ELECTRONICALLY CONTROLLED MARKING APPARATUS AND METHODS
First Claim
1. A marking apparatus to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area, comprising:
- a housing configured to enable dispensing of a marker onto the ground for marking the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area;
a marking dispenser holder affixed to the housing to hold a replaceable marking dispenser;
an actuator, responsive to a control input, to cause dispensing of the marker from the marking dispenser onto the ground to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility in the dig area;
a user interface to receive user inputs;
a local memory to store information relating to a marking operation; and
a processing device to control dispensing of the marker from the marking dispenser onto the ground in the dig area based on a user input and on selected information relating to the marking operation.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A marking system may hold a container from which markers are dispensed to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area. The container may identify a marker characteristic regarding the markers in the container. The marking system may receive activation of a trigger, dispense a marker from the container when the trigger is activated, and store the marker characteristic and time data when the trigger is activated. In other embodiments, the marking system may dispense a marker, determine location data and/or time data, and substantially simultaneously trigger the dispensing of the marker and logging of the location data and/or the time data. The location data identifies a geographic location where the marker is dispensed and the time data identifies the time when the marker is dispensed.
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Citations
60 Claims
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1. A marking apparatus to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area, comprising:
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a housing configured to enable dispensing of a marker onto the ground for marking the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area; a marking dispenser holder affixed to the housing to hold a replaceable marking dispenser; an actuator, responsive to a control input, to cause dispensing of the marker from the marking dispenser onto the ground to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility in the dig area; a user interface to receive user inputs; a local memory to store information relating to a marking operation; and a processing device to control dispensing of the marker from the marking dispenser onto the ground in the dig area based on a user input and on selected information relating to the marking operation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method for marking the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area using a marking apparatus that holds a marking dispenser, comprising:
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receiving user inputs through a user interface of the marking apparatus; storing information relating to a marking operation in a local memory of the marking apparatus; and controlling, using a processing device, dispensing of a marker from the marking dispenser onto the ground in a dig area based on a user input and on selected information relating to the marking operation. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57)
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58. A method for marking the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area using a marking apparatus that holds a marking dispenser, comprising:
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verifying marker information associated with the marking dispenser; and dispensing a marker from the marking dispenser onto the ground in the dig area in response to user activation of the marking dispenser, only if the marker information is verified. - View Dependent Claims (59, 60)
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Specification