Utility locating system with mobile base station
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A mobile base station for use in a utility locator system to send and receive data to utility locators and utility locator transmitters, comprising:
- a vehicle;
a plurality of antennas disposed on the vehicle, the antennas including a GPS antenna for receiving GPS signals for determining positions information of the vehicle and a wireless local area network (WLAN) antenna for receiving and sending radio signals;
a plurality of receivers disposed on or mounted to the vehicle, the receivers including a GPS receiver operatively coupled to an output of the GPS antenna for determining positioning information of the vehicle based on received GPS signals and a WLAN transceiver coupled to an output of the WLAN antenna for receiving and sending radio signals including data from and to the one or more utility locators and the one or more utility locator transmitters;
a processing element disposed on or mounted to on the vehicle, wherein the processing element is communicatively coupled to the one or more GPS receivers and the WLAN transceivers via a communication network, to process data received from the one or more utility locators and one or more utility locator transmitters and store the data in a non-transitory memory; and
a power supply subsystem, disposed on or mounted to the vehicle, for providing electrical power for the processing elements and the plurality of receivers;
wherein the WLAN transceiver sends positional information associated with the vehicle as determined by the GPS receivers to a one or both of the one or more utility locators and one or more utility locator transmitters and receives locate data from the one or more utility locators.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Mobile base stations for use with one or more portable utility locators to aid in determining the location of a particular locator during operation and receive information associated with the utility for storage and/or retransmission to other devices or systems are disclosed.
25 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A mobile base station for use in a utility locator system to send and receive data to utility locators and utility locator transmitters, comprising:
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a vehicle; a plurality of antennas disposed on the vehicle, the antennas including a GPS antenna for receiving GPS signals for determining positions information of the vehicle and a wireless local area network (WLAN) antenna for receiving and sending radio signals; a plurality of receivers disposed on or mounted to the vehicle, the receivers including a GPS receiver operatively coupled to an output of the GPS antenna for determining positioning information of the vehicle based on received GPS signals and a WLAN transceiver coupled to an output of the WLAN antenna for receiving and sending radio signals including data from and to the one or more utility locators and the one or more utility locator transmitters; a processing element disposed on or mounted to on the vehicle, wherein the processing element is communicatively coupled to the one or more GPS receivers and the WLAN transceivers via a communication network, to process data received from the one or more utility locators and one or more utility locator transmitters and store the data in a non-transitory memory; and a power supply subsystem, disposed on or mounted to the vehicle, for providing electrical power for the processing elements and the plurality of receivers;
wherein the WLAN transceiver sends positional information associated with the vehicle as determined by the GPS receivers to a one or both of the one or more utility locators and one or more utility locator transmitters and receives locate data from the one or more utility locators. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A utility locating system, comprising:
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a mobile base station including; a vehicle; a plurality of antennas disposed on the vehicle, the antennas including a GPS antenna for receiving GPS signals for determining positions information of the vehicle and providing a corresponding GPS antenna output, and a WLAN antenna for receiving WLAN radio signals and providing a corresponding WLAN output and for receiving a WLAN antenna input and sending corresponding WLAN radio signals from and to one or more utility locators and from and to one or more utility locator transmitters; a plurality of receivers disposed on or mounted to the vehicle, the receivers including a GPS receiver operatively coupled to the GPS antenna output, and a WLAN transceiver having an output operatively coupled to the WLAN antenna input and an input operatively coupled to the WLAN antenna output; a processing element, disposed on or mounted to the vehicle, configured to communicate data through the WLAN transceiver and WLAN antenna with ones of the plurality of receivers, one or more utility locators, and one or more utility locator transmitters; and a power supply subsystem, disposed on or mounted to the vehicle, for providing electrical power for the processing elements and the plurality of receivers; one or more utility locators, separate from the vehicle, including locator WLAN transceivers for communicating with the mobile base station to send locate data to and receiver positional information from the mobile base station; and one or more utility locator transmitters, separate from the vehicle and separate from the one or more utility locators, including transmitter WLAN transceivers for communicating with the mobile base station to send frequency data and/or to receive positional data from the mobile base station.
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Specification