“Master-Drone” 4D Seat Engineering Innovation Expected to Have Wide-Ranging Applications In Cinema Exhibition & Amusement Industries.
Invention Has Cross-Over Potential For Manufacturing & Other Industries in Future.
VP/CTO Dan Jamele of interactive attractions technology house MediaMation, Inc. (MMI) has been granted a U.S. patent on his innovative shared drive method used in the company’s X4D® Motion EFX Cinema Seats. The patented pneumatic drive mechanism is key to MMI’s “master/drone” 4D cinema seats. With one seat serving as the “master” with complicated internal digital circuitry, multiple drone seats can be attached, performing identical movements and functions to the “master” without the master seat’s internal complexities. Besides offering the “drone” seats at a steep discount in comparison to the master seats, this allows MMI to give clients new flexibility when purchasing 4D cinema seats. Now, exhibitors and attraction operators can order multiple configurations of one, two, three or four seats at a time to suit their exhibition space and business model. Previously, MMI’s X4D® Motion EFX seats were only available in groupings of four seats per bench.
MMI’s Cinema Series 4D seats with the now “patent-granted” drives have already been successfully installed in motion simulator theaters in Qatar and Mexico. Under consideration for installation by cinema chains, museums and other attractions where cost and flexibility are at a premium, the Cinema line offers 2 Degrees of Freedom (DOF) of motion with 
pitch and roll. It comes standard with seat transducers and all other 4D effects as “a la carte” options.
Air-driven and energy-efficient (versus expensive hydraulic or maintenance-heavy electrical systems), the X4D® Cinema Series seats are easy and cost-effective to maintain with off-the-shelf valves available globally. All MMI lines of X4D® Motion EFX seats (the most basic “Cinema, ” as well as the upscale “Attraction” and “Ultra” lines) provide digital motion-base servo action coupled with the latest 4D seat and atmospheric special effects.
Jamele notes: “The patent on our shared drive-mechanism is just the latest recognition MMI has received for valuable, world-class, cost-effective innovations. Currently, we are investigating other applications for this patented technology in the cinema and amusement industries and believe it has utility in other manufacturing industries as well.”
Founded in 1991, MMI has installed X4D® Motion EFX seats and turnkey 4D/5D theaters throughout the world. Most recently, installations have included 250+ seats for Cinemex’s X4D® Cinema Theaters installed/installing throughout Mexico in 15 of their cineplexes. Cinemex is the 6th largest Cinema chain in the world and was just recognized as the “Best International Cinema” at the ShowEast Conference 2013. Longstanding MMI clients such as “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” Moving 4D Theaters in San Antonio, TX and Baltimore, MD as well as Legoland Discovery Centers in Toronto, Canada; Chicago, IL and other locations respectively, continue to use MMI to supply them with high quality 4D immersive theaters. MediaMation’s X4D® Motion EFX Theaters are installed in over 34 countries, including multiple locations of Museo De Cera’s Viaje Fantastico Theaters in Mexico and the Royal Saudi Air Force Museum, to name a few. Their most recent installation is “Fly With The Blues X4D® Theater, ” located at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida.
Image 1: MMI cinema seats with newly patented "master-drone" pneumatic drive mechanism allows for greater flexibility and cost-savings. This installation is the at Cultural Institute of Baja, California, Tijuana, Mexico.
Image 2: MMI cinema seats with the now "patent-granted" drive mechanism are installed worldwide, including in Quatar.
