Disney's $1 Billion Bet on a Magical Wristband - Wired

[Amy]

I hadn't heard anything about bus times being posted. Is that really happening? How would that work? And when?
That would be a huge help, for sure!!!

Tried to look for an official WDW post, but came up with this one ~ at least it gives you an idea
http://wdwnt.com/blog/2015/02/walt-disn ... is-coming/

[theBIGyowski]

What makes you think they own/bought it out? The problem is that the company would have to presumably have something already in place to demonstrate that they could make it work, so they likely would build off existing work they own.

I believe the company who developed the hardware end of it did it primarily for merchandise for warehouses and possibly even store shelves. So the RFID chips would help distributors and retailers know where their products are at all times. It would also have the potential to know how many times an item was picked off the shelf, and then either placed back or eventually purchased. The applications were almost limitless once you developed the hardware and interfacing to allow you to track things via RFID.

That same company is who developed the hardware for the Magic Bands, so I am not sure if they still own the patents or if the "utility" of the device is different enough for Disney to own that utility patent as they use the hardware. Of course Disney owns the data collection software and the management of it all...but I wonder if they own the utility patent for the devices. I may ask a buddy of mine here at work who usually knows these kinds of things.

[theBIGyowski]

Looking again...and looking at Disney's patents...it appears that they do indeed own everything they can possibly own. The company who built it for them, Synapse, simply built it for them.

Disney Magic Band Patents

[theBIGyowski]

And here is the actual patent for what is used today...so that answers my outstanding questions.

[zhoover]

Wow - thanks for doing the research. Fascinating stuff. (calls broker)

[Wizzard419]

Looking again...and looking at Disney's patents...it appears that they do indeed own everything they can possibly own. The company who built it for them, Synapse, simply built it for them.

Disney Magic Band Patents

Good to know, though I do wonder if they actually will attempt to license it. Disney is famously bad at such things, which also led to major issues for digital. Though now, I would imagine there is limited interest in the system considering there are other options already on the market that can pair with phones.

Though, the tech for inventory control has been around for a great while. apparently the Grand Californian used it for the minibars.

[kelpseaweedkelp]

And here is the actual patent for what is used today...so that answers my outstanding questions.

Great research BIG! Thanks!!