Systems, methods, and articles of manufacture to measure, analyze and share golf swing and ball motion characteristics

• US 10,751,598 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2016
• Issued: 08/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Karsten Manufacturing Corporation
• Original Assignee: Karsten Manufacturing Corporation
• Inventors: Cottam, Roger J., Wood, Paul D., Henrikson, Erik M., Hope, Alex J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hu, Kang
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pinheiro, Jason
• Application Number:
  US15/275,038
• Publication Number:
  US 20170007902A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,432 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2071/0625 Emitting sound, noise or music
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2071/0647 Visualisation of executed movements
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2071/065 Visualisation of specific exercise parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2071/0694 Visual indication, e.g. Indicia
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2209/10 with adhesive type surfaces, i.e. hook and loop-type fastener
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/12 Absolute positions, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/17 Counting, e.g. counting periodical movements, revolutions or cycles, or including further data processing to determine distances or speed
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/36 Speed measurement by electric or magnetic parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/40 Acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/44 Angular acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/52 Weight, e.g. weight distribution
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/801 Contact switches
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/805 Optical or opto-electronic sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/806 Video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/807 Photo cameras
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/833 Sensors arranged on the exercise apparatus or sports implement
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/02 Testing, calibrating or measuring of equipment
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/54 Transponders, e.g. RFID
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/685 for electronic devices, e.g. phone, PDA, GPS device, notebook
• 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: A63B 69/3685 : Putters or attachments on putters, e.g. for measuring, aligning A63B69/3614 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/0669 : Score-keepers or score display devices
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/211 : using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/428 : involving motion or position input signals, e.g. signals representing the rotation of an input controller or a player's arm motions sensed by accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/46 : Computing the game score
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/812 : Ball games, e.g. soccer or baseball
• CPC Class Codes: F16L 3/13 : and engaging it by snap action F16L3/1203 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/20 : Movements or behaviour, e.g. gesture recognition recognition of facial expressions G06V40/16
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 : relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 : for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 : for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 : for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/04 : Supports for telephone transmitters or receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 : with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 : Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Embodiments of systems, methods, computer-readable media and article of manufacture related to measuring, analyzing, and sharing golf swing and ball motion characteristics are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

generating swing data by a wearable device as the wearable device moves during a predetermined period of time associated with a swing of a golf club, the swing data comprising accelerometer data generated from an accelerometer component of the wearable device and gyroscope data generated from a gyroscope component of the wearable device;

utilizing a processor for;

determining an impact data point of the swing data as an acceleration rate of change of the accelerometer data that exceeds a predetermined maximum threshold within the predetermined period of time, the impact data point associated with a first time interval;

determining a backswing-end data point of the swing data as a minimum value of the gyroscope data associated with a second time interval before the first time interval;

determining a swing-start data point of the swing data associated with a third time interval before the second time interval, by identifying a maximum value of the gyroscope data before the second time interval, and

selecting the swing-start data point of the swing data as a value of the gyroscope data that drops below a predetermined minimum threshold before the second time interval;

generating a backswing time and a downswing time associated with the swing of the golf club by analyzing time differences between the first time interval, the second time interval, and the third time interval;

generating a swing tempo using the backswing time and the downswing time; and

integrating individual acceleration values associated with the swing data including each of the swing-start data point, the backswing-end data point, and the impact data point with respect to time to generate velocity vectors for each of a plurality of axes.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating the downswing time associated with the swing of the golf club by determining a first time difference between the first time interval associated with the impact data point and the second time interval associated with the backswing-end data point; and

generating the backswing time associated with the swing of the golf club by determining a second time difference between the second time interval associated with the backswing-end data point and the third time interval associated with the swing-start data point; and

wherein the impact data point is associated with a strike of a golf ball by the swing of the golf club, the backswing-end data point is associated with an end of the backswing of the swing of the golf club, and the swing-start data point is associated with a beginning motion of the swing of the golf club.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein the wearable device comprises at least one of an electronic watch, an electronic wristband, an electronic ring, or an electronic glove; and

wherein at least one of the gyroscope component or the accelerometer component are embodied by at least one of a microelectromechanical system-based sensor, the microelectromechanical system-based sensor being operable for measuring acceleration and an extent and rate of rotation for movement along at least three axes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the gyroscope data comprises a set of resultant angular rate values calculated from raw gyroscope streams generated from the gyroscope component.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

passing the swing data including the set of resultant angular rate values through a filter to remove noise, the noise comprising predetermined undesired features of the swing data.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

engaging a strap of the wearable device to a wrist of an individual.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

engaging a strap of the wearable device to a shaft of the golf club.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

coupling the wearable device to a section of the shaft of the golf club proximate a butt end of the golf club with a first end portion of the wearable device oriented towards a tip end of the golf club.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

combining velocity vectors with quaternion data generated by the wearable device to calculate X,Y,Z position coordinates for the wearable device for a plurality of data points defined by the swing data including each of the swing-start data point, the backswing-end data point, and the impact data point.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

generating a three dimensional swing path using the X,Y,Z position coordinates for the wearable device for the plurality of data points defined by the swing data including each of the swing-start data point, the backswing-end data point, and the impact data point.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

estimating a movement of a wrist of an individual associated with the swing of a golf club using the X,Y,Z position coordinates for the wearable device for the plurality of data points defined by the swing data including the swing-start data point, the backswing-end data point, and the impact data point.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

estimating a wrist path angle of an individual associated with the swing of a golf club using the X,Y,Z position coordinates for the wearable device for the plurality of data points defined by the swing data including the swing-start data point, the backswing-end data point, and the impact data point.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a two-dimensional (2-D) graph to determine the first time interval, the second time interval, and the third time interval, the 2-D graph defining an X-axis associated with time and a Y-axis associated with movement measurements defined by the acceleration data and the gyroscope data of the swing data; and

plotting data points associated with the accelerometer data and the gyroscope data on the 2-D graph, the data points comprising the impact data point of the swing data, the backswing-end data point of the swing data, and the swing-start data point of the swing data in addition to other data points associated with different positions of the golf club during the swing of the golf club.

14. A method, comprising:

determining a first time interval associated with a swing of a golf club when the golf club impacts a golf ball using an accelerometer of a wearable device;

determining a second time interval by working backwards in time from the first time interval until the resultant angular rate is half the rate at the point of impact of the first time interval, and continuing to work backwards until the gradient of the resultant angular rate changes direction, the second time interval associated with a backswing of the swing of the golf club using a gyroscope of the wearable device;

determining a third time interval by working backwards in time from the second time interval, the third time interval associated with a start of the swing of the golf club using the gyroscope of the wearable device; and

generating a tempo of the swing of the golf club by a calculating a difference between at least two of the first time interval, the second time interval or the third time interval.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

generating additional swing data by a wearable device as the wearable device moves during an additional predetermined period of time associated with an additional swing of the golf club;

determining a first time interval associated with the additional swing of the golf club when the golf club impacts a golf ball using the accelerometer of the wearable device;

determining a second time interval associated with a backswing of the additional swing of the golf club using the gyroscope of the wearable device;

determining a third time interval associated with a start of the additional swing of the golf club using the gyroscope of the wearable device;

generating an additional tempo of the additional swing of the golf club by calculating a difference between at least two of the first time interval, the second time interval or the third time interval associated with the additional swing of the golf club; and

calculating a difference between the tempo and the additional tempo to generate a golf swing consistency value.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

utilizing at least one global positioning system of the wearable device to determine a location of the wearable device on a golf course; and

outputting the location to a display of the wearable device.

17. A golf swing aid apparatus, comprising:

a golf club; and

a wearable device that assists with computation of a swing tempo from a swing of the golf club by detecting a first time interval associated with an impact of the golf club against a golf ball using an accelerometer of the wearable device, determining a second time interval by working backwards in time from the first time interval until a resultant angular rate is half a rate at the point of impact of the first time interval, and continuing to work backwards until a gradient of the resultant angular rate changes direction, the second time interval associated with a backswing of the swing of the golf club using a gyroscope of the wearable device, and determining a third time interval by working backwards in time from the second time interval, the third time interval associated with a start of the swing of the golf club using the gyroscope of the wearable device.

18. The golf swing aid apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

a processor for computing the swing tempo; and

a display device for displaying the swing of the golf club.

19. The golf swing aid apparatus of claim 17, wherein an adjustable band of the wearable device is coupled to a wrist of an individual such that a display of the wearable device is oriented over a predetermined portion of the wrist, and the adjustable band is tightened against skin of the wrist to reduce movement of the display away from the predetermined portion of the wrist.