Handheld GPS PDA for Golf Distance Measurement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing golfing-related GPS devices lack accuracy and user-friendly features, such as real-time data manipulation, environmental condition adjustments, and comprehensive data collection and processing for golf courses, limiting their effectiveness for golfers.
Innovation Solution
A handheld GPS device integrated with a personal digital assistant (PDA) that allows golfers to survey and record target locations, adjust for environmental conditions, and display distances, elapsed time, and statistics, using tunable GPS parameters and eFilter corrections to enhance accuracy and usability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If DGPS equipment is used to increase GPS accuracy in real time, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional receivers, communications links and antennas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the base station component from the DGPS system, allowing handheld devices to function independently without requiring external infrastructure. The device collects GPS signals and processes them locally to achieve accurate positioning without the complexity of additional receivers, communications links, and antennas required by traditional DGPS systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The handheld device performs self-positioning by collecting GPS signals and processing them autonomously. The system uses the handheld device itself as the reference point, eliminating the need for external base stations and complex communication infrastructure while maintaining measurement precision.
2Measurement precision
If post processing of GPS signal data is used to increase accuracy, then measurement precision is improved, but loss of time increases due to inability to use in real time applications
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary data collection by gathering GPS signals continuously in the background, then processes this pre-collected data immediately when needed. This allows the device to provide real-time accurate positioning without requiring post-processing delays, as the data is already collected and ready for immediate analysis.
Solution Approach 2:
The handheld device continuously collects and processes GPS data in real-time, maintaining an ongoing stream of accurate positioning information. This continuous processing eliminates the interruption between data collection and analysis that characterizes post-processing systems, ensuring real-time accuracy without time loss.
3Measurement precision
If tunable GPS parameters and eFilter corrections are applied to adjust for environmental conditions, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts GPS processing parameters based on environmental conditions detected during use. By changing parameters such as signal filtering thresholds and correction factors in response to ionospheric and tropospheric variations, the device maintains high measurement precision without requiring complex hardware modifications.
Solution Approach 2:
The GPS parameter configuration is made dynamic rather than static, allowing automatic adaptation to changing environmental conditions. The eFilter corrections are applied dynamically based on real-time signal analysis, enabling the system to maintain accuracy across varying conditions without fixed complex preprocessing configurations.
Data Source
AI summary
A personal golfing assistant system is comprised of software running on a PDA attached directly or remotely to a GPS receiver that enables the user to survey and/or electronically capture geophysical golf data. A handheld device connected to or integrated with a GPS receiver can instead be used. Software allows a golfer to use a handheld PDA/GPS unit during the course of play to mark a ball location automatically and/or determine the distance to golf course targets and/or objects, and to analyze golf related data and generate statistics. The system can send a set of parameters tailored for a specific course to a real time tunable GPS to adjust for optimal performance and can adjust measurements to compensate for environmental condition changes. The system provides an improved graphical method for measuring and displaying distances between a golfer and a golf course object, for displaying multiple measured distances along a line of sight between a golfer and a golf object or target, and for orienting a target or object on a display to coincide with a user's line of sight. There is also provided a method for collecting and uploading golf course geographic information services (GIS) data to an internet accessible server, processing the uploaded data, distributing data upon an authorized user request, and downloading the requested data to an electronic device.