Tide indicator system

Claim 2

An animated graphic tidal indicator system, comprising: means for storing time intervals between a plurality of consecutive tides; means for determining a plurality of temporal positions, each indicative of a relative water depth, in a current time interval based on the actual time of day; and visual display means, responsive to said means for determining, for displaying a plurality of sequential animated scenes representing variations of said relative water depth between tidal extremes in said time interval.

Claim 3

The animated graphic tidal indicator system of claim 1 in which said means for determining includes means for dividing the current time interval into a plurality of consecutive time periods.

Claim 4

The animated graphic tidal indicator system of claim 2 in which some of said time periods are of predetermined length.

Claim 5

The animated graphic tidal indicator system of claim 3 in which the remainder of said time periods are of variable length for accounting for variations in length of said time intervals.

Claim 6

The animated graphic tidal indicator system of claim 4 in which one variable length time period is from one to thirty minutes.

Claim 7

The animated graphic tidal indicator system of claim 4 further including means, responsive to said means for storing, for setting the lengths of said variable length time periods.

Claim 8

The animated graphic tidal indicator system of claim 1 in which there are a plurality of different scenes between high tide and low tide.

Claim 9

The animated graphic tidal indicator system of claim 7 in which there are a plurality of different scenes between low tide and high tide.

Claim 10

The animated graphic tidal indicator system of claim 8 in which at least one scene is repeated between high tide and low tide and between low tide and high tide.

Claim 11

The animated graphic tidal indicator system of claim 1 in which said means for storing includes means for saving time intervals for a plurality of different coastal locations.

Claim 12

The animated graphic tidal indicator system of claim 10 further including means for providing a choice between said different coastal locations.

Claim 13

The animated graphic tidal indicator system of claim 11 further including means for inserting a tidal time offset for a location not among said plurality of different coastal locations.

Claim 14

The animated graphic tidal indicator system of claim 1 further including means for calculating the approximate actual water depth.

Claim 15

The animated graphic tidal indicator system of claim 13 in which said means for calculating includes means for retrieving from memory the depth of the previous and next tidal event.

Claim 16

The animated graphic tidal indicator system of claim 14 in which said visual display means includes means for displaying the approximate actual water depth.

Claim 17

The animated graphic tidal indicator system of claim 15 in which said visual display means includes a bar graph for displaying the approximate actual water depth in relation to lowest and highest water depths.

Claim 18

An animated graphic tidal indicator system, comprising: means for storing time intervals between a plurality of consecutive tidal events, for a plurality of different coastal locations; means for providing a choice between said different coastal locations, including a default coastal location if no choice is provided; means for determining the current date and time; and means for displaying a plurality of sequential animated scenes representing the current tidal state for the chosen or default coastal location.

Claim 19

An animated graphic tidal indicator system, comprising: means for storing time intervals between a plurality of consecutive tidal events, for a plurality of different coastal locations; means for providing a choice between said different coastal locations, including a default coastal location if no choice is provided; means for determining the current date and time; and means for displaying a plurality of sequential animated scenes representing the current tidal state for the chosen or default coastal location.

Claim 20

The graphic tidal indicator system of claim 17 further including means for inserting a tidal time offset for a location not among said plurality of different coastal locations.

Claim 21

An animated graphic tidal indicator system, comprising: means for storing time intervals between and heights of a plurality of consecutive tides; means for determining a current temporal position in a current time interval; means, responsive to said means for determining, and said means for storing, for calculating approximate current water depth; and means for displaying an animated scene depicting said calculated approximate water depth.

Claim 22

An animated graphic tidal indicator system, comprising: means for storing time intervals between and heights of a plurality of consecutive tides; means for determining a current temporal position in a current time interval; means, responsive to said means for determining, and said means for storing, for calculating approximate current water depth; and means for displaying an animated scene depicting said calculated approximate water depth.

Claim 23

The graphic tidal indicator system of claim 19 in which said means for displaying includes means for indicating the approximate current water depth in relation to maximum and minimum water depths.

Claim 24

The graphic tidal indicator system of claim 20 in which said means for indicating includes a bar graph display.