Golf swing measurement and analysis system

• US 9,630,079 B2
• Filed: 11/28/2012
• Issued: 04/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Golf Impact, LLC
• Original Assignee: Golf Impact, LLC
• Inventors: Davenport, Roger
• Primary Examiner(s): Hu, Kang
• Assistant Examiner(s): Weatherford, Syvila
• Application Number:
  US13/687,682
• Publication Number:
  US 20130090179A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,609 Days
• Field of Search: 473273
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2071/0625 Emitting sound, noise or music
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2071/063 Spoken or verbal instructions
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/00 Measuring of physical parameters relating to sporting activity
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/40 Acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/53 Force of an impact, e.g. blow or punch
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/56 Pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0006 Computerised comparison for qualitative assessment of motion sequences or the course of a movement
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/04 Heads
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0466 wood-type
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/00 Details or accessories of golf clubs, bats, rackets or the like
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/02 Ballast means for adjusting the centre of mass A63B60/24, A63B60/54 take precedence
• 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 69/3614 using electro-magnetic, magnetic or ultrasonic radiation emitted, reflected or interrupted by the golf club
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/3632 Clubs or attachments on clubs, e.g. for measuring, aligning A63B69/3614 takes precedence; clubs for swinging exercises in general A63B15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/14 by lifting or attempted removal of hand-portable articles
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49002 Electrical device making

Abstract

A golf club assembly includes at least one sensor assembly, the sensor assembly being operable to sense at least motion and impact of a golf club head and a processor communicatively coupled to the sensor assembly, the processor being operable to sample data from the sensor assembly at a first rate, receive a signal indicating motion of the golf club head, and sample data from the sensor assembly at a second rate different from the first rate upon receiving the signal indicating motion of the golf club head.

Claims

1. A golf club head assembly comprising:

a first sensor that is an impact sensor;

a second sensor that is an accelerometer;

a processor communicatively coupled to the first and second sensors and operable to sample at least one of the first and second sensors at a sample rate that changes in real time based on detecting that a golf club swing has reached a point in a power-stroke portion of the golf club swing, wherein the processor samples the accelerometer at a first sample rate during a backswing portion of the club swing, and samples the accelerometer at a second sample rate during the power-stroke portion of the club swing, wherein the first and second sample rates are both greater than zero.

2. The golf club head assembly according to claim 1, wherein the processor samples the impact sensor at a different sample rate than the accelerometer.

3. The golf club head assembly according to claim 2, wherein the respective sample rates of the impact pressure sensor and the accelerometer both change based on the processor determining that the point in the power-stroke portion is reached.

4. The golf club assembly according to claim 1, wherein the processor determines that the point in the power-stroke portion is reached at least partially based on g-force measurements.

5. The golf club head assembly of claim 1, wherein the processor further initiates a timer to cease sampling the impact sensor and the accelerometer based on detecting an impact via the impact sensor.

6. A golf club assembly comprising:

at least one sensor assembly, the sensor assembly being operable to sense at least motion and impact of a golf club head; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the sensor assembly, the processor being operable to;

sample data from the sensor assembly at a first rate;

receive a signal indicating motion of the golf club head has reached a point in a power-stroke portion of a golf club swing; and

in real time, change to sample data from the sensor assembly at a second rate different from the first rate upon receiving the signal indicating motion of the golf club head, the first and second sampling rates each being greater than zero.

7. The golf club assembly according to claim 6, wherein:

the signal indicating motion of the golf club head is an indication of a change in motion of the golf club head.

8. The golf club assembly according to claim 7, wherein:

the processor is further operable to initiate reception of a signal including impact data upon receiving the signal indicating a change of motion of the golf club head.

9. The golf club assembly according to claim 6, wherein:

the processor is further operable to delay changing between the first rate and the second rate upon receiving the signal indicating motion of the golf club head.

10. The golf club assembly according to claim 6, further comprising:

a transmitter operable to transmit at least a portion of the sampled data.

11. The golf club assembly of claim 6, wherein the processor further initiates a timer to cease sampling based on detecting an impact via the at least one sensor assembly.

12. A computer-implemented method for tracking a golf club swing, the method including:

sampling, via a processor, an accelerometer at a first sample rate during a backswing portion of the golf club swing;

detecting, via the processor, that a power-stroke portion of a swing is present;

in real-time response to the detection, sampling, via the processor, the accelerometer at a second sample rate during the power-stroke portion of the golf club swing, wherein the second sample rate is higher than the first sample rate and both the first and second sample rates are greater than zero.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further including sampling an impact sensor.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further including initiating sampling the impact sensor in response to the detection.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further including initiating a timer to cease sampling the impact sensor and the accelerometer based on detecting impact via the impact sensor.