Roll Quality of Putting Green

Abstract

In some embodiments, a system may include a golf ball having at least one accelerometer configured to generate signals proportional to acceleration along three axes and a microprocessor coupled to the accelerometer. The microprocessor may be configured to correlate the signals to produce a roll data file for each roll event of a plurality of roll events. The golf ball may also include a memory configured to store the roll data file for each roll event and a transceiver configured to communicate roll data associated with at least some of the plurality of roll events to a computing device. The system may further include the computing device configured to receive the roll data from the golf ball and, in a first mode, to process the roll data file to determine at least one of an overall roll quality associated with a surface and a firmness parameter associated with a surface.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system comprising:
 a golf ball including:
 at least one accelerometer configured to generate signals proportional to acceleration along three axes; 
 a microprocessor coupled to the at least one accelerometer, the microprocessor configured to correlate the signals to produce a roll data file for each roll event of a plurality of roll events; 
 a memory configured to store the roll data file for each roll event; and 
 a transceiver configured to communicate roll data associated with at least some of the plurality of roll events to a computing device; and 
   the computing device configured to receive the roll data from the golf ball and, in a first mode, to process the roll data file to determine at least one of an overall roll quality associated with a surface and a firmness parameter associated with a surface.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 the computing device including:
 a transceiver configured to receive the roll data file from the golf ball; and 
 a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to determine the overall roll quality and the firmness of the surface based on at least some of the plurality of roll events. 
   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the computing device further includes a display interface coupled to the processor; and   the processor is configured to provide a graphical user interface to the display interface, the graphical user interface including data corresponding to at least one of the firmness parameter and the overall roll quality.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the golf ball further comprises a microelectromechanical magnetometer configured to determine the direction of a roll of the golf ball. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the roll data includes accelerometer measurement data corresponding to a first frequency range and corresponding to a second frequency range that is higher than the first frequency range. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the accelerometer measurement data corresponding to the first frequency range corresponds to rolling motion of the golf ball. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the computing device is configured to determine one or more slopes along a roll path based on the accelerometer measurement data corresponding to the first frequency range. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the computing device is configured to determine at least one of a putter impact, a skid, and a bounce of the golf ball based on the accelerometer measurement data corresponding to the second frequency range. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 the computing device including:
 a transceiver configured to receive the roll data file from the golf ball; 
 a display interface; and 
 a processor coupled to the transceiver and the display interface, the processor configured to process the roll data to determine an irregularity in a putting stroke and to communicate an alert to the display interface in response to determining the irregularity, in a second mode. 
   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to:
 determine the putting stroke includes a turned club face at impact based on side spin detected in the roll data; and   determine the putting stroke includes an non-pendulum type swing based on an initial skid determined from the roll data.   
     
     
         11 . A method comprising:
 receiving roll data from a golf ball including accelerometer data measured along three axes at an interface of a computing device;   processing, using a processor of the computing device, the roll data to determine, in a first mode, at least one of a smoothness metric, a plane deviation metric, and a firmness metric associated with a surface; and   providing data related to at least one of the smoothness metric, the plane deviation metric, and the firmness metric from the processor to a display of the computing device.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein, in a second mode, the method further comprising:
 processing, using the processor of the computing device, the roll data to determine a characteristic of a putting stroke; and   providing data related to the putting stroke from the processor to the display.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the roll data include direction data corresponding to a roll of a golf ball. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein processing the roll data includes determining accelerometer data in a first frequency range and a second frequency range that is higher than the first frequency range. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein processing the roll data includes determining rolling motion of the golf ball based on the accelerometer measurement data corresponding to the first frequency range. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein determining the rolling motion includes detecting one or more slopes along a roll path based on the accelerometer measurement data corresponding to the first frequency range. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein processing the roll data includes determining at least one of a putter impact, a skid, and a bounce of the golf ball based on the accelerometer measurement data corresponding to the second frequency range. 
     
     
         18 . A computer readable storage device embodying software comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to:
 in a first mode, process roll data from a golf ball to determine a roll quality metric for a surface of a putting green; and   provide data corresponding to the roll quality metric to a display device.   
     
     
         19 . The computer readable storage device of  claim 18 , further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
 in a second mode, process the roll data from the golf ball to determine a characteristic of a putting stroke; and   provide data related to the characteristic of the putting stroke to a display.   
     
     
         20 . The computer readable storage device of  claim 19 , further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
 determine the roll quality metric based on imperfections identified from relatively high frequency signal components in accelerometer data of the roll data and based on slopes and green speed determined from relatively low frequency components of the accelerometer data; and   determine the characteristic of the putting stroke based on relatively high frequency components of the accelerometer data within a first portion of the roll data.