Golf autoranging system

• US 5,691,922 A
• Filed: 11/14/1995
• Issued: 11/25/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Airwave Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Airwave Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Marcoccia, Roberto, Pompeani, Robert, McEwan, Charles, Maietta, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Voeltz, Emanuel T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): KEMPER, MELANIE A
• Application Number:
  US08/557,218
• Time in Patent Office: 742 Days
• Field of Search: 364/561, 364/571.01, 364/571.02, 364/571.05, 364/569, 364/410, 342/42, 342/47, 342/118, 342/126, 342/125, 342/129, 342/173, 473/407, 473/131, 473/175
• US Class Current: 702/158
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2102/32 Golf
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/13 Relative positions
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/14 Geo-tagging, e.g. for correlating route or track location data with specific information related to that specific location
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/325 using transmission of coded signals, e.g. P.S.K. signals
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/46 Indirect determination of position data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/84 for distance determination by phase measurement
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/876 Combination of several spaced transponders or reflectors of known location for determining the position of a receiver G01S13/874 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/88 Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications electromagnetic prospecting or detecting of objects, e.g. near-field detection, G01V3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/466 by Trilateration, i.e. two antennas or two sensors determine separately the distance to a target, whereby with the knowledge of the baseline length, i.e. the distance between the antennas or sensors, the position data of the target is determined
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/006 using shared front-end circuitry, e.g. antennas G01S13/765, G01S13/825 take precedence

Abstract

A golf ranging system is provided where a golfer positions a ranging unit at a ball position, indicates which hole is being played and the ranging unit reports the distance to the pin for that hole and/or the distance from the tee for that hole. The ranging signal is a direct sequence spread-spectrum signal and the ranging is repeated many times and an average taken, to improve the accuracy of the distance measurement. Optionally, the ranging system could operate over multiple frequencies to avoid interference. The multiple frequencies are scanned until an interference-free channel is found, or measurements are made at several frequencies and averaged. The pin unit might be housed just beyond the pin and include an offset to the pin. The offset can be set by simply sending an offset signal from a standard ranging unit, or a specially configured course management unit, held at the pin or manually entered via a serial port.

Claims

1. An electronic golf course ranging apparatus for determining a distance to a pin selected among pins of holes of a golf course, wherein a golfer'"'"'s lie is a current position of a golf ball and the selected pin is a current target pin for the golfer, the apparatus comprising:

a hand-held golfer unit which is positionable near the golfer'"'"'s lie, the hand-held golfer unit including;

a ranging transceiver activated by the golfer to send a direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) ranging signal to the selected pin;

a processor coupled to the ranging transceiver;

a plurality of offset pin units disposed about the selected pin, the offset pin units including digital circuitry coupled to a pin transceiver that receives the DSSS ranging signal, the digital circuitry being operable to acquire, track and hold the DSSS ranging signal, and to code and transmit a DSSS return signal back to the remote transceiver of the hand-held golfer unit; and

wherein the processor calculates ranging distances from the hand-held unit to each of the offset pin units utilizing time differences between the DSSS ranging signal and the DSSS return signal received by the hand-held unit, the distance to the pin from the golfer'"'"'s lie being computed by the processor utilizing the ranging distances and a formula.

2. The electronic golf course ranging apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the plurality of offset pin units comprises first and second offset pin units, the DSSS return signal includes first, second, and third calibration distances between the first offset pin unit and the pin, the second offset pin unit and the pin, and the first and second offset pin units, respectively;

and

wherein the formula comprises a trilateration formula.

3. The electronic golf course ranging apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of offset pin units comprises a third offset pin unit.

4. An electronic golf course ranging apparatus for determining a distance to a pin selected among pins of holes of a golf course, wherein a golfer'"'"'s lie is a current position of a golf ball and the selected pin is a current target pin for the golfer, the apparatus comprising:

a golfer unit which is positionable near the golfer'"'"'s lie, the golfer unit including a means for indicating the selected pin, the golfer unitcomprising;

means for transmitting a ranging signal, the ranging signal including at least a pin selection signal;

a plurality of pin units, wherein a pin unit is positioned at the selected pin, and the pin unit comprises;

means for receiving the ranging signal at the pin;

means for processing the ranging signal to isolate the pin selection signal;

a pin unit identifier which provides an electronically-readable indication of an identifier uniquely identifying the pin unit from the pin units within the range of the golfer unit;

a means for comparing the pin unit identifier with the pin selection signal; and

means for transmitting a response signal to the golfer unit in response to receipt of a pin selection signal matching the pin unit identifier; and

means for calculating the distance to the pin unit from a time delay between the transmission of the ranging signal and the receipt of the response signal, wherein the ranging signal and the response signal are transmitted in a plurality of frequency bands and the means for calculating the ranging distance discounts measurements taken at frequencies subject to interference.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the time delay comprises a least mean squared fit mapping of repeated time delay measurements.

6. An electronic golf course ranging apparatus for determining a drive distance from a selected tee to a golfer'"'"'s lie, wherein the golfer'"'"'s lie is a current position of a golf ball following a drive and the selected tee is a point of origination of the drive, the apparatus comprising:

a golfer unit which is positionable near the golfer'"'"'s lie, the golfer unit including;

a ranging transceiver activated by the golfer to send a direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) ranging signal to the selected tee;

a processor coupled to the ranging transceiver;

a tee unit positioned at the selected tee, the tee unit including;

a tee transceiver that transmits a DSSS response signal to the golfer unit in response to the DSSS ranging signal; and

wherein the processor calculates the drive distance from the golfer unit to the tee unit from a time delay between the transmission of the DSSS ranging signal and the receipt of the DSSS response signal, the processor being operable in a loop-back mode to calculate an internal signal delay which is subtracted from the time delay to determine the drive distance;

and wherein the tee and ranging transceivers operate in a plurality of frequency bands.

7. A golf course ranging system comprising:

a pin unit located at a golf hole, the pin unit having a transceiver section coupled to a digital electronics section, the digital electronics section including a processing unit that encodes spread spectrum transmit signals and decodes spread spectrum receive signals, the pin unit also including a power control circuit that manages power by placing the pin unit in either an active or a sleep mode of operation;

a ranging unit also having a transceiver section coupled to a digital electronics section, the digital electronics section including a processing unit that encodes spread spectrum transmit signals and decodes spread spectrum receive signals;

in response to a handshake signal transmitted by the ranging unit, the power control circuit placing the pin unit in the active mode of operation and transmitting a handshake response signal, after receiving the handshake response signal the ranging unit transmitting a first ranging signal at a first epoch, t₁, responsive to the first ranging signal the pin unit transmitting a second ranging signal that includes a group time delay, t_r, of the pin unit, the second ranging signal being received by the ranging unit at a second epoch, t₂ ;

wherein a golf distance, d, from the ranging unit to the golf hole is calculated as

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">d=c(t.sub.2 -t.sub.1)/2

where c is the speed of light.

8. The golf course ranging system of claim 7 wherein the pin unit is disposed in a cup of the golf hole.

9. The golf course ranging system of claim 8 wherein the pin unit is disposed an offset distance from the golf hole, the pin unit being calibrated such that the golf distance accounts for the offset distance.

10. A golf course ranging system comprising:

first and second pin units located first and second offset distances, respectively, from a golf hole, each pin unit having a transceiver section coupled to a digital electronics section, the digital electronics section including a processing unit that encodes spread spectrum transmit signals and decodes spread spectrum receive signals;

a ranging unit also having a transceiver section coupled to a digital electronics section, the digital electronics section including a processing unit that encodes spread spectrum transmit signals and decodes spread spectrum receive signals;

in response to a first ranging signal at a first epoch, transmitted by the ranging unit, the first and second pin units transmitting second and third ranging signals, respectively, that includes a value indicative of the first and second offset distances, the second and third ranging signals being received by the ranging unit at second and third epochs, respectively;

wherein a golf distance from the ranging unit to the golf hole being calculated from a first delay between the second and first epochs, a second delay between the third and first epochs, and the value, according to a trilateration formula.