Livewell operation and control for a vessel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10990622-B2
Application number	US-201715628216-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 20, 2017
Priority date	Jun 20, 2017
Publication date	Apr 27, 2021
Grant date	Apr 27, 2021

Abstract

Livewells of a vessel are used to store caught fish, such as during fishing competitions. Apparatuses, systems, and methods track and use fishing information for efficient operation and control of livewells and the associated pumps. An example marine electronic device of a vessel comprises a user interface with a display screen, a processor, and memory including computer program code. The memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the marine electronic device to receive an indication of a fish catch and cause, in response to receiving the indication of the fish catch, a pump associated with a livewell of the vessel to one of fill the livewell with water or recirculate water in the livewell, wherein the water is pumped from a body of water in which the vessel is at least partially submerged.

First claim

That which is claimed:

1. A marine electronic device of a vessel, the marine electronic device comprising:
a user interface comprising a display screen;
a processor and memory including computer program code, the memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the marine electronic device to:
receive an indication of a fish catch;
automatically cause, in response to receiving the indication of the fish catch, a pump associated with a livewell of the vessel to one of fill the livewell with water or recirculate water in the livewell, wherein the water is pumped from a body of water in which the vessel is at least partially submerged;
receive fish data associated with the fish catch, wherein the fish data comprises at least one of a fish length, a fish weight, or a fish species; and
cause, in response to receiving the fish data, at least some portion of the fish data to be presented on the display screen.

2. The marine electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the marine electronic device to:
cause the pump to fill the livewell by:
causing the pump to start conveying water into the livewell;
determining a fill parameter of the livewell; and
causing the pump to stop conveying water in response to the fill parameter satisfying a predetermined fill parameter metric.

3. The marine electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the marine electronic device to:
receive an indication of an oxygen level of water in the livewell from one or more oxygen sensors; and
cause the pump to recirculate water in the livewell in response to determining that the oxygen level is below a predetermined oxygen threshold.

4. The marine electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the marine electronic device to:
receive an indication of temperature of the water in the livewell from one or more temperature sensors; and
in response to determining that the temperature is outside a predetermined temperature range:
cause a portion of the water in the livewell to be drained through a purge valve into the body of water; and
cause the pump to convey additional water into the livewell.

5. The marine electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the marine electronic device to:
receive an indication of the fish data for a fish associated with the fish catch; and
assign, in the memory, a culling tag to the fish based on the fish data.

6. The marine electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the fish is a first fish and the fish catch is a first fish catch, wherein the memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the marine electronic device to:
receive an indication of a second fish catch;
receive second fish data for a second fish associated with the second fish catch;
compare the first fish and the second fish based on one or more predetermined fish metrics;
determine a preferred fish from the first fish and the second fish based on the one or more fish metrics; and
cause an indication of the preferred fish to be displayed on the user interface.

7. The marine electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the marine electronic device to cause the indication of the preferred fish by causing display of an indication to replace the second fish with the first fish in an instance in which the second fish is the preferred fish from among the first fish and the second fish.

8. The marine electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the marine electronic device to cause the indication of the preferred fish by causing display of an indication of the culling tag associated with the first fish.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
receive an indication of a fish catch;
automatically cause, in response to receiving the indication of the fish catch, a pump associated with a livewell of the vessel to one of fill the livewell with water or recirculate water in the livewell, wherein the water is pumped from a body of water in which the vessel is at least partially submerged;
receive fish data associated with the fish catch, wherein the fish data comprises at least one of a fish length, a fish weight, or a fish species; and
cause, in response to receiving the fish data, at least some portion of the fish data to be presented on a display screen.

10. The marine electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the marine electronic device to:
receive motion data from a motion sensor associated with a fishing rod or a wrist of a user; and
determine occurrence of the fish catch based on the motion data.

11. The marine electronic device of claim 1 , wherein receiving the indication of the fish catch comprises receiving user input indicating the fish catch.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the computer-executable instructions are further configured to, with the processor, cause the processor to:
cause the pump to fill the livewell by:
causing the pump to start conveying water into the livewell;
determining a fill parameter of the livewell; and

causing the pump to stop conveying water in response to the fill parameter satisfying a predetermined fill parameter metric.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the computer-executable instructions are further configured to, with the processor, cause the processor to:
receive an indication of an oxygen level of water in the livewell from one or more oxygen sensors; and
cause the pump to recirculate water in the livewell in response to determining that the oxygen level is below a predetermined oxygen threshold.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the computer-executable instructions are further configured to, with the processor, cause the processor to:
receive an indication of temperature of the water in the livewell from one or more temperature sensors; and
in response to determining that the temperature is outside a predetermined temperature range:
cause a portion of the water in the livewell to be drained through a purge valve into the body of water; and
cause the pump to convey additional water into the livewell.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the computer-executable instructions are further configured to, with the processor, cause the marine electronic device to:
receive motion data from a motion sensor associated with a fishing rod or a wrist of a user; and
determine occurrence of the fish catch based on the motion data.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein receiving the indication of the fish catch comprises receiving user input indicating the fish catch.

17. A marine electronic device of a vessel, the marine electronic device comprising:
a user interface comprising a display screen;
a processor and memory including computer program code, the memory

Assignees

• Navico Holding As

Inventors

• Laster Matthew W
• Burton Aaron J

Classifications

• A01K61/95 Primary

  specially adapted for fish · CPC title

• A01K97/20

  Keepnets or other containers for keeping captured fish (A01K97/05 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A01K97/00

  Accessories for angling (fish stringers A01K65/00; landing-nets or landing-spoons for fishing A01K77/00) · CPC title

• A01K63/02

  Receptacles specially adapted for transporting live fish · CPC title

• A01K63/047

  Liquid pumps for aquaria (air pumps for aquaria A01K63/042) · CPC title