The present disclosure mainly relates to a nautical chart display device which displays a nautical chart.
Patent Document 1 discloses a display device which displays navigational information including a nautical chart. This display device is configured as a touch panel, and executes various processings based on touch operations to a screen. For example, by touching two points on the screen with fingers during display of the nautical chart, a distance on the nautical chart between the two touched points is displayed on the screen.
Patent Document 2 discloses a technology related to a graphic design application executed, for example, by a tablet device having a touch panel. In this application, a digital ruler can be displayed on a screen by a given operation being performed. By giving instructions to this digital ruler using the touch panel, it is possible to draw lines of various patterns.
Patent Document 3 discloses a ruler which is used by being placed on a screen of a tablet device having a touch panel. This ruler is provided with a pair of main contact point elements. When a user touches the ruler, capacitance of the touch panel changes via the pair of main contact point elements. The tablet device is configured to recognize the ruler based on a distance between the main contact point elements. Moreover, by pressing a button provided to the ruler, figures such as parallel lines can be drawn around the ruler.
However, the method of measuring the distance by the touch operation as described in Patent Document 1 may be difficult for a user who is not used to this kind of device (a user who is used to a paper nautical chart). Moreover, Patent Documents 2 and 3 do not describe the technology related to the measurement of the distance.
The present disclosure is made in view of the situation described above, and a primary purpose thereof is to provide a nautical chart display device which enables a measurement of a distance in a method easily understandable even for a user who is not used to a measurement of a distance by a touch operation.
The problem to be solved by the present disclosure is as described above, and measures to solve the problem and effects thereof are described as follows.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a nautical chart display device having the following configuration is provided. That is, the nautical chart display device includes a display unit, a touch operation identifying module, a tool identifying module, and a tool displaying module. The display unit displays a nautical chart on a screen. The touch operation identifying module identifies a touch operation to the screen. The tool identifying module identifies a position and an orientation of a measurement tool placed on the screen. The tool displaying module displays distance markers according to a scale of the nautical chart on the screen at the position where the measurement tool is placed, based on the position and the orientation identified by the tool identifying module.
Accordingly, since a distance on the nautical chart is displayed only by the measurement tool being placed on the screen, it is possible to measure the distance in a method easily understandable even for a user who is not used to the measurement of the distance by the touch operation. Particularly, although when a paper nautical chart is used, a calculation of correspondence between a scale of the nautical chart and markers of a ruler is required, in this disclosure, time and effort for this calculation can be saved since the distance markers corresponding to the scale of the nautical chart is displayed.
Next, one embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. First, an electronic nautical chart displaying network system 1 is described with reference to the
The electronic nautical chart displaying network system 1 may be mounted on a ship and configured to display various information required for navigation. As illustrated in
The marine network 10 may be a network for communication between the marine equipment on the same ship. The respective marine equipment can exchange detected information etc. via the marine network 10. The marine network 10 may be a LAN (Local Area Network), and in detail, Ethernet®, a CAN (Controller Area Network), or NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association) may be used. Note that at least one of the GPS receiver 11, the AIS receiver 12, and the bow direction sensor 13 may be connected directly with the nautical chart display device 20 using a cable etc., without being connected via the marine network 10.
The GPS receiver 11 may receive positioning signals from GPS satellites via GPS antennas (not illustrated). The GPS receiver 11 may acquire a position of the ship (in detail, positions of the GPS antennas, and an absolute position of the ship based on the terrestrial reference) based on the positioning signals, and transmit it to the nautical chart display device 20. Note that, instead of the GPS receiver 11, a receiver for acquiring the position of the ship by using a GNSS other than the GPS (e.g., GLONASS or GALILEO) may be used.
The AIS receiver 12 may receive an AIS signal transmitted from another ship. The AIS (Universal Shipborne Automatic Identification System) is a system which transmits the positional information, the navigational information, etc. of the ship to the surroundings thereof wirelessly. The AIS receiver 12 may receive the AIS signal transmitted from another ship and analyze it to acquire information on an absolute position, a destination, etc. of another ship (AIS information). The AIS receiver 12 may transmit the acquired AIS information to the nautical chart display device 20. The AIS information may include a name, the absolute position, a course, and the destination of another ship. Note that the analysis of the AIS signal may be performed by the nautical chart display device 20.
The bow direction sensor 13 may detect a bow direction of the ship (a direction in which a bow of the ship is directed) as an absolute azimuth based on the terrestrial reference. A magnetic direction sensor, a GPS compass, a gyrocompass, etc. may be used as the bow direction sensor 13. The bow direction sensor 13 may transmit the detected bow direction to the nautical chart display device 20.
The nautical chart display device 20 may be a device for displaying an electronic nautical chart. The nautical chart display device 20 of this embodiment may be a comparatively large in size (e.g., a screen size of 30 inches or larger, or 40 inches or larger), and may be disposed so that a displaying screen becomes parallel with a substantially horizontal direction. Note that the nautical chart display device 20 may have the screen size smaller than 30 inches, or the displaying screen thereof may be disposed at or near vertical.
The term “substantially horizontal direction” as used herein may refer to a direction including a plane parallel to a floor surface on which the nautical chart display device 20 is disposed, in addition to a plane perpendicular to the vertical direction. Moreover, the “substantially horizontal direction” as used herein may not strictly be a direction perpendicular to the vertical direction, or parallel to the floor surface, but include a case of having an angle of 10° or less. Also, a case in which an inclination angle of the screen of the nautical chart display device 20 is changeable may correspond to “the nautical chart display device 20 is disposed so that the screen becomes parallel with the substantially horizontal direction,” as long as the inclination angle can be changed to direct toward the substantially horizontal direction.
As illustrated in
The display unit 21 may be a unit having the screen on which electronic data can be displayed by using diagram(s) and character(s). The display unit 21 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, but may be a plasma display, an organic electro-luminescence display, etc. Although in this embodiment the screen of the display unit 21 has a rectangular shape, it may have a different shape, such as a square shape.
The detector 22 may be a touch panel of, for example, a capacitance type disposed on the screen of the display unit 21. The detector 22 can detect a touch and a position of the touch to a screen by a finger of a user or by another operation tool (e.g., a stylus 62 described later). Moreover, the detector 22 can detect a position where a tool which is used, for example, by being placed on the screen of the display unit 21 is placed. The detector 22 may output an electrical signal according to the detected position. Note that a hardware key may be disposed in addition to the touch panel.
The touch operation may include “a drag operation,” “a pinching operation,” and “a rotating operation,” other than the operation of touching one point or a plurality of points. The drag operation may be an operation of moving finger(s) touching the screen in a given direction without the finger(s) being separated from the screen. This drag operation may correspond to processing to scroll the nautical chart. The pinching operation may be an operation of moving two fingers touching the screen, closer to each other (pinch-in operation) or away from each other (pinch-out operation), without the fingers being separated from the screen. This pinching operation may correspond to processing to change a scale of the nautical chart. The rotating operation may be an operation of touching the screen with two fingers and rotating one finger around the other finger. This rotating operation may correspond to processing to rotate the nautical chart (to change a direction of the nautical chart with respect to the direction of the screen).
The input part 23 may accept an input of the electrical signal outputted from the detector 22. The input part 23 may receive an input of a signal outputted from an external device of the nautical chart display device 20, in addition to the electrical signal outputted from the detector 22. In detail, the input part 23 may be an input port etc. to which the signal outputted from the detector 22 or the signal outputted from the external device is inputted. The processor 25 may execute processing according to the signal inputted into the input part 23.
The memory 24 may store nautical chart information, point(s) registered by the user, a route created by the user, various programs (e.g., a nautical chart display program), etc. The memory 24 may be a nonvolatile memory, such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory (a flash disk, a memory card, etc.), or an optical disc. The memory 24 may be comprised of one of the hardware described above, or may be comprised of a plurality of the hardware. For example, only the nautical chart information may be stored in the optical disc, and other information may be stored in the hard disk drive.
The processor 25 may be a processing unit such as an FPGA, an ASIC, or a CPU. The processor 25 may read the program stored in the memory 24 etc. to a RAM etc., and execute the program to execute various processings related to the nautical chart display device 20. Accordingly, the processor 25 may implement a nautical chart displaying module 51, a touch operation identifying module 52, a tool identifying module 53, and a tool displaying module 54.
The nautical chart displaying module 51 may display the nautical chart on the display unit 21. The touch operation identifying module 52 may identify which the touch operations described above is operated, based on the touched position and a change in the touched position detected by the detector 22. The tool identifying module 53 may identify a type, a position, an orientation, etc. of the tool which is used, for example, by being placed on the screen of the display unit 21. The tool displaying module 54 may display information related to the tool based on, for example, the position, the orientation, and the operation of the tool. Note that details about processing executed by the tool identifying module 53 and the tool displaying module 54 are described later.
Moreover, as illustrated in
When the user selects a given menu item and touches the screen where the nautical chart is displayed, the detector 22 may detect the touched position, and the processor 25 may identify the position on the nautical chart associating with the touched position on the screen, and thus the touched point can be registered. Moreover, the route may be created by the user specifying a departure point, a via-point, and a destination point through the touch operation (alternatively by selecting points among those registered in advance). Note that the nautical chart display device 20 is also capable of creating the route by only the departure point and the destination point being set by the user.
Next, with reference to the
First, a configuration of the ruler 61 is described. The ruler 61 may be a rectangular plate member, and have long sides and short sides. The ruler 61 may be structured so that its substantially entire part has translucency. The “translucency” may mean a property of an object of permitting visible light to pass therethrough, and include both of being transparent and being semi-transparent. According to this configuration, even when the ruler 61 is placed on the screen of the display unit 21, the content displayed on the screen (in detail, the nautical chart) may be visible through the ruler 61. Moreover, the distance markers may not be printed on the ruler 61, and as illustrated in
Moreover, the ruler 61 is not limited to have the rectangular shape, but may have a different shape. For example, the ruler 61 may have a square plate shape, or may have a shape of which a thickness is uneven. Moreover, a part of the ruler 61 may not have the translucency, as long as the part in which the distance markers 71 are displayed has the translucency.
Inside the ruler 61, two detecting objects 61a may be disposed. The detecting objects 61a may have conductivity and be disposed so as to contact with a back surface of the ruler 61. According to this configuration, the detecting objects 61a may change a capacitance of the detector 22. Note that the detecting objects 61a may change the capacitance of the detector 22 by contacting with the screen via a thin plate etc. (i.e., without directly contacting with the screen). Moreover, the detecting objects 61a may electrically be connected to a front surface of the ruler 61 so that the capacitance of the detector 22 is changed through user's finger etc.
When the ruler 61 is placed on the screen of the display unit 21, the detector 22 may detect the two detecting object 61a. A distance between the two detecting objects 61a (hereinafter, referred to as “inter-detecting-object distance”) may always be constant, and the inter-detecting-object distance (i.e., a layout of the detecting objects 61a) may be stored in the memory 24 in advance. The tool identifying module 53 may determine whether the ruler 61 is placed on the screen of the display unit 21, based on whether touches to two points with a span therebetween matching the inter-detecting-object distance exist. When the two touches with the span therebetween matching the inter-detecting-object distance exist, the position and the orientation of the ruler 61 can be identified.
When the user touches two points using his/her fingers with the span therebetween matching the inter-detecting-object distance, the tool identifying module 53 may misdetect that the ruler 61 is placed on the screen of the display unit 21 even though it is not placed. In order to prevent the misdetection, the tool identifying module 53 may determine that the ruler 61 exists when the two touches with the span therebetween matching the inter-detecting-object distance exist for more than a given period of time. This is because it is hard to suppose that the touches to two points by user's fingers maintain the same distance. Alternatively, in order to further securely prevent the misdetection, the ruler 61 may include three or more detecting objects 61a. In this case, a layout of the three or more detecting objects 61a may be stored in the memory 24. The tool identifying module 53 may determine that the ruler 61 is placed on the screen of the display unit 21 when the layout stored in the memory 24 and the detected touched positions are the same.
Moreover, the detecting objects 61a in this embodiment may self-generate static electricity. Further, if the nautical chart display device 20 operates as a touch panel of an electromagnetic induction type alternative or in addition to the capacitance type, the detecting objects 61a may generate a magnetic field.
Next, processing executed by the processor 25 (the tool identifying module 53 and the tool displaying module 54) is described with reference to the flowchart in
Next, the tool displaying module 54 may acquire the current scale of the nautical chart (Step S103). As illustrated in
Therefore, it is possible to measure the distance by using the distance markers 71 displayed on the screen of the display unit 21. The tool identifying module 53 and the tool displaying module 54 may identify the position and the orientation of the ruler 61 as needed, and when the position or the orientation of the ruler 61 is changed, the position or the orientation of the distance markers 71 may be changed accordingly. Thus, the user can measure the distance of the object that the user wants to measure on the nautical chart, by sliding the ruler 61 to the desired position in the state where the ruler 61 is placed on the screen of the display unit 21.
Moreover, the processor 25 may also acquire the scale of the nautical chart as needed, and when the scale of the nautical chart is changed, the processor 25 may change the values of the distance markers 71. Note that the processor 25 may change not only the values of the distance markers 71 but also intervals between the distance markers 71.
Moreover, the touch operation identifying module 52 may determine whether a drag operation (an operation to draw a line, or a linear touch operation) along the contour of the ruler 61 (the long side of the contour) is performed (Step S105). As described above, since the processor 25 grasps the position of the contour of the ruler 61, it can detect the drag operation along the contour of the ruler 61.
Moreover,
Note that the pointed end of the stylus 62 may self-generate static electricity, or may generate a magnetic field. Moreover, since the stylus 62 of this embodiment can touch only one point, the operation by the stylus 62 and the operation by user's finger cannot be distinguished. However, in a case of adopting the configuration in which the stylus 62 generates the magnetic field, since the operation by the stylus 62 can be distinguished from the operation by user's finger, different processing can be executed between when the operation is performed by the stylus 62 and when the operation is performed by user's finger. For example, when the drag operation is performed by the stylus 62, the length corresponding to the drag operation may be displayed, while when the drag operation is performed by user's finger, the nautical chart may be scrolled. Alternatively, the nautical chart display device 20 may be configured to be switchable of a mode between a normal mode in which the nautical chart is scrolled according to the drag operation, and a distance display mode in which the distance corresponding to the length of the drag operation is displayed according to the drag operation.
Next, processing using another tool, a divider 63, is described with reference to
The divider 63 of this embodiment may include a first leg part 63a and a second leg part 63b, and an angle therebetween may be configured to be changeable, which is the same as the divider for the paper nautical chart. Moreover, the divider 63 of this embodiment may be different from the divider for the paper nautical chart in that pointed ends (ends contacted with the screen of the display unit 21) of the first leg part 63a and the second leg part 63b have conductivity, and the conductivity may have a magnitude which is detectable by the detector 22.
As illustrated in
Alternatively, in a case when the nautical chart display device 20 operates as the touch panel of the electromagnetic induction type in addition to the capacitance type touch panel, a magnetic field may be generated at the pointed ends (the ends contacted with the screen of the display unit 21) of the first leg part 63a and the second leg part 63b so that the instruction by the divider 63 and the touch operation by user's finger can be distinguished. In this case, the divider display box 73 can be displayed without the mode being switched.
As described above, the nautical chart display device 20 of this embodiment may include the display unit 21, the touch operation identifying module 52, the tool identifying module 53, and the tool displaying module 54, and the nautical chart display program may be executed to perform a nautical chart display method of the present disclosure. The display unit 21 may display the nautical chart on the screen. The touch operation identifying module 52 may identify the touch operation to the screen. The tool identifying module 53 may identify the position and the orientation of the ruler 61 placed on the screen. The tool displaying module 54 may display the distance markers 71 according to the scale of the nautical chart on the screen at the position where the ruler 61 is placed, based on the position and the orientation identified by the tool identifying module 53.
Accordingly, since the distance on the nautical chart is displayed only by the ruler 61 being placed on the screen, it is possible to measure the distance in the method easily understandable even for the user who is not used to the measurement of the distance by the touch operation. Particularly, although when the paper nautical chart is used, a calculation of correspondence between the scale of the nautical chart and markers of the ruler is required, in this disclosure, the time and effort for this calculation can be saved since the distance markers 71 corresponding to the scale of the nautical chart are displayed.
In the nautical chart display device 20 of this embodiment, the ruler 61 may have the linear contour. The tool displaying module 54 may display the distance markers 71 on the screen at the position corresponding to the contour of the ruler 61.
Accordingly, the distance markers 71 are easily understandable since they are located at the same position as those of the typical ruler. Further, by the contour of the ruler 61 being matched with the part to be measured by the user, the measurement is possible without the part to be measured being obstructed by the ruler 61.
In the nautical chart display device 20 of this embodiment, when the touch operation identifying module 52 identifies that the linear touch operation along the contour of the ruler 61 is performed in the state where the distance markers 71 are displayed at the position corresponding to the contour of the ruler 61, the tool displaying module 54 may display, on the display unit 21, the distance on the nautical chart corresponding to the linear touch operation.
Accordingly, the distance of the part to be measured on the nautical chart can easily be measured.
In the nautical chart display device 20 of this embodiment, the tool identifying module 53 may identify the operation to the screen by the stylus 62. The tool displaying module 54 may display, on the display unit 21, the distance on the nautical chart corresponding to the linear touch operation (the distance display box 72), when the linear touch operation is performed by the stylus 62.
Accordingly, only by drawing a line using the tools corresponding to the ruler and a pen, the user can measure the length of the line on the nautical chart.
In the nautical chart display device 20 of this embodiment, the ruler 61 may have a rectangular plate shape. The tool displaying module 54 may display the distance markers 71 at the position corresponding to both of the two long sides of the contour.
Accordingly, the user can measure the distance by using either of the two long sides.
In the nautical chart display device 20 of this embodiment, the plurality of detecting objects 61a to be detected may be disposed in a given layout in the ruler 61. The tool identifying module 53 may compare the layout of the detecting objects 61a stored in advance, and the layout of the plurality of the detecting objects 61a of which the positions are detected, to identify the position and the orientation of the ruler 61.
Accordingly, the position and the orientation of the ruler 61 can be identified by the easy processing.
In the nautical chart display device 20 of this embodiment, the tool identifying module 53 may identify the first contact position which is the contact position of the first leg part 63a of the divider 63 with the screen, and the second contact position which is the contact position of the second leg part 63b of the divider 63 with the screen. The tool displaying module 54 may display the direction of the second contact position relative to the first contact position, and the distance from the first contact position to the second contact position.
Accordingly, even when the user is not used to the touch operation, he/she can easily measure the distance between the two points, and the direction.
Although the suitable embodiment of the present disclosure is described above, the above configurations may be changed as follows.
Although the detecting objects 61a are disposed inside the ruler 61 in the embodiment described above, alternatively, a member (e.g., a sheet-like member) on which the detecting objects 61a are disposed in a given layout, may be pasted on a typical ruler so that the ruler can be used similarly to the ruler 61 of the embodiment described above.
The flowchart of
Although the nautical chart display device 20 according to the embodiment described above is disposed so that the screen thereof becomes parallel to the substantially horizontal plane, it may be disposed at a different angle.
Although in the embodiment described above, the present disclosure is applied to the nautical chart display device which mainly displays the electronic nautical chart, the present disclosure can also be applied to a display device capable of displaying, for example, a radar image or an image from a fish finder in addition to the electronic nautical chart.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2017-216943 | Nov 2017 | JP | national |
This application is a continuation-in-part of PCT International Application PCT/JP2018/041582, which was filed on Nov. 9, 2018, and which claims priority to Japanese Patent Application Ser. No. 2017-216943 filed on Nov. 10, 2017, the entire disclosures of each of which are herein incorporated by reference for all purposes.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/JP2018/041582 | Nov 2018 | US |
Child | 16867702 | US |