1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates broadly to methods and apparatus for controlling admission to rides at an amusement park. More particularly, this invention relates to methods and apparatus for controlling admission based on the height and/or weight (and optionally age) of a prospective rider.
2. State of the Art
Every year many children are injured (some killed) because they were riding on an amusement park ride which was inappropriate for their stature. While it is common practice to measure a child's height prior to admitting the child to a particular ride, the measurement is informal and depends on the judgment of a human attendant. The typical measurement apparatus is simply a mark on a wall against which a child stands and is observed by the ride operator. Often there will be many children crowding around and this will interfere with the ride operator's correct assessment of the child's height. The child may take the opportunity of crowded conditions to stand on his or her toes, unnoticed, so that s/he appears taller than s/he actually is.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide methods and apparatus for controlling admission to individual rides at an amusement park.
It is another object of the invention to provide methods and apparatus which do not rely on human judgment for controlling admission to individual rides.
It is a further object of the invention to provide automated methods and apparatus for controlling admission to individual rides.
It is also an object of the invention to provide methods and apparatus for controlling admission to individual rides which determines at once which rides are appropriate and which are inappropriate for a particular child.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide methods and apparatus for controlling admission to individual rides whereby a child is prevented from riding inappropriate rides.
In accord with these objects, which will be discussed in detail below, the methods of the invention include measuring a child's height and/or weight, and optionally obtaining age information, and encoding a data carrier with information relating to the height and/or weight (and optionally age) of the child, and reading the data carrier at ride entry points to determine whether the child will be admitted to the ride. The data carrier may be a “swipe card” or other machine readable device which must be presented at the entrance to each ride. The entrance to each ride is provided with an electronic entry control gate which is operated by the data carrier. According to other aspects of the invention, after information about the child is obtained, the child's height and/or weight (and optionally age) is compared to a database and a printout listing rides to which the child will and/or will not be admitted is generated for the child and/or the child's parents.
The apparatus of the invention include an electronic measuring apparatus, a database, a plurality of data carriers, a data carrier encoder, a printer, and admission control equipment at each ride. The admission control equipment includes an electronic turnstile, a data carrier reader, and means for unlocking the turnstile based on the data read from the data carrier. The measuring apparatus includes sensors to determine whether the child is standing on his/her toes. According to one embodiment, the data carrier is a bar coded bracelet which cannot be removed from the child's wrist without destroying it. However, the data carrier can be a magnetic stripe card, a bar coded card, an RFID device, etc.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the detailed description taken in conjunction with the provided figures.
Turning now to
As shown in
The PC 18 is coupled to the photo detector array 14 and to the weighing platform 16 including the sensors 16a-16d. Preferably the PC 18 is also coupled to the LED array 12 so that it is only turned on when a child is standing on the weighing platform. The database in the PC 18 includes height and/or weight data (and optionally age data) for every ride in the amusement park. After the PC 18 is provided with the height, weight, and age (via the keypad 19) of the child, the attached encoder 20 is used to encode a data carrier 24 with information relating to the height, weight, and age of the child which will be used to control access to individual rides. Optionally, the PC 18 is coupled to a printer 22 which is used to print a list of rides from the database, the list consisting of the rides to which the child will be granted access and/or the rides to which the child will be denied access. The data encoded on the card can be an indication of the child's height and weight, e.g. inches and pounds, optionally the child's age, an indication of the rides the child will be admitted to, an indication of the rides the child will not be admitted to, a classification code, or some other data or datum which relates to the child's height, weight and age and can be used to determine admission to rides.
It will further be appreciated that access to rides may also depend on a child's age in conjunction with the height and/or weight of the child. In this case, the controller will perform the necessary operation to determine access. Also, access to some rides may depend on whether the child is accompanied by a parent. Thus, according to another aspect of the invention, a data carrier for the child's parent is issued and linked in some way (e.g. via a database entry) to the data carrier of the child. The controller then will determine whether the parent's data carrier has been presented before admitting the child.
Once it is determined at 204 that the child is standing in the correct place, the child's height, weight and, optionally, age are measured at 208. According to the illustrated embodiment, a database lookup is performed at 210 to determine which rides are appropriate for a child of this height/weight. At 212, a list of rides is printed and a data carrier is encoded. The data carrier and printout are then dispensed at 214. As discussed above, the database lookup and the printout are not essential to the invention. The method of measuring and encoding could directly encode the child's height/weight onto the data carrier for comparison later at admission control points.
There have been described and illustrated herein several embodiments of a method and apparatus for controlling the admission to amusement park rides. While particular embodiments of the invention have been described, it is not intended that the invention be limited thereto, as it is intended that the invention be as broad in scope as the art will allow and that the specification be read likewise. Thus, while the methods and apparatus have been described for restricting admission to amusement park rides based on height/weight, the methods and apparatus can be used in conjunction with other methods and apparatus. For example, the data carrier and admission control points could also be used for billing. The data carrier can be related to a credit or debit account and that account can be credited/debited every time the child gets on a ride. The data carrier can be encoded with demographic data and used to poll the popularity of different rides among different demographic groups. The data carrier can be encoded with information identifying the child and can be used to locate the child. In addition, while particular types of height and weight measuring apparatus have been disclosed, it will be understood that other apparatus can be used. For example, and not by way of limitation, height could be determined by image analysis of a video image of the child or an electromechanical device could be used. Also, while a turnstile has been disclosed, it will be recognized that other admission control devices could be used. It will therefore be appreciated by those skilled in the art that yet other modifications could be made to the provided invention without deviating from its spirit and scope as claimed.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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