Patent Application
20160317896
The present invention relates to a personal electronic golf training system that introduces a new level of technology for private, individual golf skills training. It uses conventional golf equipment modified with nano and or micro technology electronics so as to allow the golfer to train without the use of any cumbersome, awkward or foreign implements of the sport. More importantly, this new system may be used not just for training, but to play a round of golf.
Golf is a game of great skill. The complexities of mastering the game involves numerous parameters such as the swing, stance, tee height, club length, club selection etc. Most training devices focus on training each of these parameters individually. To complicate matters, they introduce tools that are foreign to the game of golf such as a weighted swing club, a hinged club, and a system of tethered cords to name a few. These begin with the wrong premise—that of teaching the correct mechanics without utilizing the exact golf equipment the correct mechanics are to be coupled to. There is no sense learning how to swing a weighted flexible shaft correctly if the golfer never uses a weighted flexible shaft to play the game. Likewise, training muscle memory in a static location rather than out in a real world golf situation is not that practical. A golfer should know what is going wrong with his swing after he has walked 12 holes on a hot day and consumed five beers. None of the current golf training devices can actually be used in a real round of golf. Similarly, none of the current, state of the art devices can show the golfer in real time what he did wrong with his last stroke. They can only indicate what may be wrong in one of the parameters of his mechanics. The true way to train a golfer in an attempt to overcome his poor mechanics and to increase his performance is to be able to instantly inform the golfer what happened on his last stroke at a ball/club face level. Only once the golfer knows why the ball went where and how it did, can they alter the various parameters, individually or in conjunction with others, to correct his mechanics. Essentially being able to provide this type of biofeedback while in a real round of golf allows the golfer the opportunity to make stroke by stroke modifications in an attempt to remedy or improve his last stroke.
Henceforth, a personal golf skills training system that uses the golfer's golf club and ball to provide an instantaneous analysis of the stroke efficiency, and that could be used in a round of golf, would fulfill a long felt need in the golf industry. This new invention utilizes and combines known and new technologies in a unique and novel configuration to overcome the aforementioned problems to accomplish this.
The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a personal golf training system that is able to give the golfer a relatively, instantaneous feedback of what is happening at the club head on the swing, what is happening at the golf ball/club head interface at the moment of contact, and the resultant golf ball's spin, velocity and trajectory. Optionally incorporated into an alternate embodiment, is an LED lighting system whose brightness was conditioned by the efficiency and intensity of the golf ball to golf club head contact
It has many of the advantages mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new golf training system which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art, either alone or in any combination thereof.
In accordance with the invention, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved personal golf training system capable of evaluating the golfer's performance with instantaneous biofeedback data obtained while shooting a round of golf.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved personal golf training system capable of evaluating the efficiency of the ball strike.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved personal golf training system that can store the improvements in performance on a personal computing device, report them immediately and compare the historical performance of one or more registered users on a personal computing device.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide for an improved personal golf training system that tracks the flight of the golf ball as well as sends signal of its position to the golfers personal computing devices (PCD's).
It is yet a further object of this invention to provide an improved personal golf training system with an associated operational application for the golfer's PCD.
The subject matter of the present invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of this specification. However, both the organization and method of operation, together with further advantages and objects thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to like elements. Other objects, features and aspects of the present invention are discussed in greater detail below.
The above description will enable any person skilled in the art to make and use this invention. It also sets forth the best modes for carrying out this invention. There are numerous variations and modifications thereof that will also remain readily apparent to others skilled in the art, now that the general principles of the present invention have been disclosed.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of descriptions and should not be regarded as limiting.
As used herein, the term “personal computing devices” (PCD) refers to any of the portable computing devices embodied in portable computers (PC's), cell phones, tablet PC's, digital music players, watches, personal digital assistants, wearable computers, printers, copiers and the like.
As used herein the term “smart phone” refers to a mobile phone with an advanced operating system such as an android or Apple IOS platform, capable of: running software applications, Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity to other devices, memory storage, video display, and GPS tracking at a minimum.
As used herein, the term “sweet spot” refers to the optimal area on the golf club face for contact with a golf ball to maximize the efficiency of the stroke.
As used herein the term “pressure sensitive or thermally sensitive planar indicating substrates” refers to thin devices such as polymer films/sheets, paper products or other planar substrates capable of detecting pressure zones of contact. These include devices having embedded electronics, chemically or thermally reactive/sensitive materials or coated materials that provide visual feedback of a zone of contact. Generally this will be by a partial surface area of the indicating substrate changing of a gradation of color.
As used herein, a “pressure transducer” refers to an instrument component which detects a pressure applied against its pressure-sensing element or sensor region and generates an output electrical signal related to the magnitude of that pressure. Its sensor region may be comprised of an array of individual sensing elements or a single element.
As used herein an “accelerometer” is a device that measures the magnitude of proper acceleration. It may be of a single, dual or tri-axial version.
As used herein a “tri-axial accelerometer” is a multi-axis accelerometer that can detect magnitude and direction of the proper acceleration as a vector quantity, and can be used to sense orientation, coordinate acceleration, vibration, shock, fall, inclination, vibration, dynamic distance and speed in all three axes. It is known that single and dual axis accelerometers may be substituted for the tri-axial accelerometer of the present invention, however with limited functionality.
As used herein a “lighting sequencer” is a solid state device that turns on various LED lights in an array of LED lights in response to a signal generated by the pressure transducer on a microprocessor. It may adjust the intensity of the individual LEDs or merely just switch the LEDs on or off.
The electronic sensing components discussed herein are micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), capable because of their size and weight of being imbedded in the golf club and golf ball without upsetting the weight or balance of the club or ball. Although not discussed in detail herein, the timing system is used in the software application's algorithmic calculations to determine, velocity, duration of contact, swing speed, etc based on the movement inputs of the tri-axial accelerometer or the contact inputs on the pressure transducers, draw their time inputs from either of the real-time clock or the system clock that reside on the motherboard and software. These clock components operation, construction and integration into MEMS coupled to algorithmically based software applications are well known in the industry and need not be expanded upon herein. Additionally, standard microprocessor technology common in consumer electronic products are also employed as engineering best practice dictates.
The electronic personal golf training system consists of three devices; a smart golf ball 2, a smart golf club 4 and a PCD that is electronically linked to either the smart golf ball 2, (
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The smart golf club 4 has a replaceable or rechargeable power source (battery) 12 housed in the shaft 14 with its wires 16 traversing the length of the shaft 14 to the golf club head 18. (
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The shock tubes 22 are waterproof and flush with the front of the club face 6, and have an open distal end 21 and an open proximal end 23 each terminating in alignment with the individual pressure sensing elements 30 arranged on the pressure transducer 24 on the front face of the microprocessor 26. Thus, there is an individual pressure sensor for each shock tube. Alternately, the array of laser or otherwise drilled pressure transducer orifices 28 that extend into the club head may be conical in nature and each house a remote pressure sensing element 31 that is connected to a corresponding region on the pressure transducer 24 on the microprocessor 26. (
The selection of the pressure transducer utilized is based on the quickness of the applied pressure and required response times. Electrical measurement of pressure is preferred because of its higher accuracy requirements, more favorable economics, and quicker response. Although resistive transducers, strain gages, magnetic transducers, capacitive transducers, and resonant transducers may be used, the preferred embodiment will utilize either of the following two types. First, a variety of strain gage transducer that uses integrated circuit technology wherein resistors are diffused onto the surface of a silicon crystal within the boundaries of an area, which is etched to form a thin diaphragm. The physical displacement of the diaphragm is converted into an electrical signal. The second type is a crystal transducer wherein piezoelectric crystals produce an electric potential when placed under stress by the pressure-sensing element. Crystal transducers are preferred because they offer a high speed of response and are commonly used in dynamic pressure measurements in ballistics applications.
The overarching principle of the operation of the system is to determine exactly where on the smart golf club head face 6 a golf ball (smart or otherwise) is being contacted, how long it is contacted for, the acceleration/speed and path of the golf club, the smart golf ball's trajectory and position, the acceleration/speed of the smart golf ball and optionally, the spin on the smart golf ball. The parameters of zone of contact 8, contact time, position and movement with their associated time components are sensed by the aforementioned MEMS sensors in the smart golf ball 2 and the smart golf club 4 and transmitted wirelessly as data packets to the golfer's choice of personal computing devices, be it a smart phone, computer tablet, laptop or the like, where the data integrates with an installed, personal golf training software application.
This personal golf training software application evaluates these data packages (through the application of algorithmic programs for the calculation of zone of contact patterns, velocity, speed, trajectory and position as is well known in the field) and does two things. First, it outputs the calculated values in a readable format on the video display screen 52 of the personal computing device 50. An example of this would be
In the way of an example, the data may show that the smart golf club head's face 6 only contacted the top two thirds of the smart golf ball 2 on the farthest one third of the club face (having the zone of contact 8) and that the ball travelled in an arced path 10 known as a “slice.” For these parameters the relational database links the suggestions of raising the tee, moving player's stance closer to the golf ball, changing the grip to close the club face a little, and slowing the movement of the lower body with respect to the movement of the upper body. These suggestions are taken and compiled from numerous instructional golf sources including professional instructors.
The following table shows which device (e.g a MEMS or integrated circuit device) is responsible for the determination of which function by the personal golf training software application, and a typical type of suggested corrective action would be referenced in the relational database and presented as a suggestion to the user on his PCD.
Many of the diagnostic parameters that are determined by the various system elements are outlined in the following chart.
The most important parameter that the system evaluates is that of the zone of contact 8 on the club head face 6. Because the timing of the contact with the multiple pressure transducers is also determined, the angle from which the golf ball was hit is also known. The pattern of this zone tells more about what is happening with the shot than anything else, because it shows the precise location of the initial application of force applied to propel the golf ball. Since the pattern of this application of force determines the ball's, trajectory (direction, path and loft), it can be coupled with the spin, and distance sensed by the smart ball, to determine what is happening at a micro level (that of the club head and the golf ball.) This allows for the suggestion of the proper corrective action (generally golfer mechanics) intended to let the golfer attain a near perfect zone of contact in the “sweet spot” of the club head face. The application of force by a known body in a determined region from a determined direction (angle) can be used algorithmically to determine the sphere's trajectory and eventual location. Thus, a theoretically perfect model for the application of force to a golf ball can be developed, as well as a set of theoretical models of golf ball trajectories based on all of the possible zones of contact. Associated with the set of theoretical models are suggested actions of correction based on the deviance from the perfect model. With this information put into a relational database, the zone of contact reported for each shot can allow the software application to provide the appropriate associated correction suggestions.
As can be seen the personal golf training software application can select corrective actions from the relational database based on input signals from the smart golf ball 2, the smart golf club 4 or both. When both the smart golf ball 2 and the smart golf club 4 input signals are used, the list of corrective actions that will be provided (chosen for output and display) will be narrowed and more accurate (true) than the list of corrective actions provided using just one of these. With more information about what happened with the shot, the more narrow and tailored the relational database becomes.
The results of an entire round of golf may be saved in the program's allotted memory on the personal computing device for full evaluation later, or it may be viewed, shot by shot as the golfer progresses through the golf course, allowing him to make the corrections as indicated while he plays.
As can be seen, the golf ball contacted area (zone) on the clubface is almost instantaneously available to the golfer for his diagnosis and review. It cannot be called immediate biofeedback since it requires the golfer to open the application on his personal computing device and review it. However, in a cheaper, simpler embodiment the tri-axial accelerometer 32, the wireless transmitter (and its antenna) are not present and connected the microprocessor 26. This stripped down version retains the microprocessor, pressure transducer assembly (pressured transducer, pressure transducer orifices, and shock tube medium) operatively connected to the battery. In this embodiment the real time clock, the system clock, the LED array and the lighting sequencer 35 would be present and operatively connected to the microprocessor and battery so that at least one axis of the zone of contact (left to right horizontally) could be displayed momentarily in the array of illuminated LED's. For two axis indication a series of LED lights would reside perpendicularly to the first series of LED lights to display the zone of contact vertically. (
In the highest level of embodiment the optional light emitting diode (LED) system detailed above, is incorporated so as to provide instantaneous visual biofeedback, which is helpful, but only a subset of the data available to the golfer via the PCD interface and SW analysis. An array of LED lights 20 is arranged on the top of the club head and the intensity of light emitted after a stroke is proportional to the “quality” of the stroke contact. (
The physical overlay of the specific golf course being played is input into the personal computing device as determined by its GPS signal and downloaded database, in much the same way that GPS range finder data is collected, used and displayed on course specific maps. GPS signals sent from the smart golf ball's wireless transmission system (generally a Bluetooth system) through its antennae will create an additional stream of data to assist in determining the efficacy of contact, trajectory, ball location and the overall health of the golfer's swing. These signals of location/position are analyzed by a software application loaded onto the personal computing device. It compares these signals of location against its own relational database of golf courses, which is readily available and public domain. This mapping feature is a readily available prior art software application for personal computing devices, which has been well known in this field of art for some time. The information generated by this prior art software application is integrated into the electronic personal golf training software application, telling it where the ball is on the physical layout of that specific course based on the initial conditions of contact and the first 30 feet of flight time (in the case of the smart ball system, since the PCD will continue to receive the signal form the ball before during and after the ball is hit, until it passes out of range). This allows the location of the smart golf ball to be displayed in the personal computing device's video display screen. The ball tracking system operates as follows: The initial accelerometer data can be used to provide the calculated trajectory of the ball. The software then displays a box on the course map, which represents the likely landing zone of the ball thus struck. With a regular golf ball, the user then receives more precise position information from the PCD GPS application, which guides the user to the ball. In the embodiment where both the smart club system and smart ball system are employed, once the user is within range of the ball, the software will report on the ball's actual location from Bluetooth or other radio/electromagnetic signals being sent by the ball through its antenna. The box on the map thus directing to the general location and then the ball and PCD connecting, will activate the software feature to communicate the precise location of the ball. Never loose another ball again . . . unless one hits it into the pond on the next par three.
In an advanced, more expensive system with a more complex algorithmic software application, an infrared or “eye safe” laser diode or laser diode array can be included within the preferred embodiment to provide another layer of golfer-club-ball system diagnostic feedback in real or in near real time based upon tracking of the user's motion. Using similar technology to those employed in computer gaming systems where user/operator motions is recognized by the computer system, the golf system described herein can be augmented by the addition of the wired or wireless version of the diode feedback system. The software would naturally contain the necessary algorithmic functions to interpret the raw data collected by said diode system and sensors to receive the reflected, refracted and absorbed electromagnetic signals corresponding to the motion of the user's body. The software package would contain a relational database including, but not limited to, ideal body motion relative to club, ball, and ground to which it would compare the collected data and then provide the user with suggested corrective actions.
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With this embodiment, specific precise placement of the substrate on the club face is not critical as the pressure imprint created by the contact would reveal the outline of the club face grooves. From this the player can easily determine where on the club head face the zone of contact was and what correction is needed.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention. In the way of an exemplary, the technology disclosed herein is applicable to a variety of sporting goods and equipment including but not limited to, baseball bats, cricket bats, lacrosse sticks, hockey stick and the like. In this vein, the term club, club head or club head face refers to the impact surface of any of a variety of sporting implements a user would employ to strike a ball or other sporting object in the conduct of a game such as hockey, tennis, badminton, cricket, etc.
