System for displaying track of a moving body

• US 5,916,284 A
• Filed: 12/19/1997
• Issued: 06/29/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Furuno Electric Co, Ltd
• Original Assignee: Furuno Electric Co, Ltd
• Inventors: Nishimura, Takehiko, Ishihara, Shinji
• Primary Examiner(s): ZANELLI, MICHAEL J
• Application Number:
  US08/994,780
• Time in Patent Office: 557 Days
• Field of Search: 701/21, 701/205, 701/207, 701/223, 701/1, 701/213, 701/300, 340/995, 342/41, 73/178 R, 73/181
• US Class Current: 701/21
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/203 Specially adapted for sailing ships
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 3/00 Traffic control systems for marine craft marking of navigational route B63B22/16, B63B51/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 3/02 Anti-collision systems

Abstract

The present invention relates to a display system for displaying a past track of the ship, the present position of the ship, and a future predicted track of the ship. A display system according to the present invention generates coordinate data representing a desired pattern based on the ship'"'"'s speed and the ship'"'"'s bearing in order to display a past track of the ship and a future predicted track of the ship.

Claims

1. A ship maneuvering assistance system particularly useful in aiding a ship when coming alongside a pier or leaving therefrom, comprising:

a speed detector detecting speeds of the ship in two perpendicular directions;

a bearing detector detecting bearing of the ship with respect to a reference bearing;

a rate of turn measuring unit which detects a turning speed of the ship;

a memory which sequentially stores the speeds from said speed detector and the bearing of the ship output from said bearing detector;

a coordinate-data generating unit which generates coordinate data of past and future predicted tracks of the ship based on the detected ship speeds, and the detected bearing, and the turning speed output from said rate of turn measuring unit;

a coordinate data memory unit which stores the generated coordinate data; and

a display unit which displays signals read from said coordinate data memory unit, the coordinate data generated by said coordinate-data generating unit enabling said display unit to display the tracks of the ship in a form of a pattern indicative of the shape of the ship.

11. A ship maneuvering assistance system, according claims 1-8 and 10, wherein said speed detector includes a doppler sonar.

12. A ship maneuvering assistance system, according to claims 1-8 and 10, wherein said speed detector includes a GPS receiver.

2. A ship maneuvering assistance system particularly useful in aiding a ship when coming alongside a pier or leaving therefrom, comprising:

a speed detector detecting speeds of the ship in two perpendicular directions;

a bearing detector detecting bearing of the ship with respect to a reference bearing;

a rate of turn measuring unit which detects a turning speed of the ship;

a coordinate-data generating unit which generates coordinate data of a future predicted track of the ship based on the speeds output from said speed detector, the bearing output from said bearing detector, and the turning speed output from said rate of turn measuring unit;

a coordinate data memory unit which stores the generated coordinate data; and

a display unit which displays signals read from said coordinate data memory unit, the coordinate data generated by said coordinate-data generating unit enabling said display unit to display the future track of the ship in a form of a pattern indicative of the shape of the ship.

3. A ship maneuvering assistance system, comprising:

a speed detector detecting speeds of the ship in two perpendicular directions;

a bearing detector detecting bearing of the ship with respect to a reference bearing;

a rate of turn measuring unit which detects a turning speed of the ship;

a memory which sequentially stores the speeds output from the speed detector and the bearing of the ship output from said bearing detector;

a hull point storing unit which stores signals indicative of a plurality of positions of a hull of the ship;

a coordinate-data generating unit which generates coordinate data of past and future predicted tracks of the ship based on the ship speeds and the bearing read from the memory, the turning speed output from said rate of turn measuring unit, and the signals indicative of the plurality of positions of the ship'"'"'s hull read from the hull point storing unit;

a coordinate data memory unit which stores the generated coordinate data; and

a display unit which displays signals read from said coordinate data memory unit, the coordinate data generated by said coordinate-data generating unit enabling said display unit to display the tracks of the ship in a form of a pattern indicative of the shape of the ship.

4. A ship maneuvering assistance system, comprising:

a speed detector detecting speeds of the ship in two perpendicular directions;

a bearing detector detecting bearing of the ship with respect to a reference bearing;

a rate of turn measuring unit which detects a turning speed of the ship;

a hull point storing unit which stores signals indicative of a plurality of positions of a hull of the ship;

a coordinate-data generating unit which generates coordinate data of a future predicted track of the ship based on the ship speeds detected by the speed detector, the bearing output from the bearing detector, the turning speed output from said rate of turn measuring unit, and the signals indicative of the plurality of positions of the ship'"'"'s hull read from the hull point storing unit;

a coordinate data memory unit which stores the generated coordinate data; and

a display unit which displays signals read from said coordinate data memory unit, the coordinate data generated by said coordinate-data generating unit enabling said display unit to display the future predicted track of the ship in a form of a pattern indicative of the shape of the ship.

5. A ship maneuvering assistance system, comprising:

a speed detector detecting speeds of the ship in two perpendicular directions;

a bearing detector detecting bearing of the ship with respect to a reference bearing;

a rate of turn measuring unit which detects a turning speed of the ship;

a hull point storing unit which stores signals indicative of a plurality of positions of a hull of the ship;

a coordinate-data generating unit which generates coordinate data of a past track of the ship based on the ship speeds and the bearing output from the memory, and the signals indicative of the plurality of positions of the ship'"'"'s hull read from the hull point storing unit;

a coordinate data memory unit which stores the generated coordinate data; and

a display unit which displays signals read from said coordinate data memory unit, the coordinate data generated by said coordinate-data generating unit enabling said display unit to display the past track of the ship in a form of a pattern indicative of the shape of the ship.

6. A ship maneuvering assistance system particularly useful in aiding a ship when coming alongside a pier or leaving therefrom, comprising:

a ship movement measuring unit which measures movements of a ship;

a coordinate-data generating unit which generates coordinate data of past and future predicted tracks of the ship with respect to the surface of the earth based on the ship'"'"'s movements measured by said ship movement measuring unit;

a land form memory unit which stores signals indicative of land forms;

a display unit which displays the past and future predicted tracks of the ship and the land forms based on the data read from said coordinate data generating unit and the signals indicative of the land forms read from the land form memory, the coordinate data generated by said coordinate-data generating unit enabling said display unit to display the tracks of the ship in a form of a pattern indicative of the shape of the ship.

13. The ship maneuvering assistance system of claims 6-8 wherein said land forms include the shape of a land and the presence of islands.

7. A ship maneuvering assistance system particularly useful in aiding a ship when coming alongside a pier or leaving therefrom, comprising:

a ship movement measuring unit which measures movements of a ship;

a coordinate-data generating unit which generates coordinate data of a future predicted track of the ship with respect to the surface of the earth based on the ship'"'"'s movements measured by said ship movement measuring unit;

a land form memory unit which stores signals indicative of land forms;

a display unit which displays the future predicted track of the ship and the land forms based on the data read from said coordinate data generating unit and the signals indicative of the land forms read from the land form memory, the coordinate data generated by said coordinate-data generating unit enabling said display unit to display the track of the ship in a form of a pattern indicative of the shape of the ship.

8. A ship maneuvering assistance system particularly useful in aiding a ship when coming alongside a pier or leaving therefrom, comprising:

a ship movement measuring unit which measures movements of a ship;

a coordinate-data generating unit which generates coordinate data of a past track of the ship with respect to the surface of the earth based on the ship'"'"'s movements measured by said ship movement measuring unit;

a land form memory unit which stores signals indicative of land forms;

a display unit which displays the past track of the ship and the land forms based on the data read from said coordinate data generating unit and the signals indicative of the land forms read from the land form memory, the coordinate data generated by said coordinate-data generating unit enabling said display unit to display the track of the ship in a form of a pattern indicative of the shape of the ship.

9. A ship maneuvering assistance system particularly useful in aiding a ship when coming alongside a pier or leaving therefrom, comprising:

a speed detecting unit detecting speeds of the ship in two perpendicular directions by a GPS receiver;

a bearing detector detecting bearing of the ship with respect to a reference bearing;

a rate of turn measuring unit which detects a turning speed of the ship;

a memory which sequentially stores the speeds from said speed detecting unit and the bearing of the ship output from said bearing detector;

a coordinate-data generating unit which generates coordinate data of past and future predicted tracks of the ship based on the detected ship speeds, and the detected bearing, and the turning speed output from said rate of turn measuring unit;

a coordinate data memory unit which stores the generated coordinate data;

a radar signal providing unit which provides radar image signals; and

a display unit which displays signals read from said coordinate data memory unit and the radar image signals provided by said radar signal providing unit, the coordinate data generated by said coordinate-data generating unit enabling said display unit to display the track of the ship in a form of a pattern indicative of the shape of the ship.

10. A ship maneuvering assistance system, comprising:

a speed detector detecting a ship speed vector;

a bearing detector detecting bearing of the ship with respect to a reference bearing;

a rate of turn measuring unit which detects a turning speed of the ship;

a coordinate-data generating unit which generates coordinate data of a future predicted track of the ship based on the speed output from said speed detector, the bearing output from said bearing detector, and the turning speed output from said rate of turn measuring unit;

a coordinate data memory unit which stores the generated coordinate data;

a radar signal providing unit which provides radar image signals; and

a display unit which displays signals read from said coordinate data memory unit and the radar image signals provided by said radar signal providing unit, the coordinate data generated by said coordinate-data generating unit enabling said display unit to display the track of the ship in a form of a pattern indicative of the shape of the ship.

14. A ship maneuvering assistance system particularly useful in aiding a ship when coming alongside a pier or leaving therefrom, comprising:

a speed detector detecting speeds of the ship in two perpendicular directions;

a bearing detector detecting bearing of the ship with respect to a reference bearing;

a rate of turn meter unit which detects a turning speed of the ship;

a ship future position signal generation circuit generating signals representative of a future predicted track of the ship based on the speeds detected by said speed detector, the bearing detected by said bearing detector and the turning speed output from said rate of turn meter; and

a display, operatively connected to said ship future position signal generating circuit, and displaying the future predicted track of the ship from the future position signal.

15. The ship maneuvering assistance system of claim 14 wherein said display displays the ship track in the form of a pattern indicative of the shape of the ship from the future position signal.

16. The ship maneuvering assistance system of claim 15 wherein said ship future position signal generation circuit includes a ship hull point signal generator generating a signal representative of the points of the ship'"'"'s hull displayed by said display.