Sport apparatus with integrated sensors
AssigneeKinetek Sports
InventorsThomas H. Lupfer, Patrick M. Steusloff, Michael A. Kurtz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A sport apparatus comprising a shaft, wherein the shaft comprises a notch fitting and a sensor housing. The sensor housing comprises an alignment rib fitting, printed circuit board, rechargeable battery, one or more motion sensors, a transceiver, an inductive charging coil, among other necessary elements for the sport apparatus as described herein. A portion of the sensor housing resides within the shaft, wherein the alignment rib of the sensor housing mates with a notch or other locking mechanism of the shaft.
Claims21
A sport apparatus for measuring swing force and swing path of an athlete, the sport apparatus comprising:
- a sensor system;
- a shaft, wherein the shaft comprises a first fitting;
- an enclosure configured to encase the sensor system, wherein the enclosure comprises a second fitting, wherein the second fitting is configured to align and mate with the first fitting, wherein a portion of the enclosure resides within the shaft;
- and
- a grip, wherein the grip encases the sensor system and a portion of the shaft.
A method of integrating a sensor system into a golf club for measuring swing force and swing path of an athlete, comprising:
- affixing a head of the golf club to a ferrule end of a shaft of the golf club, wherein a leading edge of a club face of the golf club is in a known angular orientation relative to a first fitting of the shaft of the golf club;
- inserting the sensor system into the shaft of the golf club, wherein a portion of an enclosure of the sensor system resides within the shaft;
- rotationally aligning the first fitting of the shaft of the golf club with a second fitting of the enclosure of the sensor system to orient the sensor system at a fixed orientation;
- and
- storing the rotational alignment in memory of the sensor system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.