Platform, systems, and methods for obtaining shore and near shore environmental data via crowdsourced sensor network

• US 9,014,983 B1
• Filed: 09/26/2014
• Issued: 04/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blue Tribe, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Blue Tribe, Inc.
• Inventors: Uy, Michael G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, John H
• Application Number:
  US14/498,727
• Time in Patent Office: 207 Days
• Field of Search: 702/3, 702/93, 702/122, 702/141, 702/175, 702/182, 702/183, 701/117, 701/119, 701/540, 244/30
• US Class Current: 702/3
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 13/002 Measuring the movement of open water
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/02 Instruments for indicating weather conditions by measuring two or more variables, e.g. humidity, pressure, temperature, cloud cover or wind speed G01W1/10 takes precedence

Abstract

The platforms, systems, methods and computer readable media provided herein monitor a shore and near shore environment using a plurality of sensors, each sensor associated with a near shore water recreationist or near shore water recreationist equipment. The platforms, systems, methods and computer readable media provided herein include a server application configured to generate and transmit an environmental data report. The platforms, systems, methods and computer readable media provided herein include a device configured to receive the environmental data report.

Claims

1. A platform to monitor a shore and near shore environment, the platform comprising:

a. a plurality of sensors, each sensor associated with a near shore water recreationist or near shore water recreationist equipment, wherein the near shore water recreationist comprises a surfer, a paddle boarder, a body boarder, a boogie boarder, a kayaker, a swimmer, or a person in the water, and wherein each sensor comprises;

i. a detector configured to collect environmental data pertaining to a shore and near shore environment; and

ii. a communications element configured to transmit the environmental data collected by the detector,

b. a server comprising a server processor and non-transitory computer-readable storage media encoded with a computer program including instructions executable by the server processor to create a server application comprising;

i. a software module configured to receive the environmental data;

ii. a software module configured to apply an algorithm to the environmental data to determine a shore and near shore environmental condition;

iii. a software module configured to generate an environmental data report comprising the shore and near shore environmental condition; and

iv. a software module configured to transmit the environmental data report; and

c. a device comprising a report processor configured to provide a report application comprising a software module configured to receive the environmental data report.

2. The platform according to claim 1, wherein the detector comprises one or more of, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a compass, an altimeter, a clock, and a GPS.

3. The platform according to claim 1, comprising more than 1, more than 10, more than 100, more than 1000, more than 10,000, more than 100,000, or more than 1,000,000 sensors.

4. The platform according to claim 1, wherein the server application further comprises a software module configured to parse and clean the environmental data received from each sensor, the cleaning comprising removing erroneous data, removing outlier data, flagging erroneous data, interpolating missing data, and flagging outlier data.

5. The platform according to claim 4, wherein the server application further comprises a software module configured to apply an algorithm to the cleaned environmental data to generate pre-analytic data, the pre-analytic data comprising events and conditions to which each sensor was subjected.

6. The platform according to claim 5, wherein the server application further comprises a software module configured to apply an algorithm to a set of pre-analytic data to generate analytic data, the analytic data comprising trends of a plurality of events, correlations of a plurality of events, trends of a plurality of conditions, correlations of a plurality of conditions, trends of a plurality of events and conditions, or correlations of a plurality of trends and conditions.

7. The platform according to claim 6, wherein the analytic data comprises surf report features comprising one or more of:

surf condition, surf condition difficulty level, surf location quality, surf location conditions compared to historic potential, and surf location current ranking compared to other surf locations.

8. The platform according to claim 5, wherein the pre-analytic data comprises user behavior comprising one or more of walking, paddling, swimming, floating, dropping into a wave, riding a wave, wiping out, or exiting a wave.

9. The platform according to claim 5, wherein the pre-analytic data comprises near shore dynamics comprising one or more of shore exposure, sea level rise, wave position, wave travel direction, wave travel speed, wave and set timing, wave kinetic energy, wave potential energy, wave break energy, shore current speed, shore current direction, wave heights, and wave phase.

10. The platform according to claim 1, wherein the environmental data report comprises one or more of a surf report, a meteorological report, a geographical report, an ecological report, and a municipal report.

11. The platform according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is worn by the near shore water recreationist, the sensor worn on a wrist, an armband, a piece of clothing, a wet suit, a piece of footwear, or a piece of swimwear.

12. The platform according to claim 1, wherein the near shore water recreationist equipment comprises a surfboard, a kayak, a paddle board, a body board, a raft, an inner tube, or a flotation device.

13. The platform according to claim 1, wherein the communications element is configured to transmit the environmental data to the software module configured to receive the environmental data.

14. The platform according to claim 1, wherein the communications element is configured to transmit the environmental data to a computational device, the computational device comprising a communications element configured to transmit the environmental data to the software module configured to receive the environmental data.

15. The platform according to claim 1, wherein the device comprises the sensor, the device comprising a communications element configured to transmit the environmental data to the software module configured to receive the environmental data.

16. The platform according to claim 15, wherein the device further comprises a processor configured to provide an application comprising a software module configured to apply an algorithm to clean the environmental data, the cleaned environmental data transmitted to the server.

17. The platform according to claim 16, wherein the device further comprises a processor configured to provide an application comprising a software module configured to apply an algorithm to the cleaned environmental data to generate pre-analytic data, the pre-analytic data transmitted to the server.

18. The platform according to claim 1, wherein the device comprises the sensor, the device comprising a communication module to transmit the environmental data to a computational device, the computational device comprising a communication module configured to transmit the environmental data to the software module configured to receive the environmental data.

19. The platform according to claim 1, wherein the device comprises a computer, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a tablet, or a smart watch.

20. A platform to monitor a shore and near shore environment, the platform comprising:

a. a plurality of sensors, each sensor associated with a surfer or surf equipment, each sensor comprising;

i. a detector comprising an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a compass, an altimeter and a location element (GPS) configured to determine the location of the sensor, the detector configured to collect environmental data pertaining to the shore and near shore environment when the surfer is surfing; and

ii. a communications element configured to transmit the environmental data collected by the detector;

b. a server comprising a server processor and non-transitory computer-readable storage media encoded with a computer program including instructions executable by the server processor to create a server application comprising;

i. a software module configured to receive the environmental data from the plurality of sensors;

ii. a software module configured to clean the environmental data received from each sensor, the cleaning comprising removing erroneous data, removing outlier data, flagging erroneous data, interpolating missing data, and flagging outlier data;

iii. a software module configured to apply an algorithm to the environmental data received from each sensor to generate pre-analytic data comprising one or more of;

shore exposure, wave position, wave travel direction, wave travel speed, wave timing, set timing, wave kinetic energy, wave potential energy, wave break energy, shore current speed, shore current direction, and wave phase;

iv. a software module configured to apply an algorithm to a set of pre-analytic data to generate analytic data comprising one or more of;

surf report features comprising surf condition, surf condition difficulty level, surf location wave quality, surf location current conditions compared to historic potential, and surf location current ranking as compared to other surf locations; and

v. a software module configured to generate an environmental data report comprising one or more pieces of analytic data; and

vi. a software module configured to transmit the environmental data report; and

c. an external device comprising a report processor configured to provide a report application comprising a software module configured to receive the environmental data report and a software module configured to provide an interface configured to display the environmental data report.