US3633008A

US3633008A - Golf game computer including bounce and roll generator

Info

Publication number: US3633008A
Application number: US881770A
Authority: US
Inventors: James W Sanders
Original assignee: Brunswick Corp
Current assignee: Brunswick Corp
Priority date: 1969-12-03
Filing date: 1969-12-03
Publication date: 1972-01-04
Anticipated expiration: 1989-01-04
Also published as: US3633007A

Abstract

An improved bounce and roll circuit for use in golf game computing systems. The improved circuit is formed principally of semiconductors and is constructed so that the integration of a signal representing artificial gravity during the bound portion of a ball flight is accomplished by an integrator already present for integrating acceleration due to lift and gravity; and means are provided for continually retriggering the circuit to initiate or continue the bounce and roll portion of the flight of a ball in the event the circuit fails to trigger on the first or any subsequent trigger.

Description

United States Patent [72] Inventor James W. Sanders [56] References Cited.

Grand Mich- UNITED STATES PATENTS 5; 9, $32 2 3,091,466 5/1963 Speiser 235/151 x t d J 3,508,440 4/1970 Murphy 235/15132 x E 252 z z Cowman 3,513,707 5/1970 Russell m1 273/183 x Primary Examiner-Malcolm A. Morrison Assistant Examiner-Jerry Smith GOLF g i gg g INCLUDING BOUNCE Attorney--Hofgren, Wegner, Allen, Stellman & McCord AND ROLLG NE T 12 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

ABSTRACT: An improved bounce and roll circuit for use in [52] U.S. Cl game computing systems The improved circuit is formed l Cl 6 15/44 principally of semiconductors and is constructed so that the n G0 5/05 integration ofa signal representing artificial gravity during the 50 m {sea 235/151 bound portion of a ball flight is accomplished by an integrator 1 0 re 6477 already present for integrating acceleration due to lift and 1 5 73/379 gravity; and means are provided for continually retriggering the circuit to initiate or continue the bounce and roll portion of the flight of a ball in the event the circuit fails to trigger on the first or any subsequent trigger.

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SHEET 3 OF 3 nw hw m GOLF GAME COMPUTER INCLUDING BOUNCE AND ROLL GENERATOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The ever-increasing upsurge in the popularity of the game of golf has resulted in severe overcrowding of existing outdoor courses and as a result, many proposals have been made for indoor golf games wherein, in a relatively small space, a golfer may play an entire round of golf indoors.

Some such systems have been offered commercially and it has been found that the degree of success of such systems de pends on the degree of realism provided in simulating the conventional game as played outdoors. One such commercialized system, to enhance the realism, employs a special circuit in a computing system for providing an indication to the player of the game of a bouncing and/or rolling ball near the termination of each shot. The bounce and roll circuit of the system has proved to be very satisfactory in enhancing the realism of the game. However, the same utilizes principally electromechanical elements which do not offer the degree of reliability desirable and does not utilize other portions of the system for imple menting bounce and roll as effectively as possible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The principal object of the invention is to provide a new and improved bounce and roll circuit for use in indoor golf games. More specifically, it is an object to provide such a circuit that is extremely reliable and takes the utmost advantage of the other portions of the computer system so as to minimize the cost of the overall system.

The exemplary embodiment of the invention includes a comparator which is adapted to receive a signal representing the displacement of the ball above the ground from another portion of the system and when the signal received indicates that the ball is in contact with the ground, triggers a one shot. The one shot, in turn, turns on a silicon controlled rectifier which provides power to a goodly portion of the remainder of the circuit. Upon application of the power, means are provided for effectively disconnecting a source of signals representing acceleration due to lift and gravity on a ball dur ing its flight and for introducing a signal representing acceleration due to gravity alone. The disconnecting means are arranged with respect to an operational amplifier in an integrating circuit used to integrate the combined lift and gravity signals to provide a vertical velocity signal so as to utilize the same to integrate the gravity alone signal thereby eliminating a need for a separate integrating circuit.

Additionally, a novel timing means is utilized for determining the length of the bounce and/or roll portion of a balls trajectory and includes a plurality of electrically parallel resistors, each having a different value, arranged to charge the capacitor at a rate dependent upon the value of the resistors. Elevation signal detecting means are utilized to control through which of the resistors current will pass thereby controlling the rate of charge of the capacitor and the arrangement is such that the rate of charge of the capacitor is directly proportional to the sensed initial angle of elevation of a ball hit from the tee.

A unijunction transistor is utilized to sense when the charge of the capacitor reaches a predetermined value to terminate the bounce and roll portion of the balls flight. However, to insure that the flight will not be terminated when the ball is not in contact with the ground, which would result in an obviously improper indication to the golfer, a field effect transistor is electrically interposed between the capacitor and the unijunction transistor and is rendered conducting only when the one shot is triggered, which corresponds to a condition wherein the ball is in contact with the ground.

Also, there is employed a feedback circuit from the one shot to the comparator that is operative to continuously retrigger the circuit when the time period has not expired and when the circuit fails to initiate or continue the generation of bounce and roll signals.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a block diagram of a golf game computing system in which the improved bounce and roll circuit is particularly suited for use; and

FIG. 2 is a schematic of the improved bounce and roll circuitry and is comprised of FIGS. 2A and 2B with FIG. 28 adapted to be placed at the lower border of FIG. 2A.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT One form of golf game computer in which the inventive improvement constituting this invention is susceptible to use is basically that disclosed in the copending application of Russell et al., Ser. No. 588,922, filed Oct. 24,. 1966, and assigned to the same assignee as the instant application, the details of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Before proceeding with the discussion of the basic operation of the computer, it is to be understood that the same computes, throughout the theoretical time of flight (including bouncing and rolling) of the ball, three: coordinates of the ball in space. The coordinates represent the displacement of the ball in three directions from the tee point and, as is known in the art, are referred to as the X, Y and Z directions. The Y direction is vertical and thus, the instantaneous Y displacement represents the height of the ball in flight above the ground. The Z direction is horizontal and straightaway from the tee point so that the instantaneous Z displacement represents the distance of the ball from the tee point in a direction straightaway therefrom. The X direction is also horizontal and is transverse to the Z direction. Thus, the instantaneous X displacement represents; the location of the ball to either side of the line defining the Z direction. Further, since the displacement can be to either side of the 2 direction, it may be either positive or negative while the Y and Z displacements will always be positive or zero.

The computer is illustrated in block form in FIG. l and includes a tee trigger 10 which is adapted to sense when a ball has been hit by a golfer from a tee area to start a binary counter I2. The binary counter 12 is stopped when the ball has traveled a predetermined distance from the tee by any suitable means. For example, in the Russell et al. application, there is provided an arcuate arrangement of photocells for sensing the initial angle of elevation of the ball and when the ball passes through the photocell matrix, a signal is generated thereby to stop the binary counter. Alternatively, the predetermined distance may be set by the location of a target for stopping the ball such as that disclosed in the copending application of Conklin et al., Ser. No. 820,558, filed Apr. 30, 1969, and assigned to the same assignee as the instant application, the details of which are herein incorporated by reference. When the latter system is used, the means contained within the target for sensing elevation angle may also be used to stop the binary counter.

In any event, elevation angle detecting means 14 are provided and the same, in addition to detecting the initial angle of elevation 0 of a ball hit from the tee, are operative to stop the binary counter 12.

The count contained in the binary counter I2 is inversely representative of the initial velocity V, of the ball hit from the tee. That is, the higher the count in the binary counter 12, the longer it will have taken for the ball to pass the predetermined distance from the tee point to the elevation angle detecting means 14 and thus, the slower will be its velocity.

The count contained in the binary counter 12 is then decoded by a digital to analog conversion matrix 16 which is operative to convert and invert the digital time quantity contained in the binary counter to an analog velocity quantity designated V,, for initial velocity. This information is then fed to a drag circuit 18 which is operative to ascertain from the initial velocity V,,, the instantaneous velocity V, of the ball at any point in its theoretical time of flight.

The digital to analog converter 16 also provides a second V,, (bounce) signal to the drag circuit 16 which is operative to increase the drag or decay rate of the instantaneous velocity V, after the free flight of the ball has terminated and the same is bouncing or rolling on the ground.

Returning to the elevation angle detecting means, the same provides a signal to an elevation trigonometry matrix 20 which has two outputs. On one output, there is placed a signal having a magnitude which is proportional to the product of the instantaneous velocity V, and the cosine of the initial angle of elevation of the shot, cos 0, or V, cos 6. On the other output, there is placed a signal having a magnitude proportional to the product of the instantaneous velocity V, and the sine of the initial angle of elevation of the shot, sin 0, or V, sin 0.

The system also includes an azimuth angle detecting means I 22 for detecting the initial angle B of the shot with respect to the azimuth. The azimuth angle detecting means 22 may be in the form of the photocells disclosed by Russell et al. or incorporated in the target in the manner disclosed by Conklin et al. The azimuth angle information provided by the azimuth angle detecting means 22 is then fed to an azimuth trigonometry matrix 24.

The V, cos 6 output from the elevation trigonometry matrix is fed through an inverter 26 as an input to the azimuth trigonometry matrix 24. The azimuth trigonometry matrix then converts the signal to be proportional to the product of the instantaneous velocity V,, the cosine of 0, and the sine of B, V,- cos 9 sin B, which as will be appreciated from the reading of the Russell et al. application, correspond to the instantane ous velocity of the ball in the so-called X direction without regard to the effects on side spin.

The azimuth trigonometry matrix 24 also provides a second signal which corresponds to the product of the instantaneous velocity V,, the cosine of 0 and the cosine of B, V, cos 6 cos B, which corresponds to the instantaneous velocity of the ball in the so-called Z direction.

The V, cos 0 cos B signal is then used as an input for an integrating circuit 28 which provides as an output, a signal proportional to the instantaneous displacement of the ball in the Z direction, S As shown in FIG. 1, such a signal is of negative polarity and, for purposes explained in the Russell et al. application, this signal is also fed to an inverter 30 which provides as an output the same signal but with the opposite polarity.

The V, cos 0 sin B output of the azimuth trigonometry matrix 24 is fed as an input to a first inverter 32 which, in turn, provides an input to a second inverter 34. Shunting the inverter 34 is a pair of relay contacts 36 which are operative to cut the inverter 34 in or out of the circuit.

As described in the Russell et al. application, the output of the azimuth trigonometry matrix 24 is of the same polarity regardless of whether the ball is traveling to the left or right in the X direction. However, means are also provided in association with the matrix 24 for distinguishing whether the ball is traveling to the left or the right and such means are employed to open or close the contacts 36 appropriately. For example, if the polarity of the output inverter 32 is arbitrarily such as to indicate that the ball is travelling to the right, and in fact, the ball was sensed as traveling to the left, the distinguishing means would leave the contacts 36 open so that the inverter 34 would provide a signal having an opposite polarity of that provided by the inverter 32 thereby indicating that the ball was in fact traveling to the left. On the other hand, if the ball was in fact traveling to the right, the distinguishing means would cause the contacts 36 to be closed to thereby shunt the inverter 34 to provide a signal having a polarity indicating that the ball was in fact traveling to the right.

The parallel combination of the contacts 36 and the inverter 34 is connected to a summing point 38 whereat the effect of side spin is also considered in determining total velocity in the X direction. A second input to the summing point 38 is taken from the output of an integrator 40 which has its input connected to a summing point 42. The summing point 42 receives information from two sources. Firstly, the same receives information from a hook-slice matrix 44 which in turn receives information from a spin detector 46 which provides an indication of side spin on the ball. The spin detector 46 may be either of the forms disclosed by Russell et al. or that disclosed by Conklin et al. The hook-slice matrix 44 also receives an input from a circuit 48 which is representative of a power of the instantaneous velocity V, received from the drag circuit 18.

The hook-slice matrix 44 also provides an output to the azimuth trigonometry matrix 24 which in turn provides an output to an inverter 50 which is connected to the summing point 42. The reasons for the foregoing connections are not material to the invention but are explained in detail in the Russell et al. application. For purposes of this application, it is sufficient to note that at the summing point 42, there will be a signal having a magnitude indicative of spin force or spin acceleration.

This signal is then fed to the integrator 40 which provides an output having a magnitude characteristic of the velocity in the X direction due to side spin which in turn is summed at the summing point 38 with the velocity in the X direction due to the initial angle with respect to the azimuth B.

The resulting signal is then fed as an input to an integrator 52 which provides an output representative of the instantaneous displacement in the X direction, or S An output from the elevation trigonometry matrix having the signal V, cos 0 impressed thereon is utilized as an input to a gravity and lift circuit 54. The gravity and lift circuit 54 provides an input to an integrator 56 which is representative of the acceleration in the Y direction due to the effects of lift and gravity on the golf ball in flight. The integrator 56 in turn con verts this signal to a lift and gravity velocity signal which is fed to a bounce circuit 58 which, by the means disclosed by Russell et al., is ineffective while the ball is in free flight but comes into play when the ball would begin its bouncing or rolling along the ground.

The output of the bounce circuit 58 is in turn fed to a summing point 60 which receives the V, sin 0 output from the elevation trigonometry matrix 20 which is representative of the velocity in the Y direction without regard to the effects of lift and gravity. At the summing point 60, the two signals are combined and the resulting signal is then fed as an input to an integrator 62 which provides an output representative of the instantaneous displacement in the Y direction, 8,. Of course, when the ball has encountered the ground for the first time, a bounce signal will be impressed upon the summing point 60 by the bounce circuit 58 and until such time as the ball would be motionless.

The signals representative of the displacements in the X, Y and Z directions, 8,, S, and 8,, may be used as inputs to a display device such as a ball spot projector for displaying the flight of the ball to the golfer.

The improved bounce and roll circuitry which is the concern of this invention may best be understood from a consideration of FIGS. 2A and 28. Referring specifically to FIG. 2A, there is provided a comparator having one input connected to ground and the other one connected to the output of the integrator 62 (FIG. 1) to receive a signal, negative in polarity, whose magnitude is proportional to the displacement of the golf ball in the Y direction, i.e., the height of the ball above the ground. When the signal from the integrator 62 is of such a magnitude as to indicate that the ball has not intercepted the ground, the comparator 100 will not affect the remainder of the circuitry. However, when the ball intercepts the ground, the comparator 100 will issue a negative going signal on its output which is fed to the trigger input of one-shot or monostable multivibrator 102. The pulse will trigger the one shot and as a result, on an output lead 104 connected to the gate of a silicon-controlled rectifier 106 there will be placed a signal that will fire the silicon-controlled rectifier I06.

The cathode of the silicon-controlled rectifier 106 is connected to ground while the anode is connected to one side of a pair of relay coils 108 and 110 (shown in FIGS. 2A and 28 respectively). The other sides of the relay coils I08 and 110 are connected in common to a line 112 which is in the emitter collector circuit of a transistor 114. Specifically, the line 112 is connected to the emitter of the transistor 114 and the collector thereof is connected to a positive source of power. The base of the transistor 114 is connected through a resistor 116 to the anode of a silicon-controlled rectifier 118 which in turn has its cathode connected to ground. At the common junction of the silicon-controlled rectifier 118 and the resistor 116, there is a lead 120 on which a Go" signal is received. The Go signal may be generated in any suitable manner in the Russell et al. computation system when data has been acquired and the computer initiates computation.

The arrangement is such that when the Go signal is received, indicating the initiation of computation by the computing system, the transistor 114 will conduct to apply positive power to one side of the relay coils 108 and 110. At this point,

there will normally be no energization of the relays 108 and 110 inasmuch as the ball will be in the air so the silicon-controlled rectifier 106 will be in a nonconducting state thereby breaking the path of current to ground. However, when the silicon-controlled rectifier 106 is fired, the relays 108 and 110 will be energized and will remain energized until the transistor 114 is turned off.

The relay 108 includes a pair of normally open contacts 108a and 1031b and the contacts 108a are connected in parallel with a resistor 122. One of the junctions of the resistor 122 and the contacts 10811 is connected to a summing point 124 which in turn is connected as an input to the integrator 56 (FIG. 1). Also connected to the summing point 124 is a resistor 126 which is interposed between the summing point 124 and a positive source of power. A second resistor 128 has one side connected to the summing point and the other side to the elevation trigonometry matrix to receive a signal proportional to the product of V, and the cosine of 0. As mentioned in the Russell et a1. application, the term V, cos 6 is a suitable approximation of the acceleration of a ball in the direction due to the factor of lift caused by backspin on the ball. Accordingly, through the resistor 128, the factor of lift acceleration is provided to the summing point 124.

Gravity is another force to be considered and in the exemplary embodiment, a signal representing this force is applied from the positive source of power to the summing point 124 through the resistor 126. Hence, the output from the summing point 124 represents the combined, but opposite acceleration due to lift and gravity and is utilized by the remainder of the computing system before the first bounce of the ball in the manner generally outlined previously. However, when the bounce portion of the balls trajectory is to take place, it is desirable to eliminate the factor of lift entirely and, principally for convenience purposes, a second gravitational force is used. To this end, when the relay 108 is fired upon the first touchdown of the ball, the resulting closing of the contacts 108a will clamp the summing point 124 to ground through a lead 130 thereby completely eliminating the effect of the signals applied through the resistors 126 and 128 for the remainder of the computation cycle.

As is well known in the art, the integrator 56 which integrates the forces of gravity and lift to provide a velocity output representing the velocity in the Y direction due to gravity and lift, includes an integrating capacitor 131. Of course, the charge on the capacitor 131 will be a measure of the effects of gravity and lift and accordingly, it is desirable to insure that when the bouncing of the ball is to take place, the charge on the capacitor 131 is zero. Further, as will be seen hereinafter, the capacitor 131 is charged, although to a lesser extent, during the bounce portion of the flight when the ball is bouncing but is not in contact with the ground and it is also desirable that the charge on the capacitor 131 be reduced to zero each time the hall encounters the ground.

The capacitor 131 is connected in parallel with the integrator 56 and to discharge the same, one side of the contacts 108b are connected to the input of the integrator 56 while the other side of the contacts are connected through a field effect transistor 132 to the output of the integrator 56. Thus, whenever the field effect transistor 132 is conducting, it will effectively discharge the capacitor 131.

The field effect transistor 132 has its gage connected to a lead 134 which in turn is connected to the collector of a transistor 136 illustrated in FIG. 213. The emitter of the transistor 136 is connected through a Zener diode 138 to a line 140 leading to a positive source of power and through a resistor 142 to ground, the Zener diode 138 being provided for voltage dividing purposes. The base of the transistor 136 is connected via a lead 144 to the one shot 102 so that whenever the one shot 102 is fired, the transistor 136 will conduct and turn on the field effect transistor 132 to ultimately discharge the capacitor associated with the integrator 56.

As mentioned previously, the gravity effect due to the presence of the resistor 126 is cut out during the bouncing of the ball and it is necessary to replace the same with another source for the gravity signal. This is accomplished by a resistor network 146 which is connected to the output of the integrator 56 as well as to the input thereof when the contacts 1001; close. The voltage placed across the integrator 56 by virtue of this connection through the resistor matrix 146 provides a gravitational effect to be integrated during bounce and will ultimately provide at the output of the integrator 56 a voltage proportional to the velocity in the Y direction due to gravity during bounce. This voltage may then be fed directly to the summing point 60 shown in FIG. 1 for summing with the voltage representing V, sin 6 and to be ultimately integrated by the integrator 62 to provide the signal representing the displacement in the Y direction.

The resulting action of the application of the combined voltages to the integrator 62 is as follows. With the discharging of the capacitor 131 associated with the integrator 56 when the ball first intercepts the ground, it will be appreciated that a zero volt signal will be applied from the bounce circuit to the summing point 60 and as a result, assuming that the ball still has a velocity component which will normally be the case, only the voltage representing V,- sin 0 will be presented to the integrator 62. Accordingly, the output representing the displacement in the Y direction will begin to increase to represent an increase in the height of the ball above the ground. However, it will be appreciated that shortly thereafter the one shot 102 will revert to its stable state to result in the field effect transistor 132 returning to a nonconducting state thereby eliminating the shunt of the capacitor 131 associated with the integrator 56. As a result of the voltage applied to the integrator 56 by the resistor matrix 146, a voltage opposing the voltage representing V, sin 6 will begin to be applied to the summing point 60 and eventually, will cause the output of the integrator 62 to swing in the opposite direction to signify a decrease in the height of the ball above the ground. Ultimately, the output of the integrator 62 will indicate that the ball has again intercepted the ground thereby causing the comparator 100 to trigger the one shot 102 and again discharge the capacitor 131 associated with the integrator 56. And the process will begin anew and continue until the term V, sin 6 is equal to zero or the action is stopped by other means.

As every golfer knows, in a large part, the length of time that a ball will bounce on the ground is principally dependent upon the initial angle of elevation of a shot. For example, a low shot will bounce for a much longer period of time than will a shot hit with an intermediate angle of elevation which in turn will bounce for a longer period of time than a shot hit with a high initial angle of elevation. Accordingly, this relation is used to control the ultimate length of the bounce cycle. As best seen in FIG. 213, there are provided a plurality of leads 140 each including resistors 150 which are connected in common to the emitter ofa transistor 152. As shown in the drawing, one of the leads 140 will be energized when the elevation angle detecting means detects an initial angle of elevation of while another of the leads 148 will be energized when a 9 angle is detected. The remainder of the leads will be energized when the particular angle indicated in the drawing has been detected.

The resistors 150 have different values so that the rate of conduction through a given one of the leads 148 will vary. Specifically, the leads for the angles of 16% and upwards have relative low resistors 150 while the leads for angles of 5% and downwards have relative large resistors. The other leads for intermediate angles include resistors whose size is inversely proportional to the magnitude of the angle.

The collector of the transistor 152 is connected to a line 154 which in turn is connected to a capacitor 156 which is returned through a resistor 158 to normally close contacts 110a of the relay 110 which is in turn returned back to the line 154. The junction of the capacitor 156 and the resistor 158 is also connected directly to ground.

As a result of the foregoing construction, when the transistor 152 is conducting, current flow therethrough will be applied to the capacitor 156 to charge the same. Because of the current regulating effect of the resistors 150, it will be appreciated that for high angles of elevation, the capacitor 156 will be charged relatively rapidly while from low angles of elevation, it will be charged relatively slowly.

The transistor 152 is caused to conduct in the following manner. A biasing voltage is continually applied to the base of the transistor 152 but when the computer is not cycling through a computation cycle, no voltage will be applied to the emitter thereof through any of the leads 148. This will occur only when data has been acquired and the computer is cycling at which time a selected one of the leads 148 will be energized thereby causing the transistor 152 to conduct.

During the nonbounce or free flight portion of the ball flight, the capacitor 156 should not be charging as its function is to regulate the length of only the bounce portion of the flight as will be seen. During the nonbounce portion of the ball flight, the relay 110 will be deenergized and thus the contacts 110a thereof will be closed to shunt the capacitor 156 and connect the collector of the transistor 152 to ground through the resistor 158. Accordingly, no charging of the capacitor 156 will occur at this time. However, when the bounce portion of the ball flight is initiated, the energization of the relay 110 and the opening of the contacts 110a thereof, will result in the charging of the capacitor 156.

The contacts 110a are also used to provide a discharge path for the capacitor 156 upon completion of computation of the ball flight. Such a path will include the line 154, the contacts 110a which will be closed when the computer is reset followi'ng a computation cycle and the resistor 158.

When the charge in the capacitor 156 reaches a predetermined value, this occurrence is used to indicate that the ball flight should be terminated. However, it is desirable that the ball flight not be terminated when the ball is above the ground, and accordingly, means are provided for insuring that the charge in the capacitor 156 can stop the ball flight only when the displacement in the Y direction is zero and a field effect transistor 160 is utilized for this purpose. The line 154 is connected to the drain of a field effect transistor 160 and the source thereof is connected through a diode 162 to the input of a unijunction transistor 164. The gate of the field effect transistor is connected through a diode 166 to the collector of the transistor 136.

It will be recalled that the transistor 136 is turned on whenever the one shot 102 is tripped and that this will occur whenever the comparator 100 senses a Y displacement of zero, and as mentioned previously, the conduction of the transistor 136 causes the field effect transistor 132 to conduct. In the same manner, the field effect transistor 160 is caused to conduct and when such occurs, the voltage on the capacitor 156 is fed to the input of the unijunction transistor 164. The arrangement is such that when the predetermined charge has accumu- Iiited on the cnpncitor I56 and when the ball is on the ground as evidenced by the conduction of the field effect transistor 160, the unijunction transistor 164 will be fired. Because the unijunction transistor 164 may be connected to the capacitor 156 only when the ball is on the ground, it will be appreciated that the ball flight will only be terminated when the ball is on the ground.

When the unijunction transistor fires, a connection therefrom through a resistor 166 to the gate of the silicon-controlled rectifier 118 causes the latter to fire which in turn causes the transistor 114 to cease conducting. As a result, the relays 108 and 110 will be deenergized as will be the siliconcontrolled switch 106. Accordingly, further computation will not take place and the ball flight is terminated.

The circuit further includes a Zener diode 170 connected across the grounded input lead to the comparator and an output of the one shot 102. The purpose of this circuit is to prevent the premature termination of computation when the ball touches the ground should, for any reason, the one shot 102 fail to trigger the silicon-controlled rectifier 106 to energize the relays 108 or 110 or, fail to turn on a transistor 136 to turn on the field effect transistors 132 and 160.

Should there be such a failure, it will be appreciated that the input to the comparator 100 on which the signal indicative of displacement in the Y direction is received will be at ground potential. On the other hand, the overall system triggers appropriately, the signal will swing negative as the integrator 65 integrates the V, sin 6 signal. If the circuit is operated properly, the impartation of bounce will occur as described previously. However, if there has been a failure, when the one shot 102 is triggered, a positive going pulse will be applied to the grounded input to the comparator 100 through a Zener diode which will temporarily drive the output of the comparator upwardly. When the one shot has returned to its stable state, the comparator will sense equal voltages on both of its input leads and again, its output will go negative thereby retriggering the one shot 102.

This action will occur repetitively until such time as the circuit is properly triggered and the signal representative of the displacement in the Y direction again begins to swing in negative.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the improved bounce and roll circuitry of the invention provides a number of advantages over that heretofore known. For example, integration of artificial gravity during bounce is accomplished by an existing integrator rather than a separate integrating circuit; the overall circuit is extremely reliable and not prone to failure; and means are provided for automatically continually retriggering the circuit should, for any reason, the same fail on the first or subsequent trigger.

lclaim:

1. A golf game computing system comprising: means for determining the theoretical distance of a ball above the ground and including an integrator circuit having a capacitor and means for providing signals representing lift and gravity to said integrator circuit; a comparator responsive to said determining means for signalling when the ball is theoretically in contact with the ground, a one shot connected to be triggered by said comparator; a first semiconductor means connected to be caused to conduct in response to the triggering of said one shot; means responsive to the conduction of said semiconductor means for rendering said lift and gravity signalling means inoperative and for providing a signal representing gravity alone to said integrator; second semiconductor means responsive to the triggering of said one shot for discharging said capacitor; timing means operative in response to the conduction of said first semiconductor means; means responsive to said timing means for disabling said first semiconductor means; and means, including third semiconductor means, responsive to the triggering of said one shot for connecting said timing means to said disabling means only when said one shot is triggered whereby said first semiconductor means can be disabled only when the ball is theoretically in contact with the ground.

2. A golf game computing system according to claim ll wherein said determining means includes a second integrator connected to said first integrator to receive a signal therefrom and generate a signal representing the distance of the ball above the ground and a source of signal representing the instantaneous velocity of the ball with respect to the vertical connected to said second integrator; and further including feedback means from said one shot to said comparator for continually retriggering said one shot if said disabling means has not been operated and the signal from said second integrator represents that the ball is in contact with the ground.

3. A golf game computing system according to claim 1 wherein said capacitor is in parallel with said integrator, said means for providing signals representing lift and gravity comprises resistive means connected to the input of said integrator and said means for rendering the lift and gravity signalling means includes switch means for connecting said resistive means to ground and for connecting second resistive means to said integrator to provide said signal representing gravity alone thereto.

4. A golf game computing system according to claim 1 wherein said determining means includes a second integrator connected to said first-named integrator to receive a signal representing vertical velocity alternately due to lift and gravity and gravity alone therefrom, and means for providing said second integrator with another signal representing vertical velocity due to initial direction of a ball hit from a tee.

5 A golf game computing system according to claim 1 wherein said timing means includes a second capacitor in a charging circuit, and means for charging said second capacitor at any one of a plurality of selected rates and including a plurality of resistors having different values; means for detecting the initial angle of elevation of a ball hit from a tee; and means responsive to said detecting means for applying a signal to a particular one of said resistors, said resistors and said applying means being arranged so that the rate of charging of said second capacitor is approximate directly proportional to the detected initial angle of elevation.

6. A golf game computing system according to claim 5 wherein said disabling means comprises a unijunction transistor and said connecting means comprises a field effect transistor connected to said second capacitor and to said unijunction transistor.

7. A golf game computing system according to claim 5 further including switch means responsive to conduction of said first semiconductor means for discharging said second capacitor whenever said first semiconductor means is not con ducting.

8. A golf game computing system including: first means for generating a signal representing acceleration on a golf ball in flight due to the effects of lift and gravity thereon; second means for generating a signal representing acceleration on a golf ball due to gravity alone, integrating means for alternately receiving said signals from said first and second means and for generating signals representing vertical velocity of a golf ball due to lift and gravity and gravity alone, means for determining when the flight of the ball would bring the ball in contact with the ground, and switch means responsive to said determining means for normally effectively connecting said first means to said integrating means and disconnecting said second means therefrom when the ball has not yet theoretically contacted the ground and for effectively disconnecting said first means from said integrating means and connecting said second means thereto when the ball has theoretically contacted the ground.

9. A golf game computer according to claim 8 wherein said integrating means comprises an operational amplifier having a capacitor connected in parallel therewith; said first means comprises first resistive means connected to the input of said amplifier; said second means comprises second resistive means connectable across said amplifier; and said switch means includes a first switch for grounding said first resistive means to disconnect the same from said amplifier and a second switch for connecting said second resistive means across said amplifier.

10. A golf game computing system according to claim 9 wherein said determining means comprises a one shot and a comparator connected thereto to trigger the one shot when the ball is theoretically in contact with the ground.

11. A golf game computing system comprising: means for computing the theoretical instantaneous displacement of a ball above the ground and providing a first signal representative thereof; means for generating bounce and roll information and providing a second signal representative thereof; means responsive to said computing means for triggering said generating means when said first signal indicates that the ball is in contact with the ground; and means for causing said triggering means to repetitively retrigge'r said generating means whenever said triggering means fails to initiate operation of said generating means.

12. A golf game computing system according to claim 11 wherein said triggering means comprises a comparator connected to a one shot, and said retriggering means comprises a feedback means from said one shot to said comparator.

Claims

2. A golf game computing system according to claim 1 wherein said determining means includes a second integrator connected to said first integrator to receive a signaL therefrom and generate a signal representing the distance of the ball above the ground and a source of a signal representing the instantaneous velocity of the ball with respect to the vertical connected to said second integrator; and further including feedback means from said one shot to said comparator for continually retriggering said one shot if said disabling means has not been operated and the signal from said second integrator represents that the ball is in contact with the ground.

5. A golf game computing system according to claim 1 wherein said timing means includes a second capacitor in a charging circuit, and means for charging said second capacitor at any one of a plurality of selected rates and including a plurality of resistors having different values; means for detecting the initial angle of elevation of a ball hit from a tee; and means responsive to said detecting means for applying a signal to a particular one of said resistors, said resistors and said applying means being arranged so that the rate of charging of said second capacitor is approximate directly proportional to the detected initial angle of elevation.

7. A golf game computing system according to claim 5 further including switch means responsive to conduction of said first semiconductor means for discharging said second capacitor whenever said first semiconductor means is not conducting.

11. A golf game computing system comprising: means for computing the theoretical instantaneous displacement of a ball above the ground and providing a first signal representative thereof; means for generating bounce and roll information and providing a second signal representative thereof; means responsive to said computing means for triggering said generating means when said first signal indicates that the ball is in contact with the ground; and means for causing said triggering means to repetitively retrigger said generating means whenever said triggering means fails to initiate operation of said generating means.