Data processing: measuring – calibrating – or testing – Measurement system in a specific environment – Earth science
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-05
2002-01-15
McElheny, Jr., Donald E. (Department: 2862)
Data processing: measuring, calibrating, or testing
Measurement system in a specific environment
Earth science
Reexamination Certificate
active
06339747
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains generally to systems and methods for displaying representations of weather phenomena over maps of geographic locations for televised weather presentations, and the like, and computer-based systems and methods for preparing and manipulating such displays including systems and methods for tracking and displaying the expected the future path of such weather phenomena.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Various systems and methods have been developed for providing viewers of broadcast and cable television weather presentations with informative and accurate weather information. Typically, such systems provide a display of representations of weather phenomena, e.g., clouds, rain, storms, etc., overlaid on a map of a geographical area of interest. Such displays were originally created by drawing representations of weather phenomena, or placing pre-made weather phenomena symbols, on a physical map of an area of interest. The image of the map was then broadcast to viewers, usually with a weather presenter positioned in front of the map to provide an explanation of the map display. Computer systems are now employed to facilitate the generation of weather displays, using computer-generated graphics and animation.
A typical computer-implemented system for preparing a weather presentation will include detailed digital maps of geographic areas of interest stored for access by the computer. Weather information, such as satellite imagery and/or weather radar information, such as NEXRAD weather radar information provided by the government or live local radar data, is provided to the system. The system scales the received weather information, which is then overlaid on the digital maps to create a graphic display of the weather for a particular area of interest. The weather information received by the system may be processed to generate weather symbols, color contours, or other representations of the weather information which are overlaid on the digital maps to create the weather display. A series of such weather displays may be generated by the computer system, and played back in sequence to provide an animated image of the movement of weather phenomena through a geographic area. Such systems may provide an operator with various tools for selecting, e.g., the geographic location to be displayed, reference points to be displayed on the geographic map, e.g., cities, roads, borders, etc., the source of weather information to be displayed on the geographic map, e.g., satellite imagery or radar, and how the weather information will be represented, e.g., symbols, color contours, etc.
Using a system as described above, a complete weather display may be prepared in advance for replay and broadcast at a later time as part of a televised weather presentation. In some cases, however, particularly during rapidly developing severe weather conditions, a live “on-air” weather presenter may desire to alter the weather display in real time during a live weather presentation. For example, a weather presenter may desire to zoom in on particular geographic areas of interest, where severe weather is developing or headed, to provide an instantaneous detailed display of the position of a storm to viewers. Similarly, the weather presenter may desire to alter how weather information is presented, or the type of weather information being presented, during the live presentation, to provide a better real time explanation to the viewers of the weather situation that is developing. Real time changes to a weather display can be presented to viewers by scan converting the operator display output of the system used for preparing the display for broadcast. In such a case, however, broadcast viewers will see all of the manipulations which the weather presenter is performing to alter the display. For example, various menus, keystrokes and mouse inputs, and the like, which are employed by the presenter manipulating the display, will be visible to viewers of the presentation. This results in an unprofessional and distracting presentation. What is desired, therefore, is a system for preparing a weather display which provides a wide range of operator tools and functions for preparing an informative and detailed weather presentation, and which allows rapid manipulation of the weather display by a presenter during a live presentation in a manner so as to enhance the presentation, without distracting the viewer from the information being provided by the weather presentation.
The most useful television weather presentations provide viewers not only with information on the past and present position of weather phenomena, but also with a prediction of the future path of certain weather of interest. For example, viewers are very interested in knowing if and when a developing storm is likely to reach their location. The weather information received by a system for preparing a weather display, as described above, includes information which may be used to provide such a prediction. For example, NEXRAD weather radar information, employed by many such systems, includes a detailed “storm attributes” table, which defines storm cells, and provides detailed characteristics of such cells, such as the direction and speed of movement of such cells and whether such cells contain elements such as hail or tornadoes. This information may be used by the system for providing a display to viewers of when a particular storm cell is expected to reach a particular location, and the contents of the storm cell. What is desired is a system which allows an operator manually or automatically to employ such information to generate a display of the predicted path of movement of severe weather, including a display of when a particular weather condition is expected to reach a particular location.
Government-provided NEXRAD radar data includes detailed information on storm cells, including detailed information on the characteristics of the cells, including their speed and direction of movement, contents (e.g., hail or tornadoes), etc. This detailed information is obtained by the NEXRAD radar system by performing a volumetric radar scan of the atmosphere. NEXRAD radar systems are very expensive, costing millions of dollars, and the physical process of scanning the atmosphere as well as the computing process of deriving detailed weather information from the scan take relatively long to complete. A weather tracking and display system can expect to receive updated NEXRAD weather information no more often than every six (6) minutes. Existing systems which provide a display of the location and predicted path of movement of severe weather based on NEXRAD data only provide an update of the display when updated NEXRAD data is received by the system, i.e., every six (6) minutes or so. Such a display does not reflect the continuous movement of the storm cell between NEXRAD updates. What is desired, therefore, is a system which updates the position of NEXRAD storm cell attributes between NEXRAD updates.
Furthermore, the speed and direction of movement of a severe weather cell can change significantly during the relatively long period between NEXRAD updates. Thus, the predicted track of a storm cell will become increasingly inaccurate between NEXRAD updates if NEXRAD information alone is relied upon to determine the predicted track of a storm cell. Local or remote live radar systems perform a much more rapid scan of the atmosphere, and are, therefore, able to provide more up-to-the-minute information on the current location of a severe storm weather cell. Since such live radar systems are significantly less expensive than NEXRAD radar systems (costing tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars), many television news and weather operations have their own live local radar systems, in addition to access to government provided NEXRAD data. However, live radar does not provide the detailed information regarding the attributes of storm cells which is provided by NEXRAD. Current weather tracking and display systems allow an operator to display NEX
Erickson David N.
Wiggins Randall T.
McElheny Jr. Donald E.
Weather Central, Inc.
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