SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SENSING AND MANAGING POTHOLE LOCATION AND POTHOLE CHARACTERISTICS

• US 20140196529A1
• Filed: 01/16/2013
• Published: 07/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Heatwurx, Inc. (Processa Pharmaceuticals, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Heatwurx, Inc. (Processa Pharmaceuticals, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cronin, John Edward, Petrow, William, Taylor, Benjamin Shields, Limoge, Edward Joseph, Garland, Stephen Douglas
• Granted Patent: US 9,416,499 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/146
• CPC Class Codes: E01C 23/01 Devices or auxiliary means for setting-out or checking the configuration of new surfacing, e.g. templates, screed or reference line supports form rails E01C19/50; Applications of apparatus for measuring, indicating, or recording the surface configuration of existing surfacing, e.g. profilographs E01C23/07 takes precedence; measuring roughness or irregularity in general G01B
• CPC Class Codes: E01C 23/06 Devices or arrangements for working the finished surface working freshly laid paving E01C19/42 - E01C19/44, E01C23/02; mining picks E21C35/18; Devices for repairing or reconditioning the surface of damaged paving; Recycling in place or on the road
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/26 Government or public services business processes related to the transportation industry G06Q50/40

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for sensing and managing pothole locations and pothole characteristics. An additional aspect of the present invention is to provide a system that may acquire, fuse, and analyze pothole sensing data from several sources to identify potholes in need of maintenance or repair. Further, the system may be configured to create and distribute recurring reports of pothole repair data for use by roadway officials.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring and identifying road damage, comprising:

a data acquisition module adapted to receive and request data from one or more data sources, the one or more data sources providing at least a location of a roadway anomaly;

a database adapted to receive data from the data acquisition module and to store one or more roadway anomalies with respect to a roadway map;

a user interface adapted to receive a user query involving one or more roadway anomalies with respect to the roadway map, the user interface in communication with at least one of the data acquisition module and a data analysis module;

a data analysis module in communication with the database, the data analysis module adapted to receive and to respond to the user query; and

a report generation module adapted to create a report with respect to the user query.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a data fusion module, the data fusion module adapted to receive data from the data acquisition module, the data at least comprising a location of one or more roadway anomalies.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a geographic information system module.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the geographic information system at least comprises one or more roadway maps.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the roadway anomaly is a pothole.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more data sources provides a location of a roadway anomaly and at least one other characteristic of the roadway anomaly.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the roadway anomaly is a pothole and the at least one other characteristic is at least one of a pothole depth, a severity, a timing of previous repair, a material and a process used to previously repair the pothole.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the user query is with respect to a correlation between the roadway anomaly and the roadway map.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more data sources comprise at least one of satellite, airborne, human, vehicular data sources.

10. A method to identify one or more potholes, the method comprising:

receiving data from one or more data sources, the one or more data sources providing at least a location of a pothole;

receiving roadway map data from a geographic information system;

receiving a user query involving one or more potholes with respect to the roadway map;

correlating the one or more potholes with respect to the roadway map to at least locate the one or more potholes with respect to the roadway map; and

displaying a result of the correlation between the one or more potholes with respect to the roadway map.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of generating a report with respect to the correlation between the one or more potholes with respect to the roadway map.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the data received from the one or more data sources is provided in a database.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein a display screen device is used to display the result of the correlation.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the roadway is an asphalt roadway.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more data sources provides a location of a pothole and at least one other characteristic of the pothole.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one other characteristic is at least one of pothole depth, width and severity.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more data sources comprise at least one of satellite, airborne, human, vehicular data sources.

18. A method of providing a pothole report to a subscriber, the method comprising:

presenting a listing of pothole data types that may be provided to a subscriber;

negotiating a set of terms and conditions to provide a subscriber-selected set of the pothole data types to the subscriber;

creating the subscriber-selected set of pothole data types to the subscriber according to the negotiated set of terms and conditions; and

providing the subscriber-selected set of pothole data types to the subscriber.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of receiving subscriber-provided data used in creating the subscriber-selected set of pothole data types.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the subscriber-selected set of pothole data types is provided to the subscriber by at least one of an internet-based web site, electronic mail, wireless communication, and paper report.