Patents by Inventor Joseph George HAGER, IV

Joseph George HAGER, IV has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11294378
    Abstract: A system for use in a park attraction to provide collaborative driving experiences. The system includes a vehicle including a body with passenger seats, including a user input assembly proximate to each of the passenger seats, and further including a holonomic drive system adapted to move the body in any direction while riding on a driving surface of the park attraction. The system also includes a system controller (running an attraction/game control module) that operates to: (a) receive user input from each of the user input assemblies; (b) process the user input from each of the user input assemblies to generate a control vector associated with each of the user input assemblies; (c) combine the control vectors from all of the user input assemblies to generate a resultant vector; (d) generate a drive control signal from the resultant vector; and (e) transmit the drive control signal to the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael J. Ilardi, Frank D. Mezzatesta, III, Jonathan Michael Becker, Dawson McLeod Dill, Luke Andrew Sciaraffa, Joseph George Hager, IV, William Bennett Hogue, Jr.
  • Patent number: 11072073
    Abstract: A system for improving navigation of robots in a space with a plurality of pedestrians or other movable objects or obstacles. The system includes a traffic analysis assembly that has a traffic sensor(s) sensing movement of the obstacles in the space. The traffic analysis assembly further includes a processor running a flow module that processes (such as the Gunnar-Farneback optical flow algorithm) output from the traffic sensor to generate traffic analysis results, which include density values for the obstacles in the space and motion information for the obstacles in the space (e.g., speed and direction). The system includes a robot with a controller running a navigation module selecting a navigation route between a current location of the robot and a target location in the space using the traffic analysis result. The workspace is configured such that the obstacles such as pedestrians have unregulated flow patterns in the space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventors: Joseph George Hager, IV, Michael R. Honeck, Jeremy Andrew Mika
  • Publication number: 20200276710
    Abstract: A system for improving navigation of robots in a space with a plurality of pedestrians or other movable objects or obstacles. The system includes a traffic analysis assembly that has a traffic sensor(s) sensing movement of the obstacles in the space. The traffic analysis assembly further includes a processor running a flow module that processes (such as the Gunnar-Farneback optical flow algorithm) output from the traffic sensor to generate traffic analysis results, which include density values for the obstacles in the space and motion information for the obstacles in the space (e.g., speed and direction). The system includes a robot with a controller running a navigation module selecting a navigation route between a current location of the robot and a target location in the space using the traffic analysis result. The workspace is configured such that the obstacles such as pedestrians have unregulated flow patterns in the space.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 11, 2020
    Publication date: September 3, 2020
    Inventors: Joseph George Hager, IV, Michael R. Honeck, Jeremy Andrew Mika
  • Patent number: 10688662
    Abstract: A system for improving navigation of robots in a space with a plurality of pedestrians or other movable objects or obstacles. The system includes a traffic analysis assembly that has a traffic sensor(s) sensing movement of the obstacles in the space. The traffic analysis assembly further includes a processor running a flow module that processes (such as the Gunnar-Farneback optical flow algorithm) output from the traffic sensor to generate traffic analysis results, which include density values for the obstacles in the space and motion information for the obstacles in the space (e.g., speed and direction). The system includes a robot with a controller running a navigation module selecting a navigation route between a current location of the robot and a target location in the space using the traffic analysis result. The workspace is configured such that the obstacles such as pedestrians have unregulated flow patterns in the space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventors: Joseph George Hager, IV, Michael R. Honeck, Jeremy Andrew Mika
  • Patent number: 10523993
    Abstract: Aspects described herein include a user display unit that determines a portion of a presentation currently being viewed by a user through a transparent display. For example, if the display area is a theater screen, only a portion of the screen may be viewable to the user through the transparent display. The display unit may display metadata on the transparent display with a spatial relationship to one or more objects in the presentation. For example, the display unit may output a text bubble near an actor in the presentation that provides an interesting fact about the actor which may overlay or occlude the presentation. In one aspect, if the object in the presentation moves or the display unit is reoriented, the display unit may move the metadata to maintain the spatial relationship between the object and the metadata in the transparent display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventor: Joseph George Hager, IV
  • Publication number: 20190302776
    Abstract: A system for use in a park attraction to provide collaborative driving experiences. The system includes a vehicle including a body with passenger seats, including a user input assembly proximate to each of the passenger seats, and further including a holonomic drive system adapted to move the body in any direction while riding on a driving surface of the park attraction. The system also includes a system controller (running an attraction/game control module) that operates to: (a) receive user input from each of the user input assemblies; (b) process the user input from each of the user input assemblies to generate a control vector associated with each of the user input assemblies; (c) combine the control vectors from all of the user input assemblies to generate a resultant vector; (d) generate a drive control signal from the resultant vector; and (e) transmit the drive control signal to the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2018
    Publication date: October 3, 2019
    Inventors: MICHAEL J. ILARDI, FRANK D. MEZZATESTA, III, JONATHAN MICHAEL BECKER, DAWSON MCLEOD DILL, LUKE ANDREW SCIARAFFA, JOSEPH GEORGE HAGER, IV, WILLIAM BENNETT HOGUE, JR.
  • Publication number: 20190176333
    Abstract: A system for improving navigation of robots in a space with a plurality of pedestrians or other movable objects or obstacles. The system includes a traffic analysis assembly that has a traffic sensor(s) sensing movement of the obstacles in the space. The traffic analysis assembly further includes a processor running a flow module that processes (such as the Gunnar-Farneback optical flow algorithm) output from the traffic sensor to generate traffic analysis results, which include density values for the obstacles in the space and motion information for the obstacles in the space (e.g., speed and direction). The system includes a robot with a controller running a navigation module selecting a navigation route between a current location of the robot and a target location in the space using the traffic analysis result. The workspace is configured such that the obstacles such as pedestrians have unregulated flow patterns in the space.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2017
    Publication date: June 13, 2019
    Inventors: Joseph George Hager, IV, Michael R. Honeck, Jeremy Andrew Mika
  • Publication number: 20160112750
    Abstract: Aspects described herein include a user display unit that determines a portion of a presentation currently being viewed by a user through a transparent display. For example, if the display area is a theater screen, only a portion of the screen may be viewable to the user through the transparent display. The display unit may display metadata on the transparent display with a spatial relationship to one or more objects in the presentation. For example, the display unit may output a text bubble near an actor in the presentation that provides an interesting fact about the actor which may overlay or occlude the presentation. In one aspect, if the object in the presentation moves or the display unit is reoriented, the display unit may move the metadata to maintain the spatial relationship between the object and the metadata in the transparent display.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 16, 2014
    Publication date: April 21, 2016
    Inventor: Joseph George HAGER, IV