Virtual queue system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10580244-B2
Application number	US-201816210982-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 5, 2018
Priority date	Mar 16, 2016
Publication date	Mar 3, 2020
Grant date	Mar 3, 2020

Abstract

A system in accordance with present embodiments includes a plurality of wearable devices and a virtual queue control system configured to maintain respective virtual queues for respective attractions and in communication with the plurality of virtual queuing attraction stations. The virtual queue control system is configured to receive communications from the plurality of virtual queuing stations and add guests to the respective virtual queues based on the communications.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a communication from a near field communicator of at least one wearable device;
accessing a guest profile in response to receiving the communication to obtain a user identification;
assigning the user identification associated with the at least one wearable device to a position within a virtual queue for an attraction based on the communication from the at least one wearable device;
updating the assigned position in the virtual queue to an updated position;
outputting a position signal to one or both of a medium range communicator or a long range communicator of the at least one wearable device to cause the at least one wearable device to display a countdown on a display, wherein the position signal is indicative of the updated position in the virtual queue, and wherein the countdown is indicative of an estimated time remaining before valid entry to the attraction or the updated position in the virtual queue;
validating access to the attraction at an attraction station based on the updated position in the virtual queue corresponding to an entry position of the virtual queue for the attraction; and
providing instructions to cause one or both of the attraction station or the at least one wearable device to generate a notification that the at least one wearable device is associated with a valid access to the attraction based on the validating.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the communication comprises receiving, via a queue entry post, a request from the near field communicator of the at least one wearable device to join the virtual queue.

3. The method of claim 2 , comprising outputting a request signal from the queue entry post to a central virtual queue control system in response to the communication from the at least one wearable device to cause the assigning.

4. The method of claim 1 , comprising determining that the position in the virtual queue is within a predetermined time of achieving the entry position to cause the outputting of the position signal.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the near field communicator is a passive RFID transceiver.

6. A method comprising:
communicating, via a near field communicator of a wearable device, a request to join a virtual queue of an attraction to a queue entry post, wherein the request comprises an identification associated with the wearable device;
receiving a signal at the wearable device that the request to join the virtual queue was granted;
changing a display of the wearable device based on the received signal;
receiving a position signal, via one or both of a medium range communicator or a long range communicator of the wearable device, wherein the position signal is indicative of a position in the virtual queue;
displaying a countdown on the display in response to receiving the position signal, the countdown indicative of an estimated time remaining before valid entry to the attraction or the position in the virtual queue; and
updating the countdown on the display at a time interval determined by a countdown update rate, and wherein the countdown update rate is configured to be adjusted based on the estimated time remaining before valid entry to the attraction.

7. The method of claim 6 , comprising triggering a sound effect of the wearable device based on the signal.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein displaying the countdown on the display comprises displaying a numerical value indicative of the position of the wearable device within the virtual queue, and wherein the countdown is configured to update the numerical value based on movement within the virtual queue.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein displaying the countdown on the display is in response to the numerical value being less than or equal to a predetermined number.

10. The method of claim 9 , comprising generating a notification on the wearable device in response to the numerical value being equal to the predetermined number.

11. The method of claim 6 , wherein displaying the countdown on the display comprises displaying the estimated time remaining based on the position of the wearable device within the virtual queue.

12. The method of claim 11 , comprising dynamically updating the estimated time remaining based on an updated position of the wearable device within the virtual queue and historical virtual queue data associated with the attraction.

13. A method comprising:
receiving a communication from at least one wearable device;
assigning a user identification associated with the at least one wearable device to a position within a virtual queue for an attraction based on the received communication;
communicating the position within the virtual queue to one or both of a medium range communicator and a long range communicator of the at least one wearable device;
validating access to the attraction at an attraction station based on the position in the virtual queue corresponding to an entry position of the virtual queue for the attraction; and
activating a pre-programmed special effect at a special effects station in response to receiving a signal from a communicator of the at least one wearable device, wherein the pre-programmed special effect is a light show or a water effect.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the pre-programmed special effect causes the special effects station to capture an image.

Assignees

• Universal City Studios Llc

Inventors

• Geraghty Thomas
• Schwartz Justin Michael

Classifications

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• G06F3/147

  using display panels · CPC title

• G07C2011/04

  related to queuing systems · CPC title

• H04B1/385

  Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets · CPC title

• H04B2001/3861

  carried in a hand or on fingers · CPC title