Patent Application
20080291121
The present invention relates generally to solid state depth locators, sometimes referred to as “fish finders” used to determine the depth and size of fish and other objects in water. More specifically, the present invention relates to a low cost, low power consuming, color display for such a solid state depth locator that provides an easily understandable real-time indication of the depth and size (a.k.a. density) of objects located beneath the surface of the water.
Solid state depth locators have been known and used in the art for many years. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,459,479 entitled “Solid State Depth Locator Having Liquid Crystal Display” granted on Oct. 17, 1995 (to the same inventor here) which is incorporated by reference. Such depth locators typically have a transducer for transmitting sound waves through the water and detecting sound waves in the water. The transducer is typically operatively coupled to a controller via a transmitter and a receiver. Of course, those skilled in the art recognized that the transmitter and receiver can be combined as a single transceiver assembly. As used herein, “transmitter” and “receiver” refer either to separate assemblies or to the transmitter and receiver portions, respectively, of a transceiver.
In modern depth locators, the controller is typically a programmable microprocessor which operates in response to a programmable set of instructions and operator inputs. The controller controls the transmitter to deliver sound waves into the water via the transducer. As sound waves are reflected by objects in the water, they are detected by the transducer and transmitted via the receiver to the controller. The controller then processes the return signals to determine the depth of objects and their size. Size is also referred to in the art as density. Various filters and/or signal processing schemes can also be employed to eliminate or ignore sound waves detected by the transducer that are not returns of signals generated by the transducer.
Prior art depth locators generally had a user interface that permitted the controller to receive user inputs from the user and to convey information related to the depth and density of underwater objects to the user. The user interface typically included one or more switches coupled to the controller that enabled the user to indicate operating parameters to be used by the device. The user interface also included either a speaker to generate audible alerts or a visual display. U.S. Pat. No. 5,459,479 describes the use of liquid crystal displays, displays using neon bulbs and displays using light-emitting diodes. Cathode ray tubes have also been used. However, all prior art displays suffer from various problems.
Some displays draw too much power causing unacceptable drain on batteries used to power the device. This issue is particularly acute when the depth finder is powered by a self-contained battery such as when the device is used for ice fishing. Other problems relate to the brightness of the display and how ambient light can interfere with the ability of the user to read the display. Still other problems relate to the size and cost of the display. Other problems exist when displays are used that have motors, rotating bulbs and other moving parts. These displays are often not adequately reliable and are excessively noisy. As a cost-saving measure, many depth finders are equipped with grayscale displays. Yet it is difficult to distinguish between the shades of gray used to indicate the size of an object detected, particularly in locations where there is a lot of ambient light.
The present invention seeks to overcome the foregoing disadvantages of prior art displays by providing a low cost, low power, color display with no moving parts, which is bright enough to see and read even on a sunny day in the middle of a lake even if the lake is frozen or covered with snow.
The display array of the present invention includes one or more alpha-numeric display elements. Such as, for example, seven segment liquid crystal display (LCD) elements. These are used to display either the parameters the user has set related to operation of the device and/or the scale used by the controller. The display array also includes a multicolored display element comprising a lens and a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) arranged in a configuration such as, for example, in the form of a bar, an arc, or circle. The LEDs are arranged in rows along the length of the configuration. In the simplest form, each row contains a single RGB (red, green, blue) LED which can be controlled so that it is illuminated to give off different colors. Alternatively, the rows comprise two or more single colored LEDs. The lens can be used to combine the colors provided by the illuminated LEDs to provide a greater number of colors than the number of LEDs in the row.
Both the LEDs and the LCD display element(s) are operationally coupled to the controller of the sonar detector either directly or via one or more drivers. When in use, the controller causes the LCD display element(s) to display, for example, a scale equating a depth of the body of water (or portion thereof) to the length of the LED display element. The controller also controls the illumination of the LEDs of the LED display element. One or more LEDs of a particular row are illuminated to provide an indication that there is an object in the water at the depth corresponding to the row. The color generated by the LEDs of a row illuminated by the controller indicates the density (a.k.a. size) of the object at that depth. In a display array of this type, power is conserved because only one LED is illuminated at a particular time. The controller turns the proper LEDs on and off at a rate such that the viewer perceives a solid color corresponding to the density of the object at the depth corresponding to the row.
Likewise, if multiple objects at different depths have been detected, the controller turns on and off the LEDs of the rows corresponding to the depths of the objects detected so that the viewer (1) perceives the rows corresponding to the depths of the objects as illuminated; and (2) perceives the color of each “illuminated” row as the color corresponding to the size/density of the object detected at the depth corresponding to the row.
The controller 2 can be any typical microprocessor-based controller with sufficient memory and ports to transmit control signals to the transducer 5 and the display array 10 and to process signals received via the transducer 5 and receiver 4 in accordance with a programmed set of instructions and user inputs related to operational parameters. More specifically, the controller 2 processes the signals to calculate the depth and density of an object and then sends output signals to a display array 10 to provide an indication of these calculated values.
A preferred embodiment of the display array of the present invention is also shown in
As shown in
The advantage of an LED display element being multicolored is that different colors can be used to indicate the density of an object at a particular depth. Thus, the row of the LED(s) illuminated indicates the depth of the object and the color of the illumination indicates the density (i.e., size of the object).
In the embodiment shown in
It is important to note that a power saving technique of the present invention is to only illuminate a single LED at a time. Thus, to create other colors using the blue, red and yellow LEDs, the LEDs required to create a color are turned on and of in rapid succession so the desired color is perceived by the human eye. By adjusting the duration that the LEDs of a row are on and off, literally any color can be created using the three LEDs of a row. Some assistance is provided by a lens 15 covering the display in causing this mixing of colors.
Alternative techniques are, of course, available for providing the desired colors. For example, each row could comprise a single RGB type LED. Such an LED can be operated to give off red, green or blue light. An RGB LED can be turned in various ways to cause a viewer to perceive colors made by combining red, green and blue. Also, if only a small number of colors are necessary (e.g., two, three, four or five), the same number of individually colored columns can be provided so that each row has an LED of each required color.
Now that the basic structure of the device of the present invention has been described, several examples of its operation will be provided.
In this example, the device of
In this example, the device of
In this example, the sonar detector 1 is given the same settings as in Example 2. However, the device detects three objects in the water, one at sixty feet, another at thirty-five feet and a third at fifty feet. As in Example 2, the LCD display indicates the sixty foot total depth, and the range reflected by the LED display element 14 (i.e., 50 to 60 feet). Also, one or more LEDs in row 1 are illuminated to indicate the object at fifty feet, one or more LEDs in row 25 are illuminated to indicate the object at fifty-five feet, and one or more LEDs in row 50 are illuminated to indicate the object detected at sixty feet. By illuminating different colors in each of the three rows (or adjacent rows), the display can indicate the density/size of each of the three objects.
It is important to note that the normal state of each LED is off. Only a minimum number of LEDS are turned on at a time. When an LED is said to be illuminated, it is in fact sequentially pulsed with the other illuminated LEDs at a rate that allows a viewer to perceive illumination of the proper rows and colors. This scheme provides the desirable indicators and at the same time conserves power.
It is important to note that various modifications can be made to the LED display element 14 without deviating from the invention. Already mentioned are the ability to include a different number of LEDs in each row and the ability to use a single RGB LED in each row rather than individually colored LEDs. Also, while fifty rows of LEDs are discussed above, a larger number of rows can be provided for greater precision. Also, a lesser number of rows can be used if the precision afforded by five hundred rows is not required. Further,
Just as the selected LEDs of LED display element 14 are pulsed on and off to save power, the LCD display element 11 can normally be off and only illuminated when the user needs to read data from the LCD display element II.
The present invention provides a solid state display with no moving parts that accurately reflects the depth and density of objects in the water. It does so virtually in real-time and in a manner that conserves power. The display of the present invention is highly reliable. The foregoing description is intended to meet the disclosure requirements of the patent laws, but is not intended to be limited. The scope of protection is limited only by the following claims.
