Claims
- 1. A system for determining the location of each of a plurality of mobile position-detection stations on a golf course, to assist golfers using the mobile stations in playing the course, comprising said plurality of mobile stations; a base station for managing play of the course, adapted to communicate with each of the mobile stations; each of the base station and the mobile stations being adapted to operate with a satellite-based navigation system for use in determining the relative position of and distance between a respective mobile station and designated surveyed features of each hole on the course including tee box, fairway, hazards, green and cup; the surveyed features being generally denoted by their respective form, extent and position on the course relative to a demarcation point, and with a set of predetermined virtual zones representing selected regions including at least tee box area and green area, respectively, on each hole of the course; said designated surveyed features being stored as (GPS data points collected for each of the designated surveyed features along the respective boundary thereof relative to a preselected reference point so that all of the survey data points for each of the designated surveyed features arc uniquely identified with respect to said reference point and apparatus using zone detection algorithms to initiate the occurrence of a selected event at each mobile station when the location of the respective mobile station is detected to be in predetermined relation to a given one of said zones on a hole.
- 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the satellite-based navigation system comprises a differential global positioning system (DGPS) with RF transmitter/receivers (transceivers) in conjunction with a plurality of earth-orbiting GPS satellites that transmit GPS satellite signal information.
- 3. The system of claim 1 wherein each zone is a two-dimensional pattern having a boundary encompassing a respective selected region of the hole.
- 4. The system of claim 3 wherein each mobile station includes a monitor for display of the selected event.
- 5. The system of claim 4 wherein each mobile station is a golf cart.
- 6. The system of claim 5 wherein the cart monitor is roof-mounted for non-glare under-roof viewing by an occupant of the cart.
- 7. The system of claim 4 wherein the selected event is a map of a portion of the course proximate said given zone.
- 8. The system of claim 7 wherein said given zone is the tee box area of the hole, and the selected event is a map of the entire hole having said tee box area when the detected location of the mobile station is in that tee box area zone.
- 9. The system of claim 4 wherein the selected event is a promotional message.
- 10. The system of claim 4 wherein the selected event is an advertising message.
- 11. The system of claim 4 wherein the selected event is a programmed tip for playing the hole from said given zone.
- 12. The system of claim 4 wherein the monitor displays a programmed map of a portion of the course relevant to the location of the mobile station on the course, and the selected event is a visual message in a pop-up window of the display.
- 13. The system of claim 12 wherein the pop-up window is timed to close after a preset time interval has elapsed.
- 14. The system of claim 1 wherein the selected event is a synchronized point in time.
- 15. The system of claim 1 wherein the selected event is an elapsed time measured from commencement of play of the hole upon entry of the mobile station into the tee box area zone of the hole.
- 16. The system of claim 15 wherein the elapsed time is restarted upon commencement of play of the next hole.
- 17. The system of claim 1 wherein the selected event is an elapsed time measured from commencement of play upon entry of the mobile station into the tee box area zone of the first hole of the course.
- 18. The system of claim 17 wherein the base station includes a monitor for selective viewing of elapsed time of play for any given mobile station on the course.
- 19. The system of claim 1 wherein the mobile station includes a timer, the given zone is the tee box area of the hole, and the selected event is the start of said timer for measuring pace of play by golfers using the mobile station in play of the course.
- 20. The system of claim 2 wherein the given zone is the tee box area of the hole, each mobile station has a timer calibrated with GPS time from the GPS transceiver of the respective cart, and the selected event is the start of said timer for measuring pace of play by golfers using the respective mobile station in play of the course.
- 21. A system for determining the location of each of a plurality of mobile position-detection stations on a golf course, to assist golfers using the mobile stations in playing the course, comprising said plurality of mobile stations; a base station for managing play of the course, adapted to communicate with each of the mobile stations; each of the base station and the mobile stations being adapted to operate with a satellite- based navigation system for use in determining the relative position of and distance between a respective mobile station and designated surveyed features of each hole on the course including tee box, fairway, hazards, green and cup; the surveyed features being generally denoted by their respective form, extent and position on the course relative to a demarcation point, and with a set of predetermined virtual zones representing selected regions including at least tee box area and green area, respectively, on each hole of the course; each mobile station including a timer; and apparatus using zone detection algorithms to initiate the start of said timer for measuring pace of play by golfers using the mobile station in play of the course when the location of the respective mobile station is detected to be in predetermined relation to the tee box area zone of the hole; wherein said start of the timer is inhibited unless the mobile station was present in the green area of the immediately preceding hole for a predetermined period of time in play of the course.
- 22. A method of initiating display of a selected image on a monitor of a golf cart equipped with a distance measuring and information system for play of a golf course having an administrative base station and a multiplicity of such golf carts, each cart adapted to display on its monitor a map of the entire course or selected holes or portions of holes of the course and of the location of the respective cart on the course, said method comprising the steps of:maintaining a daily updated store of survey data including form, extent and position of designated features including at least daily tee box location, daily cup location, and green of each hole, wherein the survey data in said daily updated store comprises GPS data points collected along the boundary of each of the designated features relative to a preselected reference point so that all of the survey data points for each of the designated features are uniquely identified with respect to said reference point; designating a plurality of artificial geometric zones each having a boundary that encompasses an area occupied by a selected feature including a tee box zone and a green zone on each hole of the course; detecting ingress and egress of the respective golf cart into and from the tee box zone and the green zone of a hole; and in response to detecting one of ingress into the tee box zone or egress from the green zone of a hole, displaying said selected image on the respective cart monitor.
- 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of displaying said selected image comprises displaying a map of the hole to be played.
- 24. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of displaying said selected image comprises displaying a message in a pop-up window overlying the display of said map.
- 25. The method of claim 24, wherein said message is a promotional message.
- 26. The method of claim 24, wherein said message is an advertising message.
- 27. The method of claim 24, wherein said message is a programmed tip for playing the hole whose map is displayed underlying the message displayed in the pop-up window.
- 28. The method of claim 24, including closing the pop-up window after passage of a predetermined time interval of display thereof suitable for reading the message therein.
- 29. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of displaying said selected image comprises displaying elapsed time measured from commencement of play of a hole upon detecting ingress of the cart into the tee box zone of the hole.
- 30. The method of claim 29, including restarting the elapsed time displayed on the cart monitor upon commencement of play of the next hole indicated by detecting ingress of the cart into the tee box zone of said next hole.
- 31. The method of claim 29, including displaying said elapsed time for a selected cart on a monitor at the base station.
- 32. The method of claim 29, including reducing the cumulative elapsed time by an amount of time spent waiting by the cart to accommodate play of the course by golfers ahead of those using the cart.
- 33. A method of initiating display of a selected image on a monitor of a golf cart equipped with a distance measuring and information system for play of a golf course having an administrative base station and a multiplicity of such golf carts, each cart adapted to display on its monitor a map of the entire course or selected holes or portions of holes of the course and of the location of the respective cart on the course, said method comprising the steps of:maintaining a daily updated store of survey data including form, extent and position of designated features including at least daily tee box location, daily cup location, and green of each hole; designating a plurality or artificial geometric zones each having a boundary that encompasses an area occupied by a selected feature including a tee box zone and a green zone on each hole of the course; detecting ingress and egress of the respective golf cart into and from the tee box zone and the green zone of a hole; and in response to detecting one of ingress into the tee box zone or egress from the green zone of a hole, displaying said selected image on the respective cart monitor including displaying elapsed time measured from commencement of play of a hole upon detecting ingress of the cart into the tee box zone of the hole, and restarting the elapsed time displayed on the cart monitor upon commencement of play of the next hole indicated by detecting ingress of the cart into the tee box zone of said next hole if a predetermined period of time elapsed between ingress and egress of the cart into and from the green zone of the previous hole before ingress of the cart into the tee box zone of said next hole is detected.
- 34. Apparatus for detecting the real-time position of a golf cart equipped with a navigation system on a surveyed golf course, comprising an overlay of predetermined plural zones on each hole of a stored map of the course, wherein the survey data for each hole of said stored max is a collection of GPS data points along the boundary of selected features of the respective hole relative to a predetermined reference point so that all of the survey data points for each of the selected features are uniquely identified with respect to said reference point, each zone representing a virtual fixed two-dimensional geometric expansive area of play of the respective hole encompassing at least one of the selected features of the hole, at least two zones of each hole depicting, respectively, a pattern for capturing entry of the cart onto the hole to commence play thereof and a pattern for capturing departure of the cart from the hole on completing play thereof, and a trigger responsive to presence of the cart in one of said at least two zones of a hole as indicated by the navigation system of the cart, for initiating a pre-programmed visual display in the cart.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 08/525,905, filed Sep. 8, 1995 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,236,360 B1, issued on May 22, 2001, assigned to the same assignee as the ‘905 application, the full disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
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Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08/525905 |
Sep 1995 |
US |
Child |
09/860494 |
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US |