WO2019182529A2

WO2019182529A2 - Electronic flag

Info

Publication number: WO2019182529A2
Application number: PCT/TR2018/050659
Authority: WO
Inventors: Cem OZTURK
Original assignee: Ozturk Cem
Priority date: 2017-12-15
Filing date: 2018-11-06
Publication date: 2019-09-26
Also published as: WO2019182529A3

Abstract

This invention is about displaying flag images by using monitors, which are positioned on the masts where flags are located, with the help of a computer system. In this invention; the flags that are hoisted in every sea vessels, are repositioned by the flag images which are determined by the computer program with the help of a GPS unit, and are displayed on the monitors (1) which are located on the masts. The data of flag images are transmitted to the monitors from the computer or any other electronic devices which have wireless transfer technology feature such as smart phone, smart watch, tablet, by using wireless transfer technology such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RF-ID or by using wires from the computer itself.

Description

ELECTRON I C FLAG

Technical Field:

This invention is about an electronic flag system, showing flag images with computer assistance, which is positioned on mast of sea vessels.

Prior Art :

Based on the international laws, a sea vessel, even if it is in a foreign country, is bound to its record owner country’s laws. Therefore, sea vessels must hoist their record owner country’s flags. According to international conventions, which are created by I nternational Maritime Organization (I MO) , to maintain the coordination of worldwide practice, ships must hoist two different flags while traveling in international waters. One of the raised flags is record owner country’s flag and the other one is the flag of the country in which the sea vessel docks. While a ship enters another country’s territorial waters, even if it does transit pass, in addition to its record owner country’s flag, it has to hoist the country’s flag which owns the water.

Especially the ships of companies which trade in foreign countries, carry the flags of countries that they transit pass or enter their territorial waters because of the obligation of carrying the water owner country’s flag. I n the same way, the obligation is applicable to private ships which travel in international waters or the ships which are used for touristic purposes that travel in international waters. Based on this obligation, ship owners must keep the flags and the supplement materials like rope, etc. to hoist and hold the flags of the countries that they pass or travel to. This situation generates problems in ships and in fact creates a need for extra labor. This situation also generates some financial harm to an extent. This effort consuming, labor demanding problem which also causes some amount of financial harm , will be solved by the described invention. Aim of The I nvention:

This invention’s aim is removing the unnecessary amount of flags and the supplement equipment which are used for flag hoisting and performing this action with computer assistance when it is needed.

Another aim of this invention is avoiding the effect of bad weather conditions on visibility of the flags and make the flags visible at nights while ships are travelling.

Brief Description of the I nvention:

This invention relates to displaying flag images on monitors, which are positioned on masts of sea vesselsusing a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to find sea vessels’ location and to determine the water owner country’s flag with computer assistance instead of using flag itself on mast.

Description of the Figures:

Figure 1 . The side view of the ship in which monitors and masts are positionedpositioned together.

Figure 2. The top view of the ship in which mast, monitor, computer and wiring systems are positioned together.

Figure 3. The monitor which displays flag image and the covering box.

Figure 4. Cross- sectional view of covering box and the wiring system on the mast where monitor is positioned

Figure 5. Cross-sectional view of the mast through which wiring system passes and connects to the monitor

The pieces in the figures are numbered and presented below.

1 - Monitor

1 a- The monitor in the bow side of the ship ( ex. Main mast)

1 b- The monitor in the stern side of the ship

2- Monitor protection/covering box

3- The top view of computer-monitor wiring system 4- Computer

5- Wiring system protection/covering box

6- Mast

6a- Mast on which monitors are positioned

6b- Wire that is used to transfer data

7- Monitor lead on the mast

8- Joints that connectthe monitors to the mast

Detailed description of the invention:

To reach to the aim of this invention, data should be sent from a computer to four monitors which are positioned positioned back to back in twosat two different locations, bow and stern sides, or two different monitors that can display the flag images on either side. This data consist of the image of the flag that is wanted to be displayed. The location data is created by a GPS receiver which detects the country which owns the waters and its flag. Then output data are sent to the monitors automatically with the help of a specific software which is installed on a computer. A person can disable the automatic flag change feature on purpose and can manually change the flag image. Monitors can be positioned and used as fixed or movably with the help of joints that are attached to the mast. Supplement materials like rope, string, etc. which are used to hoist the flag are not used for this invention. To make the invention work better and make it closer to modern day’s technology, to control the monitors with using wireless system ; smart phones, smart watches, tablets or any other electronic devices that have wireless communication system such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RF-I D, etc. can be used instead of computers.

The electronic flag according to the invention is shown with details in enclosed figures.

The electronic flag according to the invention consist of ; at least four monitors that are positioned positioned back to back in twos or two monitors that can display in two sides which are in adequate size to show flag images and are liable to international standards (1 a, 1 b) , a computer (4) , a GPS unit, a wire system (7) which is used to transfer data from the computer to monitors, a protector/ covering box (5) that is used to protect the wire system , which extends along the mast, joints (8) that are used to connect monitors to the mast, glass boxes (2) to protect the monitors which are transparent, waterproof, durable against storms and strikes and bulletproof . For the functioning of the invention; after downloading high quality flag pictures from internet to the computer, the water owner country’s flag picture which is determined by using the GPS unit, is displayed on monitors with using PC-I N or HDMI cord. For the invention to work, four monitors which are positioned positioned back to back in twosor two separate monitors which can display the image on two sides are used. Downloading flag images from internet easily and without a cost, provides advantage to the user.

I n a different version of the invention, instead of using waterproof and bulletproof monitor protector boxes, which are durable against storms and strikes; monitors (1 ) that are durable to UV rays, to heat and to bad weather conditions can also be used.

The wire system that is used to transfer data from the computer (4) to the monitors (1 ) passes through the mast (6) on which the monitors (1 ) are positioned. Thus, in addition to protection of wires (6b) from bad weather conditions, there is no unaesthetic view in the marine vessel. Alongside these benefits, the noise which is caused by the wire’s (6b) movement and hit to the mast which is caused by wind in windy weathers, is precluded.

I n a different version of the invention, to make the invention work better and make it closer to modern-day’s technology, the computer (4) that is used in the invention can also be a phone, tablet, smart watch, any kind of electronic device which has wireless communication system such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RF-I D, etc. can be used. The data communication between these electronic devices and monitors (1 ) can procurable by wireless data transfer technology such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.

Flag image can be transmitted to the monitors (1 ) from electronic devices such as computer (4) , smart phone, tablet, smart watch, etc. which have wireless technology such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RF-I D, etc.. The necessity of using wires to transfer data will be avoided by using systems/technology which are suitable for wireless data transport like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RF-I D to connect the computer (4) to the monitors.

Claims

CLAI MS

1 . A flag configuration that is used in ships, boats, etc. marine vessels travelling national and international waters characterized by comprising at least two monitors ( 1 ) that can display two sided images, a computer (4) , a GPS unit for determining within which country’s waters the ship is located, a computer program which determines the country where the ship is located based on the data from GPS unit and transmits the image of the said country’s flag to the monitors; a wire system (3) connecting the monitors to the computer (3) , durable, transparent boxes (2) which are aimed to protect the monitors from water, bad weather conditions and other harmful factors, and a box for protecting the wire system which provides the connection between the monitors and the computer and positioned along the mast.

2. A flag configuration that is used in ships, boats, etc. marine vessels travelling national and international waters which determines the country where the ship is located via the GPS unit and transmits the image of the said country’s flag from the computer(4) using a computer program to the monitors ( 1 ) positioned on masts where flags are hoisted, characterized in that the connection between the monitors ( 1 ) and the computer (4) is provided with wireless data transmission technology.

3. A configuration according to any of the preceeding claims, characterized in that the flag image is transmitted to the monitors (1 ) using a smart phone, tablet, smart watch capable of wireless data communication such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RF-I D instead of a computer (4) .

4. A configuration according to any of the preceeding claims, characterized in that the monitors are of sufficient size to display flag images conforming to the international maritime standards and one of them is positioned on the bow side of the ship (1 a) and the other one is positioned on stern side of the ship (1 b) .

5. A configuration according to any of the preceeding claims, characterized in that the boxes (2) for protecting the monitors are transparent and made up of bulletproof glass which is durable to water, storms and impacts.

6. A configuration according to any of the preceeding claims, characterized in that monitors are connected to the mast, where the flags are hoisted, with using movable or fixed joints (8) .

7. A configuration according to any of the preceeding claims, characterized in that after determining the country in which the ship is located using the GPS unit, the computer program is used to display the flag of the country owning the waters which is stored on the computer on the monitors positioned on the masts.

8. A configuration according to any of the preceeding claims, characterized in thatinstead of using at least two monitors ( 1 ) , at least four monitors that are positioned back to back in twos are used.

9. A configuration according to any of the preceeding claims, characterized in that the monitors (1 ) which display the flag images are monitors ( 1 ) that are durable to UV rays, heat, and bad weather conditions .

1 0. A configuration according to any of the preceeding claims, characterized in thatin a situation that wireless data communication system is not used, the data transfer from the computer (4) to the monitors ( 1 ) is performed through the wires (6b) which pass through the masts (6) on which the monitors ( 1 ) are positioned.