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GolfNow Receives Patent for an ?Online Golf Reservation System?

By David Dawsey PE Esq

Familiar with the GolfNow tee time reservation system that seems to be pimped nonstop on The Golf Channel by the Billy Mays of golf instruction? Well, this week GolfNow was granted USPN 7,634,426 titled ?Golf Reservation System,? which may surprise some people. The patent explains:

Embodiments of the present invention provide an online golf reservation system (OGRS) that may allow a user to search (and subsequently book, if desired) available tee-times for a plurality of golf courses in an efficient, timely manner.

FIG. 1 illustrates an OGRS 100 in accordance with an embodiment of this invention. In this embodiment, the OGRS 100 may include a user portal 104, a network-based golf server (NBGS) 108, and tee-sheet systems 112 and 116 coupled to one another over a computer network 120, e.g., a wide-area network (WAN), such as the Internet, as generally shown. Tee-sheet systems 112 and 116 may also be referred to simply as tee sheets 112 and 116.

The user portal 104 may be coupled to the computer network 120 via a communication interface 106 and may include a web browser configured to render web pages of a website hosted by the NBGS 108 on user interface 110. The website may allow the user to interact with the NBGS 108 and, ultimately, tee sheets 112 and 116 of various golf courses as will be described in further detail below.

The tee sheets 112 and 116 may include inventory management applications relied upon by golf courses to manage their tee-time inventory. In various embodiments, the tee sheets may include database management systems (DBSs) such as, but not limited to, Oracle database, Microsoft SQLServer, a Java DBS, etc. and may be implemented in any of a number of different ways.

The tee sheets 112 may be implemented at a client golf course's device 114 to control that golf course's inventory. The tee sheet 112 may include a user interface 124, a communication interface 128, and a database 132. As shown, all of the components of the tee sheet 112 are embodied in the device 114; however, in other embodiments, components of the tee sheet 112 may be distributed through a computing cluster.

A user, e.g., a golf course employee, may interact with the managed inventory of the database 132 through the user interface 124. The communication interface 128, which may include various hardware and/or software components, may provide a mechanism for communications between the tee sheet 112 and the NBGS 108 via the computer network 120.

The tee sheet 116 may be implemented through use of an application service provider (ASP) 136. The ASP 136 may include a database 140 to store and manage the inventory of a number of golf courses, and a communication interface 144 to provide a mechanism for communications between the tee sheet 116 and the NBGS 108 via the computer network 120.

In various embodiments, the communication interfaces 128 and 144 may include application programming interfaces (APIs) configured to allow for an exchange of information between the respective tee sheets 112 and 116 and the NBGS 108.

The ASP 136 may host an inventory management application for client golf courses, which may be coupled to the ASP 136 through devices 146 and 148. The devices 146 and 148 may have respective communication interfaces 150 and 152 to facilitate coupling to the ASP 136 via respective communication links. The ASP 136 may provide the inventory management application to user interfaces 156 and 160 through, e.g., web pages. In this embodiment the inventory may be stored and processed at the ASP 136.

Interesting stuff.

Dave Dawsey  - Monitoring Golf Patents

PS ? check out interesting golf putter patents HERE 

Full post as published by Golf Patents on December 17, 2009 (boomark / email).