Ship Information Display With 3D View for Berthing Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
It is difficult for sailors to intuitively grasp the size of a ship, especially when approaching or departing from a shore, due to visual obstructions such as a sun deck and the water surface, which makes it challenging to assess distances to objects like quays or tugboats.
Innovation Solution
A ship information displaying system that integrates various sensors and devices to generate augmented reality images, combining actual camera feeds with virtual objects and data to provide intuitive visualizations of ship size, distances, and surroundings, using a network of GNSS, radar, AIS, ECDIS, gyrocompass, and cameras to create synthesized images.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If sailors rely on direct visual observation from the ship, then they can see the surroundings, but the view is interrupted by the sun deck and the ship edge near the water surface cannot be visually recognized
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the ship and its surroundings using image synthesis technology. Multiple cameras capture images from different positions, and these are synthesized to create a virtual top-view image that replicates what would be seen from above, allowing sailors to view the ship edge and surroundings without direct visual obstruction
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an image synthesis device as an intermediary between the cameras and the display. This device processes raw camera images, synthesizes them into a coherent top-view perspective, and presents the processed information to sailors, effectively mediating the visual information to overcome physical obstructions
2Loss of information
If sailors try to grasp the size of the ship visually, then they need to see the entire ship structure, but the water surface and ship edge block the view
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a two-dimensional view from the ship's deck to a three-dimensional virtual top-view perspective. By synthesizing images to create a bird's-eye view, the system allows sailors to perceive the ship's overall size and structure as if viewing from above, overcoming the limitations of the deck-level perspective
3Loss of information
If multiple cameras are installed to capture the circumference of the ship, then more visual information is available, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs the image synthesis device to perform multiple functions: it processes images from multiple cameras, synthesizes them into a unified top-view perspective, and can display the result in various formats. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate systems into a single integrated device
Data Source
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AI summary
The present disclosure is to provide a ship information displaying system which can easily grasp the size of a ship intuitively. The ship information displaying system includes a position detector that detects a position of a ship and generates positional data, a direction detector that detects a heading of the ship and generates directional data, a memory that stores size data indicative of a flat dimension of the ship on the basis of a detected location of the positional data in the ship, an object placing module that places a ship object indicative of the ship at a position in a virtual three-dimensional space corresponding to the positional data, with an orientation corresponding to the directional data and a size corresponding to the size data, an image generating module that generates an image containing the ship object by rendering a scene based on a viewpoint position and a line-of-sight direction set in the virtual three-dimensional space, and a display that displays the image.