Patents Assigned to Furuno Electric Company
  • Patent number: 11105892
    Abstract: The purpose is to provide a radar apparatus which can create and display only necessary trail data. The radar apparatus may include an acquisition module, an echo data creation module, a memory, a trail data creation module, and a display unit. The acquisition module may acquire an echo based on a reflected wave from a target object, of a transmitted electromagnetic wave. The echo data creation module may create, based on the echo, echo data at least indicative of a position of the target object. The memory may store determination data set, for every given display area, whether trail data indicative of a moving trail of the target object is to be newly created based on the echo. The trail data creation module may create the trail data based on the echo and the determination data. The display unit may display the echo data and the trail data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventors: Takumi Fujikawa, Yugo Kubota
  • Patent number: 11092681
    Abstract: An underwater detection apparatus is provided. The underwater detection apparatus includes a transmission and reception circuit, and processing circuitry. The transmission and reception circuit drives a transmission transducer to transmit a transmission wave and generates a reception signal based on a reflection wave including a reflection of the transmission wave on an underwater target. The processing circuitry acquires a water bottom depth, sets a boundary passing at a point having a depth equal to the water bottom depth, the boundary making a given angle with a horizontal direction, and generates an image data that represents a location of the underwater target based at least in part on the reception signal, the image data including a color information, the color information being set based at least in part on the location of the underwater target relative to the boundary.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventors: Sanae Nagai, Roger Saetre
  • Patent number: 11091237
    Abstract: A traveling route generating device is provided, which may include a user interface and processing circuitry. The user interface may receive a home route that is a route on which a ship travels upon departing from a home harbor or upon returning to the home harbor, the home harbor being a location from which the ship departs. The processing circuitry may generate a traveling route between one of a destination of the ship and a current location of the ship, and a location on the home route.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventor: Ryota Kikuchi
  • Patent number: 11035954
    Abstract: A transducer is provided, which includes an oscillator and a broadbanded matching circuit. In the oscillator, a peak frequency corresponding to a peak transmission sensitivity may separate from a center frequency in a given bandwidth, and a transmission sensitivity may increase as a frequency separates from the peak frequency with respect to the center frequency. The broadbanded matching circuit may be configured to perform an impedance matching so that the transmission sensitivity of the oscillator at the peak frequency becomes substantially equal to the transmission sensitivity of the oscillator at the center frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventors: Eiji Murakami, Yasushi Miki, Masaaki Tadokoro
  • Patent number: 11002548
    Abstract: A return-to-harbor notifying device is provided, which may include a user interface and processing circuitry. The user interface may receive an information related to a planned time of arrival at a home harbor that is a location to which a ship returns. The processing circuitry may generate a traveling route upon returning to the harbor, calculate a required time for traveling from a current location of the ship to the home harbor based on the traveling route, calculate a return-to-harbor start time of the ship based on the required time and the information related to the planned time of arrival, and notify a content based on the return-to-harbor start time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventor: Ryota Kikuchi
  • Patent number: 10996829
    Abstract: A data processing apparatus is provided, which includes processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to acquire a data set from target detected by a detection apparatus, perform rendering of the data set, and generate a plurality of views arranged on a screen. Each view of the plurality of views includes a plurality of pixels. Each pixel included in the plurality of views is associated with a plurality of pieces of information including a first information displayed on the screen and a second information that indicates a view among the plurality of views to which the pixel belongs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventor: Sanae Nagai
  • Patent number: 10948570
    Abstract: In order to accurately identify a target object, a signal processor is provided, which includes an extracting module configured to extract, from echo sample sequences, a plurality of samples caused by the target object as a partial sample sequence, a characteristic amount calculating module configured to calculate a characteristic of the partial sample sequence as a characteristic amount, a memory configured to store a plurality of type-based data that are data as comparison targets of the characteristic amount and correspond to types from which the target object is identified, and an identifying module configured to compare the characteristic amount with each of the plurality of type-based data and, based on the comparison result, identify the target object corresponding to the partial sample sequence for which the characteristic amount is calculated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventors: Keisuke Goto, Hitoshi Maeno
  • Patent number: 10794994
    Abstract: A radar control device is provided, which includes a signal generating module configured to generate a transmission pattern signal comprised of at least one kind of pulse signal that is set among pulse signals including first and second pulse signals, a transmitter configured to externally transmit the transmission pattern signal via a radar antenna, a detector configured to detect transmission power of each pulse signal included in the transmission pattern signal, and a processing circuit configured to control, when the transmission pattern signal includes the second pulse signal, the transmission power of the transmission pattern signal by using a control value calculated based on the transmission power of the second pulse signal, and control, when the transmission pattern signal consists of the first signal, the transmission power of the first pulse signal by using a control value previously used for controlling the transmission power of the second pulse signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventor: Keisuke Tanaka
  • Patent number: 10677912
    Abstract: A signal processing device and method to accurately detect a distress signal from a search and rescue transponder and reduce a calculation load for the detection. The device may include an instantaneous frequency change rate calculating module configured to calculate a change rate of an instantaneous frequency of a complex reception signal generated from a reception wave received by a wave receiver, a memory configured to store a value obtained based on a reference frequency sweeping speed that is a frequency sweeping speed of the distress signal, and a distress signal determining module configured to determine whether the distress signal is issued from the search and rescue transponder, based on a comparison result between the instantaneous frequency change rate calculated by the instantaneous frequency change rate calculating module and the value obtained based on the reference frequency sweeping speed stored in the memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventor: Fumiya Nakatani
  • Patent number: 10673458
    Abstract: A signal processing device is provided, which includes a pulse compressing module configured to generate a pulse compressed signal obtained by performing pulse compression on a reception signal that is a reflection of a transmission signal transmitted to outside the device, a pseudo signal generating module configured to generate, based on the reception signal, a pseudo signal of which a pseudo main lobe portion corresponding to a main lobe of the pulse compressed signal has a lower signal level than signal levels of pseudo side lobe portions corresponding to side lobes of the pulse compressed signal, and a side lobe removing module configured to remove the pseudo signal from the pulse compressed signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventors: Keisuke Tanaka, Eikoh Gotoh
  • Patent number: 10580307
    Abstract: An AIS information display device comprises an information acquisition component, an icon generator, and a display component. The information acquisition component acquires bearing information, which is information about the bearing of other targets with respect to the position of the host vessel. The icon generator uses an icon-use host vessel symbol S3 and one other target symbol S2 to generate an icon 19 that indicates the relative bearings of the host vessel and another target. The display component displays the icon 19 generated by the icon generator. Consequently, a ship display device can be provided which makes every target easy to understand, even when there are many other targets around the host vessel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventor: Toru Yoshikawa
  • Patent number: 10386459
    Abstract: An echo image display device includes a receiver, an information memory, an intermediate image production component, and a display component. The receiver is configured to receive a reception signal that is a reflection of a transmitted signal. The information memory is configured to store detection information about the reception signal received by the receiver and position information about the reception signal in association with each other. The intermediate image production component is configured to produce an intermediate image based on at least the detection information for the reception signal at an N-th scan, and the detection information for the reception signal at an N?1-th scan having the same position information as the position information for the reception signal at the N-th scan. The display component is configured to display the intermediate image produced by the intermediate image production component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventor: Kazunobu Iwata
  • Patent number: 10312578
    Abstract: There is provided a radar device with which the density of transmitted signals can be made uniform in relation to orientation even if the rotation rate of an antenna fluctuates, and interference removal processing can be given a simpler configuration. A radar device that transmits and receives signals while rotating an antenna comprises a motor, a transmission pulse generator, and a transmitter. The motor rotates the antenna (antenna main body). The transmission pulse generator generates transmission timing pulses for transmission signals from the antenna based on the rotational angle of the antenna main body. The transmitter transmits transmission signals via the antenna according to the transmission timing pulses generated by the transmission pulse generator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventor: Masahiro Nakahama
  • Patent number: 10247826
    Abstract: A detection apparatus is provided. The detection apparatus includes a hardware processor programmed to at least calculate a first echo intensity of a first reception signal generated from a reception wave reflected on reflection objects, calculate a second echo intensity of a second reception signal generated from a reception wave reflected on the reflection objects, a signal duration of the second reception signal being shorter than that of the first reception signal, generate a first frequency distribution of the first echo intensity, generate a second frequency distribution of the second echo intensity, and extract a density of the reflection objects or an index of density of the reflection objects based on a comparison of the first frequency distribution and the second frequency distribution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventor: Rika Shiraki
  • Patent number: 10156632
    Abstract: A detection apparatus is provided. The detection apparatus includes a hardware processor programmed to at least calculate a first echo intensity of a first reception signal generated from a reception wave reflected on a reflection object, calculate a second echo intensity of a second reception signal generated from a reception wave reflected on the reflection object, a signal duration of the second reception signal being shorter than that of the first reception signal, and detect a target from a comparison of the first echo intensity and the second echo intensity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2018
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventor: Rika Shiraki
  • Patent number: 10153107
    Abstract: A manipulation device includes a rotary knob, a button and a waterproofing ring. The rotary knob rotatable about a rotational axis. The button having a center axis on the rotational axis of the rotary knob. The waterproofing ring that waterproofs a gap between the rotary knob and the button. The waterproofing ring rotating with the rotary knob, and the waterproofing ring being held in contact with the button and the rotary knob.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2018
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventor: Shinichi Okano
  • Patent number: 10120070
    Abstract: A detection device detects a target based on a reception signal obtained from a reflection signal of a transmission signal. The detection device includes a Doppler frequency component generator that acquires a Doppler frequency component that indicates the amplitude level of a reception signal, for at least one Doppler frequency, based on the reception signal, a region identifier that identifies a first region and a second region that is outside the first region, based on the value of the amplitude level and the increase rate in the amplitude level, a second-Doppler frequency component suppressor that suppresses the Doppler frequency component of an unnecessary signal, out of the Doppler frequency component corresponding to the second region, and a combiner that combines the Doppler frequency component corresponding to the first region outputted from the region identifier, and the output of the second Doppler frequency component suppressor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventors: Hitoshi Maeno, Sae Takemoto, Akira Okunishi
  • Patent number: 10114118
    Abstract: A radar device 1 equipped with a radar antenna 2. Specifically, this radar device 1 comprises a housing 3, a transmitting unit 6, and a receiving unit 7. The housing 3 has a first wall component 3R and a second wall component 3L that are opposite each other. The transmitting unit 6 is attached on the first wall component 3R side in an internal space of the housing 3, and is configured to transmit radar signal through the radar antenna 2. The receiving unit 7 is attached on the second wall component 3L side in the internal space of the housing, is disposed opposite the transmitting unit 6, and is configured to receive reflected wave of the radar signal through the radar antenna 2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventors: Koji Atsumi, Tatsunori Tanaka
  • Patent number: 10048363
    Abstract: A radar device comprises a transmitter, a receiver, a first radar image production component, a second radar image production component, a display component, and an echo width adjuster. The transmitter transmits a pulse signal. The receiver receives an echo signal during a transmission and reception period of the pulse signal. The first radar image production component produces a radar image of a first display range on the basis of the echo signal. The second radar image production component produces a radar image of a second display range that is wider than the first display range on the basis of the echo signal. The display component selectively or simultaneously displays the radar image of the first display range and the radar image of the second display range. The echo width adjuster adjusts pulse width of echo included in the radar images or the echo signal according to the display range of the radar image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventor: Koji Dai
  • Patent number: 10024959
    Abstract: There are provided a tracking processing device and a tracking processing method with which time lag from the receipt of a command to track a target until the movement state of this target is estimated more accurately can be reduced, the calculation burden can be reduced, and the memory capacity can be reduced. A tracking processing device 3 has an echo detector 9 and a tracking processor 11. The tracking processor 11 includes a characteristic information memory 41. The echo detector 9 detects information on tracking representative points P for one or more targets. The characteristic information memory 41 stores the information on the tracking representative points P at a plurality of time-points. The tracking processor 11 tracks the tracking target selected from among a number of targets. The tracking processor 11 uses information stored in a characteristic information memory 41 to estimate an estimated speed vector V5(n) for this tracking target at the start of tracking of the tracking target.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2018
    Assignee: FURUNO ELECTRIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventor: Kazuya Nakagawa