EP1651317B1 - Verfahren und gerät zum auffinden verloren gegangener golfbälle - Google Patents

Verfahren und gerät zum auffinden verloren gegangener golfbälle Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1651317B1
EP1651317B1 EP04710929A EP04710929A EP1651317B1 EP 1651317 B1 EP1651317 B1 EP 1651317B1 EP 04710929 A EP04710929 A EP 04710929A EP 04710929 A EP04710929 A EP 04710929A EP 1651317 B1 EP1651317 B1 EP 1651317B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
light
signal
detector
ball
wavelength
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP04710929A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP1651317A1 (de
Inventor
Michael A. Ramsay
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Golfspeed International Ltd
Original Assignee
Golfspeed International Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Golfspeed International Ltd filed Critical Golfspeed International Ltd
Publication of EP1651317A1 publication Critical patent/EP1651317A1/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP1651317B1 publication Critical patent/EP1651317B1/de
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
    • A63B57/00—Golfing accessories
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
    • A63B24/00—Electric or electronic controls for exercising apparatus of preceding groups; Controlling or monitoring of exercises, sportive games, training or athletic performances
    • A63B24/0021—Tracking a path or terminating locations
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
    • A63B37/00—Solid balls; Rigid hollow balls; Marbles
    • A63B37/0003—Golf balls
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
    • A63B37/00—Solid balls; Rigid hollow balls; Marbles
    • A63B37/0003—Golf balls
    • A63B37/0022—Coatings, e.g. paint films; Markings
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
    • A63B43/00—Balls with special arrangements
    • A63B43/06—Balls with special arrangements with illuminating devices ; with reflective surfaces
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
    • A63B71/00—Games or sports accessories not covered in groups A63B1/00 - A63B69/00
    • A63B71/06—Indicating or scoring devices for games or players, or for other sports activities
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
    • A63B24/00—Electric or electronic controls for exercising apparatus of preceding groups; Controlling or monitoring of exercises, sportive games, training or athletic performances
    • A63B24/0021—Tracking a path or terminating locations
    • A63B2024/0053—Tracking a path or terminating locations for locating an object, e.g. a lost ball
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
    • A63B2102/00—Application of clubs, bats, rackets or the like to the sporting activity ; particular sports involving the use of balls and clubs, bats, rackets, or the like
    • A63B2102/32—Golf
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
    • A63B2220/00—Measuring of physical parameters relating to sporting activity
    • A63B2220/80—Special sensors, transducers or devices therefor
    • A63B2220/805—Optical or opto-electronic sensors
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
    • A63B2225/00—Miscellaneous features of sport apparatus, devices or equipment
    • A63B2225/74—Miscellaneous features of sport apparatus, devices or equipment with powered illuminating means, e.g. lights
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
    • A63B37/00—Solid balls; Rigid hollow balls; Marbles
    • A63B37/0003—Golf balls
    • A63B37/007—Characteristics of the ball as a whole
    • A63B37/0077—Physical properties
    • A63B37/0088—Frequency
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63B—APPARATUS FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING, GYMNASTICS, SWIMMING, CLIMBING, OR FENCING; BALL GAMES; TRAINING EQUIPMENT
    • A63B43/00—Balls with special arrangements

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to the location of lost objects, particularly though not exclusively lost golf balls.
  • Another method uses the fact that many golf balls are coated with whiteners that absorb light in the near-UV and fluoresce at a longer wavelength, generally in the blue part of the spectrum. Thus by shining UV light on the golf balls, they can be made to fluoresce and should be easier to detect.
  • Devices are available commercially, which produce the relevant UV light. However, these devices are generally intended for use at night in order is discriminate the fluorescent emission from surrounding background light present during the day. In addition, as the light must shine directly onto the golf ball, the device must be operated in close proximity to the ball for any effect to be seen.
  • the object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for locating lost objects.
  • apparatus for detecting an object comprising:
  • the apparatus further includes an oscillator to modulate the light source. Typically this will be via a driver circuit.
  • the processor includes a mixer, which receives the modulation signal from the oscillator, and a signal from the detector.
  • the processor further includes a low-pass filter which is adapted to pass signals of a significant magnitude if a coherent signal averaged over time is present.
  • the processor will further include a threshold detector, which compares the signal from the low-pass filter with a predetermined threshold, and sends a signal to an indicator is the signal exceeds the threshold, to indicate the presence of a ball.
  • a threshold detector which compares the signal from the low-pass filter with a predetermined threshold, and sends a signal to an indicator is the signal exceeds the threshold, to indicate the presence of a ball.
  • the modulation will be in the frequency range 10 Hz to 100 MHz.
  • the apparatus thereshown includes an oscillator 101 which is adapted to produce a signal 102 that is used to modulate a light source 103.
  • the light source is a light-emitting diode (LED) although other sources could be used.
  • the modulation may be sinusoidal or of other type, such as a square wave, and may be an amplitude or phase modulation.
  • the light source 103 produces a light beam 106 with emission in the blue or ultra violet (UV) part of the spectrum.
  • the light beam is directed essentially forward of the light source at a wide angle.
  • a lens or other optical system 104 may be used to direct, and widen the beam, and produce a desirable emission pattern.
  • the balls Due to the coating applied to golf balls, the balls absorb light in the UV and blue range and re-emits (fluoresces) at a longer wavelength.
  • the exact wavelength of the fluorescence depends upon the particularly coating applied to the ball, but generally a wavelength shift of several tens of nanometers is found.
  • the apparatus also includes a detector 109.
  • the detector 109 is provided with a lens 108 that enables light from a wide angle to be collected by the detector.
  • filters 110 are positioned in front of the detector in order to remove light of wavelengths other than that of the fluorescence anticipated from golf balls, and to allow as much of this light as possible to be received by the detector 109.
  • light shields 111, 112 are placed around the light source 103 and/or detector I09.
  • the detector 109 sends the photo-current 114 to a processor 116 for determining when a golf ball is present.
  • a copy of the oscillator signal 113 may also be input to the processor. If a ball is detected, a signal 115 is sent to an indicator 117 to alert a user to the presence of the ball.
  • the detector is sensitive to, and receives, only a small fraction of the light propagating in the direction of the detector.
  • detectors are not specifically designed to reject unwanted light, sunlight can easily overwhelm a detector rendering the device almost useless. For this reason, previous detectors have generally been for use at night and are effective only in very low ambient light levels.
  • filters 110 sunlight can be strong enough in the relevant wavelengths, to overwhelm a weak fluorescent signal.
  • Synchronous detection may be used to detect the week fluorescent signals from the golf balls, from the strong ambient light. Modulation is applied to the light source and to the detection circuit. As a result the signal is integrated coherently over the period of the modulation, T. Background light, however, has no specific phase relationship with the modulation. As a result the contribution of such light, or noise, to the signal detection does not build up linearly with time, but builds up as the square root of the period T. Thus, for a long enough integration time, the true signal will eventually outgrow the noise contribution and provide unambiguous detection.
  • An oscillator 201 applies a modulation 202 to a driver circuit 203 that in turn provides a drive signal to LED 204 and simultaneously sends the modulation signal 205 to a mixer 206.
  • the frequency of the modulating signal is not critically import and may lie in the range from 10 Hz to 100 MHz.
  • Output light 207 is converted to fluorescence 208 by a golf ball or the like that is received by detector 209, sent (210) to amplifier 211 and from then sent 212 to the other input port of mixer 206.
  • the output 213 of mixer 206 is send to low-pass filter (LPF) 214.
  • LPF low-pass filter
  • the output 215 of the LPF is passed to a threshold detector 216 that compares the LPF signal to a predetermined threshold. If the signal exceeds the predetermined threshold then a signal 217 is sent to an indicator 218 to indicate the presence of a ball.
  • the invention is not intended to be restricted to the details of the above-described embodiment.
  • multiple light sources may be used, or example arranged in a hexagonal pattern, to increase the light power applied to the golf ball.
  • the light source may be modulated at high frequency such as 10-100MHz so that detection of the received signal phase relative to the applied modulation phase can be used to also determine the distance to the ball.
  • the device can be constructed using plastic lenses for the options, including plastic Fresnel lenses.

Landscapes

  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Physical Education & Sports Medicine (AREA)
  • Length Measuring Devices By Optical Means (AREA)
  • Geophysics And Detection Of Objects (AREA)
  • Investigating, Analyzing Materials By Fluorescence Or Luminescence (AREA)
  • Casting Or Compression Moulding Of Plastics Or The Like (AREA)

Claims (6)

  1. Vorrichtung zum Orten eines Gegenstandes, wobei die Vorrichtung aufweist:
    - eine Lichtquelle, die angepaßt ist, einen Lichtstrahl bei Wellenlängen, die von dem Gegenstand oder dessen Beschichtung absorbiert werden, auszustrahlen;
    einen Detektor, der angepaßt ist, Licht bei Wellenlängen, die von dem Objekt oder dessen Beschichtung fluoresziert werden, zu detektieren,
    dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Vorrichtung ferner aufweist:
    - einen Prozessor, der angepaßt ist, das Vorhandensein eines Gegenstandes aus dem mittels des De-Lektors detektierten Lichtes zu bestimmen; und
    - einen Oszillator zum Modulieren der Lichtquelle; wobei der Prozessor einen Mischer aufweist, der das Modulationssignal des Oszillators und ein Signal vom Detektor empfängt.
  2. Vorrichtung wie in Anspruch 1 beansprucht, ferner aufweisend eine Treiberschaltung.
  3. Vorrichtung wie in Anspruch 1 oder in Anspruch 2 beansprucht, wobei der Prozessor einen Tiefpaßfilter aufweist, der angepaßt ist, Signale einer signifikanten Größe durchzulassen, falls ein zeitlich gemitteltes Kohärenzsignal vorhanden ist.
  4. Vorrichtung wie in Anspruch 3 beansprucht, wobei der Prozessor einen Schwellenwertdetektor aufweist, der das Signal des Tiefpaßfilters mit einem vorbestimmten Schwellenwert vergleicht- und der ein Signal an eine Anzeigevorrichtung sendet, falls das Signal den Schwellenwert übersteigt, um anzuzeigen, daß ein Ball vorhanden ist.
  5. Vorrichtung wie in Anspruch 1 beansprucht, wobei die Modulation in einem Frequenzbereich von 10 Hz bis 100 MHz liegt.
  6. Verfahren, welches die Vorrichtung nach einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche verwendet, zum Auffinden verlorengegangener Gegenstände, wobei die Gegenstände eine Beschichtung aufweisen, die Licht bei einer Wellenlänge absorbiert und bei einer zweiten Wellenlänge fluoresziert, welches Verfahren aus den Schritten besteht.
    - Bereitstellen eines Lichtstrahls, dessen Wellenlänge von der Beschichtung an dem Gegenstand absorbiert wird;
    - Detektieren von Licht bei Wellenlängen, die von dem aufzufindenden Gegenstand fluoresziert werden; und
    - Ermitteln aus dem detektierten Licht das Vorhandensein oder anderweitig des Gegenstandes.
EP04710929A 2003-08-05 2004-02-13 Verfahren und gerät zum auffinden verloren gegangener golfbälle Expired - Lifetime EP1651317B1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US49301303P 2003-08-05 2003-08-05
PCT/GB2004/000581 WO2005016463A1 (en) 2003-08-05 2004-02-13 Method and apparatus to locate lost golf balls

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1651317A1 EP1651317A1 (de) 2006-05-03
EP1651317B1 true EP1651317B1 (de) 2007-04-04

Family

ID=34193160

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP04710929A Expired - Lifetime EP1651317B1 (de) 2003-08-05 2004-02-13 Verfahren und gerät zum auffinden verloren gegangener golfbälle

Country Status (11)

Country Link
US (1) US20060281584A1 (de)
EP (1) EP1651317B1 (de)
JP (1) JP2007501042A (de)
CN (1) CN1845772A (de)
AT (1) ATE358515T1 (de)
AU (1) AU2004264697A1 (de)
DE (1) DE602004005716T2 (de)
ES (1) ES2285428T3 (de)
PT (1) PT1651317E (de)
WO (1) WO2005016463A1 (de)
ZA (1) ZA200600965B (de)

Families Citing this family (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2006017910A2 (en) * 2004-08-20 2006-02-23 Track 'n' Find Pty Ltd Device for assisting in finding an article using fluorescence
WO2006104593A2 (en) * 2005-02-18 2006-10-05 Blue Marlin Llc Method and system for locating a lost golf ball
US8746914B2 (en) 2010-02-15 2014-06-10 Webb T. Nelson Sports set that utilize stereoscopic illumination and retroreflective materials
US8550649B2 (en) * 2010-02-15 2013-10-08 Webb T. Nelson Stereoscopic illumination system for retroreflective materials
US9416959B2 (en) 2012-05-17 2016-08-16 Donald Spinner Illuminated golf

Family Cites Families (11)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US662057A (en) * 1900-04-30 1900-11-20 William J Cowan Street-sweeper.
US3895366A (en) * 1974-03-18 1975-07-15 Francis E Morris Golf swing sensing device
AT374596B (de) * 1979-04-20 1984-05-10 Enander Bengt Zum auffinden von lawinenopfern dienender, am koerper zu tragender antwortsender
US5370387A (en) * 1993-06-14 1994-12-06 Baker; Gene G. Golf ball/fluorescent object locator
US5662533A (en) * 1994-11-21 1997-09-02 Chadwell; Donald Golf ball locator apparatus
US6482108B1 (en) * 1999-01-21 2002-11-19 Lost Item Retrieval System Inc Infra-red laser device and method for searching for lost item
US6620057B1 (en) * 1999-04-15 2003-09-16 Flite Traxx, Inc. System for locating golf balls
SE0002842L (sv) * 2000-08-08 2002-02-09 Kraftuttryck Bml Ab Anordning i samband med golf
CA2365428C (en) * 2000-12-21 2008-10-21 Brasscorp Limited Method of producing an ultra-violet or near ultra-violet light source for non-destructive inspection or testing
US6353386B1 (en) * 2001-03-12 2002-03-05 Roger Castonguay Method and apparatus for retrieving lost golf balls
US20040142766A1 (en) * 2003-01-17 2004-07-22 Chris Savarese Apparatuses, methods and systems relating to findable golf balls

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
AU2004264697A1 (en) 2005-02-24
CN1845772A (zh) 2006-10-11
ES2285428T3 (es) 2007-11-16
DE602004005716T2 (de) 2007-12-27
EP1651317A1 (de) 2006-05-03
WO2005016463A1 (en) 2005-02-24
JP2007501042A (ja) 2007-01-25
ZA200600965B (en) 2007-05-30
ATE358515T1 (de) 2007-04-15
US20060281584A1 (en) 2006-12-14
PT1651317E (pt) 2007-07-03
DE602004005716D1 (de) 2007-05-16

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