Locating equipment communicatively coupled to or equipped with a mobile/portable device

• US 8,938,366 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2012
• Issued: 01/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Certusview Technologies LLC (Dycom Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Certusview Technologies LLC (Dycom Industries Incorporated)
• Inventors: Nielsen, Steven, Chambers, Curtis, Farr, Jeffrey, Davani, Tony
• Primary Examiner(s): Raymond, Edward
• Application Number:
  US13/644,226
• Publication Number:
  US 20130268199A1
• Time in Patent Office: 839 Days
• Field of Search: 702/130, 702/150, 702182-185
• US Class Current: 702/130
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 83/203 comprising an extension rod located between the aerosol container and the hand grip setting-out line markings on playing courts A63C19/065; marking-out on finished paving by spraying from aerosol containers E01C23/227
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/02 Means for marking measuring points
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/38 Processing data, e.g. for analysis, for interpretation, for correction

Abstract

Locating and/or marking equipment, such as a locate transmitter or locate receiver, a marking device, or a combined locate and marking device, may be communicatively coupled to and/or equipped with a mobile/portable device (e.g., a mobile phone, personal digital assistant or other portable computing device) that provides processing, electronic storage, electronic display, user interface, communication facilities and/or other functionality (e.g., GPS-enabled functionality) for the equipment. A mobile/portable device may be mechanically and/or electronically coupled to the equipment, and may be programmed so as to log and generate electronic records of various information germane to a locate and/or marking operation (e.g., locate information, marking information, and/or landmark information). Such records may be formatted in various manners, processed and/or analyzed on the mobile/portable device, and/or transmitted to another device (e.g., a remote computer/server) for storage, processing and/or analysis. The mobile/portable device also may provide redundant, shared and/or backup functionality for the equipment to enhance robustness.

Claims

1. In a system comprising:

a hand-held locate device including at least one receiver antenna and a first communication interface; and

a mobile location tracking system communicatively coupled to the hand-held locate device and including a second communication interface,

a method for performing at least one of generating and logging geographic information relating to a locate operation, the locate operation being performed by a locate technician, using the hand-held locate device, in response to a locate ticket and in advance of planned excavation activities at a dig area identified by the locate ticket, the method comprising;

A) using the hand-held locate device to detect a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility in the dig area by detecting, via the at least one receiver antenna of the hand-held locate device, a magnetic field from a target object;

B) transmitting from the hand-held locate device, via the first communication interface of the hand-held locate device, one or more electronic signals indicating the detection of the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility during A);

C) receiving, via the second communication interface of the mobile location tracking system, the one or more electronic signals indicating the detection of the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility during A); and

D) in response to C), performing via the mobile location tracking system the at least one of generating and logging the geographic information relating to the performance of the locate operation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile location tracking system further comprises a global positioning system (GPS) sensor or a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver, and wherein D) further comprises providing, by the global positioning system (GPS) sensor or the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver, the geographic information relating to the performance of the locate operation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile location tracking system further comprises a cellular interface, and wherein D) further comprises:

receiving, by the cellular interface of the mobile location tracking system, signals from cellular radiotelephone towers; and

triangulating, by the mobile location tracking system and based on the received signals, to provide the geographic information relating to the performance of the locate operation.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein in D), the geographic information comprises at least one longitude coordinate and at least one latitude coordinate.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising wearing, by the locate technician during the performance of the locate operation, the mobile location tracking system.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising mechanically coupling the mobile location tracking system to the locate technician using at least one of a harness, a belt, a bag, a strap, and a holster.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the first communication interface and the second communication interface comprises at least one of a universal serial bus interface (USB) and an Ethernet interface.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the first communication interface and the second communication interface includes a wireless interface, and wherein:

B) comprises wirelessly transmitting the one or more electronic signals from the first communication interface of the hand-held locate device; and

C) comprises wirelessly receiving the one or more electronic signals via the second communication interface of the mobile location tracking system.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the wireless interface comprises a WiFi interface.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the wireless interface comprises a Bluetooth interface.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the wireless interface comprises a short range wireless sensor interface.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile location tracking system comprises a mobile telecommunication and computing device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the mobile telecommunication and computing device comprises at least one of a smart phone and a personal digital assistant (PDA).

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile location tracking system further comprises a display device, and wherein the method further comprises:

displaying, on the display device, visual information based at least in part on the geographic information relating to the performance of the locate operation.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the visual information is based, at least in part, on at least one of facilities map data, survey map data, land survey data, photographic image data, construction drawings, aerial image data and engineering drawings relating to the dig area identified by the locate ticket.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

displaying, on the display device, an aerial image of at least a portion of the dig area identified by the locate ticket; and

overlaying, on the aerial image, geographic information relating to the performance of the locate operation.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile location tracking system further comprises at least one input device to provide additional information relating to the performance of the locate operation, and wherein the method further comprises:

logging, by the processor, the additional information together with the geographic information relating to the performance of the locate operation.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the input device comprises at least one of:

a temperature sensor;

a humidity sensor;

a light sensor;

an image capture device;

an audio recorder;

an accelerometer;

a magnetic sensor;

an inclinometer;

a proximity sensor;

a yaw rate sensor;

a bar code reader; and

a color detection sensor.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, by the mobile location tracking system, at least one of redundant, shared, and/or backup functionality for performing the at least one of generating and logging the geographic information.

20. A system for performing at least one of generating and logging geographic information relating to a locate operation, the locate operation being performed by a locate technician in response to a locate ticket and in advance of planned excavation activities at a dig area identified by the locate ticket, the system comprising:

A) a hand-held locate device to detect a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility during the locate operation performed by the locate technician in response to the locate ticket and in advance of the planned excavation activities at the dig area identified by the locate ticket, the hand-held locate device comprising;

A1) at least one receiver antenna to detect a magnetic field from a target object; and

A2) a first communication interface to transmit, from the hand-held locate device, one or more electronic signals indicating the detection of the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility during the performance of the locate operation; and

B) a mobile location tracking system communicatively coupled to the hand-held locate device, the mobile location tracking system comprising;

B1) a second communication interface to receive, from the hand-held locate device, the one or more electronic signals indicating the detection of the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility during the performance of the locate operation;

B2) a memory to store processor-executable instructions; and

B3) a processor, communicatively coupled to the memory and the second communication interface, to perform, responsive to receiving the one or more electronic signals from the hand-held locate device and upon execution of the processor-executable instructions, at least one of generating and logging the geographic information relating to the performance of the locate operation.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the mobile location tracking system comprises a global positioning system (GPS) sensor or a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver to provide the geographic information relating to the performance of the locate operation.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the mobile location tracking system comprises a cellular interface to perform triangulation by use of cellular radiotelephone towers to provide the geographic information relating to the performance of the locate operation.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the geographic information comprises at least one longitude coordinate and at least one latitude coordinate.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the mobile location tracking system is configured to be worn by the locate technician during the locate operation.

25. The system of claim 24, further comprising at least one of a harness, a belt, a bag, a strap, and a holster to mechanically couple the mobile location tracking system to the locate technician.

26. The system of claim 20, wherein at least one of the first communication interface and the second communication interface comprises a wired interface, the wired interface comprising at least one of a universal serial bus interface (USB) and an Ethernet interface.

27. The system of claim 20, wherein at least one of the first communication interface and the second communication interface comprises a wireless communication interface.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the wireless communication interface comprises a WiFi interface.

29. The system of claim 20, wherein the wireless communication interface comprises a Bluetooth interface.

30. The system of claim 20, wherein the wireless communication interface comprises a short range wireless sensor interface.

31. The system of claim 20, wherein the mobile location tracking system comprises a mobile telecommunication and computing device.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the mobile telecommunication and computing device comprises at least one of a smart phone and a personal digital assistant (PDA).

33. The system of claim 20, wherein the mobile location tracking system further comprises a display device, and wherein the display device displays visual information based at least in part on the geographic information relating to the performance of the locate operation.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the visual information is based, at least in part, on at least one of facilities map data, survey map data, land survey data, photographic image data, construction drawings, aerial image data and engineering drawings relating to the dig area identified by the locate ticket.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein the display device displays the geographic information relating to the performance of the locate operation overlaid on an aerial image of at least a portion of the dig area identified by the locate ticket.

36. The system of claim 20, wherein the mobile location tracking system comprises at least one input device to provide additional information relating to performance of the locate operation, and wherein in B3) the processor logs the additional information together with the geographic information relating to the performance of the locate operation.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the input device comprises at least one of:

a temperature sensor;

a humidity sensor;

a light sensor;

an image capture device;

an audio recorder;

an accelerometer;

a magnetic sensor;

an inclinometer;

a proximity sensor;

a yaw rate sensor;

a bar code reader; and

a color detection system.

38. The system of claim 20, wherein the mobile location tracking system provides at least one of redundant, shared, and/or backup functionality for performing the at least one of generating and logging the geographic information.

39. A mobile location tracking system to generate and/or log geographic information relating to performance of a locate operation, the locate operation performed by a locate technician in response to a locate ticket and in advance of planned excavation activities at a dig area identified by the locate ticket, the mobile location tracking system configured to be carried or worn by the locate technician and comprising:

A1) a first communication interface to receive one or more electronic signals from a hand-held locate device used by the locate technician to perform the locate operation, the one or more electronic signals indicating a detection of a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility during the performance of the locate operation;

A2) a memory to store processor-executable instructions and an indication of the one or more electronic signals received from the hand-held locate device; and

A3) a processor, communicatively coupled to the memory and the first communication interface, to perform, responsive to receiving the one or more electronic signals from the hand-held locate device via the first communication interface and upon execution of the processor-executable instructions, at least one of generating and logging the geographic information relating to the performance of the locate operation.

40. The system of claim 39, further comprising at least one of a harness, a belt, a bag, a strap, and a holster to mechanically couple the mobile location tracking system to the locate technician.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the first communication interface comprises a wireless communication interface including one of:

a WiFi interface;

a Bluetooth interface; and

a short range wireless sensor interface.

42. The system of claim 41, further comprising a global positioning system (GPS) sensor or a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver to provide the geographic information relating to the performance of the locate operation.

43. The system of claim 41, further comprising a cellular interface to perform triangulation by use of cellular radiotelephone towers to provide the geographic information relating to the performance of the locate operation.

44. The system of claim 41, in combination with:

B) the hand-held locate device to detect the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility during the locate operation performed by the locate technician in response to the locate ticket and in advance of the planned excavation activities at the dig area identified by the locate ticket, the hand-held locate device comprising;

B1) at least one receiver antenna to detect a magnetic field from a target object; and

B2) a second wireless communication interface to transmit, from the hand-held locate device, the one or more electronic signals indicating the detection of the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility during the performance of the locate operation.