US 12,390,714 B2
Position-based laser range finder
Robert A. Lewis, Flagstaff, AZ (US); and Dennis O. Corey, Bend, OR (US)
Assigned to Garmin Switzerland GmbH, (CH)
Filed by Garmin Switzerland GmbH, Schaffhausen (CH)
Filed on Jul. 20, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/355,782.
Application 18/355,782 is a continuation of application No. 16/849,366, filed on Apr. 15, 2020, granted, now 11,745,082.
Application 16/849,366 is a continuation of application No. 15/445,484, filed on Feb. 28, 2017, granted, now 10,653,937, issued on May 19, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/349,891, filed on Jun. 14, 2016.
Prior Publication US 2023/0356060 A1, Nov. 9, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. A63B 71/06 (2006.01); A63B 57/00 (2015.01); A63B 69/36 (2006.01); A63B 102/32 (2015.01); G01S 7/48 (2006.01); G01S 17/06 (2006.01); G01S 17/08 (2006.01); G01S 17/86 (2020.01); G01S 17/88 (2006.01)
CPC A63B 71/0622 (2013.01) [A63B 57/00 (2013.01); A63B 69/36 (2013.01); G01S 7/4808 (2013.01); G01S 17/06 (2013.01); G01S 17/08 (2013.01); G01S 17/86 (2020.01); G01S 17/88 (2013.01); A63B 2071/0625 (2013.01); A63B 2071/0691 (2013.01); A63B 2102/32 (2015.10); A63B 2220/12 (2013.01); A63B 2220/13 (2013.01); A63B 2220/18 (2013.01); A63B 2220/40 (2013.01); A63B 2220/80 (2013.01); A63B 2220/806 (2013.01); A63B 2225/20 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for determining a range estimate to a target comprising:
a rangefinder including:
a transmitter operable to emit one or more pulses towards the target, and
a receiver operable to receive reflections of the one or more pulses;
a camera;
a display; and
at least one processor operable to:
acquire an image from the camera,
identify a target flagstick within the image acquired from the camera,
modify pixels proximate to the identified target flagstick of the image to generate a modified image contrasting the target flagstick from objects in the background by removing a scene color, converting the image to grayscale and spatially filtering a block of data associated with the pixels using a convolution operator to accentuate narrow vertical features depicted in the image,
calculate a range estimate to the target flagstick using the rangefinder, and
present, on the display, the modified image and a representation of the range estimate of the target flagstick.