Systems and methods for providing an interactive experience for people in a vehicle environment

Abstract

A system to provide an interactive experience with a participant device operating in relation to a vehicle is disclosed. The interactive experience may include live experience presentations synchronized across multiple participant devices. The multiple participant devices may be operating within or outside of the vehicle. The system may identify a relationship between the participant device and the vehicle. A live experience presentation on the participant device is configured based on the identified relationship. One or more of multimedia and/or multi-sensory streams may be communicated amongst the multiple participant devices and an experience service as layers. The layers are composed to generate the live experience presentation. The experience service may be implemented by an experience platform system.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of operating a network-capable experience platform system comprising:
 facilitating an interactive gathering by providing layers for composing a live experience presentation on a participant device, the layers including a content layer;   
       identifying a relationship between the participant device and a vehicle; 
       configuring the live experience presentation based on the relationship between the participant device and the vehicle; generating an interactive object within the layers based on the relationship; and managing the interactive object based on the relationship. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein configuring the live experience presentation includes arranging the layers, suppressing at least one of the layers or elements within the layers, or configuring a privacy setting of who may join the interactive gathering. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising joining the participant device to the interactive gathering by identifying a participant through the participant device and synchronizing the live experience presentation with an external live experience presentation of another participant of the interactive gathering. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the relationship includes identifying whether the participant device is within the vehicle. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the relationship includes identifying whether the participant device is within a predefined close proximity of the vehicle. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the relationship includes identifying a seat location of the participant device within the vehicle. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the relationship includes detecting a device location of the participant device and detecting a vehicle location of the vehicle. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein configuring the live experience presentation includes assigning a participant type associated with restrictions of receiving or sending the layers through the interactive gathering based on the relationship. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein facilitating the interactive gathering further includes providing an output layer to an output device integrated within the vehicle, the output layer different from the layers provided for the participant device. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the interactive gathering includes participants from within the vehicle and external to the vehicle. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising equalizing and synchronizing the live experience presentation on the participant device with another live experience presentation on a device within the vehicle. 
     
     
         12 . A method of operating a network-capable participant device comprising:
 receiving a content layer at the participant device;   generating a live experience presentation for an interactive gathering on the participant device, the live experience presentation composed of layers including a base layer and the content layer;   identifying a relationship between the participant device and a vehicle;   configuring the live experience presentation based on the relationship;   generating an interactive object within the layers based on the relationship; and   managing the interactive object based on the relationship.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the interactive gathering is private and only a subset of current participants of the interactive gathering may invite an additional participant to join. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising determining whether the vehicle is in motion beyond a pre-defined threshold, wherein configuring the live experience presentation includes providing an engagement blind disabling at least part of the live experience presentation when the vehicle is in motion beyond the pre-defined threshold. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein identifying the relationship includes determining whether the participant device is operated by a controller of the vehicle; and wherein configuring the live experience presentation includes providing an engagement blind disabling at least part of the live experience presentation when the controller is determined to be actively operating the vehicle. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein identifying the relationship includes determining whether the participant device is operated by a controller of the vehicle; and wherein generating the interactive object includes providing an override option on the participant device to override other live experience presentations on participant devices of passengers of the vehicle. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein identifying the relationship includes determining whether the participant device is operated by a passenger of the vehicle; and wherein managing the interactive object includes limiting control of participant device over other participant devices of the interactive gathering. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein generating the interactive object includes providing an adjustment control object on the participant device to activate an environment manipulation device within the vehicle based on the relationship of the participant device with the vehicle. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein generating the interactive object includes providing a premium content object on the participant device unavailable to another participant device within the vehicle based on the relationship of the participant device with the vehicle. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein generating the interactive object includes providing a throwable object, animated or still, on the participant device that may be pulled from the participant device to another participant device in the interactive gathering. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein generating the interactive object includes providing a graphical map including a current location or route of the vehicle. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein generating the interactive object includes providing a live stream of a driver view from a camera within the vehicle. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising joining the participant device in the interactive gathering when the participant device is determined to be within a pre-defined proximity of the vehicle. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein generating the interactive object includes providing a seating arrangement object on the participant device. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the seating arrangement object allows the participant device to change a seating arrangement in the vehicle based on relationship between the participant device and the vehicle. 
     
     
         26 . An experience platform system comprising:
 one or more modules stored on one or more non-transitory storage mediums that, when executed by a processor, are configured to:
 facilitate an interactive gathering by providing layers for composing a live experience presentation on a participant device, the layers including a content layer; 
 identify a relationship between the participant device and a vehicle; 
   configure the live experience presentation based on the relationship between the participant device and the vehicle;
 generate an interactive object within the layers based on the relationship; and 
 manage the interactive object based on the relationship. 
   
     
     
         27 . The experience platform system of  claim 26 , wherein the one or more modules are further configured to couple over a network to communicate with an embedded device within the vehicle. 
     
     
         28 . A participant device configured to interact with another participant device through an experience platform comprising:
 a network device configured to receive a content layer;   a module stored on a non-transitory storage medium, when executed by a processor is configured to:
 generate a live experience presentation for an interactive gathering on the participant device, the live experience presentation composed of layers including a base layer and the content layer;
 identify a relationship between the participant device and a vehicle; 
 
 configure the live experience presentation based on the relationship; 
 generate an interactive object within the layers based on the relationship; and 
 manage the interactive object based on the relationship; and a sensor configured to provide a location information to facilitate the identifying of the relationship between the participant device and the vehicle. 
   
     
     
         29 . The participant device of  claim 28 , wherein the network device is further configured to communicate directly an in-vehicle device integrated with the vehicle. 
     
     
         30 . The participant device of  claim 28 , wherein the participant device is integrated within the vehicle. 
     
     
         31 . An in-vehicle device coupled to a vehicle, the in-vehicle device configured to join or create an interactive gathering and interact with a participant device through a together experience service comprising:
 a network device configured to communicate with the together experience service and receive multimedia stream layers from the together experience service;   a sensor configured to provide a location information of the vehicle;   a input device configured to capture a multimedia stream; and   a module stored on a non-transitory storage medium, when executed by a processor is configured to:
 receive a video stream from the participant device external to the vehicle via the network device; 
 generate a live experience presentation of the interactive gathering, the live experience presentation composed of the multimedia stream layers including a content layer and the video stream; 
 provide an interactive object on the live experience presentation capable of affecting external live experience presentation of the participant device to facilitate interaction among participants of the interactive gathering. 
   
     
     
         32 . The in-vehicle device of  claim 31 , wherein the input device is configured to toggle among at least a driver view perspective and in vehicle perspective. 
     
     
         33 . The in-vehicle device of  claim 31 , wherein the input device is configured to capture audio and video streams. 
     
     
         34 . The in-vehicle device of  claim 31 , further comprising an additional camera to capture a video stream having a different perspective than the input device.