The present invention relates to an arrangement in conjunction with playing golf to enable the ball to be found in the terrain on the golf course, which comprises a searching apparatus and indication means carried by the ball.

A problem for golfers is that the golf ball is often difficult to find in the rough, i. e. that part of the golf course which lies outside the finely mown area. This is highly inconvenient and is the cause of considerable irritation for the golfer. This also applies to his partners and following players, since the time taken to look for the ball delays the game.

Another problem for the golfer is that he loses strokes if the ball is not found. If he finds the ball with the help of the invention described below, he will improve his score. In accordance with the current rules of golf, the following apparatus may only be used in friendly games, i. e. rounds of golf in which the player is not required to adhere strictly to the official rules of golf.

There are aids for this purpose in the form of apparatuses, for example an apparatus of the kind disclosed in US 5,662,533 A, which functions with different transmitter and receiver devices, for example functioning with radiation from a transmitter, and with the ball exhibiting means which the radiation senses. Other aids can be of a kind which generates a high-frequency electromagnetic field which senses metallized balls or may involve the use of radar, which similarly senses metallized balls. The advantage of using transmitters which function with radiation to a receiver makes it possible not only to sense the ball when the person is in the immediate vicinity of the ball, but also to obtain information about the direction in which the ball is located.

This previously disclosed arrangement is excessively

complicated, however, and does not function with simple means.

Other known aids for finding golf balls in the rough are previously disclosed, for example through DE 4,335,169 Al, US 4,991,851 A, US 5,007,647 A and US 5,330,195 A.

US 5,662,534 A and DE 8709503 U1 also describe ball finders, although in this case the balls are provided with external objects that are intended to be seen on radar. Such balls and equipment are complicated both to use and to manufacture.

The principal object of the present invention is thus, in the first instance, to solve the aforementioned problems by simple end efficiently functioning means.

The aforementioned object is achieved by means of an arrangement in accordance with the present invention, which is characterized essentially in that the searching apparatus consists of a hand-held transmitter so arranged as to function at a microwave frequency, in that the respective golf ball is provided with an electrically conducting pattern so arranged as to be resonant at the microwave frequency, in that the aforementioned electrically conducting metallic pattern carried by the golf ball is tuned to the microwave frequency range for position finding of the ball, in that the searching apparatus comprises a receiver unit with a directional antenna so arranged as to be capable of detecting the reflected output from the electrically conducting pattern of the respective golf ball, and in that the arrangement is so arranged that different polarization is used for transmission and reception.

The invention is described below in the form of a preferred illustrative embodiment, in conjunction with which reference is made to the accompanying drawings, where: Fig. 1 shows a diagrammatic view of an arrangement in accordance with the invention in function ;

Fig. 2 shows a block diagram of a transmitter in the aid ; and Fig. 3 shows a block diagram of a receiver in the aid in accordance with the invention.

In accordance with the invention, which relates to an arrangement 1 for enabling a player 2 to find the ball 3 in the terrain 4, for example in the rough on the golf course 5, in conjunction with a game of golf, this arrangement 1 comprises on the one hand a searching apparatus 6 and on the other hand an indication means 7 carried by the ball.

The searching apparatus 6 consists of a hand-held transmitter 8, which is so arranged as to function at a microwave frequency, see Fig. 2, and has a directional antenna 9, which is arranged for searching for the position of the golf ball 3 in question in the terrain 4.

Each golf ball 3 is provided with an electrically conducting metallic pattern 7, preferably on its envelope surface, which is so arranged as to be resonant at the microwave frequency. The aforementioned electrically conducting metallic pattern 7 carried by the golf ball is tuned to the microwave frequency range for position finding of the ball 3.

The searching apparatus 6 also comprises a receiver unit 10 with a receiving directional antenna 11 so arranged as to be capable of detecting the reflected output from the electrically conducting pattern 7 of the respective golf ball 3. The respective golf ball 3 is thus provided with a conducing metallically resonant pattern 7, for example silver paint in a desired pattern, so that the manner in which the ball ended up in the grass 4 is of no consequence, which metallic pattern 7 is tuned to the microwave frequency.

The conducting pattern 7 on the ball 3 can be executed in a way which gives rise to conversion of the electromagnetic energy from linear, i. e. vertical, to horizontal polarization.

The conducting pattern 7 can also be executed for conversion between circular, i. e. left-right, polarization or for conversion between linear and circular polarization.

It is important in this case for the arrangement 1 to be so arranged that different polarization is used for transmission via the transmitter 8 and reception via the receiver unit 10.

The function of the arrangement 1 is for the transmitter 8 and the receiver 10 to be tuned for the generation of output and for the detection of the same through reflection of a preferably converted wave from the resonant metallic pattern 7 of the golf ball 3.

The transmitter 8 and the receiver 10 are arranged with bluetooth modules intended for short-range communication in the globally available ISM 2.4-2.5 GHz frequency range.

The transmitter 8 and the receiver 10 are so arranged that use is made of the given form and specific dielectric characteristics of the golf ball, which are so arranged as to give rise to volume resonance in the microwave range. The aforementioned transmitter 8 and receiver 10 are so arranged as to detect both direct reflection and conversion between different polarizations.

The aforementioned receiver 10 comprises a display 12 on which there is present a pointer or some other directional aid, which indicates the direction in which, in relation to the person 2 using the ball-finding arrangement 1, the ball 3 is concealed in the long grass in the rough 4.

With an arrangement 1 in accordance with the invention with the golf ball 3 and its electrically conducting pattern 7, which is resonant at microwave frequencies, for example at 2.4-2.5 GHz, and the hand-held equipment 6, with a transmitter 8 and a receiver 10 with directional antennae for searching for the position of the golf ball 3 and for being able to detect the reflected output from the metallized pattern 7 of the golf ball, and by tuning

the receiver 10 to the narrow-band output frequency of the transmitter, the golf ball 3 can now be readily identified from non-metallic surroundings out in the terrain 4, as well as from surrounding metallic objects in the vicinity of the golf ball, for example if other golf balls marked in other ways with a metallic coating have been left in the terrain 4 or other metallic objects that are of no interest to the golf player have been left in the rough 4.

The invention is not restricted to the illustrative embodiment described above and shown in the drawings, but may be varied within the scope of the Patent Claims without departing from the idea of invention.