MARKING APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR CREATING AN ELECTRONIC RECORD OF MARKING OPERATIONS

• US 20090208642A1
• Filed: 02/02/2009
• Published: 08/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Certusview Technologies LLC (Dycom Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Certusview Technologies LLC (Dycom Industries Incorporated)
• Inventors: Chambers, Curtis, Farr, Jeffrey, Nielsen, Steven E., Conner, Mark A., Vazquez, Rene A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,700,325 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 427/136
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/02 Means for marking measuring points
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications

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.

Claims

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 to enable a user to cause dispensing of the marker from the marking dispenser onto the ground in the dig area, in a marking operation, to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility; and

a processing device to log one or more data elements associated with the marking operation in an electronic record of the marking operation.

2. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a clock generator to generate a current date and time, wherein the processing device logs the current date and time in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marking dispenser.

3. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a tag reader to read tag information from a tag associated with the marking dispenser, wherein the processing device logs the tag information in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marking dispenser.

4. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a location tracking system to determine geographical coordinates of the marker, wherein the processing device logs the geographic coordinates of the marker in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marking dispenser.

5. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a clock generator to generate a current date and time and a tag reader to read tag information from a tag associated with the marking dispenser, wherein the processing device logs the current date and time and the tag information in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marking dispenser.

6. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a clock generator to generate a current date and time and a location tracking system to determine geographical coordinates of the marker, wherein the processing device logs the current date and time and the geographical coordinates of the marker in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marking dispenser.

7. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a clock generator to generate a current date and time, a tag reader to read tag information from a tag associated with the marking dispenser and a location tracking system to determine geographical coordinates of the marker, wherein the processing device logs the current date and time, the tag information and the geographical coordinates of the marker in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marking dispenser.

8. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the processing device logs a count of user activations of the marking dispenser in the electronic record of the marking operation.

9. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the processing device logs an elapsed time of user activation of the marking dispenser in the electronic record of the marking operation.

10. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a local memory, wherein the electronic record of the marking operation is stored in the local memory.

11. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein the tag information includes one or more data elements including a marker type, a marker color and a marker shape.

12. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a weight sensor to sense a weight of the marking dispenser, wherein the processing device logs the weight of the marking dispenser in the electronic record of the marking operation.

13. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the electronic record includes one or more entries, each of the entries having one or more data fields.

14. A method for performing a marking operation for marking the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area using a marking apparatus that holds a marking dispenser, comprising:

dispensing a marker from the marking dispenser onto the ground in the dig area, in a marking operation, to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility, in response to user activation of the marking dispenser; and

logging one or more data elements associated with the marking operation in an electronic record of the marking operation.

15. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 14, further comprising generating a current date and time, and logging the current date and time in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marking dispenser.

16. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 14, further comprising reading tag information from a tag associated with the marking dispenser and logging the tag information in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marking dispenser.

17. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 14, further comprising determining geographical coordinates of the marker and logging the geographical coordinates of the marker in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marking dispenser.

18. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 14, further comprising generating a current date and time, reading tag information from a tag associated with the marking dispenser, and logging the current date and time and the tag information in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marking dispenser.

19. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 14, further comprising generating a current date and time, determining geographical coordinates of the marker, and logging the current date and time and the geographical coordinates of the marker in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marking dispenser.

20. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 14, further comprising generating a current date and time, reading tag information from a tag associated with the marking dispenser, determining geographical coordinates of the marker, and logging the current date and time, the tag information and the geographical coordinates of the marker in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marking dispenser.

21. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 14, further comprising logging a count of user activations of the marking dispenser in the electronic record of the marking operation.

22. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 14, further comprising logging an elapsed time of user activation of the marking dispenser in the electronic record of the marking operation.

23. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 14, further comprising storing the electronic record of the marking operation in a local memory of the marking apparatus.

24. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 16, wherein logging the tag information includes logging one or more data elements including a marker type, a marker color and a marker shape.

25. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 14, further comprising sensing a weight of the marking dispenser and logging the weight in the electronic record of the marking operation.

26. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein the electronic record includes one or more entries, each of the entries having one or more data fields.