Sonar assembly for reduced interference
First Claim
1. A transducer assembly comprising:
- a housing mountable to a water craft capable of traversing a surface of a body of water;
a linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element positioned within the housing and aimed downwardly, and configured to transmit sonar pulses in the form of a fan-shaped beam in at least a direction substantially perpendicular to a plane corresponding to the surface of the body of water, wherein the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element is further configured to receive sonar returns from the sonar pulses and convert sound energy of the sonar returns into downscan sonar return data in the form of electrical signals representative of the sound energy, wherein the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element defines a substantially rectangular shape with a top surface, bottom surface, and opposing side surfaces;
sound-attenuating material configured to substantially attenuate transmission of sonar pulses therethrough, wherein the sound-attenuating material is positioned proximate to the top surface of the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element, and wherein the opposing side surfaces and bottom surface are substantially free of the sound-attenuating material such that the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element is configured to transmit sonar pulses from the bottom surface and opposing side surfaces; and
at least one sidescan receive-only transducer element positioned within the housing and aimed outwardly and downwardly, and configured to receive sonar returns from the sonar pulses transmitted at least from one of the opposing side surfaces of the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element and convert sound energy of the sonar returns into sidescan sonar return data in the form of electrical signals representative of the sound energy.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A sonar transducer assembly includes a housing mountable to a water craft capable of traversing a surface of a body of water. The sonar transducer assembly includes a linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element positioned within the housing, aimed downwardly, and configured to transmit sonar pulses in the form of a fan-shaped beam perpendicular to a plane of the surface of the water, and further configured to receive sonar returns from the sonar pulses and convert sound energy of the sonar returns into downscan sonar return data. The sonar transducer assembly also includes at least one sidescan receive-only transducer element positioned within the housing, aimed outwardly and downwardly, and configured to receive sonar returns from the sonar pulses and convert sound energy of the sonar returns into sidescan sonar return data.
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Citations
74 Claims
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1. A transducer assembly comprising:
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a housing mountable to a water craft capable of traversing a surface of a body of water; a linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element positioned within the housing and aimed downwardly, and configured to transmit sonar pulses in the form of a fan-shaped beam in at least a direction substantially perpendicular to a plane corresponding to the surface of the body of water, wherein the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element is further configured to receive sonar returns from the sonar pulses and convert sound energy of the sonar returns into downscan sonar return data in the form of electrical signals representative of the sound energy, wherein the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element defines a substantially rectangular shape with a top surface, bottom surface, and opposing side surfaces; sound-attenuating material configured to substantially attenuate transmission of sonar pulses therethrough, wherein the sound-attenuating material is positioned proximate to the top surface of the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element, and wherein the opposing side surfaces and bottom surface are substantially free of the sound-attenuating material such that the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element is configured to transmit sonar pulses from the bottom surface and opposing side surfaces; and at least one sidescan receive-only transducer element positioned within the housing and aimed outwardly and downwardly, and configured to receive sonar returns from the sonar pulses transmitted at least from one of the opposing side surfaces of the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element and convert sound energy of the sonar returns into sidescan sonar return data in the form of electrical signals representative of the sound energy. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A sonar system comprising:
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a housing mountable to a water craft capable of traversing a surface of a body of water; a linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element positioned within the housing and aimed downwardly, and configured to transmit sonar pulses in the form of a fan-shaped beam in at least a direction substantially perpendicular to a plane corresponding to the surface of the body of water, wherein the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element is further configured to receive sonar returns from the sonar pulses and convert sound energy of the sonar returns into downscan sonar return data in the form of electrical signals representative of the sound energy, wherein the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element defines a substantially rectangular shape with a top surface, bottom surface, and opposing side surfaces; sound-attenuating material configured to substantially attenuate transmission of sonar pulses therethrough, wherein the sound-attenuating material is positioned proximate to the top surface of the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element, and wherein the opposing side surfaces and bottom surface are substantially free of the sound-attenuating material such that the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element is configured to transmit sonar pulses from the bottom surface and opposing side surfaces; at least one sidescan receive-only transducer element positioned within the housing and aimed outwardly and downwardly, and configured to receive sonar returns from the sonar pulses transmitted at least from one of the opposing side surfaces of the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element and convert sound energy of the sonar returns into sidescan sonar return data in the form of electrical signals representative of the sound energy; and a processor configured to receive said sonar return data and generate sonar image data for display to a user. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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61. A method comprising:
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transmitting sonar pulses from a linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element positioned within a housing mountable to a water craft capable of traversing a surface of a body of water, wherein each of the sonar pulses is transmitted as a fan-shaped beam in at least a direction substantially perpendicular to a plane corresponding to the surface of the body of water, wherein sound-attenuating material is positioned proximate to the top surface of the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element, and wherein the opposing side surfaces and bottom surface are substantially free of the sound-attenuating material such that the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element is configured to transmit sonar pulses from the bottom surface and opposing side surfaces, wherein the sound-attenuating material is configured to substantially attenuate transmission of sonar pulses therethrough; receiving sonar returns from the sonar pulses with the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element, the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element being configured to convert sound energy of the sonar returns into downscan sonar return data in the form of electrical signals representative of the sound energy; receiving, with at least one sidescan receive-only transducer element, sonar returns from the sonar pulses transmitted at least from one of the opposing side surfaces of the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element, the sidescan receive-only transducer element being configured to convert sound energy of the sonar returns into sidescan sonar return data in the form of electrical signals representative of the sound energy; and processing, by a processor, the downscan sonar return data received from the linear downscan transmit/receive transducer element and the sidescan sonar return data received from the at least one sidescan transducer receive-only element to produce sonar image data for display to a user. - View Dependent Claims (62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74)
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Specification