Marking apparatus and methods for creating an electronic record of marking operations

• US 8,700,325 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2009
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Certusview Technologies LLC (Dycom Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Certusview Technologies LLC (Dycom Industries Incorporated)
• Inventors: Nielsen, Steven E., Chambers, Curtis, Farr, Jeffrey, Conner, Mark A., Vazquez, Rene A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hellner, Mark
• Application Number:
  US12/364,369
• Publication Number:
  US 20090208642A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,898 Days
• Field of Search: 427/137, 340/988, 701/213, 701/214, 701/521
• US Class Current: 701/521
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/02 Means for marking measuring points
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications

Abstract

A marking system may hold a container from which markers are dispensed to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area. The container may identify a marker characteristic regarding the markers in the container. The marking system may receive activation of a trigger, dispense a marker from the container when the trigger is activated, and store the marker characteristic and time data when the trigger is activated. In other embodiments, the marking system may dispense a marker, determine location data and/or time data, and substantially simultaneously trigger the dispensing of the marker and logging of the location data and/or the time data. The location data identifies a geographic location where the marker is dispensed and the time data identifies the time when the marker is dispensed.

Claims

1. A marking apparatus to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area, comprising:

a housing configured to enable dispensing of a marker onto the ground for marking the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area;

a marker dispenser holder affixed to the housing to hold a replaceable marker dispenser;

an actuator coupled to the housing to enable a user to cause dispensing of the marker from the marker dispenser onto the ground in the dig area, in a marking operation, to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility;

a processing device configured to cause, in response to the user causing dispensing of the marker, logging of one or more data elements associated with the marking operation in an electronic record of the marking operation; and

a location tracking system configured to determine geographical coordinates of the marker, wherein the processing device logs the geographic coordinates of the marker in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to the user causing dispensing of the marker from the marker dispenser via the actuator.

2. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a clock generator to generate a current date and time, wherein the processing device logs the current date and time in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marker dispenser.

3. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a tag reader to read tag information from a tag associated with the marking marker dispenser, wherein the processing device logs the tag information in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marker dispenser.

4. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a clock generator to generate a current date and time and a tag reader to read tag information from a tag associated with the marker dispenser, wherein the processing device logs the current date and time and the tag information in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marker dispenser.

5. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the processing device logs a count of user activations of the marker dispenser in the electronic record of the marking operation.

6. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the processing device logs an elapsed time of user activation of the marker dispenser in the electronic record of the marking operation.

7. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a local memory, wherein the electronic record of the marking operation is stored in the local memory.

8. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein the tag information includes one or more data elements including a marker type, a marker color and a marker shape.

9. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a weight sensor to sense a weight of the marker dispenser, wherein the processing device logs the weight of the marker dispenser in the electronic record of the marking operation.

10. A marking apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the electronic record includes one or more entries, each of the entries having one or more data fields.

11. A method for performing a marking operation for marking the presence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area using a marking apparatus that holds a marker dispenser, comprising:

dispensing a marker from the marker dispenser onto the ground in the dig area, in a marking operation, to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility, in response to user activation of the marker dispenser to cause dispensing of the marker;

causing, via a processing device and in response to the user activation causing dispensing of the marker, logging of one or more data elements associated with the marking operation in an electronic record of the marking operation; and

determining geographical coordinates of the marker and logging the geographical coordinates of the marker in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marker dispenser.

12. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 11, further comprising generating a current date and time, and logging the current date and time in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marker dispenser.

13. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 11, further comprising reading tag information from a tag associated with the marker dispenser and logging the tag information in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marker dispenser.

14. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 11, further comprising generating a current date and time, reading tag information from a tag associated with the marker dispenser, and logging the current date and time and the tag information in the electronic record of the marking operation in response to user activation of the marker dispenser.

15. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 11, further comprising logging a count of user activations of the marker dispenser in the electronic record of the marking operation.

16. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 11, further comprising logging an elapsed time of user activation of the marker dispenser in the electronic record of the marking operation.

17. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 11, further comprising storing the electronic record of the marking operation in a local memory of the marking apparatus.

18. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein logging the tag information includes logging one or more data elements including a marker type, a marker color and a marker shape.

19. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 11, further comprising sensing a weight of the marker dispenser and logging the weight in the electronic record of the marking operation.

20. A method for operating a marking apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the electronic record includes one or more entries, each of the entries having one or more data fields.