JPH0413669B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention transmits ultrasonic waves underwater, receives echoes from the detected device on the seabed, fish schools, etc., and transmits the echo signals. The present invention relates to a fish finder that displays the required information on a display screen such as a CRT using image data obtained through electrical processing, and more specifically to a detection/alarm unit that detects a school of fish near the revision and issues an alarm.

<Conventional technology> Conventional fish finders generally have a display screen that
₁₀ , as shown in Figure 5A, the relief of the seafloor s,
The school of fish t existing between them is displayed. However, this alone requires the operator to constantly monitor the display screen, so the area in which schools of fish should be detected should be set in advance in the water depth direction.
If an echo signal indicating the presence of fish is detected in the area, an alarm sounds to notify the operator, thereby allowing the operator to monitor the situation without having to constantly monitor the screen.
I try not to overlook the presence of schools of fish.

In the figure, M is a marker indicating an area where a school of fish should be detected, and is displayed on one side of the screen with a length set by a setting means such as a switch. The direction of arrow A indicates the direction of movement of the ship, and the image moves in the opposite direction (direction B) as the ship moves.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> By the way, among the fish schools, there is a school of bottom-bearing fish that always exists near the seabed, and since bottom-bearing fish are generally expensive, it is particularly difficult for bottom trawlers to use bottom-bearing fish. Emphasis is placed on echo signals.

However, the depth of these bottom-dwelling fish changes depending on the undulations of the seabed, and their position is not constant in the water depth direction. The area setting must be constantly changed by moving the marker M up and down along the undulations, which is troublesome.

In addition, with conventional fish finders, if there is an echo signal indicating a school of fish even in one scanning line in the water depth direction,
Since the alarm sounds, there was an inconvenience that the alarm would sound even when there was noise.

The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and automatically responds to the echo signals of more than a certain amount of bottom-bearing fish without having to perform troublesome operations such as resetting the detection area. The purpose is to surely and easily detect schools of bottom-dwelling fish by generating an alarm sound.

<Means for Solving the Problems> The fish finder of the present invention, as shown in the claims correspondence diagram in FIG. processing means g for creating image data to be displayed on the display means a by processing the echo signals received by the display means; a setting means c; and a marker generating means that generates a marker signal for displaying a marker in the water depth direction indicating the detection area and a marker in the seabed signal direction on a display screen based on the setting signal of the setting means c, and supplies the signal to the display means. d; Area signal generating means e for generating an area signal indicating a detection area based on the setting signal of the setting means c; and In response to the area signal of the area signal generating means e, The present invention is characterized in that it includes a fish school detection means f which detects a certain amount or more of fish school signals from image data and operates an alarm means b based on the detected signal.

<Operation> According to the above configuration, by appropriately operating the setting means c, the marker generating means d is activated based on the setting signal.
A marker signal is generated according to the setting operation, and an area signal is generated by the area signal generating means e. Then, on the screen of display means a,
Based on the marker signal, a marker in the water depth direction and a marker in the seabed direction indicating the detection area are displayed.
In addition, the fish school detection means responds to the area signal, captures image data included in the area surrounded by both markers, and operates the alarm means when the signal indicating the fish school exceeds a certain amount. This notifies the operator that a school of bottom-bearing fish has been detected.

<Example> Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on an example shown in the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of a fish finder according to an embodiment of the present invention. The fish finder of this embodiment includes an ultrasonic transducer 1, a transmission circuit 2 that drives the ultrasonic transducer 1 to transmit waves, and an amplifier circuit that amplifies the echo signal from the ultrasonic transducer 1. 3, an A/D converter 4 that digitally converts the output of the amplifier circuit 3, and an A/D converter 4 that controls the transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves.
Process the output of to create the desired image data
A CPU 5, an image memory 6 that stores image data supplied from the CPU 5, a D/A converter 7 that converts the image data read from the image memory 6 into analog, and an output of the D/A converter 7 performs display. It is equipped with a display 8 such as a CRT.

The CPU 5 and image memory 6 correspond to processing means described in the claims.

This fish finder also includes an address generation circuit 9 that generates an address designation signal for writing to and reading from the image memory 6, a setting circuit 10 for setting a fish school detection area, an address generation circuit 9 and a setting circuit. a marker/area signal generation circuit 11 that generates a marker signal for displaying a marker indicating the detection area and an area signal indicating the detection area based on both outputs from the marker 10;
A fish school detection circuit 12 detects a school of fish from image data included in the detection area in response to an area signal from a marker/area signal generation circuit 11, and an alarm activated by a detection signal from the fish school detection circuit 12 provided through a flip-flop circuit 13. It has a container 14.

The address generation circuit 9 includes a clock pulse oscillator 15, an H address counter 16 that counts the clock pulses, and a V address counter 17 that counts the count up signal of the H address counter 16. In addition to the output being given to the image memory 6 as an address designation signal, the count-up signals of each address counter 16 and 17 are supplied to the display 8 and the like as an H synchronization signal and a V synchronization signal, respectively.

The setting circuit 10 includes a frequency divider 18 that divides the frequency into clock pulses, a pair of switches 19 and 20 provided on the output side of the frequency divider 18, and each switch 1.
H marker counter 21 and V marker counter 2 which input the frequency divided output through 9 and 20 and count them.
2, when each switch 19, 20 is switched by an operator's operation, the corresponding marker counter 21, 22 performs an up-count operation or a decrement operation, and the count output is sent to the H marker setting signal or the V marker, respectively. Output as a setting signal.

The marker/area signal generation circuit 11 includes an H comparator 23 that compares the count output of the H address counter 16 and the count output of the H marker counter 21.
The H flip-flop circuit 2 receives the output of the H comparator 23 and is reset by the H synchronization signal.
4, a V comparator 25 that compares the count output of the V address counter 17 and the count output of the V marker counter 22, a V flip-flop circuit 26 that receives the V synchronization signal and is reset by the output of the V comparator 25, A first circuit which ANDs the outputs of both H and V flip-flop circuits 24 and 26;
AND gate 27. As shown in FIG. 3, the output of the H flip-flop circuit 24 is a signal whose level changes in accordance with the length of the marker (H marker) Mh along the H scanning direction, which is the water depth direction. V flip-flop circuit 2
As shown in FIG. 3, the output of No. 6 is a signal whose level changes in accordance with the length of the marker (V marker) Mv along the V scanning direction, which is the direction of the seafloor surface. From the AND gate 27 of 1, the H marker is displayed on the display screen of seabed expansion mode.
An area signal whose level changes in a rectangular area surrounded by Mh and V markers Mv is output.

Furthermore, the marker/area signal generation circuit 11
In order to output a marker signal, both second and third AND gates 28, 29 and both AND gates 2
It has an OR gate 30 which introduces the outputs of 8 and 29. The second AND gate 28 connects the output of the H flip-flop circuit 24 and the V address counter 1.
A signal indicating the second scanning line in the H direction from 7 is input, and a signal for displaying the H marker Mh at the position of the second scanning line in the H direction from one side of the screen is generated. The third AND gate 29 connects the output of the V flip-flop circuit 26 and the H address counter 16.
A signal indicating the second dot from the end of each scanning line is input, and a signal for displaying the V marker Mv at the position of the second dot from the bottom of the screen is generated. Then, the logical sum signal of the second AND gate 28 and the third AND gate 29 is used as a marker signal for the D/A
is applied to converter 7. D/A converter 7
stops outputting in response to the marker signal, thereby displaying the H marker Mh at a predetermined position on the screen of the display 8.
and display the V marker Mv.

The fish school detection circuit 12 includes a gate circuit 31 that captures image data in seabed enlargement mode from the image memory 6 in response to an area signal, an integration circuit 32 that integrates the image data captured through the gate circuit 31, and an integration circuit 32. and a skin comparator 33 that compares the output of the sensor with a predetermined reference value. The integrating circuit 32 includes an adder 34 and a latch circuit 35, and the adder 34 adds the previous addition data of the adder 34 itself to the data from the gate circuit 31 and outputs the result. Since the gate circuit 31 opens the gate in response to an area signal indicating the detection area, the integration circuit 34 integrates the signals indicating the school of fish included in the detection area set by the setting circuit 10. The comparator 33 compares the reference value given from the CPU 5 and the output of the integration circuit 32, and when the signal indicating the school of fish included in the detection area exceeds a certain amount (reference value), a comparison signal indicating that The alarm 14 is activated by the signal.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained. First, by operating the switches 19 and 20 of the setting circuit 10, the output of the H marker counter 21, which is the setting signal for the H marker Mh, and the count output of the V marker counter 22, which is the setting signal for the V marker Mv, change. do. Based on the setting signal obtained in this way, the marker/area signal generation circuit 11
The OR gate 30 generates and outputs a marker signal corresponding to the setting operation.

At this time, if the display mode is the seabed enlargement mode, the image signal generated by the seafloor enlargement mode processing is given from the CPU 5 through the image memory 6 and the D/A converter 7, and the display is displayed as shown in FIG. In the lower half of the screen 8a of the device 8, an enlarged image of the ocean floor is displayed.

In such a display state, when a marker signal is given to the D/A converter 7, the response operation of the D/A converter 7 causes the H marker along the water depth method to be displayed on the image in the seabed magnification mode on the display screen 8a. Mh and V marker along the seabed direction
Mv is displayed. In this example, the H marker
Mh is displayed at the position of the second H-direction scanning line, and V marker Mv is displayed at the second dot from the rear of each H-direction scanning line. Each marker Mh,
The length of Mv expands or contracts depending on the setting operation.

Further, based on the setting signal, the first AND gate 27 of the marker/area signal generation circuit 11 generates and outputs an area signal corresponding to the setting operation. In response to this area signal, the gate circuit 31 of the fish school detection circuit 12 opens, so the integration circuit 32
Image data that has been subjected to seafloor expansion mode processing and that is included in the area surrounded by both markers Mh and Mv is imported and integrated. When the signal indicating a school of fish exceeds a certain level in the same image data, the alarm 14 is activated by the output of the comparator 33 indicating this, and this alerts the operator to the set area near the seabed. Notify that a school of fish, that is, a school of fish with a bottom, has been detected within the area.

In addition, in this example, the transmission period of the ultrasonic waves is not particularly explained and can generally be said to be a predetermined constant value, but in this method, the direction of the seabed surface of the image and the actual direction are changed due to changes in ship speed. Since it cannot be said that the distances always correspond, there may be some difference between the actual amount of fish and the accumulated amount of fish, within an allowable range that is of little practical importance.

One possible way to eliminate the above difference is to energize the ship speed synchronization means. One method is to synchronize the transmission period with the ship speed, and the other method is to keep the transmission period constant and synchronize the length of the V marker Mv with the ship speed.

That is, in the former case, for example, the measurement output from the boat speed meter 36 shown in FIG. 4 is used to interlock and vary the transmission cycle in proportion to the output. In the latter case, as shown in FIG. 4, a coefficient converter 37 converts the measured output of the speedometer into digital data, and an adder 38 converts the converted data into a count output of the V marker counter 22 of the setting circuit 10. After adding, V
If the signal is supplied to the comparator 25, the setting signal for the V marker Mv changes depending on the ship speed.
Therefore, on the display screen 8a, the V marker
Mh has a length according to the ship's speed, and the area for capturing image data has an area according to the ship's speed.
After all, the length of the V marker Mv and the set detection area correspond to the actual distance.

In addition, in the above embodiment, a fish finder that can be displayed in normal mode and seabed enlargement mode is taken as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can also be applied to a fish finder.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, according to the present invention, the seabed is displayed in a straight line, and a marker in the water depth direction and a marker in the direction of the seabed surface are displayed on the display screen showing the situation near the seabed, and a two-dimensional Since the detection area is set, the water area along the seabed becomes the detection area, eliminating the need for the conventional troublesome operation of resetting the detection area along the undulations of the seabed. can be detected.

What's more, the detection area is set in two directions, one in the water depth direction and one in the seabed direction, and an alarm sound is generated when the fish school signal included in that area exceeds a certain amount, so instantaneous noise can be avoided. There is no alarm sound, and only schools of bottom-bearing fish can be reliably detected.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a diagram corresponding to the claims of the present invention, Figure 2 is a diagram corresponding to the claims of the present invention.
The figure is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing its display state, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the setting circuit, and FIG.
Both Figures A and B are explanatory diagrams showing the display state of the conventional example. 1... Ultrasonic transducer, 5... CPU, 6...
Image memory, 7...D/A converter, 8...Display device, 10...Setting circuit, 11...Marker/area signal generation circuit, 12...Fish school detection circuit, 14...
...Alarm.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Display means for displaying the seabed in a straight line; Processing means for creating image data to be displayed on the display means by processing echo signals received by an ultrasonic transducer; A setting means for setting a two-dimensional detection area in the water depth direction and the seabed direction on a display screen, and a marker in the water depth direction and a marker in the seabed direction indicating the detection area based on a setting signal of the setting means. Marker generation means that generates a marker signal to be displayed on a display screen and supplies it to the display means; Area signal generation means that generates an area signal indicating a detection area based on the setting signal of the setting means; A fish school detection means for detecting a certain amount or more of fish school signals from image data included in the detection area in response to an area signal of the means, and operating an alarm means based on the detection signal. Fish finder.