Patent Application
20140142845
The present disclosure relates generally to determining an anchoring of a marine vessel, and more specifically, to a system and method for determining an anchoring location of a marine vessel based on location data of the marine vessel.
Finding an anchoring berth is not supported by current technology. Lack of knowledge on this subject at best can make some situations frustrating and difficult, and at worse cause one to lose a boat or even a life. Many factors must be considered when determining where to anchor a boat, such as: shelter from wind, boat traffic, “swinging room” availability, a depth of water, and a terrain of the sea floor. However, even with current technology, finding a proper location to anchor a boat can be an extremely difficult and time consuming task, especially in areas a mariner is not familiar with.
In one aspect, a system for detecting an anchoring location of a marine vessel is provided. The system includes a first computing device configured to capture location data of the marine vessel along a route of the marine vessel, and a second computing device. The second computing device including a memory area, a location component that determines location data of a marine vessel, and a processor. The processor is programmed to receive, from the first computing device, the location data of the marine vessel, determine, from the location data, a location along a route of the marine vessel that the marine vessel traveled a distance less than a maximum threshold distance over a predefined period of time, and identify the location along the route of the marine vessel that the marine vessel traveled a distance less than the anchoring threshold distance over the predefined period of time as an anchoring location.
In another aspect, a computing device for determining an anchoring location of a marine vessel is provided. The computing device includes a memory area, a location component that determines location data of the marine vessel; and a processor. The processor is programmed to receive the location data of the marine vessel, determine, from the location data, a location along a route of the marine vessel that the marine vessel traveled a distance less than a maximum threshold distance over a predefined period of time, and identify the location along the route of the marine vessel that the marine vessel traveled a distance less than the anchoring threshold distance over the predefined period of time as an anchoring location.
In yet another aspect, a method for determining an anchoring location of a marine vessel is provided. The method includes receiving location data of the marine vessel, determining, from the location data, a location along a route of the marine vessel that the marine vessel traveled a distance less than a maximum threshold distance over a predefined period of time, and identifying the location along the route of the marine vessel that the marine vessel traveled a distance less than the anchoring threshold distance over the predefined period of time as an anchoring location.
The present disclosure is described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures.
A Global Positioning System (GPS) can be used by a mariner to identify a current location of a marine vessel (e.g., a boat or a ship). This GPS position information can be used for supporting other systems to identify a location of other marine vessels (AIS—Automatic Identification System), a route to a particular location (Chartplotter), ocean terrain (Chartplotter), and/or current weather conditions/forecasts for the location. GPS tracking systems may also be used to record a route a marine vessel has taken as well as record a time the marine vessel has spent at various locations along the route. However, even with the information provided by current technology, if a mariner does not have previous experience anchoring in a particular location or does not have documentation showing ideal anchoring locations, finding a proper location to anchor a marine vessel can be an extremely difficult and time consuming task. Further, unless a mariner chooses to document/identify various locations along the route the marine vessel has anchored, these anchoring locations are not captured in the record/tracking of the route.
The present disclosure enables an anchoring location of a marine vessel to be automatically determined from location data within the recorded/tracked route information associated with a marine vessel. However, one of ordinary skill in the art guided by the teachings herein will appreciate that while embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated and described herein with reference to using information captured by a GPS tracking system to determine an anchoring location of a marine vessel, aspects of the disclosure are operable with any system that performs the functionality illustrated and described herein, or its equivalent.
An exemplary technical effect of the methods and systems described herein includes at least one of (a) receiving location data associated with a marine vessel; (b) determining, from the location data, a location along a route of the marine vessel that the marine vessel traveled a distance less than a maximum threshold distance over a predefined period of time; and (c) identifying the location along the route of the marine vessel that the marine vessel traveled a distance less than the anchoring threshold distance over the predefined period of time as an anchoring location.
With reference now to
While embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated and described herein with reference to a computing device or mobile computing device such as a laptop, embedded device, telephone, or a personal digital assistant, aspects of the disclosure are operable with any computing device that performs the functionality illustrated and described herein, or its equivalent. For example, embodiments of the disclosure are operable with a desktop computing device, a laptop computer, and other portable and non-portable computing devices capable of providing navigation functionality.
Referring now to
Memory area 202, or other computer-readable media, stores computer-executable components for determining and identifying anchoring locations of marine vessels. Exemplary components include, but are not limited to, an interface component 208 and a location component 210. Memory area 202 further stores location data such as location information associated with a route as well as a time spent at various locations along the route. For example, the location information may include location coordinates for each location along a route of a marine vessel. As such, a detailed and accurate path of a marine vessel along a route can be stored in memory area 202.
In one embodiment, computer-executable instructions for determining an anchor location of a marine vessel may be stored and executed from a memory area remote from second computing device 104. For example, instructions may be stored in a cloud service, a database, or other memory area accessible by second computing device 104. Such embodiments reduce the computational and storage burden on second computing device 104.
Referring again to
In one embodiment, processor 204 is transformed into a special purpose microprocessor by executing computer-executable instructions or by otherwise being programmed For example, processor 204 is programmed with instructions such as is illustrated in and next described in
With reference now to
At 304, the location data associated with the marine vessel is accessed by a second computing device (e.g., second computing device 104). Second computing device 104 may access the location data from first computing device 102 in real time, or anytime thereafter, for example, via a network 106. At 306, second computing device 104, and more specifically, location component 210 determines, from the location data, a location along a route of the marine vessel that the marine vessel traveled a distance less than a maximum threshold distance over a predefined period of time.
For example, with reference now to
As explained above, location component 210 not only determines, from the location data, a location along a route of the marine vessel that the marine vessel traveled a distance less than a maximum threshold distance, location component 210 also determines, from the location data, whether the marine vessel traveled a distance less than a maximum threshold distance over a predefined period of time. For example, a marine vessel may be anchored for a variety of reasons/activities, such as, for swimming, scuba diving, fishing, and/or an overnight stay. However, each of these activities typically have different anchoring times with respect to how long each activity takes as well as a time of day for each activity. Thus, embodiments of the present disclosure enable an anchoring of the marine vessel to be determined based in part on a defined length of time the marine vessel is within the maximum threshold distance, and the defined length of time may be a length of time representative of a short term anchoring (e.g., anchoring for swimming), or a long term anchoring (e.g., an overnight stay). In addition, the defined length of time may be within a particular time of the day/night. For example, to identify an anchoring representative of an overnight stay, location component 210 may only identify possible anchoring locations that a marine vessel travels a distance less than a maximum threshold distance between sunset and sunrise (e.g., from dawn to dusk).
With reference back to
With reference now to
In one embodiment, a marine vessel can access anchorage database 108 to search/identify anchorage locations in a particular area. As such, marine vessels can search the anchorage database 108 for anchorage locations in a particular area, for example, a current location of a marine vessel or a particular location along a route the marine vessel. In one embodiment, a marine vessel provides anchorage database 108 with a current location of the marine vessel. Thereafter, anchorage database 108 provides the marine vessel with one or more stored anchorage locations based on the current location of the marine vessel. In another embodiment, a user searches anchorage database 108 for anchorage locations along a route of the marine vessel. In further embodiments, a user receives updates from anchorage database 108 based on new anchorage locations determined by, for example, second computing device 104. As such, as anchorage database 108 is updated in real-time, the real-time updates are also provided to marine vessels/users based on, for example, a current location of the marine vessel or a route of the marine vessel.
Exemplary Operating Environment
A computer or mobile device such as described herein has one or more processors or processing units, system memory, and some form of computer readable media. By way of example and not limitation, computer readable media comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Communication media typically embody computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and include any information delivery media. Combinations of any of the above are also included within the scope of computer readable media.
The mobile device may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer. Although described in connection with an exemplary computing system environment, embodiments of the disclosure are operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations. The computing system environment is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of any aspect of the disclosure. Moreover, the computing system environment should not be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of components illustrated in the exemplary operating environment. Examples of well known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with aspects of the disclosure include, but are not limited to, personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, mobile telephones, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like.
Embodiments of the disclosure may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. The computer-executable instructions may be organized into one or more computer-executable components or modules. Generally, program modules include, but are not limited to, routines, programs, objects, components, and data structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Aspects of the disclosure may be implemented with any number and organization of such components or modules. For example, aspects of the disclosure are not limited to the specific computer-executable instructions or the specific components or modules illustrated in the figures and described herein. Other embodiments of the disclosure may include different computer-executable instructions or components having more or less functionality than illustrated and described herein. Aspects of the disclosure may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote computer storage media including memory storage devices.
The order of execution or performance of the operations in embodiments of the disclosure illustrated and described herein is not essential, unless otherwise specified. That is, the operations may be performed in any order, unless otherwise specified, and embodiments of the disclosure may include additional or fewer operations than those disclosed herein. For example, it is contemplated that executing or performing a particular operation before, contemporaneously with, or after another operation is within the scope of aspects of the disclosure.
When introducing elements of aspects of the disclosure or the embodiments thereof, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements.
Having described aspects of the disclosure in detail, it will be apparent that modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of aspects of the disclosure as defined in the appended claims. As various changes could be made in the above constructions, products, and methods without departing from the scope of aspects of the disclosure, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
