Patent ID: 7512465

Claim:
A method for the directional control of a marine vessel by the use of a directional control system, the directional control system comprising a control element movable between two extreme positions and a steering mechanism having a position that affects the direction of the marine vessel and that is controlled by the position of the control element, the method comprising the following steps: generating a directional control signal univocally correlated to a stroke input, wherein the stroke input is a position or a stroke of the control element; coding the directional control signal according to a predetermined communication protocol; transmitting the directional control signal to an actuator; and processing the directional control signal into an actuator control signal for moving the steering mechanism into a route steering position corresponding to the position of the control element, wherein the processing of the directional control signal into the actuator control signal comprises the execution of a correlation function correlating the directional control signal with the actuator control signal, further comprising one or more of the steps of selecting and setting parameters of the correlation function and of selecting and setting one of different, available correlation functions, wherein the control element is movable between opposite stop positions and the steering mechanism is movable between two opposite mechanical stop positions, further comprising the following steps: moving the steering mechanism independently of the control element to a first mechanical stop position; defining a first virtual stop position for the steering mechanism that corresponds to a position upstream of the first mechanical stop position with respect to the approaching direction to the first mechanical stop position; storing the signal related to the first virtual stop position; manually moving the control element to a first control stop position while the reception and transmission of directional command signals generated therefrom is prevented; storing a signal related to the first control stop position; moving the steering mechanism independently of the control element to a second mechanical stop position opposite to the first mechanical stop position; defining a second virtual stop position for the steering mechanism that corresponds to a position upstream of the second mechanical stop position with respect to the approaching direction to the second mechanical stop; manually moving the control element to a second control stop position while the reception and transmission of directional command signals generated therefrom is prevented; and storing a signal related to the second control stop position.