Patent Application
20220355183
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
The technical field relates generally to games and, more specifically, to games that have been enhanced using technology such as computers and cameras.
Golf is a well-known sport in which players use various clubs to hit golf balls into a series of holes marked with pins (or flags) in as few strokes as possible. The game is typically played on a course with an arranged progression of 18 holes. Each hole on the course contains several teeing areas from which to start (depending on the golfer's strength or ability) and ends with a relatively large putting green area containing a small, 4¼″ diameter hole (or cup) marked with a flagged, vertical pin approximately 7″ tall. Each cup is carefully excised from the green in a perfect circle with an earthen core depth of at least 4″. The flag (a long, thin pole with a flag at the top) is removably situated inside the cup, stands vertically, and marks its location. Play for each hole is completed when a golfer “sinks” a golf ball into the cup, usually with his or her putter. By course design, it is anticipated that professional golfers would average 72 strokes per round of 18 holes. (In the sport of golf, the word “hole” refers to both the small 4¼″ cup and, by extension, the entire length of play from the furthest back teeing area to the green.)
Two of the widely recognized problems associated with the traditional game of golf involve the difficulty of the game itself (usually about 100 strokes per round for an amateur golfer) and the length of time it takes to play 18 holes (generally well over four hours). One tried and proven method of addressing these problems has been the creation of variously distanced teeing areas (“tees”) from the greens. Modern courses now have from three to six different tees on every hole, each 5 to 20 yards apart, to accommodate the skill levels and physicality of players, with professional golfers teeing-off from the furthest tees from the greens. The tees one plays from makes a big difference in the pace of play, the difficulty of the game, and a golfer's enjoyment of the game, especially for non-professionals.
No one, however, has successfully addressed the problems of golf's difficulty and length of play from the opposite end of each fairway: that is, from the perspective of the size of the cup into which a golfer must sink his or her ball. Sinking putts can be difficult, especially for beginners. Taking three or even four putts to sink a ball that may only be 20′ from the hole is common for many amateur golfers who average over 40 putts per round. This can be both frustrating and time-consuming. It can also be expensive from the perspective of golf course managers who can only permit a certain number of golfers on a course at any one time and who would benefit financially and otherwise if essentially the same game could be played more quickly and enjoyably by more golfers. Excising additional, perfectly round earthen holes of various sizes on each golf green to accommodate the skill levels of different players (with the bigger holes for less talented golfers) is impractical, creates new, unwanted, and unsightly obstacles on the green, and seriously detracts from the traditional look and feel of the game. It also adds expenses and maintenance issues for the managers of golf courses because cups need to be moved around every few days to keep the greens in top condition. Thus, many players, while seeking to maintain the traditions and look and feel of a game that has lasted for almost two centuries, would welcome acceptable changes to the putting part of the game that would make golf quicker and easier. For them, this would make the game of golf more exciting, fun, and quicker in the same way that the option of teeing-off from appropriately distanced tees improves the game.
Therefore, a need exists for improvements over the prior art, and more particularly for more efficient methods and systems for enjoying the game of golf as it relates to putting balls into the small diameter holes that have existed from the beginning days of the sport.
A device for generating virtual golf holes on a green includes a housing configured for coupling to a golf pin at a distance above a green, one or more cameras located within the housing, the one or more cameras configured to gather data from an area of the green surrounding the golf pin, one or more speakers located within the housing and a processor located within the housing and communicably connected with the one or more cameras and the one or more speakers, the processor configured for generating an internal representation of one or more virtual golf holes around the golf pin, reading the data from the one or more cameras, determining whether a golf ball detected by the one or more cameras has entered the one or more virtual golf holes, and activating the one or more speakers to play one or more audible sounds if the golf ball detected by the one or more cameras is determined to have entered the one or more virtual golf holes.
Additional aspects of the disclosed embodiment will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosed embodiments. The aspects of the disclosed embodiments will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosed embodiments, as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute part of this specification, illustrate the claimed embodiments and together with the description, explain the principles of the disclosed embodiments. The embodiments illustrated herein are presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the claimed embodiments are not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown, wherein:
Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various views of the drawings.
The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or similar elements. While embodiments may be described, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible. For example, substitutions, additions, or modifications may be made to the elements illustrated in the drawings, and the methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering, or adding stages to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description does not limit the claimed subject matter. Instead, the proper scope of the claimed subject matter is defined by the appended claims.
Just as variably distanced tees from the greens improve the enjoyment of golf for most golfers, a device for generating virtual golf holes that are larger improves the enjoyment of golf by making putting easier and more fun for golfers choosing to play the virtual holes generated by the device. Speed of play is also increased with the claimed device 102. This change to the game benefits all golfers: high-handicap, senior and beginner golfers enjoy easier, more fun, and faster rounds; low-handicap and professional golfers can still enjoy the exact same game of golf they have enjoyed for years with the existing physical cups that are not modified by the claimed device and they benefit from the faster play of other, slower golfers on the course due to the claimed device.
The claimed device 102 could be manufactured to be integrally manufactured with new golf pins or attached to existing golf pins. The claimed device may use artificial intelligence techniques of the sort already used in golf ball launch monitors to calculate if a ball falls into a virtual golf hole given its speed and proximity to the edge of a virtual golf hole, even if the ball rolls through and past the virtual golf hole. If it is not travelling so fast to have sailed over the span of a same-sized physical hole, a golf ball can be scored as having fallen into a virtual golf hole even though it rolls past the virtual golf hole.
The virtual golf holes will always have diameters larger than the traditional 4.25″ actual holes currently in place and in use all over the world. A first virtual golf hole 108 outside the actual hole 106 may be generated having (for example) a diameter of about 8.5″ (4.00× the surface area of a 4.25″ hole), a second outer virtual golf hole 110 may be generated having a diameter (for example) of about 15″ (12.46× the surface area of a 4.25″ hole), and a third virtual golf hole 112 may be generated having a diameter (for example) of about 30″ for purposes of creating a “gimme” zone. A “gimme” zone (so-called from the words, “give me”) is a gentlemanly convention sometimes used among fellow golfers whereby if a golfer putts a ball such that it comes to rest inside (but not through and beyond) the “gimme” zone, it is not counted as a sunk putt, but it is nevertheless considered to be close enough to the pin that an additional putt by the golfer is generously determined to be unnecessary.
In another aspect, the housing 210 of the claimed device 102 attaches to the golf pin 114 through a fastener, the device comprises a rechargeable battery, speakers 214, and lights that generates a unique color for each corresponding virtual golf hole in which a putt may be sunk as determined by the artificial intelligence techniques executed by the processor 220.
The claimed subject matter improves over the prior art by providing a device 102 for creating larger, virtual golf holes on a green complimentary to but not replacing the actual/physical holes on existing golf courses. The claimed subject matter generates virtual golf holes on a green to reduce the level of difficulty by increasing the diameter of the hole. The use of an audible system and an outward light to alert the position of the golf ball is advantageous because it allows the golfer to know the status of the golf ball from a distance. The claimed subject matter also improves over the prior art by providing a more efficient, faster, and easier way of playing golf. For traditional or expert golfers who prefer to enjoy the game of golf exactly as it is now played (and has been for almost two centuries), the claimed device 102 can be ignored insofar as it does not physically alter golf greens, actual holes, or the pins in those holes, even if those pins now happen to be equipped with a novel device for generating virtual golf holes that may not be viewable to a person.
Referring now to the Figures,
In one embodiment, the device 102 (or its housing 210) is manufactured integrally with a golf pin 114 or couples directly to a golf pin 114. While coupled thereto, the device 102 generates one or more virtual golf holes of varying diameters. Each virtual golf hole accurately emulates a physical hole and provides an easier target for sinking putts into said virtual golf holes. The device 102 may create the internal, artificial intelligence for representing virtual golf holes beneath the golf pin 114 as if they were concentric to the actual hole 106. The device 102 also monitors the path of the golf ball 116 near and at the virtual golf hole and provides audible and illuminating alerts to indicate whether putts have been successfully “sunk” into the virtual golf holes.
Looking again at
In some embodiments, the housing 210 comprises a rechargeable battery to power the electrical components therein. A solar panel or D/C electrical power source may be used to charge the rechargeable battery. A USB port or other port may be used to receive a hard wire for charging.
The device 102 could also include a coupler that is configured to fasten the housing to the golf pin 114. The coupler may include a fastener, such as a bolt, a screw, a clamp, and a snap-fit relationship mechanism. In one non-limiting embodiment, the housing 210 has a central opening that enables passage through the golf pin 114, such as a toroidal shape. In one non-limiting embodiment, this creates a slidable relationship that allows the device 102 to move up and down the flag pins. In another non-limiting embodiment, the virtual golf holes are calibrated to be the same size for all pins on all golf courses so that there is national and even international consistency of virtual golf hole sizes. An advantage of this may be that handicap systems could then easily be adjusted for golfers using different-sized virtual golf holes from course to course all over the world.
The device 102 also comprises one or more lights of different colors that are operatively disposed in the housing 102. Each of the lights corresponds to one of the one or more virtual golf holes directly beneath the housing 102 and concentric to the actual hole 106 on the green.
In one embodiment, a first virtual golf hole 108 is generated, having a diameter of about 8.5″. The second virtual golf hole 110 is a larger, and therefore easier target for the golfer, having a diameter of about 15″. It is known in the art that such a 15″ hole solves two problems currently faced by all golf courses: time of play (reduced by an estimated 30% with the larger, virtual holes); and difficulty of play (almost half of all strokes in golf are taken on the greens trying to putt a ball in a small 4.25″ hole). In yet another embodiment, a third virtual ring 112, having a diameter of about 30″ as a “gimme” zone. “Gimme” zones provide a function different from virtual holes, as described above.
In some embodiments, the device 102 also includes one or more photometric cameras, sonar devices or Doppler devices (a sensor suite) that are located within the housing 210. The sensor suite is configured to capture data from the area surrounding the one or more virtual golf holes. The sensor suite records the position and speed of the golf ball 116. Once the data is collected, it can be processed almost instantly, as discussed below, to determine through artificial intelligence techniques if a putt is virtually sunk or not.
The disclosed embodiments may calculate the size of the virtual golf hole, the speed of the approaching ball and the encroachment of the ball into the virtual golf hole in a fraction of a second to determine if the ball has both entered and fallen into the virtual golf hole. Consequently, a ball could roll well beyond a virtual golf hole and still be counted as a sunk putt because artificial intelligence determines that the ball would have fallen into and not sailed over the virtual golf hole due to excessive speed if it were physical.
In some embodiments, the device 102 also includes an outward light indicator or a plurality of lights that indicate, using LED or other lights, into which of the one or more virtual golf holes 108, 110, 112 the golf ball 116 has sunk, if any. In one embodiment, the light indicator generates a unique color for each corresponding virtual golf hole. Thus, the processor 220 selects the appropriate color based on the virtual golf hole into which the ball 116 has entered. The light indicator can be operatively connected to the sensor suite such that when the sensor suite records the golf ball falling into a virtual golf hole, the light indicator illuminates. For example, the golf ball enters the second virtual golf hole, causing the light indicator to outwardly emit a blue color light that is visible from a distance. In this manner, a golfer “playing the blue holes,” so to speak, is aware that his or her golf ball has hit the target because he sees a blue light, perhaps even from 100 yards away or more.
Similarly, the device 102 also includes a sound system that indicates, using speakers, which of the one or more virtual golf holes the golf ball has entered, if any. The sound system can be operatively connected to the device 102, such that when the sensor suite records the golf ball having passed through or landed in a virtual golf hole for a sunk putt, the sound system emits a sound. The generated sound can be a beep, a ring, a voice, or other sound, such as the characteristic rattling “clunk” of a golf ball hitting the bottom of a golf cup, acceptable for a golf course.
The device 102 also includes a processor 220 that is configured to activate, operate, and regulate the virtual golf holes, the sensor suite, the lights, and the sound system. The processor determines the position of the golf ball relative to the virtual golf holes and actuates the appropriate alert(s). The processor may include, without limitation, a microprocessor, circuits, resistors, and a transceiver.
In other embodiments, the processor is operatively connected to the photometric camera, sonar device or a Doppler device. The processor is also operatively connected to activate the light indicator and sound system to indicate which of the one or more virtual golf holes the golf ball has fallen into. In one example, as the golf ball enters the first virtual golf hole, i.e., diameter of about 8.5″ for example, then a green color illuminates from the light indicator and the sound system generates a corresponding sound or voice. In one embodiment, both the light indicator and the sound system emit light alerts and audible alerts simultaneously from the housing 102.
In one embodiment, the processor can also be programmed to select the desired size of the virtual golf holes. In one embodiment, the processor integrates artificial intelligence techniques of the sort already used in golf ball launch monitors and golf simulators to calculates if a ball falls into a virtual golf hole given its speed and proximity to the edge of a virtual golf hole even if the ball rolls past the virtual golf hole.
The rechargeable battery, which may be removable, may include a power port or a battery terminal that allows for the connection of a power source for recharging the battery. The housing may further include a battery charging system that includes all necessary hardware components for recharging the rechargeable battery using an external current source connected to the housing via the power port or battery terminal. The power source may also include a solar panel for generating solar energy used to recharge the rechargeable battery.
The sensor suite 312 may include one or more photometric cameras or other measuring devices for collecting data about the golf ball 116 entering the area 104 of the green. In one embodiment, the sensor suite 312 includes one or more sonar devices for collecting data about the golf ball 116 entering the area 104 of the green. Sonar devices use a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, and measure distances (ranging). Both passive sonar and/or active sonar devices may be used. Sonar may be used as a means of acoustic location and of measurement of the echo characteristics of golf ball targets in the area 104 of the green. The acoustic frequencies used in sonar systems vary from very low (infrasonic) to extremely high (ultrasonic). A sonar device may include a device that uses Doppler ultrasonography that employs the Doppler effect to perform imaging of the movement of golf balls and their relative velocity to the device. A sonar device may include an ultrasonic sensor device that measures the distance to the gold ball using ultrasonic sound waves. An ultrasonic sensor uses a transducer to send and receive ultrasonic pulses that relay back information about a golf ball's proximity. High-frequency sound waves reflect to provide information about a golf ball's location. The information received from a sonar device is referred to sonic data.
The sensor suite can collect the following data about a golf ball entering the area 104 beneath the device 102: location, movement, speed, acceleration, etc. It may also have an internal clock to measure the data relative to time. After recording the collected data made by the sensor suite, the processor determines whether a golf ball detected by the one or more cameras or other measuring devices has entered the one or more virtual golf holes and activates the one or more speakers to play one or more audible sounds (or the lights) if the golf ball detected by the sensor suite is determined to have entered the one or more virtual golf holes.
In step 306, the player hits the golf ball 116, which enters the area 104 of the green. In step 308, the sensor suite 212 of the device 102 collects data about the golf ball, such as location, movement, speed, acceleration, etc. In step 310 said collected data is processed by the processor to determine if the golf ball has entered any one of the one or more virtual golf holes 108, 110, 112. In step 312, if the processor has determined that the golf ball has entered any one of the one or more virtual golf holes 108, 110, 112, a signal is produced. The signal may be one or more of the speakers 214 producing one or more audible sounds to indicate that the ball has been sunk. The signal may be one or more of the lights 215 producing one or more lights or blinks to indicate that the ball has been sunk.
In one embodiment, the one or more lights 215 comprise different colors, wherein each color of the one or more lights corresponds to a particular one of the one or more virtual golf holes 108, 110, 112. For example, a green light corresponds to hole 108, a blue light corresponds to hole 110, and a yellow light corresponds to hole 112. The processor is further configured for activating a particular light of the one or more lights according to the particular hole of the one or more virtual golf holes determined to have been entered by the processor. For example, a green light lights up if the golf ball enters hole 108, a blue light lights up if the golf ball enters hole 110, and a yellow light lights up if the golf ball stops within the “gimme” ring 112.
Consistent with the embodiments described herein, the aforementioned actions performed by device 102 may be implemented in a computing device comprising any suitable combination of hardware, software, or firmware may be used to implement the computing device. The aforementioned system, device, and processors are examples and other systems, devices, and processors may comprise the aforementioned computing device. In a basic configuration, computing device may include at least one processing unit and a system memory. Depending on the configuration and type of computing device, system memory may comprise, but is not limited to, volatile (e.g., random access memory (RAM)), non-volatile (e.g., read-only memory (ROM)), flash memory, or any combination or memory. System memory may include operating system, one or more programming modules (such as program module). Operating system, for example, may be suitable for controlling computing device's operation. In one embodiment, programming modules may include, for example, a program module. Furthermore, embodiments of the claimed embodiments may be practiced in conjunction with a graphics library, other operating systems, or any other application program and is not limited to any particular application or system.
Generally, consistent with the claimed embodiments, program modules may include routines, programs, components, data structures, and other types of structures that may perform particular tasks or that may implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, the claimed embodiments may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The claimed embodiments may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
Furthermore, the claimed embodiments may be practiced in an electrical circuit comprising discrete electronic elements, packaged or integrated electronic chips containing logic gates, a circuit utilizing a microprocessor, or on a single chip (such as a System on Chip) containing electronic elements or microprocessors. The claimed embodiments may also be practiced using other technologies capable of performing logical operations such as, for example, AND, OR, and NOT, including but not limited to mechanical, optical, fluidic, and quantum technologies. In addition, the claimed embodiments may be practiced within a general-purpose computer or in any other circuits or systems.
The claimed embodiments, for example, are described above with reference to block diagrams and/or operational illustrations of methods, systems, and computer program products according to the claimed embodiments. The functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order as shown in any flowchart. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.
While certain embodiments have been described, other embodiments may exist. Furthermore, although the claimed embodiments have been described as being associated with data stored in memory and other storage mediums, data can also be stored on or read from other types of computer-readable media, such as secondary storage devices, like hard disks, floppy disks, or a CD-ROM, or other forms of RAM or ROM. Further, the disclosed methods' stages may be modified in any manner, including by reordering stages and/or inserting or deleting stages, without departing from the claimed embodiments.
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
This patent application claims priority to provisional patent application No. 63/183,684 titled “device for generating size-adjustable virtual holes on a green”, filed on May 4, 2021. The subject matter of patent application No. 63/183,684 is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63183684 | May 2021 | US |
