Back to results
US 10,373,039 B2Granted
System and method of using a low energy personal area network retained signal strength indication for locating underground utility monuments
AssigneeUnited Efficiency, Inc.
InventorStanley G. Van Meter, II
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The utility tracker taught by the present invention is a BLUETOOTH low energy tag, plus a three axis accelerometer which is approximately the size of a quarter. The utility tracker of the present invention can be secured, typically by “sticking” the dot to an asset by releasable glue or tape. The utility tracker may be stuck to any asset, which could be a fiber optic cable, or any other non-metallic asset that get placed by a utility company, and which can subsequently be detected by a mobile device.
Claims11
A system and method for locating assets comprising:
- one or more assets;
- a utility tracker attached to each asset;
- each utility tracker containing connectivity and one or more accelerometers;
- each utility tracker transmitting a signal beacon;
- a mobile device and associated software with information about the utility tracker location, and GPS coordinates;
- a method to approach the utility tracker by GPS until the mobile device is within range of the utility tracker signal;
- a method to calibrate the mobile device to detect a direction of the utility tracker signal;
- and
- after calibration, a user is directed toward the asset.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.