Motor vehicles – With means for controlling operation responsive to...
Patent
1996-01-23
2000-11-07
Johnson, Brian L.
Motor vehicles
With means for controlling operation responsive to...
180168, B60T 716
Patent
active
061422517
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a system consisting of an automotive vehicle, preferably a golf caddy, and a transmitter.
The present invention is not only applicable to golf carts which so far have normally been steered as hand-drawn golf carts by a player on handles and have carried the golf bag including the golf clubs, but also to other vehicles for whose purpose it may be advantageous when the vehicles can automatically follow a movable transmitter.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,742,507 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,493 already disclose automatic golf carts which have a position finder with the aid of which they can automatically approach an associated transmitter carried by a player. The position finder of the prior-art golf carts consists, in the one case, of a high-frequency position finder and, in the other prior-art embodiment, of an infra-red position finder, but the two finders do not offer the possibility of determining the exact distance from the associated transmitter. The prior-art golf carts are therefore not able to approach the transmitter exactly up to a predetermined distance and to stand still automatically when said minimum distance is reached until the player moves again together with the transmitter. Hence, the prior-art golf carts are not suitable in practice.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,186 dicloses a radio-controlled guide and speed control system for a golf caddy which comprises spaced-apart receivers to receive magnetic energy signals from a movable energy source. The received signals vary according to the positions of the receiver relative to the energy source and are electrically processed to control separated motors which drive two wheels of the golf caddy so as to start, steer and stop the same.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,748,564 discloses a remote-controlled vehicle having a right and a left drive wheel which can be driven independently of two eletric d.c. motors, the vehicle being responsive to a control signal which is supplied by a portable transmitter carried by a moving person. The vehicle has an electronic control system comprising a receiver which receives the emitted control signal and derives therefrom a distance signal which corresponds to the distance between the person and the vehicle, and a position finding signal for the course of the vehicle relative to the person. An amplifier circuit converts the distance and position finding signals into control signals for the motors of the right and left wheels.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is the object of the present invention to develop a system consisting of an automotive vehicle, preferably, but not exclusively, a golf caddy, and of a transmitter in such a manner that the golf caddy automatically follows a transmitter and can automatically stop at a distance to be observed strictly from the transmitter. Moreover, the vehicle should be capable of approaching the transmitter automatically also in cases where the latter is positioned at an increased distance.
According to the present invention the system which is composed of vehicle and transmitter contains both a high-frequency position finder which is active whenever the distance between vehicle and transmitter exceeds a predetermined distance and whose function consists in determining the direction in which the transmitter is located when being viewed from the vehicle, and an ultrasonic position finder which determines both the direction of the transmitter and the respective distance between vehicle and transmitter, preferably with the aid of a processor, when the vehicle is within a predetermined distance from the transmitter.
The high-frequency position finder thereby enables the vehicle to approach, preferably on a straight path, the area around the transmitter in which the ultrasonic signals supplied by the transmitter at short intervals of eg. 0.5 to 1 s can be received. When the vehicle is within said range, it receives ultrasonic signals and switches from high-frequency position finding to ultrasonic position finding. Two transversely spaced-apart ultrasonic recei
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Fleming Faye M.
Johnson Brian L.
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