Method and system for marine vessel tracking system
First Claim
1. A method of identifying marine ships undergoing suspicious activity in predefined zones from a remote location utilizing reports periodically transmitted from the marine ships, comprising:
- defining zones of suspicious activity and values corresponding to each of said zones of suspicious activity, said values including minimum speed values and change in track values;
defining appropriate ship tolerances corresponding to each of said zones of suspicious activity, said appropriate ship tolerances including a time tolerance, a speed tolerance and a change in track tolerance;
storing said zones of suspicious activity and said appropriate ship tolerances in a database;
via a remote tracking center, receiving ship data including current position data, current speed data and current track data from a ship, the ship having stored ship tolerances stored in the ship and only sending said ship data to said remote tracking center when one of said stored ship tolerances is exceeded;
comparing said stored ship tolerances with said appropriate ship tolerances;
sending said appropriate ship tolerances to the ship when said stored ship tolerances are not the same as said appropriate ship tolerances;
comparing said current position data with said stored geographical zones for determining if said ship is in one of said zones of suspicious activity;
selecting the values corresponding to said stored zone of suspicious activity when said ship is in one of said zones of suspicious activity;
when said ship is in one of said stored zones of suspicious activity, analyzing said ship data with said values corresponding to said stored zone of suspicious activity for determining if said ship is undergoing suspicious activity; and
flagging the ship for investigation when said ship is undergoing suspicious activity.
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Abstract
A marine ship tracking system automatically and accurately monitors ship movements utilizing a limited number of reports from a marine ship and is easily installed and operated. Ships utilizing the marine ship tracking system periodically transmit reports to a remote tracking center. A ship sends a report to the remote tracking center when there is a significant change in the ship'"'"'s movement or position, or if a predetermined amount of time has elapsed since the ship last sent a report to the remote tracking center. The report includes current ship information, such as current position and current movement information. Because the ship sends a report each time a significant change in movement occurs, the remote tracking center may accurately extrapolate the position of the ship between the transmissions of the reports. In this manner, the remote tracking center may retain an accurate history of the ship'"'"'s position and movements at all times.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method of identifying marine ships undergoing suspicious activity in predefined zones from a remote location utilizing reports periodically transmitted from the marine ships, comprising:
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defining zones of suspicious activity and values corresponding to each of said zones of suspicious activity, said values including minimum speed values and change in track values;
defining appropriate ship tolerances corresponding to each of said zones of suspicious activity, said appropriate ship tolerances including a time tolerance, a speed tolerance and a change in track tolerance;
storing said zones of suspicious activity and said appropriate ship tolerances in a database;
via a remote tracking center, receiving ship data including current position data, current speed data and current track data from a ship, the ship having stored ship tolerances stored in the ship and only sending said ship data to said remote tracking center when one of said stored ship tolerances is exceeded;
comparing said stored ship tolerances with said appropriate ship tolerances;
sending said appropriate ship tolerances to the ship when said stored ship tolerances are not the same as said appropriate ship tolerances;
comparing said current position data with said stored geographical zones for determining if said ship is in one of said zones of suspicious activity;
selecting the values corresponding to said stored zone of suspicious activity when said ship is in one of said zones of suspicious activity;
when said ship is in one of said stored zones of suspicious activity, analyzing said ship data with said values corresponding to said stored zone of suspicious activity for determining if said ship is undergoing suspicious activity; and
flagging the ship for investigation when said ship is undergoing suspicious activity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method of identifying marine ships undergoing suspicious activity in predefined zones from a remote location utilizing reports periodically transmitted from the marine ships, comprising:
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defining boundaries of geographic zones and threshold values corresponding to each of said geographic zones;
storing said boundaries and threshold values in a database;
via a remote tracking center, receiving ship data from a ship including a current position of a ship, the ship having ship tolerances and only sending said ship data to said remote tracking center when at least one of said ship tolerances is exceeded;
comparing said position data with said geographical zones for determining if said ship is in one of said geographic zones;
when said ship is in one of said geographic zones, selecting the threshold values corresponding to said geographic zone and analyzing said ship data with the threshold values for determining if said ship is undergoing maneuvers suggestive of boarding; and
when said ship is undergoing maneuvers suggestive of boarding, flagging the ship for investigation. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of identifying marine ships undergoing suspicious activity in predefined zones from a remote location utilizing reports periodically transmitted from the marine ships, comprising:
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via a tracking center, tracking the changes in the position of a ship with respect to predefined zones;
in the tracking center, storing speed threshold values for each of the zones;
via a receiver in the marine ship, receiving signals from a transmitter of a navigational positioning system;
in said marine ship, monitoring marine ship data, said data including a current ship track and a current ship speed;
in the marine ship, comparing said ship data with predefined tolerances and sending a ship report to said tracking center when said ship data exceeds at least one of said tolerances, said ship report comprising a current ship position, a current ship track and a current ship speed;
via a communication unit in said tracking center, receiving said report from said marine ship;
in the tracking center, comparing the current ship position with predefined zones for determining if the position of the marine ship is within one of said zones;
in the tracking center, analyzing said ship report for determining if the ship is undergoing suspicious activity only when the position of the marine ship is within one of said zones; and
flagging said ship for investigation only when said ship is undergoing suspicious activity. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20)
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18. A method of utilizing reports periodically sent from ships to a remote tracking center for identifying ships that cause an environmental spill , comprising:
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receiving ship reports including current position data from ships;
said ships sending the ship reports when current ship data exceed at least one predefined tolerance;
storing said ship reports in a storage database;
inputting an origination time and an origination point of an environmental spill; and
comparing the origination time and the origination point with said ship position reports saved in said storage database; and
selecting at least one ship that is the mostly likely ship to have caused the environmental spill.
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21. A method of utilizing reports periodically sent from ships to a remote tracking center for aiding in search and rescue efforts, comprising:
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receiving ship reports comprising current position data from ships;
said ships sending the ship reports when current ship data exceeds at least one predefined tolerance;
storing said ship reports in a storage database;
inputting a last known position of a ship in distress;
comparing the position of the ship in distress with the ship reports stored in said storage database;
determining a ship best suited to aid the ship in distress based upon a plurality of factors, said plurality of factors including the distance between the ship in distress and the best suited ship, the size of the best suited ship, the current track of the best suited ship and the speed of the best suited ship; and
communicating the position of the ship in distress to the best suited ship. - View Dependent Claims (22, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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23. A method of utilizing reports periodically sent from a ship to a remote tracking center for projecting the progress of the ship, comprising:
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preparing a model ship voyage;
storing said model ship voyage in a storage database;
receiving ship reports including current position data and current speed data from a ship;
said ship only sending said reports when a predefined tolerance is exceeded;
comparing said ship report with said model ship voyage;
computing a planned arrival time of said ship at a final destination based upon the comparison between the ship report and said model ship voyage.
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24. An marine ship tracking system adapted to automatically identify suspicious activity by marine ships utilizing reports that are periodically transmitted from the ship to a remote tracking center, comprising:
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a remote tracking center adapted to track the changes in the position of a ship and identify suspicious activity by said ship;
a mobile monitoring unit in said ship including a navigation receiver adapted to receive position signals from the transmitter of a positioning system, and said mobile monitoring unit adapted to receive updated ship movement information;
a storage database subsumed in said mobile monitoring unit for storing predefined tolerances;
a processor subsumed by said mobile monitoring unit adapted to analyze said updated ship movement information with said predefined tolerances, and adapted to trigger a ship report to be sent via satellite to said remote tracking center when at least one of said tolerances is exceeded;
a storage database subsumed by said remote tracking center adapted to store said ship reports;
a control logic unit subsumed by said remote tracking center adapted to analyze said ship reports with predefined data for determining if said ship is undergoing suspicious maneuvers.
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Specification