AUTO-CORRECTING BOW SIGHT

• US 20100115778A1
• Filed: 11/09/2009
• Published: 05/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wisconsin Archery Products LLC
• Original Assignee: Timothy Gorsuch
• Inventors: Buckley, James A., Gorsuch, Timothy M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,316,551 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 33/265
• CPC Class Codes: F41G 1/467 for bows

Abstract

A bow sight automatically corrects and compensates for various dynamically changing aiming, shooting, and/or environmental conditions. The bow sight can perform situation-specific aim evaluations and corrections to correct or compensate for situation-specific shooting and environmental factors, at a given time and on a per-shot basis. The bow sight includes integrated sensor-type devices, such as a range finder, an inclinometer, and an anemometer, which detects values of situation-specific shooting and environmental factors and communicates such detected values with a processor or other control device. The processor uses the situational specific data, as well as bow and arrow performance data, and data from shot calibrations, to calculate precise vertical and horizontal aim compensations required to accurately hit the desired target point. The bow sight displays a new crosshair, dot, or multiple dot set, to direct the archer to a situation-specific aiming point for the most accurate shot under those particular circumstances.

Claims

1. An auto-correcting bow sight, comprising:

a range finder supported on a bow incorporating the auto-correcting bow sight, the range finder determining a range to a target;

an inclinometer supported on the bow and determining an angle of inclination of the bow;

a processor supported on the bow and receiving information from the range finder and the inclinometer relating to the range to target and the angle of inclination of the bow, respectively; and

multiple aim indicators being operably connected to the processor, wherein the processor controls which of the multiple aim indicators is displayed at a given time based on both of (i) the range to target, and (ii) the angle of inclination of the bow, information.

2. The auto-correcting bow sight of claim 1, further comprising a triggering button that is operably connected to the processor and at least one of a range finder and an inclinometer, and wherein actuating the triggering button activates the at least one of the range finder and the inclinometer, and begins an evaluation by the processor for determining which of the multiple aim indicators to display based on at least one of the distance to target and angle of inclination of the bow.

3. The auto-correcting bow sight of claim 1, wherein some of the aim indicators are vertically aligned with each other.

4. The auto-correcting bow sight of claim 3, wherein some other multiple aim indicators are horizontally aligned with each other.

5. The auto-correcting bow sight of claim 1, the multiple aim indicators comprising at least one of (i) light emitting diodes, and (ii) portions of fiber optic strands conveying light from a bank of diodes mounted remotely with respect to the multiple aim indicators.

6. The auto-correcting bow sight of claim 1, further comprising a targeting sight that is positioned above the multiple aim indicators.

7. The auto-correcting bow sight of claim 1, wherein the processor controls which of the multiple aim indicators is displayed based on at least one of, arrow weight, arrow initial release speed from the bow, arrow aerodynamic drag characteristics, and broadhead weight.

8. The auto-correcting bow sight of claim 1, wherein at least one of the multiple aim indicators are selectively displayed in a see-through panel display.

9. The auto-correcting bow sight of claim 8, wherein ones of the multiple aim indicators, a value indicative of a shooting angle of the bow, and a value of a distance to target that corresponds to the range to target is displayed on the see-through panel display.

10. The auto-correcting bow sight of claim 1, wherein the multiple aim indicators define discrete dots.

11. The auto-correcting bow sight of claim 1, further comprising an anemometer operably connected to the processor and determining values of at least one of wind speed and direction, the anemometer sending a signal that corresponds to the determined values to the processor, and wherein the processor controls which of the multiple aim indicators is displayed at a given time based on (i) the distance to target, (ii) the angle of inclination of the bow, and (iii) at least one of wind speed and direction.

12. The auto-correcting bow sight of claim 11, wherein the aim indicator that is displayed compensates for at least one of the (i) the distance to target, (ii) the angle of inclination of the bow, and (iii) at least one of wind speed and direction, and wherein the aim indicator that is displayed is directly alignable with an intended strike area of the target while shooting an arrow from the bow.

13. A method of displaying an aim indicator in a bow sight to compensate for situation-specific shooting factors, the method comprising:

evaluating a shooting distance defined between a bow and a target;

evaluating a vertical shooting angle of the bow; and

determining an aiming position based on the shooting distance and the vertical shooting angle of the bow; and

displaying an aim indicator at the determined aiming position so as to compensate for the vertical shooting angle of the bow.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising shooting an arrow from the bow at a known range and performing a correction calibration step.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising performing a correction calibration step by instructing a processor within the bow sight as to how much aim compensation is required based on known performance characteristics of the bow.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising performing a correction calibration step by instructing the processor as to how much aim compensation is required based on known characteristics of an arrow being used with the bow.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising electronically transferring information to the bow sight for instructing the processor as to how much aim compensation is required based on known performance characteristics of an arrow that is being used with the bow.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising activating one of multiple calibrations setups that are stored in a memory device of the bow sight.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the known range is determined by a range finder.