JP3049516B2 - Fish finder - Google Patents

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 emits ultrasonic waves into water, displays reflected echoes thereof on a CRT or the like, and detects a fish shoal from an image thereof. A fish finder that can be used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional fish finder is mounted on a ship moving on the water, transmits ultrasonic waves into the water, receives reflected echoes thereof, and determines the depth of an object (water bottom and fish school) that reflects the ultrasonic waves. Measuring. Since the intensity of the reflected echo is proportional to the size of the school of fish and the density of the fish, the intensity of the reflected echo can be distinguished from the water bottom by displaying the intensity in color, shading, and the like, and the amount of fish can be estimated. In a conventional fish finder, for example, as shown in FIG. 4B, when the detection is performed while navigating from the left to the right just above the bottom of the cross section and the school of fish as shown in FIG. Video is obtained. In this image, the vertical axis represents depth D and the horizontal axis represents time T. Also, the latest measured depth is displayed at the right end, is sent from right to left at a predetermined image feed speed, and disappears sequentially at the left end. The scale of the horizontal axis (time T) is determined by the image feed speed and the boat speed.

[0003]

However, in the conventional fish finder, since the time is taken on the horizontal axis, the image depends on the speed of the ship and the image feed speed, and the image expands and contracts in the horizontal direction. I do. For example, with a constant image feed speed,
When the ship speed is increased, the image shrinks in the horizontal axis direction (horizontal direction) and the undulation is sharp. When the ship speed is reduced, the image expands in the horizontal axis direction (horizontal direction) and the undulation becomes gentle. Therefore,
There is a problem that it is difficult to read the state of the undulation on the seabed from the image of the conventional fish finder. When fishing, a decision is made as to whether or not to insert a net depending on the undulation of the seabed so as not to damage the net, but if the judgment is delayed, fish will escape and the situation on the seabed will be easier. A fish finder that can be easily recognized is desired. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a fish finder capable of obtaining an image in which the depth is expressed as a function of distance so that the topography of the seabed can be read at a glance.

[0004]

According to the present invention, an ultrasonic wave is mounted on a ship, emits ultrasonic waves toward the water, receives reflected echoes thereof, obtains received information, and displays the received information on a screen of a display means. In a fish finder for detecting a school of fish by displaying the above, a position detecting means for detecting the position of the vessel and outputting position information, the reception information and the position information obtained substantially at the same time Storage means for storing in association with each other, a designation means for designating specific reception information of the reception information as first reception information and second reception information,
Calculating means for obtaining from said position information a ship is storing moving distance traveled in the storage means during a period from obtaining the first received information to the second reception information is obtained, the receiving
When the communication information is displayed on the display means as a function of time.
In order to cause the display means to display the reception information obtained between the time when the first reception information is obtained and the time when the second reception information is obtained as a function of the moving distance, in place of the display . A fish finder characterized by having a display control means is obtained.

[0005]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. The fish finder of FIG. 1 includes a transmitting unit 11, a transducer 12, a receiving unit 13, an A / D
A converter 14, a fish finder buffer memory 15, a position fish finder memory 16, a display controller 17, a display 18, a display 19, a navigation device 20, and an operation unit 21 are provided.

In order to detect a school of fish, first, the transmitting unit 11
Generates a high-frequency electric signal having a constant pulse width and outputs the signal to the transmitter / receiver 12. The transducer 12 is generally installed on the bottom of a ship, and performs electric signal / ultrasonic conversion using an electrostrictive element or the like. That is, the transceiver 12 generates an ultrasonic wave when a high-frequency signal is input, and the ultrasonic wave is emitted toward the water.

[0007] The ultrasonic waves emitted into the water are reflected by schools of fish, the sea floor, etc., and are again reflected as echoes.
Come back to 2. The transducer 12 receives the reflected echo and converts it into an electric signal (echo signal). The echo signal is input to the receiving unit 13 and amplified by the receiving unit 13. The amplified echo signal is A / D converted by the A / D converter 14 and stored in the fish finder buffer memory 15 as fish finder information. The fish finder buffer memory 15 stores fish finder information by one ultrasonic emission.

[0008] On the other hand, the navigation device 20 is operated at predetermined time intervals, that is,
The position (latitude and longitude) of the own ship (the ship on which the navigation device 20 is mounted) is obtained for each ultrasonic emission time. And
The obtained position information indicating the position of the ship is output to the position fish finder memory 16. The navigation device 20 includes a GPS
Various devices such as a navigation device, a Loran navigation device, and a satellite navigation device are applicable.

When the position information is output from the navigation device 20 to the position fish memory 16, the position fish memory 16 reads the fish information from the fish buffer memory 15. The position fish finder memory 16 stores the position information and the fish finder information as a pair of information. In this way, the paired information of the fish finder information and the position information of the own ship is written into the position fish finder memory 16 every time the fish finder is detected (emission of ultrasonic waves). Here, the position fish finder memory 16 has a storage capacity capable of storing at least information for a time that can be displayed on the display 19. Information exceeding the storage capacity is sequentially deleted from the earliest information (oldest information), and new data is written instead.

The display control unit 17 reads out the latest fish finder information from the position fish school memory 16 and converts it from the operation unit 21 into a signal conforming to a display range set in advance. When the display range is changed by resetting from the operation unit 21, the fish finder information is converted so as to be adapted. The converted fish finder information is input to the display unit 18. Then, the input fish finder information is converted into image information for the display 19, and a refresh memory (not shown) in the display unit 18 is provided.
Is written to. The image information written in the refresh memory is read at a predetermined read speed and output to the display 19 as a video signal. The display unit 19 adopts a raster scan method, and receives a video signal from the display unit 18 and displays a fish finder image.

The fish finder image obtained as described above is displayed with the horizontal axis as time, as in the conventional case. However, in the present embodiment, by specifying two predetermined points on the fish finder image, the horizontal axis can be changed to the distance and displayed.

First, a method of displaying a graph as a simple display method will be described. As shown in FIG. 2A, the cursor (indicated by X) is moved according to an instruction from the operation unit 21 to designate a start point and an end point. The display control unit 17 reads the position information corresponding to the specified start point and end point fish finder information from the position finder memory 16. Display control unit 1
Numeral 7 has a calculation unit (not shown), and calculates the moving distance of the ship between the two points from the read position information of the start point and the end point. Further, the average inclination angle of the seabed is obtained from the obtained moving distance and the fish finder information of the start point and the end point. The average inclination angle is: average inclination angle = tan ⁻¹ ((end point depth−start point depth) /
Travel distance). Further, a graph is obtained from the fish finder information at the start point and the end point and the obtained moving distance. Then, the graph is converted so as to fit a display range determined based on the determined moving distance (determined to be within a predetermined range on the CRT screen). Then, as shown in FIG. 2A, the video signal is converted into a video signal in which the video of the specified section is displayed superimposed on the normal fish finder video, output to the display unit 18, and displayed on the display unit 19. You.

FIG. 2B shows an enlarged view of the display state of the designated section. Here, both the horizontal axis and the vertical axis are displayed at the same scale distance, and the actual moving distance and the average inclination angle are indicated by numerals, so that the actual state of inclination of the seabed can be easily confirmed.

Next, a precision display for displaying fish finder information superimposed on the above-described graph display will be described. In this case, the display control unit 17 reads the fish school information and the position information obtained from when the designated start point information is obtained until the end point information is obtained. Then, a detailed depth change with respect to the moving distance is obtained from the read fish school information and the position information. Further, a graph is obtained from the information on the start point and the end point as described above. The obtained detailed depth change and graph are subjected to signal processing so as to be displayed at a predetermined position shown in FIG. 3A, the signal is sent to the display unit 18, and displayed on the display 19. FIG. 3B shows an enlarged view. Again, both the horizontal axis and the vertical axis are displayed at the same scale distance, the actual moving distance and the inclination angle are displayed by numbers, and the undulation of the seabed is displayed in detail as a function of the moving distance The actual undulation of the seabed can be easily confirmed.

[0015]

According to the present invention, the moving distance is calculated by using the navigation device, and the results of fish shoaling as a function of the moving distance on the seafloor are plotted on a graph indicated by the same scale on both the vertical and horizontal axes. The display makes it easy to check the status of the seabed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a fish finder of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a display state of a display device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a display state of a display device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a display state of a display of a conventional fish finder.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Transmitting part 12 Transmitter / receiver 13 Receiver 14 A / D converter 15 Fish finder buffer memory 16 Position fish finder memory 17 Display control part 18 Display part 19 Display 20 Navigation device 21 Operation part

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-59-164971 (JP, A) JP-A-58-79178 (JP, A) JP-A-54-151067 (JP, A) 10774 (JP, Y1) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01S ^7/ 56-7/64 G01S 15/96

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A fish school is mounted on a ship, emits ultrasonic waves toward the water, receives reflected echoes thereof, obtains received information, and displays the received information on a screen of a display means to detect a school of fish. In a fish finder to perform, a position detecting means for detecting the position of the ship and outputting position information, and a storage means for storing the received information and the position information obtained substantially at the same time in association with each other Designation means for designating specific reception information of the reception information as first reception information and second reception information; and from obtaining the first reception information to obtaining second reception information the table and calculating means for calculating from the stored position information in said storage means a moving distance of the ship moves, the received information as a function of time during the
Indicating the received information obtained from obtaining the first received information to obtaining the second received information as a function of the moving distance.
A fish finder, comprising: display control means for displaying on the display means.