MARKING SYSTEM AND METHOD WITH LOCATION AND/OR TIME TRACKING

• US 20080228294A1
• Filed: 03/13/2007
• Published: 09/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Certusview Technologies LLC (Dycom Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Dycom Identity, LLC (Dycom Industries Incorporated)
• Inventors: Nielsen, Steven, Chambers, Curtis, Farr, Jeffrey, Conner, Mark A
• Granted Patent: US 7,640,105 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/58
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/02 Means for marking measuring points
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/06 Surveyors' staffs; Movable markers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0294 Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function

Abstract

A system may dispense a marker, determine location data or time data, and substantially simultaneously trigger the dispensing of the marker and logging of the location data that identifies a geographic location at which the marker is dispensed or the time data that identifies a time at which the marker is dispensed.

Claims

1. A marking system, comprising:

a marker dispenser to hold and dispense markers;

a location tracking system to determine location data;

a processor; and

a triggering system in communication with the marker dispenser and the processor to substantially simultaneously trigger the marker dispenser to dispense a marker and the processor to log the location data to identify a geographic location of the marker.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the location tracking system comprises a Global Positioning System device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the location tracking system comprises a Global Navigation Satellite System device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the location tracking system comprises a ground-based triangularization device.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a local memory to store the location data logged by the processor.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the marker dispenser comprises:

a paint canister holder adapted to support a paint canister; and

an actuation mechanism to dispense paint from the paint canister when the triggering system triggers the marker dispenser.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the triggering system comprises:

a trigger;

an actuation mechanism to dispense a marker from a marker container when the trigger is actuated; and

a signal generator to send a log start signal to the processor when the trigger is actuated.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the marker container comprises an aerosol canister and the actuation mechanism comprises a rigid material that applies pressure to a nozzle on the aerosol canister when the trigger is actuated.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the signal generator comprises an electronic switch.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the trigger comprises a mechanical trigger.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the trigger comprises an electronic trigger.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the electronic trigger comprises a touch screen display.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the electronic trigger comprises a wireless trigger.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein the trigger comprises a mechanical trigger and an electronic trigger.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the location data is accurate to within approximately 30 centimeters.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a tag reader to read a tag attached to the marker.

17. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a timing system to output time data.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the triggering system is configured to trigger the marker dispenser to dispense the marker and the processor to log the location data from the location tracking system and the time data from the timing system.

19. A marking tool, comprising:

a housing;

a marker dispenser mounted to the housing to hold and dispense markers;

a location tracking system mounted to, connected to, or located within the housing to determine location data; and

a triggering system mounted to, connected to, or located within the housing to substantially simultaneously trigger the marker dispenser to dispense a marker and logging of the location data from the location tracking system to identify a geographic location of the marker.

20. The marking tool of claim 19, wherein the location tracking system comprises a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver.

21. The marking tool of claim 20, wherein the GPS receiver is mounted on a bottom portion of the housing.

22. The marking tool of claim 19, wherein the location tracking system comprises a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver.

23. The marking tool of claim 22, wherein the GNSS receiver is mounted on a bottom portion of the housing.

24. The marking tool of claim 19, wherein the location tracking system comprises a tower triangularization device.

25. The marking tool of claim 24, wherein the tower triangularization device is mounted on a bottom portion of the housing.

26. The marking tool of claim 19, further comprising a local memory for storing the logged location data.

27. The marking tool of claim 19, wherein the marker dispenser comprises:

a paint canister holder adapted to support a paint canister; and

an actuation mechanism to dispense paint from the paint canister when the triggering system triggers the marker dispenser.

28. The marking tool of claim 19, wherein the triggering system comprises:

a trigger;

an actuation mechanism to dispense a marker from a marker container when the trigger is actuated; and

a signal generator to send a log start signal to indicate a start of the logging of the location data when the trigger is actuated.

29. The marking tool of claim 28, wherein the marker container comprises an aerosol canister and the actuation mechanism comprises a rigid material that applies pressure to a nozzle on the aerosol canister when the trigger is actuated.

30. The marking tool of claim 28, wherein the signal generator comprises an electronic switch.

31. The marking tool of claim 28, wherein the trigger comprises a mechanical trigger.

32. The marking tool of claim 28, wherein the trigger comprises an electronic trigger.

33. The marking tool of claim 32, wherein the electronic trigger comprises a touch screen display.

34. The marking tool of claim 32, wherein the electronic trigger comprises a wireless trigger.

35. The marking tool of claim 28, wherein the trigger comprises a mechanical trigger and an electronic trigger.

36. The marking tool of claim 19, further comprising a tag reader mounted on the housing for reading a tag attached to a marker.

37. The marking tool of claim 19, further comprising a user interface mounted to the housing.

38. The marking tool of claim 37, wherein the user interface is mounted to a top portion of the housing.

39. The marking tool of claim 37, wherein the user interface comprises a display.

40. The marking tool of claim 39, wherein the display comprises a touch-screen display.

41. The marking tool of claim 19, wherein the location data is accurate to within approximately 30 centimeters.

42. The marking tool of claim 19, further comprising:

a timing system to output time data.

43. The marking tool of claim 42, wherein the triggering system is configured to trigger the marker dispenser to dispense the marker and the processor to log the location data from the location tracking system and the time data from the timing system.

44. A method, comprising:

dispensing a marker in an area to be marked; and

logging at least one of location data identifying a geographic location of where the marker is dispensed or time data identifying a time at which the marker is dispensed while the marker is dispensed.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the marker comprises paint.

46. The method of claim 44, wherein the location data comprises GPS coordinates.

47. The method of claim 44, wherein the location data is accurate to within approximately 30 centimeters.

48. A marking tool, comprising:

means for dispensing a marker;

means for determining location data or time data; and

means for substantially simultaneously triggering the dispensing of the marker and logging of the location data that identifies a geographic location at which the marker is dispensed or the time data that identifies a time at which the marker is dispensed.

49. A marking tool, comprising:

a marker dispenser to hold and dispense markers;

a timing system to output time data;

a processor; and

a triggering system to substantially simultaneously trigger the marker dispenser to dispense a marker and the processor to log the time data to identify a time at which the marker is dispensed.