GB2558382A

GB2558382A - Bite indicator for use by anglers

Info

Publication number: GB2558382A
Application number: GB1717903.7A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Romang Derek
Original assignee: Delkim Products Ltd
Current assignee: Delkim Products Ltd
Priority date: 2016-11-02
Filing date: 2017-10-31
Publication date: 2018-07-11
Anticipated expiration: 2037-10-31
Also published as: GB201717903D0; GB2558382B; GB201618469D0

Abstract

A bite indicator is disclosed having a housing comprising a support for a fishing rod, a line movement sensor 10 for sensing movement of a line of the fishing rod, and a processing circuit connected to the line movement sensor and operative to generate a first control signal for communication to a sound emitter 20 to emit a first audible alarm indicative of line movement. In the invention, the housing further incorporates a MEMS acceleration sensor 40 for sensing movement of the housing and the processing circuit is further connected to the acceleration sensor 40 and is operative to generate a second control signal for communication to the sound emitter 20 to emit a second audible alarm distinguishable from the first audible alarm.

Description

(71) Applicant(s):

Delkim Products Limited (Incorporated in the United Kingdom)

PO Box 270, BEDFORD, MK43 7DZ, United Kingdom (51) INT CL:

A01K 97/12 (2006.01) (56) Documents Cited:

GB 2499420 A GB 2313281 A GB 2181932 A FR 002786662 A1 US 20030062999 A1 (58) Field of Search:

INT CL A01K, G08B Other: WPI EPODOC

G08B 13/00 (2006.01)

GB 2430734 A GB 2287338 A WO 2009/140957 A1 NL 001027070 C2 (72) Inventor(s):

Derek Romang (74) Agent and/or Address for Service:

Harrison IP Limited

Ebor House, Millfield Lane, Nether Poppleton, YORK, YO26 6QY, United Kingdom (54) Title of the Invention: Bite indicator for use by anglers

Abstract Title: Bite Indicator and Theft Alarm for use by Anglers (57) A bite indicator is disclosed having a housing comprising a support for a fishing rod, a line movement sensor 10 for sensing movement of a line of the fishing rod, and a processing circuit connected to the line movement sensor and operative to generate a first control signal for communication to a sound emitter 20 to emit a first audible alarm indicative of line movement. In the invention, the housing further incorporates a MEMS acceleration sensor 40 for sensing movement of the housing and the processing circuit is further connected to the acceleration sensor 40 and is operative to generate a second control signal for communication to the sound emitter 20 to emit a second audible alarm distinguishable from the first audible alarm.

1/1

Sensitivity

Control

Line Movement Sensor

Tone PRE & Volume Controls

Discriminator 5

Bite Alarm Signal Generator T

26	Main Power Supply Battery⁷

IS20

Light

Emitter

Sound

Emitter

Radio T_x/Rx System

TT

44'

42'

Theft Alarm Signal Generator

Discriminator

MEMS Inertial Measurement Unit

48'

Hold-on

Relay *

Auxiliary

Power

Supply

Battery

BITE INDICATOR FOR USE BY ANGLERS

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a bite indicator that acts to sense when a fish takes the bait on a fishing line.

Background of the invention

In certain types of fishing, especially when fishing for carp, it is common for anglers to leave a rod resting on a bite indicator and to move away from the rod and the water. Often, the angler will set up a bivvy and a bed chair at some distance from the rod and wait for a fish to take the bait on the fishing line. When line movement, or in the case of some bite indicators a change in line tension, is sensed, the bite indicator emits alarm signals to alert the angler .

The housing of the bite indicator on which the rod rests commonly emits the audible and visible alarm signals but they may go unnoticed if the angler is not in the vicinity of the fishing rod. Bite indicators are therefore also known that send a radio signal to a remote unit or handset that is held or placed near the angler, the remote unit reproducing the alarm signal to alert the angler of the activity taking place on the fishing line.

Because the angler is at some distance from the fishing rod, and may on some occasions fall asleep, there is a danger of the rod and the bite indicator being stolen.

Summary of the invention

To mitigate the above problem, the present invention provides a bite indicator having a housing comprising a support for a fishing rod, a line movement sensor for sensing movement of a line of the fishing rod, and a processing circuit connected to the line movement sensor and operative to generate a first control signal for communication to a sound emitter to emit a first audible alarm indicative of line movement, characterised in that the housing further incorporates a MEMS acceleration sensor for sensing movement of the housing and the processing circuit is further connected to the acceleration sensor and is operative to generate a second control signal for communication to the sound emitter to emit a second audible alarm distinguishable from the first audible alarm.

In some embodiments, the MEMS sensor may be a threeaxis sensor.

As taught for example in US2003/0062999, three-axis acceleration sensors have been used to used to detect theft of a wide variety of objects. However, they have not been considered for use in bite alarms, because bite alarms already comprise a line movement sensor that can double as an anti-theft alarm, it being possible to configure the line movement sensor to be triggered during any attempt to steal the bite alarm itself. However, thieves did find ways, which will not be disclosed herein, of circumventing previous attempts to prevent theft.

The present invention recognises that the addition of effective anti-theft measures does not add unacceptably to the cost of the alarm because it only entails the addition of an inexpensive sensor; all the other components of the anti-theft alarm, namely the processing circuit and the sound emitter, are already present in the line movement sensor .

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the MEMS sensor may be an inertial measurement unit that is further sensitive to the rate of rotation of the housing about three orthogonal axes .

MEMS inertial measurement units (IMU's) are available that not only comprise three-axis accelerometers but also act effectively as a gyroscope, being capable of determining rates of rotation in space, i.e. roll, pitch and yaw. An example of a suitable MEMS sensor is an inertial measurement unit, Model BMI160, available from Bosch Sensortec.

IMU's have not previous been proposed for use in theft alarms. The intended use for IMU's, according to their manufacturer, is in augmented reality and immersive gaming, 3D-scanning and indoor mapping, indoor navigation, pedestrian dead-reckoning, step-counting, 6-axis and 9-axis sensor fusion, air mouse applications optical image stabilization.

The use of an IMU provides significantly more reliable indication of tampering with the housing, as the data from rate of rotation can be used to reduce the risk of false alarms that can result from, for example, gusts of wind.

In some embodiments of the invention, a comparator serves to determine when the output of the MEMS sensor exceeds a preset threshold. Once movement is detected, the output of the sensor is continuously sampled and filtered to distinguish between normal rod movements and unauthorised movements, thus preventing false alarms.

The filtering algorithm looks for patterns of acceleration and rate of rotation over time which would not be typical of normal rod movement during usage, bite detection and bite handling. A time decaying data set is constructed, adding time qualified movement data, and subtracting any no movement intervals. Adequate acceleration data will have been collected if certain conditions are met repeatedly within a programmed time interval, and for a given time period, only then will an alarm condition be set.

When movement has been detected and filtering has determined that an alarm condition has been met, the system constructs an alarm message packet and then, in some embodiments, transmits multiple times via a 433Mhz radio system to the remote unit.

The advantage of using a MEMS sensor is that it draws a very low quiescent current. The sampling rate is also selected to maintain a low data rate in order to minimise power consumption.

Brief description of the drawing

The invention will now be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a block diagram of an anti-theft alarm incorporated into a bite indicator that communicates over a radio link with a remote unit.

Detailed description of the drawing

The single figure is block diagram of the inner workings of a bite indicator. As is conventional, the bite indicator comprises a housing that in use is mounted on a bank stick, the components shown in the drawing being mounted within the housing. The upper end of the housing has a V-shaped rod support and a sensor at the bottom of the support to make contact with the fishing line of the rod.

The line movement sensor, designated 10 in the drawing, may comprise a pulley that rotates as the line moves and a shaft encoder may generate an electrical output signal indicative of rotation of the pulley. Alternatively, the sensor may comprise a stylus connected to a piezoelectric crystal that vibrates when the line moves and causes the crystal to produce an electrical output signal.

The electrical output signal of the sensor 10 is applied to a discriminator 12 the purpose of which is to distinguish between line movements likely to have resulted from a fish taking the bait on the fishing line and spurious signals that might be caused by a variety of causes, such as wind or current.

The discriminator 12 may comprise a comparator that serves to determine when the output of the line movement sensor 10 exceeds a preset threshold. The discriminator 12 may for example require more than a single pulse to occur and be sensitive to the time lapse between pulses. The discriminator is connected to a sensitivity control 15 that allows the angler to set a level that optimises sensitivity while reducing the rate of false alarms.

Once a line movement has been sensed by the sensor 10 and been analysed by the discriminator 12 to ascertain that the angler should be alerted to the detected line movement, a signal is applied to a signal generator 14 which then powers a light emitter 18, such as an LED, a sound emitter 20 and a radio transmitter 22. The signal generator 14 is connected to various controls 16 that allow the angler to set the volume (i.e. loudness) and the tone (i.e. pitch) of the emitted sound, as well as the pulse repetition frequency of both the light and the sound signals. The signals used to activate the light and sound emitters 18 and 20 are also transmitted by a 433 MHz radio system 22 so that they may be reproduced at a remote location, if, for example, the angler sets up a bivvy at some distance from the location of the fishing rods.

The electrical power required by the various components described above is derived from a main battery 24 by way of a main ON/OFF switch 26.

As so far described, the bite indicator is conventional and for this reason it is not deemed necessary to describe its construction and its operation in greater detail. A problem with bite indicators is that they are quite costly and it has been known for them to be stolen while in use. As earlier mentioned, an angler may often be situated at some distance from the fishing rods and may even sleep while waiting for fish to take the bait. If the sensitivity to line movement is high, any attempt to move the fishing rods is likely to raise an alarm but if the would-be thief switches off the bite indicator using the switch 26, that would not occur.

It is known for the bite indicator to transmit a signal to a signal to a remote receiver if the ON/OFF button is opened, so that a theft alarm sound may be emitted by the remote receiver. For this purpose, a hold-on relay 46, and an auxiliary power supply battery 48 (the latter could be replaced by a large capacitor), are shown in the drawing, which serve to power the radio transmitter 22 after switch 26 has been opened, for a time sufficient for the transmitter 22 to transmit a signal to the remote receiver. Despite this measure, thieves have been able to steal bite indicators by moving them while they are left switched on.

To safeguard against theft, the housing of a bite indicator of the illustrated embodiment of the present invention incorporates a MEMS inertial measurement unit 40, such as a Bosch Sensortec Model BMI160. Such a unit will respond to an acceleration in any one of three mutually orthogonal axes and can also act as a gyroscope to sense the rate of rotation of the bite alarm housing about three orthogonal axes (roll, pitch and yaw). Such units are to be found, for example, in devices that act as an air mouse and their sensitivity is such that they can determine any change of inclination of the device.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, such a device is used to detect movement of the housing of the bite indicator. The output signal of the MEMS sensor 40 is applied to a discriminator 42 which serves to analyse the output of the MEMS sensor 40 in order to avoid false alarms.

The discriminator includes a comparator which serves to determine when the output of the MEMS sensor 40 exceeds a preset threshold. Once movement is detected, the output of the sensor is continuously sampled and filtered to distinguish between normal rod movements and unauthorised movements .

The filtering algorithm looks for patterns of acceleration and rate of rotation which would not be typical of rod movement during normal usage. A time decaying data set is then constructed, adding time qualified movement data, and subtracting no movement intervals. If the conditions are met repeatedly within a programmed time interval and over a given time period adequate acceleration and rotation data has been collected, then and only then will an alarm condition be set.

When movement has been detected and filtering has determined that an alarm condition has been met, the system constructs an alarm message packet and then transmits multiple times via the radio system 22 to the remote unit.

The advantage of using a MEMS acceleration sensor or inertial measurement unit is that it draws a very low quiescent current. The sampling rate is also selected to maintain a low data rate in order to minimise power consumption.

- 8 The output of the discriminator 42 thus activates a signal generator 44 which produces signals to activate the light emitter 18, the sound emitter 20 and the 433 MHz radio system 22. Consequently, any attempt to move the bite indicator housing will result in an alarm signal being produced by the remote unit receiving the radio signal of the radio system 22 and optionally by the sound emitter 20 within the housing.

The alarm sound indicative of theft is audibly distinguishable from the one indicative of line movement.

The latter will normally comprise a series of beeps of fixed pitch, the repetition frequency of the beeps being indicative of the speed of line movement. By contrast the theft alarm sound may be an alternating pitch (resembling an emergency vehicle siren) and its volume may be set permanently to the maximum level, to ensure that it is never ignored by the angler.

The theft alarm is disabled if the bite indicator is powered off using the switch 26. For this reason, it is important to ensure, in the manner describe above, that an alarm sound is emitted at least by the remote receiver, whenever the switch 26 is opened.

In many radio-equipped bite indicators, the radio system 22 is a transmit-receive (Tx/Rx) unit. In such a system, the angler is able to set remotely such parameters as the sensitivity and sound output volume. It is desirable to provide a connection between the Tx/Rx unit so that a received encoded radio signal may be used to reset the holdon relay 46 and thereby disable the anti-theft circuitry. In this way, the angler may disable the anti-theft alarm without having to make physical contact with the unit and without causing an theft alarm sound to be emitted.

It will be apparent to the person skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to the described embodiment without departing from the scope of the invention as set out in the appended claims. For example, while, for convenience, two separate signal generators 14 and 44 have been described for producing bite alarm and theft alarm signals, in practice the same signal generator can be used to produce both signals though the signals may differ from one another.

As an alternative to switching the theft alarm on and off using a radio signal transmitted from the remote unit, non-contact operation of the anti-theft alarm may be achieved using infra-red radiation or using Bluetooth® technology. In the latter case, the bite indicator may be paired with a smart phone and may be controlled by a suitably programmed app.

Claims

1. A bite indicator having a housing comprising a support for a fishing rod, a line movement sensor for sensing movement of a line of the fishing rod, and a processing circuit connected to the line movement sensor and operative to generate a first control signal for communication to a sound emitter to emit a first audible alarm indicative of line movement, characterised in that the housing further incorporates a MEMS acceleration sensor for sensing movement of the housing and the processing circuit is further connected the acceleration sensor and is operative to generate a second control signal for communication to the sound emitter to emit a second audible alarm distinguishable from the first audible alarm.

2 . A bite alarm as claimed in claim 1, wherein the MEMS sensor is a three- -axis sensor •

3. A bite alarm as claimed in claim 2, wherein MEMS

sensor is an inertial measurement unit that is further sensitive to the rate of rotation of the housing about three orthogonal axes .

4. A bite indicator as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the processing circuit includes a discriminator comprising a comparator operative to determine when the output of the MEMS sensor exceeds a preset threshold in response to a linear acceleration or an angular rotation .

5. A bite indicator as claimed in claim 4 the discriminator further comprises sampling and filtering circuitry to distinguish between normal rod movements and unauthorised movements, thus preventing false alarms.

- 11

6. A bite indicator as claimed in claim 3, wherein the filtering circuitry is operative to analyse time variations of acceleration and rotation, to detect patterns that would not be typical of normal rod movement during usage and to set an alarm condition only when such patterns are encountered repeatedly within a programmed time interval.

7. A bite indicator as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the sound emitter is mounted within the housing and the first and second alarm signal are communicated to the sound emitter by means of a wired electrical connection.

8. A bite indicator as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the sound emitter, or a second sound emitter is mounted remotely from the housing, and wherein the first and second alarm signal are communicated to the, or the second, sound emitter by means of a wireless communication link.

9. A bite indicator as claimed in claimed 8, wherein the wireless communication links is a two-way radio system and wherein supply of power to the MEMS sensor and discriminator is capable of being switched off and on by means of a radio signal received via the radio system.

10. A bite indicator as claimed in claim 9, wherein the bite indicator comprises a main battery for powering the line movement sensor and an ON/OFF switch and wherein a transmitter of the radio system mounted in the housing is operative to send a signal to a remove receiver of the radio system whenever the ON/OFF switch is opened.

Intellectual

Property

Office

Application No: GB1717903.7 Examiner: Mr Tom Harris