MARKING APPARATUS HAVING ENVIRONMENTAL SENSORS AND OPERATIONS SENSORS FOR UNDERGROUND FACILITY MARKING OPERATIONS, AND ASSOCIATED METHODS AND SYSTEMS
First Claim
1. An apparatus for performing a marking operation to mark on ground, pavement, or other surface a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility, the apparatus comprising:
- an actuator to dispense a marking material to form at least one locate mark on the ground, pavement or other surface to mark the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility;
a memory to store processor-executable instructions;
at least one input device to provide marking information regarding the marking operation, the at least one input device configured to sense at least one environmental condition of an environment in which the apparatus is located and provide an output signal indicative of the at least one environmental condition; and
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the actuator, and the at least one input device to receive the output signal.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Marking information relating to use of a marking device to perform a marking operation may be acquired from one or more input devices, logged/stored in local memory of a marking device, formatted in various manners, processed and/or analyzed at the marking device itself, and/or transmitted to another device (e.g., a remote computer/server) for storage, processing and/or analysis. In one example, a marking device may include one or more environmental sensors and/or operational sensors, and the marking information may include environmental information and operational information derived from such sensors. Environmental and/or operational information may be used to control operation of the marking device, assess out-of-tolerance conditions in connection with use of the marking device, and/or provide alerts or other feedback. Additional enhancements are disclosed relating to improving the determination of a location (e.g., GPS coordinates) of a dispensing tip of the marking device during use, a group/solo mode, and tactile functionality of a user interface.
254 Citations
37 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for performing a marking operation to mark on ground, pavement, or other surface a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility, the apparatus comprising:
-
an actuator to dispense a marking material to form at least one locate mark on the ground, pavement or other surface to mark the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility; a memory to store processor-executable instructions; at least one input device to provide marking information regarding the marking operation, the at least one input device configured to sense at least one environmental condition of an environment in which the apparatus is located and provide an output signal indicative of the at least one environmental condition; and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the actuator, and the at least one input device to receive the output signal. - 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, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
-
-
36. An apparatus for performing a marking operation to mark on ground, pavement, or other surface a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility, the apparatus comprising:
-
a hand-held housing; an actuator mechanically coupled to the hand-held housing and configured to dispense a marking material to form at least one locate mark on the ground, pavement or other surface to mark the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility; a memory to store processor-executable instructions; at least one input device to provide marking information regarding the marking operation, the at least one input device configured to sense or receive environmental information about an environmental condition of an environment in which the apparatus is located and provide an output signal indicative of the environmental condition; and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the actuator, and the at least one input device to receive the output signal.
-
-
37. An apparatus for performing a marking operation to mark on ground, pavement, or other surface a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility, the apparatus comprising:
-
an actuator to dispense a marking material to form at least one locate mark on the ground, pavement or other surface to mark the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility; a memory to store processor-executable instructions; a humidity sensor configured to sense humidity of an environment in which the apparatus is located and provide an output signal indicative of the humidity in response to actuation of the actuator; and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the actuator, and the temperature sensor to receive the output signal.
-
Specification