JP3038399B2 - Direction display device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a direction display device used for displaying a direction measured by a radio direction finder or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A radio direction finder mounted on a ship or the like is provided with a combination of a plurality of reception antennas having special directivity, and measures the direction of an incoming radio wave from the relationship between the level and phase of a reception signal. The measurement result is displayed as a measurement direction.

[0003] Conventionally, as a typical device for displaying a measurement azimuth, as shown in FIG. 13, a CRT using a circular scale having a region around the own ship at the center of the own ship position and a course directly above the ship is used. A clock type is known in which a needle displayed above and rotated around the center of the dial is displayed on a cathode ray tube, and the direction of the needle is changed according to the measurement direction.

[0004] The explanation of the conventional display device illustrated in Fig. 13 is supplemented by comparing the analog display and the digital display in the case of a timepiece. Latest 3
The average value is calculated for each measurement direction, and this average value is digitally displayed on the upper left of the display screen as a numerical value "heading direction" indicating the direction from the bow, and the latest measurement reception level received from the radio direction detection unit is displayed. An analog display is provided below the display screen in the form of a bar graph, and the latest measured reception frequency received from the wireless direction detector is digitally displayed at the upper right of the display screen under the name of "frequency".

[0005]

The actual use environment of the above direction finder, for example, when a large number of fishing boats are operating in an intricate manner and each fishing boat is communicating using radio waves in the same frequency band. And the like, there is a problem in that the direction of the needle rapidly changes because the received radio waves arrive intricately from various directions, making visual observation difficult.

[0006]

A direction display device according to the present invention is for displaying the direction of arrival of a radio wave by a pointer image positioned radially with respect to a predetermined point on a display surface, a. Pointer image changing means for gradually decreasing or gradually increasing the pointer image with a predetermined temporal change; b. Display indicating means for displaying the pointer image with respect to the direction of arrival obtained in the first order and display of the pointer image with respect to the direction of arrival obtained in the last order, the display changing means for changing and displaying by the pointer image changing means. doing. The operation of the present invention will be described in detail with the following examples.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, prior to the description of the configuration and operation of an azimuth display apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, an example of a display screen of this apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. explain. First, a circular display area centered on the own ship position is provided, and 0 ^° is placed on the periphery of the display area.
A 360 ^° 360 ^° azimuth scale is provided. A triangular (wedge-shaped) pointer image having a length proportional to the reception level is displayed from the position corresponding to the measurement azimuth of the scale plate toward the center. The length of the image (the height of the triangle) is gradually reduced at a predetermined speed. In this example, it is assumed that the display device receives the following measurement data from the wireless direction detector in the following order. a. Measurement direction 300 ^o and reception level “5.0” b. Measurement direction 70 ^° and reception level “9.75” c. Measurement azimuth 124 ^o and reception level “8.1” d. Measurement direction 124 ^o and reception level “8.1” e. Measurement direction 124 ^o and reception level “8.1”

A. Upon receiving the measurement direction 300 ^° and the measurement reception level “5.0”, as shown in FIG.
After a triangle having a length proportional to the reception level “5.0” is displayed as a pointer image from the position of 0 ^° , regression processing for gradually reducing the length of the displayed pointer image at a constant speed is started.

B. A new measurement direction 70 ^° and a measurement reception level “9.75” are received, and a triangle having a length proportional to the reception level “9.75” is displayed as a pointer image from a position 70 ^{° on} the dial as shown in FIG. Thereafter, regression processing of the length of the pointer image is started. For the previously received measurement data of the azimuth 300 ^° , a pointer image having a length reduced by the regression processing up to this point is displayed.

C. Receiving the new measurement direction 124 ^o and the measurement reception level “8.1”, the one of the dials as shown in FIG.
After displaying the length of the triangle that is proportional to the reception level "8.1" from the point of 24 ^o as a guide image, starts the regression process of the length of the pointer image. For the 70 ^° data received previously and the 300 ^° data received two times before, a pointer image having a length reduced by the regression processing up to this point is displayed.

D. The new measurement direction 124 ^o and the reception level “8.1” are received, and the scale 124 is received as shown in FIG.
^After a triangle having a length proportional to the reception level "8.1" is displayed as a pointer image from the position ^o , regression processing of the length of the pointer image is started. For the 70 ^° data received two times before, a pointer image having a length reduced by the regression processing up to this point is displayed. The length data and measurement orientation of newly displayed to 124 ^o match and length reduced by regression process is set in proportion to the new reception level at this time for 124 ^o of data received last Excluded from display because it is smaller than

E. The new measurement direction ^124o and the reception level "8.1" are received, and as shown in FIG.
After displaying the length of the triangle that is proportional to the reception level "8.1" from 4 ^o locations as a guide image, it starts the regression process of the length of the pointer image. The old data of 70 ^° is excluded from the display target because the length of the pointer image has become zero due to the regression processing so far. In addition, 1
As for the data of 24 ^o, the measurement azimuth coincides with the data of 124 ^o received this time, and the length reduced by the previous regression processing is smaller than the length of the pointer image set according to the new reception level. ,Do not show.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, as in the conventional method, an average value is calculated for the three latest measurement directions received from the radio direction detection unit, and this average value is calculated as the bow. It is displayed on the upper left of the display screen as a numerical value “heading” indicating the direction from. In addition, the latest measured reception level received from the wireless direction detector is displayed in the form of a bar graph at the bottom of the display screen, and the latest measured reception frequency is digitally displayed at the upper right of the display screen.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the azimuth measuring apparatus according to the above-described embodiment. Reference numeral 10 denotes a azimuth display unit, reference numeral 20 denotes a wireless direction detecting unit, and reference numeral 30 denotes an external communication device.

The measurement direction display unit 10 includes a graphic controller 11, a system RAM 12, and a video RAM 1.
3, RAM controller 14, display controller 15, display 16, host interface 17, and RAM
A controller 18 is provided. Also, the wireless direction detecting unit 20
Are the host CPU 21, the system RAM 22, the host /
Graphic program ROM 23, RAM controller 2
4, ROM controller 25, sensor 26, A / D converter 2
7, a key panel 28 and a key panel controller 29 are provided. The host CPU 21 of the wireless direction detecting unit 20 is constituted by an appropriate microprocessor such as μPD70208, and the graphic controller 11 of the measurement direction display unit 10 is constituted by an appropriate graphic system processor such as TMS34010.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing the contents of processing executed by the measurement direction display unit 10, the radio direction detecting unit 20, and the external communication device 30 of FIG. 1, and data transferred as a result of the processing. It is. That is, a signal received by a receiving antenna (not shown) arranged in front of the sensor 26 is subjected to analog processing by the sensor 26, converted into a digital signal as a signal indicating a reception level, a phase difference, and the like, and supplied to the host CPU 21. . Note that the reception frequency of the sensor 26 is set by the host CPU 21 and the reception frequency is set by the graphic controller system R.
It is written to AM12.

The host CPU 21 of the wireless direction detecting unit 20
As illustrated in the flow chart of FIG. 8, the device performs initial setting (step A), waits for input of measurement data from the sensor (step B), and receives input data from the sensor. The measurement direction θ in units of 1 ^° and the measured reception level L in the range of “0” to “10” are calculated (step C), and these are displayed on the measurement direction display unit 10.
(Step D). Graphic controller 1
In step 1, the host CPU 21 creates display data by processing the measurement direction and the measurement reception level written in the system RAM 12 and supplies the display data to the display 16 for display.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart for explaining the processing contents of the display data creation by the graphic controller 11.

[0019] The graphics controller 11 starts the process, first, 1 ^o every other measurement orientation 0 ^o,
360 ^o display data areas corresponding to 1 ^o , 2 ^o ... 359 ^o , and 360 erasure data areas are also allocated in the system RAM 12 (step 1). The length of the pointer image is initially set to zero (step 2). Next, the graphic controller 11 writes the system RAM 12 by the host CPU 21 of the wireless azimuth detecting unit 20 so that the system RAM
It is determined whether or not the measurement data on 12 has been rewritten (step 3).

The graphic controller 11 determines the length of the pointer image in the display data area corresponding to the measurement direction (referred to as θ) read from the system RAM 12 (in this example, the height of the isosceles triangle ABC shown in FIG. 10). η) is a value corresponding to the reception level (L) (in this example, the reception level L
Η = ρL / 10, where ρ is a constant), and the X, Y coordinates (Ax, Ay), (Bx, By), (Bx, By) of each of the three vertices A, B, C of this triangle. (Cx,
Cy) is calculated based on the following algorithm (step 4). _{Ax = X o + ρcos (θ} -1) Ay = Y o + ρsin (θ-1) Bx = X o + ρcos (θ + 1) By = Y o + ρsin (θ + 1) Cx = X o + ηcos θ Cy = Y o + ηsin θ However, _Xo and _Yo are the X and Y coordinates of the origin O.

Next, the graphic controller 11
Indicates that the pointer image drawn from the data in the erasure data area corresponding to the measurement orientation θ calculated in step 4 is a video RA
If it exists on the M (VRAM) 13, the video RA
Erase from above M13 (step 5). In this example, since the drawn pointer image does not exist on the VRAM 13 immediately after receiving the first measurement data, the erasing process on the video RAM is skipped. Subsequently, the graphic controller 11 transmits data in the display data area corresponding to the measurement orientation θ (X, Y of vertices A, B, and C in this example).
Draws a triangle ABC based on the coordinates
13 (step 6). Accordingly, a pointer image as shown in FIG. 1 is displayed on the display 16. Next, the graphic controller 11 transfers the data in the display data area corresponding to the measurement orientation θ to the erasure data area (Step 7), and returns to Step 3.

When the graphic controller 11 detects in step 3 that the measurement data in the system RAM 12 has not been rewritten, the flow proceeds to step 8 to update the pointer image for regression processing. That is, the graphic controller 11 searches the display data area where significant data exists, shortens the length of the pointer image held there by a certain value δρ, and reduces the length of the shortened pointer image. A new vertex coordinate C is calculated based on the above. Next, regarding the pointer image having the shortened length, the graphic controller 11 determines the V of the pointer image before shortening.
Erase from RAM (Step 5), V of pointer image after shortening
After writing to the RAM (step 6) and transferring data from the display data area to the erasure data area (step 7), the process returns to step 3. By the above-described processing, a pointer image indicating the measurement direction as illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5 is displayed.

As another example of the direction display device according to the present invention, instead of using a pointer image as an isosceles triangle ABC, as shown in FIG. 11, reception from a point corresponding to a measurement azimuth on the circumference toward the center is performed. A straight line AC having a length corresponding to the level may be used as a pointer image, and the length of the pointer image may be gradually reduced at a predetermined speed. The processing for this display can be treated as a special example in which the vertices A and B of the isosceles triangle ABC are matched in the processing described in the flowchart of FIG. As the pointer image, other appropriate shapes such as a rectangle and an arrow can be selected.

As still another example of the azimuth display device according to one embodiment of the present invention, instead of displaying a pointer image having a length corresponding to the reception level from the outside toward the center, as shown in FIG. The pointer image may be displayed from the side outward. Although there are many other embodiments of the direction display device of the present invention, only the main ones of these are listed below as modified embodiments.

[0025]

[Modification] A process of creating and displaying an initial pointer image based on the measurement direction received from the host CPU 21, and gradually decreasing / increasing the length, width, thickness, brightness, brightness, etc. of the pointer image being displayed. The regression processing to be performed is different from the example of FIG. 9 as an independent routine, the former routine is executed as a high-priority interrupt processing based on a measurement data reception request from the host CPU 21, and the latter processing is performed as a priority. Direction display device that executes as low timer interrupt processing.

When monitoring a limited area such as the front or back rather than all directions including front, rear, left and right, a scale plate consisting of only a part of a circle or regular polygon such as a semicircle or a sector is used. Azimuth display device.

Graphic controller system R
In order to reduce the capacity of the AM12 and reduce the size of the display screen, the display of the average value of the measurement direction and the reception level are omitted, and the scale plate is provided on a transparent template that covers the display device panel and the display screen. An azimuth display device that is excluded from display processing by printing.

An azimuth display device capable of changing the gradually decreasing speed of the length of a pointer image such as a triangle or a straight line in accordance with a command input from the key panel 28 according to a display condition.

Instead of displaying a pointer image having a length corresponding to the reception level, a pointer image having a fixed length is displayed regardless of the reception level, and then the length of the pointer image is gradually reduced by a constant value per unit time. Orientation display device.

Instead of gradually decreasing the length of the pointer image by a constant value per unit time, a fixed ratio per unit time (10
%).

An azimuth display device in which, instead of gradually decreasing the length of the pointer image, the length is gradually increased by a constant value per unit time or at a constant rate.

An azimuth display device in which the width or thickness of a pointer image such as a triangle or a rectangle is gradually reduced / increased instead of gradually decreasing / increase the length of the pointer image.

An azimuth display device in which, instead of gradually decreasing / gradually increasing the length, width or thickness of the pointer image, gradually decreasing / gradually increasing the brightness or the like according to the brightness or dot density of the pointer image.

A display method in which the coloring value of the pointer image is gradually changed instead of changing the size and brightness of the pointer image. For example, an azimuth display device that gradually changes the coloring value of the pointer image from the foreground color to the background color or in the opposite direction.

An azimuth display device for displaying the same direction of arrival of a reflected wave received by an antenna when the azimuth detection target is not a source of radio waves but a reflection source of radio waves radiated from a radar.

[0036]

Since the direction display device of the present invention has the above-described structure, it is possible to display a large number of measurement directions without rotating the needle rapidly as in the conventional device, so that it is easy to grasp the measurement situation. The effect is achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a display screen of an azimuth display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a display screen of the device of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a display screen of the device of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a display screen by the device of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a display screen of the apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the azimuth display device of the embodiment.

7 is a conceptual diagram showing the contents of processing executed by each unit of the azimuth display device of FIG. 6 and data transferred as a result of the processing.

8 is a flowchart for explaining the contents of processing such as azimuth calculation by the host CPU 21 in FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the contents of an azimuth display process by the graphic controller 11 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram for supplementarily explaining the contents of the processing in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a pointer image by an azimuth display device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a display screen of an azimuth display device according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a display screen of a conventional azimuth display device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 Measurement direction display unit 11 Graphic controller 12 System RAM 13 Video RAM (VRAM) 16 Display 20 Wireless direction detection unit 21 Host CPU 26 Sensor 28 Key panel 30 External communication device

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A 3-110384 (JP, U) JP-A 1-180679 (JP, U) JP-A 1-151268 (JP, U) Patent 2970321 (JP, U) B2) Patent 2973019 (JP, B2) JP 3-34706 (JP, Y2) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01S 3/00-3/74

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A direction display device (hereinafter, referred to as a device) for displaying the direction of arrival of a radio wave by a pointer image positioned radially with respect to a predetermined point on a display surface, comprising: a. Pointer image changing means for gradually decreasing or gradually increasing the pointer image with a predetermined temporal change; b. Display indicating means for displaying the pointer image with respect to the direction of arrival obtained in the first order and display of the pointer image with respect to the direction of arrival obtained in the last order, the display changing means for changing and displaying by the pointer image changing means. An apparatus characterized in that: 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: the pointer image changing means for performing the gradual decrease or the gradual increase by changing the length of the pointer image. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: the pointer image changing means for performing the gradual decrease or the gradual increase by changing the thickness or width of the pointer image. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: the pointer image changing means for performing the gradual decrease or the gradual increase by changing the brightness or the density of the pointer image. 5. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a predetermined point starting point display means for displaying said pointer image starting from said predetermined point. 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a circumference starting point display means for displaying the pointer image starting from a circumference of a predetermined radius centered on the predetermined point. Characteristic device.