# US 12,223,842 B2 · Vessel systems and methods relating thereto

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- Number: US 12,223,842 B2
- Document ID: US12223842B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/478,966
- Filed: 2021-09-20
- Published: 2022-01-06
- Granted: 2025-02-11
- Earliest claimed: 2016-01-15
- Assignees: Pelagic Data Systems, Inc.
- Applicants: Pelagic Data Systems, Inc.
- Inventors: David Belu Solomon; Will Eamon Mcdonald; Michael Burg; Melissa Sara Garren
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12223842B2

## CPC

- G08G 3/00: Traffic control systems for marine craft (marking of navigational route B63B22/16, B63B51/00)
- H04W 4/021: Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
- B63B 79/15: for monitoring environmental variables, e.g. wave height or weather data
- B63B 79/40: for controlling the operation of vessels, e.g. monitoring their speed, routing or maintenance schedules
- G01C 21/203: {specially adapted for water-borne vessels}
- G01C 21/3807: {characterised by the type of data}
- G01S 5/0027: {of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile}
- G01S 19/34: Power consumption
- G01S 19/42: Determining position
- G05D 1/0206: {specially adapted to water vehicles}
- G05D 1/49: Control of attitude, i.e. control of roll, pitch or yaw
- G06Q 10/08: Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
- G06Q 10/0833: Tracking
- G07C 5/0825: {using optical means}
- H04W 4/029: Location-based management or tracking services
- H04W 4/38: for collecting sensor information
- G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93})
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)
- B63B: SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; EQUIPMENT FOR SHIPPING (arrangements of vessel ventilation, heating, cooling, or air-conditioning B63J2/00; floating substructures as supports of dredgers or soil-shifting machines E02F9/06)
- G01C: MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY (measuring liquid level G01F; radio navigation, determining distance or velocity by use of propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effects, propagation time, of radio waves, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S)
- G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G07C: TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE

## Abstract

Systems and methods for tracking vessel activities are described. An exemplar method of tracking vessel activities includes: (i) receiving data, using one or more devices, including vessel positioning data and/or time associated with one or more vessels traversing one or more paths on a body of water; (ii) deducing, using the data received from step (i), vessel attributes of one or more the vessels at certain positions and/or time along one or more of the paths; (iii) identifying, based on the vessel attributes of step (ii), one or more types of vessel activities of one or more of the vessels at the certain positions along one or more of the paths; (iv) parsing an electronic map of the body of water and land surrounding the body of water into discrete geographic zones; (v) grouping one or more types of vessel activities being carried out in each of the discrete geographic zones to arrive at one or more types of grouped vessel activities; (vi) causing to display or displaying one or more types of the grouped vessel activities that are being carried out in at least some of the discrete geographic zones.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of tracking vessel activities, said method comprising:
receiving data, using one or more devices, including vessel positioning data and/or time associated with one or more vessels traversing one or more paths on a body of water;
identifying, using said processor, one or more types of vessel activities of one or more of said vessels at certain positions and/or time along one or more of said paths;
parsing, using said processor, an electronic map of said body of water and land surrounding said body of water into discrete geographic zones, each of which defines a boundary around a water region and/or a land region that is located within said electronic map and some of which include at least a portion of one or more of said paths of one or more of said vessels;
grouping, using said processor, one or more types of vessel activities being carried out in each of said discrete geographic zones to arrive at one or more types of grouped vessel activities; and
causing to display or displaying, on a display interface, said electronic map including said boundary surrounding each of said discrete geographic zones and, located within said boundary of at least some of said discrete geographic zones, one or more types of grouped vessel activities that are being carried out in said discrete geographic zones.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein receiving includes receiving data from at least one sensor chosen from a group comprising accelerometer sensor, compass sensor, gyroscope sensor, vibration sensor, humidity sensor, salinity sensor, motor load sensor, depth sensor, pressure sensor, light sensor, internal core device sensor, solar panel irradiance sensor, battery charge sensor, altimeter sensor, Automatic Identification System (“AIS”) receiver/data logger, motor-run sensor, personnel sensor, fish-hold temperature sensor, water temperature sensor, and auxiliary detachment sensor.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein receiving includes receiving one or more type of data, wherein each said data type is associated with at least one vessel and is chosen from a group comprising vessel size, vessel capacity, vessel target species, vessels onboard gear, vessel infractions, and previous vessel trips.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein receiving includes receiving one or more types of external data, wherein each said data type is chosen from a group comprising vessel elevation, depth of water, water temperature, chlorophyll content, ocean color, wave height, weather, wind speed, air temperature, cloud cover, sun rise, sun set, and tides.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of said devices includes a core device and said core device includes at least one internal sensor chosen from a group comprising light sensor, accelerometer, compass, internal temperature sensor, solar panel irradiance sensor, global positioning sensor, altimeter, gyroscope and battery charging and/or performance sensor.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein said core device includes an inter-device radio for communicating with one or more of external devices.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein causing to display includes generating one or more electronic maps.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more of said devices further comprises an external sensor including a sensor not incorporated inside and disposed external to said core device.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving data includes obtaining encrypted data.

### Claim 10

A method of tracking vessel activity, said method comprising:
receiving data, using one or more devices, including vessel positioning data and/or time associated with one or more vessels traversing one or more paths on a body of water;
identifying, using said processor, one or more types of vessel activities of one or more of said vessels at said certain positions and/or time along one or more of said paths;
assigning, using said processor, an activity weight value to each type of said vessel activities;
parsing, using said processor, an electronic map of said body of water and land surrounding said body of water into discrete geographic zones, each of which defines a boundary around a water region and/or a land region that is located within said electronic map and some of which include at least a portion of one or more of said paths of one or more of said vessels;
grouping, using said processor, one or more types of vessel activities being carried out in each of said discrete geographic zones to arrive at one or more types of grouped vessel activities within said discrete geographic zones; and
using said activity weight value for each type of said vessel activities, calculating, using said processor, a vessel activity score for each type of said grouped vessel activities within said discrete geographic zones or calculating a geographic zone score for each of said discrete geographic zones.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The method of tracking vessel activity of claim 10, further comprising causing to display and/or displaying, on a display interface, said electronic map including said boundary surrounding each of said discrete geographic zones and, located within said boundary of at least some of said discrete geographic zones, said vessel activity score for one or more of said grouped vessel activities within each of said discrete geographic zones.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of tracking vessel activity of claim 11, wherein said vessel activity score includes a fishing pressure score for each of said discrete geographic zones.

### Claim 13 (depends on 10)

The method of tracking vessel activity of claim 10, further comprising causing to display and/or displaying, on a display interface, said electronic map including said boundary surrounding each of said discrete geographic zones and, located within said boundary of at least some of said discrete geographic zones, said geographic zone score for each of said discrete geographic zones.

### Claim 14 (depends on 10)

The method of tracking vessel activity of claim 10, wherein said identifying one or more of said vessel activities comprises:
analyzing, at one or more locations and/or times of said vessel along one or more paths of said vessel on said body of water, one or more vessel attributes at and around one or more of said locations and/or times to arrive at a vessel attribute and/or vessel attribute pattern; and
matching said vessel attribute or vessel attribute pattern to a corresponding predefined vessel activity.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method of tracking vessel activity of claim 14, further comprising causing to display and/or displaying, based on said attribute type or pattern in said analyzing, position of said vessel as broken up sub-paths.