Method and system for marine vessel tracking system

• US 6,658,349 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2002
• Issued: 12/02/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: James Douglas Cline
• Original Assignee: James Douglas Cline
• Inventors: Cline, James Douglas
• Primary Examiner(s): Zanelli, Michael J.
• Application Number:
  US10/146,436
• Publication Number:
  US 20020169527A1
• Time in Patent Office: 567 Days
• Field of Search: 701/21, 701/213, 701/117, 701/207, 340/989, 340/992, 342/357.07, 342/357.09
• US Class Current: 701/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 3/00 Traffic control systems for marine craft marking of navigational route B63B22/16, B63B51/00

Abstract

A marine ship tracking system automatically and accurately monitors ship movements utilizing a limited number of reports from a marine ship and is easily installed and operated. Ships utilizing the marine ship tracking system periodically transmit reports to a remote tracking center. A ship sends a report to the remote tracking center when there is a significant change in the ship'"'"'s movement or position, or if a predetermined amount of time has elapsed since the ship last sent a report to the remote tracking center. The report includes current ship information, such as current position and current movement information. Because the ship sends a report each time a significant change in movement occurs, the remote tracking center may accurately extrapolate the position of the ship between the transmissions of the reports. In this manner, the remote tracking center may retain an accurate history of the ship'"'"'s position and movements at all times.

Claims

1. A method of identifying marine ships undergoing suspicious activity in predefined zones from a remote location utilizing reports periodically transmitted from the marine ships, comprising:

defining zones of suspicious activity and values corresponding to each of said zones of suspicious activity, said values including minimum speed values and change in track values;

defining appropriate ship tolerances corresponding to each of said zones of suspicious activity, said appropriate ship tolerances including a time tolerance, a speed tolerance and a change in track tolerance;

storing said zones of suspicious activity and said appropriate ship tolerances in a database;

via a remote tracking center, receiving ship data including current position data, current speed data and current track data from a ship, the ship having stored ship tolerances stored in the ship and only sending said ship data to said remote tracking center when one of said stored ship tolerances is exceeded;

comparing said stored ship tolerances with said appropriate ship tolerances;

sending said appropriate ship tolerances to the ship when said stored ship tolerances are not the same as said appropriate ship tolerances;

comparing said current position data with said stored geographical zones for determining if said ship is in one of said zones of suspicious activity;

selecting the values corresponding to said stored zone of suspicious activity when said ship is in one of said zones of suspicious activity;

when said ship is in one of said stored zones of suspicious activity, analyzing said ship data with said values corresponding to said stored zone of suspicious activity for determining if said ship is undergoing suspicious activity; and

flagging the ship for investigation when said ship is undergoing suspicious activity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said ship is undergoing suspicious activity if said ship is undergoing maneuvers suggestive of boarding.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the ship is undergoing maneuvers suggestive of boarding if the current speed data indicates that the ship is traveling below the minimum speed value corresponding to the zone of suspicious activity.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the ship is undergoing maneuvers suggestive of boarding if the current track data indicates that the ship significantly changed its track into the wind.

5. A method of identifying marine ships undergoing suspicious activity in predefined zones from a remote location utilizing reports periodically transmitted from the marine ships, comprising:

defining boundaries of geographic zones and threshold values corresponding to each of said geographic zones;

storing said boundaries and threshold values in a database;

via a remote tracking center, receiving ship data from a ship including a current position of a ship, the ship having ship tolerances and only sending said ship data to said remote tracking center when at least one of said ship tolerances is exceeded;

comparing said position data with said geographical zones for determining if said ship is in one of said geographic zones;

when said ship is in one of said geographic zones, selecting the threshold values corresponding to said geographic zone and analyzing said ship data with the threshold values for determining if said ship is undergoing maneuvers suggestive of boarding; and

when said ship is undergoing maneuvers suggestive of boarding, flagging the ship for investigation.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the ship data further includes a current ship speed and a current ship track, and wherein said threshold values include minimum ship speed values and maximum change in ship track values.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein analyzing said ship data with the threshold values further comprises:

comparing said current ship speed with said minimum ship speed value; and

flagging said ship for investigation when said current ship speed is below said minimum ship speed value.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining a change in track of the ship;

comparing the change in the track of the ship with the maximum change in track value; and

when said change in the track is above the maximum change in track value, comparing current ship wind data with said current ship track for determining if the ship is undergoing maneuvers suggestive of boarding.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

defining appropriate tolerances;

determining the appropriate tolerances corresponding to the position of the ship;

comparing the appropriate tolerances with said ship tolerances; and

sending the ship the appropriate tolerances when said ship tolerances are not the same as the appropriate tolerances.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the appropriate tolerances comprise a time tolerance, a speed tolerance and a change in track tolerance.

11. A method of identifying marine ships undergoing suspicious activity in predefined zones from a remote location utilizing reports periodically transmitted from the marine ships, comprising:

via a tracking center, tracking the changes in the position of a ship with respect to predefined zones;

in the tracking center, storing speed threshold values for each of the zones;

via a receiver in the marine ship, receiving signals from a transmitter of a navigational positioning system;

in said marine ship, monitoring marine ship data, said data including a current ship track and a current ship speed;

in the marine ship, comparing said ship data with predefined tolerances and sending a ship report to said tracking center when said ship data exceeds at least one of said tolerances, said ship report comprising a current ship position, a current ship track and a current ship speed;

via a communication unit in said tracking center, receiving said report from said marine ship;

in the tracking center, comparing the current ship position with predefined zones for determining if the position of the marine ship is within one of said zones;

in the tracking center, analyzing said ship report for determining if the ship is undergoing suspicious activity only when the position of the marine ship is within one of said zones; and

flagging said ship for investigation only when said ship is undergoing suspicious activity.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

defining ship tolerances corresponding to the position of the ship;

determining if said ship has correct ship tolerances that correspond to the current position of the ship;

when said ship does not have the correct ship tolerances, transmitting the correct ship tolerances to said ship;

via said ship, receiving the correct tolerances and setting the tolerances equal to the correct ship tolerances.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein analyzing said ship report further comprises:

determining current ship wind direction corresponding to the position of the marine ship; and

comparing the current track with said current wind direction for determining if the ship is heading in a direction favorable to boarding said ship.

14. The method of claim 11, further including via the tracking center, transmitting a warning message to a government authority only when said ship is flagged.

15. The method of claim 11, further including defining said zones.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein said navigational positioning system is the Global Positioning System (GPS).

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

in said marine ship, starting a counter;

when the counter reaches a predetermined maximum count, transmitting said report to said remote tracking center; and

upon transmission of a message to the tracking center, resetting said counter.

18. An marine ship tracking system adapted to automatically identify suspicious activity by marine ships utilizing reports that are periodically transmitted from the ship to a remote tracking center, comprising:

a remote tracking center adapted to track the changes in the position of a ship and identify suspicious activity by said ship;

a mobile monitoring unit in said ship including a navigation receiver adapted to receive position signals from a transmitter of a positioning system, and said mobile monitoring unit adapted to receive updated ship movement information;

a storage database subsumed in said mobile monitoring unit for storing predefined tolerances;

a processor subsumed by said mobile monitoring unit adapted to analyze said updated ship movement information with said predefined tolerances, and adapted to trigger a ship report to be sent via satellite to said remote tracking center when at least one of said tolerances is exceeded;

a storage database subsumed by said remote tracking center adapted to store said ship reports;

a control logic unit subsumed by said remote tracking center adapted to analyze said ship reports with predefined data for determining if said ship is undergoing suspicious maneuvers.

19. The tracking system of claim 18, wherein said ship report comprises at least a portion of said updated movement information.

20. The tracking system of claim 18, wherein said navigation receiver is a Global Positioning System receiver.

21. The tracking system of claim 18, wherein said predefined data includes minimum speed values.

22. The tracking system of claim 18, wherein said predefined data includes change in track values.