US 2026/0284501 A1 · System and Method for Terrain-Compensated Putting Guidance, Green-Reading Training, and Wireless Putting Distance Measurement

Abstract

A terrain-referenced spatial alignment system associates a temporally stationary spatial reference node with a coordinate of a digital terrain model and maps a portable spatial node to a terrain coordinate using a coordinate transformation engine, enabling terrain attribute determination at the mapped position. Positional ambiguity is resolved using non-limiting disambiguation mechanisms including terrain boundary polygon intersection, inertial sensing, camera-based orientation, satellite positioning, or any sensing modality of a mobile computing device. A terrain-compensated target point (TCTP) is independently computed from terrain gradient distribution along a projected path, representing a corrected aiming location accounting for cumulative slope. In a golf putting embodiment, a player's green-reading intention is captured via wearable angular displacement and compared against the terrain-computed correct aim point, enabling corrective feedback and closed-loop refinement of green-reading judgment. A further embodiment uses wireless positioning tags at the hole and ball marker to automatically track putting distances and performance outcomes.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A system for aligning a physical terrain surface with a digital terrain model, comprising:

at least one temporally stationary spatial reference node disposed on or proximate the terrain surface, wherein the temporally stationary spatial reference node has a position that remains substantially fixed relative to the terrain surface for a duration of a measurement interval;
at least one portable spatial node associated with a user;
a spatial localization system configured to determine a relative spatial relationship between the temporally stationary spatial reference node and the portable spatial node;
a digital terrain model comprising terrain coordinate data and terrain attribute data associated with the terrain surface;
and
a coordinate transformation engine configured to:
(a) associate the temporally stationary spatial reference node with a coordinate of the digital terrain model,
(b) align a physical coordinate frame with the digital terrain model based on the determined spatial relationship, and
(c) map the portable spatial node to a terrain coordinate of the digital terrain model,
wherein mapping of the portable spatial node enables determination of at least one terrain attribute at the mapped terrain coordinate.

7 more elements

A method for terrain-referenced spatial interaction, comprising:

receiving at least one range measurement between a temporally stationary spatial reference node having a registered terrain coordinate in a digital terrain model and a portable spatial node whose terrain position is initially undetermined;
applying one or more disambiguation inputs to determine a resolved terrain position for the portable spatial node, wherein the disambiguation inputs may include any sensing modality of a computing device including but not limited to inertial sensing, optical sensing, magnetic sensing, satellite positioning, gesture-derived directional input, terrain boundary polygon intersection, or known terrain feature coordinate fusion, or combinations thereof;
detecting, by a wearable device, angular displacement corresponding to a user-intended terrain interaction;
normalizing the angular displacement to a terrain attribute range defined by an application-specific profile to generate a user-intended terrain interaction vector;
determining a terrain-derived vector from the digital terrain model at the resolved terrain position;
and
computing deviation between the user-intended terrain interaction vector and the terrain-derived vector.

4 more elements

A system for computing a terrain-compensated target point on a terrain surface, comprising:

a digital terrain model comprising terrain coordinate data and terrain attribute data including elevation gradient data associated with the terrain surface;
a spatial localization system configured to determine a start terrain coordinate corresponding to a position of a portable spatial node on the terrain surface and a target terrain coordinate corresponding to a temporally stationary spatial reference node registered in the digital terrain model;
and
a processor configured to compute a terrain-compensated target point (TCTP) by applying a physics model that incorporates terrain gradient distribution along a projected path between the start terrain coordinate and the target terrain coordinate,
wherein the TCTP represents a corrected aiming location on the terrain surface that accounts for cumulative terrain slope effects along the projected path.

2 more elements

A system for measuring golf putting distance and tracking putting performance, comprising:

a first wireless positioning tag disposed at or proximate a golf hole, wherein the first wireless positioning tag has a position that remains substantially stationary relative to the golf hole during a putting session;
a second wireless positioning tag configured to function as a ball marker for a player on a putting surface, the second wireless positioning tag associated with the player;
a mobile computing device configured to determine a putting distance between the first wireless positioning tag and the second wireless positioning tag using wireless ranging between the tags, the mobile computing device, or combinations thereof;
and
application software configured to:
(a) detect a putting stroke based on positional and temporal characteristics of the second wireless positioning tag,
(b) record a putting outcome as made or missed based on subsequent movement of the second wireless positioning tag, and
(c) generate putting performance statistics based on calculated putting distances and recorded putting outcomes.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System and Method for Terrain-Compensated Putting Guidance, Green-Reading Training, and Wireless Putting Distance Measurement

Life of this patent

System and Method for Terrain-Compensated Putting Guidance, Green-Reading Training, and Wireless Putting Distance Measurement

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims21