with tracking devices

• US 10,839,178 B2
• Filed: 07/10/2019
• Issued: 11/17/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Universal City Studios LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Universal City Studios LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Yeh, Wei Cheng, Cossairt, Travis Jon
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Seung H
• Application Number:
  US16/508,052
• Publication Number:
  US 20190332834A1
• Time in Patent Office: 496 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0702 the arrangement including a battery
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0707 the arrangement being capable of collecting energy from external energy sources, e.g. thermocouples, vibration, electromagnetic radiation G06K19/0702 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0709 the source being an interrogation field
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0717 the sensor being capable of sensing environmental conditions such as temperature history or pressure
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0723 the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0728 the arrangement being an optical or sound-based communication interface
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10158 methods and means used by the interrogation device for reliably powering the wireless record carriers using an electromagnetic interrogation field
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10366 the interrogation device being adapted for miscellaneous applications

Abstract

A wearable device includes a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag having a memory that stores identification information. The wearable device also has a power harvesting circuit configured to harness power from electromagnetic radiation. Further, the wearable device has a sensor coupled to the power harvesting circuit and configured to utilize the power to monitor a condition of the wearable device. Even further, the wearable device has a microcontroller coupled to the sensor and configured to write data indicative of the condition to the memory of the RFID tag, wherein the RFID tag is configured to transmit the identification information and the data in response to receipt of the electromagnetic radiation from an RFID reader.

Claims

1. A wearable device comprising:

a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag that stores identification information;

a power harvesting circuit configured to harness power from electromagnetic radiation;

one or more LEDs configured to facilitate detection of the wearable device by an external light detector; and

a microcontroller coupled to the one or more LEDs and configured to generate a control signal to illuminate at least one LED of the one or more LEDs based on the stored identification information in response to receipt of the electromagnetic radiation from an RFID reader via the power harvesting circuit.

2. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the microcontroller is configured to generate the control signal to cause the at least one LED of the one or more LEDs to emit light with one or more characteristics including a color, a rate, a pattern, or a combination thereof.

3. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the RFID tag comprises a memory storing the identification information and additional information.

4. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the microcontroller is configured to generate the control signal to cause the at least one LED of the one or more LEDs to emit light intermittently at a predetermined rate.

5. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the one or more LEDs are configured to illuminate using only power received from the power harvesting circuit.

6. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the wearable device comprises an energy storage device configured to store the harnessed power.

7. A system, comprising:

a wearable device comprising a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag, wherein the RFID tag comprises a memory that stores identification information and the RFID tag is configured to transmit the identification information to an RFID reader in response to receipt of electromagnetic radiation from the RFID reader;

one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs) disposed on the wearable device and configured to facilitate tracking a position of the wearable device via an electronic device external to the wearable device; and

a power harvesting circuit supported by the wearable device and configured to harness power from the received electromagnetic radiation, wherein the harnessed power is utilized to transmit the identification information from the RFID tag and to operate the one or more LEDs.

8. The system of claim 7, comprising a processor configured to receive the identification information from the RFID reader and a signal indicative of the position of the wearable device, wherein the processor is configured to detect an interaction between the wearable device and an interactive element of an attraction based on the received identification information and the received signal.

9. The system of claim 8, comprising:

a microcontroller supported by the wearable device and configured to generate a control signal that causes at least one LED of the one or more LEDs to illuminate in response to receipt of the electromagnetic radiation at the RFID tag;

wherein the electronic device is coupled to the processor, and

wherein the electronic device comprises a detector that is configured to detect light emitted by the one or more LEDs and to generate the signal indicative of the position of the wearable device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to differentiate the wearable device from another wearable device based on the identification information transmitted through one or more characteristics of light emitted by the one or more LEDs.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more characteristics include a color, a rate, a pattern, or any combination thereof.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor and the RFID reader share a housing.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to adjust the interactive element of the attraction based on the detection of the interaction between the wearable device and the interactive element.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one LED of the one or more LEDs is configured to emit infrared electromagnetic radiation.

15. A method, comprising:

harvesting power from electromagnetic radiation received from a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader using a power harvesting circuit of a wearable device;

utilizing the harvested power to operate a microcontroller supported by the wearable device to generate a control signal to illuminate one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs) supported by the wearable device to facilitate detection of the wearable device by an external light detector; and

transmitting identification information from a memory of an RFID tag of the wearable device to the RFID reader in response to receipt of the electromagnetic radiation from the RFID reader.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising detecting, using the external light detector, additional electromagnetic radiation from the one or more LEDs to generate data indicative of one or more positions of the wearable device.

17. The method of claim 16, comprising determining, using a processor, that a guest interacted with an interactive element of an attraction based on the transmitted identification information and the data indicative of one or more positions of the wearable device.

18. The method of claim 17, comprising updating, using the processor, a database to award points to the guest in response to determining that the guest interacted with the interactive element.

19. The method of claim 17, comprising adjusting, using the processor, the element of the attraction based on the determination that the guest interacted with the interactive element.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the microcontroller is configured to generate the control signal in response to receipt of the electromagnetic radiation from the RFID reader.