First Wi-Fi Enabled Fulfillment System
Member's of the Roving Photo Concession at Universal Studios Theme Park (USTP) in LA, CA approached our EK Network Imaging team to inquire whether we could develop a wireless version of the EK Digital Photo Fulfillment System they were currently using in their theme park. A system that enabled them to capture and print photographs of park attendees posing with various live Universal Studios' characters (e.g. Zena, the Warrior Princess, The Blues Brothers, Woody Woodpecker, Zorro, et al... ). USTP representatives indicated that they wanted a wireless system to increase the time photographers spent taking photographs of customers with USTP characters by eliminating the need for them to walk back to the fulfillment center to manually upload their photographs to their photo server and printers.
Actions Taken:
After careful review of the USTP team's requirements, we broke the requirements down into two subsystems: hardware and software.
The hardware subsystem involved:
- identifying the hardware modules required to enable the wireless capability.
- identifying and evaluating several hand held portable computing platforms from various vendors
- identifying and evaluating the data rate, range, and reliability of several IEEE 802.11 wireless cards and access points from various vendors.
- identifying and evaluating several antenna designs from various vendors to determine their capability to increase our transmission range.
- performing a site survey at USTP to determine what types of attenuating obstructions we might encounter.
The software subsystem involved:
- identifying the software entities required to automatically connect the photographer's camera via Wi-Fi to the Photo Fulfillment Center's server; automatically transfer digital image files from the roving photographer's camera to the fulfillment center server and storage system; enable remote system diagnostics;
- specifying and implementing the driver software needed to enable a portable, handheld computer to accept digital image files from the EK Pro digital Camera via its SCSI port
- specifying, designing and implementing the software applications to automatically connect the photographer's camera via Wi-Fi to the Photo Fulfillment Center's server; automatically transfer images from the roving photographer's camera to the fulfillment center server and storage system; enable remote system diagnostics;
Results:
The HW and SW teams successfully demonstrated a prototype system, which then received approval to become a product. The Roving Photographers at USTP were able to realize a 25% increase in sales by using this system.