Systems and methods for ride control synchronization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10579073-B2
Application number	US-201715794820-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 26, 2017
Priority date	Oct 27, 2016
Publication date	Mar 3, 2020
Grant date	Mar 3, 2020

Abstract

A ride control system includes a central controller configured to synchronize movements of separate groups of ride vehicles along a path. Each of the separate groups of ride vehicles includes multiple individual ride vehicles unconnected to one another and forming a virtual train. Each virtual train is assigned one or more schedules having multiple expected positions along the path and multiple expected timestamps. Each of the expected timestamps of the multiple expected timestamps are associated with respective expected positions of the multiple expected positions. The ride control system also includes multiple vehicle controllers. Each vehicle controller of the multiple vehicle controllers is communicatively coupled to a respective individual ride vehicle of the multiple individual ride vehicles. Each vehicle controller is configured to control a speed of the respective individual ride vehicle along the path based at least on the one or more schedules.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A ride control system, comprising:
a central controller configured to synchronize movements of separate groups of ride vehicles along a path, wherein each of the separate groups of ride vehicles comprises a plurality of individual ride vehicles unconnected to one another and forming a virtual train, wherein each virtual train is assigned one or more schedules comprising a plurality of expected positions along the path and a plurality of expected timestamps, and wherein each of the expected timestamps of the plurality of expected timestamps are associated with respective expected positions of the plurality of expected positions; and
a plurality of vehicle controllers, wherein each vehicle controller of the plurality of vehicle controllers is communicatively coupled to a respective individual ride vehicle of the plurality of individual ride vehicles, wherein each vehicle controller is configured to control a speed of the respective individual ride vehicle along the path based at least on the one or more schedules.

2. The ride control system of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle controllers are configured to determine positions of the respective individual ride vehicles via a position tracking system, and wherein the vehicle controllers are configured to communicate the positions of the respective individual ride vehicles to the central controller.

3. The ride control system of claim 2 , wherein the position tracking system comprises one or more linear encoders.

4. The ride control system of claim 2 , wherein the central controller comprises one or more clocks configured to determine timestamps associated with the separate groups of ride vehicles, and wherein the central controller is configured to adjust the one or more schedules based at least on the timestamps and the positions of the respective individual ride vehicles.

5. The ride control system of claim 1 , comprising show equipment, wherein the show equipment comprises one or more clocks, and wherein the show equipment is configured to perform show events based at least on the one or more schedules and timestamps from the one or more clocks.

6. The ride control system of claim 1 , wherein each of the vehicle controllers comprises a clock configured to determine timestamps for the respective individual ride vehicles, wherein each of the vehicle controllers comprise a position tracking system configured to track positions of the respective individual ride vehicles, and wherein the vehicle controller is configured to adjust the speed of the respective individual ride vehicles based at least on the timestamps and positions of the respective individual ride vehicles.

7. The ride control system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of vehicle controllers are configured to adjust the speed or position of the respective individual ride vehicles to maintain a predetermined elapsed time difference between the respective individual ride vehicles of the separate groups of ride vehicles relative to one or more positions along the path.

8. The ride control system of claim 1 , wherein the central controller comprises a display configured to display positions of the separate groups of ride vehicles, and wherein the central controller comprises an input device configured to receive input from an operator to adjust a position and/or a speed of the separate groups of ride vehicles.

9. The ride control system of claim 1 , wherein relative positions of the plurality of individual ride vehicles within the groups of vehicles are configured to be changed via a split-path portion of the path according to the one or more schedules.

10. A method, comprising:
assigning a plurality of schedules to a respective plurality of virtual trains, wherein each schedule of the plurality of schedules comprises a set of expected timestamps associated with a respective set of expected positions along a path;
determining actual positions and associated actual timestamps of vehicles within the plurality of virtual trains along the path;
comparing the actual positions and associated actual timestamps to the plurality of schedules; and
adjusting a speed and/or a position of individual vehicles within an individual virtual train based on a deviation of the actual positions and associated actual timestamps from the plurality of schedules while maintaining distances between the individual vehicles within predetermined ranges.

11. The method of claim 10 , comprising:
assigning a global schedule to the plurality of virtual trains, the global schedule comprising a train timestamp difference relative to a location along the path between adjacent virtual trains of the plurality of virtual trains.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the train timestamp difference between the adjacent virtual trains is greater than vehicle timestamp differences of adjacent individual vehicles of the individual virtual train.

13. The method of claim 10 , comprising:
assigning one or more schedules of the plurality of schedules to show equipment, wherein the show equipment is configured to perform a show event according to an expected show timestamp of the one or more schedules.

14. The method of claim 10 , comprising:
determining relative positions of the individual vehicles within individual virtual train based at least on the actual positions and associated timestamps.

15. The method of claim 10 , comprising:
wherein the vehicles of the plurality of virtual trains are not physically connected to one another.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of virtual trains have different numbers of ride vehicles, and wherein the set of expected timestamps and the set of associated positions of the schedules takes into account the different numbers of ride vehicles.

17. The method of claim 10 , comprising:
inserting one or more show vehicles into the individual virtual train as the individual virtual train travels along the path.

18. A method comprising:
determining a relative position for each ride vehicle within a virtual train comprising ride vehicles;
assigning one or more schedules comprising a set of expected timestamps and a set of associated expected positions along a path to each ride vehicle of the virtual train based at least on the relative position;
separating two or more subsets of the ride vehicles of the virtual train along a path based at least on the relative position and the one or more schedules; and
rejoining the two or more subsets of the ride vehicles of the virtual train along the path after the separating such that the relative position of one or more ride vehicles within the virtual train is changed after the separating and rejoining.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein separating the two or more subsets of the ride vehicles comprises:
sending a first subset along a first path of a split-path portion of the path based at least on the one or more schedules; and
sending a second subset along a second path of the split-path portion of the path based at least on the one or more schedules.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein separating the two or more subsets further comprises:
adjusting distances between the ride vehicles of the first subset and/or the second subset.

Assignees

• Universal City Studios Llc

Inventors

• Dembinski Kyle Andrew
• King Steven Morris

Classifications

• A63G31/16

  creating illusions of travel · CPC title

• B61L15/0027

  Radio-based, e.g. using GSM-R · CPC title

• B61L23/00

  Control, warning or like safety means along the route or between vehicles or trains · CPC title

• A63G25/00

  Autocar-like self-drivers; Runways therefor · CPC title

• A63G7/00 Primary

  Up-and-down hill tracks; Switchbacks · CPC title