JP2008224501A - Fish finder, and measurement information display method of fish finder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fish finder for easily correlating past echo information with the position of one's own ship. <P>SOLUTION: Control is performed so that the echo information at the time specified by a measurement information specifying means 26 is positioned on a previously defined reference line in a window 28 for echo display. Control is performed so that the position of one's own ship at which echo information specified by the measurement information specifying means 26 is measured is positioned on a previously defined origin in a window 27 for track display on a track image 29 displayed on the window 27 for track display. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a fish finder that simultaneously displays measured echo wave information and own ship position information on a display screen.

  Fish detectors that transmit ultrasonic waves and detect a school of fish by their echo waves are well known. Recent fish finders have built-in ship position detection devices such as GPS so that the ship position information and echo wave information can be displayed simultaneously in separate windows on the display screen of the image display. (For example, Patent Document 1).

  In addition, with recent fish finders, as the capacity of storage devices has increased and the cost has been reduced, it has become possible to store a large amount of measured information such as measured ship position and echo wave information. There has been proposed a model capable of examining suitable fish points by displaying past measurement information on the display screen.

  One display mode of past measurement information in a conventional fish finder is shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, a wake display window 27a and an echo wave display window 28a are displayed side by side on the rectangular display screen 10a. In the upper track display window 27a, a track image 29a including a surrounding map and a track line 35a indicating the track is displayed. In the lower echo wave display window 28a, an echo wave image 30a in which visualized echo wave information is arranged in the order measured along the width direction of the window 28a is displayed. In the echo image 30a, newer echo information is displayed on the right side, and older echo information is displayed on the left side. The vertical axis indicates the water depth reflected by the transmitted ultrasonic wave, and the intensity of the received echo wave is represented by color and shade. In the echo wave image 30a, the echo wave continuously displayed in the width direction is a water bottom echo 38a reflected from the bottom of the water, and the echo wave displayed in a lump above the water bottom echo 38a is a fish echo reflected from the fish school. 37a.

  In addition, event marks 40 and 41 are displayed in the wake image 29a and the echo wave image 30a. The event marks 40 and 41 are used to mark the ship position and echo wave information at a certain point in the past, and the ship position at one point in the wake image 29a or the echo wave at one point in the echo image 30a. When the operator designates information, event marks 40 and 41 are input at corresponding positions in the wake image 29a and the echo wave image 30a. In FIG. 5, the event marks 40 and 41 of the wake image 29a and the echo image 30a are composed of line segments with alphabets, and the operator associates the echo information with the measurement position (own ship position) of the echo information. The corresponding alphabets are attached to the corresponding event marks 40 and 41 so that they can be attached.

JP-A-5-223934

  As described above, in the conventional fish finder, the echo information and the measurement position of the echo information are associated with each other by the event marks 40 and 41 input to the wake image 29a and the echo image 30a. When the number of event marks 40 and 41 increased, there is a problem that it is difficult to find the corresponding event marks 40 and 41. Further, since the length of the wake line 35a displayed in the wake display window 27a and the amount of echo wave information displayed in the echo wave display window 28a vary depending on the window size and the scale of the image, the wake being displayed. The event marks 40 and 41 of the image 29a and the echo wave image 30a do not necessarily correspond one-to-one, and the echo wave information may not be associated with the measurement position. Specifically, the event mark 40 with “g”, “h”, “i” in the track image 29a in FIG. 5 cannot be associated with the echo wave image 30a.

  The present invention is an attempt to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a fish finder in which past echo wave information and the ship position can be easily associated.

  The present invention relates to an image display provided with a display screen, measurement information storage means for storing measured echo wave information and own ship position information in association with measurement time, and map information storage means for storing map information. Based on the map information stored in the map information storage means and the own ship position information stored in the measurement information storage means, image data for showing a wake on the map is created, and the image data Based on the wake display window on the display screen, and generates image data for displaying the echo information stored in the measurement information storage means in order of measurement, and based on the image data An image display control means for controlling the wave image to be displayed in the echo wave display window of the display screen, and for designating the point-time echo wave information stored in the measurement information storage means The display control means includes an echo wave display in an echo wave image in which the echo wave information at the time point designated by the measurement information designation means is displayed in the echo wave display window. And the position of the ship when the echo information specified by the measurement information specifying means is measured is displayed in the track display window. It is a fish finder characterized by controlling so that it may be located in the origin specified beforehand in the track display window in the track image to be performed.

  According to such a configuration, when the wake display window and the echo display window are displayed on the display screen, the echo information at the time point designated by the operator is displayed on the reference line of the echo display window, and The own ship position at the time of measurement of the echo wave information is displayed at the origin of the wake display window. In addition, if the operator designates echo wave information at another time point, the wake image and the echo wave image on the display screen are updated, and the echo wave information and the ship position at that time point are the reference line of the echo wave display window. Are displayed at the origin of the wake display window. For this reason, in the fish finder of the present invention, the operator can easily associate the echo wave information with the own ship position where the echo wave is measured by specifying the echo wave information at an arbitrary time point. In particular, in this configuration, since it is possible to associate the echo information and the ship position without inputting an event mark in the echo image or wake image, there is no need to input an event mark. There is no need to search for a corresponding event mark from a large number of event marks input to the wake image.

  The display control means according to the present invention is preferably controlled to display an index indicating the origin of the wake display window and the position of the reference line of the echo wave display window on the display screen. With this configuration, the operator can clearly see the origin of the wake display window and the position of the reference line of the echo display window.

  In the present invention, the echo wave information is stored in association with the measurement time, and indirectly associated with the own ship position information. For this reason, the measurement information designation | designated means based on this invention can be implement | achieved by various aspects. For example, the structure which designates the echo information measured at the said time by inputting the past time can be considered. Further, a configuration is also conceivable in which, by a predetermined operation, echo wave information measured in the past or future for a predetermined time is specified rather than the echo wave information being currently designated. In addition, a configuration is also conceivable in which the echo wave information displayed in the echo wave display window is designated by a pointing device or the like. Furthermore, the structure which designates the echo wave information measured in this ship position indirectly by designating the past ship position in the track display window with a pointing device etc. is also considered.

  The origin of the wake display window can be freely set such as the center or corner of the window, but is preferably set at the center of the wake display window. This is because the ship's position at the specified time can be best understood. The origin position may be set and changed by the operator.

  It is desirable that the reference line of the echo wave display window passes through the center of the window. This is because the echo information measured before and after the specified echo information can be preferably grasped. The position of the reference line may be set by an operator.

  Moreover, in the fish finder of the present invention, the display control means displays image data for indicating which range of the total echo information stored in the measurement information storage means is displayed in the echo wave display window. A configuration is proposed which is generated and controlled to be displayed as an echo wave display range image on the display screen. According to such a configuration, the operator can grasp at a glance which range of the total echo information stored in the measurement information storage means is displayed in the echo display window.

  Another aspect of the present invention is to create image data for indicating a wake on a map based on own ship position information stored in association with the measurement time and map information, and based on the image data The wake image is displayed on the wake display window of the display screen, and the image data for displaying the echo information stored in association with the measurement time in order of measurement is generated, and the echo image based on the image data is generated Displayed in the echo wave display window of the display screen, and the echo wave information at a temporary point designated by the operator is positioned on a predetermined reference line in the echo wave display window in the echo wave image And the ship position when the echo wave information designated by the operator is measured is displayed in the wake image in the wake image. A measurement information display method fish finder and controls so as to be located in a predefined origin in dough. According to such a method, the operator can easily associate the echo wave information with the own ship position where the echo wave is measured by designating the echo wave information at an arbitrary time point, There is no need to input and to search for a corresponding event mark from a large number of event marks input to an echo wave image or a wake image.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the echo information and the measurement position of the echo information can be easily associated without inputting an event mark in the wake image or the echo image displayed on the display screen. Can be attached.

  Embodiments of the present invention are described according to the following examples.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a control circuit of the fish finder 1 according to the embodiment. The fish finder 1 includes a main control unit 11 composed of a microcomputer. The main control unit 11 is provided with a central processing unit (CPU) 12 for processing and executing overall control of the fish finder 1. A measurement information memory (RAM) 13 for reading / writing measurement information is connected to the central processing unit 12 via a data bus (not shown) for exchanging data. The central processing unit 12 has a map information memory (ROM) 14 in which map information is stored via an address bus (not shown) for unilaterally transmitting information for designating an address for reading and writing data. Connected. The central processing unit 12 is also connected with a program memory (ROM) 15 in which programs for executing various controls are stored. The main control unit 11 is provided with a time measuring device 16, and time information is output from the time measuring device 16 to the central processing unit 12 as needed.

  Further, the main control unit 11 is provided with an input port (not shown) and an output port (not shown), and the fish finder transmitting / receiving device 2 and the own ship position detecting device 3 are connected through these ports.

  The fish finder transmission / reception device 2 includes a transmission / reception unit 20 that transmits / receives ultrasonic waves, and a transmission / reception control circuit 21 that connects the transmission / reception unit 20 and the main control unit 11. When a predetermined trigger signal is output to the transmission / reception control circuit 21, the transmission / reception unit 20 transmits an ultrasonic pulse of a predetermined wavelength into water. When an echo wave reflected on the bottom of the water or a school of fish is received by the transmitting / receiving unit 20, the transmission / reception control circuit 21 receives information on the echo wave received by the transmitting / receiving unit 20 (e.g., reception timing and received intensity). ) To a digital signal and output to the main controller 11 as echo wave information.

  The own ship position detection device 3 includes a GPS antenna 23 and a GPS arithmetic circuit 24 that connects the GPS antenna 23 and the main control unit 11, and based on a signal received by the GPS antenna 23, longitude and The two-dimensional absolute position of the ship specified by the latitude is detected, and the detected ship position information is output to the input port of the main control unit 11.

  When echo wave information is input from the transmission / reception wave control circuit 21 to the main control unit 11, the central processing unit 12 receives the echo wave information from the own ship position information output from the GPS calculation circuit 24 and the time measuring device 16. In association with the output time information, it is stored in the measurement information memory 13 as a set of measurement information. The measurement information memory 13 has a capacity capable of storing measurement information for about 5 hours, and the measurement information is accumulated and stored in the order of measurement. When the measurement information exceeds the storage capacity, old measurement information is sequentially deleted. That is, in this embodiment, the measurement information memory 13 constitutes a measurement information storage unit according to the present invention.

  The map information memory 14 constitutes map information storage means, in which 2D map information or 3D map information of a required area is stored as vector data.

  In addition, a key operation unit 26 for an operator to input various settings is connected to the input port of the main control unit 11. The key operation unit 26 includes a pointing device and a plurality of buttons. The operator can change the display mode, various display settings, and the like of the image display 9 by operating these. The key operation unit 26 corresponds to the measurement information specifying unit in the present invention.

  Further, a display control circuit 17 is connected to the input / output port of the main control unit 11, and the image display 9 is connected to the display control circuit 17. The image display 9 includes a vertically long rectangular display screen 10 (see FIG. 2), and is configured by a TFT, LCD, CRT, or the like.

  According to the above configuration, the central processing unit 12 reads the measurement information stored in the measurement information memory 13 and the map information in the map information memory 14 as needed, and is selected by operating the key operation unit 26. Various required image data is generated based on the display mode and display settings, and display screen information is generated from the generated image data and output to the display control circuit 17. Upon receiving display screen information from the central processing unit 12, the display control circuit 17 converts the display screen information into an appropriate video signal and outputs it to the image display 9. That is, in this embodiment, the central processing unit 12 and the display control circuit 17 constitute the display control means in the present invention.

  As described above, the fish finder 1 of the present embodiment is provided with various display modes, and an image according to the display mode selected by the operation of the key operation unit 26 is displayed on the image display 9. It is displayed on the screen 10. Below, the display aspect in the past information display mode for displaying the past measurement information which concerns on the principal part of this invention is demonstrated, and description of the display aspect in another display mode is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 2 shows a display example of the display screen 10 of the image display 9 in the past information display mode. In such a display example, a wake display window 27 and an echo wave display window 28 are displayed side by side on the rectangular display screen 10.

  A wake image 29 is displayed in the upper wake display window 27. The wake image 29 is formed by plotting a wake line 35 indicating a wake on a two-dimensional map. Image data for displaying the wake image 29 is generated by the central processing unit 12 by combining the measurement information stored in the measurement information memory 13 and the map information in the map information memory 14. When the display setting is changed by the operation of the key operation unit 26, it is updated as needed. In the present embodiment, the central portion of the wake display window 27 is set as the origin of the window 27, and a boat-shaped origin index 34 indicating the origin position is displayed in the wake display window 27. The The wake line 35 is displayed so as to pass through the origin of the wake display window 27, and the tip of the boat-shaped origin index 34 also indicates the traveling direction of the ship.

  An echo wave image 30 is displayed in the lower echo wave display window 28. The echo wave image 30 is obtained by visually displaying echo wave information such as a fish school echo 37 and a water bottom echo 38. The image data for displaying the echo wave image 30 is generated by the central processing unit 12 based on the measurement information stored in the measurement information memory 13, and the display setting is performed by operating the key operation unit 26. Updated as needed. The display mode of the echo wave information is the same as that of the existing fish finder. That is, the horizontal axis of the echo wave image 30 is in the order of measurement, and the newer echo wave information is displayed in the order of the measurement time so that the newer echo wave information is located on the right side and the older echo wave information is located on the left side. The vertical axis of the echo wave image is the depth, which indicates the depth at which the received echo wave is reflected. The strength of the reverberant wave is expressed by color, shading, and the like. In the present embodiment, the left and right center lines of the echo wave display window 28 are set to the reference line of the window 28, and the ship wave symbol is displayed at the upper end of the vertical line in the echo wave display window 28. A reference line index 36 is displayed, indicating the position of the reference line.

  Here, the echo wave image 30 is displayed so that the echo wave information at the time point specified by the operation of the key operation unit 26 is located on the reference line of the echo wave display window 28. On the other hand, in the wake image 29, the ship position at the time of measuring the echo wave information located on the reference line is displayed so as to be located at the origin of the wake display window 27. Therefore, the operator easily associates the echo information at the specified time with the own ship position by comparing the origin of the wake display window 27 and the reference line of the echo display window 28. be able to.

  In addition, an echo wave display range image indicating which range of all the echo wave information stored in the measurement information memory 13 is displayed in the echo wave display window 28 is displayed at the lower center of the echo wave display window 28. 31 is displayed. In this echo wave display range image 31, as shown in FIG. 4, all the echo wave information stored in the measurement information memory is shown as a long rectangular frame 32. In the rectangular frame 32, like the echo wave image 30, the right side corresponds to newer echo wave information and the left side corresponds to older echo wave information. In the entire echo wave information indicated by the rectangular frame 32, the part being displayed in the echo wave display window 28 is displayed by shading 33, and the other part is displayed in white. Therefore, the operator can grasp at a glance which range of echo wave information is displayed in the echo wave display window 28 by using the echo wave display range image 31. The echo wave display range image 31 is changed according to the update of the echo wave image 30 as shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b).

  In the present embodiment, by performing a predetermined “rewinding operation” and “fast-forwarding operation” in the key operation unit 26, it is possible to designate the echo wave information at a past point in time. When the rewinding operation is performed, the echo wave information at a point in time that is a predetermined time before the echo wave information being currently designated is designated. On the other hand, when a fast-forward operation is performed, echo wave information at a point in time of a predetermined time is specified rather than echo wave information currently being specified. When the rewinding operation is repeated on the display screen 10 of FIG. 2, the echo wave image 30 is updated as needed, and the echo wave image 30 in the echo wave display window 28 is displayed so as to scroll rightward. At the same time, the wake image 29 is updated at any time, and the wake image 29 in the wake display window 27 is displayed to scroll to the upper right along the wake line 35 on the origin. For example, when it is desired to designate the echo wave information of the p portion in FIG. 2, the rewind operation is repeated to scroll the echo wave image 30 to the right, and the echo wave information of the p portion is displayed on the reference line index 36. You can make it. In this case, the wake image 29 is scrolled so that the ship position q at the time when the echo information of the p portion is measured comes to the origin, and the image shown in FIG. 3 is displayed on the display screen 10. .

  Further, in this embodiment, in addition to the “rewinding operation” and the “fast-forwarding operation”, it is possible to directly designate the echo wave information at a single point in the past on the display screen 10. Specifically, the key operation unit 26 includes a known pointing device so that the past ship position in the wake image 29 and the echo wave information in the echo wave image 30 can be designated by the pointing device. It has become. For example, when it is desired to associate the echo information of the p portion in FIG. 2 with the own ship position at the time of measurement, the echo wave information of the p portion of the display screen 10 may be specified by the pointing device of the key operation unit 26. . Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the echo image 30 is updated and the echo information of the p portion is displayed on the reference line index 36. At the same time, the wake image 29 is also updated to measure the echo information. The own ship position q is displayed at the origin. In this embodiment, the echo wave information of the portion p measured at the ship position q can also be specified by specifying the ship position q on the display screen 10 with a pointing device.

  As described above, in the fish finder 1 according to the present embodiment, the echo wave information and its measurement position (own ship position) can be obtained simply by designating the echo wave information at a past point in time using the key operation unit 26. Can be associated. Therefore, in this configuration, there is no need to input event marks in the wake image 29 and the echo wave image 30 unnecessarily. In addition, in the conventional configuration, when confirming the measurement position of the required echo wave information, the corresponding event mark must be found from a large number of event marks input to the track image and the echo wave image. In the configuration of the example, simply by specifying the required echo wave information, the echo wave information and the measurement position are displayed at the reference line of the echo wave display window 28 and the origin of the track display window 27. Thus, it is possible to grasp the echo wave information and the own ship position at the time of measurement more easily than in the past.

  The fish finder of the present invention can be variously modified within the scope of the present invention without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the past information display mode in the embodiment, only the past ship position and the echo information are displayed on the display screen 10, but at the same time, the time when the designated echo information is measured, the water temperature at that time, You can also display the ship's speed, latitude and longitude.

  In the embodiment, the event mark is not input to the wake image 29 or the echo image 30, but the present invention does not exclude the use of the event mark, and the fish detector of the type that inputs the event mark is used. Is also applicable.

  In the embodiment, the fish finder including the fish finder transmitting / receiving device and the own ship position detecting device is shown. However, the present invention provides a fish finder including the fish finder transmitting / receiving device and the own ship position detecting device as external devices. It can also be applied to detectors.

  Further, in the past information display mode in the embodiment, only the track display window 27 and the echo wave display window 28 are displayed on the display screen 10 up and down, but in the present invention, the past measurement information is displayed. When displaying, three or more windows may be displayed, and the arrangement of these windows can be freely changed.

  In the embodiment, the center of the wake display window 27 is set as the origin of the window 27, and the left and right center lines of the echo wave display window 28 are set as the reference line of the window 28. Not only those where the origin and reference lines are fixed at such positions, but also those where the operator can change the settings of the origin and reference lines.

2 is a block diagram showing a control circuit of the fish finder 1. FIG. 3 is a display example of the display screen 10. 4 is another display example of the display screen 10. It is an enlarged view of the echo wave display range image 31, (a) has shown the echo wave display range image 31 of FIG. 2, (b) has shown the echo wave display range image 31 of FIG. It is an example of a display of the display screen 10a in the conventional fish finder.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Fish finder 2 Fish transmitter / receiver 3 Own ship position detector 9 Image display 10, 10a Display screen 27, 27a Track display window 28, 28a Echo wave display window 29, 29a Track image 30, 30a Echo wave Image 34 Origin index 35, 35a Wake line 36 Reference line index 37, 37a Fish echo 38, 38a Bottom echo 40 Event mark 41 Event mark

Claims (4)

An image display with a display screen;
Measurement information storage means for storing the measured echo wave information and own ship position information in association with the measurement time;
Map information storage means for storing map information;
Based on the map information stored in the map information storage means and the own ship position information stored in the measurement information storage means, image data for showing a wake on the map is created, and based on the image data The wake image is controlled to be displayed on the wake display window of the display screen, and the image data for arranging and displaying the echo information stored in the measurement information storage means in the order of measurement is generated, and the echo wave based on the image data is generated. Image display control means for controlling an image to be displayed in an echo wave display window of the display screen;
Measurement information designating means for designating echo wave information at a temporary point stored in the measurement information storage means,
The display control means includes
The echo wave information at the time point designated by the measurement information designation means is positioned on a predetermined reference line in the echo wave display window in the echo wave image displayed in the echo wave display window. As well as control
The own ship position when the echo information specified by the measurement information specifying means is measured is located at a predetermined origin in the wake display window in the wake image displayed in the wake display window. A fish finder characterized by controlling as follows.   2. The fish finder according to claim 1, wherein the display control means controls the display screen to display an index indicating the origin of the wake display window and the reference line position of the echo wave display window. The display control means includes
Image data for indicating which range of the total echo information stored in the measurement information storage means is displayed in the echo wave display window is generated and displayed as an echo wave display range image on the display screen. The fish finder according to claim 1, wherein the fish finder is controlled as described above. Based on the own ship position information stored in association with the measurement time and the map information, image data for showing the wake on the map is created, and the wake image based on the image data is used for wake display on the display screen. Generates image data for displaying the echo information stored in association with the measurement time in order of measurement and displaying the echo wave image based on the image data in the echo display window on the display screen And
Further, the echo wave information at a temporary point designated by the operator is controlled so as to be positioned on a predetermined reference line in the echo wave display window in the echo wave image, and designated by the operator. Measurement information display of a fish finder characterized by controlling the ship position when the echo wave information is measured to be located at a predetermined origin in the wake display window in the wake image Method.

Images