Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Bob Hickman

Brent David Strong

Jeffrey Elbert

Przemyslaw Iwanowski

Matthew S Daly

Sarit Ghildayal

John Holbrook Crocker

John Cody Hampton

Jackson B Dunstan

Alex Christopher Wilde

Amanda Marie Leahy

Christina Jaio

Allan Jones

Allan D Jones, Jr

Michael Nightingale

Robert J Peitzman

A system for providing user-driven customization and enhanced personalization of interactive experiences. The system includes data storage for storing player profiles, with each including customization preferences useful in enhancing or generating one of the interactive experiences. The system includes a gameplay space adapted to provide an interactive experience, which includes one or more interactive elements. The system includes a gameplay device configured to be worn or carried by a player. A detection device detects a presence of the player in the gameplay space and obtains a unique identifier for the gameplay device. The system includes a controller retrieving a set of the customization preferences in one of the player profiles associated with the identifier. During system operations, the interactive experience is provided to the player with interactive elements generated based on the retrieved set of customization preferences, whereby the player can affect and enhance their interactive experience in real time.

Interactive gameplay system with play augmented by player-selected customization preferences

The present disclosure describes a method for providing an interactive experience. The method includes illuminating, by an enhancer, an area with light having wavelength invisible to humans. A plurality of image detectors capture at least two images of a person in the area including a portion of the light reflected from the person. A processing element determines a first skeletal feature of the person based on the at least two images. The processing element determines a position characteristic of the first skeletal feature; constructs, from the first skeletal feature, a vector in three dimensions corresponding to the position characteristic; and outputs an interactive effect based on the position characteristic.

Interactive entertainment system

A gameplay system for providing interactivity based on a piece of merchandise or another object held or worn by a player. The system includes an object identification assembly, which may be a modified computer vision system, that operates to sense, for a gameplay participant, the presence and identity of a particular augmenting object such as themed merchandise worn or held by a rider of a theme park ride. The sensing may be performed by detecting an on-and-off pattern of light emitted from the object. In response, the gameplay system selects or modifies the interactive features of gameplay associated with the participant based on the identified augmenting object. For example, the interactive features are selected from memory by the gameplay system controller to match a character associated with the augmenting object during any interactive gameplay. This allows the gameplay participant to choose their abilities or powers for gameplay.

Gameplay system with play augmented by merchandise

A method includes storing a plurality of scores and a plurality of session identifiers for a game. The plurality of scores are generated by monitoring player activity during game sessions identified by the plurality of session identifiers and by applying rules of the game to determine scoring events based on the player activity. The method also includes generating, during a game session, a code for a player, providing the code to the player before the player leaves the game, and receiving, from a device, a target session identifier generated by the device based on the code and in response to receiving the target session identifier. The method further includes retrieving a score of the plurality of scores generated during a game session identified by a session identifier of the plurality of session identifiers that matches the target session identifier and communicating, to the device, the retrieved score.

Player-controlled anonymity of interactive scoring sessions

A gameplay system for providing interactivity based on a piece of merchandise or other object held or worn by a player. The system includes an object identification assembly, which may be a modified computer vision system, that operates to sense, for a gameplay participant, the presence and identity of a particular augmenting object such as themed merchandise worn or held by a rider of a theme park ride. The sensing may be performed by detecting an on-and-off pattern of light emitted from the object. In response, the gameplay system selects or modifies the interactive features of gameplay associated with the participant based on the identified augmenting object. For example, the interactive features are selected from memory by the gameplay system controller to match a character associated with the augmenting object during any interactive gameplay. This allows the gameplay participant to choose their abilities or powers for gameplay.

A gameplay system for providing interactivity based on a piece of merchandise or other object held or worn by a player. Th system includes an object identification assembly, which may be a modified computer vision system, that operates to sense, for a gameplay participant, the presence and identity of a particular augmenting object such as themed merchandise worn or held by a rider of a theme park ride. The sensing may be performed by detecting an on-and-off pattern of light emitted from the object. In response, the gameplay system selects or modifies the interactive features of gameplay associated with the participant based on the identified augmenting object. For example, the interactive features are selected from memory by the gameplay system controller to match a character associated with the augmenting object during any interactive gameplay. This allows the gameplay participant to choose their abilities or powers for gameplay.

Systems and methods for generating and displaying a graphical representation of a player type profile. A respective player type profile may be generated for each of a plurality of users of a virtual environment that characterizes each user by a predominant player type. Player types may be defined by the designers of the virtual environment. The player type profile may be generated by logging the actions performed by the user when connected to the virtual environment and then analyzing the actions to determine the best characterization for the user.

Characterization of player type by visual attributes

A single instance of a virtual space may be provided that can be simultaneously represented in at least two dimensions or three dimensions on separate client computing devices. Virtual space information used to facilitate presentation of the virtual space may be agnostic as to whether the virtual space will be represented in two or three dimensions. That is, the same virtual space information may be sent to one or more client computing platforms regardless of the dimensionality of virtual space representations presented by any given client computing platform. A determination may be made at individual client computing platforms as to whether to present the virtual space representation in two dimensions or three dimensions based on one or more metrics associated with the individual client computing platforms. Such metrics may include a computing power of the one or more processors, a communication bandwidth, a screen size, and/or other metrics.

Providing a single instance of a virtual space represented in either two dimensions or three dimensions via separate client computing devices

A single client session may be managed such that two or more virtual instances are presented without regard to technologies of the different virtual instances. Individual ones of the two or more virtual instances may be of a virtual environment or a virtual space. A first virtual instance may be loaded into the client session responsive to a user being authenticated for the first virtual instance based on received authentication information. A second virtual instance may then be loaded into the client session responsive to the user being authenticated for the second virtual instance based on the same received authentication information. Information associated with the user, information associated with a user character controlled by the user, and/or other instance services may be provided to the first virtual instance and/or the second virtual instance. Individual ones of the virtual instances may be monitored for a runtime error and/or memory abuse.

Authenticated session controller

Embodiments of the invention broadly provide a system configured to receive, process and broadcast generalized event notifications from components and provide these generalized event notifications (messages) to a predetermined set of subscriber components. Accordingly, embodiments of the invention broadly contemplate a messaging system providing increased system flexibility for implementing and managing changes in complex computing systems having one or more related system components.

Growing community of inventors

Simi Valley, CA, United States of America

Bob Hickman