Patent ID: 11921199
Assignee: NAVICO, INC.
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A system for presenting marine data, wherein the system comprises:
at least one sonar transducer associated with a watercraft, wherein the at least one sonar transducer is configured to emit one or more sonar beams into an underwater environment of a body of water in a direction relative to the watercraft, wherein the one or more sonar beams are each emitted according to a beam shape;
a display;
one or more processors; and
a memory including computer program code configured to, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
cause, on the display, presentation of a chart including at least a portion of the body of water;
cause, on the display, presentation of a representation of the watercraft at a position in the chart corresponding to a current location of the watercraft;
determine a depth corresponding to a bottom surface of the body of water at the current location of the watercraft;
determine, based on the determined depth and the beam shape corresponding to the at least one sonar transducer, a sonar beam footprint with a size corresponding to a two-dimensional projection of the beam shape onto the bottom surface at the determined depth, wherein the size of the determined sonar beam footprint varies based on the determined depth at the current location;
cause, on the display, presentation of the sonar beam footprint on the chart in an updating plan view and relative to the representation of the watercraft so as to visually indicate sonar beam coverage of the at least one sonar transducer relative to the watercraft and within the underwater environment, wherein the sonar beam footprint presented on the chart is different than generated sonar imagery and is an indication of the two-dimensional projection of the beam shape on the bottom surface at the determined depth;
determine, based on sonar data from the one or more sonar beams and the sonar beam footprint, an indicator position within the sonar beam footprint that corresponds to an actual position of an object within the one or more sonar beams relative to the watercraft as the object moves within the one or more sonar beams by tracking the object as additional sonar data is captured by the at least one sonar transducer; and
cause, on the display, presentation of an object indicator at the corresponding determined indicator positions within the sonar beam footprint so as to visually indicate a relative position of the object to the watercraft on the chart as the object moves within the one or more sonar beams, wherein the object indicator is different than the generated sonar imagery and corresponds to the object within the sonar data received by the at least one sonar transducer at the current location.