Functional ergonomic cinemas
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional movie theater auditorium configurations, such as sloped and tiered seating, face challenges in providing clear lines of sight for all audience members while being costly and difficult to construct, and they become single-use facilities, limiting flexibility and ADA accessibility.
Innovation Solution
Combining reclining chairs with a tilted screen in various configurations, including flat, sloped, and tiered floors, to optimize audience viewing angles and screen sight angles, while using a sloped or stepped ceiling to enhance the viewing experience and accessibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional sloped or tiered seating is used, then clear lines of sight are provided, but construction cost and difficulty increase and ADA accessibility is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of sloping the floor upward to achieve clear sight lines, the patent inverts the approach by sloping the ceiling downward from front to back. This allows a flat floor with reclining seats to provide unobstructed views of the screen, eliminating the need for expensive and complex sloped or tiered floor construction while maintaining ADA accessibility
Solution Approach 2:
The patent shifts the solution from the vertical dimension (sloped floors) to the horizontal dimension (sloped ceiling). By angling the ceiling structure and positioning the screen appropriately, clear sight lines are achieved through spatial arrangement rather than floor elevation, reducing construction complexity
2Ease of operation
If reclining seats are added to sloped or stadium seating, then premium viewing experience is provided, but audience viewing angles and screen sight angles deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes specific parameters including ceiling slope angle (5-15 degrees), screen tilt angle (5-15 degrees from vertical), and screen height (8-12 feet above floor) to achieve optimal audience viewing angles (70-85 degrees) and screen sight angles (85-95 degrees) while accommodating reclining seats
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates adjustable reclining seats that can dynamically change their angle, allowing patrons to optimize their viewing position. This dynamic adjustment capability enables premium comfort while maintaining proper viewing geometry through user-controlled positioning
3Ease of manufacture
If traditional vertical screen is used, then simple construction is provided, but unfavorable audience viewing angles and screen sight angles result
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the screen's angular parameter, tilting it 5-15 degrees from vertical toward the audience. This relatively simple angular adjustment, combined with positioning the screen 8-12 feet above the floor, transforms unfavorable viewing angles into optimal ranges (70-85 degrees for audience viewing, 85-95 degrees for screen sight) while maintaining construction simplicity
Data Source
AI summary
A movie theater auditorium is disclosed with reclining or reclined seats, whereby patrons are viewing a screen that is elevated and tilted toward the viewing audience. Comparative to traditional movie theaters with vertical screens with fixed or reclining chairs, exemplary embodiments provide a more natural viewing angle and line of sight for the viewing audience. Some embodiments are disclosed which employ repurposed shipping containers as structural elements of a cinema.