Remote-controlled electric golf bag cart

• US 8,905,175 B2
• Filed: 01/14/2013
• Issued: 12/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: TUNG THIH Electron Company Limited
• Original Assignee: TUNG THIH Electron Company Limited
• Inventors: Chang, Chen-Hui, Liu, Yu-Hsin, Kuo, Shun-Lin, Chiang, Shih-Tsung
• Primary Examiner(s): Restifo, Jeffrey J
• Application Number:
  US13/740,498
• Publication Number:
  US 20140196967A1
• Time in Patent Office: 694 Days
• Field of Search: 180/167, 280/DIG.5
• US Class Current: 180/167
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 55/57 Bags with tripod or like set-up stands
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 55/61 motorised
• CPC Class Codes: B62B 2202/404 Golf articles, e.g. golfbags
• CPC Class Codes: B62B 5/0076 Remotely controlled
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0255 using acoustic signals, e.g. ultra-sonic singals sonar systems designed for anti-collision purposes G01S15/93
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/028 using a RF signal
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 280/05 Motorized golf carts

Abstract

A remote-controlled electric golf bag cart has a remote control, a support frame, an antenna set and a control module. The remote control transmits a distance measurement signal. The support frame has a wheel assembly, a golf bag stand and a motor assembly mounted thereon. The antenna set and the control module are mounted on the support frame. The antenna set receives the distance measurement signal. The control module determines an orientation and a distance of the remote control according to the distance measurement signal received by the antenna set, and drives the motor assembly to move the support frame forward toward the remote control, making the support follow a user having the remote control and preventing other in-field persons and obstacles from affecting the support frame to follow the remote control.

Claims

1. A remote-controlled electric golf bag cart comprising:

a remote control transmitting a distance measurement signal;

a support frame having a wheel assembly, a golf bag stand and a motor assembly, wherein the motor assembly is connected with the wheel assembly to drive the wheel assembly;

an antenna set mounted on the support frame, having;

a mounting base securely mounted on a top of a front end of the support frame;

multiple antenna units securely and erectly mounted on the mounting base, and respectively facing to a front side, a left side, a right side, a left front side and a right front side of the support frame, and receiving the distance measurement signal transmitted from the remote control with the antenna units; and

an antenna-switching unit electrically connected to the antenna units; and

a control module mounted on the support frame, electrically connected to the antenna set and the motor assembly, and setting a minimum distance, determining an orientation of the remote control with respect to the antenna set after acquiring the distance measurement signal received from the antenna set, calculating a distance between the remote control and the antenna set, and comparing the distance with the minimum distance, and if the distance is greater than the minimum distance, controlling the motor assembly to drive the wheel assembly for the support frame to approach the remote control.

2. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 1, wherein

the wheel assembly has a set of front wheels and a rear wheel;

and

the motor assembly is connected with the rear wheel and has;

a driving member driving the rear wheel to rotate;

a brake member stopping the rear wheel from rotating; and

a diverting member changing a moving direction of the rear wheel.

3. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 2, wherein

the remote control is built in with an acceleration command and a deceleration command and has multiple buttons to correspond to the acceleration command and the deceleration command so that the remote control is operated to transmit the acceleration command or the deceleration command and the antenna set receives the acceleration command or the deceleration command transmitted from the remote control;

and

the BCM is built in with multiple speed levels and drives the driving member according to one of the speed levels, increases a moving speed of the driving member from a current speed level to a next higher speed level when receiving the acceleration command transmitted from the remote control, and decreases the moving speed of the driving member from the current speed level to a next lower speed level when receiving the deceleration command transmitted from the remote control.

4. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 3, wherein

the remote control is built in with a left turn command and a right turn command and has multiple buttons to correspond to the left turn command and the right turn command so that the remote control is operated to transmit the left turn command or the right turn command and the antenna set receives the left turn command or the right turn command transmitted from the remote control;

and

the BCM drives the diverting member to turn the support frame to the left or to the right when receiving the left turn command or the right turn command transmitted from the remote control.

5. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 4, wherein the distance measurement signal transmitted from the remote control is a radio signal in the 2.4 GHz ISM band.

6. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 3, wherein the distance measurement signal transmitted from the remote control is a radio signal in the 2.4 GHz ISM band.

7. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 2, wherein

the remote control is built in with a left turn command and a right turn command and has multiple buttons to correspond to the left turn command and the right turn command so that the remote control is operated to transmit the left turn command or the right turn command and the antenna set receives the left turn command or the right turn command transmitted from the remote control;

and

the BCM drives the diverting member to turn the support frame to the left or to the right when receiving the left turn command or the right turn command transmitted from the remote control.

8. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control module has:

an antenna control unit electrically connected to the antenna-switching unit to acquire the distance measurement signals received from the respective antenna units, determining an orientation of the remote control with respect to the antenna set according to a field strength of the received distance measurement signal of each antenna unit after detecting the field strength of the received distance measurement signal from each antenna unit, calculating the distance between the remote control and the antenna set, and outputting a corresponding orientation datum and a corresponding distance datum; and

a body control module (BCM) electrically connected to the antenna control unit and the driving member, the brake member and the diverting member of the motor assembly, and built in with the minimum distance, determining if a distance corresponding to the distance datum is greater than the minimum distance after receiving the orientation datum and the distance datum outputted from the antenna control unit, if positive, driving the driving member and the diverting member of the motor assembly for the support frame to move forward toward an orientation of the remote control corresponding to the orientation datum, keeping receiving the orientation datum and the distance datum, and if a distance corresponding to the received distance datum is not greater than the minimum distance, activating the brake member of the motor assembly to stop the support frame from moving forward.

9. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 8, further comprising a set of ultrasonic transceivers mounted on a bottom of the front end of the support frame, transmitting ultrasonic waves to the ground and receiving reflected waves, wherein

the control module further has an ultrasonic control unit electrically connected to the set of ultrasonic transceivers and the BCM, calculating a distance of the ultrasonic transceivers above the ground after the set of ultrasonic transceivers transmits an ultrasonic wave and receives a reflected wave, and outputting the distance above the ground to the BCM;

and

the BCM is further built in with a maximum distance to the ground and a minimum distance to the ground, continuously receives the distance above the ground and compares the distance above the ground with the maximum distance to the ground and the minimum distance to the ground when the motor assembly drives the support frame to move forward, controls the motor assembly to continuously drive the support frame to move forward when the distance above the ground falls between the maximum distance to the ground and the minimum distance to the ground, stops the support frame from moving and selectively drives the diverting member to make a turn when determining the distance above the ground is more than the maximum distance to the ground or less than the minimum distance to the ground.

10. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 9, wherein

the remote control is built in with an acceleration command and a deceleration command and has multiple buttons to correspond to the acceleration command and the deceleration command so that the remote control is operated to transmit the acceleration command or the deceleration command and the antenna set receives the acceleration command or the deceleration command transmitted from the remote control;

and

the BCM is built in with multiple speed levels and drives the driving member according to one of the speed levels, increases a moving speed of the driving member from a current speed level to a next higher speed level when receiving the acceleration command transmitted from the remote control, and decreases the moving speed of the driving member from the current speed level to a next lower speed level when receiving the deceleration command transmitted from the remote control.

11. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 10, wherein

the remote control is built in with a left turn command and a right turn command and has multiple buttons to correspond to the left turn command and the right turn command so that the remote control is operated to transmit the left turn command or the right turn command and the antenna set receives the left turn command or the right turn command transmitted from the remote control;

and

the BCM drives the diverting member to turn the support frame to the left or to the right when receiving the left turn command or the right turn command transmitted from the remote control.

12. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 11, wherein the distance measurement signal transmitted from the remote control is a radio signal in the 2.4 GHz ISM band.

13. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 9, wherein

the remote control is built in with a left turn command and a right turn command and has multiple buttons to correspond to the left turn command and the right turn command so that the remote control is operated to transmit the left turn command or the right turn command and the antenna set receives the left turn command or the right turn command transmitted from the remote control;

and

the BCM drives the diverting member to turn the support frame to the left or to the right when receiving the left turn command or the right turn command transmitted from the remote control.

14. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 8, wherein

the remote control is built in with a left turn command and a right turn command and has multiple buttons to correspond to the left turn command and the right turn command so that the remote control is operated to transmit the left turn command or the right turn command and the antenna set receives the left turn command or the right turn command transmitted from the remote control;

and

the BCM drives the diverting member to turn the support frame to the left or to the right when receiving the left turn command or the right turn command transmitted from the remote control.

15. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 8, wherein

the remote control is built in with an acceleration command and a deceleration command and has multiple buttons to correspond to the acceleration command and the deceleration command so that the remote control is operated to transmit the acceleration command or the deceleration command and the antenna set receives the acceleration command or the deceleration command transmitted from the remote control;

and

the BCM is built in with multiple speed levels and drives the driving member according to one of the speed levels, increases a moving speed of the driving member from a current speed level to a next higher speed level when receiving the acceleration command transmitted from the remote control, and decreases the moving speed of the driving member from the current speed level to a next lower speed level when receiving the deceleration command transmitted from the remote control.

16. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 15, wherein

the remote control is built in with a left turn command and a right turn command and has multiple buttons to correspond to the left turn command and the right turn command so that the remote control is operated to transmit the left turn command or the right turn command and the antenna set receives the left turn command or the right turn command transmitted from the remote control;

and

the BCM drives the diverting member to turn the support frame to the left or to the right when receiving the left turn command or the right turn command transmitted from the remote control.

17. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 1, wherein

the remote control is built in with an acceleration command and a deceleration command and has multiple buttons to correspond to the acceleration command and the deceleration command so that the remote control is operated to transmit the acceleration command or the deceleration command and the antenna set receives the acceleration command or the deceleration command transmitted from the remote control;

and

the BCM is built in with multiple speed levels and drives the driving member according to one of the speed levels, increases a moving speed of the driving member from a current speed level to a next higher speed level when receiving the acceleration command transmitted from the remote control, and decreases the moving speed of the driving member from the current speed level to a next lower speed level when receiving the deceleration command transmitted from the remote control.

18. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 17, wherein

the remote control is built in with a left turn command and a right turn command and has multiple buttons to correspond to the left turn command and the right turn command so that the remote control is operated to transmit the left turn command or the right turn command and the antenna set receives the left turn command or the right turn command transmitted from the remote control;

and

the BCM drives the diverting member to turn the support frame to the left or to the right when receiving the left turn command or the right turn command transmitted from the remote control.

19. The remote-controlled electric golf bag cart as claimed in claim 1, wherein

the remote control is built in with a left turn command and a right turn command and has multiple buttons to correspond to the left turn command and the right turn command so that the remote control is operated to transmit the left turn command or the right turn command and the antenna set receives the left turn command or the right turn command transmitted from the remote control;

and

the BCM drives the diverting member to turn the support frame to the left or to the right when receiving the left turn command or the right turn command transmitted from the remote control.