Interactive Sensing System Using Signal Reflection for Guest Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current amusement park attractions lack efficient and cost-effective methods to detect and track guest interactions with interactive features, leading to increased complexity and maintenance costs.
Innovation Solution
An interactive system utilizing a sensing device that emits a signal along a path, reflecting off surfaces to detect objects and determine their position, allowing for the detection of interactions without the need for multiple sensors, and a control system to process this data for determining the presence, location, and characteristics of guests.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If multiple sensors are used to detect and track guest interactions, then detection precision and tracking accuracy are improved, but device complexity and maintenance costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
A single sensor is designed to perform multiple functions: emitting signals, detecting reflections, determining object position, and tracking guest interactions. The sensor system serves as both the signaling device and the detection device, eliminating the need for separate sensors for each function and thereby reducing system complexity while maintaining detection precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the signal emission function and the detection function into a single integrated sensor system. By merging these previously separate components, the system reduces the total number of sensors required, simplifies the overall system architecture, and lowers maintenance costs while preserving the ability to accurately detect and track guest interactions.
2Reliability
If multiple sensors are deployed to detect guest interactions, then detection coverage and accuracy are improved, but maintenance costs and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The single sensor system performs multiple detection functions simultaneously, reducing the total number of components that require maintenance. With fewer sensors deployed, the system lowers maintenance costs and simplifies repair operations while maintaining reliable detection coverage through the multi-functional capabilities of the single sensor.
3Device complexity
If a single sensor is used to detect guest interactions, then device complexity and costs are reduced, but detection precision and tracking accuracy decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor system employs feedback mechanisms by analyzing the reflection characteristics of signals bouncing off guests and surfaces. The system continuously monitors signal return patterns, timing, and intensity to accurately determine object position and track interactions, compensating for the limited number of sensors through sophisticated signal processing and feedback-based position calculation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses reflected signals from surfaces and objects as intermediaries to enable position detection. By analyzing how signals reflect off intermediate surfaces and guests, the single sensor system can indirectly determine precise position information without requiring direct line-of-sight sensors throughout the space, thereby maintaining detection accuracy with reduced system complexity.
4Device complexity
If traditional detection methods are used for guest interactions, then system simplicity is maintained, but entertainment quality and interactive experience deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor system enables dynamic tracking of guest movements and interactions in real-time, allowing the attraction to adapt and respond to guest actions dynamically. This dynamic capability enhances the interactive experience and entertainment quality by creating responsive, adaptive attractions that can adjust to guest behavior, while the single-sensor approach maintains relative system simplicity compared to traditional multi-sensor dynamic systems.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This system reduces complexity and costs by enabling precise detection and tracking of guest interactions, enhancing the entertainment experience through dynamic updates and data collection without requiring multiple sensors.
Implementation Method 1
a device configured to output a signal toward a surface such that the signal reflects off the surface at an angle and along a path of travel, and such that an object that interrupts the path of travel of the signal causes a return signal to travel in a reverse direction along the path of travel for receipt by the device
Data Source
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AI summary
An interactive system includes a device configured to output a signal toward a surface such that the signal reflects off the surface at an angle and along a path of travel, and such that an object that interrupts the path of travel of the signal causes a return signal to travel in a reverse direction along the path of travel for receipt by the device. The interactive system also includes a control system communicatively coupled to the device. The control system is configured to receive data from the device, in which the data is associated with the receipt of the return signal by the device, and determine a position of the object relative to the device based on the data.