Vessel monitoring system

• US 7,768,443 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2005
• Issued: 08/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Furuno Electric Co, Ltd
• Original Assignee: Furuno Electric Co, Ltd
• Inventors: Yoshioka, Takashi, Kiya, Yoshiyuki, Ohshima, Hisaichi, Akamatsu, Akio, Imazu, Hayama, Kawamoto, Takumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Sotomayor; John B
• Application Number:
  US11/547,582
• Publication Number:
  US 20090315756A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,950 Days
• Field of Search: 342/41, 342 55- 58, 342/90, 342 95- 97, 342/176, 342/185, 340/984, 701/21
• US Class Current: 342/41
• CPC Class Codes: B63B 43/18 preventing collision or grounding; reducing collision damage reducing pollution by collision B63B25/082
• CPC Class Codes: B63B 49/00 Arrangements of nautical instruments or navigational aids nautical measuring instruments G01C; radio navigation, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S

Abstract

The vessel monitoring system has, in a trial navigation by provisionally setting a value of the speed of the own vessel arbitrarily, a display unit immediately display an Obstacle Zone by Targets (OZT) corresponding to the speed of the own vessel.

The vessel monitoring system includes a calculator for calculating an Obstacle Zone by Targets, a display unit for displaying the Obstacle Zone by Targets obtained by the calculation by the calculator, and an integrated controller for processing trial navigation that integrally controls mutually cooperated processing of calculation by the calculator and display by the display unit, in a trial navigation by provisionally setting a value of the speed of the own vessel arbitrarily, so that the calculator calculates an Obstacle Zone by Targets corresponding to the arbitrarily and provisionally set value of the speed of the own vessel, and the display unit displays the result of the calculation.

Claims

1. A vessel monitoring system comprising:

a calculator for calculating an Obstacle Zone by Targets, based on a course and a speed of a target vessel and a course and a speed of an own vessel, for a case in which the course of the own vessel is changed to an arbitrary direction, the Obstacle Zone by Targets indicating a region which the own vessel reaches the same location at the same time as the target vessel with equal to or more than a predetermined probability;

a display unit for displaying positional relation between the own vessel and the target vessel, as well as the Obstacle Zone by Targets obtained by the calculation by the calculator; and

an integrated controller for processing trial navigation that, in a trial navigation by provisionally setting a value of the speed of the own vessel arbitrarily, integrally controls mutually cooperated processing of the calculation by the calculator and the display by the display unit, so that the calculator calculates the Obstacle Zone by Targets corresponding to the arbitrarily and provisionally set value of the speed of the own vessel, and the display unit displays the result.

2. The vessel monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein

the display unit is configured to selectively display an Obstacle Zone by Targets relating to a specified target vessel.

3. The vessel monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein

the display unit is configured to display in direction-distance coordinates in which a horizontal axis is relative direction based on the heading of the own vessel, and a vertical axis is direct distance from the own vessel.

4. The vessel monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein

the display unit is configured to display so that a horizontal axis is relative direction based on the heading of the own vessel, a first vertical axis is direct distance from the own vessel, a second vertical axis is time obtained from the distance from the own vessel divided by a value of the arbitrarily set speed of the own vessel, and a scale varies according to the value of the speed of the own vessel every time the speed of the own vessel is set again.

5. The vessel monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein

the display unit is configured to display in absolute coordinates based on the Mercator projection including the course of the own vessel.

6. The vessel monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein

the display unit is configured to display in absolute coordinates based on the zenithal projection including the course of the own vessel.

7. The vessel monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein

the display unit is configured to display based on the zenithal projection arbitrarily selected from:

the zenithal projection with north-up where the coordinate axes are fixed centering the own vessel with the North Pole upside,

the zenithal projection with course-up where the coordinate axes are fixed centering the own vessel with the bearing of the own vessel upside, and

the zenithal projection with heading-up where the coordinate axes are fixed centering the own vessel with the arbitrarily set heading of the own vessel upside.

8. The vessel monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein

the display unit is configured to display an expected course line indicating an expected course extended from a current position of the target vessel, thereby allowing immediate identification of correspondence between an encounter position and the target vessel which the own vessel is to encounter at the encounter position.

9. The vessel monitoring system according to one of claims 1 to 7, wherein

the display unit is configured to display the display screen overlaid with a radar image of the own vessel after coordinate transformation so that the coordinates of the radar image match the coordinates in the display unit.

10. The vessel monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein

the display unit is capable of displaying the display screen overlaid with a watch and alarm area, a position and a range thereof being set arbitrarily, and

the display unit includes an alarm generation unit that immediately generates an alarm, when at least one of the radar image and the OZT overlaps with the watch and alarm area.

11. The vessel monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein

when a target vessel is selectively specified according to a screen operation, the calculator calculates and specifies a position at which the own vessel reaches at the same time as the specified target vessel with a highest probability, and the display unit displays a shortest distance to and a direction of the position specified by the calculator from the own vessel.

12. The vessel monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein

the display unit is configured to display by identifying Obstacle Zones by Targets according to degrees of the probability that the own vessel reaches the same location at the same time as the target vessel.