Patent ID: 11921218
Assignee: GARMIN SWITZERLAND GMBH
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  B | IPC B  G

Claim 17:
18. An electronic system for use in connection with navigating a marine vessel to a desired position along a waterline boundary:
a display;
a light detection ranging (“LIDAR”) sensing system configured to detect structure of an edge of a dock in a region by vertically scanning the region, the structure comprising the waterline boundary;
a memory element configured to store characteristics of the detected structure;
a processing element coupled with the LIDAR sensing system and the memory element, the processing element configured to:
determine, and store in the memory element, a characteristic of the detected structure,
identify a primary reference point associated with navigation of the marine vessel to the desired position based on the determined characteristic of the detected structure,
control the display to present information about a current position of the marine vessel in relation to the desired position,
identify a secondary reference point having a linear correlation to the primary reference point, and
continually determine a distance between the primary and secondary reference points;

wherein, if differences in subsequent measurements of the primary reference point exceed a variability threshold, the processing element uses the secondary reference point for navigation based on the previously determined distance between the primary and secondary reference points.