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US 11,027,193 B2Granted
Two-environment game play system
AssigneeFlyingtee Tech, LLC
InventorsRyan S. Tawwater, John M. Vollbrecht, James T. Vollbrecht
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A game-play environment includes a tee box, a range surface, and a monitor. The tee box is configured to permit a player to hit a golf ball onto the range surface. The range surface has a plurality of physical markers. The monitor depicts a virtual environment that includes a plurality of virtual components. Some of the virtual components are visual cues that correspond to the physical markers. A player is able to play the game by targeting the appropriate physical marker that corresponds to the desired visual cue.
Claims22
A game-play environment, comprising:
- a physical tee box having a monitor;
- a physical range surface extending from the tee box and having a plurality of physical markers;
- and
- a physical golf ball;
- wherein the monitor is configured to depict a virtual game-play environment, said game-play virtual environment comprising a plurality of virtual golf holes, each of said golf holes comprising a virtual tee box, a virtual fairway and a virtual green, said virtual game-play environment further comprising:
- a virtual golf ball flight path of a virtual golf ball corresponding to an actual flight path of the physical golf ball from said tee box onto said range surface;
- a plurality of visual components, wherein at least one of said visual components corresponds to features of said virtual golf holes, wherein one of the plurality of visual components is selected as a virtual target;
- a plurality of visual cues, wherein each of the visual cues corresponds to a physical marker in the plurality of physical markers, wherein relative positions and distances between said plurality of physical markers are the same relative positions and distances depicted between said plurality of visual cues;
- wherein said virtual game-play environment is configured to depict iterative targeting and game play from said virtual tee box to said virtual fairway and/or said virtual green of a desired physical marker corresponding to said visual cues, and wherein said virtual environment is further configured to depict each said virtual golf ball flight path during said iterative targeting and game play from said virtual tee box to said virtual fairway and said virtual green corresponding to said actual flight path of said physical golf ball relative to said desired physical marker;
- and wherein said monitor is further configured to redraw said virtual environment to depict a new position of said virtual golf ball after each successive iterative targeting and game play from said virtual tee box to said virtual fairway and/or said virtual green along each of said virtual golf holes;
- wherein relative positions and distances between said desired physical markers are the same relative positions and distances depicted between said visual cues;
- wherein the virtual game-play environment is configured to be selectively adjusted between each successive iterative targeting and game play from said virtual tee box to said virtual fairway and/or said virtual green along each of said virtual golf holes, where such adjustment between each successive iterative targeting and game play changes the proximity of a visual cue in the plurality of visual cues relative to a visual component within the plurality of visual components;
- and
- wherein the orientation of the virtual game-play environment depicted on the monitor can be selectively adjusted on the monitor between each successive iterative targeting and game play such that the position of the visual components within the virtual game-play environment changes with respect to the visual cues to selectively align the virtual target with the visual cue that corresponds to the physical target.
11 more elements
A virtual game-play environment, comprising:
- a virtual golf ball flight path of a virtual golf ball corresponding to an actual flight path of a physical golf ball from a physical tee box onto a physical range surface;
- a first visual cue that corresponds to a first physical marker on a physical game-play surface;
- a second visual cue that corresponds to a second physical marker on the physical game-play surface;
- a visual component that is a golf course feature that does not exist on the physical game-play surface;
- wherein the position and direction of the first visual cue relative to the second visual cue correspond to the position and direction of the first physical marker to the second physical marker;
- wherein said virtual game-play environment comprises a plurality of virtual golf holes, each of said golf holes comprising a virtual tee box, a virtual fairway and a virtual green;
- wherein said virtual game-play environment is configured to depict iterative targeting and game play from said virtual tee box to said virtual fairway and/or said virtual green, and wherein said virtual game-play environment is further configured to depict each said virtual golf ball flight path during said iterative targeting and game play from said virtual tee box to said virtual fairway and said virtual green corresponding to said actual flight path of said physical golf ball;
- and wherein said virtual game-play environment is further configured to be redrawn to depict a new position of said virtual golf ball after each successive iterative targeting and game play from said virtual tee box to said virtual fairway and/or said virtual green along each of said virtual golf holes;
- wherein the virtual game-play environment is configured to be selectively adjusted between each successive iterative targeting and game play from said virtual tee box to said virtual fairway and/or said virtual green along each of said virtual golf holes, where such adjustment between each successive iterative targeting and game play changes the proximity of the first visual cue relative to the visual component, the proximity of the second visual cue relative to the visual component or the proximities of the first visual cue and the second visual cue relative to the visual component;
- wherein relative positions and distances between said desired physical markers are the same relative positions and distances depicted between said first visual cue and/or said second visual cue;
- and
- wherein the orientation of the virtual game-play environment depicted on the monitor can be selectively adjusted between each successive iterative targeting and game play such that the position of the visual component within the virtual game-play environment changes with respect to the first visual cue and/or the second visual cue to selectively align a virtual target with the visual cue that corresponds to a player-selected physical target.
9 more elements
A dual-environment golf game system, comprising:
- a physical tee box having a monitor configured to be controlled by a player;
- a physical range surface extending from the tee box and having a plurality of spaced apart physical markers, wherein one of the plurality of spaced apart physical markers is selected as a physical target by the player;
- a physical golf ball;
- a computer configured to run a game that is displayed on the monitor, wherein the game comprises:
- a virtual environment comprising a plurality of visual components, wherein one of the plurality of visual components is selected as a virtual target by the player;
- a plurality of visual cues, wherein each of the plurality of visual cues is associated with a separate one of the plurality of physical markers, and wherein the plurality of visual cues remains in fixed position within the virtual environment;
- and
- wherein an orientation of the virtual environment that is displayed on the monitor can be selectively adjusted by the player such that the position of the plurality of visual components within the virtual environment changes with respect to the visual cues to permit the player to selectively align the virtual target displayed on the monitor with the visual cue that corresponds to the physical target.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.