US 5,529,433 AGranted

Apparatus and method for marking a surface

AssigneePavement Marking Technologies, Inc.

InventorsDuc Huynh, Daniel D. Sieben, Donald W. Nusbaum

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A method and apparatus for marking a surface with a predetermined pattern is described. The apparatus includes a surface marking mechanism that supports a material dispenser. The material dispenser is manipulated along a number of axes including an x-axis, a y-axis, and a z-axis. In addition, the material dispenser is manipulated to rotate around a w-axis and to form a tilt angle with the w-axis. The surface marking mechanism includes movement devices for initial positioning of the mechanism and for re-positioning the mechanism to complete a selected pattern that does not fit within the border of the mechanism. The surface marking mechanism is responsive to control signals from a controller. The control signals are derived from a mathematical model characterizing the spatial relationship between the predetermined pattern, the material dispenser, and the surface to be marked.

Claims18

Dependent claims

In an apparatus for applying a predetermined pattern to a surface, the combination comprising:

a surface marking mechanism;
a memory storing a set of machine control instructions including a sequence of y-axis control instructions;
means, coupled to said memory, for identifying external y-axis control instructions among said y-axis control instructions, said external y-axis control instructions corresponding to y-axis coordinate values outside a first frame position of said surface marking mechanism;
means, responsive to said identifying means, for adding an offset value to said external y-axis control instructions to yield offset y-axis control instructions;
means for moving said surface marking mechanism from said first frame position to a second frame position corresponding to said offset value;
and
means for positioning a y-axis movement device of said surface marking mechanism at a sequence of y-axis positions in response to said offset y-axis control instructions.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.