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US 6,446,005 B1Granted
Magnetic wheel sensor for vehicle navigation system
AssigneeProlink, Inc.
InventorsKirk Bingeman, Richard Velasquez, William Tekniepe
Life of this patent
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AssigneeProlink, Inc.
InventorsKirk Bingeman, Richard Velasquez, William Tekniepe
Estimating the term…
A system is disclosed for determining precise locations of the golf carts on a golf course in real time as the carts are in use during play of the course. Each cart is outfitted with a dead reckoning navigation (DRN) system for determining speed and direction, and a compass for determining heading of the cart during play. With these parameters and a known origin of the cart to which the DRN system has been calibrated, such as location of a tee box, the location of the cart relative to a known feature of the course such as a cup or hazard may be calculated. The DRN system uses a magnetic wheel sensor assembly having a magnetic strip with spaced alternating opposite magnetic poles affixed to the rim of an inside wheel well or mounting fixture therefor of the cart, mounted to confront a Hall effect sensor. During rotation of the wheel and the strip when the cart is moving, the sensor detects passage of the alternating poles, to measure speed and forward or backward direction of the cart. A compass determines heading of the cart. The DRN system allows operation on courses where GPS-based systems cannot maintain LOS, and is periodically calibrated by a known signal, such as a DGPS signal.
A system for determining the precise locations of a plurality of golf carts on a golf course in real time as the golf carts are in use during play of the golf course, comprising:
Apparatus for installation on a golf cart to calculate the distance from the cart to a golf cup, a hazard, or other feature of a hole of a golf course which has been surveyed so that the location of said golf cup, hazard, or other feature on said hole is known, to enable close approximation of the distance thereto from the lie of a golf ball proximate said cart, said golf cart having access to GPS transmissions solely for calibration of a dead reckoning (DR) navigation system installed on the cart, said apparatus comprising:
A golf cart equipped to provide a user of the cart a close approximation of the actual distance from the cart to a golf cup, a hazard, or other feature of known location on a hole of a golf course being played by the cart user, by means of a distance measuring system, a dead reckoning (DR) navigation system, and a OPS receiver for GPS calibration and sporadic re-calibration of said DR system, said distance measuring system, said DR system and said GPS receiver installed on the cart, the DR system comprising a sensor assembly constructed and adapted to determine speed and forward-backward direction of the cart and including portions of said assembly adapted to inhibit electrical and magnetic interference with operation of the sensor of said assembly from the propulsion system of the cart and from other sources of electrical and magnetic fields external to the sensor assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.