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US 11,768,308 B2Granted
Systems and methods for electronically marking, locating and virtually displaying buried utilities
AssigneeSeescan, Inc.
InventorsMark S. Olsson, Michael J. Martin, Ray Merewether, Stephanie M. Bench
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for electronically marking, locating, and virtually displaying buried utilities are disclosed. According to one embodiment, one or more electronic marker devices may be placed below a ground surface in proximity to a buried utility, and marker device data indicative of position and/or identity of such electronic marker devices may be obtained. The obtained marker device data may be associated to the utility data and stored in a database. The stored data may thereafter be retrieved based in part on the marker device data for use in subsequent locate operations and/or for other purposes.
Claims22
A system for electronically marking buried utilities, comprising:
- an electronic marker device placed below a ground surface in proximity to a buried utility;
- a buried utility locator including:
- a marker excitation device to generate and provide a marker excitation signal to the electronic marker device;
- a locator front-end subsystem to receive a marker response signal from the electronic marker device responsive to the marker excitation signal and magnetic field signals emitted from the buried utility;
- and
- a locator processing element to process the received marker response signal obtained from the electronic marker device to generate marker device data indicative of identity and/or position of the placed electronic marker device, and further process the magnetic field signals obtained from the buried utility locator to generate utility data indicative of position of the buried utility relative to the ground surface;
- a remote computing device communicatively coupled to the buried utility locator, including a remote computing device processing element and an association module coupled to the remote computing device processing element, the association module being configured to receive the generated marker device data and the utility data from the buried utility locator, associate the marker device data to the utility data, and store the associated marker device data and the utility data into a non-transitory memory associated with the remote computing device such that the utility data is retrievable from the non-transitory memory based in part on the marker device data;
- and
- a display unit for virtually displaying the buried utility based on the utility data associated with the buried utility locator, wherein the position of the buried utility is updated in real-time based on corresponding movements of the buried utility locator above the ground surface.
6 more elements
A method for electronically marking buried utilities, comprising:
- obtaining marker device data indicative of position and/or identity of an electronic marker device placed below a ground surface in proximity to a buried utility and utility data indicative of position of the buried utility relative to the ground surface;
- associating the obtained marker device data to the utility data;
- storing the associated marker device data and the utility data in a non-transitory memory associated with a remote computing device such that the utility data is retrievable from the non-transitory memory based in part on the marker device data;
- and
- displaying, virtually based on the utility data, the buried utility on a display unit associated with a buried utility locator, wherein the position of the buried utility on the display unit is updated in real-time based on corresponding movements of the buried utility locator above the ground surface.
2 more elements
A method of locating electronically marked buried utility assets, comprising:
- providing, from a buried utility locator, a marker excitation signal to energize one or more electronic marker devices placed below a ground surface in proximity to a buried utility;
- receiving, at the buried utility locator, marker response signal responsive to the marker excitation signal from the energized electronic marker devices;
- retrieving utility data indicative of position of the buried utility corresponding to the energized marker devices from a non-transitory memory associated with the buried utility locator;
- and
- displaying, virtually based on the utility data, the buried utility on a display unit associated with the buried utility locator, wherein the position of the buried utility on the display unit is updated in real-time based on corresponding movements of the buried utility locator above the ground surface.
2 more elements
A method of locating electronically marked buried utility assets, comprising:
- providing marker excitation signals to excite a plurality of electronic marker devices placed below a ground surface in proximity to one or more buried utilities;
- receiving, substantially simultaneously, marker response signals responsive to the marker excitation signals from the plurality of electronic marker devices;
- cross-correlating the marker response signals with pre-stored data pertaining to the electronic marker devices to individually identify each of the electronic marker devices;
- retrieving, from a non-transitory memory, utility data, indicative of position of each of the one or more buried utilities relative to the ground surface, associated with each of the individually identified electronic marker devices;
- and
- displaying, virtually based on the utility data, the buried utility on a display unit associated with the buried utility locator, wherein the position of the buried utility on the display unit is updated in real-time based on corresponding movements of the buried utility locator above the ground surface.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.