This disclosure is in the field a playgrounds and, more specifically, “smart playgrounds” that combine physical play activities with virtual play activities designed to work with one or more physical play structures of the playground to produce geo-specific play data. This disclosure relates to the process which connects playground game data to physical play structures in order to be able to determine the play activity at smart playgrounds.
Part of what constitutes a smart playground is an ability to measure the activity happening at that playground through geo-located gameplay data. This allows an administrator to collect, store, tabulate and process data on a playground-by-playground basis rather than, say, a more typical user-by-user basis. This disclosure relates to the process by which a ‘game session’ is associated with location data (one or more playthroughs of one or more of playground software games) to the playground locations stored in a database.
This disclosure describes embodiments of a system and method for use in generating activity data associated with one or more playgrounds, each of the one or more playgrounds containing one or more physical play structures containing a computer-readable identification tag. Activity data may come from playground game software such as, but not limited to, BIBA™ playground game software. The game software typically runs as an app on a mobile device of a user when playing on the smart playground.
In embodiments of a system and method of this disclosure, smart playground performance metrics like playground equipment utilization, as well as playground utilization, can be obtained. For the purposes of this disclosure, a smart playground contains one or more physical play structures containing a computer-readable identification tag. One or more users, when visiting the one or more smart playgrounds, have a mobile device executing playground game software. The mobile device reads the computer-readable identification tag of a corresponding one of the one or more playground structures and passes tag information to the playground game software. An example of a smart playground is a BIBA™ smart playground.
For each mobile device running the playground game software, the playground game software tracks playground variables including location, duration and use of the one or more physical play structures, and at least one weather condition. The playground game software, through the mobile device, sends the playground variables over a network to at least one playground database including associated computer means. The at least one playground database receives and stores the playground variables and associates the playground variables with a corresponding location of the playground.
In embodiments, the method is executed by a computer and associated software (a processor and non-transitory machine readable storage medium containing instructions stored thereon), the computer being in network communication with the at least one playground database. The playground database stores variables associated with the playgrounds including gameplay data from playground game software.
In embodiments, non-transitory machine readable storage medium contains instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer:
Referring now to
The smart playground 10 includes at least one physical play structure 30 containing a computer-readable identification tag 20 and a virtual game, app or story 40 running on a mobile device M designed to work with the at least one physical play structure 30. The mobile device application 40 is in network communication with a database 60. An example of this type of playground is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,314,694 B2 to Nadel et al., the content of which is incorporated by reference herein. Other examples include playgrounds using BIBA™ mobile games marketed by PlayPower, Inc. and Biba Ventures, Inc.
As a user plays on or interacts with the physical play structure 30 physical motion points 50 are obtained and translated into a virtual embodiment of motion points 70. However, unlike other play experiences, the virtual motion points 70 are not identical to those of the physical motion points 50 because the physical play being experienced on the play structure 30 is not the same as the virtual play being executed by the mobile device application 40. The play of the mobile device application 40 is not intended to replicate the same play but rather motivate the user to play on or continue to play on the play structure 30. Physical play translates to user progress through the virtual game, app, or story.
A play tracker 80 tracks physical motion points 50 and virtual game progress 40P when a predetermined milestone 40M is accomplished in the virtual game 40, a digital notice 90N may be sent to the user's mobile device or the user's care giver's mobile device. For a community-integrated smart playground—such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 10,953,333 B2 to Rosen et al., the content of which is incorporated by reference herein—other criterion, such as but not limited to physical presence on the playground or demographic data of the user or caregiver, may be used to issue a digital notice 90N. The notice 90N may include a benefit or reward offered by third party located within a predetermined radius of the playground or play structure 30. Redemption of the benefit or reward may be tracked. Some portion of the revenue connected with displaying the notice 90N or redeeming the benefit may be allocated to the playground or between a curator of the notice 90N and the playground. In this way, the playground provides its own revenue stream for maintenance and improvements. The geo-specific play data 80D collected may also be provided to playground owners and operators for use in managing the playground and its utilization.
The physical play structure 30 may be a piece of playground equipment such as balancing equipment, climbing equipment, jumping equipment, riding equipment, sliding equipment, spinning equipment, or swinging equipment. The identification tag 20 may be a quick response code, an augmented reality card, a radio-frequency identification tag, or a near field identification tag. Movement of a user on the physical play structure 30 may be detected using an accelerometer or a global positioning system and may be translated into movement or progress within the virtual game or story 40. The virtual game, app or story 40 may be a mobile software app, with the user's mobile device M being used to track physical movement. The virtual game or story 40 represents a play activity different than the one being played on the play structure 30.
As user movement is tracked, detailed geo-specific play data 80D may be collected and transformed into reports and insights that can help playground owners and operators make better choices and smarter funding decisions. Embodiments of this disclosure may be configured to collect data ranging from peak play hours to factors such as but not limited to weather and user demographics. Other data may include caregiver demographics, play pattern data relative to equipment, and chronological data.
When users play a virtual game like BIBA™ playground games, geo-specific play data can be collected, including the coordinates where game events occurred, the time they occurred, what game was played, how long it was played , what phone model was used. Gameplay data may also be collected that is specifically tailored around the playground experience. This data includes exercise information, equipment preference information, survey results from questions about the playground and weather information. The virtual game may be non-analogous to the physical play but game progress is determined by the physical play. The system and method of its use may be executed by at least one mobile device having at least one microprocessor in network communication with the computer-readable identification tag and including associated software. The game is typically executed as an app.
Referring to
Therefore even though multiple events E with multiple latitudes and longitudes are used to collect the information in a session S, a session S has just 1 latitude and 1 longitude, as defined by the events E. A table used to create playground sessions S comes from a session table. Each session S is one row of the table, with location information LS as well as collected event information such as, but not limited to time, equipment preference, and survey results.
As previously described, a playground P includes at least one physical play structure 30 containing a computer-readable identification tag 20, the at least one physical play structure 30 representing a physical play activity. Playground locations LP may be collected using the tags 20 such as BIBA™ tags (e.g., a signpost on the playground prompting visitors to play BIBA™ games. as well small square tags, which are physical devices placed on different pieces of equipment).
Playground locations LP may also be collected by smart playground customers where the playgrounds are located during a sales process. Playgrounds P may also be located through user feedback in the app. The playground locations LP are stored in a database, the database being in network communication with at least one microprocessor. The result of collecting playground locations LP is a table in the database with playground name, address, coordinates and, optionally, contact information and sales information.
The method by which gameplay sessions S can be associated to specific playgrounds P, thus creating playground sessions SP, is by gathering all the sessions S that occur within a certain predetermined radius R of each playground location LP. See
This novel process allows tagging a real world object (a playground) to virtual gameplay data. Therefore, an anatomy of the activities happening at each playground can be obtained, using a measurement system that is oriented around the playground. This results in being able to analyze data on a playground by playground basis, and is a fundamental building block in machine learning processes.
Once this process is completed, there is a collection of sessions for each playground, which is stored in a database. This allows for reports to be generated that provide insights for a given playground such as but not limited to equipment utilization, popular times of day, popular days of the week, weather trends, popular pieces of equipment, and exercise profiles.
This application claims priority to, and the benefit of, U.S. application Ser. No. 63/293,434 filed Dec. 23, 2021.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63293434 | Dec 2021 | US |