Patent ID: 8810436

Claim:
A process for detecting a person falling overboard from a ship into a body of water comprising: setting the perimeter of an area to scan beyond the hull of the ship, scanning said area utilizing a laser beam transmitter mounted in the proximity of the hull for illuminating the person falling overboard as the person intercepts a laser beam, receiving a reflection of said laser beam from the person falling overboard utilizing a laser beam receiver mounted in the proximity of the hull for detecting the reflection of the laser beam, recording a video of the person falling overboard during a period of time while the person falls from the ship, and upon detecting the reflection of the laser beam from the person falling overboard, playing back the video recording of the person falling overboard, wherein the area to scan beyond the hull of the ship extends, in one dimension, less than fifty feet from the laser beam transmitter mounted in the proximity of the hull, and wherein the person falling overboard falls, at an angular velocity, relative to the distance at which the person falling overboard intercepts the beam, within the range of 0.2 radians per second to 0.02 radians per second.