# US 2014/0191844 A1 · Duct system and method

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- Number: US 2014/0191844 A1
- Document ID: US20140191844A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 14/146,586
- Filed: 2014-01-02
- Published: 2014-07-10
- Earliest claimed: 2013-01-08
- Assignees: Dura-Line Corporation
- Applicants: Dura-Line Corporation
- Inventors: Timothy A. Grimsley; Thomas McCall
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140191844A1

## CPC

- G01S 1/047: {Displays or indicators (G01S1/06 takes precedence)}
- G01S 5/0226: {Transmitters}
- G01V 15/00: Tags attached to, or associated with, an object, in order to enable detection of the object (record carriers for use with machines having a detectable tag or marker G06K19/00)
- G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01V: GEOPHYSICS; GRAVITATIONAL MEASUREMENTS; DETECTING MASSES OR OBJECTS; TAGS (means for indicating the location of accidentally buried, e.g. snow-buried, persons A63B29/02)

## Abstract

The present inventive concept includes a duct system and method for using same to map and locate ducts. A preferred embodiment of the duct system includes a duct, a plurality of electronic information modules and an oversheath at least partially covering the plurality of information modules and fixing the information modules to the duct. The plurality of information modules are configured to emit a positional signal to enable location of the information modules and associated duct(s) and/or mapping of the duct system.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A duct system comprising:
a duct;
at least one information module configured to emit a positional signal; and
an oversheath at least partially covering the at least one information module and fixing the at least one information module to the duct.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one information module is configured to emit a duct properties signal relating to at least one of i) the condition of the duct, and ii) the contents of the duct.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one information module includes five information modules arranged in a network and a first information module of the five information modules is within positional signal range of the other of the five information modules.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The system of claim 3, wherein the five information modules are configured to bypass a malfunctioning information module to pass signal information.

### Claim 5

A method of mapping a duct system, the steps of the method comprising:
providing at least one information module fixed to a duct and configured to emit a positional signal;
receiving a positional signal from the at least one information module; and
plotting the positional signal on at least two axes.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one information module is configured to emit a duct properties signal relating to at least one of i) the condition of the duct, and ii) the contents of the duct, and further comprising the step of receiving, via the receiver, the duct properties signal.

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one information module is configured to include a receiver and the step of receiving a positional signal is performed by the receiver.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of:
passing the positional signal from a first information module to a second information module of the at least one information module, and
emitting from the second information module the positional signal of the first information module and the second information module.

### Claim 9 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of associating the duct properties signal information with the positional signal information.

### Claim 10 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one information module is fixed to the duct using an oversheath.