Patent ID: 8009191

Claim:
A marine search system comprising: a chart plotter for displaying a chart section from a nautical chart representation in a first memory; a vessel position sensor arranged for transmitting a position of a vessel to said chart plotter, said chart plotter being arranged for projecting a symbol for said position of the vessel and a heading of the vessel in said chart section; a position receiver arranged for receiving a position of other vessels or objects and possibly an identity of the other vessels or objects, whereby the chart plotter is arranged for projecting symbols for the other vessels or objects in said chart section; a pointing unit arranged for directing a stabilized main axis towards a target in a vicinity of the vessel and arranged for calculating a position of the target; a memory for storing said position of the target; said pointing unit comprising one or more cameras arranged for sending a camera image for being displayed in said chart plotter with an aiming circle representing said main axis; said chart plotter arranged for displaying a camera chart pointer symbol in a position which represents an intersection of said main axis with a surface and provided with a camera command device for moving said camera chart pointer symbol to a new desired position in said chart section and thus command steering of said main axis towards said new desired position; a camera image of said chart plotter being arranged for displaying an image pointer symbol for a camera image steering device, in which a change of a position of said image pointer symbol contributes to commanding rotation of said main axis towards a new desired position for the intersection of said main axis with the surface; and an identification unit connected to said pointing unit arranged for, on the basis of said camera image, to select and assign to said target a class, and further for storing said assigned class and the position of said target as an object with a stored position in a second memory for display as symbols in said chart plotter.