occupancy detection sensors for movie theater seat

[gilly]

Hello,
I'm working on a new concept for which I'm looking to find a system that would allow me to know when a seat in our movie theater is occupied or not & link this to our ticketing system.
What would be the best sensor to work with to achieve a 100% sure result & which would be at the lowest cost possible.

The system should allow me to install this system in our existing theaters as well as in new ones

Thanks for your help.
Alain Gillissen

[Jared 323]

Of all places to look, I would look at cars. The new Toyota Celica has a detection system like this in the passenger seat. Only if someone is seated there and the seatbelt is not fashioned, the warnign light comes on. By picking up your butt, or sliding it forward on the seat, you can make the light go off. Why not try calling the service dept of your local Toyota dealer and talk to a tech there about getting one of these switches. Toyota has already done the work to determine if it can handle the weight requirements of adults.

Jared.

[gilly]

I've had the same idea and looked already at the occupancy detection system of GM & BMW but they use a mat which is rather expensive due to the fact that it gives more information ( position driver, weight, ...) than I need ( I just need to know if there's someone). But thanks for the answer and I will inform at the Toyota site or dealer.

Gilly

[markwysong]

If the theater is anything like the ones I normally go to, the seat bottoms are spring loaded and go up when no one is there. If a microswitch is installed, when the seat is down, a connection will be made, and you can get the data you want.

Mark

[kamuela]

Hire an Usher....send him into the theater and check. You may count the number of tickets you sold for the show, also.

Otherwise, the wiring you need to do for your concept will have some high up-front costs that you may not be able to regain with this project. What profit or financial incentive is there to know if seats are filled??

Cheapest way is to put sensors at the theater entrance that will allow you to count the "net" number of people entering and exiting the theater during the respective show-time.

[PdB]

Looks like Vision is a challenge to use as a solution.
You do not have the high wiring and installation costs compared to electro-mechanical detectors. The only real problem I see is to differ between a person and the coats hanging over un-occupied seats (maybe by using the IR area, also very usefull in the dark).

[sensors]

Option 1

Use Camera/Cameras to capture the area of interest.
A PZT controller can be used to capture at regular
periodic intervals.

Images are stored in computer and change detection software can do the rest.

Minimum cabling.
Legal aspects to be considered.

Option 2

Use piezo pressure / pyro sensors with wiring

or RFID.

If the volumes are large cost will go down.
TI,Motorola etc. may fund the project.

We can develop the system for you.

GKM

gkm@alberg.com

[membruce]

I like the camera idea. You can place several in the ceiling and do an eyeball count. Keep in mind that anything that you put in the seat would have to be made tamper proof. It is also simple. You can use a near IR camera and an illuminator to see in the dark theater.

If you do go with contact or resistive sensors, you can probably multiplex a number of them (say a row) on a single line by using a tank filter (a coil and a capacitor) on each sensor. You could then scan the sensors by ramping up a frequency range and observing the current. Just make shore that the frequencies are not harmonics of each other. Then each row could be selected by a addressable switches. That way the controller can be higher quality and higher dollar since there will only be one o
f them.

Bruce