Dual-satellite emergency locator beacon and method for registering, programming and updating emergency locator beacon over the air

• US 9,407,352 B1
• Filed: 05/12/2015
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ACR Electronics, Inc. (Drew Marine USA, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ACR Electronics, Inc. (Drew Marine USA, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hoffman, Christopher Paul, Cox, William, Pack, Thomas J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ferguson, Keith
• Application Number:
  US14/709,966
• Time in Patent Office: 448 Days
• Field of Search: 455/12.1, 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 455/403, 455/427, 455/428, 455/445, 455/422.1, 455/500, 455/517, 455/55, 455/0.1, 455/13.1, 455/522, 4554141-4144, 455423-425, 455/67.11, 342/357.31, 342/385, 342/352, 342/357.22, 342/357.39, 340/539.13, 340/7.5
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/17 Emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18519 Operations control, administration or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/1853 Satellite systems for providing telephony service to a mobile station, i.e. mobile satellite service for selecting H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18532 Arrangements for managing transmission, i.e. for transporting data or a signalling message

Abstract

A dual-satellite emergency locator beacon and method for programming and updating such emergency locator beacons over the air. The system uses a second commercial satellite as the carrier for the data back to the beacon together with the means of coupling these parts together. The system can be manually updated or can be part of a registration system that gets automatically updated. In a second embodiment a method and apparatus for implementing emergency locator beacon registration is provided. The system provides data concerning the user into a backend service which can be utilized to provide all necessary information needed to register the emergency beacon.

Claims

1. An emergency communications beacon, comprising:

a first satellite communications transmitter, a second satellite communications transmitter, a first microprocessor and a second microprocessor;

wherein said first microprocessor controls said first transmitter and said second microprocessor controls said second transmitter;

wherein said first transmitter is configured to communicate over a Cospas-Sarsat satellite communications system and said second transmitter is configured to communicate over a commercial satellite communications system;

wherein said first and second microprocessors are interconnected to permit data transfer therebetween;

wherein said second microprocessor is connected to a display interface, said display interface is connected to a display, whereby said display interface processes signals and instructions sent from said second microprocessor to said display.

2. The beacon of claim 1, wherein said second microprocessor is configured to receive data from said commercial satellite communications system, over said second transmitter, and transfer said data to said first microprocessor.

3. The beacon of claim 1, wherein said first microprocessor is configured to transmit and receive data from said commercial satellite communications systems by way of said second microprocessor.

4. The beacon of claim 1, wherein said Cospas-Sarsat and said commercial satellite communications systems are in bi-directional communication by way of an interface system;

and wherein said Cospas-Sarsat satellite communications system can transmit data to said beacon over said commercial satellite communications system by way of said interface system.

5. The beacon of claim 1, wherein said first transmitter comprises a Cospas-Sarsat transmitter and said second transmitter comprises Satellite Emergency Notification Device (SEND) transmitter.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said beacon further includes a global positioning receiver.

7. An emergency communications beacon, comprising:

a first satellite communications transmitter, a second satellite communications transmitter, and a microprocessor;

wherein said microprocessor controls said first transmitter and said second transmitter and permits data transfer between said first and second transmitters;

wherein said first transmitter is configured to communicate over a Cospas-Sarsat satellite communications system and said second transmitter is configured to communicate over a commercial satellite communications system; and

wherein said microprocessor is connected to a display interface, said display interface is connected to a display, whereby said display interface processes signals and instructions sent from said microprocessor to said display.

8. The beacon of claim 7, wherein said Cospas-Sarsat and said commercial satellite communications systems are in bi-directional communication by way of an interface system;

and wherein said Cospas-Sarsat satellite communications system can transmit data to said beacon over said commercial satellite communications system by way of said interface system.

9. The beacon of claim 8, wherein said first transmitter comprises a Cospas-Sarsat transmitter and said second transmitter comprises Satellite Emergency Notification Device (SEND) transmitter.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said beacon further includes a global positioning receiver.