Marking system and method with location and/or time tracking
AssigneeCertus View Technologies, LLC
InventorsSteven Nielsen, Curtis Chambers, Jeffrey Farr, Mark A Conner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system may dispense a marker, determine location data or time data, and substantially simultaneously trigger the dispensing of the marker and logging of the location data that identifies a geographic location at which the marker is dispensed or the time data that identifies a time at which the marker is dispensed.
Claims49
A marking system to mark ground, pavement or other surfaces to provide a visual indication of a presence or an absence of at least one underground utility in a dig area to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the marking system comprising:
- a housing including an elongated center portion and a handle to enable a user to walk or stand erect in the dig area while using the marking system;
- a paint canister holder disposed in a bottom portion of the housing and adapted to support an aerosol paint canister having a nozzle;
- an actuation mechanism coupled to the bottom portion of the housing and comprising a rigid material that controllably applies pressure to the nozzle of the aerosol paint canister, when the canister is installed in the paint canister holder, to dispense paint from the paint canister;
- a location tracking system at least a portion of which is disposed within or coupled to the housing to determine location data;
- a processor disposed within the housing;
- a memory disposed within the housing;
- and
- a triggering system in communication with the actuation mechanism and the processor to substantially simultaneously trigger the actuation mechanism to apply pressure to the nozzle of the aerosol paint canister to dispense the paint from the canister and the processor to log in the memory the location data to identify a geographic location of the dispensed paint, the triggering system including a mechanical trigger located proximate to the handle of the housing.
A marking tool to mark ground, pavement or other surfaces to provide a visual indication of a presence or an absence of at least one underground utility iii a dig area to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the marking tool comprising:
- a housing configured to enable a user to walk or stand erect in the dig area while using the marking system;
- a marker dispenser mounted to, connected to, or located within the housing to hold and dispense at least one marker;
- a processor mounted to, connected to, or located within the housing;
- a memory mounted to, connected to, or located within the housing;
- a location tracking system mounted to, connected to, or located within the housing, and coupled to the processor, to determine location data;
- and
- a triggering system mounted to, connected to, or located within the housing to substantially simultaneously trigger the marker dispenser to dispense the at least one marker and the processor to log in the memory the location data from the location tracking system to identify a geographic location of the marker.
A method for marking ground, pavement or other surfaces to provide at least one visual indication of a presence or an absence of at least one underground utility in a dig area to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the method comprising:
- A) manually positioning a hand-held marking tool proximate to a geographic location in the dig area at which a marker is to be dispensed;
- B) dispensing the marker from the hand-held marking tool in the dig area;
- C) electronically generating at least one of:
- location data identifying the geographic location of where the marker is dispensed;
- time data identifying a time at which the marker is dispensed;
- and
- marker data identifying at least one characteristic of the dispensed marker;
- and
- D) electronically storing the at least one of the location data, the time data, and the marker data so as to generate an electronic record of the at least one visual indication.
A marking tool to mark ground, pavement or other surfaces to provide a visual indication of a presence or an absence of at least one underground utility in a dig area to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the marking tool comprising:
- an elongated hand-held housing;
- a marking dispenser coupled to the elongated hand-held housing to dispense at least one marker in the dig area;
- a triggering system to trigger the marking dispenser so as to dispense the at least one marker;
- and
- a communication system including a wireless antenna, coupled to the elongated hand-held housing, to transmit at least one signal from the marking tool relating to at least one actuation of the triggering system by a user.
A marking tool to mark ground, pavement or other surfaces to provide a visual indication of a presence or an absence of at least one underground utility in a dig area to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the marking tool comprising:
- a housing;
- a marker dispenser coupled to the housing to hold and dispense at least one marker in the dig area;
- at least one of:
- a timing system to output time data;
- a location tracking system to determine location data;
- and
- a tag reader to determine marker data;
- a processor mounted to, coupled to, or disposed within the housing;
- and
- a triggering system communicatively coupled to the processor to substantially simultaneously trigger the marker dispenser to dispense the at least one marker and the processor to log at least one of the time data to identify a time at which the marker is dispensed, the location data to identify a geographic location of the dispensed marker, and the marker data to identify at least one characteristic of the dispensed marker.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.