Marine vessel monitoring system and method

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Reference is first made to FIG.
1, which shows a remote marine vessel monitoring system 10 made in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
Remote marine monitoring system 10 comprises control unit 12, keytag 14, cellular network 16, web server 18, web site 20, internet 22, personal communication device 23 and web client 24.
Remote marine monitoring system 10 can be utilized by boatowner 25 to remotely monitor and control boat 26.
Control unit 12 is mounted on the deck of boat 26 such that the inner electrical parts of control unit 12 are sheltered from the elements as well as from potential vandals.
Control unit 12 is powered by its own internal battery pack or by the boat battery.
It is preferred for the control unit 12 to only be powered by the boat battery if boatowner 25 is on-board.
Control unit 12 is coupled to a number of sensors (not shown), which in turn are mounted on boat 26 in particular areas of interest (e.
g.
hatches, bilge pump, etc.
), as will be further described below.
Since control unit 12 does not rely on the boat's primary battery, dangers associated with the draining of the primary battery (i.
e.
inability to perform critical operations such as bilge pump operation) can be averted.
Keytag 14 is a conventional keytag transmitter which allows boatowner 25 to control the operation of devices from an operating range of approximately 20 to 30 meters (open field).
Specifically, keytag 14 allows boatowner 25 to provide activation and deactivation signals to remote marine monitoring system 10 (i.
e.
to arm or disarm the system as will be described).
Cellular network 16 is used by control unit 12 to contact web server 18 with information about boat 26.
In particular, control unit 12 uses the spare capacity of cellular network 16.
Web server 18 then notifies boatowner 25 (e.
g.
by email) that new information about boat 26 is on web site 20 (i.
e.
as provided by web server 18).
Boatowner 25 can then access the system web site hosted by web server 18 and display the web site content within a web browser on web client 24