WO2009004391A2

WO2009004391A2 - Club alert

Info

Publication number: WO2009004391A2
Application number: PCT/GB2008/050757
Authority: WO
Inventors: Philip Jones; Kimberley S. Jones; John Walker
Original assignee: Philip Jones; Jones Kimberley S; John Walker
Priority date: 2007-07-02
Filing date: 2008-08-29
Publication date: 2009-01-08
Also published as: WO2009004391A3

Abstract

A set of devices that monitor the location of one or more golf clubs and their owner, and alert the owner if this is greater than a preset distance. Each club is fitted with a small, unobtrusive, transmitter which communicates with a receiver that can be clipped to a golf bag, owner's belt or golf trolley / buggy. When a golf club is moved away from the receiver by more than a predetermined distance, an alarm is actuated, warning the golfer. The risk of mislaying clubs is greatly reduced.

Description

Club Alert

Background:

This invention relates to a device that will be used by Golfers to monitor that their Golf Clubs are always available and near their person.

When playing Golf, players will use a set of clubs, which are held in a 'golf bag'. This bag is carried, pushed on a trolley cart, or held in an electric buggy that is driven around the course.

In the normal course of events, the clubs are with the golfer, however, there are occasions when this is not the case;

Eg1 : When near a green, the trolley, cart or bag may be left at a point ready for going to the next hole, and just a couple of clubs taken to the ball. Often this could be a pitching wedge or two, and the putter. What tends to happen is that they would use a wedge to chip the ball onto the green, leaving the other clubs on the ground whilst doing so. They would then put down the wedge, pick up the putter and walk towards the ball to mark it. When it is their turn they would use the putter to finish off the hole. With the general banter of playing with others, the excitement of putting the ball into the hole, or the disappointment of missing, the wedge gets left behind when walking to the next hole.

Eg2: Some courses only allow the driven buggy to use designated paths, and therefore when playing a shot the golfer has to take his clubs from the bag and walk to the ball. The ball could be some way away across the fairway and therefore the golfer is unsure of the most suitable club for the upcoming shot, so will take two or more clubs. As described above, the unused clubs will be laid on the ground. When the shot is played, the golfer can often walk straight after it to play another, or simply return to the buggy - often forgetting the other clubs.

After finding that one or more clubs is missing from the bag, the golfer must retrace their steps in an effort to locate them, which could mean going back over a number of holes, resulting in lost time and frustrations. It is also possible that missing clubs are not noticed until after the round has been completed, or in fact until the next game of golf is played.

This invention will warn the golfer immediately that a club has been left at a distance away from them, ensuring that none are left behind when moving on.

Statement of Invention:

The invention comprises a number of identical low powered transmitters which may be individually located within handles of golf clubs. The uniquely encoded transmitters are in communication with the receiver which will be attached to the golf bag, trolley, buggy or more usually attached to the golfer. The receiver will normally be attached to a waist belt in such a manner to alert the golfer by motorised vibration and LED indication that a golf club has been left some distance away. The distance between the transmitter and receiver is critical and the alarm is triggered when the distance has been exceeded. The distance between the transmitter and receiver can be set by the sensitivity control mounted on the receiver.

Advantages:

The use of this invention will save golfers frustrations, time and money. By ensuring that clubs are not left behind, the golfer always has the required one available; they do not have to backtrack looking for clubs left behind; and they do not have to repurchase clubs when not retrieved. Introduction to Drawings:

The following descriptions refer to the drawings below;

Figure 1 shows the top of the transmitter. This has a battery cover (5) with two recessed screws (1) for affixing it to the rest of the unit, and a window (2) through which the photo cell can be visible to light.

Figure 2 shows the battery cover (5) from underneath. It contains an O-ring (6) to aid seating, and the screw holes and photo cell window (2).

Figure 3 shows a cross section of battery cover (5) with O-ring (6).

Figure 4 is an internal view of the transmitter with the battery cover (5) removed. It shows the battery holder (4), the coin cell battery (3) and the PCB mounted photo cell (7).

Figure 5 is an impression of the reverse side of Figure 4, illustrating that surface mounted components containing the transmitter logic would be present.

Figure 6 shows the complete Transmitter (8) and how it would be inserted into the hole in a golf club handle grip.

Figure 7 shows the complete exploded transmitter, with battery cover (5), O-ring (6), main housing of the PCB (9), battery holder (4) and battery (3). It also shows the position of the tamper photo cell (10).

Figure 8 shows a representation of the Receiver unit, complete with belt clip (11), Audible Alarm (12), On Off switch (13), sensitivity adjuster (14), and LEDs (15).

Detailed Description:

Figure 9 shows a schematic for the Transmitter, with components that operate as follows; An On/Off Photo Cell (7) and a Tamper Photo Cell (10) feed their output into a PIC device which monitors the photocells and the golf club. The PIC (18), processes the data into a form suitable to be fed into an RF encoder (19) whose serial output is connected to an RF transmitter (20), which communicates to the receiver (Fig 8) via its aerial (21).

Figure 10 shows a schematic for the Receiver, with components that operate as follows; The Aerial (22) is contacted and passes information to an RF Receiver (23), the received serial data stream is connected to an RF Decoder (24). The data is passed across a Bus to the PIC Device (25) which for the appropriate control commands operates the Vibrator (26), the audible alarm (27), and the LED indicators (28) showing 'Club Out', TX Battery Low, RX Battery Low and Tamper. Prior Art: ³

There have been, in the past, patent applications for devices performing a similar function to this invention.

In the prior art, several devices exist to warn golfers that a golf club has removed from, but not returned to a golf bag. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,845 to Hara; U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,314 to Miller; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,918 to Klitzman describe devices which include sensors within a golf bag for detecting the presence of each golf club, and an alarm for warning a golfer when a club is missing from the bag.

Several drawbacks exist with these devices. For example, with each of these devices, the golf bag must be equipped with an intricate network of receptacles and sensors for receiving and detecting the individual clubs. During play, a club must be returned to an appropriate (i.e., unused) receptacle in order for the device to function properly. This type of device has not been popular among golfers, due to the complexity and expense of installation, as well as the inconvenience of having to return the clubs to particular receptacles within the bag during a round of golf. Also, these devices cannot distinguish between a golf club removed during the normal course of play and a club which has been mislaid, leading to false alarms. Where the alarm includes an audible signal, which frequently is the case, false alarms present an unwelcome distraction to the golfer and other golfers in the area.

Similar mechanical devices have recently been brought to market that use a flag held on a spring to warn of a 'club out'. These are awkward to use and are prone to mechanical failure.

Another prior art system is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,463 to Anders. Anders discloses Location, Identification, measurement of the Movement of, Inventory and analytical, control, guidance, and sorting Systems (LIMIS). Anders describes the use of active transceivers and passive transceivers for locating golf clubs on a golf course. In particular, both the player and the club house are provided with an active transceiver, and each of the golf clubs may be provided with a passive transceiver. When the player realizes that a golf club is missing, the player activates the active transceiver, which sends a signal to the active transceiver at the club house. The active transceiver at the club house then transmits a coded signal to which the passive transceiver responds by emitting identification or ranging signals. These identification or ranging signals are detected either through multiple antennas or repeat-relay transceivers spaced at intervals around the course, enabling the lost club to be located.

The Anders system has several disadvantages. For example, the Anders system requires the cooperation of an electronic device at the club house and either multiple antennas or repeat- relay transceivers spaced at intervals around the course.

Therefore, a golfer must rely on the owner or manager of the golf course to install this equipment in order to use the system. An even greater disadvantage of the Anders system is that the golfer must realize that a club has been lost or mislaid. Thus, in addition to being extremely complex, the system does not even warn a golfer that a club has been left behind. Patents filed that contain electronic devices, or transceivers that alarm after a given distance are as follows;

US5952921 & US6118376 suggest similar devices to this application, but the size of the physical transmitters would have to be prohibitive to its use in order to accommodate the electronics required to be present. We feel that these devices would not be able to be manufactured in the way described.

US6366205 defines a similar set of devices using RFID devices rather than transmitters & receivers. The distance of communication between RFID is not much more than 1 metre as and such would not be practical for this application. US6057762 defines a similar device which is much larger and has to fit on the outside of the golf club, this potentially interfering with the grip or the balance of the club.

This application contains the following novel and unique features in relation to those above;

This application contains a photocell used to switch on and off the transmitter. These other Patents contain no such device and as such would have a limited battery life, resulting in the device being unusable for any length of time.

This application contains a tamper device built into the transmitter which would prevent the transmitter being removed and the club stolen.

This application contains a 'Battery low¹ indicator for the transmitter, so that batteries can be replaced in time for use, rather than failing when in use.

This application contains a control algorithm that provides a warning if the golf club is placed in a golf bag other than that of the owners

Our application is different to the above prior art and should succeed for the following reasons;

1) It is less complex and therefore will be cheaper to manufacture.

2) Both transmitter and receiver have their own power source that is replaceable and inexpensive

3) The method of our transmitter activation is novel, and is not used in previous inventions.

4) It will have better range of tens of metres

5) It contains both Battery low and Tamper alarms.

Claims

1. A set of devices that communicate with each other and provide an alert if their distance apart is greater than a predetermined value.

2. Devices as in claim 1 in which one of the devices is a unit that contains a receiver that is attached to a golf club owner, bag, trolley or buggy.

3. Devices as in claim 1 in which one or more units contain a transmitter that is attached to golf clubs.

4. Devices as in claim 1 whereby the alert is provided by an audible alarm.

5. Devices as in claim 1 whereby the alert is provided by a vibration unit.

6. Devices as in claim 1 whereby the alert is provided by a visible light.

7. Devices as in claim 3 whereby they are attached by inserting into the end of the golf club.

8. Devices as in claim 3 whereby they are attached by a strapping around the handle of the golf club.

9. Devices as in claim 3 whereby they include an on/off photocell which is used to trigger the on & off of the transmission function, and thereby ensure low power usage when off.

10. Devices as in Claim 3 that also contain a tamper photocell component which will be used to trigger an alert transmission to the owner if the device is removed from the golf club.

11. A method for preventing the loss or theft of a golf club wherein a transmitter is attached to the golf club, and a Receiver is attached to a golf bag, golf trolley cart, golf buggy, or golfer comprising:

(a) monitoring (i) a first distance between the golf club and the golf bag, trolley, buggy or golfer;

(b) comparing the distance against a predetermined threshold distance; and

(c) generating an alarm signal when the distance exceeds the predetermined threshold distance.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the monitoring comprises communication between a transmitter and a receiver.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising, upon generating the alarm signal, activating at least one of an audible alarm, a light display, and a vibration-producing device.

14. Devices as in claim 3 that also contain a common 'battery low' function.

15. Devices as in claim 3 that also contain individual 'battery low' functions.

16. Devices as in Claim 2 that contain an alert function that is triggered by battery low in the Transmitters.

17. Devices as in Claim 2 that contain an alert function that is triggered by the tamper function in the Transmitters.

18. Devices as in Claim 1 whereby the alert is provided by an audible alarm if the golf club is returned to the wrong golf bag.