The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 13, 2020
Filed:
Apr. 12, 2019
Topgolf International, Inc., Dallas, TX (US);
Mark Joseph Semsak, Des Plaines, IL (US);
Romeo Espana, Carrollton, TX (US);
Brian David Burdette, McKinney, TX (US);
Clinton Scott Lovejoy, Dallas, TX (US);
Adrian Torrance Chaney, Denver, CO (US);
Hieu Nguyen-Minh Duong, Garland, TX (US);
Robert Benton Ahlfinger, Addison, TX (US);
Topgolf International, Inc., Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
Systems and apparatus for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) golf ball testing include, in at least one aspect, an apparatus including: one or more RFID readers having associated read zones; a star wheel unit defining cavities to receive golf balls; golf ball sensors including at least one sensor for each respective path through the read zones; kickers including at least one kicker positioned after each respective path through the read zones and arranged to change a golf ball's direction of travel when the at least one kicker is activated; and a controller coupled with the kickers, the golf ball sensors, and the one or more RFID readers, wherein the controller is configured to activate any of the kickers responsive to the one or more RFID readers inadequately reading an RFID tag in a golf ball detected by the at least one sensor for that kicker's associated path through a read zone.