Miniature radar for measuring club head speed and tempo

• US 20060287117A1
• Filed: 05/27/2005
• Published: 12/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sports Sensors, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sports Sensors, Inc.
• Inventors: Born, Louis, Dilz, Albert E. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 8,007,367 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 473/131
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2024/0031 at the starting point
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/30 Speed
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/802 Ultra-sound sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/89 Field sensors, e.g. radar systems
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0021 Tracking a path or terminating locations
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/3623 for driving A63B69/3608, A63B69/3658, A63B69/3661, A63B69/3667 and A63B69/3691 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/3658 Means associated with the ball for indicating or measuring, e.g. speed, direction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/583 using transmission of continuous unmodulated waves, amplitude-, frequency-, or phase-modulated waves and based upon the Doppler effect resulting from movement of targets
• 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

Abstract

A golf club head swing timing device that uses radar to measure the duration of a golf swing. Club head speed measurement is also provided. The details of the disclosed embodiments include the ability of detecting the start and end of a golf swing, and to do so from information from the radar signal. Preferably, RF Doppler radar is used. Various modes of use and display are provided.

Claims

1. A golf club swing motion measuring device comprising:

a transmitter-receiver operative to transmit a radar signal and to receive a radar signal reflected from a moving club head;

a detector coupled to the transmitter-receiver and operative to detect a speed signal from the transmitted and received radar signals; and

a processor coupled to the detector and programmed to process the speed signal and derive therefrom a swing-speed output signal representative of the speed of the moving club head and a swing-tempo output signal representative of the duration of a club head swing.

2. The swing motion measuring device of claim 1 further comprising:

an output device coupled to the processor; and

the processor being operative to control the output device to annunciate club head speed in response to the swing-speed output signal and to annunciate club head swing duration in response to the swing-tempo output signal.

3. The swing motion measuring device of claim 2 wherein:

the output device includes a visual annunciator operative to display an image correlated to the value of club head speed and to display an image correlated to the value of club head swing duration.

4. The swing motion measuring device of claim 3 wherein:

the processor is operative to control the output device to alternately display the image correlated to the value of club head speed and the image correlated to the value of club head swing duration.

5. The swing motion measuring device of claim 2 wherein:

the processor is operative to control the output device to differently annunciate a value of club head speed or club head swing duration when the value is the same for two consecutive measurements.

6. The swing motion measuring device of claim 1 wherein:

the transmitter-receiver is operative to transmit and receive an RF C-band or X-band signal.

7. The swing motion measuring device of claim 1 wherein:

the processor is programmed to process the speed signal to derive therefrom the beginning and the end of a club head swing; and

the processor includes a timer for timing the duration of the club head swing from the beginning to the end of the club head swing.

8. The swing motion measuring device of claim 7 wherein:

the processor is programmed to process a Doppler signal to detect therefrom the pullback of the club head to derive the beginning of the club head swing.

9. The swing motion measuring device of claim 7 wherein:

the processor is programmed to process a Doppler signal to determine therefrom the approximate ball contact time to derive the end of the club head swing.

10. The swing motion measuring device of claim 1 wherein the processor is programmed:

to process the speed signal to detect therefrom the beginning of a pullback of the club head;

to time the duration of the swing from the beginning of the pullback of the club head;

to validate the occurrence of a club head swing after the detection of the beginning of a pullback of the club head; and

to condition at least one of the output signals on validation of the occurrence of a club head swing.

11. The swing motion measuring device of claim 10 further comprising:

an output device coupled to the processor and including a visual annunciator operative to display an image correlated to the value of club head speed in response to the swing-speed output signal and to display an image correlated to the value of club head swing duration in response to the swing-tempo output signal;

the transmitter-receiver being operative to transmit and receive an RF C-band or X-band signal;

the processor being operative to control the output device to alternately display the image correlated to the value of club head speed and the image correlated to the value of club head swing duration and to control the output device to differently annunciate a value of club head speed or club head swing duration when the value is the same for two consecutive measurements;

the processor being further programmed to process the speed signal to derive therefrom the beginning and the end of a club head swing and including a timer for timing the duration of the club head swing from the beginning to the end of the club head swing.

12. The swing motion measuring device of claim 1 wherein the annunciator and antenna are located remote from each other.

13. The swing motion measuring device of claim 1 wherein:

the processor is programmed to derive a swing-speed output signal and a swing-tempo output signal for a plurality of different swings by processing the speed signal without the need to manually reset or restart a measurement cycle.

14. A method measuring golf club swing motion comprising:

detecting a Doppler shift from a signal transmitted toward and received from the path of a golf club head;

processing data of the Doppler shift to determine therefrom the beginning time and the end time of motion of the club head moving in the path;

timing the duration of a club head swing from the beginning time to the end time; and

generating a swing-tempo output signal representative of the duration of a club head swing.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

processing the Doppler signal to detect therefrom a pullback of the club head to derive the beginning time.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

processing the Doppler signal to determine therefrom the approximate ball contact time to derive the end of the club head swing.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein:

the processing of the Doppler signal to determine therefrom the approximate ball contact time includes detecting peak club head speed.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

measuring the time the duration of the swing from the detected beginning of the pullback of the club head.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

validating the occurrence of a club head swing after the detection of the beginning of a pullback of the club head; and

conditioning output of a measurement of swing duration on validation of the occurrence of a club head swing.

20. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

processing the Doppler signal to determine therefrom the maximum speed of the club head during a club head swing; and

generating a swing-speed output signal representative of the maximum speed of the moving club head.

annunciating a club head speed in response to the swing-speed output signal and a club head swing duration in response to the swing-tempo output signal.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein:

the annunciating includes alternately displaying the value of club head swing speed and club head swing duration.

22. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

switching between a constant display and a flashing display when a measured value is the same for two consecutive measurements.

23. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

deriving a swing-tempo output signal for a plurality of different swings by processing data of the Doppler shift without the need to manually reset or restart a measurement cycle.

24. A method of measuring the speed of a golf ball comprising:

providing an antenna in a protective housing configured to deflect a golf ball impacting the housing;

locating the housing in front of a golf ball with the antenna directed along the expected path that the golf ball will take when hit;

providing circuitry between the antenna and the annunciator that includes a radar transmitter/receiver coupled to the antenna, a ball speed detector coupled to the transmitter/receiver operative to detect a golf ball speed signal, and a processor coupled to the detector and configured to derive a golf ball speed measurement from the detected golf ball speed signal; and

providing an annunciator coupled to the processor and operative to output a golf ball speed measurement.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the annunciator is located remote from the antenna.