Sonar mapping system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10684368-B2
Application number	US-201816011318-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 18, 2018
Priority date	Apr 3, 2014
Publication date	Jun 16, 2020
Grant date	Jun 16, 2020

Abstract

A sonar mapping system that includes a sonar transducer assembly configured for mounting on a watercraft, and a display configured to show a topographical chart of a body of water. The sonar mapping system further includes a processor coupled to the sonar transducer assembly and display. The processor is configured to create the topographical chart in real time, and to update the topographical chart in real time, based on sonar data provided by the sonar transducer assembly. The processor is also configured to render the created or updated topographical chart on the display. The sonar mapping system has memory accessible by the processor and configured to store the topographical chart rendered by the processor, and to store the sonar data provided by the sonar transducer assembly.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A head unit for a sonar mapping system having a sonar transducer configured to generate sonar data for transmission to the head unit and a GPS receiver configured to provide location information to the head unit, comprising:
a display;
a processor operably coupled to the display, the processor configured to convert the sonar data received from the sonar transducer into visual information for rendering on the display;
wherein the visual information is at least one of topographical contours or bathymetric tints representing at least one of depth or bottom hardness; and
wherein the processor is configured to at least one of construct or update a chart of such visual information corresponding to a path of travel based on the location information received from the GPS receiver while traveling along the path of travel.

2. The head unit of claim 1 , further comprising memory accessible by the processor and configured to store at least one of the chart or the sonar data.

3. The head unit of claim 2 , wherein processor is configured to read the memory and render the chart on the display, and further wherein the processor is configured to update the chart with visual information as sonar data is received along the path of travel for at least one of rendering on the display or storing in the memory.

4. The head unit of claim 1 , further comprising a connection for at least one portable memory device, and wherein the processor is configured to access the at least one portable memory device to store at least one of the chart or the sonar data, the portable memory device including at least one of a USB drive, an SD card, an optical storage media, or magnetic storage media.

5. The head unit of claim 4 , wherein processor is configured to read the portable memory device and render the chart on the display, and further wherein the processor is configured to update the chart with visual information as sonar data is received along the path of travel for at least one of rendering on the display or storing in the portable memory device.

6. The head unit of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to estimate missing visual information between areas of visual information.

7. The head unit of claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured to render the missing visual information on the display.

8. The head unit of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to control wireless transmission of the visual information to a remote display for rendering on the remote display.

9. The head unit of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to render both the visual information and sonar imaging data on the display.

10. The head unit of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to render both the topographical contours and the bathymetric tints on the display.

11. A method of creating a chart of a body of water while traveling along a path of travel, comprising the steps of:
receiving sonar data from a sonar transducer assembly;
receiving location information from a GPS receiver;
processing the sonar data received from the sonar transducer assembly and the location information into visual information containing at least one of a topographical contour or a bathymetric tint representing at least one of depth or bottom hardness along the path of travel; and
rendering, while traveling along the path of travel, the visual information on a display.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of rendering comprises at least one of the step of constructing or updating the chart of the visual information corresponding to the path of travel while traveling along the path of travel.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising the step of storing at least one of the chart or the sonar data in memory.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising the steps of reading the memory and rendering the chart on the display, the method further comprising the step of updating the chart with the visual information during the step of receiving sonar data along the path of travel.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising estimating missing visual information between areas of the visual information from the step of rendering.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising the step of rendering the missing visual information on the display while traveling along the path of travel.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising the step of transmitting the visual information to a remote display for rendering on the remote display.

18. The method of claim 11 , further comprising the steps of processing the sonar data received from the sonar transducer assembly into sonar imaging data, and rendering the sonar imaging data on the display along with the visual information while traveling along the path of travel.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of rendering comprises the step of rendering visual information containing both the topographical contours and the bathymetric tints on the display.

20. A method of updating a chart of a body of water while traveling along a path of travel, comprising the steps of:
retrieving the chart from memory;
rendering the chart on a display;
receiving sonar data from a sonar transducer assembly;
receiving location information from a GPS receiver;
processing the sonar data received from the sonar transducer assembly and the location information into visual information containing at least one of a topographical contour or a bathymetric tint representing at least one of depth or bottom hardness along the path of travel; and
rendering, while traveling along the path of travel, the visual information on the chart on the display.

Assignees

• Pelin Per
• Harrington Scott A
• Johnson Outdoors Inc

Inventors

• Pelin Per
• Harrington Scott A

Classifications

• G01S15/96

  for locating fish · CPC title

• G01S7/60

  for providing a permanent recording · CPC title

• G01S7/6263

  in which different colours are used · CPC title

• G01S15/42

  Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates (indirect measurement G01S15/46) · CPC title

• G01S15/89 Primary

  for mapping or imaging · CPC title