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 Disney has been granted a patent for a proposed shoe recognition system, which would inconspicuously track guests’ feet around the theme parks and gather information on the popularity of rides, stores and shows. 
 
 A patent, filed in April last year and granted last week, describes a network of cameras and sensors which ‘blend’ in with the surroundings to scan visitors’ footwear on arrival, and track them as they move around the park. 
 
 A robot at the entrance area will include a foot sensor for capturing a detailed image of at least one foot of a guest, and a camera for capturing a colour image of at least one foot. Disney notes in the patent that these devices are ‘angled towards the ground’ and placed at a ‘low level’ (e.g., below a guest’s knees), and are therefore ‘easier to conceal’ from the guest. It continues that the system of sensors around the park would be ‘out of a person’s line of sight’, to ‘unobtrusively capture’ information. 
 
 Disney hopes that the data collected from the system will help improve park management and future planning. The patent states: ‘Acquiring and reacquiring guests at different locations in the amusement park can provide data to the amusement park owners, such as the most popular rides, and common guest paths from ride to ride. 
 
 ‘Additionally, recognizing individual guests or providing a method for an individual to register at certain rides or other attractions allows the amusement park to tailor certain experiences for the guest.’ 
 
 Disney explains that tracking shoes is more effective than current scanning methods. It suggests that shoe styles vary widely in appearance and colour, which helps to reduce confusion in identifying a particular guest. When two people have the same or similar shoes, Disney says that the system can also use additional information, such as lower leg data, tread wear, and foot size to distinguish between guests. 
 
 The mass media giant adds that it has rejected other tracking technologies such as biometric scanning. It argues that techniques like retinal and fingerprint identification tend to be invasive, obtrusive, and inaccurate if guests are wearing certain accessories such as sunglasses or hats. 
 
 Concerned with guest awareness of tracking, Disney also neglected plans for overall clothing recognition as, ‘those systems require cameras that are visible to the person’. It said that clothing recognition can also produce unreliable results as many guests have similar attire, and will change their clothing throughout the day, such as putting on or taking off a jacket or jumper. ||||| Enlarge The patent rendering of the foot scanning robot that would take a depth and camera image… more 
 
 No this isn't a joke: A patent from The Walt Disney Co. wants to scan your feet for data. 
 
 The patent, dubbed "system and method using foot recognition to create a customized guest experience," seeks to use a mobile scanning mechanism or robot that would use a foot scanner to take depth information and a camera to take appearance information of a guest's foot and use that data to determine various factors like the most popular rides and common paths guests take from ride to ride. The patent, issued by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office on July 19 after originally being filed in April 2015, also describes the use of concealed sensors throughout a theme park that would track the guests' movements and keep collecting data on that logistical information. 
 
 Enlarge The patent rendering of the foot scanning robot that would take a depth and camera image… more 
 
 Gathering guest movements can help a theme park see where guests are spending most of their time, what walkways are being used the most and which rides are being visited most often so it can tweak operations and staff to those areas to improve efficiency. This is very much in line with what Disney's MagicBands were designed to do by helping gather data on guests that could be used to see what stores are getting increased traffic and how the park could adjust to improve the experience in those areas. 
 
 
 
 "Recognizing individual guests or providing a method for an individual to register at certain rides or other attractions allows the amusement park to tailor certain experiences for the guest, such as creating a customized media output (e.g., photograph) directed to the particular guest," said the patent. 
 
 
 
 Disney's patent states this method would be less invasive than other biometric scanning methods like retinal or fingerprint methods or taking photographs for facial recognition. It states the foot scanners would be able to take detailed information on a shoe including the color, tread and wear patterns, stains and even if gum were on the bottom of the shoe — all to reduce confusion of following the wrong guest on the data collecting side. 
 
 Scanning a guest's feet or shoes seems to be a reliable way to track guest movements and reduce any problems that can happen if say a guest's outfit, such as their shirt or jacket, were used to identify them. "Less invasive manners, such as comparing a user's clothing or the like, can produce inaccurate results as many guests may have similar clothing or may change clothing, such putting on or taking off an outer layer or sweater, which can make detection unreliable," said the patent. It's important to note that this is just a patent and Disney files many patent that may or may not become a real part of the theme park experience. However, the theme park giant always is seeking ways to gather more information on its guests to refine its operations. Disney improving its guest experience could result in new and repeat visitation that drives Central Florida's $66 billion tourism and travel industry and attracts 60 million people annually to the region. Covers tourism, hospitality and sports business ||||| CLOSE Both tech giants have teamed up with government agencies to test it out. Time 
 
 An image from the product page of Amazon's Rekognition service, which provides image and video facial and item recognition and analysis. (Photo: Amazon) 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO — The Orlando Police Department in Florida is planning to continue its test of a facial recognition program from Amazon, despite outcry from civil rights and privacy groups that law enforcement and government agencies could abuse the technology. 
 
 OPD announced last month that the trial proof of concept run of the software had expired, but OPD public information officer, Sgt. Eduardo Bernal, said in a release Monday that the department will continue its testing of the program. 
 
 Two years ago, Amazon built the facial and product recognition tool, called Rekognition, as a way for customers to quickly search a database of images and look for matches. Rekognition uses Amazon's cloud computing network AWS to compare images to a database of images the customer has provided. 
 
 At least two police departments around the country have been testing the software, and privacy advocates have protested, fearing law enforcement might abuse the technology. 
 
 In May, civil rights and privacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, demanded that Amazon stop selling Rekognition to law enforcement and other government entities because they fear it could be used to unfairly target protesters, immigrants and any person just going about their daily business. 
 
 “Amazon should be protecting customers and communities, it should not be in the business of powering dangerous surveillance,” said Matt Cagle, an ACLU attorney. 
 
 The tool is used by many companies and organizations beyond law enforcement. Amazon says it has been used to find abducted people and that amusement parks have used it to find lost children. 
 
 During the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May, British broadcaster Sky News used Rekognition to help it identify celebrities at they entered Windsor Castle. 
 
 OPD is testing Rekognition with images of seven Orlando officers, who volunteered for the trial. The city created a database with pictures of the officers, then compared those to a video stream from eight city-owned surveillance cameras to see if it could correctly identify the officers when in view of the cameras. 
 
 Orlando Police Chief John Mina said Monday the department has made good strides in the pilot program and will continue the testing to determine whether it will add "value in enhancing the City’s public safety mission in a manner that balances reasonable privacy concerns.” 
 
 No images of the public are used for testing, the facial recognition tool is not used in an investigative capacity and all elements of the program are in accordance with laws related to privacy and civil rights, Bernal said in the release. 
 
 More: Capital Gazette gunman was identified using facial recognition technology that's been controversial 
 
 More: Amazon should stop selling facial recognition software to police, ACLU and other rights groups say 
 
 More: Amazon's controversial facial recognition program dropped by city of Orlando 
 
 Thirty-four civil rights groups sent a letter on May 22 to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, saying people should be "free to walk down the street without being watched by the government. Facial recognition in American communities threatens this freedom." 
 
 They fear the real-time face recognition could allow police or government groups to watch crowds and pick out activists or undocumented residents. 
 
 "Amazon Rekognition is primed for abuse in the hands of governments. This product poses a grave threat to communities, including people of color and immigrants, and to the trust and respect Amazon has worked to build," the letter states. 
 
 Police and city officials provided examples in a memo last week of how the facial recognition tool could be used. They said police could locate a wanted fugitive before he or she committed another crime, locate a suspect who has made violent threats, find a missing child or identify a registered sex offender near schools 
 
 “If this technology works, the suspects in these examples would have had their images entered into the system and perhaps could have been spotted by one of the many cameras, and never allowed to get anywhere near the victims or a large gathering," officials said in the memo. 
 
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– Disney has received a patent to take pictures of visitors' feet at its theme parks, the Los Angeles Times reports. Specifically, the patent titled System and method using foot recognition to create a customized guest experience would scan guests shoes when they enter the park then track them as the move about. According to the Orlando Business Journal, this would allow Disney to track guests' favorite rides and paths through the park. It could also allow them to have Donald Duck greet guests by name or get souvenir photos or videos to them more quickly. The scanners could discern everything from shoe color, to wear patterns, to gum stuck on the sole. Disney filed for the patent back in 2015; it was issued by the US Patent & Trademark Office on July 19. The company, however, says it has no plans to actually use its foot camera patent. A spokesperson tells the Times that Disney files a lot of patents in an "ongoing effort to relentlessly innovate and push the boundaries of creativity and technology to create immersive experiences and legendary guest service." Disney had already decided against biometric scanning—such as fingerprinting, retinal scans, and facial recognition—to track visitors because it considers it too invasive, the Stack reports. Plus those methods can be thrown off by things like hats and sunglasses. The company also didn't want to track clothing because that would "require cameras that are visible to the person." The shoe-scanning cameras throughout the park would be "out of a person's line of sight." (But will members of "Club 33" have their photos taken?)