Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Joshua D Griffin

Matthew Trotter

Chenming Zhou

Stefan Mangold

Daniel D Stancil

Darmindra D Arumugam

Giorgio Corbellini

Vladimir Vukadinovic

Azhar Hasan

Jasmin Grosinger

David Ricketts

Embodiments of the invention broadly contemplate systems, methods, apparatuses and program products that provide position tracking using a simple, low frequency oscillator that is attached to an object to be tracked, and one or more receiving stations that are placed around the area in which the object moves. Embodiments of the invention enable position tracking of the object using light weight equipment which minimally impacts the object's natural state.

Systems and methods for position tracking using magnetoquasistatic fields

Gesture-based association of multiple devices may be facilitated, which may effectuate presentation of content related to associated devices. Gesture detection may reduce or completely eliminate any ambiguity of whether the association is wanted or not. Some implementations may be employed in a theme park in which park guests wear an RFID wristband. During a park visit, when merchandise goods with embedded RFIDs are purchased (e.g., toys and/or other merchandise), the merchandise may be associated with the wristband and, therefore, the park guest wearing the wristband. Such association may give the theme park environment and/or the toy itself a mechanism to adapt their behavior depending on which toy the park guest is carrying. This may contribute to richer storytelling and personalized experiences, which may be realized by using location information, knowledge about the park guest's preferences or previous park visits, favorite attractions, age, language-specific information, and/or other information.

Facilitating gesture-based association of multiple devices

A RF tag reader may use spatial averaging to compensate for the limitations of performing multi-frequency continuous-wave ranging (MFCW) in a bandwidth-limited environment. Although MFCW provides an estimate of the separation distance between a RF tag and the tag reader with errors that vary widely, the error values form a pattern based on the separation distance. That is, as the separation distance increases or decreases, the error values oscillate between maximum and minimum values centered on the correct separation distance. Accordingly, in one embodiment, the receiver uses spatial averaging to average out this oscillating error (e.g., the maximum errors are counter-balanced by the minimum errors). The more accurate, spatially-averaged MFCW estimate may then be used to resolve the cycle ambiguity in continuous-wave ranging to identify the separation distance between the RF tag and the tag reader.

Phase-based ranging for backscatter RFID tags

Techniques are presented for adaptively increasing power delivered to an RF tag. In one embodiment, a tag reader uses multiple transmit antennas to increase the power delivered to an RF tag without increasing the transmission power. The tag reader may perform transmit diversity (or a related antenna diversity schema) to ensure that transmitted signals from the multiple transmit antennas constructively interfere at the location of the RF tag. The tag reader may transmit a pilot signal and measure a phase associated with a received signal from the RF tag. The tag reader may then use the phase to determine a phase shift for each of the plurality of antennas. The phase shift may then be applied to any subsequent signals transmitted by the antennas to ensure that the signals interfere at the RF tag's location.

Transmit diversity for passive backscatter RFID

A bend sensor for use in wirelessly sensing an amount of bend of a joint or other monitored object. The sensor includes a radio frequency (RF) antenna and an integrated circuit linked to the antenna. The integrated circuit or chip is passive and responds to, or is powered by, a read signal received by the antenna to transmit a reflected signal via the antenna such as to an RFID reader. The sensor also includes a transducer linked to the integrated circuit. The transducer defines reflecting impedance, which modulates amplitude and phase of the reflected signal. The transducer has impedance varying with deformation or bend. In one example, the transducer includes an upper conductor, and the amount of the deformation is defined by a bend radius of the upper conductor. The read signal may be at 5 GHz or higher such with the antenna and the transducer being microwave structures.

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Pittsburgh, PA, United States of America

Joshua D Griffin