METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR ANALYZING LOCATE AND MARKING OPERATIONS BY COMPARING LOCATE INFORMATION AND MARKING INFORMATION
First Claim
1. In a computer comprising at least one hardware processor, at least one tangible storage medium, and at least one input/output (I/O) interface, a method for evaluating a quality of a locate operation and/or a marking operation to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility at a work site, the method comprising:
- A) comparing marking information relating to the marking operation to locate information relating to the locate operation;
B) automatically generating, based on A), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation; and
C) electronically storing on the at least one tangible storage medium, and/or electronically transmitting via the at least one I/O interface, the at least one indication of the quality assessment so as to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods, apparatus and systems including a computer comprising at least one hardware processor, at least one tangible storage medium (memory), and at least one input/output (I/O) interface for evaluating a quality of a locate and/or marking operation. First information relating to the marking operation (e.g., marking information) is compared to second information relating to the locate operation (e.g., locate information). In some examples, one or both of the marking information and the locate information may be filtered to improve data integrity in some manner. One or more indications of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation is automatically generated based on such a comparison, and the one or more indications of the quality assessment are electronically stored on the at least one tangible storage medium, and/or electronically transmitted via the at least one I/O interface, so as to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.
309 Citations
28 Claims
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1. In a computer comprising at least one hardware processor, at least one tangible storage medium, and at least one input/output (I/O) interface, a method for evaluating a quality of a locate operation and/or a marking operation to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility at a work site, the method comprising:
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A) comparing marking information relating to the marking operation to locate information relating to the locate operation; B) automatically generating, based on A), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation; and C) electronically storing on the at least one tangible storage medium, and/or electronically transmitting via the at least one I/O interface, the at least one indication of the quality assessment so as to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment. - 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)
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24. An apparatus for evaluating a quality of a locate and/or marking operation to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility at a work site, the apparatus comprising:
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at least one input/output (I/O) interface; at least one memory storing processor-executable instructions; and a processor coupled to the memory and the at least one I/O interface, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by the processor, the processor; A) compares marking information relating to the marking operation to locate information relating to the locate operation; B) automatically generates, based on A), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation; and C) controls the at least one memory so as to electronically store, and/or controls the at least one I/O interface so as to electronically transmit, the at least one indication of the quality assessment so as to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.
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25. At least one computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor in a computer comprising at least one input/output (I/O) interface, perform a method for evaluating a quality of a locate and/or marking operation to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a work site, the method comprising:
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A) comparing marking information relating to the marking operation to locate information relating to the locate operation; B) automatically generating, based on A), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate and marking operation; and C) electronically storing on the at least one computer-readable storage medium, and/or electronically transmitting via the at least one I/O interface, the at least one indication of the quality assessment so as to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.
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26. An apparatus for automatically assessing a quality of a locate and/or marking operation, the apparatus comprising:
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a memory storing processor-executable instructions; at least one I/O interface; and a processor coupled to the memory and the at least one I/O interface, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions, the processor; A) identifies at least one first geographic location at which at least one facility line of at least one underground facility was marked during the marking operation; B) obtains marking geo-location data based on A); C) identifies at least one first geographic location at which at least one facility line of at least one underground facility was detected during the locate operation; D) obtains locate geo-location data based C); E) determines a measure of distances between the marking geo-location data and the locate geo-location data; F) assesses the quality of the locate and/or marking operation based at least in part on E); and G) generates at least one indication of a quality assessment based on F). - View Dependent Claims (27, 28)
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Specification