GB2562318A

GB2562318A - Trackable golf ball and golf ball locating device

Info

Publication number: GB2562318A
Application number: GB1709830.2A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Tinsley John
Original assignee: T A M Solutions Ltd
Current assignee: T A M Solutions Ltd
Priority date: 2017-05-02
Filing date: 2017-06-20
Publication date: 2018-11-14
Also published as: GB201706957D0; GB2562212B; GB2562212A; GB201709830D0; WO2018203249A1

Abstract

A golf ball locating device 30 has a receiver configured to receive an electromagnetic signal from a golf ball (10, fig 2) and to determine from the received signal a distance and direction from the locating device to the golf ball (10); a display 32 gives an indication of the distance and direction to a user; the locating device is configured to determine whether the distance is below a predetermined value. A golf ball (10) including an electromagnetic transmitter and a hollow spherical shell 18 that forms an antenna is also disclosed. The electromagnetic signals are preferably Bluetooth (RTM) signals and a power store within the ball may be charged inductively.

Description

TRACKABLE GOLF BALL AND GOLF BALL LOCATING DEVICE

The present invention relates to a golf ball locating device, and to a trackable golf ball.

Golfers are familiar with the challenges involved in finding the ball after a shot has been taken. A drive can propel the ball some hundreds of yards-often out of sight of the players-and the typically varied terrain of a golf course offers any number of features such as long grass, brush, bushes, gorse and so on in which the ball can be hidden. Sometimes a player may be able to see a ball in an inaccessible location - e.g. in gorse or in water - but unable to positively identify it as their own.

The time and trouble involved in searching for a ball is unwelcome to a player trying to concentrate on his/her game. It also slows down progress on the course, which can be irksome to other players -both those in the relevant group and those following. A golf course is a valuable and expensive resource so maximising its usage - by minimising delays during play - can be financially important. Lost balls imply a financial as well as a handicap cost to golfers.

At the time of writing, golf rules permit five minutes for the ball to be found after the search for it commences. This period is expected to be reduced to three minutes in future, increasing pressure on players to find their ball quickly. In the event of failure to find the ball in this time, the player receives a "time and distance" penalty - another ball must be played from the spot where the last shot was played, and there is a penalty of one stroke. Alternatively, if a player can positively identify his partially or wholly obscured and un-retrievable ball, he may drop a new ball not further than 2 club-lengths from the position of his last un-retrievable ball, thus obviating the additional distance penalty. He incurs only a 1 stroke penalty without being forced back to the position where he played his last shot.

Aside from the nuisance of looking for the ball and the penalties for losing it, one must consider the environmental implications of loss of golf balls. It has been estimated that it takes between 100 and 1000 years for a golf ball to decompose naturally. Some 300 million golf balls are said to be lost or discarded annually in the United States alone. Decomposing golf balls release quantities of heavy metals including zinc used in their synthetic rubber filling. In an aqueous environment this zinc is found to attach itself to ground sediment and to poison surrounding flora and fauna. The environmental burden is far from trivial and reducing it would have important implications.

There are proposals in the existing patent literature for devices to be used in locating golf balls. US5132622 (Valentino) describes a golf ball with a metal centre which is to be located using a metal detector. GB1172449 (Wickman) proposes that the ball should incorporate a radioactive substance enabling it to be detected by means of a Geiger counter. US patent 9500743 (Reid et al) concerns a golf ball locator in which a plurality of RFID (radio frequency identification) chips are applied to the ball to be tracked using a radio receiver. In this example the RFID function is to be powered by power harvested from the impact of golf club with golf ball using a piezoelectric element.

Problems in locating golf balls remain to be solved. Among these are the following.

As mentioned above, the period permitted by the rules for finding the ball is calculated from the commencement of the search for it, but there is room for doubt and dispute as to the moment in time at which the search is begun, and club players often do not activate any form of timer at the relevant moment. Hence establishing whether the time has elapsed is subjective.

There are issues in relation to identifying a specific ball. If more than one player uses the same type of ball locating system then that system needs to give the user a means of tracking his/her own ball, and not that of one of his/her competitors. Additionally the system may need to allow for a single player needing to track more than one ball whilst playing a hole. One reason for this arises from the rules relating to playing a provisional ball. If, after a shot is played, it appears that the ball played may be lost or out of bounds, then the player may play a second ball provisionally. Afterwards the ball originally played may be found to be playable, in which case it remains the ball in play. Alternatively if the original ball is not found or cannot be played then the provisional ball becomes the ball in play. In suitable circumstances a second or further provisional ball may even be used. A comprehensive balllocating system needs to provide for location of the original ball and of one or more provisional balls, and for them to be distinguished from one another. A radio frequency based locating system may use received radio signal intensity as an indication of range, but since the ball's orientation is unpredictable, accuracy of such as system is impaired if the antenna's emission pattern is anisotropic. There is thus a need to accommodate an isotropic antenna within the structure of a golf ball that performs as required and meets the requirements of the rules. One particular restriction in this respect is that the moment of inertia of the ball needs to be substantially the same when measured along any axis passing through the ball's centre. Additionally the ball's centre of gravity needs to coincide with its geometrical centre.

Another problem which may be addressed by certain embodiments of the present invention is not concerned with finding the ball as such, but with re-positioning the ball if it cannot be played from the location in which it comes to lie. Rules permit the player to take relief two club-lengths from the ball if, once the ball has been identified, it cannot be played from its lie. Players often apply this rule incorrectly and take two club-lengths from the closest point of relief instead of two club-lengths from the actual position of the ball. A technological solution is desirable, to ensure compliance with the rules.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is a golf ball locating device comprising a receiver configured to receive an electromagnetic signal from a golf ball and to determine from the received signal a distance and direction from the locating device to the golf ball, and a display configured to display an indication of the said distance and direction to a user, the locating device being configured to determine whether the distance is below a predetermined value.

In some embodiments the electromagnetic signal is a beacon used e.g. with radio direction finding techniques to enable determination of distance and direction. In other embodiments the electromagnetic signal encodes the ball's location, established using a positioning system incorporated into the ball, and the receiver establishes distance and direction from this location.

This determination of whether the distance is below a predetermined value makes possible more than one advantageous mode of operation. In one such, the device provides a countdown timer function and is configured to initiate the countdown when the said distance falls below the predetermined value. The period of this countdown may be the period provided by rules for a player to look for the ball (which is currently five minutes but may in the future be three minutes). In this way the practical problem about determining when the search for the ball commences, and when the period available for the search elapses, can be avoided. The search is taken to commence when the player is within the predetermined distance from the ball (10 metres, say) and at that instant the countdown timer is automatically activated. The device may be configured to give a visible or audible signal to indicate to the user and his/her fellow players when the search period has elapsed.

In another advantageous embodiment, the predetermined distance is substantially two club lengths. The locating device may be configured to provide a visual or audible signal having two different states, one of which indicates that the distance is below the predetermined value and the other of which indicates that the distance is above the predetermined value. Hence the device addresses the above mentioned problems associated with incorrect re-positioning of the ball by giving a signal of whether the device/player is within the two club lengths distance from the original ball's lie that is permitted by rules.

Specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 shows, in exploded form and partly cut-away, a golf ball embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 shows a section through the same golf ball;

Figure 3 is a schematic representation of a core of the same golf ball;

Figure 4 is a view from above of a golf ball locating device embodying the present invention;

Figure 5 is a view of the same device from one side;

Figure 6 shows the same device carried on a charging station, the resultant assembly being view from one side; and

Figure 7 shows the assembly from above.

With reference to Figures 1 to 3, the golf ball 10 has the outward appearance of a conventional ball and is designed to perform like a conventional ball in terms of its playing characteristics. It has in this example the type of dimpled exterior which is known in relation to existing golf balls, this being formed by an outer skin 12 of conventional type, which may be of elastomer. Within the skin 12 is an outer layer 14 and an intermediate layer 16, each comprising respective elastomeric materials and giving the ball 10 the desired characteristics in terms of compression, resilience etc. Concentrically housed at the centre of the ball 10 is a core 18 containing a transmitter 20 which emits an electromagnetic output signal used to locate the ball 10, and an energy store 22 which drives the transmitter.

The core 18 has a hollow spherical outer skin which is electrically conductive and serves as antenna for the transmitter 20, giving the desired isotropic emission pattern. The skin may comprise graphene, which provides high electrical conductivity, low weight and high strength. Alternatively it may comprise metal. Due to its spherical symmetry the antenna has the same moment of inertia in any direction, and so does not disturb the overall balance of the ball 10.

The transmitter 20 comprises an integrated circuit which is embedded in the core 18 and forms a microprocessor and associated functions. It can be lightweight and arranged to avoid affecting the ball's performance. The energy store 22 may comprise an electrical energy store chargeable from an external power source. The energy store may comprise a suitable miniature battery (electrical cell) or a capacitor of sufficient capacity, e.g. a supercapacitor/ultracapacitor. In either case proximity inductive charging may be used to charge the energy store, as will be explained below. Alternatively power sources based on tiny amounts of radioactive material may be utilised.

The ball 10 may harvest energy inertially, when the ball 10 suffers acceleration (especially but not necessarily exclusively when the ball 10 is struck). This may for example be effected using a piezoelectric transducer. It may harvest energy from an interrogating electromagnetic field.

Figure 4 to 7 show a golf ball locating device 30 which is in this example a hand held device of a size that makes it easy to carry in a pocket. The locating device 30 provides distance and direction information to assist the user in finding the ball 10. It does so through a display 32 which in this embodiment provides:- (a) a direction indicator 34 representing the horizontal direction along which the ball 10 lies. This takes the form of a radial line, one end of which is fixed at a central point of the display. The line rotates upon the display to indicate the direction. A user can look along the line to try to see the ball 10, or can walk along the indicated direction toward the ball 10; (b) a range indicator 36 giving a distance from the locating device 30 to the ball 10. In the present embodiment this takes the form of a set of concentric rings whose appearance changes (e.g. in colour or brightness) to indicate that the ball 10 is within the relevant range. Thus for example the five rings shown in the drawing may indicate a progressively diminishing range from 10 metres down to 1 metre (or 30 feet down to 3 feet). The range could be represented in other forms. For example a simple numerical display could be provided representing the range in feet or metres; (c) a timer display 38, which takes the form of a numerical readout; and (d) an indication 40 of which ball 10 is active, which in this example takes the form of a set of numerals one of which - corresponding to the active ball 10 - is illuminated or otherwise highlighted.

The locating device 30 has user-actuable controls which in the present embodiment comprise:- (a) a locating control 42 formed as a button on one side of the device. Depression of the button 42 activates the device's locating function and the direction and range indicators 34, 36; (b) a pairing control 44 formed as a button on the other side of the device. Depression of button 44 prepares the device to pair with a ball 10; and (c) a timer start/stop control 46, formed as a button on the device's front face. Depression of the button 46 starts/stops a countdown on the timer display 38.

The locating device 30 is shaped to provide a cradle in which a golf ball 10 is able to stably rest during pairing of the device 30 with the ball 10. Figure 5 shows this cradle to be formed by a shallow bowl shape 50. The cradle may take other forms in other embodiments.

In the present embodiment the locating device 30 has a releasable hoop 52 (shown disengaged in an inset drawing in Figure 4) through which it is able to be linked when not in use to a belt loop, golf bag handle etc.

Within the body of the locating device 30 is a radio transceiver for pairing with the golf ball 10 before the ball 10 is played, and for detecting its output signal whilst the ball 10 is sought, to provide the range and direction information.

Directional information may be obtained by known radio direction finding techniques. Range may be inferred from time of flight measurements or preferably from received signal strength. In such embodiments, radio direction finding provides a bearing and distance from the locating device 30 to the ball 10. The receiving device itself may incorporate a positioning system from which is is able to establish its own location on the golf course. Using both this positional data and the bearing and distance established by radio direction finding, the locating device 30 is then able to establish the location of the ball 10.

The ball's output signal may be a radio frequency signal. It may be in the UHF range. The ball's transmitter 20 and the transceiver of the locating device 30 may be configured to operate according to the Bluetooth (RTM) standard. The ball's transmitter 20 may be a Bluetooth beacon.

But the present invention is able to be implemented with technologies other than radio direction finding. In other embodiments the ball 10 itself is provided with a positioning system and so enabled to determine its physical location. The positioning system may be a satellite-based positioning system. The American Global Positioning System is the most widely known satellite based positioning system at present, but there is at the time of writing a European satellite based positioning system under development, known as Gallileo, as well as the Chinese BeiDou system and the Russian Glonass version. In all these examples the positioning device receives multiple electromagnetic signals from respective satellites, each signal incorporating a time of transmission, and from the differences in the times of receipt of the signals, and based on the known locations of the satellites, the position of the positioning device is established.

In the case of a ball 10 with an onboard positioning system, the ball 10 is able to determine its own physical location. In this case the ball's output signal, transmitted to the locating device 30, is not a simple beacon, but instead a digitally encoded signal containing the ball's position which is sent to the locating device 30 and decoded by it. In order to establish distance and bearing to the ball, the locating device 30 is itself provided with a positioning system, which may again be a satellite positioning system. The locating device 30 thus obtains (a) the location of the ball 10, received in its output signal and (b) its own location. From these two locations it is able to determine the distance and bearing. If the positional data is in a coordinate system then simply subtracting one set of coordinates from the other in the manner of a vector subtraction yields a vector representing the translation from the locating device 30 to the ball 10. Converting this to a bearing and distance is straightforward, using trigonometry and Pythagoras' theorem.

In the present embodiment a complete ball locating system comprises a further unit in the form of an inductive charging station 60 which is configured to give the energy store 22 of the ball 10 a "flash charge" in a brief period of the order of 30 seconds. Hence the ball 10 can be charged ready for use whilst it is being paired with the locating device 30, which can also be charged from the charging station 60. Suitable inductive charging technology is known and commercially available. A single flash charge may be sufficient to run the ball 10 throughout a round of golf. Alternatively, a long-life embedded battery may suffice.

The balls 10 each emit an identifier in their output signal which is unique, at least to the extent that no two balls being used in the round have matching identifiers. Before use of a given ball 10 it is paired to the locating device 30, a process which includes establishing a communications link between them and providing the ball's identifier to the locating device 30, so that the locating device 30 is able to subsequently to identify the specific ball(s) that have been paired, even if multiple identical locating devices are in use on the same course. The identifier may alternatively be provided to the ball 10 by the locating device 30, in which case it will then be stored by the ball's microprocessor.

According to an aspect of the present invention, multiple balls are able to be simultaneously paired with the locating device 30. In the present embodiment six balls can be paired, these being identified by numbers from one to six on the active ball indicator 40.

The locating device 30 has a timer function able to count down - on the timer display 38 - the period permitted for a player to seek the ball 10. This period is currently five minutes although it is expected to be reduced to three minutes following planned rule changes. The timer can be activated manually by means of the timer control 46, but it is also configured to be activated at the moment that the locating device 30 detects that the ball 10 is within a predetermined range of the ball 10. Thus the timer may be set to begin its countdown at the moment when the distance between the ball 10 and the locating device 30 becomes small enough for the device to first detect the ball 10 (that is, the predetermined range may be the maximum detection range of the device), or when the measured range from one to the other falls below a chosen threshold.

In use, a player will typically select a ball 10 and charge it and pair it to the locating device 30. He/she may at the same time charge and pair one or more additional balls, or may choose to pair additional balls only if and when they are needed.

In the normal course of events, the player will drive off the first tee and then some time afterwards will walk down the fairway to look for the ball 10. As the player approaches the ball 10, the locating device 30 will at some point detect its output signal and begin to display direction and range information to aid in the search. When the player and the locating device 30 move within the predetermined range from the ball 10, the countdown timer is automatically activated and the player's search for the ball 10 is deemed to have begun. If the countdown timer reaches zero before the ball 10 is found then the ball 10 is declared lost. Otherwise the timer is reset (either manually, or automatically, e.g. in response to the ball 10 being in close proximity to the locating device 30) and the process repeats as the player takes the next shot.

As noted above, if it appears that the ball 10 played may be lost or out of bounds then the player may play a provisional ball. By virtue of the facility to pair multiple balls simultaneously to the locating device 30, this situation is able to be accommodated. Both the ball 10 in play and the provisional ball are paired to the locating device 30, each being given a respective number on the active ball indicator 40. After playing the provisional the player is able to set the locating device 30 to seek the ball 10 in play, and can use the permitted time (measured by the device's countdown timer) to look for that. If the ball 10 in play is not found within the time limit then it is declared lost and the locating device 30 can then be used to seek the provisional ball.

In certain embodiments the locating device 30 is configured to indicate distance in two different user-selectable modes. In the first mode, the device gives an indication of range to the ball 10 as explained above. In the second mode it gives instead an indication of whether the ball 10 is within a chosen distance from the locating device 30. The chosen distance may be 2.33 metres (or 92 inches, two club lengths). The range indicator may in this mode give a binary output, e.g. red if the ball 10 is outside the chosen range and green if the ball 10 is within the chosen range.

The rules of golf stipulate that a player may take relief two club-lengths from the ball 10 if, once the ball 10 has been identified, he cannot play it. Players often apply this rule incorrectly and take two club-lengths from the closest point of relief instead of two club-lengths from the actual position of the ball 10. The locating device 30 is able to assist the player in getting the application of the rule absolutely right by taking relief 2 club-lengths or less from the ball 10 and not two club-lengths from the nearest visible point of relief. In a competition, this is crucial.

At the end of the round the user is able to reset the device to clear it of any residual pairings with the golf balls. This prepares the device for the next round, but it also ensures that when the player returns to the course, he/she will not be led to find an old ball, lost on a previous round!

Claims

1. A golf ball locating device comprising a receiver configured to receive an electromagnetic signal from a golf ball and to determine from the received signal a distance and direction from the locating device to the golf ball, and a display configured to display an indication of the said distance and direction to a user, the locating device being configured to determine whether the distance is below a predetermined value.

2. A golf ball locating device as claimed in claim 1 which is configured to provide a countdown timer function and to initiate the countdown when the said distance falls below the predetermined value.

3. A golf ball locating device as claimed in claim 2 in which the countdown timer function provides a period equal to the period provided by the rules of golf for the ball to be found.

4. A golf ball locating device as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3 in which the countdown timer function provides a period of either five minutes or three minutes.

5. A golf ball locating device as claimed in any of claims 2 to 4 in which the countdown timer is configured to be reset in response to actuation of a timer control by a user.

6. A golf ball locating device as claimed in claim 1 in which the predetermined value of distance is substantially two golf club lengths.

7. A golf ball locating device as claimed in claim 1 or claim 5 in which the predetermined distance is substantially 2.3 metres.

8. A golf ball locating device as claimed in claim 6 or claim 7 which is configured to provide a user with a visual or audible signal having two different states, one of which indicates that the distance is below the predetermined value and the other of which indicates that the distance is above the predetermined value.

9. A golf ball locating device as claimed in any preceding claim which is configured to receive an electromagnetic signal from the golf ball which includes an identifier associated with the ball, and to identify the ball from the received identifier.

10. A golf ball locating device as claimed in claim 9 configured to receive and store multiple identifiers associated with respective golf balls and to identify a detected ball from its identifier.

11. A golf ball locating device as claimed in claim 9 or claim 10 which is configured to undergo a process of pairing with a ball in which the locating device receives and stores the ball's identifier.

12. A golf ball locating device as claimed in claim 11 which is configured to be capable of pairing with two or more balls simultaneously, enabling the locating device to locate and identify either or all of the paired balls selectively.

13. A golf ball locating device as claimed in claim 12 configured to enable a user to select which of two or more paired balls the device will locate.

14. A golf ball locating device as claimed in claim 12 or claim 13 configured to display to a user an indication of which of multiple paired balls is being located.

15. A golf ball locating device in which the receiver is configured to operate according to a Bluetooth (RTM) standard.

16. A golf ball locating device as claimed in any preceding claim having a casing shaped to provide a cradle for supporting a ball.

17. A golf ball locating device as claimed in claim 16 having an inductive charger configured to charge a ball supported by the cradle.

18. A golf ball locating device as claimed in any preceding claim which is configured to establish direction to the golf ball using radio direction finding.

19. A golf ball locating device as claimed in any preceding claim which is configured to establish distance to the golf ball based on received signal strength.

20. A golf ball locating device as claimed in any of claims 1 to 18 which is configured to establish distance to the golf ball based on time of flight of the electromagnetic signal.

21. A golf ball locating device as claimed in any of claims 1 to 17 which is configured to receive from the golf ball an electromagnetic signal encoding data comprising the spatial location of the golf ball, and to determine the said distance and direction from the received data.

22. A golf ball locating device as claimed in claim 21 which comprises a positioning system configured to establish the spatial location of the golf ball locating device, and logic circuitry configured to establish the said distance and direction from the spatial location of the golf ball and the spatial location of the golf ball.

23. A golf ball configured to transmit an electromagnetic signal to enable the ball to be located, the ball comprising a hollow spherical electrically conductive shell serving as an antenna from which the electromagnetic signal is transmitted.

24. A golf ball as claimed in claim 23 in which the shell contains an energy store and a transmitter drivable by the power source.

25. A golf ball as claimed in claim 24 having means for receiving power from an inductive charger to charge the energy store.

26. A golf ball as claimed in any of claims 23 to 25 in which the shell comprises graphene.

27. A golf ball as claimed in any of claims 23 to 26 in which the electromagnetic signal comprises an identifier associated with the ball.

28. A golf ball as claimed in any of claims 23 to Y1 in which the electromagnetic signal conforms to a Bluetooth (RTM) standard.