US Patent 12,429,339
The Foundation of
Behavior Based Navigation.
Deriving a route from how vessels actually transit a waterway is patented. Acquisition puts that method, and the engine running it, in your hands exclusively.
The Cognition Gap: Why Physics-Based Routing is a Liability for Autonomous Marine Navigation
1. THE CORE CLAIM: THE HISTORY RULE
Three independent claims cover the invention as a system, as a method, and as software. Each requires the same three steps:
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The input. An origin and destination, and the record of routes other navigators have actually taken between them.
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The judgment. A model trained on navigation patterns in that area works out which of those navigators genuinely know the water.
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The output. A recommended route, drawn from those navigators' actual tracks and displayed to the user.
Further claims cover the specifics: how local knowledge is defined, by transit frequency or home port, how it is scored, how a route is fitted to the paths, and which sources qualify. The claims do not require AIS. Any record of where navigators actually went can feed the method.
2. THE ENGINEERING REALITY
Charts tell you where the water is. They do not tell you where boats go. Closing that gap takes behavioral data and a model that can tell an expert from a stranger, and the claims track both.
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The input. Data on routes navigators have actually taken. The independent claims name no source. AIS is one supported source, not a requirement, so a platform's own recorded trips qualify.
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The judgment. A categorization model trained on navigation patterns, separating the navigator with local knowledge of that water from the one passing through.
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The output. A recommended route drawn from those navigators' tracks and displayed to the user.
The engine running this method is built, deployed, and in production.
3. AGNOSTIC BY DESIGN
We drafted the claims around the method, not the technology used to run it, so the IP stays relevant as sensors and platforms evolve.
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Source agnostic. The independent claims name no data source. Any record of where navigators actually went can feed the method, including a platform's own recorded trips. AIS appears only as one supported source in a dependent claim, not as a requirement.
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Vessel agnostic. The claims carry no vessel class limitation. Recreational, commercial, and everything between.
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Model agnostic. The claims require a categorization model trained on navigation patterns. They do not specify the architecture.
Full prosecution history and chain of title available for diligence review under NDA.
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