Lanyard system and method for a marine vessel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11718375-B2
Application number	US-202117240690-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2021
Priority date	Jul 26, 2018
Publication date	Aug 8, 2023
Grant date	Aug 8, 2023

Abstract

A wireless lanyard system for a marine vessel propelled by at least one propulsion device, the system comprising an operator fob configured to be worn by an operator of the marine vessel, a helm transceiver configured to receive radio signals from the operator fob an a controller. The controller is configured to define a permitted zone with respect to a helm area of the marine vessel based on at least one vessel condition, determine based on communications between the operator fob and the helm transceiver whether the operator is within the permitted zone with respect to the helm area, and generate a lanyard event when the operator is not within the permitted zone.

First claim

I claim:

1. A wireless lanyard system for a marine vessel propelled by at least one propulsion device, the system comprising:
an operator fob configured to be worn by an operator of the marine vessel;
a helm transceiver configured to receive radio signals from the operator fob;
a controller configured to:
define a permitted zone with respect to a helm area of the marine vessel based on at least one vessel condition;
determine based on communications between the operator fob and the helm transceiver whether the operator is within the permitted zone with respect to the helm area;
generate a lanyard event when the operator is not within the permitted zone; and
control at least one propulsion device on the marine vessel based on the lanyard event.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one vessel condition includes at least one of a vessel speed, a propulsion device RPM, gear state, a vessel location, or vessel orientation information.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to define a radius of the permitted zone.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
determine an operator distance between the operator fob and the helm transceiver based on the communications between the operator fob and the helm transceiver; and
determine whether the operator is within the permitted zone based on a comparison between the operator distance and the radius of the permitted zone.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the controller is configured to compare a vessel speed of the marine vessel to at least one threshold vessel speed and to define the radius of the permitted zone based on the comparison.

6. The system of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to define the radius of the permitted zone based on a GPS location of the marine vessel.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine that the operator is not within the permitted zone for a predefined warning period prior to generating the lanyard event.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further configured to generate an auditory warning alert upon detecting that the operator is not within the permitted zone for the predefined warning period.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to adjust the permitted zone based on a change in the vessel condition.

10. The system of claim 1 configured to, upon generation of the lanyard event, control the propulsion device to reduce an engine rpm to an idle rpm or to turn off the propulsion device.

11. A method of operating a wireless lanyard system on a marine vessel having at least one propulsion device, the method comprising:
defining a permitted zone for an operator with respect to a helm area of the marine vessel based on at least one vessel condition;
operating an operator fob worn by an operator and a helm transceiver to communicate and receive an operator location signal;
determining whether the operator is within the permitted zone with respect to the helm area based on the operator location signal;
generating a lanyard event when the operator is not within the permitted zone; and
controlling at least one propulsion device on the marine vessel based on the lanyard event.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one vessel condition includes at least one of a vessel speed, a propulsion device RPM, gear state, a vessel location, or vessel orientation information.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein defining the permitted zone includes defining a radius of the permitted zone based on the at least one vessel condition.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising determining an operator distance between the operator fob and the helm transceiver based on the operator location signal; and
wherein determining whether the operator is within the permitted zone includes comparing the operator distance to the radius of the permitted zone.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising comparing a vessel speed of the marine vessel to at least one threshold vessel speed and defining the radius of the permitted zone based on the comparison.

16. The method of claim 13 , further comprising defining the radius of the permitted zone based on a GPS location of the marine vessel.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining that the operator is not within the permitted zone for a predefined warning period prior to generating the lanyard event.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising generating an auditory warning alert upon detecting that the operator is not within the permitted zone for the predefined warning period.

19. The method of claim 11 , further comprising adjusting the permitted zone based on a change in the vessel condition.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising adjusting a radius of the permitted zone based on a change in at least one of an engine rpm or a vessel speed such that a radius of the permitted zone decreases as the engine rpm or the vessel speed increases.

21. The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of defining the permitted zone for the operator with respect to a helm of the marine vessel based on at least one vessel condition includes defining the permitted zone once at least one of a gear system of the propulsion device is not in a neutral gear position or a vessel speed of the marine vessel is greater than a threshold vessel speed.

Assignees

• Brunswick Corp

Inventors

• Gonring Steven J

Classifications

• B60K28/04

  responsive to presence or absence of the driver, e.g. to weight or lack thereof · CPC title

• B63C9/0005 Primary

  by means of alarm devices for persons falling into the water, e.g. by signalling, by controlling the propulsion or manoeuvring means of the boat (alarms responsive to presence of persons in a body of water in general G08B21/08) · CPC title

• B63H21/21

  Control means for engine or transmission, specially adapted for use on marine vessels · CPC title

• G01S19/13

  Receivers · CPC title

• H04W4/021

  Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences · CPC title