METHODS, APPARATUS, AND SYSTEMS FOR PERFORMING INSTALLATIONS OF ENGINEERED SYSTEMS AND GENERATING SITE VISIT MANIFESTS FOR SAME
First Claim
1. A method of inspecting and/or preparing a work site so as to facilitate an underground utility installation, the method comprising:
- A) receiving a work order for the underground utility installation, the work order including work site information relating to the work site at which the underground utility installation is requested;
B) during a first visit to the work site based on the work order received in A), performing a pre-survey of the work site to indicate where the underground utility installation is planned at the work site; and
C) also during the first visit to the work site, performing a locate and marking operation at the work site, wherein the locate and marking operation includes;
C1) determining a presence or an absence of at least one previously-installed underground facility at the work site; and
C2) applying at least one physical locate mark to ground, pavement, or other surface at the work site so as to indicate the presence or the absence of the at least one previously-installed underground facility.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Improvements to an installation process for an engineered system involve consolidation of the number of visits to a work site by field staff and/or particular work performed in a given site visit. A site visit manifest is generated to provide electronic documentation of pre-installation and/or installation activity. Various types of electronic information may be generated and/or collected in connection with any of multiple possible phases of a given installation at a particular work site for purposes of generating a site visit manifest. Additionally, different information components of a site visit manifest may be selectively viewed/accessed (e.g., based on different levels of permission or access-rights) to facilitate one or more of review of the work performed, quality, productivity and/or cost assessments of same, and billing functions. Particular examples of improved processes relating to installation of Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) subscriber drops are provided.
105 Citations
55 Claims
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1. A method of inspecting and/or preparing a work site so as to facilitate an underground utility installation, the method comprising:
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A) receiving a work order for the underground utility installation, the work order including work site information relating to the work site at which the underground utility installation is requested; B) during a first visit to the work site based on the work order received in A), performing a pre-survey of the work site to indicate where the underground utility installation is planned at the work site; and C) also during the first visit to the work site, performing a locate and marking operation at the work site, wherein the locate and marking operation includes; C1) determining a presence or an absence of at least one previously-installed underground facility at the work site; and C2) applying at least one physical locate mark to ground, pavement, or other surface at the work site so as to indicate the presence or the absence of the at least one previously-installed underground facility. - 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, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A method of generating a site visit manifest so as to facilitate a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) installation, the method comprising:
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A) receiving a work order for the FTTP installation, the work order including work site information relating to a work site at which the FTTP installation is requested; B) during a first visit to the work site based on the work order received in A), performing a pre-survey of the work site to indicate where the FTTP installation is planned at the work site, wherein B) comprises; B1) adding pre-survey information to a digital image of the work site; C) during the first visit to the work site and at the work site, requesting a locate ticket from a one-call center based at least in part on the work site information received in A); D) during the first visit to the work site and at the work site, receiving the locate ticket from the one-call center based at least in part on C); E) during the first visit to the work site, performing a locate and marking operation at the work site pursuant to the locate ticket received in D), wherein the locate and marking operation includes; E1) determining a presence or an absence of at least one previously-installed underground facility at the work site; E2) applying at least one physical locate mark to ground, pavement, or other surface at the work site to indicate the presence or absence of the at least one previously-installed underground facility; and E3) adding to the digital image of the work site at least one electronic locate mark corresponding to the at least one physical locate mark applied in E2); F) during the first visit to the work site and at the work site, closing the locate ticket based on E); and G) electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing a site visit manifest so as to facilitate the FTTP installation, the site visit manifest including the digital image and a plurality of independently-viewable and independently-accessible information layers to be overlaid on the digital image, wherein; a first information layer of the plurality of information layers includes the pre-survey information from B1); and a second information layer of the plurality of information layers includes the at least one electronic locate mark from E3).
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46. An apparatus for generating a site visit manifest so as to facilitate an underground utility installation, the apparatus comprising:
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a communication interface; a display device; a user input device; a memory to store processor-executable instructions; and a processor coupled to the communication interface, the display device, the user input device, and the memory, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by the processor, the processor; A) receives, via at least one of the communication interface and the user input device, a work order for the underground utility installation, the work order including work site information relating to a work site at which the underground utility installation is requested; B) controls the display device to display a digital image of the work site, based at least in part on the work site information received in A); C) receives, via at least one of the communication interface and the user input device, pre-survey information relating to a pre-survey performed at the work site to indicate where the underground utility installation is planned at the work site; D) receives, via at least one of the communication interface and the user input device, locate and marking information relating to performance of a locate and marking operation at the work site, the locate and marking operation including determining a presence or an absence of at least one previously-installed underground facility at the work site and applying at least one physical locate mark to ground, pavement, or other surface at the work site to indicate the presence or the absence of the at least one previously-installed underground facility; E) adds the pre-survey information received in C) and the locate and marking information received in D) to the digital image of the work site displayed in B) so as to generate a site visit manifest; and F) controls at least one of the communication interface and the memory to electronically transmit and/or electronically store information relating to the site visit manifest so as to facilitate the underground utility installation. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. A computer readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, perform a method for generating a site visit manifest to facilitate an underground utility installation, the method comprising:
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A) electronically receiving a work order for the underground utility installation, the work order including work site information relating to a work site at which the underground utility installation is requested; B) electronically receiving pre-survey information relating to a pre-survey performed at the work site to indicate where the underground utility installation is planned at the work site; C) electronically receiving locate and marking information relating to performance of a locate and marking operation at the work site, the locate and marking operation including determining a presence or an absence of at least one previously-installed underground facility at the work site and applying at least one physical locate mark to ground, pavement, or other surface at the work site to indicate the presence or the absence of the at least one previously-installed underground facility; D) electronically generating the site visit manifest, wherein the site visit manifest comprises; D1) a digital image of the work site based on the work site information received in A); D2) the pre-survey information received in B); and D3) the locate and marking information received in C); and E) electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing information relating to the site visit manifest generated in D) so as to facilitate the underground utility installation.
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55-88. -88. (canceled)
Specification