US Patent:
20200324171, Oct 15, 2020
Inventors:
- Dallas TX, 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
International Classification:
A63B 47/00
A63B 43/00
A63B 37/00
A63B 69/36
G06K 7/10
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.
