Fan beam transducer assembly
First Claim
1. A transducer assembly comprising:
- a fan beam transducer having a beam generation axis for generating a fan shaped acoustic beam along the beam generation axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam having a generally elliptical cross sectional shape with a longer major axis and a shorter minor axis across a plane generally perpendicular to the beam generation axis; and
a housing for housing the transducer and having a direction of travel axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam being rotatable relative to the direction of travel axis, the housing having a release locking arrangement for rotationally releasing and locking the position of the fan shaped acoustic beam for orienting at least one of the major axis and minor axis of the fan shaped acoustic beam at a desired position relative to the direction of travel axis.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A transducer assembly including a fan beam transducer having a beam generation axis for generating a fan shaped acoustic beam along the beam generation axis. The fan shaped acoustic beam can have a generally elliptical cross sectional shape with a major axis and a minor axis across a plane generally perpendicular to the beam generation axis. The transducer can be housed in a housing and have a direction of travel axis. The fan shaped acoustic beam can be rotatable relative to the direction of travel axis. The housing can have a release locking arrangement for rotationally releasing and locking the position of the fan shaped acoustic beam for orienting at least one of the major axis and minor axis of the fan shaped acoustic beam at a desired position relative to the direction of travel axis.
70 Citations
46 Claims
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1. A transducer assembly comprising:
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a fan beam transducer having a beam generation axis for generating a fan shaped acoustic beam along the beam generation axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam having a generally elliptical cross sectional shape with a longer major axis and a shorter minor axis across a plane generally perpendicular to the beam generation axis; and a housing for housing the transducer and having a direction of travel axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam being rotatable relative to the direction of travel axis, the housing having a release locking arrangement for rotationally releasing and locking the position of the fan shaped acoustic beam for orienting at least one of the major axis and minor axis of the fan shaped acoustic beam at a desired position relative to the direction of travel axis. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A transducer assembly comprising:
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a fan beam transducer having a beam generation axis for generating a fan shaped acoustic beam along the beam generation axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam having a generally elliptical cross sectional shape with a longer major axis and a shorter minor axis across a plane generally perpendicular to the beam generation axis; a display for displaying images of fish detected by the fan shaped acoustic beam; and a housing for housing the transducer having a direction of travel axis, the transducer being oriented for generating the fan shaped acoustic beam generally vertically downwardly into water and oriented such that the major axis is at an acute angle relative to the direction of travel axis in the range of about 20°
to 50°
, such that when the transducer is moving along the direction of travel axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam has a relative width and length with respect to the direction of travel axis that is greater than a distance across the fan shaped acoustic beam along the minor axis that is capable of detecting fish in a relatively wide area of water which remain within the fan shaped acoustic beam long enough to appear on the display as a significant arched shaped image. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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20. A method of operating a transducer assembly comprising:
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with a fan beam transducer having a beam generation axis, generating a fan shaped acoustic beam along the beam generation axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam having a generally elliptical cross sectional shape with a longer major axis and a shorter minor axis across a plane generally perpendicular to the beam generation axis; housing the transducer within a housing having a direction of travel axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam being rotatable relative to the direction of travel axis; and rotationally releasing and locking the position of the fan shaped acoustic beam with a locking arrangement for orienting at least one of the major axis and minor axis of the fan shaped acoustic beam at a desired position relative to the direction of travel axis. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A method of detecting fish in water comprising:
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moving a watercraft relative to the water along a direction of travel axis; mounting a fan beam transducer to the watercraft, the fan beam transducer having a beam generation axis; and generating a fan shaped acoustic beam along the beam generation axis with the transducer and displaying images of fish detected by the fan shaped acoustic beam on a display, the fan shaped acoustic beam having a generally elliptical cross sectional shape with a longer major axis and a shorter minor axis across a plane generally perpendicular to the beam generation axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam being directed generally vertically downwardly into the water and oriented such that the major axis is at an acute angle relative to the direction of travel axis in the range of about 20°
to 50°
, such that the fan shaped acoustic beam has a relative width and length with respect to the direction of travel axis that is greater than a distance across the fan shaped acoustic beam along the minor axis to detect fish in a relatively wide area of water which remain within the fan shaped acoustic beam long enough to appear on the display as a significant arched shaped image. - View Dependent Claims (38)
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39. A transducer assembly comprising:
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a fan beam transducer having a beam generation axis for generating a fan shaped acoustic beam along the beam generation axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam having a generally elliptical cross sectional shape with a major axis and a minor axis across a plane generally perpendicular to the beam generation axis; and a housing for housing the transducer and having a direction of travel axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam being rotatable relative to the direction of travel axis, the transducer being rotatable within the housing about the beam generation axis, the housing having a release locking arrangement for rotationally releasing and locking the position of the fan shaped acoustic beam for orienting at least one of the major axis and minor axis of the fan shaped acoustic beam at a desired position relative to the direction of travel axis, the locking arrangement being a quick release locking arrangement, including a locking member resiliently biased relative to the transducer for releasably locking the transducer, the transducer being resiliently biased upwardly against the locking member by a resilient biasing member, the transducer being resiliently movable downwardly by a hand to disengage from the locking member for allowing rotation, and release of the transducer by the hand allows the resilient biasing member to bias and re-engage the transducer with the locking member in the desired position relative to the direction of travel axis.
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40. A transducer assembly comprising:
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a fan beam transducer having a beam generation axis for generating a fan shaped acoustic beam along the beam generation axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam having a generally elliptical cross sectional shape with a major axis and a minor axis across a plane generally perpendicular to the beam generation axis; and a housing for housing the transducer and having a direction of travel axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam being rotatable relative to the direction of travel axis, the transducer being rotatable within the housing about the beam generation axis, the housing having a release locking arrangement for rotationally releasing and locking the position of the fan shaped acoustic beam for orienting at least one of the major axis and minor axis of the fan shaped acoustic beam at a desired position relative to the direction of travel axis, the locking arrangement being a quick release locking arrangement, the locking arrangement including a locking member resiliently biased relative to the transducer for releasably locking the transducer, the transducer and the locking member each having a locking structure which interlock with each other, at least one of the locking structures of the transducer and the locking member has protrusions, and the other recesses, which interlock for locking the transducer in the desired position, the locking structures of the transducer and the locking member being positioned in a circular pattern relative to the beam generation axis, the locking structure of the locking member being positioned above the locking structure of the transducer.
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41. A transducer assembly comprising:
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a fan beam transducer having a beam generation axis for generating a fan shaped acoustic beam along the beam generation axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam having a generally elliptical cross sectional shape with a major axis and a minor axis across a plane generally perpendicular to the beam generation axis; a housing for housing the transducer and having a direction of travel axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam being rotatable relative to the direction of travel axis, the housing having a release locking arrangement for rotationally releasing and locking the position of the fan shaped acoustic beam for orienting at least one of the major axis and minor axis of the fan shaped acoustic beam at a desired position relative to the direction of travel axis; and an adjustable mounting band for mounting to a trolling motor.
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42. A transducer assembly comprising:
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a fan beam transducer having a beam generation axis for generating a fan shaped acoustic beam along the beam generation axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam having a generally elliptical cross sectional shape with a major axis and a minor axis across a plane generally perpendicular to the beam generation axis; and a housing for housing the transducer and having a direction of travel axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam being rotatable relative to the direction of travel axis, the housing having a release locking arrangement for rotationally releasing and locking the position of the fan shaped acoustic beam for orienting at least one of the major axis and minor axis of the fan shaped acoustic beam at a desired position relative to the direction of travel axis, the fan beam transducer including a transducer element and a mask member for generating the fan shaped acoustic beam, the mask member being rotatable relative to the transducer element for rotationally changing the position of the fan shaped acoustic beam.
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43. A method of operating a transducer assembly comprising:
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with a fan beam transducer having a beam generation axis, generating a fan shaped acoustic beam along the beam generation axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam having a generally elliptical cross sectional shape with a major axis and a minor axis across a plane generally perpendicular to the beam generation axis; housing the transducer within a housing having a direction of travel axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam being rotatable relative to the direction of travel axis; and rotationally releasing and locking the position of the fan shaped acoustic beam with a quick release locking arrangement for orienting at least one of the major axis and minor axis of the fan shaped acoustic beam at a desired position relative to the direction of travel axis, the transducer rotating within the housing about the beam generation axis, a locking member of the locking arrangement being resiliently biased relative to the transducer for releasably locking the transducer, in which the transducer is resiliently biased upwardly against the locking member with a resilient biasing member, the transducer being resiliently movable downwardly by a hand to disengage from the locking member for allowing rotation, and release of the transducer by the hand allows the resilient biasing member to bias and re-engage the transducer with the locking member in the desired position relative to the direction of travel axis.
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44. A method of operating a transducer assembly comprising:
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with a fan beam transducer having a beam generation axis, generating a fan shaped acoustic beam along the beam generation axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam having a generally elliptical cross sectional shape with a major axis and a minor axis across a plane generally perpendicular to the beam generation axis; housing the transducer within a housing having a direction of travel axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam being rotatable relative to the direction of travel axis; and rotationally releasing and locking the position of the fan shaped acoustic beam with a quick release locking arrangement for orienting at least one of the major axis and minor axis of the fan shaped acoustic beam at a desired position relative to the direction of travel axis, the transducer rotating within the housing about the beam generation axis, a locking member of the locking arrangement being resiliently biased relative to the transducer for releasably locking the transducer, the transducer and the locking member each having a locking structure which interlock with each other, at least one of the locking structures of the transducer and the locking member has protrusions, and the other recesses, which interlock for locking the transducer in the desired position, the locking structures of the transducer and the locking member being positioned in a circular pattern relative to the beam generation axis, the locking structure of the locking member being positioned above the locking structure of the transducer.
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45. A method of operating a transducer assembly comprising:
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with a fan beam transducer having a beam generation axis, generating a fan shaped acoustic beam along the beam generation axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam having a generally elliptical cross sectional shape with a major axis and a minor axis across a plane generally perpendicular to the beam generation axis; housing the transducer within a housing having a direction of travel axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam being rotatable relative to the direction of travel axis; rotationally releasing and locking the position of the fan shaped acoustic beam with a locking arrangement for orienting at least one of the major axis and minor axis of the fan shaped acoustic beam at a desired position relative to the direction of travel axis; and mounting the transducer assembly to a trolling motor with an adjustable mounting band.
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46. A method of operating a transducer assembly comprising:
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with a fan beam transducer having a beam generation axis, generating a fan shaped acoustic beam along the beam generation axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam having a generally elliptical cross sectional shape with a major axis and a minor axis across a plane generally perpendicular to the beam generation axis; housing the transducer within a housing having a direction of travel axis, the fan shaped acoustic beam being rotatable relative to the direction of travel axis; rotationally releasing and locking the position of the fan shaped acoustic beam with a locking arrangement for orienting at least one of the major axis and minor axis of the fan shaped acoustic beam at a desired position relative to the direction of travel axis; and generating the fan shaped acoustic beam with a transducer element and a mask member, the mask member being rotatable relative to the transducer element for rotationally changing the position of the fan shaped acoustic beam.
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Specification