Team flow control in a mixed physical and virtual reality environment

Abstract

The flow of teams of one or more players is controlled through different geographical areas of a mixed virtual reality and physical experience that takes place on an attraction stage. The geographical areas may include rooms, compartments, or other geographical areas through which a team may progress. Within each geographical area, a team may engage in an experience and accomplish one or more checkpoints. Based on the time to achieve each checkpoint, the experience may be shortened or lengthened, either within the particular geographical area or the experience as a whole, to control the flow of the particular team through the series of geographical areas.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for managing flow of players through a combined physical and virtual reality experience, comprising:
 detecting, by a computing device, the presence of one or more players from a first team of players within a first geographical area of a plurality of geographical areas;   virtually locking, by an area manager on a server in communication with the computing device, the first geographical area from being accessed by one or more players from a team other than the first team;   initiating a virtual reality experience, by a computing device associated with each player for the first team, for each the one or more players from the first team within the first geographical area; and   automatically adjusting, by a flow manager on the server, the duration of the virtual reality experience for the first team within the first geographical area based on the time taken by the first team to complete one or more checkpoints associated with the first geographical area.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 exiting the first geographical area by the first team; and   virtually unlocking the first geographical area in response to the exit of the first geographical area by the first team.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein automatically adjusting the length includes shortening the duration of the virtual reality experience in response to detecting the first team has taken longer than an expected time to complete a checkpoint associated with the first geographical area. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein shortening includes shortening a virtual reality experience in a second geographical area in response to detecting the time spent in the first geographical area has taken longer than an expected time to be spent within the first geographical area. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein automatically adjusting the length includes extending the duration of the virtual reality experience in response to detecting the first team has taken less than an expected time to complete a checkpoint within the first geographical area. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of geographical areas adjoin at least one other geographical area such that a team may exit one geographical area to enter another geographical area. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 detecting that a first team is present in a second geographical area;   extending a virtual reality experience of a second team in a first geographical area connected to the second geographical area until the first team has exited the second geographical area;   resetting a plurality of virtual objects and physical objects in the second geographical area; and   allowing the second team to exit the first geographical area and enter the adjoining second geographical area.   
     
     
         8 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform a method for managing flow of players through a combined physical and virtual reality experience, the method comprising
 detecting, by a computing device, the presence of one or more players from a first team of players within a first geographical area of a plurality of geographical areas;   virtually locking, by an area manager on a server in communication with the computing device, the first geographical area from being accessed by one or more players from a team other than the first team;   initiating a virtual reality experience, by a computing device associated with each player for the first team, for each the one or more players from the first team within the first geographical area; and   automatically adjusting, by a flow manager on the server, the duration of the virtual reality experience for the first team within the first geographical area based on the time taken by the first team to complete one or more checkpoints associated with the first geographical area.   
     
     
         9 . A system for managing flow of players through a combined physical and virtual reality experience, the system comprising:
 a processor;   memory; and   one or more modules stored in memory and executable by the processor to perform operations including:
 detecting, by a computing device, the presence of one or more players from a first team of players within a first geographical area of a plurality of geographical areas; 
 virtually locking, by an area manager on a server in communication with the computing device, the first geographical area from being accessed by one or more players from a team other than the first team; 
 initiating a virtual reality experience, by a computing device associated with each player for the first team, for each the one or more players from the first team within the first geographical area; and 
 automatically adjusting, by a flow manager on the server, the duration of the virtual reality experience for the first team within the first geographical area based on the time taken by the first team to complete one or more checkpoints associated with the first geographical area.