Modular augmented and virtual reality ride attraction

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12524971-B2
Application number	US-202318222948-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 17, 2023
Priority date	Sep 25, 2018
Publication date	Jan 13, 2026
Grant date	Jan 13, 2026

Abstract

An amusement park system includes a modular attraction system having a ride vehicle having seats to accommodate passengers, an on-board system integrated with the ride vehicle and having on-board game systems connected via a network. Each on-board game system is configured to provide an augmented reality (AR) experience, or a virtual reality (VR) experience, or both, via a respective visual experience generator device. The AR experience, or the VR experience, or both, is provided within a game shared between the on-board game systems. The on-board game systems are integrated into the ride vehicle, and are connected via the network to one another in a manner that allows for ready removal of all or a portion of one of the on-board game systems without affecting operation of the remaining on-board game systems.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . An attraction system, comprising:
a plurality of game systems configured to coordinate generation and rendering of an augmented reality (AR) image, a virtual reality (VR) image, or both, between the plurality of game systems to provide a game shared between the plurality of game systems, wherein the plurality of game systems is communicatively coupled in a manner that allows for removal and replacement of at least one game system of the plurality of game systems from the attraction system without affecting operation of remaining game systems of the plurality of game systems.

2 . The attraction system of claim 1 , wherein each game system of the plurality of game systems is configured to provide the AR image, the VR image, or both, via a respective visual experience generator device of each game system, wherein the respective visual experience generator device comprises a head mounted display.

3 . The attraction system of claim 1 , wherein the attraction system comprises a plurality of seats configured to receive a plurality of passengers, and wherein an individual game system of the plurality of game systems is associated with one or more seats of the plurality of seats.

4 . The attraction system of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of seats comprises a group of seats, and wherein the individual game system of the plurality of game systems is associated with the group of seats.

5 . The attraction system of claim 1 , comprising a ride vehicle having the plurality of game systems.

6 . The attraction system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one game system of the plurality of game systems comprises an identification system configured to retrieve identifying information relating to a passenger of the attraction system, and wherein the at least one game system is configured to render game content based on the identifying information.

7 . The attraction system of claim 1 , wherein individual game systems of the plurality of game systems are communicatively coupled to one another via a wireless communication protocol.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the AR image, the VR image, or both are the same image between the plurality of game systems.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of game systems is configured to coordinate the generation and the rendering to provide the same image with respective adjustments for each game system of the plurality of games systems based on a respective position, a respective orientation, a respective gaze direction, or any combination thereof for each game system of the plurality of games systems.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the AR image comprises an AR feature overlaid onto a real environment, and the plurality of game systems are configured to coordinate the generation and the rendering of the AR image to provide the AR feature as a same AR feature across the plurality of game systems to provide the game shared between the plurality of game systems.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the VR image comprises a VR feature in a virtual environment, and the plurality of game systems are configured to coordinate the generation and the rendering of the VR image to provide the VR feature as a same VR feature across the plurality of games systems to provide the game shared between the plurality of game systems.

12 . A ride vehicle for an attraction system, the ride vehicle comprising:
an on-board system having a plurality of game systems configured to coordinate generation and rendering of an augmented reality (AR) image, a virtual reality (VR) image, or both, to a plurality of passengers of the ride vehicle as part of a multi-player experience shared between the plurality of game systems, wherein the plurality of game systems is communicatively coupled in a manner that allows for removal of at least one game system of the plurality of game systems from the ride vehicle without affecting operation of remaining game systems of the plurality of game systems to present the multi-player experience.

13 . The ride vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the ride vehicle comprises a plurality of seats configured to receive the plurality of passengers, wherein the on-board system is configured to adjust the AR image, the VR image, or both, based on user inputs received from the plurality of passengers to adjust the multi-player experience, and wherein an individual game system of the plurality of game systems is associated with one or more seats of the plurality of seats.

14 . The ride vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of game systems is communicatively coupled in a manner that allows for replacement of the at least one game system of the plurality of game systems with another game system without affecting operation of remaining game systems of the plurality of game systems to present the multi-player experience.

15 . The ride vehicle of claim 12 , wherein each game system of the plurality of game systems is configured to provide the AR image, the VR image, or both, via a respective visual experience generator device.

16 . The ride vehicle of claim 12 , comprising an off-board system communicatively coupled to the on-board system, wherein the off-board system is configured to provide off-board show effects in coordination with the multi-player experience shared between the plurality of game systems.

17 . The ride vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the on-board system comprises an on-board game server communicatively coupled to the plurality of game systems, and wherein the on-board game server is configured to receive and distribute user inputs to the plurality of game systems.

18 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the AR image, the VR image, or both are the same image between the plurality of game systems.

19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of game systems is configured to coordinate the generation and the rendering to provide the same image for each game system of the plurality of games systems with respective adjustments based on a respective position, a respective orientation, a respective gaze direction, or any combination thereof for each game system of the plurality of games systems.

20 . The system of claim 12 wherein the AR image comprises an AR feature overlaid onto a real environment, and the plurality of game systems are configured to coordinate the generation and the rendering of the AR image to provide the AR feature as a same AR feature across the plurality of game systems to provide the game shared between the plurality of game systems.

21 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the VR image comprises a VR feature in a virtual environment, and the plurality of game systems are configured to coordinate the generation and the rendering of the VR image to provide the VR feature as a same VR feature across the plurality of games systems to provide the game shared between the plurality of game systems.

22 . An attraction system, comprising:
a ride vehicle having an on-board system comprising a plurality of game systems, wherein each game system of the plurality of game systems is configured to provide an augmented reality (AR) experience, a virtual reality (VR) experience, or both, within a game shared between the plurality of game systems, wherein the ride vehicle comprises a group of seats configured to receive a plurality of passengers, wherein an individual game system of the plurality of game systems is associated with the group of seats, and wherein the on-board syst

Assignees

• Universal City Studios Llc

Inventors

• Goergen Patrick John
• Holstine Danielle Marie
• Trujillo Tomas Manuel

Classifications

• G06F3/011

  Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality (blind teaching G09B21/00) · CPC title

• A63F13/843

  involving concurrently two or more players on the same game device, e.g. requiring the use of a plurality of controllers or of a specific view of game data for each player · CPC title

• A63F13/211

  using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes · CPC title

• A63F13/26

  having at least one additional display device, e.g. on the game controller or outside a game booth · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title