JP2002006038A - Fishfinder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fishfinder whose structure is simple and compact and which can be used simply and easily for surf-fishing or the like. SOLUTION: A display screen 3 which is attached to a fishing line 10 guided by a guide rod 30, which radiates ultrasonic waves into water and which displays an underwater image on the basis of a received wave signal from an ultrasonic transducer 15 capturing their reflected waves is arranged and installed at a finder body 1. An automatic mode key 12 which automatically senses underwater information continuously or in every prescribed time and by which the underwater information on a sensing position is displayed sequentially in the longitudinal pixel row of the display screen 3 is arranged and installed at the finder body 1. As a result, when the ultrasonic transducer 15 attached to the fishing line is moved in the water via the movement operation or the like of the guide rod 30, underwater information on the lower part of the ultrasonic transducer 15 can be sensed. When the key 12 is pressed, the underwater image which agrees with the scanning direction of the ultrasonic transducer 15 can be automatically displayed on the display screen 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fish finder which is compact and easy to use.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There have been proposed various fish school detectors which detect underwater information using an ultrasonic transducer or the like, display a sea bottom image on a display screen, and can be used for searching for a school of fish or sea bottom topography. By the way, in the conventional fish finder, the horizontal axis of the display screen indicates time, and the vertical axis indicates depth, and the underwater information that changes with time as the ship sails is displayed on the display screen.

[0003]

On the other hand, in the above-mentioned conventional fish finder, information is displayed on a display screen in accordance with a time change accompanying the navigation of a ship.
It is used exclusively for ships and cannot be used for surf fishing or the like that does not use ships, and a fish finder that can be used in any fishing form has been demanded. An object of the present invention is to provide a fish finder that is compact and can be used easily.

[0004]

According to the present invention, there is provided an ultrasonic transducer which is attached to a yarn guided by a guide rod, emits ultrasonic waves into water, and captures reflected waves of the ultrasonic waves. A control screen including a central control device, a storage device, and the like, and a display screen for displaying an underwater image based on a received signal from the ultrasonic transducer;
An automatic mode key for selecting an automatic mode in which the underwater information is automatically detected every predetermined time and the underwater information of the detected position is sequentially displayed in the vertical pixel row of the display screen with time. A detector main body fixed to a hand portion of a guide rod provided, and a signal transmitted by a wired or wireless device for transmitting a received signal from the ultrasonic transducer to the detector main body. It is a unique fish finder. Here, the ultrasonic transducer includes a configuration in which the transducer and the receiver are physically separated.

[0005] In this configuration, the yarn may be constituted by a signal line for transmitting a wave reception signal from the ultrasonic wave transducer to the detector main body.

In such a configuration, the ultrasonic transducer mounted on the yarn is moved underwater through the operation of moving a guide rod, etc., thereby detecting underwater information below the ultrasonic transducer. be able to. In this case, when the automatic mode key is selected, the latest underwater information is sequentially displayed in the vertical pixel row at the end of the display screen as time changes, and scrolling is sequentially performed in one direction. As a result, the seafloor image that changes with time is drawn on the display screen in a vertical cross section.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the fish finder of the present invention includes a detector main body 1, an ultrasonic transducer 15 and the like.

In the main body 1 of the detector, a central control unit CPU and the like shown in FIG. 4 are housed in a main body case 20 fixed to a hand portion 31 of a guide rod 30. 5, the display device 2, a power switch 7, a pickup operation key 8, and a direction designation key 9
Operation keys such as a, 9b, and an automatic mode key 12 are provided.

Further, the main body case 20 is provided with a winding path 22 whose outer peripheral portion is depressed into a concave groove along the circumferential direction. The winding path 22 has a predetermined length of the yarn 10. So that the yarn 10 can be wound up when not in use. The thread 10 is connected to the detector main body 1 and the ultrasonic transducer 1
5 and the detector main body 1 and the ultrasonic transducer 15
And a signal line that electrically connects the two.
Thus, a signal transmission unit that transmits the received signal from the ultrasonic transducer 15 to the detector main body 1 by wire is configured.

The guide rod 30 has the same basic configuration as a known telescopic fishing rod, and in a stretched state, a plurality of loop-shaped guide rings 1 arranged at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction.
The thread 10 can be extended along the guide rod 30 through the guide action of the loop-shaped guide ring 13 by inserting the thread 10 through the loop-shaped guide ring 13. I have.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, a float 11 is attached near the tip of the yarn 10, and the float 11 is used to suspend the ultrasonic transducer 15 underwater.

The ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 15 has a known structure such as a piezoelectric ultrasonic transmitter / receiver. The ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 15 transmits an ultrasonic wave from a lower radiation surface toward the sea floor, and transmits the ultrasonic wave to the sea floor. Capture the reflected wave. That is, the ultrasonic transducer 15 emits a pulsed ultrasonic wave to the sea floor, receives the reflected wave, and detects the underwater depth of a reflecting object such as a fish shadow or the sea floor based on the time difference.

A received signal generated by the captured reflected wave is transmitted from the ultrasonic wave transmitter / receiver 15 to the detector main body 1 via the thread 10 as a signal line, and based on the received signal. The required underwater data processing is performed, and the processed underwater information is displayed on a display screen 3 to be described later via the image forming unit. This image forming means is, as shown in FIG.
U and its peripheral devices.

That is, the display device 2 is connected to the central control unit CPU via the display RAM and the display control unit, and the central control unit CPU and the display RA are connected.
An image forming unit is constituted by M and the display control unit.

A transmission / reception circuit and the above-described ultrasonic transducer 15 are connected to the central control unit CPU. Further, the power switch 7, the pickup operation key 8, the direction designation keys 9a and 9b, the automatic mode key 12 according to the present invention, and the like are connected to the central control device CPU as key input devices. Further, a control program ROM and an arithmetic control RAM are connected. A control circuit is configured by the central control unit CPU, the storage device, and the like.

The display device 2 has a rectangular display screen 3 as shown in FIG. The display screen 3 is configured by arranging a plurality of vertical pixel rows 4 each composed of a number of segments arranged in a line in the vertical direction in the horizontal width direction. Underwater information from the container 15 is written. Also,
On the right end of the display screen 3, a depth scale 5 that forms a number with seven segments is displayed. Further, direction designation keys 9a, 9 are provided at predetermined positions on the upper edge of the display screen 3.
A predetermined mode pattern 6 including a boat shadow, left and right arrows, and the like corresponding to the operation mode switched by b and the automatic mode key 12 is displayed, and each mode can be confirmed.
In FIGS. 5 and 6, the segments when not displayed are outlined in white to show the arrangement relationship of the segments constituting the display screen 3, but cannot be visually recognized on the actual display screen 3. It has become.

Next, the operation of each operation key and the display mode of the display screen 3 will be described with reference to FIGS.

The direction designation keys 9a and 9b are keys for designating the display direction of the underwater information displayed on each vertical pixel row 4 on the display screen 3. When the direction designation key 9a is pressed, the left end of the display screen 3 is displayed. The underwater information is displayed in each vertical pixel row 4 in order from right to left, and a direction designation key 9
When b is pressed, underwater information is displayed on each vertical pixel row 4 in order from the right end of the display screen 3 to the left. Also,
When one of the direction designating keys 9a and 9b is pressed, a mode symbol 6 composed of either left or right arrow pointing to the corresponding display direction is displayed on the upper edge of the display screen 3 as shown in FIGS. , And enters the manual mode.

When the pick-up operation key 8 is pressed in the manual mode, a few pulses of ultrasonic waves are radiated from the ultrasonic transducer 15 to the sea bottom for each pressing operation, and the reflected waves are transmitted to the receiving signal. Is detected as Then, based on the received signal, the seabed, fish shadows, and the like are plotted at pixels at a predetermined height position in the vertical pixel row 4 corresponding to the depth indicated by the depth scale 5, and each vertical pixel row is plotted. Underwater information is displayed every four. The display of the underwater information is maintained in the vertical pixel row 4 by the storage holding function of the display RAM.
The numerical value displayed on the depth scale 5 is automatically set by the arithmetic means in the central control unit CPU so that the depth of the sea bottom falls within the vertical pixel row 4 corresponding to the depth from the water surface to the sea floor. You. Thereby, the pickup operation key 8
By repeatedly pressing, the direction designation keys 9a, 9b
The seabed, fish shadows, etc. are sequentially plotted on each vertical pixel row 4 along the display direction designated by, and as shown in FIGS. The image is drawn in a vertical section.

Therefore, the user operates the direction designation keys 9a, 9
b, the display direction on the display screen 3 is designated, and the ultrasonic transducer 15 attached to the thread 10 is moved underwater for a predetermined distance (for example, by moving the guide rod 30 left or right along the display direction). By moving the pickup operation key 8 by 1 m) at a time, the underwater information detected for each predetermined distance can be continuously displayed on the display screen 3 in accordance with the scanning direction.

When scanning in the front-rear direction is performed instead of the scanning in the left-right direction as described above, the ultrasonic transducer 15
By throwing the line 10 by a predetermined distance (for example, 1 m) by a predetermined distance (for example, 1 m) and pressing the pickup operation key 8, the underwater information detected for each predetermined distance is continuously displayed on the display screen 3. Can be displayed. In this case, the display screen 3 is displayed along the display direction designated by the direction designation keys 9a and 9b.
Underwater information at each detection position is displayed in order from the underwater information at the detection position farthest from the user.

When the number of plots in the width direction of the display screen 3 reaches the limit during the scanning in the left-right direction or the front-back direction as described above, the entire image scrolls in the width direction, and the underwater information is continuously displayed. Is displayed. That is, when the number of plots reaches the limit, each time the pickup operation key 8 is pressed, the oldest information at the start end position in the display direction designated by the direction designation keys 9a and 9b disappears, and the image is displayed. The whole moves toward the start end, and at the same time, new information is added to the end position in the display direction. This allows
The entire image scrolls in the width direction, and new information is always displayed.

The image control on the display screen 3 is performed by the central control unit CPU, image forming means comprising a display RAM and a display control unit.

On the other hand, the automatic mode key 12 is an essential part of the present invention, and automatically replaces the underwater information continuously or every predetermined time (for example, every several seconds) instead of pressing the pickup operation key 8. When the automatic mode key 12 is pressed, the latest underwater information is sequentially displayed in the vertical pixel array 4 at the right end of the display screen 3 with time, and the scroll is sequentially scrolled to the left as it is. As a result, a seafloor image that changes with time is drawn on the display screen 3 in a vertical cross section. In addition, at the upper right end of the display screen 3, as shown in FIG. 5, a mode symbol 6 composed of a boat shadow is displayed to indicate that the mode is the automatic mode.

In such a configuration, at the time of use, the telescopic guide rod 30 is extended and the main body case 20 is extended.
Yarn 10 as a signal line wound around the winding path 22
Is removed by a required length, and is extended from the tip of the guide rod 30. This allows the use of a fish finder as described above. After use, the guide rod 30 can be reduced and stored in the winding path 22 of the main body case 20 by winding the thread 10 through a manual winding operation. Here, since the winding path 22 for the yarn 10 is formed on the outer peripheral portion of the main body case 20, a mechanical winding means such as a reel driving device for rewinding the yarn 10 is unnecessary, and the structure is reduced. It is simple and compact.

In the above-described embodiment, the transmission of the received signal from the ultrasonic transducer 15 to the detector main body 1 requires
Although a wired signal transmission unit using a signal line is employed, a wireless signal transmission unit using a transmitter may be employed instead.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a configuration applied to such a wireless signal transmitting means. The tip of a thread 10 is connected to an annular float 11 and is inserted into a support hole 12 formed at the center of the float 11. , The transmitting device 16 is fixed.
Here, the thread 10 simply connects the transmitting device 16 to the detector main body 1. And this oscillation device 1
An ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 15 is provided at the lower part of the antenna 6 and a radio transmitter 14 is built in the upper part, and an antenna 17 is provided to protrude upward. In addition, through the support hole 12,
By extending the fishing line, you can enjoy fishing while detecting information in the water.

A received signal detected by the ultrasonic transducer 15 is transmitted to a radio transmitter 14 built in a transmitter 16.
Is transmitted from the antenna 17 to a receiver (not shown) provided in the detector main body 1, and based on the received signal, required data processing is performed in the same manner as in the above embodiment, and this data processing is performed. Underwater information on display screen 3
Is displayed.

In this configuration, the transmitting device 16
The oscillation device 16 having a floating action may be formed by integrally forming the float 11.

Further, in the above embodiment, the depth value displayed on the depth scale 5 of the display screen 3 is set so that the seabed falls within the vertical pixel row 4 corresponding to the depth from the water surface to the seabed. Although the setting is automatically made by the calculation means in the central control unit CPU, it is also possible to use a selection switch or the like so that the depth value can be enlarged or reduced, or only a specific depth region can be displayed. Thus, by setting the optimum depth value on the display screen 3 and displaying the underwater information corresponding to the depth, there is an advantage that the information can be displayed in an easily viewable manner.

In the above embodiment, the present invention is used as a fish finder. However, the present invention can be easily used in underwater exploration equipment for detecting the depth of the seabed, topography and the like. Yes, and the detector body 1
By making it detachable, it is easy to retrofit it onto a commercially available rod.

Further, in the above embodiment, a device for automatically storing the searched underwater information may be built in, and the underwater information may be reconfirmed on the display screen 3. As the storage means, the above-described display RAM may be used, or an external storage device such as a floppy disk or a hard disk may be used.

[0033]

According to the fish finder of the present invention, as described above,
A display screen that is attached to a thread guided by a guide rod, emits ultrasonic waves into water, and displays an underwater image based on a received signal from an ultrasonic transducer that captures the reflected waves, An automatic mode key for selecting an automatic mode for automatically detecting underwater information at predetermined time intervals, and with time, displaying underwater information of a detected position in a vertical pixel row on the display screen. Is provided in the detector main body, and the detector main body is fixed to the hand of the guide rod, so that the ultrasonic transducer attached to the thread can be moved underwater through the operation of moving the guide rod. By moving, the underwater information below the ultrasonic transducer can be detected, and when the automatic mode is selected by the automatic mode key, the vertical pixel row at the end of the display screen is changed with time. The latest underwater information is displayed sequentially and scrolls in one direction as it is, so that the sea floor image that changes over time is automatically drawn in a vertical section on the display screen, making it easy to use It is possible to provide a fish finder that can be used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a fish finder according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the detector main body 1. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of an ultrasonic transducer 15 suspended underwater by a float 11;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of an operation display surface 21 of the detector main body 1;

6 is a plan view showing a display mode of a display screen 3. FIG.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a transmitting device 16 applied to wireless signal transmission means.

[Description of Signs] 1 Detector main body 3 Display screen 4 Vertical pixel row 9a, 9b Direction designation key 10 Thread (signal line) 12 Automatic mode key 15 Ultrasonic transducer 20 Main body case 21 Operation display surface 22 Winding path 30 Guide rod

Claims (1)

[Claims] An ultrasonic transmitter / receiver attached to a yarn guided by a guide rod, radiating ultrasonic waves into water and capturing reflected waves thereof, and a central control device, a storage device, and the like in a main body case. A control screen is stored, and a display screen that displays an underwater image based on a received signal from the ultrasonic transducer,
Automatic mode for continuously or automatically detecting underwater information at predetermined time intervals, and selecting an automatic mode for sequentially displaying underwater information of a detected position in a vertical pixel row on the display screen with time change. A detector main body fixed to a hand portion of the guide rod including a key; and a wired or wireless signal transmission unit that transmits a received signal from the ultrasonic transducer to the detector main body. A fish finder characterized by the following.