The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 22, 2005
Filed:
Mar. 27, 2003
Shinji Ishihara, Nishinomiya, JP;
Yasuo Ito, Nishinomiya, JP;
Nobuharu Yamashina, Nishinomiya, JP;
Furuno Electric Company, Ltd., Nishinomiya, JP;
Abstract
An automatically tracking scanning sonar alternately performs horizontal scanning and vertical scanning and a target lock processor calculates a predicted position of a target based on an echo signal previously received from the target when the echo signal from the target is interrupted. A selector sets a range, tilt angle and sounding direction and outputs them to a transmit-receive controller such that the scanning sonar can scan the predicted target position. As the depth of the target is determined by performing the vertical scanning, the tilt angle of an umbrellalike beam pattern produced by the horizontal scanning can be varied to follow the target by controlling the tilt angle based on target depth information even when the target moves in vertical directions. It is therefore possible to automatically track the target in a reliable fashion.