Vehicle information display apparatus

• US 20030028294A1
• Filed: 08/02/2002
• Published: 02/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Furuno Electric Co, Ltd
• Original Assignee: Furuno Electric Co, Ltd
• Inventors: Yanagi, Katsuyuki
• Granted Patent: US 7,016,772 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/21
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/86 Combinations of radar systems with non-radar systems, e.g. sonar, direction finder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/937 of marine craft
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/22 Producing cursor lines and indicia by electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 3/00 Traffic control systems for marine craft marking of navigational route B63B22/16, B63B51/00

Abstract

A vehicle information display apparatus receives multiple pieces of information on mobile vehicles, determines degrees of importance of the individual pieces of information according to specific conditions, and displays symbols of only those mobile vehicles of which importance falls within a predefined range or symbols of only a specific number of mobile vehicles selected according to their importance in graphic form with enhanced visibility.

Claims

1. A vehicle information display apparatus comprising:

a receiver for receiving multiple pieces of information on mobile vehicles;

an indicator for displaying information fed from said receiver; and

a signal processor for producing image data to representative of the multiple pieces of information on the mobile vehicles so that pieces of information are displayed with high visibility.

2. The vehicle information display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the indicator device displays the mobile vehicles in a way that a selected one or plurality of selected mobile vehicles are emphasized.

3. The vehicle information display apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the mobile vehicles are vessels.

4. A vehicle information display apparatus for installation on a prime vessel, said apparatus comprising:

a receiver for receiving vehicle information including at least position information indicating the positions of other vessels;

a vehicle information extractor for determining degrees of importance of the vehicle information fed from said receiver according to predetermined conditions and for extracting those pieces of the vehicle information of which degrees of importance fall within a predefined range; and

a display controller for displaying the positions of the vessels corresponding to the extracted pieces of the vehicle information in graphic form.

5. The vehicle information display apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said display controller graphically displays the positions of the vessels derived from the vehicle information of which degrees of importance fall within the predefined range as extracted by the vehicle information extractor and the positions of the vessels derived from the vehicle information having the other degrees of importance with different levels of visibility.

6. The vehicle information display apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, wherein said vehicle information extractor extracts a predefined upper limit number of pieces of the vehicle information selected in the order of the degrees of importance from the piece of the vehicle information having the highest degree of importance.

7. The vehicle information display apparatus according to claim 4, 5 or 6, wherein said receiver is a universal shipborne automatic identification system for receiving data transmitted from universal shipborne automatic identification systems of other vessels.

8. The vehicle information display apparatus according to claim 4, 5 or 6, wherein said receiver is an automatic radar plotting aid which provides information on target vessels based on a signal fed from a radar for detecting targets around the prime vessel.

9. The vehicle information display apparatus according to claim 4, 5 or 6, wherein said receiver is a combination of a universal shipborne automatic identification system for receiving data transmitted from other vessels and an automatic radar plotting aid which provides information on target vessels based on a signal fed from a radar for detecting targets around the prime vessel.

10. The vehicle information display apparatus according to one of claims 4 or 9 further comprising a collision risk evaluator for assessing the degree of collision risk based on the position and velocity of each target vessel relative to the prime vessel, wherein the degree of collision risk is employed as said degree of importance.

11. A vehicle information display apparatus comprising:

a vehicle position information extractor for receiving vehicle identification signals transmitted from vessels and extracting at least position information indicating the positions of the vessels from the vehicle identification signals;

a target acquisition/tracking device for acquiring and tracking targets based on target echo data fed from a radar; and

a controller for displaying first symbols indicating the positions or velocity vectors of the individual vessels obtained by said vehicle position information extractor as well as second symbols indicating the positions or velocity vectors of the individual targets obtained by said target acquisition/tracking device on a single display device, wherein said controller displays the first symbols with higher priority over the second symbols at and in the proximity of a position where any of the first symbols is displayed.

12. The vehicle information display apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said controller prohibits acquisition and tracking of targets by said target acquisition/tracking device at and in the proximity of the position where any of the first symbols is displayed.

13. The vehicle information display apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said controller prohibits on-screen display of the second symbols at and in the proximity of the position where any of the first symbols is displayed.

14. The vehicle information display apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said controller prohibits on-screen display of the second symbols and target echoes detected by the radar at and in the proximity of the position where any of the first symbols is displayed.

15. The vehicle information display apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said controller prohibits on-screen display of the second symbols without prohibiting on-screen display of target echoes detected by the radar at and in the proximity of the position where any of the first symbols is displayed.

16. The vehicle information display apparatus according to one of claims 11 to 16, wherein said vehicle position information extractor is a universal shipborne automatic identification system and said target acquisition/tracking device is an automatic radar plotting aid.

17. A vehicle surveillance apparatus comprising:

a vehicle position information extractor for receiving vehicle identification signals transmitted from vessels and extracting at least position information indicating the positions of the vessels from the vehicle identification signals;

a target acquisition/tracking device for acquiring and tracking targets based on target echo data fed from a landbased radar; and

a controller for displaying first symbols indicating the positions or velocity vectors of the individual vessels obtained by said vehicle position information extractor as well as second symbols indicating the positions or velocity vectors of the individual targets obtained by said target acquisition/tracking device on a single display device, wherein said controller displays the first symbols with higher priority over the second symbols at and in the proximity of a position where any of the first symbols is displayed.

18. A vessel surveillance apparatus comprising:

a receiver for receiving multiple pieces of information on vessels;

an indicator for displaying information on the vessels fed from said receiver; and

a signal processor for producing image data representative of the multiple pieces of information on the vessels so that one or pieces of information are displayed with high visibility.

19. A vehicle information display apparatus for displaying information obtained by a radar installed on a vessel, the information indicating the existence, position and motion trend of targets around the vessel, and vehicle information including at least position information derived from vehicle identification signals transmitted from other vessels and received by a vehicle position information extractor, wherein the two kinds of information are superimposed on one another.

20. A vehicle information display apparatus for installation on a vessel, said apparatus comprising:

a receiver for receiving vehicle information transmitted from other vessels, the vehicle information including at least position information indicating the positions of the other vessels;

an area setter for setting an area based on the distance from and the direction relative to the vessel;

a vehicle information extractor for extracting the vehicle information on a vessel existing within the set area from the vehicle information received by the receiver; and

a display device for displaying the vehicle information with greater emphasis placed on the vehicle information extracted by the vehicle information extractor than on the unextracted vehicle information.

21. The vehicle information display apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said set area is a circle.

22. A vehicle information display apparatus to be installed at a fixed point on land for receiving vehicle information transmitted from multiple vessels and displaying the vehicle information on a display screen, said apparatus comprising:

a receiver for receiving the vehicle information including at least position information indicating the positions of the multiple vessels;

an area setter for setting an area based on the distance from and the direction relative to said fixed point;

a vehicle information extractor for extracting the vehicle information on a vessel existing within the set area from the vehicle information received by the receiver; and

a display device for displaying the vehicle information with greater emphasis placed on the vehicle information extracted by the vehicle information extractor than on the unextracted vehicle information.

23. A vehicle information display apparatus for installation on a vessel, said apparatus comprising:

a receiver for receiving vehicle information transmitted from other vessels, the vehicle information including at least position information indicating the positions of the other vessels;

an area setter for setting an area;

a vehicle information extractor for extracting the vehicle information on a vessel existing within the set area from the vehicle information received by the receiver; and

a display device for displaying the vehicle information with greater emphasis placed on the vehicle information extracted by the vehicle information extractor than on the unextracted vehicle information.