Wireless sonar devices

Abstract

A portable sonar device, which includes a waterproof housing. The waterproof housing has a conical sonar transducer element, a down-scan sonar transducer element, and a wireless data communication module for communicating with one or more wireless devices.

1 - 10 . (canceled) 
     
     
         11 . A marine electronics device comprising:
 a processor;   a wireless data communication module configured to receive sonar data from a plurality of separate portable sonar transducers, each having a conical sonar transducer element and a down-scan sonar transducer element;   a screen configured to display the sonar data; and   memory having a plurality of executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
 receive, via the wireless data communication module, sonar data from at least two of the plurality of portable sonar transducers such that first sonar data is received from a first portable sonar transducer and second sonar data is received from a second portable sonar transducer; 
 process the first sonar data and the second sonar data; and 
 cause display of at least one of the processed first sonar data or the processed second sonar data on the screen. 
   
     
     
         12 . The marine electronics device of  claim 11 , wherein the memory further comprises executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to cause display of processed sonar data from the conical sonar transducer element and the down-scan sonar transducer element of at least the first portable sonar transducer. 
     
     
         13 . The marine electronics device of  claim 11 , wherein the conical sonar transducer element is substantially used to detect the presence of fish and the down-scan sonar transducer element is substantially used to identify objects within a marine environment. 
     
     
         14 . The marine electronics device of  claim 11 , wherein the conical sonar transducer element operates at about 83 kHz or about 200 kHz and the down-scan sonar transducer element operates at about 455 kHz or about 800 kHz. 
     
     
         15 . The marine electronics device of  claim 11 , further comprising an audio signal source configured to generate an audio alert upon detection of an object of interest within the processed first sonar data or the processed second sonar data. 
     
     
         16 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:
 receive sonar data from a plurality of portable sonar transducers, each having a conical sonar transducer element and a down-scan sonar transducer element, wherein the sonar data includes at least first sonar data received from a first portable sonar transducer and second sonar data received from a second portable sonar transducer;   process the first sonar data and the second sonar data; and   cause display of at least one of the processed first sonar data or the processed second sonar data on an electronic screen.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 16 , further comprising instructions that cause the computer to simultaneously cause display of processed sonar data from the conical sonar transducer element and the down-scan sonar transducer element on the electronic screen. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein the conical sonar transducer element is substantially used to detect the presence of fish and the down-scan sonar transducer element is substantially used to identify objects within a marine environment. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 16 , further comprising instructions that cause the computer to analyze the sonar data to notify a user to an object of interest in the sonar data. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 16 , further comprising executable instructions that cause the computer to provide a navigation output to locate at least one of the plurality of portable sonar transducers. 
     
     
         21 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein the first sonar data corresponds to sonar data taken during a first time slot and the second sonar data corresponds to sonar data taken during a second time slot, wherein the first time slot covers a different time window than the second time slot to reduce interference between the plurality of portable sonar transducers. 
     
     
         22 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 21 , wherein the plurality of portable sonar transducers are configured to ping sequentially in different time slots. 
     
     
         23 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 16 , further comprising executable instructions that cause the computer to process the first sonar data and the second sonar data by integrating the first sonar data and the second sonar data together. 
     
     
         24 . The marine electronics device of  claim 11 , wherein the first sonar data corresponds to sonar data taken during a first time slot and the second sonar data corresponds to sonar data taken during a second time slot, wherein the first time slot covers a different time window than the second time slot to reduce interference between the plurality of portable sonar transducers. 
     
     
         25 . The marine electronics device of  claim 24 , wherein the plurality of portable sonar transducers are configured to ping sequentially in different time slots. 
     
     
         26 . The marine electronics device of  claim 11 , wherein the memory further comprises executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to process the first sonar data and the second sonar data by integrating the first sonar data and the second sonar data together. 
     
     
         27 . A system comprising:
 a plurality of separate portable sonar transducers, each having a conical sonar transducer element and a down-scan sonar transducer element, wherein the plurality of portable sonar transducers includes at least a first portable sonar transducer and a second portable sonar transducer; and   a marine electronics device comprising:
 a processor; 
 a wireless data communication module configured to receive sonar data from the plurality of separate portable sonar transducers; 
 a screen configured to display the sonar data; and 
 memory having a plurality of executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
 receive, via the wireless data communication module, sonar data from at least two of the plurality of portable sonar transducers such that first sonar data is received from the first portable sonar transducer and second sonar data is received from the second portable sonar transducer; 
 process the first sonar data and the second sonar data; and 
 cause display of at least one of the processed first sonar data or the processed second sonar data on the screen. 
 
   
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 27 , wherein the first sonar data corresponds to sonar data taken during a first time slot and the second sonar data corresponds to sonar data taken during a second time slot, wherein the first time slot covers a different time window than the second time slot to reduce interference between the plurality of portable sonar transducers. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the plurality of portable sonar transducers are configured to ping sequentially in different time slots. 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 27 , wherein the memory further comprises executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to process the first sonar data and the second sonar data by integrating the first sonar data and the second sonar data together.