GPS golf diagnostic system
First Claim
1. A portable golf diagnostic system for determining the distance of a golf ball from a known position, said diagnostic system comprising:
- a receiver for receiving radio signals transmitted from a plurality of earth orbiting GPS satellites;
a processor for processing the radio signals and determining therefrom the position of said diagnostic system according to the latitudinal, longitudinal and altitudinal coordinates of said diagnostic system;
a first enabler for enabling said processor to receive the radio signals proximate to an at-rest golf ball to thereby determine an at-rest ball position;
memory storing latitudinal, longitudinal and altitudinal coordinates of a plurality of pin positions; and
a second enabler for enabling said processor to determine a three-dimensional distance between the at-rest ball position and the pin position corresponding to the hole being played, thereby permitting the remaining distance to the pin position after a played shot to be readily ascertained to within a few meters of the actual remaining distance to the pin position.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A GPS golf diagnostic system for receiving radio signals from earth orbiting GPS satellites, determining the latitudinal, longitudinal and altitudinal coordinates of the diagnostic system, and computing the distance between these coordinates and a plurality of known positions is disclosed. The diagnostic system of the present invention utilizes the computed data for informing the user of the distance between the present position of the golf ball and known positions such as previous ball position, green location and pin position. The diagnostic system is further useful for keeping track of shot distances, clubs used, scores obtained on each hole and total game scores for a plurality of courses.
349 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A portable golf diagnostic system for determining the distance of a golf ball from a known position, said diagnostic system comprising:
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a receiver for receiving radio signals transmitted from a plurality of earth orbiting GPS satellites; a processor for processing the radio signals and determining therefrom the position of said diagnostic system according to the latitudinal, longitudinal and altitudinal coordinates of said diagnostic system; a first enabler for enabling said processor to receive the radio signals proximate to an at-rest golf ball to thereby determine an at-rest ball position; memory storing latitudinal, longitudinal and altitudinal coordinates of a plurality of pin positions; and a second enabler for enabling said processor to determine a three-dimensional distance between the at-rest ball position and the pin position corresponding to the hole being played, thereby permitting the remaining distance to the pin position after a played shot to be readily ascertained to within a few meters of the actual remaining distance to the pin position. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A portable golf diagnostic system for determining the distance of a golf ball from a plurality of locations on a particular hole, said diagnostic system comprising:
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means for receiving radio signals transmitted from a plurality of earth orbiting GPS satellites; means for processing the radio signals and determining therefrom the position of said diagnostic system according to the latitudinal, longitudinal and altitudinal coordinates of said diagnostic system; a first enabling means for enabling said processing means to establish a reference position corresponding to a starting ball location for the particular hole being played; a second enabling means for enabling said processing means to determine the at-rest position of a subsequently played ball; memory means for recording the at-rest ball position and for storing a plurality of pin positions containing the latitudinal, longitudinal and altitudinal coordinates of each of the several pin locations; and means for determining the three-dimensional distance between the at-rest position and one of the reference position and the previously recorded ball position, and the three-dimensional distance between the at-rest position and the pin position corresponding to the present hole being played, thereby permitting the distance of a played shot and the remaining distance to the pin position after the shot to be readily ascertained to within a few meters of the actual distance of the played shot and of the actual remaining distance to the pin position respectively. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A portable golf diagnostic system for determining the distance of a golf ball from a known position, said diagnostic system comprising:
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a receiver for receiving radio signals transmitted from a plurality of earth orbitting GPS satellites; a processor for processing the radio signals and determining therefrom the position of said diagnostic system according to the latitudinal, longitudinal and altitudinal coordinates of said diagnostic system; a first enabler for enabling said processor to receive the radio signals proximate to an initial golf ball starting position, to thereby determine a reference position; memory storing latitudinal, longitudinal and altitudinal coordinate of said reference position; a second enabler for enabling said processor to receive golf club data, the golf club data including golf club type and golf club number; and a third enabler for enabling said processor to receive the signals proximate to an at-rest golf ball position to thereby determine a shot position, and for enabling said processor to determine a three-dimensional distance between the shot position and the reference position, thereby permitting the distance of a golf shot to be readily ascertained to within a few meters of the actual golf shot distance.
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Specification