GOLF EQUIPMENT FITTING SYSTEM AND GOLF EQUIPMENT FITTING PROGRAM

• US 20150375073A1
• Filed: 02/21/2014
• Published: 12/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Rayon Company Limited (Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: SHIMONO, Satoshi, KODAMA, Hitoshi, SUZUKI, Katsuyuki
• Application Number:
  US14/767,040
• Publication Number:
  US 20150375073A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6895 Sport equipment
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/00 Golf clubs
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/00 Details or accessories of golf clubs, bats, rackets or the like
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/46 Measurement devices associated with golf clubs, bats, rackets or the like for measuring physical parameters relating to sporting activity, e.g. baseball bats with impact indicators or bracelets for measuring the golf swing
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/36 for golf
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/3605 Golf club selection aids informing player of his average or expected shot distance for each club
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2218/00 Aspects of pattern recognition specially adapted for signal processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/23 Recognition of whole body movements, e.g. for sport training

Abstract

A golf equipment fitting system and a golf equipment fitting program is capable of providing accurate calculation results even when specifications that affect swing time are changed, and of outputting simulation results in a short period of time.

The golf equipment fitting system and the golf equipment fitting program calculate a swing response surface and a time response surface using a response surface methodology based on an obtained swing data. Also, the golf equipment fitting system and the golf equipment fitting program calculate the swing data of a golf club that is not used for measurement from the swing response surface and the time response surface, simulate a golf swing based on the calculated swing data, and output the results of simulations.

Claims

1. A golf equipment fitting system, comprising:

a swing data acquisition unit that acquires swing data from a sensor attached to a plurality of golf clubs with different specifications;

a swing response surface computation unit that calculates a swing response surface using the response surface methodology based on the swing data obtained by the swing data acquisition unit;

a time response surface computation unit that calculates a time response surface using the response surface methodology based on the swing data obtained by the swing data acquisition unit;

a simulation unit that calculates the swing data of a golf club that is not used for measurement from the swing response surface and the time response surface and simulates the swing of the golf club based on the obtained swing data; and

a results output unit that outputs the results of simulations conducted by the simulation unit.

2. The golf equipment fitting system according to claim 1, wherein the specifications of a plurality of golf clubs to be used in simulations include at least the weight of a shaft.

3. The golf equipment fitting system according to claim 1, wherein the specifications of a plurality of golf clubs to be used in simulations include at least the length of a club.

4. The golf equipment fitting system according to claim 1, wherein the specifications of a plurality of golf clubs to be used in simulations include at least two different specifications, and the difference in impact degrees of the two different specifications is within a predetermined value.

5. The golf equipment fitting system according to claim 1, wherein the specifications of a plurality of golf clubs to be used in simulations are nine specifications selected from among 27 specifications obtained in combination of three different specifications and three levels each of the three specifications based on an L9 orthogonal array for the design of experiments.

6. The golf equipment fitting system according to claim 5, wherein the three different specifications are shaft weight, kick point and flex.

7. The golf equipment fitting system according to claim 1, wherein the three different specifications are selected from among the stiffness, length, total weight and balance of a club.

8. The golf equipment fitting system according to claim 1, wherein the three different specifications are selected from among the height, depth, distance and angle of the center of gravity of the head.

9. The golf equipment fitting system according to claim 1, wherein the three different specifications are the loft angle, lie angle and face angle of a club head.

10. The golf equipment fitting system according to claim 5, wherein when the three different specifications are divided into their respective levels and when the number of levels of a first specification is set as (i) and one level as (l), the number of levels of a second specification is set as (j) and one level as (m), and the number of levels of a third specification is set as (k) and one level as (n), the results output unit allocates a result number defined by (l−

1)i+(m−

1)j+(n−

1)k to each of the simulation results, then, each result number is replaced with a plotted number, which is the value obtained by subtracting (j−

1)×

k×

(l−

1) from the result number, and finally the results output unit outputs data as the fitting results by entering the plotted numbers on the horizontal axis and the simulation results on the vertical axis.

11. The golf equipment fitting system according to claim 10, wherein the results output unit outputs the fitting results as line segments by connecting the plotted data applicable to the following conditions (i)˜

(iii);

(i) data in which a first specification is different from second and third specifications while second and third specifications are the same;

(ii) data in which a second specification is different from first and third specifications while first and third specifications are the same; and

(iii) data in which a third specification is different from first and second specifications while first and second specifications are the same.

12. The golf equipment fitting system according to claim 10, wherein the results output unit outputs fitting results by converting the results to a natural language in association with corresponding absolute values and inclinations.

13. The golf equipment fitting system according to claim 1, wherein the results output unit outputs a specification that exhibits the maximum value in simulation results by converting the specification to a product name.

14. The golf equipment fitting system according to claim 1, wherein the results output unit selects and displays a golf club based on the results of simulations conducted by the simulation unit.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computer, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

a swing data acquisition step to acquiring swing data by attaching a sensor to a plurality of golf clubs with different specifications;

a calculating a swing response surface using the response surface methodology based on the swing data;

a time response surface computation step to calculating a time response surface using the response surface methodology based on the swing data;

a simulation step to calculating the swing data of a golf club that is not used for measurement from the swing response surface and the time response surface and simulating the swing of the golf club based on the obtained swing; and

outputting the results of simulations.