Motion simulator operating system and method

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Although the present invention motion simulator control system can be used with any motion simulator that is capable of simulating an amusement ride, by way of example the present invention simulator control system will be described in association with a motion simulator that is designed to simulate a roller coaster.
Such a configuration is presented merely for exemplary purposes and is not intended in any manner to limit the application of the present invention simulator control system to just one type of ride.
Referring to FIG.
1.
, a notion simulator 10 is shown.
The motion simulator 10 can be of any type known in the art.
However, in the preferred embodiment, the motion simulator 10 is of the type described in U.
S.
patent application No.
08/383,992, entitled IMPROVED MOTION SIMULATOR, which is assigned to the assignee herein and is herein incorporated into this disclosure by reference.
The motion simulator 10 is coupled to a central controller 12 that contains the present invention control system and performs the present invention operating method.
In the shown embodiment, the central controller 12 acts as the interface that enables a rider to selectively program the motion simulator 10 to a custom specification.
In accordance with the present invention, the central controller 12 can be programmed in at least one of three different ways by each rider.
The first way to program the central controller 12 is to program the central controller 12 at the sight of the motion simulator 10.
To program the central controller 12 on-sight, an interface system 14 such as a touch screen 16 or a key board 18 is provided on the central controller 12.
Using the interface system 14, a rider can selectively create and/or select a simulated ride to be preformed by the motion simulator 10.
A second way to program the central controller 12 is to provide the central controller 12 with a disk drive 20 or a similar device capable or reading recorded data.
The disk drive 20 enables a rider to download a previously created program for a simulated ride that was created at a remote location and was carried to the motion simulator 10