Techniques for representing imaginary participants in an immersive play environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016199730-A1
Application number	US-201514596115-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 13, 2015
Priority date	Jan 13, 2015
Publication date	Jul 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An immersive play environment providing techniques for generating an imaginary enemy within the environment is disclosed. A tracker device is provided in the play environment for determining a location of a user. A controller device is provided to generate an invisible interactive object (an “imaginary enemy”), to engage the user during gameplay. The controller device generates tracking information indicating a location of the imaginary enemy. The controller device determines the location of the enemy relative to the location of the user and transmits that information to the tracker device. The tracker device can communicate the location of the imaginary enemy to the user for engagement.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An immersive play experience platform, comprising:
a sensor device configured to generate tracking information corresponding to a location of a user wearing the sensor device in a physical space; a controller device configured to perform an operation for presenting a scenario suggesting the presence of imaginary elements in the immersive play experience, the operation comprising:
receiving first tracking information from the sensor device,
generating one or more cues suggesting the presence of one of the imaginary elements, and
presenting the one or more cues to the user.

2 . The immersive play experience platform of claim 1 , wherein the operation further comprises:
receiving user actions as determined by the sensor device in response to the presented cues; and adjusting a profile of the imaginary elements based on the user actions.

3 . The immersive play experience platform of claim 2 , wherein the profile includes one or more status attributes corresponding to the imaginary element.

4 . The immersive play experience platform of claim 1 , wherein the cues include audio representing the imaginary element.

5 . The immersive play experience platform of claim 1 , wherein the sensor device comprises an accelerometer and a gyroscope.

6 . The immersive play experience platform of claim 1 , wherein the first tracking information includes at least one of position information and orientation information corresponding to the location of the user.

7 . The immersive play experience platform of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more beaconing devices mapping virtual locations to the physical space, wherein the operation further comprises generating a second tracking information, and wherein the cues suggest the presence of the imaginary element at a physical location of one of the beaconing devices.

8 . The immersive play experience platform of claim 1 , wherein the cues are generated relative to the first tracking information.

9 . A method for presenting a scenario suggesting the presence of imaginary elements in an immersive play experience, the method comprising:
receiving first tracking information; generating one or more cues suggesting the presence of one of the imaginary elements; and presenting the one or more cues to the user.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving user actions in response to the presented cues; and adjusting a profile of the imaginary elements based on the user actions.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the profile includes one or more status attributes corresponding to the imaginary element.

12 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the cues include audio representing the imaginary element.

13 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the first tracking information includes at least one of position information and orientation information corresponding to the location of the user.

14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the cues are generated relative to the first tracking information.

15 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, which, when executed on a processor, perform an operation for presenting a scenario suggesting the presence of imaginary elements in an immersive play experience, the operation comprising:
receiving first tracking information, generating one or more cues suggesting the presence of one of the imaginary elements, and presenting the one or more cues to the user.

16 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the operation further comprises:
receiving user actions in response to the presented cues; and adjusting a profile of the imaginary elements based on the user actions.

17 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the profile includes one or more status attributes corresponding to the imaginary element.

18 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the cues include audio representing the imaginary element.

19 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the first tracking information includes at least one of position information and orientation information corresponding to the location of the user.

20 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the cues are generated relative to the first tracking information.

Assignees

• Disney Entpr Inc

Inventors

• Olson Joseph
• Olson Blade
• Goslin Michael P
• Moneypenny Charles
• Alexandre Ivone

Classifications

• A63F13/216

  using geographical information, e.g. location of the game device or player using GPS · CPC title

• A63F13/28 Primary

  responding to control signals received from the game device for affecting ambient conditions, e.g. for vibrating players' seats, activating scent dispensers or affecting temperature or light · CPC title

• A63F13/537

  using indicators, e.g. showing the condition of a game character on screen · CPC title