TELESCOPING-ARM ROUND RIDE FOR AMUSEMENT PARKS
Granted: December 22, 2011
Application Number:
20110312428
An amusement park ride that provides an interactive flying experience in a round ride setting by allowing vehicle passengers to move their vehicle in and out horizontally through a fly zone. The ride includes a central support assembly with a structure rotatable about a central axis at one or more rotation speeds. The ride also includes passenger vehicles and, for each vehicle, a support arm assembly that extends outward from the rotatable structure. The support arm assembly includes a…
System and method for artist friendly controls for hair shading
Granted: December 15, 2011
Application Number:
20110304623
There is provided a system and method for artist friendly control of three-dimensional object shading, particularly hair. A methodology is disclosed for deriving a pseudo scattering function over a domain of Artist Friendly Controls (AFCs) from a physically based scattering function over a domain of Physically Based Controls (PBCs). The pseudo scattering function can provide intuitive decoupled adjustments of specific important visual characteristics while still providing a convincing…
System and method enabling visual filtering of content
Granted: December 15, 2011
Application Number:
20110307783
There is presented a system and method enabling visual filtering of content. The system comprises a server, a content database storing content units and accessible through the server, and a filtering and display application. The filtering and display application is configured to enable visual filtering of the content units by filtering a plurality of graphical representations corresponding to a plurality of content units stored by the system, to extract a first plurality of graphical…
System and method for simplifying discovery of content availability for a consumer
Granted: December 15, 2011
Application Number:
20110307830
There is presented a system and method for simplifying discovery of content availability for a consumer. The system comprises a content availability database storing content records accessible through a server, and an aggregator configured to update the content records. The system also comprises a content discovery application configured to display an information pane corresponding to one of the content records according to a data related to the consumer, the information pane including…
THREE-AXIS ROBOTIC JOINT USING FOUR-BAR LINKAGES TO DRIVE DIFFERENTIAL SIDE GEARS
Granted: December 8, 2011
Application Number:
20110296944
A robotic joint configured as a 3-axis joint. The joint includes an input roll assembly and a pitch-output roll assembly. The pitch-output roll assembly includes: a housing; a differential mechanism including left and right input gears, an output gear, a cross element interconnecting the gears, and a clevis supporting the gears and the cross element; a left four-bar linkage coupled to the left input gear; a right four-bar linkage coupled to the right input gear; and first and second…
ROTOCAST COMPOSITE HYBRID PROCESS FOR MOLDING COMPOSITE PARTS
Granted: December 8, 2011
Application Number:
20110297296
A rotocast composite hybrid method for efficiently making strong but lightweight parts. The method includes filling a mold with a volume of resin through an access port and then sealing the access port by positioning a lid over the access port. The method includes mounting the mold in a rotocasting machine and then operating the rotocasting machine to rotate the mold about two orthogonal axes until a layer of the resin is applied uniformly over an inner surface of the mold to form an…
AMUSEMENT PARK RIDE WITH CABLE-SUSPENDED VEHICLES
Granted: December 8, 2011
Application Number:
20110300957
A ride system for moving a passenger vehicle through a dynamically-defined work space. The system includes a track structure that guides one or more motorized or driven carriers on the track structure. The system includes winches on the carrier(s) that are independently operable to set lengths of the vehicle supporting cables, which extend outward from the winches to the vehicle. During operation, the winch systems provide upper anchor points for suspending the passenger vehicle such…
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ANIMATING NON-HUMANOID CHARACTERS WITH HUMAN MOTION DATA
Granted: December 1, 2011
Application Number:
20110292055
Systems, methods and products for animating non-humanoid characters with human motion are described. One aspect includes selecting key poses included in initial motion data at a computing system; obtaining non-humanoid character key poses which provide a one to one correspondence to selected key poses in said initial motion data; and statically mapping poses of said initial motion data to non-humanoid character poses using a model built based on said one to one correspondence from said…
INTERACTIVE ZOETROPE FOR ANIMATION OF SOLID FIGURINES AND HOLOGRAPHIC PROJECTIONS
Granted: November 24, 2011
Application Number:
20110286065
A zoetrope configured for user interaction. The zoetrope includes an object support that pivotally supports a holographic disc or other projection element containing a plurality of images. A positioning mechanism rotates the holographic disc at a predetermined speed or positions the projection element in numerous positions. The disc or projection element is illuminated by an illumination source in such a manner as to selectively make the images contained therein be projected in a…
AUDIO NOISE MODIFICATION FOR EVENT BROADCASTING
Granted: November 24, 2011
Application Number:
20110288858
An signal processing apparatus, system and software product for audio modification/substitution of a background noise generated during an event including, but not be limited to, substituting or partially substituting a noise signal from one or more microphones by a pre-recorded noise, and/or selecting one or more noise signals from a plurality of microphones for further processing in real-time or near real-time broadcasting.
DISPLAY SYSTEM USING PROJECTION SCREENS FORMED OF FLOWING SNOW
Granted: November 24, 2011
Application Number:
20110285964
A display system for use in winter and other low temperature venues. The system includes a projection screen generation assembly that includes a snow making machine. The snow making machine receives an input flow of a liquid, such as water plus one or more additives to increase opacity and/or reflectivity of the snowflakes. The machine forms snow from the input flow and discharges a volume of flowing snow as a sheet or curtain providing a projection screen. The system includes a…
System and method for theatrical followspot control interface
Granted: November 24, 2011
Application Number:
20110285854
There is provided a system and method for controlling a tracking device to follow a location of a performer on a stage. The tracking device may comprise a lighting fixture such as a high output video projector or an automated mechanical moving light such as a DMX lighting fixture to provide a followspot, or a microphone to record audio from a particular performer. The method comprises capturing a video feed of the stage using a camera, presenting the video feed on a display of a control…
Anti-Roll Back Assembly with Linear Magnetic Positioning
Granted: November 3, 2011
Application Number:
20110265679
An anti-roll back (ARB) assembly for use with vehicles that ride on a track, which has inclined portions that include a set of ARB or lift pins. The assembly includes a linear magnet assembly positioned along the track in the ARB portion, and this assembly includes spaced apart magnet arrays that define a slot or elongated magnetic force zone. The ARB assembly includes an ARB element with a body pivotally supported on a vehicle frame and further includes an electrically conductive…
SYSTEMS AND METHODS PROVIDING SMART NODES FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL MODELS
Granted: November 3, 2011
Application Number:
20110270582
Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for creating physical and virtual design models. Embodiments of the invention provide methods for creating physical design models and rendering the physical design models as virtual models in design programs. Virtual indicia (smart nodes) provided by embodiments of the invention provide customizable virtual representations of modeled physical design elements of tangible models and can have metadata associated therewith, allowing…
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED FANTASY DRAFTING
Granted: October 20, 2011
Application Number:
20110256909
A system and method for automated fantasy drafting are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving one or more user-defined rules with respect to a list of players, wherein each player on the list is associated with one or more characteristics from a set of predefined characteristics and wherein at least one of the user-defined rules specifies a particular characteristic and selecting a player from the list of players satisfying the one or more user-defined rules.
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DYNAMICALLY VALUATING PLAYERS DURING A FANTASY DRAFT
Granted: October 20, 2011
Application Number:
20110256910
A system and method for dynamically valuating players during a fantasy draft are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method comprises storing, in an electronic device, a list of players, each player associated with a base value, receiving one or more player selections, and determining one or more adjusted values for a respective one or more particular players based at least in part on the base values of the particular players and the player selections.
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR NON-SEQUENTIAL AUTOMATED FANTASY DRAFTING
Granted: October 20, 2011
Application Number:
20110256915
A system and method for non-sequential automated fantasy drafting are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method comprises storing a ranked list of players, each player associated with one or more characteristics from a predefined set of characteristics, defining one or more rules which specify the maximum number of active players having each of the characteristics and a maximum number of players having of each of the characteristics, storing a roster of previously selected players having…
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VALUATING A PLAYER IN A FANTASY DRAFT BASED ON USER-DEFINED LEAGUE RULES
Granted: October 20, 2011
Application Number:
20110256926
A system and method for valuating a player in a fantasy draft based on user-defined league rules are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method comprises storing a list of players, each player associated with a base value, receiving one or more user-defined rules for the draft, and determining adjusted values for each of the list of players based at least in part on base values of the players and the user-defined rules.
System and method for television application channel sync (TACS)
Granted: October 20, 2011
Application Number:
20110258656
There is provided a system and method for providing television application channel sync (TACS). There is provided a method comprising determining a channel presently tuned from a plurality of tunable channels, applying a plurality of business rules to the channel to present, on a display, a list of selectable television applications from a plurality of television applications requiring access to a network, associating the channel to a selection of television applications from the list,…
System And Method For Sensing Human Activity By Monitoring Impedance
Granted: October 13, 2011
Application Number:
20110248773
A system for sensing human activity by monitoring impedance includes a signal generator for generating an alternating current (AC) signal, the AC signal applied to an object, a reactance altering element coupled to the AC signal, an envelope generator for converting a returned AC signal to a time-varying direct current (DC) signal, and an analog-to-digital converter for determining a defined impedance parameter of the time-varying DC signal, where the defined impedance parameter defines…
