Automated golf scoring

Abstract

An automated golf scoring system with a sensor unit wearable by the player and a data processing unit in communication therewith is disclosed. First acceleration data corresponding to a first swing motion measured with an accelerometer of the sensor unit is received. A resting state is detected with first speed data from a location positioner. The first acceleration data for the first swing motion is stored in a swing queue when the resting state is detected. A movement of the player is then detected with second speed data. A shot counter is incremented upon detecting the movement of the player. This depends on an evaluation of the first acceleration data in the swing queue having a higher magnitude than any existing acceleration data in the swing queue.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for automated golf scoring with a data processing unit in communication with a sensor unit wearable by a player, the method comprising the steps of:
 receiving a measurement of a first swing motion by the player with an accelerometer of the sensor unit, the accelerometer generating first acceleration data corresponding to the first swing motion;   detecting a resting state of the player with first speed data from a location positioner of the data processing unit, the first speed data being lower than a predetermined stationary speed threshold to detect the resting state of the player;   storing the first acceleration data for the first swing motion into a swing queue retained on the data processing unit when the resting state is detected;   detecting a movement of the player with second speed data from the location positioner of the data processing unit, the second speed data being greater than the predetermined stationary speed threshold to detect the movement of the player; and   incrementing a shot counter retained on the data processing unit upon the detecting of the movement of the player and an evaluation of the first acceleration data in the swing queue having a higher magnitude than any existing acceleration data in the swing queue.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first speed data and the second speed data is an instantaneous value generated by the location positioner of the data processing unit. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the first speed data is derived from a first set of position data including geo-location coordinate values measured at predetermined time intervals;   the second speed data is derived from a second set of position data including geo-location coordinate values measured at the predetermined time intervals;   the predetermined stationary speed threshold corresponding to a distance between geo-location coordinate values at the predetermined time intervals.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 removing the first acceleration data from the swing queue upon expiration of a timeout period.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a measurement of a second swing motion by the player with the accelerometer, the accelerometer generating a second acceleration data corresponding to the second swing motion.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 storing the second acceleration data for the second swing motion into the swing queue when the resting state is detected and the second acceleration data has a higher magnitude than the first acceleration data in the swing queue.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the first swing motion and the second swing motion are measured within a timeout period. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 incrementing the shot counter upon detection of the movement of the player and an evaluation of the second acceleration data in the swing queue having a higher magnitude than the first acceleration data in the swing queue.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first acceleration data is stored in the swing queue if the first acceleration data is evaluated as having a magnitude higher than a predetermined magnitude threshold. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the predetermined magnitude threshold is variable. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein:
 the predetermined magnitude threshold is based upon a comparison of a player location from the position data to course data.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the course data includes a first set of location coordinates corresponding to a teeing ground of a course hole, second sets of location coordinates corresponding to a green of a course hole, and third sets of location coordinates corresponding to a fairway of a course hole. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the predetermined magnitude is reduced for the player location being within a set vicinity of the green of the course hole. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the predetermined magnitude is increased for the player location being within a set vicinity of the teeing ground of the course hole. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the predetermined magnitude threshold is based upon an evaluation of a player location from the position data along a sliding distance scale to a course hole. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 storing in a stroke log the first acceleration data for the first swing motion;   storing in the stroke log position data corresponding in time with the first acceleration data; and   associating the position data to the first acceleration data.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 generating a score output on a display device of the data processing unit, the score output corresponding to a value of the shot counter.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 transmitting a score count to the sensor unit; and   generating a score output on a display device of the sensor unit, the score output corresponding to the score count.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the accelerometer measures the movement in x, y, and z axes. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the first acceleration data is a summed magnitude of the accelerometer measurements in the x, y, and z axes. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor unit and the data processing unit communicate wirelessly. 
     
     
         22 . An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory program storage medium readable by a user computing device, the medium tangibly embodying one or more programs of instructions executable by the user computing device to perform an automated golf scoring method comprising:
 receiving on the user computing device a measurement of a first swing motion by the player with an accelerometer of a sensor unit wearable by the player and in communication with the user computing device, the accelerometer generating first acceleration data corresponding to the first swing motion;   detecting a resting state of the player with first speed data from a location positioner of the user computing device, the first speed data being lower than a predetermined stationary speed threshold to detect the resting state of the player;   storing the first acceleration data for the first swing motion into a swing queue retained on the user computing device when the resting state is detected;   detecting a movement of the player with second speed data from the location positioner of the user computing device, the second speed data being greater than the predetermined stationary speed threshold to detect the movement of the player; and   incrementing a shot counter retained on the user computing device upon the detecting of the movement of the player and an evaluation of the first acceleration data in the swing queue having a higher magnitude than any existing acceleration data in the swing queue.   
     
     
         23 . An automated golf scoring system, comprising:
 a sensor unit including an accelerometer measuring a swing motion by a player and generating acceleration data corresponding thereto;   a data processing unit in communication with the sensor unit and receptive to the acceleration data, the data processing unit including:
 a geographic locator module outputting speed data corresponding to a current movement of the player; 
 a swing detection module cooperating with the geographic locator module and the sensor unit to store acceleration data into a swing queue when a resting state of the player is detected based upon the speed data being less than a predetermined stationary speed threshold; 
 a stroke counter module cooperating with the swing detection module and the geographic locator module, a shot counter retained on the data processing unit being incremented by the stroke counter module when a movement of the player is detected while a most recently recorded acceleration data has a highest magnitude among other acceleration data in the swing queue. 
   
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the sensor unit and the data processing unit each include respective transceiver modules, the acceleration data being transmitted by the transceiver module of the sensor unit and received by the transceiver module of the data processing unit. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein:
 the sensor unit is wearable on a wrist of the player; and   the data processing unit is a mobile communications device.   
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the geographic locator module includes a global positioning system (GPS) receiver. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein:
 the geographic locator module outputs position data corresponding to a current geographic location; and   the resting state of the player is detected based upon the position data inside a predetermined timeout period being within a predetermined distance threshold;