Patent ID: 8027785

Claim:
A homing display method comprising: connecting to a user a portable, self-contained apparatus moving with the user, the apparatus comprising a processor executing relative positioning software, an array of accelerometers operably connected to the processor and detecting acceleration of the user in at least two of transverse, longitudinal, and lateral directions, and a display; positioning the array and user in an environment comprising a fluid moving with respect to the earth; moving the array and user through and within the environment along an indirect path from a starting point, fixed in space with respect to the earth, through a series of locations to a current position; providing, by the array in response to the moving, a first signal to the processor; operating the relative positioning software to receive updates to the first signal; calculating, by the processor based exclusively on the first signal, a vector pointing directly back from the current position to the starting point; substantially continually, by the relative positioning software, altering the vector to reflect the relative position of the starting point with respect to the current position of the user; providing by the processor to a display a second signal corresponding to the vector; displaying to the user a sensible signal directing the user directly along the vector toward the starting point; and updating substantially continually the sensible signal to point directly toward the starting point with respect to the current position of the user.