Systems and methods for impact detection in an environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025216533-A1
Application number	US-202418902418-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 30, 2024
Priority date	Dec 28, 2023
Publication date	Jul 3, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

An impact detection system includes processing circuitry with one or more processors. The impact detection system also includes memory storing instructions, that when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to process positioning data to determine a position of a portable device within an interactive environment, compare the position of the portable device to a location of a component within the interactive environment, identify an occurrence of an impact event based on the position of the portable device corresponding to the location of the component, and update an impact profile for at least the portable device or the component based on the occurrence of the impact event.

First claim

1 . An impact detection system, comprising:
processing circuitry comprising one or more processors; and memory storing instructions, that when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to:
process positioning data to determine a position of a portable device within an interactive environment;
compare the position of the portable device to a location of a component within the interactive environment;
identify an occurrence of an impact event based on the position of the portable device and the location of the component; and
update an impact profile for the component based on the occurrence of the impact event.

2 . The impact detection system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to:
process the positioning data to determine an orientation of the portable device within the interactive environment; determine a region of the component that contacts the portable device based on the position and the orientation of the portable device within the interactive environment during the occurrence of the impact event; and update the impact profile for the component to record the region of the component that contacts the portable device.

3 . The impact detection system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to update the impact profile for the component by adding the impact event to a tracked quantity of occurrences of impact events associated with the component.

4 . The impact detection system of claim 3 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to:
compare the number of impact events associated with the component to a threshold for the component; and provide an alert in response to the number of impact events associated with the component meeting or exceeding a threshold for the component.

5 . The impact detection system of claim 4 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to instruct the component to provide the alert as an audible alarm, a visual alarm, or both.

6 . The impact detection system of claim 3 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to:
input the number of impact events associated with the component into a machine learning algorithm to determine whether maintenance should be performed for the component; and provide an alert in response to determining that the maintenance should be performed for the component.

7 . The impact detection system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to:
process sensor data to identify a possible impact event at the component; and in response to identifying the possible impact event at the component:
process the positioning data to determine the position of the portable device within the interactive environment;
compare the position of the portable device to the location of the component within the interactive environment;
identify the occurrence of the impact event based on the position of the portable device and the location of the component; and
update the impact profile for the component based on the occurrence of the impact event.

8 . The impact detection system of claim 7 , wherein the sensor data comprises motion data indicative of unexpected motion of the component.

9 . The impact detection system of claim 1 , wherein the component comprises a display, a speaker, a light source, a camera, a ride vehicle, a physical interactive element, or any combination thereof.

10 . The impact detection system of claim 1 , wherein the component comprises an ultra-wideband anchor.

11 . The impact detection system of claim 1 , wherein the portable device is configured to facilitate interactions with interactive elements in the interactive environment, and the portable device comprises a handheld targeting device, a wand, a toy, a figurine, an article of clothing, a wearable accessory, augmented reality (AR) glasses, virtual reality (VR) glasses, or any combination thereof.

12 . The impact detection system of claim 1 , wherein the positioning data comprises a signal generated by ultra-wideband (UWB) circuitry.

13 . The impact detection system of claim 12 , comprising UWB readers in the interactive environment that are configured to read UWB tags in the portable device to generate the positioning data.

14 . An interactive system, comprising:
a component positioned in an interactive environment, wherein the component comprises an array of ultra-wideband (UWB) tags, one or more sensors, or both; a control system comprising one or more processors; and memory storing instructions, that when executed by the control system, cause the control system to:
process data to determine occurrence of an impact event at the component, wherein the data is generated by UWB anchors based on communication with the array of UWB tags, by the one or more sensors, or both;
update an impact profile for the component based on the occurrence of the impact event; and
assess the updated impact profile for the component to identify maintenance operations due for the component.

15 . The interactive system of claim 14 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the control system, cause the control system to:
process positioning data to determine a position of a portable device in the interactive environment; and determine the impact event occurred via contact between the component and the portable device based on the position of the portable device relative to a location of the component in the interactive environment during the occurrence of the impact event.

16 . The interactive system of claim 15 , wherein the component comprises the UWB tags, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the control system, cause the control system to:
determine the location of the component in the interactive environment based on the data, wherein the data is generated by UWB anchors based on communication with the array of UWB tags.

17 . The interactive system of claim 15 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the control system, cause the control system to:
access a map of the interactive environment to determine the location of the component in the interactive environment.

18 . The interactive system of claim 14 , wherein the component comprises a display, a speaker, a light source, a camera, a ride vehicle, a physical interactive element, an ultra-wideband anchor, or any combination thereof.

19 . A method of operating an impact detection system, the method comprising:
processing positioning data generated by ultra-wideband circuitry to identify an occurrence of an impact event for a component; updating an impact profile for the component based on the occurrence of the impact event; and assessing the updated impact profile for the component to identify maintenance operations due for the component.

20 . The method of claim 19 , comprising:
processing the positioning data generated by the ultra-wideband circuitry to determine an unexpected movement of the component, a respective position of a portable device, or any combination thereof to identify the occurrence of the impact event for the component.

Assignees

• Universal City Studios Llc

Inventors

• Majdali David Gerard
• Habiak Gregory Paul
• Yeh Wei Cheng

Classifications

• G01S13/878

  Combination of several spaced transmitters or receivers of known location for determining the position of a transponder or a reflector (G01S13/874 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01S13/765 Primary

  with exchange of information between interrogator and responder · CPC title

• G01S13/0209

  Systems with very large relative bandwidth, i.e. larger than 10 %, e.g. baseband, pulse, carrier-free, ultrawideband · CPC title

• G08B21/182

  Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold · CPC title

• G01S13/06 Primary

  Systems determining position data of a target · CPC title