U.S. patent application number 12/837353 was filed with the patent office on 2011-02-10 for methods, apparatus, and systems for processing technician checklists for locate and/or marking operations.
This patent application is currently assigned to CertusView Technologies, LLC. Invention is credited to Curtis Chambers, Jeffrey Farr, Steven Nielsen.
Application Number | 20110035252 12/837353 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 42126304 |
Filed Date | 2011-02-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110035252 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Nielsen; Steven ; et
al. |
February 10, 2011 |
METHODS, APPARATUS, AND SYSTEMS FOR PROCESSING TECHNICIAN
CHECKLISTS FOR LOCATE AND/OR MARKING OPERATIONS
Abstract
Processing a checklist for a locate and/or marking operation to
detect a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig
area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation
activities, wherein the checklist comprises a plurality of
checklist items to be processed pursuant to the locate and/or
marking operation. The checklist is displayed to a locate
technician performing the locate and/or marking operation, and a
status of at least one of the checklist items is determined based
at least in part on at least one input received in connection with
the locate and/or marking operation. An updated checklist is
generated based on the status of the at least one of the checklist
items.
Inventors: |
Nielsen; Steven; (North Palm
Beach, FL) ; Chambers; Curtis; (Palm Beach Gardens,
FL) ; Farr; Jeffrey; (Jupiter, FL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
WOLF GREENFIELD & SACKS, P.C.
600 ATLANTIC AVENUE
BOSTON
MA
02210-2206
US
|
Assignee: |
CertusView Technologies,
LLC
Palm Beach Gardens
FL
|
Family ID: |
42126304 |
Appl. No.: |
12/837353 |
Filed: |
July 15, 2010 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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12703809 |
Feb 11, 2010 |
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12837353 |
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61151760 |
Feb 11, 2009 |
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61151778 |
Feb 11, 2009 |
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61172843 |
Apr 27, 2009 |
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61174081 |
Apr 30, 2009 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/7.14 ;
705/7.12 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 10/0631 20130101;
G06Q 10/063 20130101; B05B 12/08 20130101; B05B 12/12 20130101;
G06Q 10/06398 20130101; G06Q 10/063112 20130101; B65D 83/203
20130101; G06Q 10/103 20130101; G06Q 10/06 20130101; G06Q 10/06311
20130101; G06Q 10/0633 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/9 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 10/00 20060101
G06Q010/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Feb 10, 2010 |
CA |
2692110 |
Claims
1. A computer-implemented method executed by at least one processor
for processing a checklist for a locate and/or marking operation to
detect a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig
area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation
activities, the method comprising: A) displaying the checklist to a
locate technician performing the locate and/or marking operation,
the checklist comprising a plurality of checklist items to be
processed pursuant to the locate and/or marking operation; B)
determining a status of at least one of the checklist items based
at least in part on at least one input received in connection with
the locate and/or marking operation; and C) generating an updated
checklist based on the status of the at least one of the checklist
items.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein B)
comprises: receiving the at least one input from a piece of
locating equipment used by the locate technician to perform the
locate and/or marking operation, the at least one input comprising
locating equipment data collected using at least one input device
associated with the piece of locating equipment.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the locating
equipment data comprises locate signal information provided by
detection electronics of the piece of locating equipment.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the locating
equipment data comprises marking material information provided by a
marking material detection mechanism of the piece of locating
equipment.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the locating
equipment data comprises landmark information indicating a location
of a selected landmark, the landmark information provided by a
location tracking system of the piece of locating equipment.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the locating
equipment data comprises timing information provided by a timing
system of the piece of locating equipment.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the locating
equipment data comprises environmental information provided by at
least one environmental sensor of the piece of locating
equipment.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the locating
equipment data comprises operational information provided by at
least one operational sensor of the piece of locating
equipment.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:
modifying the checklist based at least in part on the received
locating equipment data
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein modifying
the checklist comprises: adding to the checklist an additional
check list item; and/or modifying an existing checklist item in the
check list.
11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at
least one of the checklist items corresponds to a task to be
performed by the locate technician in connection with the locate
and/or marking operation, and wherein B) comprises: receiving the
at least one input from the locate technician, the at least one
input indicating the locate technician has completed the task or is
unable to complete the task.
12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein B) further
comprises: when the at least one input indicates that the locate
technician is unable to complete the task, prompting the locate
technician to provide an explanation as to why the locate
technician is unable to complete the task.
13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein A)
comprises: displaying, on a display device, at least one popup
window corresponding to one or more checklist items in the
checklist.
14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:
prior to completion of the locate and/or marking operation,
providing, via at least one user interface, at least one indication
to the locate technician with regard to the at least one of
checklist items.
15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the at
least one user interface comprises a visual indicator, and wherein
providing the at least one indication comprises providing the at
least one indication as a visual indication via the visual
indicator.
16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the at
least one user interface comprises an audible indicator, and
wherein providing the at least one indication comprises providing
the at least one indication as an audible indication via the
audible indicator.
17. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the at
least one user interface comprises a tactile indicator, and wherein
providing the at least one indication comprises providing the at
least one indication as a tactile indication via the tactile
indicator.
18. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at
least one of the checklist items relates to a type of underground
facilities, and wherein B) comprises determining whether at least
one facility of the type of underground facilities has been
detected and/or marked in connection with the locate and/or marking
operation.
19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the input
comprises marking device data collected based on an actuation of a
marking dispenser of a marking device used by the locate
technician, and wherein B) further comprises: using the marking
device data to determine whether at least one facility of the type
of underground facilities has been marked.
20. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein C)
comprises: including in the updated checklist a timestamp
indicating a time at which the status of at least one of the
checklist items is determined and/or geographic location
information indicating a location at which the status of at least
one of the checklist items is determined.
21. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:
E) generating, based on the updated checklist, a summary report of
tasks performed in connection with the locate and/or marking
operation.
22. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:
E) generating, based on the updated checklist, an invoice or
receipt for the locate and/or marking operation.
23. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:
D) providing information relating to the updated checklist to at
least one business application of at least one party associated
with the locate and/or marking operation, wherein the information
is analyzed and/or used by the at least one business
application.
24. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, wherein the at
least one business application is implemented on a remote computer,
and wherein D) comprises: transmitting the information relating to
the updated checklist to the remote computer.
25. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, wherein the at
least one business application includes at least one of: a
technician scheduling and dispatch application; an employee
evaluation application; a quality assessment application; a data
analysis application; an excavator notification application; a risk
assessment application; a ticket approval application; and a
billing application.
26. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:
E) analyzing the updated checklist to determine whether there is a
discrepancy between expected and actual outcomes of the locate
and/or marking operation; and F) when it is determined that there
is a discrepancy, notifying the locate technician of the
discrepancy.
27. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, further
comprising: G) logging information regarding the discrepancy in a
summary report associated with the checklist.
28. At least one computer-readable medium encoded with
processor-executable instructions that, when executed by at least
one processor, perform a method for processing a checklist for a
locate and/or marking operation to detect a presence or an absence
of at least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at
least a portion of the dig area is planned to be excavated or
disturbed during excavation activities, the method comprising: A)
displaying the checklist to a locate technician performing the
locate and/or marking operation, the checklist comprising a
plurality of checklist items to be processed pursuant to the locate
and/or marking operation; B) determining a status of at least one
of the checklist items based at least in part on at least one input
received in connection with the locate and/or marking operation;
and C) generating an updated checklist based on the status of the
at least one of the checklist items.
29. A system for processing a checklist for a locate and/or marking
operation to detect a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion
of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during
excavation activities, the system comprising: at least one
communication interface; at least one memory to store
processor-executable instructions; a display device; and at least
one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one
communication interface, the at least one memory, and the display
device, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable
instructions, the processor: A) controls the display device so as
to display the checklist to a locate technician performing the
locate and/or marking operation, the checklist comprising a
plurality of checklist items to be processed pursuant to the locate
and/or marking operation; B) determines a status of at least one of
the checklist items based at least in part on at least one input
received in connection with the locate and/or marking operation;
and C) generates an updated checklist based on the status of the at
least one of the checklist items.
30. The system of claim 29, further comprising a piece of locating
equipment used by the locate technician to perform the locate
and/or marking operation, wherein the piece of locating equipment
comprises the at least one processor and the display device.
31. The system of claim 30, wherein the piece of locating equipment
includes one of a locate device, a marking device, and a combined
locate and marking device.
32. The system of claim 30, wherein in B), the processor receives
the at least one input from at least one input device of a piece of
locating equipment, wherein the at least one input comprises
locating equipment data collected using the at least one input
device.
33. The system of claim 32, wherein the locate equipment data
comprises locate signal information provided by detection
electronics of the piece of locating equipment.
34. The system of claim 32, wherein the locating equipment data
comprises marking material information provided by a marking
material detection mechanism of the piece of locating
equipment.
35. The system of claim 32, wherein the locating equipment data
comprises landmark information indicating a location of a selected
landmark, the landmark information provided by a location tracking
system of the piece of locating equipment.
36. The system of claim 32, wherein the locating equipment data
comprises timing information provided by a timing system of the
piece of locating equipment.
37. The system of claim 32, wherein the locating equipment data
comprises environmental information provided by at least one
environmental sensor of the piece of locating equipment.
38. The system of claim 32, wherein the locating equipment data
comprises operational information provided by at least one
operational sensor of the piece of locating equipment.
39. The system of claim 32, wherein the processor further: D)
modifies the checklist based at least in part on the received
locating equipment data.
40. The system of claim 39, wherein in D), the processor: adds to
the checklist an additional check list item; and/or modifies an
existing checklist item in the check list.
41. The system of claim 29, wherein the at least one of the
checklist items corresponds to a task to be performed by the locate
technician in connection with the locate and/or marking operation,
and wherein in B), the processor: receives the at least one input
from the locate technician, the at least one input indicating the
locate technician has completed the task or is unable to complete
the task.
42. The system of claim 41, wherein in B), when the at least one
input indicates that the locate technician is unable to complete
the task, the processor: prompts the locate technician to provide
an explanation as to why the locate technician is unable to
complete the task.
43. The system of claim 29, wherein in A), the processor: displays
on the display device at least one popup window corresponding to
one or more checklist items in the checklist.
44. The system of claim 29, further comprising at least one user
interface communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein prior
to completion of the locate and/or marking operation, the
processor: controls the at least one user interface so as to
provide at least one indication to the locate technician with
regard to the at least one of checklist items.
45. The system of claim 44, wherein the at least one user interface
comprises a visual indicator, and wherein the processor controls
the visual indicator so as to provide the at least one indication
as a visual indication via the visual indicator.
46. The system of claim 44, wherein the at least one user interface
comprises an audible indicator, and wherein the processor controls
the audible indicator so as to provide the at least one indication
as an audible indication via the audible indicator.
47. The system of claim 44, wherein the at least one user interface
comprises a tactile indicator, and wherein the processor controls
the tactile indicator so as to provide the at least one indication
as a tactile indication via the tactile indicator.
48. The system of claim 29, wherein the at least one of the
checklist items relates to a type of underground facilities, and
wherein in B), the processor determines whether at least one
facility of the type of underground facilities has been detected
and/or marked in connection with the locate and/or marking
operation.
49. The system of claim 48, wherein the at least one input
comprises marking device data collected based on an actuation of a
marking dispenser of a marking device used by the locate
technician, and wherein in B), the processor using the marking
device data to determine whether at least one facility of the type
of underground facilities has been marked.
50. The system of claim 29, wherein in C), the processor includes
in the updated checklist a timestamp indicating a time at which the
status of at least one of the checklist items is determined and/or
geographic location information indicating a location at which the
status of at least one of the checklist items is determined.
51. The system of claim 29, wherein the processor further
generates, based on the updated checklist, a summary report of
tasks performed in connection with the locate and/or marking
operation.
52. The system of claim 29, wherein the processor further
generates, based on the updated checklist, an invoice or receipt
for the locate and/or marking operation.
53. The system of claim 29, wherein the processor further: provides
information relating to the updated checklist to at least one
business application of at least one party associated with the
locate and/or marking operation, wherein the information is
analyzed and/or used by the at least one business application.
54. The system of claim 53, wherein the at least one business
application is implemented on a remote computer, and wherein the
processor controls the at least one communication interface so as
to transmit to the remote computer the information relating to the
updated checklist.
55. The system of claim 54, further including the remote computer,
wherein the at least one business application includes at least one
of: a technician scheduling and dispatch application; an employee
evaluation application; a quality assessment application; a data
analysis application; an excavator notification application; a risk
assessment application; a ticket approval application; and a
billing application.
56. The system of claim 29, wherein the processor further: E)
analyzes the updated checklist to determine whether there is a
discrepancy between expected and actual outcomes of the locate
and/or marking operation; and F) when it is determined that there
is a discrepancy, notifies the locate technician of the
discrepancy.
57. The system of claim 56, wherein the processor further logs
information regarding the discrepancy in a summary report
associated with the checklist.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C.
.sctn.120, as a continuation (CON) of U.S. Non-provisional
application Ser. No. 12/703,809, filed Feb. 11, 2010, under
attorney docket no. D0687.70031US01, entitled "MARKING APPARATUS
EQUIPPED WITH TICKET PROCESSING SOFTWARE FOR FACILITATING MARKING
OPERATIONS, AND ASSOCIATED METHODS."
[0002] Ser. No. 12/703,809 claims a priority benefit, under 35
U.S.C. .sctn.119(a), to Canadian application serial no. 2,692,110,
entitled "METHODS, APPARATUS, AND SYSTEMS FOR FACILITATING AND/OR
VERIFYING LOCATE AND/OR MARKING OPERATIONS," filed on Feb. 10,
2010, under attorney docket no. PAT 70824-1CA.
[0003] Ser. No. 12/703,809 claims a priority benefit, under 35
U.S.C. .sctn.119(e), to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser.
No. 61/174,081, filed on Apr. 30, 2009 under attorney docket no.
D0687.70031US00, entitled "METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING AND
PROCESSING WORKFLOWS IN CONNECTION WITH LOCATE OPERATIONS."
[0004] Ser. No. 12/703,809 also claims a priority benefit, under 35
U.S.C. .sctn.119(e), to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser.
No. 61/172,843, filed on Apr. 27, 2009 under attorney docket no.
D0687.70007US01, entitled "LOCATE TECHNICIAN CHECK LIST INTEGRATED
IN A MARKING DEVICE AND/OR LOCATING EQUIPMENT AND METHODS OF USING
SAME."
[0005] Ser. No. 12/703,809 also claims a priority benefit, under 35
U.S.C. .sctn.119(e), to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser.
No. 61/151,760, filed on Feb. 11, 2009 under attorney docket no.
D0687.70007US00, entitled "LOCATE TECHNICIAN CHECK LIST INTEGRATED
IN A MARKING DEVICE AND/OR LOCATING EQUIPMENT AND METHODS OF USING
SAME."
[0006] Ser. No. 12/703,809 also claims a priority benefit, under 35
U.S.C. .sctn.119(e), to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser.
No. 61/151,778, filed on Feb. 11, 2009 under attorney docket no.
D0687.70017US00, entitled "MARKING DEVICE THAT HAS A TICKET
MANAGEMENT MECHANISM INTEGRATED THEREIN AND ASSOCIATED
METHODS."
[0007] Each of the above-identified applications is incorporated by
reference herein in its entirety.
BACKGROUND
[0008] Field service operations may be any operation in which
companies dispatch technicians and/or other staff to perform
certain activities, for example, installations, services and/or
repairs. Field service operations may exist in various industries,
examples of which include, but are not limited to, network
installations, utility installations, security systems,
construction, medical equipment, heating, ventilating and air
conditioning (HVAC) and the like.
[0009] An example of a field service operation in the construction
industry is a so-called "locate and marking operation," also
commonly referred to more simply as a "locate and/or marking
operation" (or sometimes merely as a "locate"). In a typical locate
and marking operation, a locate technician visits a work site at
which there is a plan to disturb the ground (e.g., excavating,
digging one or more holes and/or trenches, boring, etc.) to
determine a presence or an absence of one or more underground
facilities (such as various types of utility cables and pipes) in a
dig area to be excavated or otherwise disturbed at the work site.
In some instances, a locate and marking operation may be requested
for a "design" project, in which there may be no immediate plan to
excavate or otherwise disturb the ground, but nonetheless
information about a presence or absence of one or more underground
facilities at a work site may be valuable to inform a planning,
permitting and/or engineering design phase of a future construction
project.
[0010] In many states, an excavator who plans to disturb ground at
a work site is required by law to notify any potentially affected
underground facility owners prior to undertaking an excavation
activity. Advance notice of excavation activities may be provided
by an excavator (or another party) by contacting a "one-call
center." One-call centers typically are operated by a consortium of
underground facility owners for the purposes of receiving
excavation notices and in turn notifying facility owners and/or
their agents of a plan to excavate. As part of an advanced
notification, excavators typically provide to the one-call center
various information relating to the planned activity, including a
location (e.g., address) of the work site and a description of the
dig area to be excavated or otherwise disturbed at the work
site.
[0011] FIG. 1 illustrates an example in which a locate and marking
operation is initiated as a result of an excavator 10 providing an
excavation notice to a one-call center 20. An excavation notice
also is commonly referred to as a "locate request," and may be
provided by the excavator to the one-call center via an electronic
mail message, an information entry via a website maintained by the
one-call center, or a telephone conversation between the excavator
and a human operator at the one-call center. The locate request may
include an address or some other location-related information
describing the geographic location of a work site at which the
excavation is to be performed, as well as a description of the dig
area (e.g., a text description), such as its location relative to
certain landmarks and/or its approximate dimensions, within which
there is a plan to disturb the ground at the work site. One-call
centers similarly may receive locate requests for design projects
(for which, as discussed above, there may be no immediate plan to
excavate or otherwise disturb the ground).
[0012] Using the information provided in a locate request for
planned excavation or design projects, the one-call center
identifies certain underground facilities that may be present at
the indicated work site. For this purpose, many one-call centers
typically maintain a collection "polygon maps" which indicate,
within a given geographic area over which the one-call center has
jurisdiction, generally where underground facilities may be found
relative to some geographic reference frame or coordinate
system.
[0013] Polygon maps typically are provided to the one-call centers
by underground facility owners within the jurisdiction of the one
call center ("members" of the one-call center). A one-call center
first provides the facility owner/member with one or more maps
(e.g., street or property maps) within the jurisdiction, on which
are superimposed some type of grid or coordinate system employed by
the one-call center as a geographic frame of reference. Using the
maps provided by the one-call center, the respective facilities
owners/members draw one or more polygons on each map to indicate an
area within which their facilities generally are disposed
underground (without indicating the facilities themselves). These
polygons themselves do not precisely indicate geographic locations
of respective underground facilities; rather, the area enclosed by
a given polygon generally provides an over-inclusive indication of
where a given facilities owner's underground facilities are
disposed. Different facilities owners/members may draw polygons of
different sizes around areas including their underground
facilities, and in some instances such polygons can cover
appreciably large geographic regions (e.g., an entire subdivision
of a residential area), which may further obfuscate the
actual/precise location of respective underground facilities.
[0014] Based on the polygon maps collected from the facilities
owners/members, the one-call center may in some instances create
composite polygon maps to show polygons of multiple different
members on a single map. Whether using single member or composite
polygon maps, the one-call center examines the address or location
information provided in the locate request and identifies a
significant buffer zone around an identified work site so as to
make an over-inclusive identification of facilities owners/members
that may have underground facilities present (e.g., to err on the
side of caution). In particular, based on this generally
over-inclusive buffer zone around the identified work site (and in
some instances significantly over-inclusive buffer zone), the
one-call center consults the polygon maps to identify which member
polygons intersect with all or a portion of the buffer zone so as
to notify these underground facility owners/members and/or their
agents of the proposed excavation or design project. Again, it
should be appreciated that the buffer zones around an indicated
work site utilized by one-call centers for this purpose typically
embrace a geographic area that includes but goes well beyond the
actual work site, and in many cases the geographic area enclosed by
a buffer zone is significantly larger than the actual dig area in
which excavation or other similar activities are planned.
Similarly, as noted above, the area enclosed by a given member
polygon generally does not provide a precise indication of where
one or more underground facilities may in fact be found.
[0015] In some instances, one-call centers may also or
alternatively have access to various existing maps of underground
facilities in their jurisdiction, referred to as "facilities maps."
Facilities maps typically are maintained by facilities
owners/members within the jurisdiction and show, for respective
different utility types, where underground facilities purportedly
may be found relative to some geographic reference frame or
coordinate system (e.g., a grid, a street or property map, latitude
and longitude coordinates, etc.). Facilities maps generally provide
somewhat more detail than polygon maps provided by facilities
owners/members; however, in some instances the information
contained in facilities maps may not be accurate and/or complete.
For at least this reason, whether using polygon maps or facilities
maps, as noted above the one-call center utilizes a significant
buffer zone around an identified work site so as to make an
over-inclusive identification of facilities owners/members that may
have underground facilities present.
[0016] Once facilities implicated by the locate request are
identified by a one-call center (e.g., via the polygon map/buffer
zone process), the one-call center generates a "locate request
ticket" (also known as a "locate ticket," or simply a "ticket").
The locate request ticket essentially constitutes an instruction to
inspect a work site and typically identifies the work site of the
proposed excavation or design and a description of the dig area,
typically lists on the ticket all of the underground facilities
that may be present at the work site (e.g., by providing a member
code for the facility owner whose polygon falls within a given
buffer zone), and may also include various other information
relevant to the proposed excavation or design (e.g., the name of
the excavation company, a name of a property owner or party
contracting the excavation company to perform the excavation,
etc.). The one-call center sends the ticket to one or more
underground facility owners 40 and/or one or more locate service
providers 30 (who may be acting as contracted agents of the
facility owners) so that they can conduct a locate and marking
operation to verify a presence or absence of the underground
facilities in the dig area. For example, in some instances, a given
underground facility owner 40 may operate its own fleet of locate
technicians (e.g., locate technician 45), in which case the
one-call center 20 may send the ticket to the underground facility
owner 40. In other instances, a given facility owner 40 may
contract with a locate service provider 30 to receive locate
request tickets and perform locate and marking operations on behalf
of the facility owner 40. In response to a received locate request
ticket, the locate service provider may dispatching a locate
technician 50 to verify a presence or absence of the underground
facilities in the prescribed dig area.
[0017] Upon receiving the locate ticket, a locate service provider
or a facility owner (hereafter referred to as a "ticket recipient")
may dispatch a locate technician to the work site of planned
excavation to determine a presence or absence of one or more
underground facilities in the dig area to be excavated or otherwise
disturbed. A typical first step for the locate technician includes
utilizing an underground facility "locate device," which is an
instrument or set of instruments (also referred to commonly as a
"locate set") for detecting facilities that are concealed in some
manner, such as cables and pipes that are located underground. The
locate device is employed by the technician to verify the presence
or absence of underground facilities indicated in the locate
request ticket as potentially present in the dig area (e.g., via
the facility owner member codes listed in the ticket). This process
is often referred to as a "locate operation."
[0018] In one example of a locate operation, an underground
facility locate device is used to detect electromagnetic fields
that are generated by an applied signal provided along a length of
a target facility to be identified. In this example, a locate
device may include both a signal transmitter to provide the applied
signal (e.g., which is coupled by the locate technician to a tracer
wire disposed along a length of a facility), and a signal receiver
which is generally a hand-held apparatus carried by the locate
technician as the technician walks around the dig area to search
for underground facilities. The transmitter is connected via a
connection point to a target object (in this example, underground
facility) located in the ground, and generates the applied signal
coupled to the underground facility via the connection point (e.g.,
to a tracer wire along the facility), resulting in the generation
of a magnetic field. The magnetic field in turn is detected by the
locate receiver, which itself may include one or more detection
antenna. The locate receiver indicates a presence of a facility
when it detects electromagnetic fields arising from the applied
signal. Conversely, the absence of a signal detected by the locate
receiver of generally indicates the absence of the target
facility.
[0019] In yet another example, a locate device employed for a
locate operation may include a single instrument, similar in some
respects to a conventional metal detector. In particular, such an
instrument may include an oscillator to generate an alternating
current that passes through a coil, which in turn produces a first
magnetic field. If a piece of electrically conductive metal is in
close proximity to the coil (e.g., if an underground facility
having a metal component is below/near the coil of the instrument),
eddy currents are induced in the metal and the metal produces its
own magnetic field, which in turn affects the first magnetic field.
The instrument may include a second coil to measure changes to the
first magnetic field, thereby facilitating detection of metallic
objects.
[0020] In addition to the locate operation, the locate technician
also generally performs a "marking operation," in which the
technician marks the presence (and in some cases the absence) of a
given underground facility in the dig area based on the various
signals detected (or not detected) during the locate operation. For
this purpose, the locate technician conventionally utilizes a
"marking device" to dispense a marking material on, for example,
the ground, pavement, or another surface along a detected
underground facility. Marking material may be any material,
substance, compound, and/or element, used or which may be used
separately or in combination to mark, signify, and/or indicate.
Examples of marking materials may include, but are not limited to,
paint, chalk, dye, and/or iron. Marking devices, such as paint
marking wands and/or paint marking wheels, provide a convenient
method of dispensing marking materials onto surfaces, such as onto
the surface of the ground or pavement.
[0021] In some environments, arrows, flags, darts, or other types
of physical marks may be used to mark the presence or absence of an
underground facility in a dig area, in addition to or as an
alternative to a material applied to the ground (such as paint,
chalk, dye, tape) along the path of a detected utility. The marks
resulting from any of a wide variety of materials and/or objects
used to indicate a presence or absence of underground facilities
generally are referred to as "locate marks." Often, different color
materials and/or physical objects may be used for locate marks,
wherein different colors correspond to different utility types. For
example, the American Public Works Association (APWA) has
established a standardized color-coding system for utility
identification for use by public agencies, utilities, contractors
and various groups involved in ground excavation (e.g.,
red=electric power lines and cables; blue=potable water;
orange=telecommunication lines; yellow=gas, oil, steam). In some
cases, the technician also may provide one or more marks to
indicate that no facility was found in the dig area (sometimes
referred to as a "clear").
[0022] As mentioned above, the foregoing activity of identifying
and marking a presence or absence of one or more underground
facilities generally is referred to for completeness as a "locate
and marking operation." However, in light of common parlance
adopted in the construction industry, and/or for the sake of
brevity, one or both of the respective locate and marking functions
may be referred to in some instances simply as a "locate operation"
or a "locate" (i.e., without making any specific reference to the
marking function). Accordingly, it should be appreciated that any
reference in the relevant arts to the task of a locate technician
simply as a "locate operation" or a "locate" does not necessarily
exclude the marking portion of the overall process. At the same
time, in some contexts a locate operation is identified separately
from a marking operation, wherein the former relates more
specifically to detection-related activities and the latter relates
more specifically to marking-related activities.
[0023] Inaccurate locating and/or marking of underground facilities
can result in physical damage to the facilities, property damage,
and/or personal injury during the excavation process that, in turn,
can expose a facility owner or contractor to significant legal
liability. When underground facilities are damaged and/or when
property damage or personal injury results from damaging an
underground facility during an excavation, the excavator may assert
that the facility was not accurately located and/or marked by a
locate technician, while the locate contractor who dispatched the
technician may in turn assert that the facility was indeed properly
located and marked. Proving whether the underground facility was
properly located and marked can be difficult after the excavation
(or after some damage, e.g., a gas explosion), because in many
cases the physical locate marks (e.g., the marking material or
other physical marks used to mark the facility on the surface of
the dig area) will have been disturbed or destroyed during the
excavation process (and/or damage resulting from excavation).
[0024] U.S. Publication No. 2006/0282280, naming inventors Stotz et
al. and entitled "Ticket and Data Management" (hereafter "Stotz"),
is directed to a locate device (i.e., a "locator") including a GPS
receiver, wherein the locate device is configured to update or
reconfigure ticket data based on a located utility line. If a
targeted utility line cannot be detected by the locate device for
reasons such as interference or excessive depth, the locate device
can nonetheless update ticket data with GPS coordinates of the
undetectable utility line. GPS coordinates of the entire locate or
some portion thereof can also be included in the reconfigured
ticket data. Once the locate device has reconfigured the ticket
data, the reconfigured ticket data may be transmitted to a
network.
[0025] U.S. Publication No. 2003/0130820, naming inventor Lane,
III, and entitled "Work Order System" (hereafter "Lane"), is not
particularly directed to locate and/or marking operations, but
rather is more generally directed to gathering and disseminating
information relating to maintenance operations. More specifically,
Lane discloses a work order system for maintaining and analyzing
records relating to maintenance operations performed by service
technicians in a hotel, apartment, office building, hospital, and
the like. When performing a work order, a technician continuously
logs actions taken into a system database using a wireless personal
digital assistant (PDA). Via the wireless PDA, the technician can
also access a decision option hierarchy that contains, at each tier
or level, an alphabetically sorted list of options to be selected
by the technician. Starting from high-level descriptions such as
whether the work order is performed inside or outside of a
building, the technician navigates through multiple option screens
to drill down to a specific issue.
SUMMARY
[0026] As noted above, a locate request ticket issued by a one-call
center essentially constitutes an instruction to inspect a work
site and conduct a locate and/or marking operation. In practice,
one-call centers in different jurisdictions may have different
formats for the tickets they generate, and the information content
of such tickets also may differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction
(e.g., there may or may not be a required minimum amount of
information that must be included in a ticket, such as the ticket
due date or deadline by which a locate and/or marking operation
must be performed in response to an incoming ticket, etc.). In some
instances, ticket format and/or information content may in some
respects be dictated by regulations, statutes, guidelines, and the
like. Also, different one-call centers may obtain information from
different sources and package the information into tickets in
different manners according to the information source. For example,
depending on the particular excavator who provides an excavation
notice and the particular one-call center that accepts and
processes the excavation notice, a resulting locate request ticket
may identify the location and boundaries of a proposed work
site/dig area in a number of different ways (e.g., using street
addresses, map grids, and/or latitudinal and longitudinal
(lat/long) coordinates).
[0027] Accordingly, ticket recipients who perform and/or contract
out locate and/or marking operations are accustomed to the notion
that presently there is no standardized format or standardized
information content for locate request tickets. As such, ticket
recipients conventionally employ various customized techniques for
receiving tickets, deriving relevant information from tickets, and
dispatching technicians in response to tickets. In some instances,
dispatched technicians may be provided with copies of the tickets
themselves, while in other instances they may be provided with some
type of work order that includes information derived from received
tickets (for purposes of the present disclosure, information
included in or derived from tickets as issued by a one-call center
is referred to as "ticket information"). In either case, however,
Applicants have recognized and appreciated that information
provided to technicians dispatched to perform a locate and/or
marking operation may not necessarily be in a consistent and/or
orderly format from job to job, and/or may not be complete in some
respects. As a result, in some instances it may be difficult for
the technician to readily, predictably, and/or consistently
construe the information provided, and/or there may be significant
opportunity for misunderstanding elements of the information
provided, which may lead to inefficient and/or unsatisfactory
locate and/or marking operations.
[0028] In view of the foregoing, various embodiments of the present
invention relate to systems, methods and apparatus for facilitating
and/or verifying locate and/or marking operations, for example, by
providing interactive guidance to a technician working in the field
based at least in part on ticket information. In various exemplary
implementations described in detail below, one or more aspects of
ticket information (examples of which include, but are not limited
to, the use, content, formatting, organization, processing,
analysis, appearance and/or presentation mode of available ticket
information) are enhanced and/or improved in some manner so as to
facilitate and/or verify efficient, effective and satisfactory
performance of the locate and/or marking operation.
[0029] For example, in one aspect, systems, methods, and apparatus
according to some inventive embodiments disclosed herein facilitate
viewing of ticket information provided to a dispatched technician
on a display device available in the field, such as a display
device integrated with one or more pieces of locating equipment
used in the field by the technician (e.g., a locate transmitter, a
locate receiver, a marking device, a combined locate and marking
device, etc.). More specifically, a ticket as generated by a
one-call center and received by a locate contractor, for example,
and/or information derived from the ticket and presented in some
manner differently than the original ticket, may be displayed on
one or more pieces of locating equipment used by a technician to
perform a locate and/or marking operation so that the technician
has ready access to such information during the operation(s) to
facilitate performance thereof.
[0030] Beyond mere display of ticket information "locally" to a
dispatched technician (e.g., on equipment used to perform a locate
and/or marking operation), in another aspect systems, methods, and
apparatus according to some inventive embodiments disclosed herein
provide for some type of interaction with displayed ticket
information (e.g., verifying, updating and/or manipulating ticket
information) by the technician in "real-time," e.g., during
performance of the locate and/or marking operation. In this manner,
the technician may provide some input (e.g., via a user interface
of locating equipment being used by the technician) to generate an
electronic record or log of technician activity during the locate
and/or marking operation, based at least in part on the ticket
information.
[0031] For example, as part of a technician activity log, the
technician may provide one or more indications (e.g., via the user
interface) that certain facilities indicated in the ticket
information were or were not located, were or were not marked, were
or were not accessible, one or more characteristics of marks used,
etc. Additionally, in some implementations the technician may enter
(e.g., via the user interface) textual information as notes to be
included in the electronic record or log of technician activity,
which notes describe, for example, various aspects of the work
performed during the locate and/or marking operation, the
environment of the work site/dig area in which the operation(s)
is/are performed, conditions present at the work site, and the
like. Similarly, the technician may provide one or more digital
photographs (e.g., via a digital camera, which in some instances
may be integrated with/communicatively coupled to one or more
pieces of locating equipment), and/or one or more voice recordings
(e.g., via a digital audio recorder, which in some instances may be
integrated with/communicatively coupled to one or more pieces of
locating equipment) to be included in the record/log of technician
activity.
[0032] In yet another aspect, systems, methods and apparatus
according to some inventive embodiments disclosed herein provide
for a process guide to be provided to a technician to facilitate
performance of a locate and/or marking operation. Generally
speaking, a process guide may include any information provided to
the technician, in any of a variety of formats (e.g., text and/or
graphical information displayed on a display device, one or more
other visual indications, audible indications, tactile indications,
etc.), that somehow facilitates performance of the locate and/or
marking operation. Such information may include, but is not limited
to, process recommendations and/or instructions, a list of tasks to
attend to as part of the operation, requests for various
information to be provided by the technician and/or acquired by the
locating equipment, and the like.
[0033] For example, in one exemplary implementation, a process
guide is provided as a "technician checklist" to be generated based
at least in part on ticket information. In some exemplary
implementations, such a checklist may be provided to the technician
locally on one or more pieces of locating equipment during
performance of a locate and/or marking operation and used by the
technician as a guide to perform and/or verify various aspects of
the operation(s). For example, a checklist may include a list of
one or more types of facilities to be located and/or marked
pursuant to the ticket information; as each item in the checklist
is addressed by the technician, the status of the item may be
"checked-off" either manually by the technician (e.g., via the user
interface of the locating equipment) or
automatically/semi-automatically (e.g., by analyzing various
information collected by the locating equipment with respect to the
ticket information and/or other information germane to the locate
and/or marking operation).
[0034] In addition to or as an alternative to a technician
checklist, in yet another aspect systems, methods and apparatus
according to some inventive embodiments disclosed herein provide
for guided locate and/or marking operations by generating, based at
least in part on the ticket information, various process
recommendations/instructions, prompts, alerts, and the like that
may be useful to the technician when performing the locate and/or
marking operation. For example, in one exemplary implementation, a
ticket is processed to extract relevant information so as to
generate a set of instructions and/or prompts, also referred to
herein as a "workflow," for guiding the technician (e.g., in an
orderly step-by-step fashion or sequence of steps) through the
locate and/or marking operation. Various aspects of such a workflow
may be conveyed to the technician using any of a variety of sensory
mechanisms including, but not limited to, visual cues or queries
(e.g., displayed on a display screen, a heads-up display (HUD)
and/or one or more lighted indicators associated with one or more
pieces of locating equipment), audible cues (e.g., provided by
speakers or buzzers associated with one or more pieces of locating
equipment), and/or tactile cues (e.g., vibrating a portion, such as
a handle, of one or more pieces of locating equipment). As
discussed above, in other aspects, execution of a guided locate
and/or marking operation via a workflow may be interactive, in that
the technician may need to respond to cues or queries (e.g., before
proceeding to a next step in the workflow). Additionally, in
combination with, or as an alternative to, technician responses,
respective steps of a workflow may be met/verified
automatically/semi-automatically (e.g., by analyzing various
information collected by the locating equipment with respect to the
ticket information and/or other available information germane to a
given step of the workflow).
[0035] The various concepts introduced above and described in
further detail below may be implemented in various apparatus
associated with locate and/or marking operations. For example,
ticket reception and any attendant processing, parsing, analysis,
formatting, etc. of ticket information may be implemented all or in
part on: one or more pieces of locating equipment used by a
technician; a docking station for the one or more pieces of
locating equipment (e.g., disposed in the technician's vehicle); a
personal computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), or other
communication/processing device used or carried by the technician
and/or situated in the technician's vehicle; and/or a central
server or one or more other computers (e.g., which may be operated
by a locate contractor and/or facility owner dispatching
technicians to perform locate and/or marking operations).
Similarly, generation of one or more technician checklists and/or
workflows for guided locate and/or marking operations, based at
least in part on ticket information, may be accomplished all or in
part by any one or more of the apparatus indicated above (e.g., one
or more pieces of locating equipment; docking station; technician
computer or PDA; central server or other remote computer,
etc.).
[0036] In sum, one embodiment of the present invention is directed
to a method for generating a process recommendation and/or
instruction based on ticket data specifying a locate operation to
be performed by a locate technician. The locate operation comprises
identifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a presence or
an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area,
wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or
disturbed during excavation activities. The method comprises: A)
electronically receiving the ticket data at a locate and/or marking
device; B) processing the ticket data to identify information
relating to the locate operation; and C) generating a process
recommendation and/or instruction based at least in part on the
identified information.
[0037] Another embodiment is directed to a method for generating an
alert based on ticket data specifying a locate operation to be
performed by a locate technician. The locate operation comprises
identifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a presence or
an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area,
wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or
disturbed during excavation activities. The method comprises: A)
electronically receiving the ticket data at a locate and/or marking
device; B) processing the ticket data to identify ticket-based
information relating to the locate operation; C) comparing the
ticket-based information to device-based information generated by
the locate and/or marking device; and D) generating an alert based
at least in part on the comparison performed in C).
[0038] Another embodiment is directed to a method for generating,
during a locate operation performed by a locate technician, an
alert based on a facilities map of a dig area. The locate operation
comprises identifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a
presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within
the dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be
excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. The method
comprises: A) electronically receiving the facilities map at a
locate and/or marking device; B) processing data associated with
the facilities map to identify map-based information relating to at
least one facility; C) comparing the map-based information to
device-based information generated by the locate and/or marking
device; and D) generating an alert based at least in part on the
comparison performed in C).
[0039] Another embodiment is directed to a method for automatically
processing a check list for a locate operation to be performed by a
locate technician. The locate operation comprises identifying,
using at least one physical locate mark, a presence or an absence
of at least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at
least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed
during excavation activities. The method comprises: A) displaying a
check list for a locate operation on a display of a locate and/or
marking device, the check list comprising at least one check list
item; B) determining, based at least on part on an input from at
least one input device of the locate and/or marking device, a
status of the at least one check list item; C) automatically
updating the check list based on the determined status of the at
least one check list item to generate an updated check list; and D)
displaying the updated check list on the display.
[0040] Another embodiment is directed to an apparatus for use in
connection with a locate operation performed by a locate
technician. The locate operation comprises identifying a presence
or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig
area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated
or disturbed during excavation activities. The apparatus comprises:
a display device; a memory to store processor-executable
instructions; and a processing unit coupled to the display device
and the memory. Upon execution of the processor-executable
instructions by the processing unit, the processing unit: controls
the display device to display a check list for a locate operation,
the check list comprising at least one check list item; determines
a status of the at least one check list item; updates the check
list based on the determined status of the at least one check list
item to generate an updated check list; and controls the display
device to display the updated check list.
[0041] Another embodiment is directed to at least one
computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when
executed on at least one processing unit, perform a method for
automatically processing a check list for a locate operation to be
performed by a locate technician. The locate operation comprises
identifying, using at least one physical locate mark, a presence or
an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area,
wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or
disturbed during excavation activities. The method comprises: A)
rendering, on a display, a check list for a locate operation on a
display of a locate and/or marking device, the check list
comprising at least one check list item; B) determining, based at
least on part on an input from at least one input device of the
locate and/or marking device, a status of the at least one check
list item; C) automatically updating the check list based on the
determined status of the at least one check list item to generate
an updated check list; and D) rendering, on the display, the
updated check list on the display.
[0042] Another embodiment is directed to a method for creating a
check list for a locate operation performed by a locate technician.
The locate operation comprises identifying, using at least one
physical locate mark, a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion
of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation
activities. The method comprises: A) acquiring information
concerning a locate operation from a ticket and/or an associated
facilities map; B) based on the information concerning a locate
operation, determining at least one action to be performed during
the locate operation; and C) generating a check list for the locate
operation, the check list comprising at least one check list item
representing the at least one action to be performed during the
locate operation.
[0043] Another embodiment is directed to an apparatus for use in
connection with a locate operation performed by a locate
technician. The locate operation comprises identifying a presence
or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig
area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated
or disturbed during excavation activities. The apparatus comprises:
a memory to store processor-executable instructions; and a
processing unit coupled to the memory. Upon execution of the
processor-executable instructions by the processing unit, the
processing unit: acquires information concerning a locate operation
from a ticket and/or an associated facilities map; based on the
information concerning a locate operation, determines at least one
action to be performed during the locate operation; and generates a
check list for the locate operation, the check list comprising at
least one check list item representing the at least one action to
be performed during the locate operation.
[0044] Another embodiment is directed to at least one
computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when
executed on at least one processing unit, perform a method for
creating a check list for a locate operation performed by a locate
technician. The locate operation comprises identifying, using at
least one physical locate mark, a presence or an absence of at
least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least
a portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed during
excavation activities. The method comprises: A) acquiring
information concerning a locate operation from a ticket and/or an
associated facilities map; B) based on the information concerning a
locate operation, determining at least one action to be performed
during the locate operation; and C) generating a check list for the
locate operation, the check list comprising at least one check list
item representing the at least one action to be performed during
the locate operation.
[0045] Another embodiment is directed to a method for processing a
check list for a locate operation to be performed by a locate
technician. The locate operation comprises identifying, using at
least one physical locate mark, a presence or an absence of at
least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least
a portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed during
excavation activities. The method comprises: A) displaying a check
list for a locate operation on a display of a locate and/or marking
device, the check list comprising at least one check list item; B)
receiving an input concerning a status of the at least one check
list item; C) updating the check list based on the status of the at
least one check list item to generate an updated check list; and D)
displaying the updated check list on the display.
[0046] Another embodiment is directed to an apparatus for use in
connection with a locate operation performed by a locate
technician. The locate operation comprises identifying a presence
or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig
area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated
or disturbed during excavation activities. The apparatus comprises:
a display device; a communication interface; a memory to store
processor-executable instructions; and a processing unit coupled to
the display device, communication interface, and the memory. Upon
execution of the processor-executable instructions by the
processing unit, the processing unit: controls the display device
to display a check list for a locate operation on a display of a
locate and/or marking device, the check list comprising at least
one check list item; receives, via the communication interface, an
input concerning a status of the at least one check list item;
updates the check list based on the status of the at least one
check list item to generate an updated check list; and controls the
display device to display the updated check list.
[0047] Another embodiment is directed to at least one
computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when
executed on at least one processing unit, perform a method for
processing a check list for a locate operation to be performed by a
locate technician. The locate operation comprises identifying,
using at least one physical locate mark, a presence or an absence
of at least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at
least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed
during excavation activities. The method comprises: A) rendering,
on a display, a check list for a locate operation on a display of a
locate and/or marking device, the check list comprising at least
one check list item; B) receiving an input concerning a status of
the at least one check list item; C) updating the check list based
on the status of the at least one check list item to generate an
updated check list; and D) rendering, on the display, the updated
check list.
[0048] Another embodiment is directed to an apparatus for
generating a workflow in connection with a locate operation
performed by a locate technician. The locate operation comprises
identifying and/or marking a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion
of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation
activities. The apparatus comprises: a communication interface; a
memory to store processor-executable instructions; and a processing
unit coupled to the communication interface and the memory. Upon
execution of the processor-executable instructions by the
processing unit, the processing unit: acquires information relating
to the locate operation; acquires a workflow template, the workflow
template comprising a template for a series of tasks to be
performed in connection with the locate operation; based on the
information relating to the a locate operation, processes the
workflow template to include information specific to the locate
operation and thereby generate the workflow; and controls the
communication interface and/or the memory to electronically
transmit and/or electronically store the workflow.
[0049] Another embodiment is directed to a method for generating a
workflow in connection with a locate operation performed by a
locate technician. The locate operation comprising identifying
and/or marking a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig
area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities.
The method comprises: A) electronically acquiring information
relating to the locate operation; B) electronically acquiring a
workflow template, the workflow template comprising template for a
series of tasks to be performed in connection with the locate
operation; C) based on the information relating to the a locate
operation, processing the workflow template to include information
specific to the locate operation and thereby generate the workflow;
and D) electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing
the workflow.
[0050] Another embodiment is directed to at least one
computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when
executed on at least one processing unit, perform a method for
generating a workflow in connection with a locate operation
performed by a locate technician. The locate operation comprises
identifying and/or marking a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion
of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation
activities. The method comprises: A) acquiring information relating
to the locate operation; B) acquiring a workflow template, the
workflow template comprising template for a series of tasks to be
performed in connection with the locate operation; C) based on the
information relating to the a locate operation, processing the
workflow template to include information specific to the locate
operation and thereby generate the workflow; and D) electronically
transmitting and/or electronically storing the workflow.
[0051] Another embodiment is directed to an apparatus for
processing a workflow in connection with a locate operation
performed by a locate technician. The locate operation comprises
identifying and/or marking a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion
of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation
activities. The apparatus comprises: a display device; a memory to
store processor-executable instructions; and a processing unit
coupled to the display device and the memory. Upon execution of the
processor-executable instructions by the processing unit, the
processing unit: controls the display device to display the
workflow for a locate operation, the workflow comprising a series
of tasks to be performed in connection with the locate operation;
determines a status of at least one task of the series of tasks
based on at least one input to the processing unit; and stores, in
the memory, a status indication corresponding to the at least one
task based on the determined status of the at least one task.
[0052] Another embodiment is directed to a method for processing a
workflow in connection with a locate operation performed by a
locate technician. The locate operation comprises identifying
and/or marking a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig
area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities.
The method comprises: A) displaying, via a display device, the
workflow for a locate operation, the workflow comprising a series
of tasks to be performed in connection with the locate operation;
B) determining a status of at least one task of the series of tasks
based on at least one input; and C) storing, in memory, a status
indication corresponding to the at least one task based on the
determined status of the at least one task.
[0053] Another embodiment is directed to at least one
computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when
executed on at least one processing unit, perform a method for
processing a workflow in connection with a locate operation
performed by a locate technician. The locate operation comprises
identifying and/or marking a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion
of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation
activities. The method comprises: A) rendering, via a display
device, the workflow for a locate operation, the workflow
comprising a series of tasks to be performed in connection with the
locate operation; B) determining a status of at least one task of
the series of tasks based on at least one input; and C) storing, in
memory, a status indication corresponding to the at least one task
based on the determined status of the at least one task.
[0054] Another embodiment is directed to a marking apparatus for
performing a marking operation to mark on ground, pavement, or
other surface a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility. The apparatus comprises: an actuator to dispense a
marking material so as to form at least one locate mark on the
ground, pavement or other surface to mark the presence or the
absence of the at least one underground facility; at least one user
interface including at least one display device; at least one
communication interface; a memory to store processor-executable
instructions, wherein the processor-executable instructions include
ticket processing software; and a processor communicatively coupled
to the memory, the at least one communication interface, the at
least one user interface, and the actuator, wherein upon execution
of the ticket processing software by the processor, the processor:
receives via the at least one communication interface first ticket
information relating to at least one locate request ticket
pertaining to the marking operation; and controls the at least one
display device so as to display second ticket information on the at
least one display device, wherein the second ticket information is
derived from the first ticket information.
[0055] Another embodiment is directed to a method for facilitating
a marking operation performed by a marking apparatus to mark on
ground, pavement, or other surface a presence or an absence of at
least one underground facility. The method comprises: A) receiving
at the marking apparatus first ticket information relating to at
least one locate request ticket pertaining to the marking
operation; and B) displaying on at least one display device of the
marking apparatus second ticket information derived from the first
ticket information.
[0056] Another embodiment is directed to at least one computer
readable storage medium encoded with at least one program including
processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a
processor, perform a method for facilitating a marking operation
performed by a marking apparatus to mark on ground, pavement, or
other surface a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility. The method comprises: A) displaying on at least one
display device of the marking apparatus ticket information derived
from at least one locate request ticket pertaining to the marking
operation.
[0057] Another embodiment is directed to an apparatus for
facilitating a locate and/or marking operation, the locate and/or
marking operation comprising detecting and/or marking a presence or
an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area,
wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned to be
excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. The apparatus
comprises: at least one communication interface; a memory to store
processor-executable instructions, wherein the processor-executable
instructions include ticket processing software; and a processor
communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one
communication interface, wherein upon execution of the ticket
processing software by the processor, the processor: A) receives
via the at least one communication interface ticket information
relating to at least one locate request ticket pertaining to the
locate and/or marking operation; and B) generates and/or executes a
process guide for the locate and/or marking operation based at
least in part on the ticket information.
[0058] Another embodiment is directed to a method for facilitating
a locate and/or marking operation, the locate and/or marking
operation comprising detecting and/or marking a presence or an
absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area,
wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned to be
excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. The method
comprises: A) electronically receiving first ticket information
relating to at least one locate request ticket pertaining to the
locate and/or marking operation; and B) generating a process guide
for the locate and/or marking operation based at least in part on
the first ticket information.
[0059] Another embodiment is directed to at least one computer
readable medium encoded with at least one program including
processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a
processor, perform a method for facilitating a locate and/or
marking operation, the locate and/or marking operation comprising
detecting and/or marking a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion
of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during
excavation activities. The method comprises: A) electronically
receiving first ticket information relating to at least one locate
request ticket pertaining to the locate and/or marking operation;
and B) generating a process guide for the locate and/or marking
operation based at least in part on the first ticket
information.
[0060] Another embodiment is directed to a computer-implemented
method executed by at least one processor for generating a
checklist in connection with a locate and/or marking operation to
detect and/or mark a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion
of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during
excavation activities. The method comprises: A) acquiring ticket
information that is derived based on a ticket and/or a work order
associated with a locate and/or marking operation; B) based on the
acquired ticket information, determining at least one task to be
performed by a locate technician in connection with the locate
and/or marking operation; and C) generating a checklist comprising
a plurality of checklist items to be processed pursuant to the
locate and/or marking operation, at least one of the checklist
items corresponding to the at least one task to be performed by the
locate technician.
[0061] Another embodiment is directed to at least one
computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when
executed, perform a method for generating a checklist in connection
with a locate and/or marking operation to detect and/or mark a
presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within
a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned
to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. The
method comprises: A) acquiring ticket information derived based on
a ticket and/or a work order associated with a locate and/or
marking operation; B) based on the acquired ticket information,
determining at least one task to be performed by a locate
technician in connection with the locate and/or marking operation;
and C) generating a checklist comprising a plurality of checklist
items to be processed pursuant to the locate and/or marking
operation, at least one of the checklist items corresponding to the
at least one task to be performed by the locate technician.
[0062] Another embodiment is directed to a system for generating a
checklist in connection with a locate and/or marking operation to
detect and/or mark a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion
of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during
excavation activities. The system comprising at least one processor
programmed to: A) acquire ticket information derived based on a
ticket and/or a work order associated with a locate and/or marking
operation; B) based on the acquired ticket information, determine
at least one task to be performed by a locate technician in
connection with the locate and/or marking operation; and C)
generate a checklist comprising a plurality of checklist items to
be processed pursuant to the locate and/or marking operation, at
least one of the checklist items corresponding to the at least one
task to be performed by the locate technician.
[0063] Another embodiment is directed to a computer-implemented
method for processing a checklist in connection with a locate
and/or marking operation to detect a presence or an absence of at
least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least
a portion of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed
during excavation activities. The method comprises: A) displaying a
checklist to a locate technician performing a locate and/or marking
operation, the checklist comprising a plurality of checklist items
to be processed pursuant to the locate and/or marking operation; B)
determining a status of at least one of the checklist items based
at least in part on an input received in connection with the locate
and/or marking operation; and C) generating an updated checklist
based on the status of the at least one of the checklist items.
[0064] Another embodiment is directed to at least one
computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when
executed, perform a method for processing a checklist in connection
with a locate and/or marking operation to detect a presence or an
absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area,
wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned to be
excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. The method
comprises: A) displaying a checklist to a locate technician
performing a locate and/or marking operation, the checklist
comprising a plurality of checklist items to be processed pursuant
to the locate and/or marking operation; B) determining a status of
at least one of the checklist items based at least in part on an
input received in connection with the locate and/or marking
operation; and C) generating an updated checklist based on the
status of the at least one of the checklist items.
[0065] Another embodiment is directed to a system for processing a
checklist in connection with a locate and/or marking operation to
detect a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig
area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation
activities. The system comprises at least one processor programmed
to: A) display, on a display device, a checklist to a locate
technician performing a locate and/or marking operation, the
checklist comprising a plurality of checklist items to be processed
pursuant to the locate and/or marking operation; B) determine a
status of at least one of the checklist items based at least in
part on an input received in connection with the locate and/or
marking operation; and C) generate an updated checklist based on
the status of the at least one of the checklist items.
[0066] Another embodiment is directed to a system for generating a
workflow in connection with a locate and/or marking operation to
detect and/or mark a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion
of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during
excavation activities. The system comprises at least one processor
programmed to: A) acquire ticket information that is derived based
on a ticket and/or a work order associated with a locate and/or
marking operation; B) based on the acquired ticket information,
generate a workflow comprising a series of tasks to be performed by
a locate technician in connection with the locate and/or marking
operation; and C) transmit the workflow via a communication
interface and/or store the workflow in a memory.
[0067] Another embodiment is directed to a computer-implemented
method executed by at least one processor for generating a workflow
in connection with a locate and/or marking operation to detect
and/or mark a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig
area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation
activities. The method comprises: A) acquiring ticket information
that is derived based on a ticket and/or a work order associated
with a locate and/or marking operation; B) based on the acquired
ticket information, generating a workflow comprising a series of
tasks to be performed by a locate technician in connection with the
locate and/or marking operation; and C) transmitting the workflow
via a communication interface and/or storing the workflow in a
memory.
[0068] Another embodiment is directed to at least one
computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when
executed, perform a method for generating a workflow in connection
with a locate and/or marking operation to detect and/or mark a
presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within
a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned
to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. The
method comprises: A) acquiring ticket information that is derived
based on a ticket and/or a work order associated with a locate
and/or marking operation; B) based on the acquired ticket
information, generating a workflow comprising a series of tasks to
be performed by a locate technician in connection with the locate
and/or marking operation; and C) transmitting the workflow via a
communication interface and/or storing the workflow in a
memory.
[0069] Another embodiment is directed to a system for generating a
workflow in connection with a locate and/or marking operation to
detect and/or mark a presence or an absence of at least one
underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion
of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during
excavation activities. The system comprises at least one processor
programmed to: A) acquire a workflow comprising a series of tasks
to be performed in connection with a locate and/or marking
operation; B) display, on a display device, one or more workflow
outputs in accordance with the workflow, each workflow output being
generated based on at least one of the series of tasks in the
workflow; C) determine a status of at least one task of the series
of tasks based on at least one input received in connection with
the locate and/or marking operation; and D) generate an updated
workflow based on at least in part on the status determined in
C).
[0070] Another embodiment is directed to a computer-implemented
method executed by at least one processor for generating a workflow
in connection with a locate and/or marking operation to detect
and/or mark a presence or an absence of at least one underground
facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig
area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation
activities. The method comprises: A) acquiring a workflow
comprising a series of tasks to be performed in connection with a
locate and/or marking operation; B) displaying, on a display
device, one or more workflow outputs in accordance with the
workflow, each workflow output being generated based on at least
one of the series of tasks in the workflow; C) determining a status
of at least one task of the series of tasks based on at least one
input received in connection with the locate and/or marking
operation; and D) generating an updated workflow based on at least
in part on the status determined in C).
[0071] Another embodiment is directed to at least one
computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when
executed, perform a method for generating a workflow in connection
with a locate and/or marking operation to detect and/or mark a
presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within
a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned
to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. The
method comprises: A) acquiring a workflow comprising a series of
tasks to be performed in connection with a locate and/or marking
operation; B) displaying, on a display device, one or more workflow
outputs in accordance with the workflow, each workflow output being
generated based on at least one of the series of tasks in the
workflow; C) determining a status of at least one task of the
series of tasks based on at least one input received in connection
with the locate and/or marking operation; and D) generating an
updated workflow based on at least in part on the status determined
in C).
[0072] For purposes of the present disclosure, the term "dig area"
refers to a specified area of a work site within which there is a
plan to disturb the ground (e.g., excavate, dig holes and/or
trenches, bore, etc.), and beyond which there is no plan to
excavate in the immediate surroundings. Thus, the metes and bounds
of a dig area are intended to provide specificity as to where some
disturbance to the ground is planned at a given work site. It
should be appreciated that a given work site may include multiple
dig areas.
[0073] The term "facility" refers to one or more lines, cables,
fibers, conduits, transmitters, receivers, or other physical
objects or structures capable of or used for carrying,
transmitting, receiving, storing, and providing utilities, energy,
data, substances, and/or services, and/or any combination thereof.
The term "underground facility" means any facility beneath the
surface of the ground. Examples of facilities include, but are not
limited to, oil, gas, water, sewer, power, telephone, data
transmission, cable television (TV), and/or internet services.
[0074] The term "locate device" refers to any apparatus and/or
device for detecting and/or inferring the presence or absence of
any facility, including without limitation, any underground
facility. In various examples, a locate device may include both a
locate transmitter and a locate receiver (which in some instances
may also be referred to collectively as a "locate instrument set,"
or simply "locate set").
[0075] The term "marking device" refers to any apparatus,
mechanism, or other device that employs a marking dispenser for
causing a marking material and/or marking object to be dispensed,
or any apparatus, mechanism, or other device for electronically
indicating (e.g., logging in memory) a location, such as a location
of an underground facility. Additionally, the term "marking
dispenser" refers to any apparatus, mechanism, or other device for
dispensing and/or otherwise using, separately or in combination, a
marking material and/or a marking object. An example of a marking
dispenser may include, but is not limited to, a pressurized can of
marking paint. The term "marking material" means any material,
substance, compound, and/or element, used or which may be used
separately or in combination to mark, signify, and/or indicate.
Examples of marking materials may include, but are not limited to,
paint, chalk, dye, and/or iron. The term "marking object" means any
object and/or objects used or which may be used separately or in
combination to mark, signify, and/or indicate. Examples of marking
objects may include, but are not limited to, a flag, a dart, and
arrow, and/or an RFID marking ball. It is contemplated that marking
material may include marking objects. It is further contemplated
that the terms "marking materials" or "marking objects" may be used
interchangeably in accordance with the present disclosure.
[0076] The term "locate mark" means any mark, sign, and/or object
employed to indicate the presence or absence of any underground
facility. Examples of locate marks may include, but are not limited
to, marks made with marking materials, marking objects, global
positioning or other information, and/or any other means. Locate
marks may be represented in any form including, without limitation,
physical, visible, electronic, and/or any combination thereof.
[0077] The terms "actuate" or "trigger" (verb form) are used
interchangeably to refer to starting or causing any device,
program, system, and/or any combination thereof to work, operate,
and/or function in response to some type of signal or stimulus.
Examples of actuation signals or stimuli may include, but are not
limited to, any local or remote, physical, audible, inaudible,
visual, non-visual, electronic, mechanical, electromechanical,
biomechanical, biosensing or other signal, instruction, or event.
The terms "actuator" or "trigger" (noun form) are used
interchangeably to refer to any method or device used to generate
one or more signals or stimuli to cause or causing actuation.
Examples of an actuator/trigger may include, but are not limited
to, any form or combination of a lever, switch, program, processor,
screen, microphone for capturing audible commands, and/or other
device or method. An actuator/trigger may also include, but is not
limited to, a device, software, or program that responds to any
movement and/or condition of a user, such as, but not limited to,
eye movement, brain activity, heart rate, other data, and/or the
like, and generates one or more signals or stimuli in response
thereto. In the case of a marking device or other marking mechanism
(e.g., to physically or electronically mark a facility or other
feature), actuation may cause marking material to be dispensed, as
well as various data relating to the marking operation (e.g.,
geographic location, time stamps, characteristics of material
dispensed, etc.) to be logged in an electronic file stored in
memory. In the case of a locate device or other locate mechanism
(e.g., to physically locate a facility or other feature), actuation
may cause a detected signal strength, signal frequency, depth, or
other information relating to the locate operation to be logged in
an electronic file stored in memory.
[0078] The terms "locate and marking operation," "locate
operation," and "locate" generally are used interchangeably and
refer to any activity to detect, infer, and/or mark the presence or
absence of an underground facility. In some contexts, the term
"locate operation" is used to more specifically refer to detection
of one or more underground facilities, and the term "marking
operation" is used to more specifically refer to using a marking
material and/or one or more marking objects to mark a presence or
an absence of one or more underground facilities. The term "locate
technician" refers to an individual performing a locate operation.
A locate and marking operation often is specified in connection
with a dig area, at least a portion of which may be excavated or
otherwise disturbed during excavation activities.
[0079] The term "user" refers to an individual utilizing a locate
device and/or a marking device and may include, but is not limited
to, land surveyors, locate technicians, and support personnel.
[0080] The terms "locate request" and "excavation notice" are used
interchangeably to refer to any communication to request a locate
and marking operation. The term "locate request ticket" (or simply
"ticket") refers to any communication or instruction to perform a
locate operation. A ticket might specify, for example, the address
or description of a dig area to be marked, the day and/or time that
the dig area is to be marked, and/or whether the user is to mark
the excavation area for certain gas, water, sewer, power,
telephone, cable television, and/or some other underground
facility. The term "historical ticket" refers to past tickets that
have been completed.
[0081] The following U.S. published applications and patents are
hereby incorporated herein by reference:
[0082] U.S. Pat. No. 7,640,105, issued Dec. 29, 2009, filed Mar.
13, 2007, and entitled "Marking System and Method With Location
and/or Time Tracking;"
[0083] U.S. publication no. 2008-0245299-A1, published Oct. 9,
2008, filed Apr. 4, 2007, and entitled "Marking System and
Method;"
[0084] U.S. publication no. 2009-0013928-A1, published Jan. 15,
2009, filed Sep. 24, 2008, and entitled "Marking System and
Method;"
[0085] U.S. publication no. 2009-0238414-A1, published Sep. 24,
2009, filed Mar. 18, 2008, and entitled "Virtual White Lines for
Delimiting Planned Excavation Sites;"
[0086] U.S. publication no. 2009-0241045-A1, published Sep. 24,
2009, filed Sep. 26, 2008, and entitled "Virtual White Lines for
Delimiting Planned Excavation Sites;"
[0087] U.S. publication no. 2009-0238415-A1, published Sep. 24,
2009, filed Sep. 26, 2008, and entitled "Virtual White Lines for
Delimiting Planned Excavation Sites;"
[0088] U.S. publication no. 2009-0241046-A1, published Sep. 24,
2009, filed Jan. 16, 2009, and entitled "Virtual White Lines for
Delimiting Planned Excavation Sites;"
[0089] U.S. publication no. 2009-0238416-A1, published Sep. 24,
2009, filed Jan. 16, 2009, and entitled "Virtual White Lines for
Delimiting Planned Excavation Sites;"
[0090] U.S. publication no. 2009-0237408-A1, published Sep. 24,
2009, filed Jan. 16, 2009, and entitled "Virtual White Lines for
Delimiting Planned Excavation Sites;"
[0091] U.S. publication no. 2009-0202101-A1, published Aug. 13,
2009, filed Feb. 12, 2008, and entitled "Electronic Manifest of
Underground Facility Locate Marks;"
[0092] U.S. publication no. 2009-0202110-A1, published Aug. 13,
2009, filed Sep. 11, 2008, and entitled "Electronic Manifest of
Underground Facility Locate Marks;"
[0093] U.S. publication no. 2009-0201311-A1, published Aug. 13,
2009, filed Jan. 30, 2009, and entitled "Electronic Manifest of
Underground Facility Locate Marks;"
[0094] U.S. publication no. 2009-0202111-A1, published Aug. 13,
2009, filed Jan. 30, 2009, and entitled "Electronic Manifest of
Underground Facility Locate Marks;"
[0095] U.S. publication no. 2009-0204625-A1, published Aug. 13,
2009, filed Feb. 5, 2009, and entitled "Electronic Manifest of
Underground Facility Locate Operation;"
[0096] U.S. publication no. 2009-0204466-A1, published Aug. 13,
2009, filed Sep. 4, 2008, and entitled "Ticket Approval System For
and Method of Performing Quality Control In Field Service
Applications;"
[0097] U.S. publication no. 2009-0207019-A1, published Aug. 20,
2009, filed Apr. 30, 2009, and entitled "Ticket Approval System For
and Method of Performing Quality Control In Field Service
Applications;"
[0098] U.S. publication no. 2009-0210284-A1, published Aug. 20,
2009, filed Apr. 30, 2009, and entitled "Ticket Approval System For
and Method of Performing Quality Control In Field Service
Applications;"
[0099] U.S. publication no. 2009-0210297-A1, published Aug. 20,
2009, filed Apr. 30, 2009, and entitled "Ticket Approval System For
and Method of Performing Quality Control In Field Service
Applications;"
[0100] U.S. publication no. 2009-0210298-A1, published Aug. 20,
2009, filed Apr. 30, 2009, and entitled "Ticket Approval System For
and Method of Performing Quality Control In Field Service
Applications;"
[0101] U.S. publication no. 2009-0210285-A1, published Aug. 20,
2009, filed Apr. 30, 2009, and entitled "Ticket Approval System For
and Method of Performing Quality Control In Field Service
Applications;"
[0102] U.S. publication no. 2009-0324815-A1, published Dec. 31,
2009, filed Apr. 24, 2009, and entitled "Marking Apparatus and
Marking Methods Using Marking Dispenser with Machine-Readable ID
Mechanism;"
[0103] U.S. publication no. 2010-0006667-A1, published Jan. 14,
2010, filed Apr. 24, 2009, and entitled, "Marker Detection
Mechanisms for use in Marking Devices And Methods of Using
Same;"
[0104] U.S. publication no. 2009-0204238-A1, published Aug. 13,
2009, filed Feb. 2, 2009, and entitled "Electronically Controlled
Marking Apparatus and Methods;"
[0105] U.S. publication no. 2009-0208642-A1, published Aug. 20,
2009, filed Feb. 2, 2009, and entitled "Marking Apparatus and
Methods For Creating an Electronic Record of Marking
Operations;"
[0106] U.S. publication no. 2009-0210098-A1, published Aug. 20,
2009, filed Feb. 2, 2009, and entitled "Marking Apparatus and
Methods For Creating an Electronic Record of Marking Apparatus
Operations;"
[0107] U.S. publication no. 2009-0201178-A1, published Aug. 13,
2009, filed Feb. 2, 2009, and entitled "Methods For Evaluating
Operation of Marking Apparatus;"
[0108] U.S. publication no. 2009-0238417-A1, published Sep. 24,
2009, filed Feb. 6, 2009, and entitled "Virtual White Lines for
Indicating Planned Excavation Sites on Electronic Images;"
[0109] U.S. publication no. 2009-0202112-A1, published Aug. 13,
2009, filed Feb. 11, 2009, and entitled "Searchable Electronic
Records of Underground Facility Locate Marking Operations;"
[0110] U.S. publication no. 2009-0204614-A1, published Aug. 13,
2009, filed Feb. 11, 2009, and entitled "Searchable Electronic
Records of Underground Facility Locate Marking Operations;"
[0111] U.S. publication no. 2009-0327024-A1, published Dec. 31,
2009, filed Jun. 26, 2009, and entitled "Methods and Apparatus for
Quality Assessment of a Field Service Operation;"
[0112] U.S. publication no. 2010-0010862-A1, published Jan. 14,
2010, filed Aug. 7, 2009, and entitled, "Methods and Apparatus for
Quality Assessment of a Field Service Operation Based on Geographic
Information;"
[0113] U.S. publication No. 2010-0010863-A1, published Jan. 14,
2010, filed Aug. 7, 2009, and entitled, "Methods and Apparatus for
Quality Assessment of a Field Service Operation Based on Multiple
Scoring Categories;"
[0114] U.S. publication no. 2010-0010882-A1, published Jan. 14,
2010, filed Aug. 7, 2009, and entitled, "Methods and Apparatus for
Quality Assessment of a Field Service Operation Based on Dynamic
Assessment Parameters;" and
[0115] U.S. publication no. 2010-0010883-A1, published Jan. 14,
2010, filed Aug. 7, 2009, and entitled, "Methods and Apparatus for
Quality Assessment of a Field Service Operation Based on Multiple
Quality Assessment Criteria."
[0116] It should be appreciated that all combinations of the
foregoing concepts and additional concepts discussed in greater
detail below (provided such concepts are not mutually inconsistent)
are contemplated as being part of the inventive subject matter
disclosed herein. In particular, all combinations of claimed
subject matter appearing at the end of this disclosure are
contemplated as being part of the inventive subject matter
disclosed herein. It should also be appreciated that terminology
explicitly employed herein that also may appear in any disclosure
incorporated by reference should be accorded a meaning most
consistent with the particular concepts disclosed herein.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0117] The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead
generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the
invention;
[0118] FIG. 1 shows an example in which a locate and marking
operation is initiated as a result of an excavator providing an
excavation notice to a one-call center;
[0119] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of an exemplary system,
including one or more remote computers and a marking device, for
processing tickets to facilitate locate and/or marking operations,
according to one embodiment of the present invention;
[0120] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the system of FIG. 2,
illustrating an exemplary marking device according to one
embodiment of the present invention;
[0121] FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate a functional block diagram and
perspective view, respectively, of another example of one or more
computers and a locate receiver for processing tickets to
facilitate locate and/or marking operations, according to one
embodiment of the present invention;
[0122] FIGS. 3C and 3D illustrate a functional block diagram and
perspective view, respectively, of another example of one or more
computers and a combined locate and marking device for processing
tickets to facilitate locate and/or marking operations, according
to one embodiment of the present invention;
[0123] FIG. 4 shows an example of a locate request ticket that may
be processed according to various embodiments of the present
invention.
[0124] FIG. 5A shows an example of a virtual white lines (VWL)
image that may be associated with the ticket of FIG. 4 and also
processed according to various embodiments of the present
invention.
[0125] FIG. 5B illustrates a system for creating the VWL image
shown in FIG. 5A.
[0126] FIG. 5C illustrates an exemplary VWL data set that may be
associated with the VWL image shown in FIG. 5A.
[0127] FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart providing an outline of the
high-level functionality of a ticket processing method according to
some embodiments of the present invention.
[0128] FIG. 7 shows an illustrative example of a workforce guidance
and monitoring system for implementing the ticket processing method
of FIG. 6 so as to facilitate and/or verifying locate and/or
marking operations according to some embodiments of the present
invention.
[0129] FIG. 8 shows an example of a work order that may be
generated via one implementation of the ticket processing method of
FIG. 6 or the workforce guidance and monitoring system of FIG. 7,
according to some embodiments of the present invention.
[0130] FIG. 9 shows illustrative examples of auxiliary information
sources that may be accessed and/or updated by various components
of the method of FIG. 6 or the system of FIG. 7, according to some
embodiments of the present invention.
[0131] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a facilities map that has
a virtual white lines overlay, which may be useful in the method of
FIG. 6 or the system of FIG. 7, according to some embodiments of
the present invention.
[0132] FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary process guide in the form
of checklist generated by the method of FIG. 6 or the system of
FIG. 7, according to some embodiments of the present invention.
[0133] FIGS. 12A-C illustrate various examples in which a
facilities map may be used to facilitate generation of a checklist,
according to some embodiments of the present invention.
[0134] FIG. 13 shows an illustrative checklist process to present a
checklist to a locate technician and to update the checklist either
based on manual input from the locate technician or based on
locating equipment data received from one or more pieces of
locating equipment used by the locate technician, according to some
embodiments of the present invention.
[0135] FIG. 14 shows an illustrative example of a process that may
be performed to generate a workflow, according to some embodiments
of the present invention.
[0136] FIG. 15 shows an illustrative process that may be performed
to allow real-time interactions with a locate technician pursuant
to a workflow, according to some embodiments of the present
invention.
[0137] FIG. 16-19 illustrates a series of exemplary popup windows
and checklists that may be presented as part of the process of FIG.
15, according to some embodiments of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0138] Following below are more detailed descriptions of various
concepts related to, and embodiments of, inventive systems, methods
and apparatus for facilitating and/or verifying locate and/or
marking operations. It should be appreciated that various concepts
introduced above and discussed in greater detail below may be
implemented in any of numerous ways, as the disclosed concepts are
not limited to any particular manner of implementation. Examples of
specific implementations and applications are provided primarily
for illustrative purposes.
I. Overview
[0139] Applicants have recognized and appreciated that, in
conventional practice, information provided to technicians
dispatched to perform locate and/or marking operations may in some
instances be incomplete, inaccurate and/or inconsistent in one or
more aspects. Additionally, the manner in which the information is
presented to the technicians may not always be consistent and/or
orderly. As a result, it may be difficult for a technician to
readily construe the information provided, and there may be
significant opportunity for misinterpreting elements of the
requested locate and/or marking operation, which may adversely
affect the quality and efficiency of locate and/or marking
operations. Accordingly, in various exemplary implementations
described in detail below, the information provided to technicians
in the field, and the presentation thereof, may be enhanced and/or
improved in some manner so as to facilitate and/or verify
efficient, effective and satisfactory performance of locate and/or
marking operations.
[0140] Applicants have further recognized and appreciated that the
lack of complete and accurate information may in some situations be
beyond the control of a locate service provider. For example, the
deficiencies may be due to outdated records from facilities owners
and/or inaccurate dig area descriptions given by excavators. As
another example, working conditions such as weather and/or traffic
may have unpredictable variations. For these and other reasons, a
technician may often need to respond to unanticipated circumstances
in real time, as such circumstances develop, or become apparent,
during the course of a locate and/or marking operation.
Accordingly, in various exemplary implementations described in
detail below, techniques are provided for monitoring a locate
and/or marking operation in progress, continually collecting
updated information through the monitoring and providing
interactive guidance to a technician based on the updated
information.
[0141] In various exemplary implementations described in detail
below, one or more aspects of ticket information (examples of which
include, but are not limited to, the use, content, formatting,
organization, processing, analysis, appearance and/or presentation
mode of available ticket information) are enhanced and/or improved
in some manner so as to facilitate and/or verify efficient,
effective and satisfactory performance of the locate and/or marking
operation. For example, ticket information may be displayed to a
technician in the field (e.g., on one or more pieces of locating
equipment used by the technician) so as to provide ready access to
such information during a locate and/or marking operation to
facilitate performance thereof. As noted above, for purposes of the
present disclosure "ticket information" refers to any information
included in or derived from locate request tickets (e.g., as issued
by a one-call center), and any enhancements and/or improvements
thereto. "Locating equipment" refers to any device or apparatus
used by a technician in connection with performance of a locate
and/or marking operation (e.g., a locate device such as a
transmitter and/or receiver, a marking device, a combined locate
and marking device, etc.).
[0142] Beyond display of ticket information "locally" on equipment
used to perform a locate and/or marking operation, the technician
may be permitted or required to have some type of "real-time"
interaction with displayed ticket information (e.g., verifying,
updating and/or manipulating ticket information) during performance
of the locate and/or marking operation. For example, the technician
may provide one or more types of input to generate an electronic
record or log of technician activity during the locate and/or
marking operation. In various implementations, examples of
technician input include, but are not limited to, various "simple"
inputs (e.g., using an input device such as mouse, keypad, thumb
pad, joystick and/or pushbutton to select an option or provide a
status indication via a menu-driven graphical user interface, which
may be presented on a piece of locating equipment), text entries to
provide technician notes (e.g., via a keypad and/or thumb pad),
voice entries (e.g., via a digital audio recorder), and digital
photographs (e.g., via a digital camera).
[0143] In one embodiment, a "technician checklist" may be generated
based at least in part on ticket information and may be displayed
locally to a technician as a guide to perform and/or verify various
aspects of a locate and/or marking operation. Such a checklist may
include a list of one or more work items to be completed or
otherwise attended to by the technician in any suitable ordering,
which may or may not be the same as the ordering in which the
checklist is presented to the technician. In some embodiments, for
example, a checklist may include one or more types of facilities to
be located and/or marked pursuant to the ticket information. As
each item in the checklist is addressed by the technician, the
status of the item may be updated (e.g., "checked-off"), either
manually by the technician (e.g., via a user interface of the
locating equipment) or automatically or semi-automatically (e.g.,
by analyzing various information collected by the locating
equipment with respect to ticket information and/or other
information germane to the locate and/or marking operation). The
updated status and any associated notes or remarks may be
transmitted in essentially real time to a remote computer for
further analysis and/or review by supervisory personnel. Additional
information and/or guidance may be returned to the technician upon
such analysis and/or review, for example, in the event of one or
more unanticipated circumstances.
[0144] In another embodiment, based at least in part on ticket
information, various process recommendations, prompts, alerts, and
the like that may be useful to a technician when performing a
locate and/or marking operation may be generated and/or presented
locally on one or more pieces of locating equipment used by the
technician. In one exemplary implementation, a ticket is processed
to extract relevant information so as to generate a set of
instructions and/or prompts, also referred to herein as a
"workflow," for guiding the technician (e.g., in an orderly
step-by-step fashion or a sequence of steps) through the locate
and/or marking operation. Various aspects of such a workflow may be
conveyed to the technician using any of a variety of sensory
mechanisms including, but not limited to, visual cues, audible
cues, and/or tactile cues (e.g., by vibrating a portion, such as a
handle, of one or more pieces of locating equipment). As with a
checklist, a workflow may be interactive in that the technician may
provide input for updating one or more aspect of the workflow, or
workflow implementation may be automated or semi-automated by
analyzing various information collected by the locating equipment
with respect to the ticket information and/or other available
information germane to the locate and/or marking operation. An
updated workflow, which may or may not be completed, may also be
transmitted in real time to a remote computer for further analysis
and/or review by supervisory personnel.
[0145] Various concepts discussed herein relating to facilitating
and/or verifying performance of a locate and/or marking operation
may be implemented in one or more apparatus or devices associated
with locate and/or marking operations, examples of which include,
but are not limited to, one or more pieces of locating equipment
used by a technician, a docking station for the one or more pieces
of locating equipment (e.g., disposed in the technician's vehicle),
a personal computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), a cellular
phone or other communication and/or processing device used or
carried by the technician and/or situated in the technician's
vehicle, and/or a central server or one or more other computers
(e.g., operated by a locate contractor and/or facility owner
dispatching technicians to perform locate and/or marking
operations). For example, reception, processing and/or use of
ticket information may be accomplished entirely on one or more
pieces of locating equipment used in the field; alternatively,
various functionalities attendant to ticket reception, processing
and/or use may be implemented primarily on a central server or
remote computer, or distributed in various manners amongst one or
more remote computers, a technician's personal and/or vehicle
computing equipment, and/or locating equipment used in the
field.
[0146] Furthermore, although the illustrated embodiments are
presented in the context of locate and/or marking operations, it
should be appreciated that the various inventive concepts described
herein relating generally to guiding and/or monitoring a mobile
workforce may be employed in settings other than locate and/or
marking operations, as the present disclosure is not limited in
this respect.
II. Exemplary Apparatus and System for Information Display and
Interaction
[0147] Following below is a detailed discussion of a system
including an exemplary remote computer and a marking device
configured to implement various concepts disclosed herein in
connection with facilitating and/or verifying locate and/or marking
operations based on ticket information. It should be appreciated,
however, that other types of locating equipment and/or one or more
other computing devices may be similarly configured to implement
any suitable combination of the various concepts disclosed herein,
and that the discussion below regarding a remote computer in
communication with a marking device is provided primarily for
purposes of illustrating at least one possible implementation
example. In particular, any of the concepts discussed in detail
below similarly may be implemented in connection with a remote
computer in communication with a locate receiver or a combined
locate and marking device, or systems of one or more marking
devices, locate devices, combined locate and marking devices, and
one or more remote computers, as described for example in U.S.
non-provisional application Ser. No. 12/571,329, entitled "Methods
and Apparatus for Generating Electronic Records of Locate
Operations," filed on Sep. 30, 2009, which application is hereby
incorporated herein by reference.
[0148] A. Marking Device
[0149] FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate a functional block diagram and
perspective view, respectively, of one example of a system
including a marking device 110 and optionally a remote computer
150, according to one embodiment of the present invention. One or
both of the marking device 110 and the remote computer 150 may be
configured to receive and/or use/process tickets or ticket
information according to the various concepts discussed herein
(e.g., generate checklists and/or workflows to facilitate guided
marking operations), as well as electronically generate and store a
technician activity log including information regarding the
activities of a technician attendant to a locate and/or marking
operation, based at least in part on the ticket information.
[0150] As shown in FIG. 2, in one embodiment marking device 110
includes control electronics 112, the components of which are
powered by a power source 114. Power source 114 may be any power
source that is suitable for use in a portable device, such as, but
not limited to, one or more rechargeable batteries, one or more
non-rechargeable batteries, a solar photovoltaic panel, a standard
AC power plug feeding an AC-to-DC converter, and the like.
[0151] The marking device 110 is configured to hold a marking
dispenser 116, which as shown in FIG. 3 is loaded into a marking
material holder 140 of the marking device 110. In one exemplary
implementation, the marking dispenser 116 is an aerosol paint
canister that contains paint; however, it should be appreciated
that the present invention is not limited in this respect, as a
marking material dispensed by the marking device 110 may be any
material, substance, compound, and/or element, used to mark,
signify, and/or indicate. Examples of marking materials may
include, but are not limited to, paint, chalk, dye, and/or marking
powder.
[0152] As also shown in FIG. 2, in one embodiment control
electronics 112 of marking device 110 may include, but are not
limited to, a processor 118, at least a portion of an actuation
system 120 (another portion of which may include one or more
mechanical elements), a local memory 122, a communication interface
124, a user interface 126, a timing system 128, and a location
tracking system 130.
[0153] The processor 118 may be any general-purpose processor,
controller, or microcontroller device. Local memory 122 may be any
volatile or non-volatile data storage device, such as, but not
limited to, a random access memory (RAM) device and a removable
memory device (e.g., a universal serial bus (USB) flash drive). As
discussed further below in Section IV, the local memory may store
ticket processing software 113, which may be a set of
processor-executable instructions that when executed by the
processor 118 causes the processor to control various other
components of the marking device 110 so as to implement various
functions discussed herein in connection with ticket information
(e.g., generation/display of a technician checklist, workflow,
technician input, automated/semi-automated analysis of operations,
generation of technician activity log, etc.). Ticket processing
software 113 may be, for example, a custom algorithm. The local
memory 122 also may store one or more electronic tickets 165 as
well as a technician activity log 137 (e.g., generated pursuant to
execution of the ticket processing software 113, as discussed
further below).
[0154] The local memory 122 of the marking device 110 also may
store a marking algorithm 134, which may be a set of
processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the
processor 118, causes the processor to control various other
components of the marking device 110 to collect various information
relating to use of the marking device 110 (e.g., to dispense
marking material so as to mark a presence or an absence of one or
more underground facilities) and generate an electronic marking
record 135 of a marking operation, which record also may be stored
in the local memory 122 and/or transmitted in essentially real-time
(as it is being generated) or after completion of a marking
operation to a remote device (e.g., remote computer 150).
[0155] While FIG. 2 shows the electronic marking record 135 and the
technician activity log 137 as distinct elements stored in the
local memory 122, it should be appreciated that embodiments of the
present invention are not limited in this respect. In particular,
various information collected as part of a locate and/or marking
operation relating to detection and/or marking of underground
facilities (e.g., location data relating to detection/marking, time
data relating to detection/marking, marker characteristic data,
etc.), as well as other information that may relate more
specifically to technician activity attendant to a locate and/or
marking operation (manner in which technician conducted the
operation(s), checklist of technician activities, workflow,
order/sequence/timing of technician activities, etc.) may be stored
in memory as a single record relating to a given locate and/or
marking operation, different components/fields of an electronic
record or database, or as distinct records (e.g., relating
respectively to marking information and technician activity
information).
[0156] In one exemplary implementation, a Linux-based processing
system for embedded handheld and/or wireless devices may be
employed in the marking device 110 to implement various components
of the control electronics 112. For example, the Fingertip4.TM.
processing system, including a Marvell PXA270 processor and
available from InHand Electronics, Inc.
(www.inhandelectronics.com/products/fingertip4), may be used. In
addition to the PXA270 processor (e.g., serving as the processor
118), the Fingertip4.TM. includes flash memory and SDRAM (e.g.,
serving as local memory 122), multiple serial ports, a USB port,
and other I/O interfaces (e.g., to facilitate interfacing with one
or more input devices and other components of the marking device),
supports a variety of wired and wireless interfaces (WiFi,
Bluetooth, GPS, Ethernet) to facilitate implementation of the
communication interface 124, and connects to a wide variety of LCD
displays (to facilitate implementation of a user
interface/display). In yet other exemplary implementations, the
processor 118 may be realized by multiple processors that
divide/share some or all of the functionality discussed herein in
connection with the processor 118. For example, in one
implementation, an Atom.TM. processor available from Intel
Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif., may be used alone or in
connection with one or more PIC processors to accomplish various
functionality described herein.
[0157] Communication interface 124 of marking device 110 may be any
wired and/or wireless communication interface by which information
may be exchanged between marking device 110 and an external or
remote device, such as remote computer 150. Examples of wired
communication interfaces may include, but are not limited to, USB
ports, RS232 connectors, RJ45 connectors, Ethernet, and any
combination thereof. Examples of wireless communication interfaces
may include, but are not limited to, an Intranet connection,
Internet, Bluetooth.RTM. technology, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, IEEE 802.11
technology, radio frequency (RF), Infrared Data Association (IrDA)
compatible protocols, Local Area Networks (LAN), Wide Area Networks
(WAN), Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP), combination thereof,
and other types of wireless networking protocols. The wireless
interface may be capable of capturing signals that reflect a user's
intent. For example, the wireless interface may include a
microphone that can capture a user's intent by capturing the user's
audible commands. Alternatively, the wireless interface may
interact with a device that monitors a condition of the user, such
as eye movement, brain activity, and/or heart rate.
[0158] User interface 126 of marking device 110 may be any
mechanism or combination of mechanisms by which a user may operate
the marking device 110 and by which information that is received
and/or generated by the marking device 110 may be presented to the
user/technician. User interface 126 may include a set of indicators
115, which may comprise, for example, one or more visual indicators
(e.g., LED indicators), one or more audible indicators or audio
outputs (e.g., speaker, buzzer, and alarm), one or more tactile
indicators, or any combination thereof.
[0159] In particular, user interface 126 may include, but is not
limited to, a display device (including integrated displays and
external displays, such as Head-Up Displays (HUDs)), a touch
screen, one or more manual pushbuttons, one or more light-emitting
diode (LED) indicators, one or more toggle switches, a keypad, one
or more audible indicators (e.g., speaker, buzzer, and alarm), one
or more tactile indicators or vibration generators (e.g., to
vibrate a handle or other portion of the marking device), and any
combination thereof. In one implementation, the user interface 126
includes a "menu/on" button to power up the marking device and
provide a menu-driven graphical user interface (GUI) displayed by
the display device (e.g., menu items and/or icons displayed on the
display device) and navigated by the technician via a joystick or a
set of four "up/down/left/right" buttons, as well as a "select/ok"
button to take some action pursuant to the selection of a menu
item/icon. As described below, the display may also be used in some
embodiments of the invention to display tickets and/or ticket
information, as well as one or more aspects of information used to
generate a log of technician activity attendant to the locate
and/or marking operation.
[0160] The user interface 126 also may include a speech synthesis
component which, in some exemplary implementations, may function in
connection with the ticket processing software 113. As is well
known, speech synthesis is the artificial production of human
speech. In one example, a speech synthesis component of the user
interface may provide a text-to-speech (TTS) function, which
converts normal language text into speech. For example, text
information that is contained in or extracted from received tickets
may be converted to speech and delivered to the technician via the
user interface as voice information or a voice command.
[0161] In various embodiments, the one or more interfaces of the
marking device 110--including the communication interface 124 and
user interface 126--may be used as input devices to receive
information to be stored in the memory 122 as part of various
electronic records (e.g., electronic record of marking data 135,
technician activity log 137). As noted above, in some cases
information received via the interface(s) (e.g., via the
communication interface 124) may include copies of tickets
themselves (e.g., as generated by a one-call center) or other
ticket information regarding underground facilities to be marked
during a marking operation. As another example, using an interface
such as the user interface 126, service-related information may be
input, including an identifier for the marking device used by the
technician, an identifier for a technician, and/or an identifier
for the technician's employer. Alternatively, some or all of the
service-related information similarly may be received via the
communication interface 124 (and likewise some or all of the ticket
information may be received via the user interface 126).
[0162] The actuation system 120 of marking device 110 shown in the
block diagram of FIG. 2 may include both electrical and mechanical
elements according to various embodiments discussed in further
detail below, and for purposes of illustration is shown in FIG. 2
as included as part of the control electronics 112. The actuation
system 120 may include a mechanical and/or electrical actuator
mechanism (e.g., see the actuator 142 shown in FIG. 3) to provide
one or more signals or stimuli as an input to the actuation system
120. Upon receiving one or more signals or stimuli (e.g.,
actuation/triggering by a locate technician or other user), the
actuation system 120 causes marking material to be dispensed from
marking dispenser 116. In various embodiments, the actuation system
120 may employ any of a variety of mechanical and/or electrical
techniques (e.g., one or more switches or other circuit components,
a dedicated processor or the processor 118 executing instructions,
one or more mechanical elements, various types of transmitters and
receivers, or any combination of the foregoing), as would be
readily appreciated by those of skill in the relevant arts, to
cause the marking dispenser 116 to dispense marking material in
response to one or more signals or stimuli. The actuation system
120 also provides one or more output signals in the form of an
actuation signal 121 to the processor 118 to indicate one or more
actuations of the marking device, in response to which the
processor 118 may acquire/collect various marking information and
log data into the electronic record 135.
[0163] Location tracking system 130 of marking device 110
constitutes another type of input device that provides marking
information, and may include any device that can determine its
geographical location to a certain degree of accuracy. For example,
location tracking system 130 may include a global positioning
system (GPS) receiver or a global navigation satellite system
(GNSS) receiver. A GPS receiver may provide, for example, any
standard format data stream, such as a National Marine Electronics
Association (NMEA) data stream, or other data formats. In other
embodiments, location tracking system 130 may include any device or
mechanism that may determine location by any other means, such as
performing triangulation by use of cellular radiotelephone
towers.
[0164] In one exemplary implementation, the location tracking
system 130 may include an ISM300F2-05-V0005 GPS module available
from Inventek Systems, LLC of Westford, Mass. (see
www.inventeksys.com/html/ism300f2-c5-v0005.html). The Inventek GPS
module includes two UARTs (universal asynchronous
receiver/transmitter) for communication with the processor 118,
supports both the SIRF Binary and NMEA-0183 protocols (depending on
firmware selection), and has an information update rate of 5 Hz. A
variety of geographic location information may be requested by the
processor 118 and provided by the GPS module to the processor 118
including, but not limited to, time (coordinated universal
time--UTC), date, latitude, north/south indicator, longitude,
east/west indicator, number and identification of satellites used
in the position solution, number and identification of GPS
satellites in view and their elevation, azimuth and SNR values, and
dilution of precision values. Accordingly, it should be appreciated
that in some implementations the location tracking system 130 may
provide a wide variety of geographic information as well as timing
information (e.g., one or more time stamps) to the processor
118.
[0165] With respect to other input devices of the marking device
110 that may provide marking information, the control electronics
112 may also include a timing system 128 having an internal clock
(not shown), such as a crystal oscillator device, for processor
118. Additionally, timing system 128 may include a mechanism for
registering time with a certain degree of accuracy (e.g., accuracy
to the minute, second, or millisecond) and may also include a
mechanism for registering the calendar date. In various
implementations, the timing system 128 may be capable of
registering the time and date using its internal clock, or
alternatively timing system 128 may receive its time and date
information from the location tracking system 130 (e.g., a GPS
system) or from an external timing system, such as a remote
computer or network, via communication interface 124. In yet other
implementations, a dedicated timing system for providing timing
information to be logged in an electronic record 135 may be
optional, and timing information for logging into an electronic
record may be obtained from the location tracking system 130 (e.g.,
GPS latitude and longitude coordinates with a corresponding time
stamp).
[0166] Marking material detection mechanism 132 of the marking
device 110 shown in FIG. 2 is another type of input device that
provides marking information, and may be any mechanism or
mechanisms for determining a presence or absence of a marking
dispenser 116 in or otherwise coupled to the marking device 110, as
well as determining certain attributes/characteristics of the
marking material within marking dispenser 116 when the dispenser is
placed in or coupled to the marking device. As shown in FIG. 3, in
some embodiments the marking material detection mechanism 132 may
be disposed generally in an area proximate to a marking material
holder 140 in which a marking dispenser 116 may be placed.
[0167] For example, in one embodiment, the marking material
detection mechanism 132 may include one or more switch devices
(e.g., a make/break single pole/single throw contact switch)
disposed at one or more points along the marking material holder
140 and electrically coupled to the processor 118. The switch
device(s) may also be coupled to ground or a DC supply voltage,
such that when the switch device is in a first state (e.g.,
closed/making contact) the ground or DC supply voltage is passed to
the processor 118 (e.g., via an I/O pin of the processor which
provides an interrupt to, or is periodically monitored by, the
processor), and when the switch is in a second state (e.g., open/no
contact) the ground or DC supply voltage is not passed to the
processor 118. When the marking dispenser 116 is present in the
holder 140, the switch device(s) is in one of two possible states
and when there is no marking dispenser the switch device(s) is in
another of the two possible states (e.g., the marking dispenser,
when present, may depress the switch device(s) so as to make
contact and pass the ground/DC voltage to the processor). In this
manner, the marking material detection mechanism 132 may provide a
signal to the processor indicating the presence or absence of the
marking dispenser 116 in the marking device 110.
[0168] The marking material detection mechanism 132 also or
alternatively may include a barcode reader to read barcode data
from a dispenser 116 and/or a radio-frequency identification (RFID)
reader for reading information from an RFID tag that is provided on
marking dispenser 116. The RFID tag may include, for example, a
unique serial number or universal product code (UPC) that
corresponds to the brand and/or type of marking material in marking
dispenser 116. The type of information that may be encoded within
the RFID tag on marking dispenser 116 may include product-specific
information for the marking material, but any information of
interest may be stored on an RFID tag. For example, user-specific
information and/or inventory-related information may be stored on
each RFID tag for a marking dispenser 116 to facilitate inventory
tracking of marking materials. In particular, an identifier for a
technician may be stored on an RFID tag when the technician is
provided with a marking dispenser 116, and information relating to
weight, amount dispensed, and/or amount remaining may be written to
the RFID tag whenever the marking dispenser is used.
[0169] In one exemplary implementation, the marking material
detection mechanism 132 may include a Micro RWD MIFARE-ICODE RFID
reader module available from IB Technology (Eccel Technology Ltd)
of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK (see
www.ibtechnology.co.uk/products/icode.htm). The Micro RWD reader
module includes an RS232 communication interface to facilitate
communication between the processor 118 and the reader module
(e.g., via messages sent as a string of ASCII characters), and
supports both reading information from an RFID tag attached to a
marking dispenser as well as writing information to an RFID tag
attached to the marking dispenser. In one aspect of an exemplary
implementation, an antenna constituted by one or more turns of wire
(e.g., two turns of awg 26 wire, 6.5 cm in diameter, about 1 uH) is
coupled to the Micro RWD reader module and disposed in the marking
material holder 140 of the marking device 110 (see FIG. 3),
proximate to a marking dispenser 116 when placed in the holder 140,
so as to capture close near field signals (e.g., from an RFID tag
on the dispenser, within about 2 inches) and exclude far field
signals. In another aspect, the Micro RWD reader module may be
configured to read RFID tags having an ICODE SLI format (e.g., ISO
15693 ICODE SLI). In yet another aspect, an RFID tag may be affixed
to an aerosol paint can serving as the marking dispenser, such that
the tag conforms to a plastic cap of the paint can and is disposed
at a particular location relative to a notch in the cap (e.g., 90
degrees+/-15 degrees from the notch) that allows access to the
spray nozzle of the can and is in a relatively predictable position
substantially aligned with the antenna when the paint can is placed
in the marking material holder 140. Examples of RFID tags suitable
for this purpose are available from BCS Solutions, Inc. (see
www.bcssolutions.com/solutions/rfid) and include, but are not
limited to, the HF Bullseye Wet Inlay SLA Round 40.
[0170] As also shown in FIG. 2, the marking device 110 further may
include one or more environmental sensors 170 and/or one or more
operational sensors 172, which constitute additional examples of
input devices from which marking information may be derived. In
particular, one or more environmental sensors associated with a
marking device may provide a variety of environmental information
in connection with use of the device; similarly, one or more
operational sensors associated with the marking device may provide
a variety of operational information in connection with use of the
marking device. According to various implementations discussed
herein, one or both of environmental information and operational
information may be used, in some cases in conjunction with ticket
information, in connection with a guided marking operation
facilitated by a checklist or workflow.
[0171] As used herein, environmental sensors are those which sense
some condition of the environment in which the marking device is
present, but need not sense a condition of the marking device
itself. Examples of such environmental sensors include, but are not
limited to, temperature sensors, humidity sensors, surface type
sensors, light sensors, image sensors (e.g., digital cameras, video
cameras) and sound sensors (e.g., microphones, audio recording
devices) among others. Environmental sensors may be included with
the marking device for one or more of various reasons. For example,
information provided by one or more of the environmental sensors
may be used to assess whether a marking operation was or is being
performed in suitable environmental conditions (e.g., within
accepted environmental tolerances). Additionally or alternatively,
information provided by one or more environmental sensors may be
used to interact with the technician operating the marking device,
for example by issuing a notification or warning signal to the
technician if the sensed environmental condition is outside of an
acceptable range (i.e., out of tolerance). Also, the information
from the environmental sensor(s) may trigger an action or
alteration of the marking device, such as activating, enabling or
disabling a particular component of the marking device.
Additionally or alternatively, information provided by one or more
environmental sensors may augment other information collected by
the marking device, such as any of the types of information
described above as being collected by a marking device according to
various embodiments herein. In some instances, information from two
or more of the environmental sensors may be used in
combination.
[0172] As used herein, operational sensors are those which sense
some operating condition of the marking device. Examples of such
operational sensors include, but are not limited to, operational
temperature sensors to sense a temperature of various components of
the marking device itself, inclinometers to sense the angle of
inclination of the marking device, a compass to sense the direction
or heading of the marking device, and/or accelerometers to sense
some characteristic of motion of the marking device (e.g., the
speed at which the marking device is moving, the acceleration of
the marking device, etc.), proximity sensors to sense a distance to
the ground, among others. Operational sensors may be included with
the marking device for one or more of various reasons. For example,
information provided by one or more of the operational sensors may
be used to assess whether a marking device was or is operating
appropriately during a marking operation or whether the marking
device was or is being operated (e.g., both electronically and/or
physically manipulated) appropriately by the technician (e.g.,
within accepted tolerances or according to protocols). Additionally
or alternatively, information from one or more operational sensors
may be used to detect patterns of operation of the technician, such
as technician "signatures" in using/manipulating the marking device
(e.g., characteristic movements unique to the technician).
Additionally or alternatively, information from one or more
operational sensors may be used to interact with the technician,
for example by issuing a notification or warning signal to the
technician in response to the detected operational characteristic
falling outside of an acceptable range. Also, the information from
the operational sensor(s) may trigger an action or alteration of
the marking device, such as activating, enabling or disabling a
particular component of the marking device. Additionally or
alternatively, information provided by one or more operational
sensors may augment other information collected by the marking
device, such as any of the types of information previously
described herein in connection with other embodiments. In some
instances, information from two or more operational sensors may be
used in combination. Furthermore, information from one or more
operational sensors may be used in combination with information
from one or more environmental sensors.
[0173] It should be appreciated that some of the sensors described
herein may be considered both environmental and operational
sensors, either because the sensor senses both an environmental
condition and an operating condition of the marking device (i.e.,
the sensor senses more than one condition) or because a single
condition sensed by the sensor may be considered both an
environmental condition and an operating condition. For example, an
image-capture device (e.g., a digital camera or video camera) may
be considered both an environmental sensor (e.g., the image-capture
device may capture an image of the surrounding environment) and an
operational sensor (e.g., the image-capture device may capture an
image of some action the technician has taken, such as dispensing
of a marker). Thus, it should be appreciated that while the
exemplary sensors noted above are categorized generally as being
either environmental or operational for purposes of illustrating
some exemplary implementations, the categories are not mutually
exclusive, and such categorization is not limiting unless otherwise
stated.
[0174] More specifically, each of a digital camera and a digital
audio recorder may serve as either an environmental or an
operational sensor depending on various circumstances. A digital
camera may be any image capture device that is suitable for use in
a portable device, such as, but not limited to, the types of
digital cameras that may be installed in portable phones. A digital
camera may be used to capture any images of interest that may be
related to performance of a locate and/or marking operation. The
digital images from the digital camera may be stored in the local
memory 122 in any standard or proprietary image file format (e.g.,
JPEG, TIFF, BMP, etc.). The digital images from the digital camera
may optionally be attached to a certain ticket upon completion of
the ticket (e.g., included in/attached to the technician activity
log 137).
[0175] A digital audio recorder may be any audio capture device
that is suitable for use in a portable device. A microphone (not
shown) may be associated with a digital audio recorder and disposed
on the marking device to facilitate recording of a technician's
voice, and/or sounds in the environment or otherwise associated
with use of the marking device to dispense a marking material
(e.g., sounds produced by an aerosol paint can upon actuation of
the marking device). The audio files from the digital audio
recorder may be stored in the local memory 122 in any standard or
proprietary audio file format (e.g., WAV, MP3, AVI, etc.). Like the
digital images, the audio files from the digital audio recorder may
optionally be attached to a certain ticket upon completion of the
ticket (e.g., included in/attached to the technician activity log
137).
[0176] In other embodiments, a marking device may be configured to
operate in multiple different modes so as to collect various
information relating not only to a marking operation itself, but
additionally (or alternatively) various information relating to the
work site/dig area in which the marking operation is performed. For
example, in one implementation, the marking device may be
configured to operate in a first "marking mode" as well as a second
"landmark identification mode" (or more simply "landmark mode"). In
a "marking mode," marking material may be dispensed with respective
actuations of the marking device and various marking information
transmitted and/or stored in an electronic record attendant to this
process. Alternatively, in a "landmark mode," marking material is
not necessarily dispensed with an actuation of the marking device
(and in some instances the dispensing of marking material is
specifically precluded); instead, a technician positions the
marking device proximate to an environmental landmark of interest
and, upon actuation, the marking device collects various
information about the landmark (hereafter referred to as "landmark
information"). Landmark information may include, but is not limited
to, geo-location data of an environmental landmark, type of
environmental landmark, and a time stamp for any acquired
information relating to an environmental landmark. Further details
regarding both a marking mode and a landmark mode of operation for
the marking device are discussed in U.S. Non-provisional
application Ser. No. 12/568,087, entitled "Methods and Apparatus
for Generating an Electronic Record of Environmental Landmarks
based on Marking Device Actuations," filed on Sep. 28, 2009 under
attorney docket number D0687.70014US01.
[0177] In one embodiment, the optional remote computer 150 may be a
centralized computer, such as a central server of an underground
facility locate service provider. In another embodiment, remote
computer 150 may be a computer that is at or near the work site
(i.e., "on-site"), e.g., a computer that is present in a locate
technician's vehicle, a personal digital assistant or other
computing device carried by the technician, etc. As shown in FIG.
2, the remote computer 150 may include a processor 117, a memory
123, and a communication interface 125, any of which may function
similarly to the corresponding components described above in
connection with the marking device 110. In particular, the memory
123 of the remote computer 150 may store one or more electronic
tickets 165, ticket processing software 113, a technician activity
log 137, and an electronic record of marking data 135. As discussed
further below, in various embodiments, some or all of the
functionality of the ticket processing software 113 may be
implemented by executing all or a portion of the software on the
remote computer 150, the marking device 110, or both the remote
computer 150 and the marking device 110 (e.g., to distribute
various aspects of the overall functionality of the ticket
processing software amongst one or more remote computers and one or
more pieces of locating equipment).
[0178] While the functionality of various components of the marking
device 110 was discussed above in connection with FIG. 2, FIG. 3
shows some structural aspects of the marking device 110 according
to one embodiment. For example, the marking device 110 may include
an elongated housing 136 in which is disposed one or more elements
of the actuation system 120, one or more elements of the control
electronics 112 and the power source 114. Elongated housing 136 may
be hollow or may contain certain cavities or molded compartments
for installing any components therein, such as the various
components of marking device 110 that are shown in FIG. 2. The
elongated housing 136 and other structural elements associated with
the housing, as discussed below, may be formed of any rigid,
semi-rigid, strong, and lightweight material, such as, but not
limited to, molded plastic and aluminum.
[0179] Incorporated at a proximal end of elongated housing 136 may
be a handle 138, which provides a convenient grip by which the user
(e.g., the locate technician) may carry the marking device 110
during use (i.e., the exemplary marking device depicted in FIG. 3
is intended to be a hand-held device). In one implementation, the
power source 114 may be provided in the form of a removable battery
pack housing one or more rechargeable batteries that are connected
in series or parallel in order to provide a DC voltage to marking
device 110, and disposed within a compartment in the handle 138.
Such an arrangement facilitates use of conventional
removable/rechargeable battery packs often employed in a variety of
cordless power tools, in which the battery pack similarly is
situated in a handle of the tool. It should be appreciated,
however, that the power source 114 in the form of a battery pack
may be disposed in any of a variety of locations within or coupled
to the elongated housing 136.
[0180] As also shown in FIG. 3, mounted near handle 138 is user
interface 126, which may include a display 146. The display 146 may
be a touch screen display to facilitate interaction with a
user/technician, and/or the user interface also may include one or
more buttons, switches, joysticks, a keyboard, and the like to
facilitate entry of information by a user/technician. One or more
elements of the control electronics 112 (e.g., the processor 118,
memory 122, communication interface 124, and timing system 128), as
well as one or more environmental sensors 170 and/or one or more
operational sensors 172, also may be located in the proximal end of
the elongated housing in the vicinity of the user interface 126 and
display 146. As with the power source 114, it should be appreciated
that one or more elements of the control electronics 112 may be
disposed in any of a variety of locations within or coupled to the
elongated housing 136.
[0181] In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the location tracking system
130 similarly may be positioned on the proximal end of the
elongated housing 136 to facilitate substantially unobstructed
exposure to the atmosphere; in particular, as illustrated in FIG.
3, the location tracking system 130 may be situated on an a ground
plane 133 (providing an electrical ground at least at the antenna
frequency of the location tracking system, e.g., at approximately
1.5 GHz) that extends from the proximal end of the housing 136 and
is approximately parallel to the ground, surface or pavement when
the marking device is being normally operated by a technician (so
as to reduce signal modulation with subtle movements of the marking
device).
[0182] As also shown in FIG. 3, incorporated at the distal end of
elongated housing 136 is a marking dispenser holder 140 for holding
one or more marking dispensers 116 (e.g., an aerosol paint
canister). Dispenser 116 may be one or more replaceable dispensers
or one or more reusable refillable dispensers (including a fixed
reservoir forming a part of the device 110) or any other suitable
dispenser. Also situated at the distal end of the housing is the
marking material detection mechanism 132 to detect a presence or
absence of the marking dispenser 116 in the marking material holder
140, and/or one or more characteristics of the marking material
148, as well as an actuation mechanism 158, which in some
implementations may constitute part of the actuation system 120 and
be employed to interact with the marking dispenser 116 so as to
effect dispensing of the marking material 148.
[0183] With respect to the actuation system 120, as shown in FIG.
3, at least a portion of the actuation system 120 is indicated
generally along the length of the elongated housing for purposes of
illustration. More specifically, however, in various
implementations the actuation system 120 may include multiple
components disposed in various places in, on or coupled to the
marking device 110. For example, in the embodiment of FIG. 3, the
actuation system 120 includes an actuator 142, which for example
may be a mechanical mechanism provided at the handle 138 in the
form of a trigger that is pulled by a finger or hand of an
user/technician. The actuation system 120 further includes the
actuation mechanism 158 disposed at the distal end of the marking
device that is responsive to the actuator 142 to dispense marking
material. In general, in various exemplary implementations, the
actuation system 120 may employ any of a variety of mechanical
and/or electrical techniques to cause the marking dispenser 116 to
dispense marking material 148 in response to one or more signals or
stimuli. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the signal/stimulus is
initially provided to the actuation system via the mechanical
actuator 142; i.e., a locate technician or other user triggers
(e.g., pulls/depresses) the actuator 142 to provide a
signal/stimulus to the actuation system 120, which in turn operates
the actuation mechanism 158 to dispense marking material in
response to the signal/stimulus.
[0184] In response to the signal/stimulus provided by the actuator
142, as discussed above the actuation system may also provide an
actuation signal 121 to the processor 118 to indicate an actuation.
Pursuant to the execution by the processor 118 of the marking data
algorithm 134, the actuation signal 121 may be used to cause the
logging of information that is provided by one or more components
of the marking device 110 so as to generate an electronic marking
record 135 of the marking operation.
[0185] B. Locate Device
[0186] As noted earlier, any of the concepts discussed herein in
connection with the receipt and/or processing of ticket
information, generation of various process guides (e.g.,
checklists, workflows), and execution of same (as discussed in
greater detail below) similarly may be implemented in connection
with a remote computer in communication with a locate device, such
as a locate transmitter or a locate receiver, as described for
example in U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 12/571,329,
entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Generating Electronic Records
of Locate Operations," filed on Sep. 30, 2009, which application is
hereby incorporated herein by reference.
[0187] FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate a functional block diagram and
perspective view, respectively, of one example of a data
acquisition system 1600 including a locate receiver 1610 and
optionally a remote computer 1650, according to one embodiment of
the present invention. As shown, the locate receiver 1610 comprises
detection electronics 1620, control electronics 1630, and a power
source 1614 configured to power the detection electronics 1620 and
the control electronics 1630. The detection electronics 1620
comprise an RF antenna 1624, a detection circuit 1626, and a
processing circuit 1628. The control electronics 1630 comprise a
processor 1632 coupled to a local memory 1634, a communication
interface 1636, a user interface 1638, a timing system 1640, a
location tracking system 1642, and an actuation system 1621.
[0188] Some of the components illustrated in FIG. 3A are similarly
named to some components in FIG. 2 relating to a marking device.
According to some embodiments, one or more of the components
appearing in FIG. 3A may be the same as, or substantially similar
to, components in FIG. 2. For example, in some embodiments one or
more of the following components appearing in FIGS. 2 and 3A may be
the same as, or substantially similar to, each other (and therefore
may function in the same or a substantially similar manner): power
source 114 and power source 1614; remote computer 150 and remote
computer 1650; communication interface 124 and communication
interface 1636; user interface 126 and user interface 1638; timing
system 128 and timing system 1640; location tracking system 130 and
location tracking system 1642; processor 118 and processor 1632;
local memory 122 and local memory 1634; actuation system 120 and
actuation system 1621. With respect to actuation system 1621, it
should be appreciated that there is no marker dispensed by the
locate receiver 1610 shown in FIG. 3A, but the actuation system
1621 may nonetheless initiate or control logging of data in a
manner similar to that discussed above in connection with the
marking device 110, including taking of a depth measurement or
performance of some other function of the locate receiver 1610.
[0189] Additionally, in the embodiments of FIGS. 3A and 3B, the
ticket processing software 113 may be resident (in whole or in
part) in the local memory 1634, and/or may be resident (in whole or
in part) on one or more other computing devices (e.g., remote
computer, technician personal computer or other computing device,
central server, etc.). When executed by one or more processors
(e.g., the processor 1632), ticket processing software 113
generally may be responsible for overseeing various functions
relating in whole or in part to ticket information, as discussed in
further detail below (e.g., in connection with FIGS. 6 and 7).
[0190] With respect to other elements that may be stored in the
local memory 1634 of the locate receiver, in addition to the ticket
processing software 113 FIG. 3A shows that electronic tickets 165
and a technician activity log 137, as discussed above in connection
with the marking device 110, also may be stored in the local
memory. Also, the local memory 1634 may store a locate data
algorithm 1637 which, when executed by the processor 1632, performs
the various functionality described below in connection with the
locate receiver, as well as an electronic locate record 1635
including various data germane to a locate operation.
[0191] In some embodiments, a user may commence a locate operation
with the locate receiver by inputting various information to the
locate receiver and/or selecting various operating options, via the
user interface. Additionally or alternatively, the locate receiver
may receive ticket information (in any of a variety of
formats/manners, as discussed further below) or some type of locate
operation process guide to facilitate execution of the locate
operation. As a non-limiting example, the user may select from
various menu options (using the user interface and display as a
menu-driven GUI), and or manually enter via the user interface, the
type of target object/facility to be located, the address of the
locate operation, the ground type (e.g., grass, pavement, etc.),
whether or not a separate transmitter is being used, the mode of
the locate receiver (e.g., Peak v. Null), whether the locate
receiver is being operated in landmark mode or not (described
further below), or any other information of interest to a locate
operation.
[0192] The locate receiver may be used in a variety of manners by
the technician for a locate operation, in which the technician
generally positions (e.g., sweeps) the locate receiver over an area
in which they expect to detect an underground facility (target
object). More specifically, the technician positions the locate
receiver such that the RF antenna 1624 (which may include more than
one antenna, as described further below) may receive/detect a
magnetic field emitted by the target object.
[0193] In some embodiments, the locate receiver 1610 is capable of
operating in a null mode (e.g., capable of detecting a null signal
when positioned over an object (e.g., facility) emitting a magnetic
field), such that RF antenna 1624 may comprise a null detection
antenna. Alternatively, the locate receiver 1610 is capable of
operating in a peak detection mode (e.g., capable of detecting a
peak signal when over an object (e.g., facility) emitting a
magnetic field), and the RF antenna 1624 comprises two peak
detection antennae, which may be positioned substantially parallel
to each other but at different positions within the locate receiver
(e.g., at different heights). In some embodiments, the locate
receiver 1610 is capable of operating in both peak detection and
null detection modes, and the RF antenna 1624 may comprise three
antennae, e.g., one null detection antenna and two peak detection
antennae. However, RF antenna 1624 may comprise any other number,
type, and orientation of antennae, as the locate receivers
described herein are not limited in these respects.
[0194] The RF antenna 1624 may be coupled to the detection circuit
1626 such that the signal(s) received/detected by the RF antenna
1624 may be provided to the detection circuit 1626 as an output
signal of the RF antenna. The output signal of the RF antenna may
be any frequency detectable by the antenna, and in some embodiments
may be between approximately 512 Hz and 1 MHz, although these
non-limiting frequencies are provided primarily for purposes of
illustration. As mentioned, the output signal of the RF antenna
1624, which in some embodiments is an analog signal, may be
provided to detection circuit 1626, which may perform various
functions. For example, the detection circuit 1626 may perform
various "front-end" operations on the output signal of RF antenna
1624, such as filtering, buffering, frequency shifting or
modulation, and/or pre-amplifying the output signal. Furthermore,
the detection circuit 1626 may perform additional functions, such
as amplifying and/or digitizing the output signal provided by RF
antenna 1624. It should be appreciated, however, that the types of
functions described as being performed by detection circuit 1626
are non-limiting examples, and that other functions may
additionally or alternatively be performed.
[0195] After detection circuit 1626 has operated on the signal from
RF antenna 1624 (e.g., by filtering, buffering, amplifying, and/or
digitizing, among other possible operations), it may provide a
signal to processing circuit 1628. The processing circuit 1628 may
process the signal(s) provided by detection circuit 1626 in any
suitable manner to determine any information of interest. For
example, according to one embodiment, the processing circuit 1628
may process the signal(s) from detection circuit 1626 to determine
a magnetic field strength of a magnetic field detected by RF
antenna 1624. The processing circuit 1628 may process the signal(s)
from detection circuit 1626 to determine an amplitude and/or
direction of the electrical current creating the magnetic field(s)
detected by RF antenna 1624. Processing circuit 1628 may perform
operations to calculate, for example, the depth and location of the
target facility based on the electromagnetic fields detected by RF
antenna 1624. Processing circuit 1628 may be an analog circuit or a
digital microprocessor, or any other suitable processing component
for performing one or more of the operations described above, or
any other operations of interest with respect to signals detected
by RF antenna 1624. Also, it should be appreciated that processing
circuit 1628 and processor 1632 may be a single processor in some
embodiments, as the illustration of them as distinct in FIG. 14 is
only one non-limiting example.
[0196] Processor 1632 of control electronics 1630 may be any
suitable processor for controlling and/or coordinating operation of
the detection electronics 1620 and/or control electronics 1630. For
example, the processor 1632 may be any general-purpose processor,
controller, or microcontroller device. In some embodiments,
processor 1632 controls logging of data (e.g., locate information)
from the processing circuit 1628, timing system 1640, and/or
location tracking system 1642 to the local memory 1634 (e.g.,
pursuant to execution of the locate data algorithm 1637). The
manner in which such data may be logged to the local memory 1634
(e.g., the electronic locate record 1635) may depend on the type of
data being logged, as the operation of locate receiver 1610 is not
limited in this respect.
[0197] For example, data from timing system 1640 and/or location
tracking system 1642 may be automatically logged continuously or
periodically to the local memory 1634, may be logged in response to
one or more types of events (e.g., may be logged automatically when
a particular event occurs), and/or may be logged at any suitable
times. In particular, in one implementation, logging may occur at
periodic intervals during performance of a locate operation, such
as every second, every five seconds, every minute, or at any other
suitable time interval. According to another embodiment, timing
information and/or geographic information from timing system 1640
and location tracking system 1642, respectively, may be logged in
response to particular types of events, such as detecting an
underground facility or detecting the absence of an underground
facility. Such events may be identified by signals output by
processing circuit 1628 to processor 1632. As a non-limiting
example, timing information and/or geographic information may be
logged when a characteristic (e.g., magnetic field strength) of a
signal detected by RF antenna 1624 is greater than a particular
threshold value, which may be indicated by a signal output from
processing circuit 1628 to processor 1632, and which occurrence may
be indicative of the presence of an underground facility.
Similarly, in some embodiments time timing information and/or
geographic information may be logged when a signal detected by RF
antenna 1624 has a magnitude above a first threshold and the gain
of the locate receiver 1610 is above a second threshold. It should
be appreciated that various combinations of detected signals
detected by locate receiver 1610 may be used to trigger logging of
information (e.g., timing information and/or geographic
information) to local memory. It should also be appreciated that
any information available from the location tracking system 1642
(e.g., any information available in various NMEA data messages,
such as coordinated universal time, date, latitude, north/south
indicator, longitude, east/west indicator, number and
identification of satellites used in the position solution, number
and identification of GPS satellites in view and their elevation,
azimuth and SNR values, dilution of precision values) may be
included in geographic information constituting all or a portion of
logged locate information.
[0198] In some embodiments, alternatively or in addition to
"automatic" logging of locate information based on some condition
or event, a user of the locate receiver 1610 may "manually" trigger
logging of timing information, geographic information, and/or any
other data associated with a locate operation or locate receiver
(locate information), for example by manipulating a control (e.g.,
button, knob, joystick) of the user interface 1638, or by actuating
an actuator 1641 (e.g., a trigger-pull mechanism similar to the
actuator 142 of the marking device 110 shown in FIG. 3) integrated
or otherwise associated with the locate receiver (as shown in FIG.
3B), which may be part of the actuation system 1621 and which may
cause a signal to be sent to the processor 1632 to initiate logging
of locate information. For example, according to some embodiments a
user may initiate the locate receiver 1610 taking a depth
measurement by depressing a pushbutton of the user interface 1638,
or pulling/squeezing the actuator 1641, which may also trigger the
logging of timing information and/or geographic information from
timing system 1640 and location tracking system 1642. The depth
measurement data, time data, and/or location data may then be
logged in an electronic record in local memory 1634.
[0199] It should be appreciated that while the foregoing discussion
focuses on logging locate information to local memory 1634, the
locate information may also, or alternatively, be transmitted to
remote computer 1650 via communication interface 1636. As with
logging locate information to local memory 1634, the transmission
of locate information to remote computer 1650 may be performed
continuously, periodically in response to one or more types of
events, in response to user input or actuation of an actuator, or
in any other suitable manner.
[0200] FIG. 3B illustrates a non-limiting perspective view of the
locate receiver 1610, providing one example of a physical
configuration of the components according to one embodiment. It
should be appreciated, however, that other configurations are
possible and that the various aspects described herein as relating
to locate receivers are not limited to any particular configuration
of components.
[0201] As shown, the locate receiver 1610 may comprise a housing
1627, to which at least some of the components of the locate
receiver 1610 are mechanically coupled (e.g., affixed, housed
within, etc.). As shown, the RF antenna 1624 of detection
electronics 1620 may be mechanically coupled to the housing (e.g.,
supported inside the housing), and in this non-limiting example
includes three antennae, 1625a-1625c. Antennae 1625a and 1625b may
be configured to operate as peak detection antenna, while antenna
1625c may be configured to operate as a null detection antenna. In
some embodiments, the antennae 1625a and 1625b may be oriented
substantially parallel to each other, and in some embodiments are
oriented at approximately 90 degrees relative to antenna 1625c.
Again, it should be appreciated that the number, type, and
orientation of the antennae of locate receiver 1610 are not limited
to that shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. In addition, the control
electronics 1630 may be disposed within the housing 1627, and may
be coupled to the detection electronics 1620 by one or more wired
or wireless connections.
[0202] As illustrated in FIG. 3B, some of the components of the
locate receiver 1610 may be positioned externally on the housing
1627. For example, the location tracking system 1642 (e.g., in the
form of a GPS receiver) may be mounted on an electrical ground
plane 1633 mechanically coupled to the housing 1627. The user
interface 1638 may be located externally on the housing 1627, and,
as mentioned previously, may include one or more buttons, switches,
knobs, a touch screen, or other user selection items. A display
1646 may also be included on an outer surface of the housing 1627,
to display information to a user.
[0203] In the non-limiting example of FIG. 3B, the housing 1627
includes a handle 1611, by which a user may hold the locate
receiver 1610. In some embodiments, the power source 1614 may be
located within the handle, although other configurations are also
possible.
[0204] As with the marking devices described above, some aspects of
the invention provide a locate device (e.g., locate receiver) that
may be configured (e.g., via particular instructions executing on
the processor 1632) to operate in multiple different modes to
collect various information relating not only to a locate operation
(locate information), but additionally or alternatively various
information relating to the work site/dig areas in which the locate
operation is performed. For example, in one implementation, the
locate receiver may be configured to operate in a first "locate
mode" which essentially follows various aspects of the operation of
the locate receiver 1610 described herein, and also may be
configured to operate in a second "landmark identification mode,"
like that described previously in connection with a marking device.
When switched into the landmark mode, the locate receiver may stop
detecting a magnetic field, e.g., the RF antenna of the locate
receiver may be temporarily disabled in some embodiments. In other
embodiments, the locate receiver may continue to operate and the
landmark mode may represent additional functionality added to the
locate receiver functionality.
[0205] According to those aspects of the invention providing a
locate device (e.g., locate receiver) configurable to operate in
both a locate mode and a landmark mode, the landmark mode may be
substantially the same as the landmark mode previously described
herein. For example, the landmark mode of a locate receiver may be
used to collect the same types of landmark information described
previously with respect to marking devices having a landmark mode,
such as any of the types of information illustrated and described
with respect to Tables 8-11, or any other suitable information.
[0206] The locate receiver may have any suitable
components/circuitry allowing for operation in both a landmark mode
and a locate receiver mode. For example, the locate receiver may
include a bypass device similar to that described with respect to a
marking device including landmark functionality, in which the
bypass device may bypass the operation of the locate receiver
functioning to detect a target object. Alternatively, a user may
select the landmark mode of the locate receiver from a user
interface, analogous to that previously described in the context of
a marking device having landmark functionality.
[0207] Thus, it should be appreciated that the landmark
functionality previously described with respect to a marking device
may be suitably applied in the context of a locate receiver,
according to some embodiments.
[0208] C. Combined Locate and Marking Device
[0209] In yet other embodiments, any of the concepts discussed
herein in connection with the receipt and/or processing of ticket
information, generation of various process guides (e.g.,
checklists, workflows), and execution of same (as discussed in
greater detail below) similarly may be implemented in connection
with a combined locate and marking device. The combined locate and
marking device may function as both a locate receiver for locating
objects (e.g., underground facilities) and a marking device, as
discussed herein in the preceding sections, and may be configured
to collect, store, transmit to an external device and/or
analyze/process any of the data types described previously herein
(locate information, marking information, and/or landmark
information), any combination of such data types, or any other
information of relevance to the operation of the combined locate
and marking device.
[0210] FIGS. 3C and 3D illustrate a functional block diagram and a
perspective view, respectively, of a data acquisition system
including a combination locate and marking device, according to one
non-limiting embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3C, the data acquisition
system 2800 comprises combination locate and marking device 2810
and (optionally) remote computer 150. It should be appreciated that
many of the components illustrated in FIG. 3C have been previously
shown and/or described with respect to FIGS. 2 and 3A, and that a
detailed description of such components is not repeated here, as
they may operate in the same, or a substantially similar, manner to
that previously described. For purposes of illustration, the
control electronics for this non-limiting embodiment of a
combination locate and marking device are control electronics 112,
previously described with respect to a marking device. However, the
functionality of the control electronics 1630 as discussed in
connection with FIG. 3A may be realized by the control electronics
112 in this non-limiting embodiment; similarly, the processor 118
in the embodiment of FIG. 3C may perform the functionality
previously described with respect to both the processor 118 of FIG.
2 and the processor 1632 of FIG. 3A.
[0211] As with the locate receiver and the marking device, in the
embodiments of FIGS. 3C and 3D, the ticket processing software 113
may be resident (in whole or in part) in the local memory 122,
and/or may be resident (in whole or in part) on one or more other
computing devices (e.g., remote computer, technician personal
computer or other computing device, central server, etc.). When
executed by one or more processors (e.g., the processor 118),
ticket processing software 113 generally may be responsible for
overseeing various functions relating in whole or in part to ticket
information, as discussed in further detail below (e.g., in
connection with FIGS. 6 and 7).
[0212] The operation of the components of combination locate and
marking device 2810 may be coordinated in various manners. As has
been described previously herein, the detection electronics may
operate to detect the presence or absence of a target object, such
as an underground facility. The marking-related components (e.g.,
actuation system 120, marking dispenser 116, etc.) may be used in
connection with dispensing a marking material, for example to mark
the location of an underground facility once detected. In practice,
the two activities (detecting a target object and marking a
location of the target object) may not coincide temporally. Rather,
a locate technician may scan an area one or more times to detect
the presence of the target object, or may have to scan over a large
area to determine the extent of the target object, utilizing the
locate receiver functionality of the combination locate and marking
device. In some embodiments, the locate technician may operate the
combination locate and marking device to dispense a marking
material after the target object is detected, or in some instances
intermittently while detecting the target object (e.g., while
following the length of an underground facility). Thus, various
schemes may be employed to coordinate the object detection
functionality and the marking functionality.
[0213] According to some embodiments, the object detection
functionality and the marking functionality may operate at separate
times. For example, in one such embodiment, the combination locate
and marking device may separately operate in a detection mode and a
marking mode, and a user (e.g., locate technician) may select which
mode to use, for example by selecting the mode from the user
interface. In such an embodiment, the user may operate the
combination locate and marking device as a locate receiver until
the target object is detected, and then may switch modes to a
marking mode, in which the user may operate the combination locate
and marking device to dispense marking material. In another such
embodiment, the combination locate and marking device may operate
substantially continuously as a locate receiver until the user
actuates the actuation system 120, at which time the locate
receiver functionality may automatically be suspended and the
combination locate and marking device may shift to a marking mode
for dispensing marking material. Other manners of coordinating the
functionality of a combination locate and marking device are also
possible, as those manners explicitly listed herein are provided
primarily for purposes of illustration.
[0214] In addition, as described above, a combination locate and
marking device is further configurable to operate in a landmark
mode. In some such embodiments, the landmark mode may be a distinct
mode which may selected by the user, much like the above-described
selection of the object detection functionality and the marking
functionality. However, other manners in which the combination
device may be placed into a landmark mode of operation are also
possible.
III. Exemplary Tickets
[0215] As discussed above, a locate request ticket generated by a
one-call center may include information provided by an excavator in
an excavation notice that initiated the ticket, as well as
supplemental information provided by the one-call center.
Presently, there is no standardized format or standardized
information content for locate request tickets and, as such,
tickets generated by different one-call centers in different
jurisdictions/geographic regions may include a variety of different
content and have a variety of different formats. For purposes of
illustrating some of the more typical salient elements of a locate
request ticket, FIG. 4 shows an example of a ticket 205. As shown
in FIG. 4, the ticket 205 contains various pieces of information
stored in a number of fields, including: [0216] (1) ticket number
302, [0217] (2) location information 304A (e.g., address of work
site, nearby cross streets, and dig area descriptions such as "site
marked in white" and "starting at pole number 24860 at the entrance
of Trevose Corporate Center and proceeding in the grass around the
side of the bldg, then cross the parking lot to the bldg"), [0218]
(3) coordinate information 304B (e.g., lat/long coordinates of work
site), [0219] (4) excavation information 306, including reason
(e.g., installing conduit), scope (e.g., 392 feet), depth (e.g.,
18-30 inches), method (e.g., by drill and trencher) and property
type (e.g., private property), [0220] (5) timing information 308,
including scheduled excavation time (e.g., Jan. 6, 2009 at 7:00
a.m.) and duration (e.g., 3 days) and due date by which a requested
locate and/or marking operation is to be completed (e.g., Jan. 5,
2009), [0221] (6) excavator information 310, including name,
address, contact information such as phone number, fax number and
email address, and the party who contracted the excavator (e.g., as
indicated in the "Work Being Done For" field), [0222] (7) one-call
center information 312, including the time at which the ticket was
created and the customer service representative who created the
ticket, and [0223] (8) member codes 314, indicating the different
types of facilities that need to be located.
[0224] In some instances, the ticket 205 may contain additional
textual information in a "Remarks" field 316 (although no remarks
are provided in the example shown in FIG. 4). This textual
information may include a description of the dig area (which may
alternatively be included in the location information 304A as
discussed above) and/or instructions with respect to performing the
requested locate and/or marking operation.
[0225] It should be appreciated that the above list of information
elements is merely illustrative, as other combinations of
information elements may also be suitable. For example, when
preparing a ticket, a one-call center may draw a "locate polygon"
or a "work site polygon" (e.g., as a "buffer zone" around a
designated work site) on a map corresponding to the work site. This
locate/work site polygon may be overlaid onto one or more polygon
maps or facilities maps to determine which types of facilities are
implicated. For example, a facility type (or owner) may be
indicated on the initial ticket in the member code section 314 if
and only if at least one facility of that type (or owner) touches
or intersects with the polygon overlaid on a polygon map or
facilities map. In some instances, the one-call center may provide
coordinates for the vertices of the polygon in the ticket, along
with other information describing the location and boundaries of
the work site and/or dig area.
[0226] With reference again for the moment to FIG. 2, tickets
communicated electronically may be stored in memory of one or more
remote computers or one or more pieces of locating equipment as
electronic tickets 165. The data format of electronic tickets 165
may be, for example, Extensible Markup Language (XML) files that
can be imported to any application for display (e.g., web-based
application, custom application, dashboards, standard reports,
etc). Alternatively, electronic tickets 165 may be of any format
that is suitable for use by any application, such as, but not
limited to, textual format (e.g., field length delimited, comma
delimited, any separated value format), XML or any self-describing
format, binary format (e.g., object level formatting, binary data
object, such as a relational database, hierarchical database), and
so on.
[0227] Textual descriptions of dig areas included in locate request
tickets may, in some instances, be very imprecise as to exact
physical locations at which digging is planned. Therefore, when a
locate request is submitted by an excavator, it may be beneficial
for the excavator to supplement the locate request with a visit to
the site of the dig area for the purpose of indicating the
particular location and/or extent of the proposed excavation. For
example, marks (e.g., white paint) on the ground at the location at
which digging is planned may be used to physically indicate a dig
area in order to communicate to a locate technician the extent of
the boundaries where digging is planned. These marks may be chalk
marks or paint that is applied to the surface of the ground, and
are generally known as "white lines."
[0228] In accordance with some embodiments, an excavator may attach
to an excavation notice or locate request a so-called virtual white
lines (VWL) image, which may contain a digital image of the work
site (e.g., an aerial image or some other suitable digital data
representing the geographic location of the work site) along with
electronic annotations delimiting the dig area. Such a VWL image
may then be included as part of, or as an electronic attachment to,
a ticket generated by a one-call center (i.e., the VWL image
constitutes part of the information contained in a ticket). An
example of a VWL image 400 is shown in FIG. 5A, where a dig area is
indicated on an aerial image of a work site by a set of dashed
lines 410 forming a polygon (e.g., a rectangle). The lines 410 are
more generally referred to as "dig area indicators," which may be
any electronically generated markings indicating a point, line,
path and/or area of the planned excavation.
[0229] The VWL image 400 may be created by the excavator using a
suitable VWL application. For example, an excavator may use an
electronic drawing tool provided by the VWL application to
electronically draw markings on a digital image of the work site,
instead of, or in addition to, physically visiting the work site
and marking white lines on the ground. The electronic markings may
include any suitable combinations of shapes, shades, points,
symbols, coordinates, data sets, and/or other indicators to
indicate on the digital image a dig area in which excavation is to
occur.
[0230] In some embodiments, the digital image on which dig area
indicators are drawn may be geotagged (i.e., associated with
geospatial metadata). The VWL application may be programmed to use
the geospatial metadata associated with the digital image to
convert location information regarding the dig area indicators
and/or landmarks shown in the digital image into geographic
coordinates such as Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates.
These geographic coordinates may be stored in a separate data set
that may be attached to a locate request ticket instead of, or in
addition to, the VWL image, and/or may be included as metadata
accompanying a VWL image file which is attached to a ticket, for
example. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that the VWL image
and/or any information associated therewith (e.g., the geographic
coordinates themselves for one or more dig area indicators, with or
without accompanying image information), may constitute part of the
ticket information.
[0231] A data set associated with a VWL image may include any
suitable combination of information, as the present disclosure is
not limited in that respect. For example, as shown in FIG. 5C, an
illustrative VWL data set 430 may include any of the following
pieces of information: [0232] Timestamp information 432 identifying
the day and/or time that the excavator created the VWL image.
[0233] An excavator identifier 434 uniquely identifying the
excavator. [0234] A property address 444 for a work site. [0235]
VWL coordinates 436 defining a set of geographical points along a
perimeter of a delimited dig area. [0236] Environmental landmark
identifier 438 identifying a type of environmental landmarks (e.g.,
"curb"), a location 440 of the identified landmark (e.g., as
indicated by GPS coordinates), and/or a distance 442 between the
identified landmarks and one or more boundaries of the dig area.
[0237] Any other data that may be useful in further describing the
dig area, such as excavator notes in the form of audio/voice data,
transcribed voice-recognition data, or simply textual data typed in
by an excavator. [0238] Ticket number 446, which may or may not be
available at the time the VWL image is generated.
[0239] The VWL application may be implemented, for example, as
described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/366,853 filed Feb.
6, 2009, entitled "Virtual white lines for delimiting planned
excavation sites;" U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/475,905
filed Jun. 1, 2009, entitled "Virtual white lines for delimiting
planned excavation sites of staged excavation projects;" U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 12/422,364 filed Apr. 13, 2009,
entitled "Virtual white lines (VWL) application for indicating a
planned excavation or locate path." Each of these patent
applications is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its
entirety.
[0240] FIG. 5B shows an example in which a VWL application is
implemented as a web application and is accessible via a VWL
application server 422 or some suitable web portal. In this manner,
an excavator (e.g., the excavator 10 shown in FIG. 1) may be able
to create a VWL image by accessing the VWL application via a web
browser running on a mobile computing device 420.
[0241] As discussed above, the VWL application may create a VWL
image by electronically annotating an input image with one or more
dig area indicators. An input image may be any image represented by
source data that is electronically processed (e.g., the source data
is in a computer-readable format) to display the image on a display
device. The VWL application may retrieve the source data from any
suitable source, such as an image server 424.
[0242] Input images stored on the image server 424 may include any
of a variety of paper/tangible image sources that are scanned
(e.g., via an electronic scanner) or otherwise converted so as to
create source data (e.g., in various formats such as XML, PDF, JPG,
BMP, etc.) that can be processed to display an image. An input
image may also originate as source data or an electronic file
without necessarily having a corresponding paper/tangible copy of
the image (e.g., an image of a "real-world" scene acquired by a
digital still frame or video camera or other image acquisition
device, in which the source data, at least in part, represents
pixel information from the image acquisition device). In some
embodiments, input images may be created, provided, and/or
processed by a geographic information system (GIS) that captures,
stores, analyzes, manages and presents data referring to (or linked
to) location, such that the source data representing the input
image includes pixel information from an image acquisition device
(corresponding to an acquired "real world" scene or representation
thereof) and/or spatial/geographic information ("geo-encoded
information"). As noted above, in some exemplary implementations,
an input image may be a digital aerial image of all or a portion of
a work site, and may also include some of the geographic area
surrounding the work site, in which one or more dig area indicators
are place on the image so as to provide a VWL image.
IV. Ticket Processing
[0243] As discussed above, according to various inventive
embodiments disclose herein, one or more aspects of ticket
information (examples of which aspects include, but are not limited
to, the use, content, formatting, organization, processing,
analysis, appearance and/or presentation mode of available ticket
information) may be enhanced and/or improved in some manner so as
to facilitate and/or verify efficient, effective and satisfactory
performance of the locate and/or marking operation. In some
exemplary implementations, with reference again to FIGS. 2, 3A and
3C, the ticket processing software 113, which may be resident (in
whole or in part) on one or more pieces of locating equipment,
and/or may be resident (in whole or in part) on one or more other
computing devices (e.g., remote computer, technician personal
computer or other computing device, central server, etc.) may, when
executed by a processor, be generally responsible for overseeing
various functions relating in whole or in part to ticket
information.
[0244] FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart that provides a general
outline of the high-level functionality of the ticket processing
software 113 that, when executed by a processor, performs a ticket
processing method 185 according to one embodiment of the present
invention. It should be appreciated that ticket processing methods
according to other embodiments of the present invention, pursuant
to the execution of various implementations of the ticket
processing software 113, may not necessarily perform all of the
steps indicated in FIG. 6, and/or may perform steps in a different
order than that shown in FIG. 6.
[0245] In block 180 of FIG. 6, a ticket is received (e.g., as
generated by a one-call center). With reference again to FIGS. 2,
3, and 3A-3D, the ticket may be received from, for example, a
ticket management system (not shown) residing on the remote
computer 150 and then loaded into the locating equipment (e.g.,
using the example of the marking device 110, the ticket may be
transmitted via a wired or wireless connection from the remote
computer 150 to the marking device 110 via the communication
interfaces 124 and 125 and stored as the electronic ticket 165 in
the local memory 122). In one example, the electronic ticket 165
may be loaded into the local memory of the locating equipment via
an on-site docking station (e.g., located in the technician's
vehicle) that is coupled to the locating equipment's communication
interface. Although not shown in the various figures, the docking
station may in turn have received the ticket from one or more
remote computers executing a ticket management system. In yet
another example, a ticket may be received "directly" on one or more
pieces of locating equipment (e.g., from the one-call center that
generated the ticket).
[0246] In block 182 of FIG. 6, the ticket as received may be
displayed on one or more pieces of locating equipment (e.g., a
ticket may be displayed on the display 146 of the marking device
110 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3). As noted above, some types of tickets
may include, as part of the ticket itself or as one or more file
attachments to the ticket, a virtual white lines (VWL) image which,
as discussed above, may contain a digital image of the work site
(e.g., an aerial image or some other suitable digital data
representing the geographic location of the work site) along with
electronic annotations delimiting the dig area. The VWL image file
may include metadata relating to various aspects of the VWL image.
One or both of the VWL image and metadata relating to the image
(e.g., geographic coordinates of the dig area indicator(s)) may be
included in or attached to the ticket.
[0247] Accordingly, in block 182, it should be appreciated that the
text-based ticket itself, as well as a VWL image and/or metadata
associated with the VWL image, if present as an attachment to or a
portion of the ticket, may be displayed on one or more pieces of
locating equipment. In exemplary implementations, a user interface
associated with the locating equipment on which text information in
the ticket and/or a VWL image/metadata are displayed may be
configured to allow the technician to toggle the display between
the text information and the VWL image/metadata. Alternatively, the
user interface and/or the display of a given piece of locating
equipment may be configured to permit split screen or multi-window
viewing, such that the technician may be able to view
simultaneously all or respective portions of a text-based ticket
information and a VWL image and/or VWL metadata when present.
[0248] In block 184, the received ticket may be processed (e.g.,
parsed) to extract various ticket information. For example, in one
embodiment, the ticket processing software 113 (executing on one or
more processors) may analyze the received ticket and determine
whether or not there is sufficient information in the ticket such
that the locate and/or marking operation may be performed by the
technician in a guided fashion. To this end, the ticket processing
software 113 may be configured to recognize and process certain key
words found in the ticket. In general, in exemplary implementations
the ticket processing software 113 may be configured to parse a
received ticket to extract relevant information and to assess one
or more aspects of the requested locate and/or marking operation,
such as location, scope, complexity, duration, risk, value, skill
requirements and the like.
[0249] In block 186 of FIG. 6, ticket information may be displayed
to a technician in some manner that is different than the ticket as
received (e.g., received ticket processing/parsing may provide some
type of enhanced and/or improved ticket information to the
technician as compared to the original ticket as received). For
example, ticket information may be displayed as a "work order" that
may be primarily text-based in nature and in which the original
ticket is re-formatted and/or the information extracted from the
original ticket is selected and/or organized in a manner that
highlights and/or prioritizes certain elements of information so as
to facilitate performance of a locate and/or marking operation.
Alternatively, ticket information may be displayed in block 186 in
the form of a process guide, technician checklist or workflow,
examples of which are discussed in greater detail below.
[0250] In block 188 of FIG. 6, the technician may be permitted or
may be required to have some type of interaction in "real time"
with displayed ticket information (e.g., verify performance
elements of a work order; mark off or check off elements of a
checklist; follow and acknowledge a sequence of steps of a
workflow, etc.). For example, the technician may view the ticket
information on the display 146 of the marking device 110 and, in
the process of performing the locate and/or marking operation, the
technician may update the ticket information in real time. In one
example, as each type of facility to be marked according to the
ticket information is actually marked by the technician, the
technician may update the status (e.g., marked, cleared, no access,
etc.) via the user interface 126. Additionally, the technician may
enter useful information as text via the user interface 126, may
capture digital images that relate to the locate and/or marking
operation (e.g., by use of a digital camera included on the marking
device 110), and/or may generate a digital audio recording that
relates to performance of the locate and/or marking operation
(e.g., by use of a digital audio recorder included on the marking
device 110). In addition, or alternatively, in block 188 some type
of guided operation, such as execution of a process guide,
checklist or workflow, may be implemented in an automated or
semi-automated manner (e.g., in which elements of a checklist, or
steps of a workflow, are completed/acknowledged by automatically
comparing information relating to performance of the locate and/or
marking operation to the ticket information). Also, as part of a
guided process, the technician may be provided with various types
of alerts (e.g., visual cues or queries on a display, audible
alerts, tactile alerts) relating to different steps of a process
and/or aspects of the locate and/or marking operation being
conducted.
[0251] In block 190, a technician activity log may be generated to
capture information relating to implementation and/or execution of
the work order, checklist, workflow, and the like, and such a
technician activity log may be stored electronically (e.g., in
memory of a computing device or locating equipment). Upon
completion of a locate and/or marking operation, the technician
activity log may be used to verify that the locate and/or marking
operation requested by the ticket was completed; accordingly, such
a log also may be considered or referred to as a "completed
ticket." However, it should be appreciated that the technician
activity log may also be generated and updated during a locate
and/or marking operation as a process guide is being executed, and
analyzed prior to the completion of the locate and/or marking
operation. For example, the technician activity log may be analyzed
as each work item or task is completed by the technician to detect
any deficiencies, so that the technician may be alerted before
leaving the work site. As another example, in the event that one or
more unanticipated circumstances are observed during the locate
and/or marking operation, the technician activity log may be used
to dynamically assess the new situation and provide updated
guidance to the technician. Accordingly, it should be appreciated
that any updates to a technician activity log pursuant to execution
of a process guide, either during or upon completion of the locate
and/or marking operation, may be stored, analyzed and or
transmitted; in particular the transmission of a technician
activity log (e.g., an updated process guide) to a remote computer
may occur from time to time during the locate and/or marking
operation, for example, when each process guide item is checked off
and/or when the technician indicates he is unable to complete a
certain process guide item. Alternatively, the technician activity
log may be transmitted upon completion the locate and/or marking
operation (e.g., a completed process guide or "completed ticket")
for recordkeeping and final quality review. Additionally, in some
embodiments, as discussed further below in connection with FIG. 7,
a technician activity log/updated process guide may be provided to
one or more business applications (e.g., a technician scheduling
and dispatch application, an employee evaluation application, a
quality assessment application, an excavator notification
application, a risk assessment application, a ticket approval
application, a billing application, etc.) to provide valuable
information to one or more parties associated with the locate
and/or marking operation.
[0252] With reference again to FIG. 2, 3 or 3A-3D, a given
technician activity log originally generated on one or more pieces
of locating equipment (e.g., the technician activity log 137
generated by the marking device 110 and stored in local memory 122)
may be communicated between one or more remote computers (e.g., the
remote computer 150) and the locating equipment (e.g., the marking
device 110). Such transmission may take place at any appropriate
time, for example, at various stages during the locate and/or
marking operation and/or upon completion of the locate and/or
marking operation. Furthermore, the one or more remote computers
may store the received technician activity log in a suitable
storage for recordkeeping. Additionally, the one or more remote
computers may analyze the received technician activity log to
assess various aspects of the quality of the locate and/or marking
operation.
[0253] The high-level functionality of the ticket processing
software 113, as outlined in the method 185 of FIG. 6, may be
employed in some embodiments of the present invention to facilitate
extraction of ticket information from tickets, which ticket
information may be used thereafter as a basis for providing a
technician with more concise guidance with respect to performing a
locate and/or marking operation, and or verifying in some manner
actual performance of the operation. For example, as discussed
above in connection with the block 186, ticket information (whether
provided by ticket processing software 113 or other
systems/methods) may be used to generate any of a variety of
process guides, examples of which include (but are not limited to)
work orders, checklists and/or workflows, to facilitate locate
and/or marking operations. Examples of work orders, checklists, and
workflows are discussed in turn further below. Furthermore, as
discussed in greater detail below, each of a work order, a
checklist, and a workflow itself may be used in whole or part as
part of, and/or to generate, other iterations of process guides
(e.g., a work order, originally generated based at least in part on
ticket information, may in turn be used to generate a checklist
and/or a workflow; a checklist, originally generated from a work
order, may be included as part of a workflow).
[0254] FIG. 7 shows an illustrative example of a workforce guidance
and monitoring system 200 for facilitating and/or verifying locate
and/or marking operations, according to one embodiment of the
present invention. In some aspects, the workforce guidance and
monitoring system 200 may implement some or all of the
functionalities provided by the ticket processing software 113
described above with reference to FIGS. 2-6, such as parsing a
ticket to extract ticket information, assessing the ticket
information, providing guidance to a technician, monitoring
technician activities and/or providing real time updates. As such,
various aspects of the workforce guidance and monitoring system 200
described below may be viewed as more detailed and/or alternative
implementations for the ticket processing software 113 of FIGS.
2-6.
[0255] In some exemplary implementations discussed below for
purposes of illustrating salient concepts, the system 200 may be
operated by a locate service provider (e.g., the locate service
provider 30 shown in FIG. 1) that dispatches locate technicians to
perform locate and/or marking operations in the field. However, it
should be appreciate that the system 200 is not limited in this
respect, as the system 200 may be implemented and/or employed by
other entities (e.g., facility owners, regulatory authorities,
other agencies) who in some manner are related to dispatching
mobile technicians to perform one or more tasks (e.g., as part of a
field service operation).
[0256] The workforce guidance and monitoring system 200 may include
multiple components adapted to communicate with each other, for
example, via one or more networks (not shown). Stated differently,
one or more aspects of the system 200 may be executed on one or
more processors, and multiple processors executing some portion of
the system 200 may be disposed in geographically diverse locations.
Accordingly, different components of the system 200 may reside on
any suitable combination of computing devices in any suitable
configuration, as the present disclosure is not limited in this
respect. The computing devices may be equipped with any wired
and/or wireless communication interfaces (as discussed above in
connection with FIGS. 2 and 3) by which information may be
exchanged between the various system components.
[0257] In the example shown in FIG. 7, the workforce guidance and
monitoring system 200 may receive a locate request ticket 205 from
a one-call center 20 (as discussed above in connection with FIG.
1). The locate service provider may process and analyze the
received ticket 205 and any associated images, in preparation of
dispatching one or more locate technicians to perform one or more
locate and/or marking operations corresponding to the ticket 205.
For example, the locate service provider may use a ticket parsing
and assessment engine 210 to parse the ticket 205 to extract
relevant information and to assess one or more aspects of the
requested locate and/or marking operation, such as location, scope,
complexity, duration, risk, value, skill requirements and the like.
These assessment outcomes may be used to improve various aspects of
the business operations of the locate service provider, such as
activity scheduling, resource allocation, quality control and/or
regulatory compliance. Exemplary ticket assessment methods and
applications are discussed in U.S. provisional application Ser. No.
61/220,491, filed on Jun. 25, 2009, and entitled "METHODS AND
APPARATUS FOR ASSESSING FIELD SERVICE OPERATION TICKETS," which
application is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
[0258] In some embodiments, the result of parsing and assessing the
ticket 205 may be summarized in one or more corresponding work
orders 215, which may be stored in a ticket and/or work order
database 220 in association with the ticket 205. Further details
regarding exemplary work orders are discussed below in connection
with FIG. 8.
[0259] As shown in FIG. 7, in connection with other types of
process guides that may be used to facilitate and/or verify a
locate and/or marking operation (e.g., checklists, workflows), the
workforce guidance and monitoring system 200 includes one or more
remote computers 230 configured to implement a process guide
generator that processes the tickets and/or work orders stored in
the database 220 to produce one or more process guide items 235.
The process guide generator may apply any suitable techniques in
generating the process guide items, as the present disclosure is
not limited in this respect. For example, as discussed in greater
detail below in connection with FIG. 11, the process guide items
may correspond to types of facilities to be located, which facility
types may be extracted from a ticket and/or a work order.
Alternatively, as discussed in greater detail below in connection
with FIGS. 12A-C, the facilities types may be selected either
manually or automatically based on one or more facilities maps and
dig area indicators.
[0260] In addition to ticket information, the process guide
generator may access one or more auxiliary information sources 250,
including, but not limited to, facilities maps, historical tickets,
standard operating procedures (SOP) information, industry best
practice guides, and the like. Any combination of these information
sources may be used in conjunction with ticket information for
producing process guide items. For instance, in some embodiments, a
facilities map may be retrieved based on location information
contained in a ticket or work order, and may be compared against a
dig area indicator extracted from an associated VWL image to
determine the types of facilities to be located. As another
example, SOP information and/or industry best practice guides may
be used to determine a number of process guide items relating to
locating and/or marking a particular facilities type (e.g., gas).
These and other examples of auxiliary information sources and their
uses in generating exemplary process guides according to various
embodiments of the present invention are further described in
connection with FIGS. 9 and 10.
[0261] Although in the illustrated embodiment the process guide
generator resides at the remote computer 230, it should be
appreciated that the present disclosure is not so limited. Rather,
process guide items may be generated, in whole or in part, anywhere
within a workforce guidance and monitoring system. For example,
they may be generated on a central server based on ticket
information accessible to the central server and transmitted to a
computing device used by a locate technician. As another example,
they may be generated on the computing device used by the locate
technician (e.g., after a ticket has been dispatched to the locate
technician). As yet another example, process guide items may be
generated on a computing device integrated with a piece of locating
equipment, such as a marking device, a locate transmitter, a locate
receiver or a combined locate and marking device.
[0262] Once generated by the process guide generator, the process
guide items 235 may be stored in a suitable database and/or
transmitted to another computing device for further processing. For
example, as shown in FIG. 7, the process guide items 235 may be
transmitted to a local agent 260, which may reside, in whole or in
part, on a computing device used by a technician or team of
technicians performing locate and/or marking operations in the
field. As a more specific example, the local agent 260 may include
a set of processor-executable instructions and reside on a marking
device used by the technician (e.g., on the marking device 110
shown in FIG. 2 and implemented by the processor 118). Also,
although the local agent 260 and the remote computer 230 are shown
separately in FIG. 7, the local agent 260 may, in some embodiments,
reside in whole or in part on the remote computer 230.
[0263] The local agent 260 may be configured to process received
process guide items and produce one or more corresponding process
guide outputs to be presented to the locate technician to provide
instructions and/or guidance during a locate and/or marking
operation. For example, as shown in FIG. 11 and described in
greater detail below, a process guide output may be a checklist,
e.g., visual display of a list of work items to be reviewed and
checked off by the technician during, or upon completion of, the
locate and/or marking operation. Another example of a process
guide, discussed below in connection with FIGS. 14-19, may be
workflow, e.g., a step-by-step a set of instructions and/or prompts
for guiding the technician. More generally, a process guide output
may include any visual, audio and/or tactile cues for providing
information to the technician in connection with one or more
process guide items.
[0264] In some embodiments, the process guide output 285 may be
presented via a user interface 280, which may allow the locate
technician to acknowledge process guide items prior to performance
and/or to provide updates and feedback relating to the workflow
items. The user interface 280 may reside on a same computing device
as the local agent 260, on a different computing device, or on any
suitable combination of computing devices. It may include any
suitable combination of hardware and software configured to allow a
locate technician to interact with a process guide output. In one
embodiment, the user interface 280 may include one or more output
devices, such as a display screen (e.g., the display 146 of the
marking device 110 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3). In a further
embodiment, the user interface 280 may additionally include one or
more input devices, such as a keyboard and/or touchpad (e.g., as
part of the user interface 126 of marking device 110). In another
embodiment, the user interface 285 may include a combined input and
output device, such as a touch screen. In yet another embodiment,
the user interface 280 may be speech-enabled, and may include
text-to-speech components for audibly rendering a process guide
output and/or voice recognition components for receiving voice
inputs from the technician.
[0265] In the example shown in FIG. 7, the local agent 260 is
further adapted to receive locating equipment data 275 from
locating equipment 270, which may be any suitable combination of
equipment used by a locate technician in the field for performing
locate and/or marking operations. The locating equipment 270 may
include various components configured to collect data during a
locate and/or marking operation. For example, the locating
equipment 270 may include a marking device having: a marking
material detection mechanism, an actuator, a location tracking
system, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a light sensor, a
compass, an inclinometer, an accelerometer, an image capture device
and/or an audio recorder (e.g., as discussed above in connection
with FIGS. 2 and 3 regarding an exemplary marking device). Other
sensing and/or detection mechanisms may also be suitable, as the
present disclosure is not limited in this respect.
[0266] In some embodiments, the data collected by the locating
equipment 270 may be transmitted directly to the local agent 260
for further processing and analysis. Alternatively, the locating
equipment 270 may perform some preliminary processing to part or
all of the collected data prior to sending the data to the local
agent 260. For instance, the locating equipment 270 may be
configured to process and/or assemble collected data into one or
more actuation data sets in a standard format for consumption by
the local agent 260. As a more specific example, an actuation data
from a marking device may include information such as a time stamp,
geographic coordinates corresponding to one or more actuations,
color of marking material dispensed and the like. Further details
regarding examples of actuation data sets are discussed below in
connection with Tables 1 and 2.
[0267] Although not shown in FIG. 7, the local agent 260 may
include one or more data analysis components for processing the
locating equipment data 275 received from the locating equipment
270. For instance, a data analysis component may be configured to
extract relevant information from the locating equipment, process
the extracted information, and automatically provide status updates
with respect to one or more related process guide items. As a more
specific example, a data analysis component may be configured to
process marking device data to determine the types of facilities
being marked (e.g., based on the color of marking material
dispensed) and automatically provide acknowledgments for one or
more marking tasks on a process guide. As another example, a data
analysis component may compare locate receiver data and marking
device data to determine whether the types of facilities marked
match the types of facilities detected. As yet another example, a
data analysis component may compare locating equipment data with
any suitable data retrieved from the auxiliary information sources
250.
[0268] In some embodiments, the local agent 260 may also provide
real-time feedback to the locate technician based on its data
analyses. For example, if a data analysis component detects a
discrepancy in any aspect of a locate and/or marking operation, an
alert may be generated and delivered to the locate technician, so
that he may implement any desirable corrective actions before
leaving the work site. Other types of feedback may also be
suitable, as the present disclosure is not limited in this
respect.
[0269] As the local agent 260 interacts with a locate technician
via the user interface 280 and/or receives locating equipment data
from the locating equipment 270, it may update the process guide
items 235 received from the process guide generator. For example,
the updates may include simple acknowledgments indicating one or
more process guide items having been completed. Alternatively, the
updates may include more extensive reports regarding one or more
process guide items, which may summarize actions taken by the
locate technician and the corresponding results.
[0270] Based on these and/or other updates, an updated process
guide 265 (e.g., including a technician activity log) may be
generated and transmitted to one or more remote computers for
further analysis and/or review. For example, in the embodiment
shown in FIG. 7, the updated process guide 265 may be transmitted
back to the remote computer 230 that generated the process guide
items 235. This may advantageously allow the remote computer 230 to
use the information contained in the updated process guide 265 to
modify one or more of the process guide items 235 and/or generate
additional process guide items. For example, the remote computer
230 may automatically analyze the technician activity log included
in the updated process guide 265 to determine whether a certain
process guide item has been satisfactorily addressed and may
generate one or more follow-up process guide items accordingly. As
another example, in the event that the technician encountered
certain unanticipated circumstances and was unable to complete a
certain process guide item, the remote computer 230 may prompt a
supervisor to review the updated process guide 265 and provide
further guidance to the technician. For example, the supervisory
personnel may modify one or more process guide items in view of the
updated information.
[0271] As discussed above, the transmission of an updated process
guide 265 from the local agent 260 to a remote computer may occur
from time to time during the locate and/or marking operation, for
example, when each process guide item is checked off and/or when
the technician indicates he is unable to complete a certain process
guide item. Alternatively, the updated process guide 265 may be
transmitted upon completion the locate and/or marking operation for
recordkeeping and final quality review.
[0272] Additionally, as shown in FIG. 7, in some embodiments an
updated process guide 265 may be transmitted to one or more
business applications 290. For example, an updated process guide
may be transmitted to a scheduling and dispatch application either
during the course of a locate and/or marking operation or shortly
after its completion. This may enable the scheduling and dispatch
application to make any desirable scheduling adjustments in real
time, for example, to improve the efficiency and/or effectiveness
of a fleet of technicians as a whole. In another example, an
acknowledgement of the actual work performed for a ticket (e.g.,
based at least in part on a technician activity log/updated process
guide/completed ticket) may be generated and provided to, for
example, the customer and/or a billing application of the locate
company. Similarly, an invoice or receipt for the locate operation
could be provided. Such an invoice or receipt may be automatically
generated based on the actual work performed (e.g., as indicated by
the status items of a technician activity log/updated process
guide/completed ticket).
[0273] In some further embodiments, in other examples of business
applications 290, an updated process guide may be transmitted to
one or more review and assessment applications after the
corresponding locate and/or marking operation has been completed.
Examples of such review and assessment applications include, but
are not limited to, an employee evaluation application, a locate
and/or marking operations quality assessment application, a data
analysis application, an excavator notification application, a risk
assessment application and a ticket approval application. Such an
application may analyze the received updated process guide and make
informed decisions, for example, with respect to resource
allocation, inventory and/or employee training. It may further
update information stored in the auxiliary information sources 250
according to the received process guide, for example, by detecting
and reconciling any discrepancies and/or by updating relevant
statistics. These and other similar practices may be designed to
improve overall operating efficiency and profitability of a locate
service provider.
[0274] As discussed above, various components of the workforce
guidance and monitoring system 200 of FIG. 7 may be adapted to
communicate with each other via one or more networks and may reside
on any suitable combination of computing devices in any suitable
configuration. For example, in some embodiments, certain components
of the workflow system 200, such as the ticket parsing and
assessment engine 210, the remote computer 230 and/or any number of
the other business applications, may reside on a central server or
cluster of servers. Each of the ticket and/or work order database
220 and the auxiliary information sources 250 may be accessible to
any of these applications in any suitable manner, for example, via
a network connection.
[0275] In some further embodiments, the local agent 260 may reside
on a computing device used by a technician or team of technicians
performing locate and/or marking operations in the field, which may
be any suitable device capable of processing and executing program
instructions, including, but not limited to, a laptop computer, a
tablet device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) a cellular
radiotelephone, and/or other portable/mobile device. As discussed
above, the computing device may be equipped with a suitable
combination of input and output devices for presenting a user
interface to a locate technician. As a more specific example, the
local agent 260 may reside on a computing device installed on a
vehicle driven by a locate technician. As another example, the
local agent 260 may reside on a mobile computing device adapted to
be carried by a locate technician. An yet another example, the
local agent 260 may be incorporated into a piece of locating
equipment, such as a marking device, a locate transmitter, a locate
receiver or a combined locate and marking device. Each of the
computing devices discussed above may be equipped with one or more
suitable communication interfaces to enable exchange of information
between the various workflow system components that run on the
devices. Any suitable communication technologies may be used (e.g.,
wired and/or wireless), as the present disclosure is not limited in
this respect.
[0276] Furthermore, a workforce guidance and monitoring system
according to the present disclosure is not limited to the
combination of components explicitly shown in FIG. 7 and/or
discussed herein. Other combination of components may also be
suitable. For example, a guidance and monitoring system may
additionally include one or more auxiliary applications, such as a
VWL application for generating and/or manipulating VWL images and a
geographic information system (GIS) for performing location-related
analyses. These auxiliary applications may be accessible through
one or more servers (e.g., web servers).
V. Work Orders
[0277] FIG. 8 shows an example of an work order 215, according to
one embodiment of the invention, that may be created as a result of
executing ticket processing software 113 of FIGS. 2 and 3 to
process (e.g., parse and assess) a received locate request ticket
(including any associated VWL images), as illustrated by the method
of FIG. 6 for example. In particular, as discussed in connection
with the system 200 of FIG. 7, the work order 215 may be generated
by the ticket parsing and assessment engine 210 and/or stored in
the ticket and/or work order database 220. Furthermore, in
exemplary implementations, the work order 215 may be displayed on
one or more pieces of locating equipment to facilitate performance
of a locate and/or marking operation.
[0278] The work order 215 may include a plurality of information
elements extracted from the exemplary ticket 205 shown in FIG. 4,
such as ticket number 502, address of work site 504, excavation
information 506, due date information 508, excavator information
510 and the like. In some embodiments, some of these information
elements may be presented in the work order 215 in a different
format compared to the ticket 205. The work order 215 may also
include additional information elements, such as a work order
number 512 different from the ticket number 502 (e.g., multiple
different work orders may be created based on the same ticket), a
scheduled work begin date/time 514A (e.g., as determined by a
scheduling and dispatch application) and an expected duration 514B
(e.g., as determined by the ticket parsing and assessment engine
210 shown in FIG. 7).
[0279] The work order 215 may also include work order task
information 516 listing the facilities types to be located within
this work order. This information may be obtained based on member
code information contained in a corresponding ticket (e.g. the
member codes 314 shown in FIG. 4). For example, for each member
code listed in the ticket, it may be determined whether the locate
service provider has a contract to locate facilities for the
corresponding member. If there is a contract, it may be determined
which facilities types may be covered by the contract and whether
the work site is likely to contain facilities of those types
operated by that particular member (e.g., based on a work site
address and facilities maps provided by the member). As a more
specific example, the member "PECO WRTR" may be listed on the
ticket 205 (see FIG. 4), and the locate service provider may be
under contract to locate both gas and electrical lines for that
member. As a result, the utilities types "Gas" and "Electric" may
be listed in the work order task information 516 of the work order
215 (see FIG. 8). By contrast, the locate service provider may not
be under contract to locate any facilities for the member "BUCKS
CNTY W&SA," therefore the work order 215 may not list any
facilities types associated with that member, even though its
member code is listed on the ticket 205.
[0280] Although not shown in FIG. 8, a work order may have attached
thereto one or more VWL images (e.g., the VWL image 400 shown in
FIG. 5A) and/or any corresponding VWL data sets (e.g., the VWL data
set 430 shown in FIG. 5C). Alternatively, a work order may include
any constituent data elements of a VWL data set. For example, a
work order may include VWL coordinates identifying the location of
one or more dig site indicators, with or without an underlying
image.
[0281] It should be appreciated that while the method of FIG. 6 and
the system of FIG. 7 may be employed to generate a work order based
at least in part on ticket information, methods and systems
according to various embodiments of the present invention also may
use a previously generated work order as an input to generate
another form of process guide to facilitate and/or verify a locate
and/or marking information. Exemplary process guides such as
checklists and workflows, which may be based on original tickets,
work orders, or ticket information derived from any of a variety of
sources, are discussed further below in connection with FIGS.
11-19.
VI. Auxiliary Information Sources for Process Guide Generation
[0282] As discussed above in connection with the system 200 shown
in FIG. 7, in addition to ticket information, the process guide
generator may access one or more auxiliary information sources 250,
including, but not limited to, facilities maps, historical tickets,
standard operating procedures (SOP) information, industry best
practice guides, and the like. Any combination of these information
sources may be used in conjunction with ticket information for
producing process guide items. FIG. 9 shows illustrative examples
of auxiliary information sources 250 that may be accessed and/or
updated by various components of a workforce guidance and
monitoring system (e.g., the remote computer 230 and the local
agent 260 shown in FIG. 7, and other business applications).
[0283] In some embodiments, the auxiliary information sources 250
may include one or more facilities maps 610 illustrating installed
aboveground and/or underground facilities, such as gas, power,
telephone, cable, fiber optics, water, sewer, drainage and the
like. Additionally, the facilities maps may indicate the presence
of certain environmental landmarks such as streets, buildings,
public facilities and the like. In some further embodiments, a
facilities map may additionally include metadata, such as
geo-location information for one or more features shown on the
map.
[0284] Facilities maps may be obtained from any suitable source, as
the present disclosure is not limited in this respect. In some
embodiments, they may be provided by respective facility owners.
For example, a gas company may generate and maintain facilities
maps of gas lines, a power company may generate and maintain
facilities maps of power lines, and so on. Furthermore, facilities
maps may be prepared directly in electronic form, or first on paper
and then converted into electronic form. FIG. 10 shows an example
of a facilities map 700 according to some embodiments of the
present disclosure. Using geographic information associated with
the facilities map 700 and VWL coordinate information, a dig area
indicator 705 may be overlaid onto the facilities map 700 to
indicate a planned dig area.
[0285] Returning to FIG. 9, the auxiliary information sources 250
may, in some embodiments, include a collection of historical
records 620, which may include any information associated with
locate and/or marking operations that have been completed in the
past and may be updated over time. For example, in some
embodiments, a historical record may include any combination of the
following: a past ticket received from a one-call center and any
associated VWL images, one or more work orders generated based on
the past ticket, locating equipment data collected during one or
more locate and/or marking operations performed in connection with
the past ticket, and completed work orders submitted by one or more
locate technicians who performed the locate and/or marking
operations, which may include photographs and/or electronic
manifests. Other types of information may also be suitable, as the
present disclosure is not limited in this respect.
[0286] In some further embodiments, the auxiliary information
sources 250 may include industry best practice guides 630 and/or
standard operating procedures (SOP) information 640, both of which
may be used for providing guidance to a technician with respect to
a locate and/or marking operation. For example, as discussed above
in connection with FIG. 7, industry best practice guides and/or SOP
information may be used in generating process guide items to be
completed or otherwise attended to by the technician.
[0287] The industry best practice guides 630 may reflect current
industry-accepted recommended practices and/or procedures with
respect to underground facility locate and/or marking operations.
An example of a best practices guide for the locate and marking
industry which may inform the generation of process guide items
according to various concepts discussed herein, is the Best
Practices Version 6.0 document, published in February 2009 by the
Common Ground Alliance (CGA) of Alexandria, Va.
(www.commongroundalliance.com), which document is hereby
incorporated herein by reference (this document is a compilation of
current recommended practices designed to prevent damages to
underground facilities).
[0288] The SOP information 640 may be similar to the industry best
practice guides 630 in that both may provide some level of guidance
as to how a locate and/or marking operation should be performed
under certain circumstances. However, in addition to
recommendations that may be applicable industry wide, the SOP
information 640 may incorporate information that are more specific
to the recommended practices for a particular locate service
provider. Thus, generally speaking, the SOP information 640 may
include more detailed recommendations compared to the industry best
practice guides 630. Also, the SOP information 640 may set forth
different recommendations and/or standards compared to the industry
best practice guides 630, for example, according to the locate
service provider's own risk tolerance.
[0289] For example, depending on where the locate service provider
operates, the SOP information 640 may take into account any
applicable state, local and/or regional regulations with respect to
underground facility locate and/or marking operations. If the
locate service provider operates in multiple jurisdictions,
different sets of SOP information may be maintained and observed by
employees in the respective jurisdictions. As another example, the
SOP information 640 may take into account the locate service
provider's internal policy information. As yet another example, the
SOP information 640 may take into account relevant terms from the
locate service provider's external contracts, such as contracts
with facilities owners and/or damage insurance companies.
[0290] Returning to FIG. 9, the auxiliary information sources 250
may include any other suitable types of electronic information 650
that may be useful in facilitating and/or verifying a locate and/or
marking operation, in additional to, or instead of, the examples of
information sources described above. For example, the image server
424 shown in FIG. 5B may be included as an auxiliary information
source and the input images stored therein may be made available to
any component in a workforce guidance and monitoring system.
VII. Locating Equipment Data for Process Guide Generation
[0291] As discussed above in the system of FIG. 7, the local agent
260 may receive locating equipment data 275 from locating equipment
270 to provide information relevant to the execution of a process
guide provided by the process guide generator.
[0292] As noted above, a locate technician may use locating
equipment, such as a locate instrument set (including a locate
receiver device), a marking device, or a combined locate and
marking device, so as to perform a locate and/or marking operation.
Locating equipment data 275 may be any information that is
collected and/or generated (e.g., one or more electronic records)
by any type of locating equipment equipped with components that are
capable of collecting electronic information and/or creating
electronic records about locate and/or marking operations that are
performed in the field. In some examples, locating equipment data
is constituted by "marking information" (e.g., the marking device
110 described above in connection with FIGS. 2 and 3) that is
associated generally with the marking functionality of a locate
and/or marking operation, and/or "locate information" that is
associated generally with the locating/detection functionality of a
locate and/or marking operation. Locating equipment data also may
include "landmark information" that may be acquired by suitably
configured locating equipment (e.g., a marking device, a locate
device, or a combined locate and marking device capable of
operating in a "landmark mode"), which information may be acquired
either independently or as part of (e.g., during or proximate in
time to) a locate and/or marking operation.
[0293] Table 1 shows one example of a sample of marking device data
of locating equipment data 275 that may be captured as the result
of, for example, an actuation of a marking device. In some
exemplary implementations, an electronic record of a marking
operation may include multiple data entries as shown in the example
of Table 1 for respective actuations of a marking device to
dispense a marking material (e.g., in some cases there may be one
set of data as shown in Table 1 for each actuation). In this
manner, each time a marker is placed (so as to indicate a presence
or absence of a given facility), data is collected relating to the
geographic location of the placed marker (e.g., geo-location data).
Additionally, data relating to a characteristic of the placed
marker (e.g., color and/or brand) is included in the data entries
of the electronic record, as well as other data germane to the
marking operation.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Example marking device data of locating
equipment data 275 Service provider ID 0482 Locate technician ID
4815 Marking Device ID 7362 Timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:15.2
Geo-location data N35.degree. 43.57518, W078.degree. 49.78314
Marking material data Color = Red, Brand = ABC Temperature data 73
degrees F. Humidity data 30% Light data 4.3 volts Compass data 213
degrees Inclinometer data -40 Accelerometer data 0.275 g Battery
strength data 73%
[0294] Table 2 below shows another example of marking device data
that may be captured as the result of, for example, one or more
actuations of a marking device. Specifically, Table 2 illustrates
multiple "actuation data sets" of an electronic record of a marking
operation as generated by a marking device, in which each actuation
data set includes information associated with multiple actuation
event entries logged during a corresponding actuation and
dispensing of a locate mark. Table 2 shows three actuation data
sets of an electronic record, corresponding to three actuations of
the marking device (e.g., act-1, act-2, and act-3). As may be
appreciated from the information shown in Table 2, multiple pieces
of geo-location data are logged for each actuation of a marking
device (in addition to various other information).
TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Example actuation data set for act-1 act-1
Service provider ID 0482 User ID 4815 Device ID 7362 T1 timestamp
data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:15.2 T2 timestamp data 12-Jul-2008;
09:35:16.1 Duration (.DELTA.t) 00:00:00.9 T1 geo-location data
2650.9348, N, 08003.5057, W 1.sup.st interval location data
2650.9353, N, 08003.5055, W 2.sup.nd interval location data
2650.9356, N, 08003.5055, W . . . . . . Nth interval location data
2650.9246, N, 08003.5240, W T2 geo-location data 2650.9255, N,
08003.5236, W Product data Color = Red, Brand = ABC, Type/Batch =
224B-1 Locate request data Requestor: XYZ Construction Company,
Requested service address: 222 Main St, Orlando, FL Example
actuation data set for act-2 act-2 Service provider ID 0482 User ID
4815 Device ID 7362 T1 timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:17.5 T2
timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:18.7 Duration (.DELTA.t)
00:00:01.2 T1 geo-location data 2650.9256, N, 08003.5234, W 1st
interval location data 2650.9256, N, 08003.5226, W 2.sup.nd
interval location data 2650.9256, N, 08003.5217, W . . . . . . Nth
interval location data 2650.9260, N, 08003.5199, W T2 geo-location
data 2650.9266, N, 08003.5196, W Product data Color = Red, Brand =
ABC, Type/Batch = 224B-1 Locate request data Requestor: XYZ
Construction Company, Requested service address: 222 Main St,
Orlando, FL Example actuation data set for act-3 act-3 Service
provider ID 0482 User ID 4815 Device ID 7362 T1 timestamp data
12-Jul-2008; 09:35:18.7 T2 timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:19.8
duration (.DELTA.t) 00:00:01.1 T1 geo-location data 2650.9273, N,
08003.5193, W 1st interval location data 2650.9281, N, 08003.5190,
W 2.sup.nd interval location data 2650.9288, N, 08003.5188, W . . .
. . . Nth interval location data 2650.9321, N, 08003.5177, W T2
geo-location data 2650.9325, N, 08003.5176, W Product data Color =
Red, Brand = ABC, Type/Batch = 224B-1 Locate request data
Requestor: XYZ Construction Company, Requested service address: 222
Main St, Orlando, FL
[0295] With regard to the marking material color information that
may be included in the marking device data as exemplified in Tables
1 and 2, Table 3 shows an example of a mapping between marking
material color and the type of facility to be marked.
TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Correlation of color to facility type
Marking material color Facility Type White Proposed excavation Pink
Temporary survey markings Red Electric power lines, cables or
conduits, and lighting cables Yellow Gas, oil, steam, petroleum, or
other hazardous liquid or gaseous materials Orange Communications,
cable TV, alarm or signal lines, cables, or conduits Blue Water,
irrigation, and slurry lines Purple Reclaimed water, irrigation and
slurry lines Green Sewers, storm sewer facilities, or other drain
lines Black Mark-out for errant lines
[0296] In some embodiments, locate receiver data may be electronic
information (e.g., one or more electronic records) of data that is
provided by electronic locate receiver devices and/or systems.
Examples of a locate receiver device that may provide locate
receiver data are described in U.S. Non-provisional application
Ser. No. 12/569,192, filed on Sep. 29, 2009, entitled "Methods,
Apparatus, and Systems for Generating Electronic Records of Locate
and Marking Operations, and Combined Locate and Marking Apparatus
for Same;" U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/151,578,
entitled "Locating equipment that has enhanced features for
increased automation in underground facility locate applications;"
and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/102,122, filed
on Oct. 2, 2008, entitled "Combination Locate and Marking Device
With a Data Acquisition System Installed Therein, and Associated
Methods," which applications are both hereby incorporated herein by
reference in their entirety.
[0297] Table 4 below shows an example of a sample of locate
receiver data that may be captured, for example, at one or more
times during operation/use of an appropriately configured locate
receiver. Different models of locate receivers and transmitters are
available from a variety of manufacturers and have different
features; accordingly, it should be appreciated that the
information content and type provided in Table 4 is exemplary of
possible information relating to locate receivers on which a
quality assessment of a locate and/or marking operation may be
based, and that other types and values for information are
possible. With respect to information potentially provided by a
given locate receiver as shown in Table 4 below, the "gain" is
typically a measure of the degree of sensitivity of a locate
receiver antenna that is picking up a signal emanating from along
an underground facility (alternatively, "gain" may be viewed as a
degree of amplification being applied to a received signal). Gain
may be expressed in terms of any scale (e.g., 0-100), as a numeric
value or percentage. "Signal strength" refers to the strength of a
received signal at a given gain value; signal strength similarly
may be expressed in terms of any scale, as a numeric value or
percentage. Generally speaking, higher signal strengths at lower
gains typically indicate more reliable information from a locate
receiver, but this may not necessarily be the case for all locate
and/or marking operations.
[0298] In some illustrative implementations, an electronic record
of a locate and/or marking operation as obtained from a locate
receiver may include multiple data entries as shown in the example
of Table 4. Each such entry may not only include information about
various operating parameters of the locate receiver (e.g., signal
strength, gain), but may additionally include location information
(geo-location data) associated with detected facilities, as well as
various environmental data. The logging of a given entry by a
locate receiver may automatically result from one or more
conditions (e.g., signal strength exceeding a particular
threshold). Additionally, or alternatively, data entries may be
manually logged by a technician using the locate receiver (e.g.,
via a push button, touch screen, trigger actuation, or other
interaction facilitated by a user interface of the locate
receiver). In this manner, multiple pieces of data may be collected
for an electronic record of a locate and/or marking operation,
including multiple pieces of geo-location data for a given
underground facility detected via the locate receiver.
TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Example locate receiver data of locating
equipment data 275 Service provider ID 0482 Locate technician ID
4815 Locate Device ID 7345 Timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:15.2
Geo-location data N35.degree. 43.57518, W078.degree. 49.78314 (deg.
and dec. min.) Locate mode Mode = PASSIVE Gain 35 (on a scale of
1-100) Sig. strength 85% (on a scale of 0-100%) Signal frequency 60
Hz Facility depth 3.4 feet Temperature data 73 degrees F. Humidity
data 30% Light data 4.3 volts Compass data 213 degrees Inclinometer
data -40 Accelerometer data 0.275 g Battery strength data 85%
[0299] In some other embodiments, both marking device data and
locate receiver data may be electronic information (e.g., one or
more electronic records) of data that is provided by a combined
locate and marking device. An example of such a combined locate and
marking device is described in U.S. Non-provisional application
Ser. No. 12/569,192, filed on Sep. 29, 2009, entitled "Methods,
Apparatus, and Systems for Generating Electronic Records of Locate
and Marking Operations, and Combined Locate and Marking Apparatus
for Same," and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.
61/102,122, filed on Oct. 2, 2008, entitled "Combination Locate and
Marking Device With a Data Acquisition System Installed Therein,
and Associated Methods," which applications are both hereby
incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
[0300] Table 5 below illustrates a non-limiting example of four
actuation data sets that may be collected in an electronic record
generated by a combined locate and marking device, in which each
data set corresponds, for example, to a separate actuation event to
dispense marking material. It should be appreciated, however, that
these are merely examples, and that various alternative electronic
records may be generated according to the aspects of the invention,
for example reflecting different types of information associated
with operations of a combination locate and marking device.
[0301] Each of the four records of Table 5 includes general
information not limited to either the locate receiver functionality
or the marking functionality of a combination device. Examples of
the general information include, but are not limited to, an
identification of a locate service provider (Service provided ID),
an identification of a locate technician (User ID), an
identification of a locate and/or marking device (Device ID), and
information about a requestor of the locate and/or marking
operation and the requested address (Locate request data). In
addition, an entry describing the mode of data collection (e.g.,
Manual) for the device may also collected, which may indicate that
information is logged into one or more records upon actuations of
the combined locate and marking device. Information about an
actuation itself, such as time of actuation (Timestamp data),
actuation duration, and geographical location (geo-location data)
at the start, during, and/or at and end of the actuation, may also
be included. The data sets also include information relating to the
locate receiver functionality of the combination locate and marking
device, including a receiver detection mode (e.g., PEAK in Table
5), the strength of a detected signal, and the frequency of the
detected signal. Information relating to a depth measurement (e.g.,
Facility depth) may also be included, as well as information about
the marking material to be dispensed by the combination locate and
marking device. Again, it should be appreciated that Table 5 is an
illustration of one electronic record including multiple data sets
that may be generated in association with the operations of a
combination locate and marking device, and that other forms of
electronic records are also possible.
TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 Electronic Record for Combination Locate and
Marking Device Record Service provider ID 0482 # 1001 User ID 4815
Device ID 7362 Device mode Mode = MANUAL Timestamp data
12-Jul-2008; 09:35:15 Actuation duration 0.5 sec Start actuation
location 2650.9348, N, 08003.5057, W data End actuation location
2650.9353, N, 08003.5055, W data Locate mode Mode = PEAK Signal
strength (% of 85% maximum) Signal frequency 1 kHz Facility depth
3.4 meters Marking material data Color = RED, Brand = ABC Locate
request data Requestor = XYZ Construction Company, Requested
service address = 222 Main St, Orlando, FL Record Service provider
ID 0482 # 1002 User ID 4815 Device ID 7362 Device mode Mode =
MANUAL Timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:18 Actuation duration 0.4
sec Start actuation location 2650.9256, N, 08003.5234, W data End
actuation location 2650.9256, N, 08003.5226, W data Locate mode
Mode = PEAK Signal strength (% of 85% maximum) Signal frequency 1
kHz Facility depth 3.4 meters Marking material data Color = RED,
Brand = ABC Locate request data Requestor = XYZ Construction
Company, Requested service address = 222 Main St, Orlando, FL
Record Service provider ID 0482 # 1003 User ID 4815 Device ID 7362
Device mode Mode = MANUAL Timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:21
Trigger pull duration 0.5 sec Start actuation location 2650.9273,
N, 08003.5193, W data End actuation location 2650.9281, N,
08003.5190, W data Locate mode Mode = PEAK Signal strength (% of
85% maximum) Signal frequency 1 kHz Facility depth 3.4 meters
Marking material data Color = RED, Brand = ABC Locate request data
Requestor = XYZ Construction Company, Requested service address =
222 Main St, Orlando, FL Record Service provider ID 0482 # 1004
User ID 4815 Device ID 7362 Device mode Mode = MANUAL Timestamp
data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:25 Actuation (actuation) 0.5 sec duration
Start actuation location 2650.9321, N, 08003.5177, W data End
actuation location 2650.9325, N, 08003.5176, W data Locate mode
Mode = PEAK Signal strength (% of 85% maximum) Signal frequency 1
kHz Facility depth 3.4 meters Marking material data Color = RED,
Brand = ABC Locate request data Requestor = XYZ Construction
Company, Requested service address = 222 Main St, Orlando, FL
[0302] While the collection and logging of locate information and
marking information to generate an electronic record is discussed
in some aspects, for purposes of illustration, in terms of
actuation data sets (sets of data that are associated and logged
with corresponding actuations of a locate device, marking device,
or combined locate and marking device), it should be appreciated
that electronic records as discussed herein are not limited in this
respect. More generally, an electronic record of a locate and/or
marking operation may be generated in any of a variety of manners,
may have a variety of file formats and/or data structures, and may
include any of a variety of locate information and/or marking
information (some of which may be germane to one or more actuations
of a device, some of which may be common to multiple actuations or
the overall locate and/or marking operation in general, and some of
which may not be related to specific actuations). For example, in
some illustrative implementations, electronic records may be a
"flat files" including a succession of time-stamped "event entries"
of various locate information and/or marking information (logged
automatically as a result of one or more particular conditions,
e.g., exceeded thresholds for various signals, or manually as a
result of user actuation of a device), or a differently formatted
file (e.g., an ASCII file, an XML file) having a data structure
that segregates or separates in some manner the locate information
and/or marking information into multiple different fields.
[0303] It should also be appreciated that one or both of the
marking device data and the locate receiver data, received from any
of the marking devices, locate devices, or combined locate and
marking devices referenced above, may include landmark information
(in addition to, or instead of, locate information and marking
information). Landmark information may include any information
relating to one or more environmental landmarks of interest (e.g.,
in and around the work site/dig area and/or generally in the
vicinity of the locate and/or marking operation). Examples of
landmark information include, but are not limited to, geo-location
data of an environmental landmark, a type of environmental
landmark, and a time stamp for any acquired information relating to
an environmental landmark. In some instances, landmark information
may be acquired from locating equipment particularly configured to
operate in a landmark mode so as to acquire such information, as
well as one or more other modes (e.g., "locate mode" or "marking
mode") to accomplish functions relating to detection and/or marking
of underground facilities.
[0304] Tables 6 and 7 below show examples of landmark information
that may be included in an electronic record forming part of either
the marking device data or the locate receiver data. Table 6 shows
the format and content of an electronic record entry for a utility
pole, which includes one geo-location data point, and Table 7 shows
the format and content of an electronic record entry for a
pedestal, which includes four geo-location data points (i.e., one
for each corner of the pedestal). As noted above, it should be
appreciated that the formats and contents shown below in Tables 6
and 7 are provided primarily for purposes of illustration, and that
a variety of formats and content may be employed for an electronic
record entry for landmark information.
TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 6 Example record of landmark information
acquired for a utility pole Record Service provider ID 0482 # 1
User ID 4815 Device ID 7362 Type of EL Type = utility pole
timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:17.5 geo-location data 2650.9256,
N, 08003.5234, W Locate request data Requestor: XYZ Construction
Company, Requested service address: 222 Main St, Orlando, FL
TABLE-US-00007 TABLE 7 Example record of landmark information
acquired for a pedestal Record Service provider ID 0482 # 2 User ID
4815 Device ID 7362 Type of EL Type = pedestal timestamp data
12-Jul-2008; 09:35:17.5 geo-location data 2650.9256, N, 08003.5234,
W Type of EL Type = pedestal timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:21.2
geo-location data 2650.9256, N, 08003.5226, W Type of EL Type =
pedestal timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:26.7 geo-location data
2650.9288, N, 08003.5188, W Type of EL Type = pedestal Timestamp
data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:33.5 geo-location data 2650.9321, N,
08003.5177, W Locate request data Requestor: XYZ Construction
Company, Requested service address: 222 Main St, Orlando, FL
VIII. Exemplary Process Guides
Checklists
[0305] As discussed above, the information provided (e.g., by the
method of FIG. 6 or the system of FIG. 7) as a process guide to a
dispatched technician may include a list of one or more work items,
or tasks, to be completed or otherwise attended to by the
technician in connection with a locate and/or marking operation.
Such a list may be generated based at least in part on ticket
information, as well as other information (e.g., from auxiliary
information sources 250) and may be displayed locally to the
technician as a guide to performing and/or verifying various
aspects of the operation. For example, the list may include one or
more types of facilities to be located and/or marked pursuant to
the ticket information.
[0306] In some embodiments, as each item in the list is addressed
by the technician during the locate and/or marking operation, the
status of the item may be updated and recorded in some appropriate
manner. For example, manual input may be received from the
technician (e.g., via a user interface of the locating equipment)
indicating that the item has been completed, or an automatic or
semi-automatic determination is made as to the status of the item
(e.g., by analyzing various information collected by the locating
equipment with respect to ticket information and/or other
information germane to the locate and/or marking operation). As a
more specific example, the list of items may be presented to the
technician as a checklist that enables the technician to "check
off" each item when it is completed.
[0307] In some further embodiments, the updated status of one or
more work items and any associated notes or remarks entered by the
technician may be transmitted in real time to a remote computer for
further analysis and/or review, which may be manual (e.g. by
supervisory personnel), semi-automated or fully automated.
Additional information and/or guidance may be returned to the
technician upon such analysis and/or review, for example, in the
event that the technician encountered certain unanticipated
circumstances and needed further guidance as to how best to
proceed.
[0308] It should be appreciated that, although the work items in
the checklist may be presented to the technician in a particular
ordering, the technician may or may not be required to complete the
items in the same ordering. For example, upon completing a previous
work item, the technician may exercise discretion and select a next
work item to be performed based on a variety of factors, such as
time of day (which may affect lighting condition), availability of
tools and equipment, weather and/or traffic forecast, and the like.
Where appropriate, the technician may even begin a next work item
before completing a current work item, for example, while waiting
for additional information and/or instructions regarding the
current work item.
[0309] FIG. 11 shows an example of a checklist 1100 that may be
presented to a locate technician during a locate and/or marking
operation in accordance with some embodiments. For instance, the
checklist 1100 may be a checklist output 285 presented via the user
interface 280, as shown in FIG. 7.
[0310] In the illustrated embodiment, the checklist 1100 may
include a list of facilities types, such as "electric power,"
"gas," "communications," and "water." For each type of facilities,
there may one or more input mechanisms configured to allow a locate
technician to manually provide status updates. For instance, there
may be three status checkboxes for each facilities type,
respectively labeled, "Marked," "Cleared" and "Not marked or
cleared." A locate technician may check off one of these boxes
according to an outcome of locating and/or marking the
corresponding type of facilities.
[0311] If the locate technician selects the option, "Not marked or
cleared," he may be prompted to enter additional remarks clarifying
why the facilities type is neither cleared nor marked (e.g., lack
of access due to locked gate). The locate technician may do so by
typing a text string, recording an audio message, or via any other
suitable input mechanism. The information entered by the locate
technician, including his choice for each facilities type and any
additional remarks information, may be included in an updated
checklist (e.g. the updated checklist 265 shown in FIG. 7), to be
stored and/or transmitted to another application for further
processing.
[0312] As discussed above in connection with FIG. 7, the checklist
items used by a local agent to present a checklist may be obtained
in a number of different manners. For example, it may be generated
automatically by a checklist generator by extracting facilities
types from a ticket (e.g., from the list of member codes 314 in the
ticket 205 shown in FIG. 4) and/or a work order (e.g., from the
work order task information field 516 in the work order 215 shown
in FIG. 8). Alternatively, it may be generated manually or
semi-automatically by a user, such as a locate technician,
supervisory personnel, ticket dispatch personnel or any suitable
user.
[0313] FIGS. 12A-C illustrate examples in which a number of
checklist items to be performed during a locate and/or marking
operation may be manually or semi-automatically generated. More
specifically, in these examples, a user (e.g., operator of the
system 200) manually selects a number of facilities types to be
located and/or cleared by viewing a facilities map 1200 having a
dig area indicator overlay 1210 and one or more selectable layers
(e.g., facilities 1214, 1216 and 1218) corresponding respectively
to different facilities types.
[0314] Generally, facilities maps may be drawings that show
aboveground and/or underground facilities that are installed at a
certain geographical area. When provided in an electronic form, a
facilities map may be accompanied by metadata indicating the types
of facilities installed (e.g., power, gas, water, sewer, telephone,
cable TV, etc) and their geo-locations, and/or metadata indicating
the presence of certain environmental landmarks and their
geo-locations.
[0315] A user may view the facilities map 1200 on a suitable
display device using a display software capable of processing the
image format in which the facilities map 200 is stored. A dig area
indicator 1210 may be overlaid upon the facilities map 1200, for
example, based on geo-location information from the facilities map
1200 and from a VWL image from which the dig area indicator 1210 is
extracted. Alternatively, the dig area indicator 1210 may be
created by a user directly based on the facilities map 1200, for
example, using a drawing tool provided by a VWL application.
[0316] The display software may allow the locate technician to view
various types of facilities included in the facilities map 1200 in
a layered fashion. For example, FIG. 12A shows a first type of
facilities 1214 that is displayed to the user as a first layer of
the facilities map 1200. Likewise, FIG. 12B shows a second type of
facilities 1216 that is displayed to the user as a second layer of
the facilities map 200, and FIG. 12C shows a third type of
facilities 218 that is displayed to the user as a third layer of
the facilities map 200.
[0317] In some embodiments, to specify one or more checklist items
to be performed, a user may view the facilities map 1200 and
manually enter one or more items based on visual observation of the
types of facilities shown within the dig area indicator 1210 or
with a certain VWL buffer region 1212. For example, the user may
observe electric power lines, communications lines and water lines
within the dig area generator 1210 and may manually select those
facilities types to be located. Additionally, the corresponding
ticket may indicate that gas lines need to be cleared. Accordingly,
the user may manually enter "gas" as a facilities type to be
cleared. These manual entries may be accomplished in any suitable
manner, such as by typing in a text string using a conventional
keyboard or a touch screen keyboard, or via speech using speech
recognition software.
[0318] In another example, the user may use a selector 1220, which
may be a cursor that may be controlled using a mouse or a touchpad,
to select one or more checklist items. For example, the first type
of facilities 1214 shown in FIG. 12A may be electric power lines,
and "electric power" may be automatically entered as a checklist
item when the user selects the facility line 1214 using the
selector 1220. Similarly, the second type of facilities 1216 shown
in FIG. 12B may be communications lines, and "communications" may
be automatically entered as a checklist item when the user selects
the facility line 1216 using the selector 1220. Finally, the third
type of facilities 1218 shown in FIG. 12C may be water lines, and
"water" may be automatically entered as a checklist item when the
user selects the facility line 1218 using the selector 1220.
[0319] As discussed above, the facilities map 1200 may include or
otherwise be associated with metadata encoded with, for example,
geographic and facilities information. The selection of a
facilities type at a particular location on the map can be
correlated with the metadata underlying the map that corresponds to
the selected location. In one example, the facilities map 1200 may
be in a vector image format, such that a certain line on the
facilities map 1200 is represented by a starting point
geo-location, an ending point geo-location, and metadata about the
line, including, but not limited to, type of line, depth of line,
width of line, distance of line from a reference point (i.e.,
tie-down), overhead, underground, line specifications, and the
like. Each vector image may be assembled in layers, where one layer
corresponds, for example, to one type of facilities.
[0320] Once generated, checklist items to be performed during a
locate and/or marking operation may be transmitted to a local agent
residing on a computing device used by a locate technician. FIG. 13
shows an illustrative checklist process 1300 that may be performed
by a local agent to present a checklist to a locate technician and
to update the checklist based on manual input from the locate
technician and/or locating equipment data received from one or more
pieces of locating equipment used by the locate technician.
[0321] At act 1305, the local agent may receive one or more
checklist items to be performed, for example, from a checklist
generator residing on a central server. Alternatively, the
checklist items may be generated locally by the locate technician,
for example, as described above in connection with FIGS. 12A-C. The
local agent may then present a checklist (e.g., as shown in FIG.
11) according to the received checklist items, as a guide to the
locate technician's actions.
[0322] At act 1310, the local agent may determine whether status
updates to one or more checklist items are to be performed manually
or automatically, for example, according to some previously entered
preference information, or by prompting the locate technician to
select a desired option. If it is determined that status updates
are to be performed automatically, the process 1300 may proceed to
act 1315 to analyze locating equipment data received from one or
more pieces of locating equipment, such as a locate receiver, a
locate transmitter, a marking device and/or a combined locate and
marking device.
[0323] In some embodiments, the local agent may use a data analysis
algorithm to process any received locating equipment data. In some
embodiments, the data analysis algorithm may be implemented on the
same computing device as the local agent, or on a different device,
and may be capable of determining the types of facilities being
marked based on locating equipment data received from a marking
device. As a more specific example, the data analysis algorithm may
be programmed to determine facilities type information based on
marking material color information from the locating equipment data
(e.g., using a lookup table such as Table 1 that maps marking
material colors to facilities types). The data analysis algorithm
may be further programmed to determine location information for the
identified facilities types based on geo-location information from
the locating equipment data (e.g., GPS coordinates associated with
one or more trigger pulls of the marking device). In another
example, the data analysis algorithm may be further programmed to
determine whether a type of facilities have been cleared based on
locating equipment data received from a locate receiver. For
example, the data analysis algorithm may determined that a certain
type of facilities is cleared if the locate receiver data indicates
an attempt to locate that type of facilities at one or more
geo-locations, but the expected signal is either absent or below a
corresponding threshold.
[0324] Returning to FIG. 13, the local agent may, at act 1320,
perform status updates in real time with respect to one or more
checklist items based on the facilities types and/or location
information output by the data analysis algorithm. For example, the
local agent may determine that electrical power lines,
communications lines and water lines have been marked, and that gas
lines have been cleared. Accordingly, with reference to the
checklist 1100 shown in FIG. 11, the local agent may automatically
set the "marked" check box for the electrical power lines, the
"cleared" check box for the gas lines, the "marked" check box for
the communications lines, and the "marked" check box for the water
lines. Although not shown, any status check boxes that may remain
unresolved by the analysis of act 1315 may be manually set or
otherwise clarified by the locate technician.
[0325] If, on the other hand, it is determined at act 1310 that
manual status update is desired, the process 1300 may proceed to
act 1325 to receive manual input from the locate technician and
then to act 1330 to update the checklist items accordingly. For
example, as the locate technician completes a checklist item (which
need not be the first unfinished item in the checklist presented),
he may in real time use the user interface to check an appropriate
box corresponding to that item. As a more specific example, and
with reference to the checklist 1100 of FIG. 11, the locate
technician may manually select the "marked" check box associated
with the electrical power lines upon successfully detecting their
presence and marking them. Upon detecting the absence of gas lines,
the locate technician may manually select the "cleared" check box
associated with gas. Upon successfully detecting the presence of
and marking the communications lines, the locate technician may
manually select the "marked" check box associated with
communications. Upon successfully detecting the presence of and
marking the water lines, the locate technician may manually select
the "marked" check box associated with water.
[0326] In addition to updating the status of checklist items, the
local agent may update any other desired document. For example, the
local agent may update a summary report or technician activity log
to indicate whether a particular underground facility has been
marked, cleared, or neither marked nor cleared. The report may also
be updated to include a date and/or time an action was commenced
and/or completed, if applicable.
[0327] At act 1335, the local agent may analyze the updated
checklist items to determine whether there are any discrepancies
between expected and actual outcomes of the locate and/or marking
operation. As a rudimentary example, the local agent may check
whether all of the checklist items received at act 1305 have been
addressed by the technician. If at least one checklist item has not
been addressed (e.g., none of the options, "marked," "cleared," or
"not marked or cleared," has been selected), the local agent may
determine at act 1340 that an alert is to be generated regarding
the omitted checklist item.
[0328] As an other example, an original checklist item received at
act 1305 may indicate that water lines are expected to be found
within the dig area. However, the locate technician may have
indicated the absence of water lines within the dig area. This may
suggest that the facilities map used to generate the checklist item
(e.g., the facilities map 1200 shown in FIGS. 12A-C) maybe outdated
and/or inaccurate. Accordingly, the local agent may determine at
act 1340 that an alert is to be generated. The process 1300 may
then proceed to act 1350 to notify the locate technician of the
detected discrepancy and receive feedback from the locate
technician at act 1335. This feedback may be attached to the
summary report for review by supervisory personnel, facilities
owners and/or any interested parties.
[0329] The process 1300 may then proceed to act 1345 to save the
updated checklist items and/or summary report at an appropriate
storage location and/or transmit them to another application for
further processing. A time stamp and/or a location stamp may be
added to the summary report, which may used as verification that
the locate and/or marking operation was successfully completed. If,
on the other hand, it is determined at act 1340 that no alerts are
to be generated, the process 1300 may proceed directly to act
1345.
[0330] Although not shown in FIG. 13, one or more updated checklist
items may be transmitted by the local agent prior to completion of
the locate and/or marking operation. For example, as discussed
above, the technician may find unanticipated difficulties in
completing a checklist item. Accordingly, an updated checklist item
may be transmitted to a supervisor or help desk personnel,
indicating that the technician requires guidance and summarizing
any issues encountered. The supervisor or help desk personnel may
review this information in real time and provide feedback to the
technician before the technician leaves the work site. For example,
the feedback may include one or more modified and/or new checklist
items to be performed by the technician in view of the updated
information.
[0331] In another example, an updated checklist item may be
transmitted for real time review even if the technician does not
require guidance. Instead, the updated checklist item may be
reviewed for any potential quality issues. For instance, the
updated checklist item may include various sensor readings received
from the locating equipment at the time the checklist item was
performed by the locate technician (see FIGS. 2 and 3 and Tables
1-7). If, for example, the checklist item involves applying locate
marks on the ground using paint and a relative humidity reading
exceeds a certain threshold (e.g., 95%), the locate technician may
be instructed to re-apply all locate marks.
IX. Exemplary Process Guides
Workflows
[0332] As discussed above, a dispatched technician may receive
guidance information via a number of checklist items to be
performed during a locate and/or marking operation. In a typical
embodiment, the technician may perform these checklist items in any
suitable ordering, as long as each item is adequately responded to
(e.g., checked off) upon completion of the locate and/or marking
operation. Thus, the technician may be given a relatively high
level of discretion as to how and when each checklist item is
performed during the locate and/or marking operation.
[0333] In alternative embodiments, a process guide (e.g., generated
by the method of FIG. 6 or the system of FIG. 7) may be presented
to a technician via a different mechanism, namely, a workflow,
which may provide a more structured (e.g., step-by-step) guide to
performing a locate and/or marking operation. Such a mechanism may
be suitable for training less experienced technicians, or for
increasing the level of procedural compliance among all
technicians.
[0334] In some illustrative embodiments, a workflow generator
(e.g., as part of the ticket processing software 113 shown in FIGS.
2 and 3) may be configured, when executed by a processor, to
generate a workflow for a locate and/or marking operation. For
example, a workforce guidance and monitoring system may be
implemented in which the ticket processing software 113 includes a
workflow generator for manually and/or automatically generating a
workflow with respect to a locate and/or marking operation. For
example, the workflow generator may interrogate ticket information
and/or any other supporting information, such as maps, in order to
automatically generate a workflow with respect to the locate and/or
marking operation. Further, once generated, the workflow may be
manually and/or automatically modified as needed.
[0335] In some embodiments, the workflow generator may be a
software algorithm or application programmed to generate workflows
based on one or more workflow templates. For example, a workflow
template may have the structure of a step-by-step guide to
performing a locate and/or marking operation. Generic information
such as instructions applicable to many locate and/or marking
operations may be preloaded into the workflow template, while
placeholders may be left in appropriate places for ticket-specific
information. The workflow generator may be programmed to
interrogate ticket information and fill in the placeholders. An
illustrative example of a workflow template is described in greater
detail below in connection with FIG. 14.
[0336] Any workflow that may be created by the workflow generator
may then be converted to any useful output format for providing
guidance to technicians during locate and/or marking operations in
the field. For instance, a workflow output may be presented to a
technician based on a workflow to provide guidance relating to work
scope and/or operating procedures. As a more specific example, a
workflow may include an ordered list of tasks to be performed by
the locate technician with respect to executing a locate request
ticket. A corresponding workflow output may include, for example, a
series of popup windows displayed on a computing device that is
being used by the locate technicians, each popup window pertaining
to a different task in the workflow. Other forms of workflow
outputs may also be possible, such as any suitable types of visual,
audible and/or tactile cues to provide instructions, reminders
and/or other information to the technician at various stages of the
locate and/or marking operation.
[0337] In some further embodiments, a checklist such as the one
shown in FIG. 11 may also be included as part of a workflow output.
For example, a checklist may be presented while a technician is
performing a task in the workflow, identifying one or more
checklist items to be performed pursuant to completing the
particular workflow task. Similarly, a secondary workflow may be
nested within a primary workflow, for example, to identify a list
of subtasks to be performed pursuant to completing a task in the
primary workflow. In this manner, multiple workflows and/or
checklists may be nested in any suitable configuration (e.g., to
any suitable depth).
[0338] A workflow output may be processed and/or presented via any
computing device that may be operating in combination with and/or
incorporated into any locating equipment. In one embodiment, the
workflow output may be displayed on a portable computer and/or on
the display of the locating equipment itself that is being used by
the locate technician. The workflow output that is displayed to the
locate technician may be used to guide the locate technician with
respect to the work scope and/or workflow of the locate and/or
marking operation. For example, the locate technician may use the
workflow output to guide and/or to verify his step-by-step actions.
As each task of the workflow is completed during locate and/or
marking operations, its status may be updated either manually
and/or automatically. Upon completion of the locate and/or marking
operation, the completed workflow may be processed and used by any
interested party for any purpose.
[0339] As with checklists in some of the illustrative embodiments
discussed above, a workflow may be presented by a local agent
(e.g., the local agent 260 shown in FIG. 7) via a user interface
(e.g., the user interface 280 shown in FIG. 7). The local agent may
reside on any suitable computing device used by a technician, and
may be configured to automatically prompt the technician with
respect to tasks performed during a locate and/or marking
operation. In some embodiments, the local agent may be further
configured to process locating equipment data received from one or
more pieces of locating equipment, such as a marking device, a
locate transmitter, a locate receiver and/or a combined locate and
marking device, and automatically update one or more workflow tasks
based on the locating equipment data. As a more specific example,
the local agent may determine a type of facilities marked based on
marking material color information from the locating equipment
data, and update the status of a corresponding workflow task.
Alternatively, the local agent may present the workflow in such a
way to enable the locate technician to manually provide statute
updates with respect to various workflow tasks. For example, in an
embodiment in which each workflow task is presented via a popup
window, the popup window may include one or more input mechanisms
such as buttons and/or text boxes for receiving responses and
updates from the technician.
[0340] In some further embodiments, the local agent may be
configured to automatically verify that each required task has been
performed prior to allowing the technician to proceed to the next
task or to close the locate and/or marking operation. Additionally,
the local agent may be configured to generate a summary report or
technician activity log that records the status of each workflow
task, any technician remarks and/or notes relating to the workflow
task, environmental and/or operational sensor readings collected
during performance of the workflow task, and/or any other
information of interest. As discussed above in connection with FIG.
7, such a summary report or technician activity log may be
transmitted to a remote computer for automatic and/or manual review
at any suit stage during the locate and/or marking operation, so as
to enable real time response to any deficiencies and/or
unanticipated difficulties.
[0341] In some further embodiments, the user interface for
presenting workflow outputs may further include one or more
override mechanisms that allow a technician to skip, redirect,
and/or otherwise modify one or more workflow tasks. As an example,
the technician may encounter unexpected difficulties in performing
a certain task (e.g., due to lack of proper equipment and/or poor
working conditions such as high temperature, high humidity and/or
insufficient daylight) and may decide to postpone that task and
instead proceed with subsequent tasks, or to postpone the entire
locate and/or marking operation. As another example, the technician
may decide to modify the workflow because the corresponding ticket
is an emergency locate request ticket that must be completed within
a short time period (e.g., two or three hours). In such cases, the
locate technician may be prompted to enter notes explaining the
reason for skipping, redirecting, and/or modifying the workflow.
These notes may be included in the workflow updates so that they
may be reviewed by supervisory personnel.
[0342] The workflow system and methods of the present disclosure
may provide systematic ways of guiding locate technicians with
respect to the work scope and/or workflow of locate and/or marking
operations, thereby improving quality and/or operating efficiency
with respect to locate and/or marking operations.
[0343] Further, the workflow system and methods of the present
disclosure may provide a mechanism by which the locate technician
may acknowledge, add, and/or delete tasks to be performed during
locate and/or marking operations prior to performing the locate
and/or marking operations.
[0344] Further still, the workflow system and methods of the
present disclosure may provide ways of manually and/or
automatically prompting the locate technician with respect to tasks
that are performed during locate and/or marking operations.
[0345] In addition, the workflow system and methods of the present
disclosure may provide ways of manually and/or automatically
verifying the completion of locate and/or marking operations.
[0346] A. Workflow Generation
[0347] FIG. 14 shows an illustrative example of a process 800 that
may be performed to generate a workflow in accordance with some
embodiments of the present disclosure. The process 800 may be
executed, for example, by a workforce guidance and monitoring
system having the same general architecture as the system 200 shown
in FIG. 7. In such an embodiment, the process 800 may be executed
by a workflow generator running on the remote computer 230 shown in
FIG. 7 to process a work order (e.g., the work order 215) and
generate a corresponding workflow (e.g., the workflow 235).
Likewise, referring again to the general ticket processing method
185 outlined in FIG. 6, the process 800 shown in FIG. 14 provides a
more specific example of the block 184 ("parse ticket/extract
ticket information") and the block 186 ("display ticket
information") in FIG. 6.
[0348] The process 800 may begin at act 805, where the workflow
generator receives a ticket and/or work order based on which a
workflow is to be generated. As discussed above, a work order may
be a document generated based on a locate request ticket and may
contain various pieces of information pertaining to the requested
locate and/or marking operation, such as location, time and/or
scope. The work order may be generated by execution of the ticket
parsing and assessment engine 210 shown in FIG. 7 and may be
transmitted to the workflow generator at any suitable time, for
example, prior to being dispatched to a locate technician in the
field. Alternatively, a newly generated work order may be stored in
a suitable database (e.g., the ticket and/or work order database
220 shown in FIG. 7) and may be retrieved by the workflow generator
at an appropriate time. For example, the workflow generator may
retrieve the work order in response to a message indicating that a
new work order has arrived, or it may check the database for new
work orders based on a predetermined schedule.
[0349] In some embodiments, a workflow may be generated based on
multiple tickets and/or work orders. For example, an excavator may
initiate a series of related tickets in connection with a
construction project involving multiple adjacent properties. These
related tickets may contain similar information in one or more
aspects, such as the types of facilities to be located, reasons for
excavation, expected excavation date (and hence ticket deadline),
and the like. Accordingly, it may be advantageous to process these
tickets as a group and streamline the corresponding locate and/or
marking operations, for instance, by generating a single, unified
workflow that encompasses activities pertaining to the multiple
related tickets.
[0350] As a more specific example, a unified workflow may
consolidate locate and/or marking activities for multiple tickets
and/or work orders according to facilities type. For instance, if
both gas and cable facilities are to be located and marked for
multiple adjacent properties, a unified workflow may direct a
technician to first locate and mark gas facilities for all of the
properties (e.g., beginning from one end of the row of properties
and proceeding to the other end), and then locate and mark cable
facilities for all of the properties. In this manner, efficiency
may be improved by reducing overhead for the locate and/or marking
operations (e.g., reducing traveling time and/or the number of
times a technician needs to connect, disconnect and/or calibrate
different locating equipment).
[0351] In some further embodiments, the workflow generator (or some
other ticket processing application in the workforce guidance and
monitoring system 200) may be further programmed to automatically
recognize that certain tickets may be suitable for grouping and
consolidated processing, with or without an excavator's indication
that the tickets are related (e.g., belonging to the same
construction project). For instance, the workflow generator may be
programmed to recognize certain features of the tickets as
indicative of their related nature. More specifically, in some
illustrative embodiments, the workflow generator may elect to group
together tickets whose work site addresses are adjacent and whose
expected excavation dates are within some threshold time period
(e.g., 24, 48 or 72 hours). Alternatively, or additionally, the
workflow generator may elect to group the tickets only if they
share at least one type of facilities to be located.
[0352] In addition to tickets and/or work orders, the workflow
generator may receive other available information associated with
the ticket and/or work order, such as any VWL images that may be
attached to the ticket. Any suitable combination of these input
sources may be processed at act 810 to extract information relevant
to generating a workflow, such as worksite location, planned
excavation date, types of facilities to be located and the
like.
[0353] For example, in some embodiments, the input ticket and/or
work order may be have a standardized format, which may be any
suitable set of rules or conventions for representing and
organizing data, designed to facilitate efficient handling of data
by various software components. For instance, the standardized
format may be an Extensible Markup Language (XML) format. The
workflow generator may be programmed to recognize such a format and
to process the ticket and/or work order accordingly. For example,
the workflow generator may be programmed to recognize various
fields in the input document (e.g., a ticket number field, an
address field, a due date field, etc.) and to extract information
from those fields. Alternatively, or additionally, the workflow
generator may be programmed to recognize certain characters and/or
groups of characters (e.g., keywords) while parsing the input
document and extract information associated with the recognized
occurrences. The keywords may be any words or phrases of interest
with respect to locate and/or marking operations and may be chosen
in any suitable manner. Furthermore, this parsing-based approach
may be beneficial in situations where the input document may not be
in a known standard format.
[0354] In some further embodiments, the workflow generator may be
programmed to extract information from VWL images and associated
metadata. For instance, the workflow generator may extract
coordinate information regarding a dig area indicated on a VWL
image. Other techniques for extracting information from tickets,
work orders and/or VWL images may also be suitable, as the present
disclosure is not limited in this respect. Also, regardless of its
precise source and nature, any information extracted at act 810
falls under the designation of "ticket information" as described
above.
[0355] In some alternative embodiments, the workflow generator may
outsource any parsing and extraction operations to a data parser
programmed to analyze strings of characters (e.g., textual and/or
numeric characters) using a number of different techniques,
including, but not limited to, expression-based rules and table
lookups. The workflow generator may receive extracted data directly
from the data parser, or indirectly through a database that may be
compiled based on user input and/or data parser output.
[0356] Returning to FIG. 14, an appropriate workflow template may
be selected from one or more available templates at act 815. As
discussed above, different workflow templates may be created for
different categories of locate and/or marking operations, so that
generic information applicable to each category may be preloaded
into a corresponding workflow template. For example, different
workflow templates may be created for different jurisdictions
(e.g., cities, states and/or regions) in compliance with different
regulatory requirements. As a further example, different workflow
templates may be created for different work site settings, such as
rural vs. urban settings.
[0357] Other factors that may also be considered in creating
workflow templates include, but are not limited to, SOP
information, current industry-accepted recommended practices (e.g.,
the Best Practices Version 5.0 document developed by the Common
Ground Alliance (CGA) of Alexandria, Va.), external contracts with
facilities owners and/or insurance companies and/or locate service
provider internal policies. Any combination of these and other
factors may be taken into account in creating workflow templates,
as the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.
[0358] In some embodiments, the workflow generator may use some of
the ticket information extracted at act 810 in selecting an
appropriate template from a set of available templates. For
example, the workflow generator may select a template based on
worksite location, number of facilities to be located and/or types
of facilities to be located. As a more specific example, the
workflow generator may use address and/or coordinate information to
determine whether a work site falls within a rural area or an urban
area, so that an appropriate workflow template may be selected
accordingly. An example of a workflow template that may be
available to the workflow generator is as follows. In this example,
the workflow template is a step-by-step guide to performing a
locate and/or marking operation, with various placeholders
indicated by square brackets. These placeholders are reserved for
ticket-specific information that are filled in when such
information becomes available. By contrast, more generic
information, such as instructions applicable to many locate and/or
marking operations, may be preloaded into the workflow template.
For instance, the workflow template example below contains generic
instructions such as gathering locating equipment and verifying it
is in working order. [0359] 1. Open ticket number [TICKET NUMBER].
[0360] 2. Verify arrival at [GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION INFORMATION]
[0361] If correct address, proceed with next steps. [0362] If not
correct address, redirect to correct address. [0363] 3. Verify that
current date is on or before [DATE INFORMATION]. [0364] If within
valid timeframe, proceed with next steps. [0365] If not within
valid timeframe, contact home office. [0366] 4. Locate [LOCATE
AND/OR MARKING OPERATIONS INSTRUCTIONS INFORMATION] [0367] 5.
Verify whether [LOCATE AND/OR MARKING OPERATIONS INSTRUCTIONS
INFORMATION] is accessible. [0368] If accessible, proceed with next
steps. [0369] If not accessible, flag the condition and proceed
with next steps. [0370] 6. Locate dig area white lines (physical
white lines and/or VWL image) and review white lines for
understanding.
[0371] If white lines present and understood, proceed with next
steps.
[0372] If white lines are not present and/or understood, call
[CALLER INFORMATION] [0373] 7. Review [FIRST FACILITIES TYPE FROM
TASKS INFORMATION] facilities maps for [GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION
INFORMATION]
[0374] If [FIRST FACILITIES TYPE FROM TASKS INFORMATION] facilities
maps present and reviewed, proceed with next steps.
[0375] If [FIRST FACILITIES TYPE FROM TASKS INFORMATION] facilities
maps not present and reviewed, flag the condition and proceed with
next steps. [0376] 8. Gather locating equipment and verify in
working order. [0377] If locating equipment in working order,
proceed with next steps. [0378] If locating equipment not in
working order, repair and/or acquire different locating equipment,
proceed with next steps. [0379] 9. Gather flags and [COLOR
INFORMATION OF FIRST FACILITIES TYPE] marking material and verify
enough quantity to complete job. [0380] If enough [COLOR
INFORMATION OF FIRST FACILITIES TYPE] marking material available,
proceed with next steps. [0381] If not enough [COLOR INFORMATION OF
FIRST FACILITIES TYPE] marking material available, acquire
additional quantity and proceed with next steps. [0382] 10. Perform
locate and/or marking operations on [FIRST FACILITIES TYPE FROM
TASKS INFORMATION] facilities within dig area and apply [COLOR
INFORMATION OF FIRST FACILITIES TYPE] marking material and/or flags
appropriately. [0383] If [FIRST FACILITIES TYPE FROM TASKS
INFORMATION] facilities located successfully, proceed with next
steps. [0384] If unable to successfully locate [FIRST FACILITIES
TYPE FROM TASKS INFORMATION], notify one-call center, excavator,
facility owner, and/or home office and then proceed with next
steps. [0385] 11. Measure offsets and mark these values on job site
appropriately. [0386] If offsets are measured and applied, proceed
with next steps. [0387] If offsets are not measured and/or applied,
measure and apply offsets. [0388] 12. Repeat workflow steps 7
through 11 for [SECOND FACILITIES TYPE FROM TASKS INFORMATION] (but
using [COLOR INFORMATION OF SECOND FACILITIES TYPE] marking
material). [0389] 13. Repeat workflow steps 7 through 11 for [THIRD
FACILITIES TYPE FROM TASKS INFORMATION] (but using [COLOR
INFORMATION OF THIRD FACILITIES TYPE] marking material). [0390] 14.
Repeat workflow steps 7 through 11 for [FOURTH FACILITIES TYPE FROM
TASKS INFORMATION] (but using [COLOR INFORMATION OF FOURTH
FACILITIES TYPE] marking material). [0391] 15. Repeat workflow
steps 7 through 11 for [FIFTH FACILITIES TYPE FROM TASKS
INFORMATION] (but using [COLOR INFORMATION OF FIFTH FACILITIES
TYPE] marking material). [0392] 16. Collect all locating equipment
from job site. [0393] 17. Enter any information required to
complete the job into the ticket management system. [0394] 18.
Acquire and/or attach proof of work information according to
contractual agreements, such as paper manifest, electronic
manifest, and/or photos. [0395] 19. Upload ticket to ticket
management system.
[0396] At act 820, the workflow generator may apply ticket
information extracted during act 810 to the selected workflow
template, for instance, by populating reserved fields in the
workflow template according to the extracted information. At this
stage, the workflow generator may extract further information from
input sources such as the ticket, work order and/or VWL images. For
example, the workflow generator may parse one or more of these
sources based on the types of information needed to populate the
workflow template, and extract any desired information that has not
already been extracted at act 810.
[0397] As a more specific example, and with reference to the ticket
205 shown in FIG. 4, the VWL image shown in FIG. 5A, the work order
215 shown in FIG. 7 and the above workflow template example, the
workflow generator may perform one or more of the following: [0398]
Parse the ticket based on the key words "serial number" or parse
the work order based on the key words "ticket number," and extract
the numeric data that follows. In the case of a VWL image, meta
data or a descriptor file associated with the image or textual
information within the image may be similarly parsed. For standard
forms, only one keyword or string may be necessary to identify
desired data. However, multiple keywords or strings may
alternatively be used to identify the desired data. [0399] Extract
time information (e.g., due date information) from the ticket, work
order and/or VWL images, for example, by identifying and extracting
a due date string. [0400] Extract geographic location information
(e.g., address information) from the ticket, work order and/or VWL
images, for example, by identifying and extracting an address data
string. Alternatively, GPS coordinates may be extracted and a
nearest address may be found using a reverse geocoding process.
[0401] Extract locate and/or marking operation instruction
information from the ticket, work order and/or VWL images, for
example, by identifying and extracting an instruction string. For
instance, the workflow generator may search the locate instructions
field in the work order (e.g., as shown in FIG. 8) for the key word
"pole" and extract the associated data string (e.g., "pole number
24860"). Alternatively, the workflow generator may simply extract
the number "24860" that follows the key word "pole," and append the
extracted data to a pre-determined string (e.g., "utility pole #").
As the term "pole" may not appear in every ticket or work order,
the workflow generator may search for a plurality of keywords
associated locate and/or marking operation instructions and may
extract desired data associated with those keywords using
expression-based rules and/or table lookups. [0402] Extract task
information (e.g., types of facilities to be located) from the
ticket, work order and/or VWL images, for example, by identifying
and extracting one or more facility names from a work order task
field (e.g., as shown in FIG. 8). If multiple facilities are
listed, a total number of facilities may be computed and stored for
later use. [0403] Extract caller information (e.g., caller name and
phone number) from the ticket, work order and/or VWL images, for
example, by identifying and extracting a caller name and a
corresponding contact number from a caller information field (e.g.,
as shown in FIG. 8). [0404] Extract relevant SOP and/or
industry-wide best practice information from a suitable source
(e.g., the auxiliary information sources 250 shown in FIG. 7).
[0405] Any of these pieces of extracted information may be applied
to the workflow template, for example, by replacing the text in
square brackets indicating a reserved field with corresponding text
extracted from the input sources. In some situations, some
additional processing may be needed to derive one or more pieces of
desired information. For instance, the workflow template example
described above may require marking material color information,
which may not be directly available from the input sources.
However, it may be derived based on facility type information
extracted from the input sources, using a look-up table that maps
facility types to marking material colors (e.g., see Table 3
above).
[0406] For example, according to Table 3, the marking material
color corresponding to facility type "gas" is "yellow." Therefore,
"yellow" may be entered into the reserved fields marked "[COLOR
INFORMATION OF FIRST FACILITIES TYPE]," if "gas" is entered into
the reserved fields marked "[FIRST FACILITIES TYPE FROM TASKS
INFORMATION]."
[0407] The workflow thus generated by the workflow generator based
on the ticket 205 shown in FIG. 4, the VWL image shown in FIG. 5A,
the work order 215 shown in FIG. 8 and the above workflow template
example may be as follows. This workflow is hereinafter referred to
as the 20083771309 workflow. [0408] 1. Open ticket number
20083771309. [0409] 2. Verify arrival at 4600 E Street Rd,
Feasterville Trevose, Pa. [0410] If correct address, proceed with
next steps. [0411] If not correct address, redirect to correct
address. [0412] 3. Verify that current date is on or before Jan. 5,
2009. [0413] If within valid timeframe, proceed with next steps.
[0414] If not within valid timeframe, contact home office. [0415]
4. Locate utility pole #24860. [0416] 5. Verify whether utility
pole #24860 is accessible. [0417] If accessible, proceed with next
steps. [0418] If not accessible, flag the condition and proceed
with next steps. [0419] 6. Locate dig area white lines (physical
white lines and/or VWL image 400) and review white lines for
understanding. [0420] If white lines present and understood,
proceed with next steps. [0421] If white lines are not present
and/or understood, call Joe Locator (123) 456-. [0422] 7. Review
gas facilities maps (e.g., from input images 130) for 4600 E Street
Rd, Feasterville Trevose, Pa. [0423] If gas facilities maps present
and reviewed, proceed with next steps. [0424] If gas facilities
maps not present and/or reviewed, flag the condition and proceed
with next steps. [0425] 8. Gather locating equipment and verify in
working order. [0426] If locating equipment in working order,
proceed with next steps. [0427] If locating equipment not in
working order, repair and/or acquire different locating equipment,
proceed with next steps. [0428] 9. Gather flags and yellow marking
material and verify enough quantity to complete job. [0429] If
enough yellow marking material available, proceed with next steps.
[0430] If not enough yellow marking material available, acquire
additional quantity and proceed with next steps. [0431] 10. Perform
locate and/or marking operations on gas facilities within dig area
and apply yellow marking material and/or flags appropriately.
[0432] If gas facilities located successfully, proceed with next
steps. [0433] If unable to successfully locate gas facilities,
notify one-call center, excavator, facility owner, and/or home
office and then proceed with next steps. [0434] 11. Measure offsets
and mark these values on job site appropriately. [0435] If offsets
are measured and applied, proceed with next steps. [0436] If
offsets are not measured and/or applied, measure and apply offsets.
[0437] 12. Repeat workflow steps 7 through 11 for electric power
lines (but using red marking material). [0438] 13. Repeat workflow
steps 7 through 11 for CATV lines (but using orange marking
material). [0439] 14. Collect all locating equipment from job site.
[0440] 15. Enter any information required to complete the job into
the ticket management system. [0441] 16. Acquire and/or attach
proof of work information according to contractual agreements, such
as paper manifest, electronic manifest, and/or photos. [0442] 17.
Upload ticket to ticket management system. [0443] 18. Receive and
review next ticket.
[0444] Returning to FIG. 14, at act 825, the workflow generator may
transmit the completed workflow (e.g., the 20083771309 workflow) to
a local agent (e.g., the local agent 260 shown in FIG. 7) for
further processing. Alternatively, the workflow generator may store
the completed workflow in a database, so that the workflow may be
accessed by any suitable entities in the workforce guidance and
monitoring system, including other local agents and/or quality
assessment applications.
[0445] It should be appreciated that the above example is provided
merely for purposes of illustration. Other types of workflow
templates and/or ticket information may also be used. For example,
in addition to, or instead of the ticket information discussed
above, the workflow generator may extract and apply other types of
ticket information, such as work order number, excavation
information, excavator information, site information and/or remarks
information. Other types of methods for extracting and/or applying
extracted ticket information to workflow templates may also be
used.
[0446] B. Local Agent
[0447] FIG. 15 shows an illustrative process 900 that may be
performed by a workforce guidance and monitoring system during a
locate and/or marking operation to allow real-time interactions
with a locate technician. For example, the process 900 may be
performed by a local agent (e.g., the local agent 260 shown in FIG.
7). As discussed above, the local agent may reside on one or more
suitable computing devices, such as a computing device installed in
a work vehicle driven by the locate technician, a computing device
adapted to be carried by the locate technician and/or a computing
device integrated with a piece of locating equipment. Referring
again to the general ticket processing method 185 outlined in FIG.
6, the process 900 shown in FIG. 15 provides a more specific
example of the block 188 ("real-time technician interaction with
ticket/ticket information and/or automatic/semi-automatic
implementation of guided operation") and the block 190 ("generate
technician activity log") in FIG. 6.
[0448] In some embodiments, the local agent may interact with a
locate technician by providing guidance information during a locate
and/or marking operation. For example, the guidance information may
include workflow output generated based on a workflow associated
with the locate and/or marking operation. The local agent may also
receive manual input from the locate technician, for example, to
indicate completion of a task and to enter log messages regarding
the task. Additionally, or alternatively, the local agent may
receive data from one or more pieces of locating equipment used by
the locate technician. The local agent may then process and
assemble the collected information into a technician activity log
which, for purposes of the present workflow example, also is
referred to herein as an "updated workflow."
[0449] In some further embodiments, the local agent may assess the
quality of one or more tasks performed by the locate technician,
for example, by looking for any discrepancies and/or
non-conformities in the collected information. If any discrepancy
or non-conformity is observed, the local agent may present a
real-time alert to the locate technician, so that the locate
technician may conduct further investigation and take any desired
corrective action. In this manner, potential problems may be
identified early, for example, before a locate technician leaves a
worksite. As a result, the need for a repeat visit to the same
worksite may be reduced, thereby improving overall operating
efficiency of the locate service provider. Furthermore, early
detection of potential issues may reduce risks of property damage,
thereby improving profitability of the locate service provider.
[0450] In the example shown in FIG. 15, the process 900 begins at
act 905, where the local agent receives a workflow associated with
a locate and/or marking operation (e.g., the 20083771309 workflow
described above in connection with FIG. 14). Although not shown,
the local agent may also receive any combination of related ticket
information, such as a ticket, work order and/or VWL images
corresponding to the received workflow. In some embodiments, these
pieces of information may be transmitted to the local agent from a
center server upon the dispatch of the work order to a selected
locate technician. Alternatively, the local agent may be notified
of the dispatch and may retrieve the information from a suitable
database (e.g., the ticket and/or work order database shown in FIG.
7). Additionally, the local agent may have access to any desired
information available in the workforce guidance and monitoring
system (e.g., any information from the auxiliary data sources 250
shown in FIG. 9).
[0451] In some embodiments, the received workflow may include a
series of tasks to be performed by a locate technician during a
locate and/or marking operation. For example, the 20083771309
workflow described above includes eighteen steps to be performed by
the locate technician in a recommended order. The local agent may
present these steps to the locate technician in order and, for at
least some of the steps, the local agent may collect information
during the locate and/or marking operation to verify that the steps
have been completed satisfactorily.
[0452] As a more specific example, the local agent may present a
series of popup windows, such as the popup windows 1005A-D shown in
FIG. 16, based on steps listed in the received workflow. The popup
windows may be presented via a suitable user interface (e.g., the
user interface 280 shown in FIG. 7), which may include one or more
input mechanisms to enable the locate technician to interact with
the local agent. For instance, in the example shown in FIG. 16,
each of the popup windows may include one or more buttons for
providing a status update with respect to a corresponding task.
More specifically, there may be a "Verified" button for confirming
that the corresponding task has been completed, a "Failed" button
for indicating that the locate technician has attempted the task
but is unable to complete it (e.g., the technician is unable to
detect sufficient signal for a type of facilities that is expected
to be present, and/or adverse conditions such as heavy rain prevent
the technician from marking detected facilities), and a "Skip"
button that allows the locate technician to manually override the
workflow and skip to the next task. The locate technician may
select an appropriate button using any suitable input mechanism
provided by the workflow interface, such as a touch screen and/or a
touchpad.
[0453] Returning to FIG. 15, the local agent may enter into a loop
for processing the steps listed in the received workflow upon
notification that the locate technician has begun work on the
corresponding ticket (e.g., by opening the ticket in a ticket
management software). At the beginning of each iteration in the
loop (e.g., act 910), the local agent may identify and extract the
next step from the workflow, for example, using a suitable parsing
technique such as those discussed hereinabove. At act 915, the
local agent may process the retrieved workflow step and generate a
popup window accordingly. For example, the local agent may generate
popup window 1005A based on step 2 in the 20083771309 workflow,
popup window 1005B based on step 3, popup window 1005C based on
step 4, popup window 1005D based on step 10, and so on.
[0454] At act 920, the local agent may determine whether a manual
override has been received from the locate technician to skip the
current workflow step. As discussed above, a locate technician may
wish to skip or delay one or more steps in a workflow due to
unforeseen difficulties, such as lack of equipment, inaccurate dig
area description, inadequate instructions, limited access to dig
area, and the like. If such a manual override instruction has been
received, the process 900 proceeds to act 925 to prompt the locate
technician for one or more reasons for skipping, redirecting,
and/or modifying the current step. This information may be saved at
act 930, for example, in an updated workflow in association with
the current step. The process 900 may then continue to act 935 to
process the next workflow step.
[0455] While no manual override instructions are received, the
local agent may monitor the locate technician's activities, for
example, by receiving locating equipment data at act 940 from one
or more pieces of locating equipment used by the locate technician
(e.g., the locating equipment 270 shown in FIG. 7) and/or receiving
manual input from the locate technician at act 945.
[0456] In some embodiments, a marking device used by the locate
technician may be configured to log information throughout a
marking operation. For example, the marking device may include a
triggering system configured to trigger, with each actuation of the
marking device, the logging of any information of interest, such
as, but not limited to, geo-location data from a location tracking
system, timestamp data from a timing system, marking material
information from a marking material detection mechanism regarding
the marking material present in a marking dispenser (e.g., color,
brand and amount), and so on.
[0457] While many disclosed embodiments relate to marking devices
that physically apply marking material at a dig area, it should be
appreciated that the inventive concepts discussed herein also apply
to electronic markings of facilities (e.g., generated by logging a
geo-location of detected facilities in response to an activation of
an actuator instead of, or in addition to, physically applying
marking material).
[0458] In some other embodiments, as the locate technician attends
to each task in the workflow as presented in the workflow output
(e.g., the popup windows 1005A-D shown in FIG. 13), the locate
technician may update the status of that task by selecting
"Verified" or "Failed." If the locate technician selects "Verified"
with respect to a facility type to be located, he may be prompted
to enter "Marked" or "Cleared" to clarify the record regarding that
facility type. In some embodiments, the locate technician may be
further prompted to capture and submit one or more digital images
of any locate marks placed in the dig area, for example, using a
digital camera that may be standalone or integrated with a piece of
locating equipment (e.g., a marking device, a locate transmitter, a
locate receiver and/or a combined locate and marking device).
[0459] If, on the other hand, the locate technician selects
"Failed," he may be prompted to enter one or more explanations as
to why he was unable to complete the task. For example, the locate
technician may enter notes indicating that an attempt was made to
locate a particular type of facilities but the locating equipment
was unable to detect clear signal. The locate technician may
further indicate defective tracer wires as a potential cause of the
problem.
[0460] At act 950, the local agent may analyze any locating
equipment data received at act 940 and/or any manual input received
at act 945 to look for any discrepancies and/or non-conformities.
Then, at act 955, the local agent may determine whether one or more
alerts should be issued to the locate technician, supervisory
personnel, ticket dispatch personnel and/or any other interested
party. If so, the appropriate alerts are issued at act 960.
[0461] Although act 950 is shown in FIG. 15 as being subsequent to
act 940 and act 945, it should be appreciated that the present
disclosure is not so limited. The analysis of act 950 may begin as
soon as some meaningful data is available, and may continue while
other data is still being collected. In other words, data
collection and analysis may happen concurrently, which may
advantageously shorten the amount of time needed to respond to
newly collected data. Furthermore, in analyzing the collected data,
the local agent may access auxiliary information such as facilities
maps from any suitable source (e.g., the auxiliary information
sources 250 shown in FIG. 8). More specific examples of data
analyses and the responses they trigger are discussed in greater
detail below in connection with FIGS. 17-??.
[0462] If it is determined at act 955 that an alert is appropriate,
the locate technician and/or other interested parties may be
notified at act 960. In many situations, such as those described
above, feedback from the locate technician may be received at act
965, for example, to confirm whether a detected discrepancy or
non-conformity has been corrected. The process 900 may then
continue to act 930 to record any suitable information regarding
the current workflow task, including, but not limited to, locating
equipment data, locate technician notes (e.g., in text form or as
audio recordings), one or more digital images taken at the dig
area, summary of detected irregularities, locate technician
feedback regarding the detected irregularities and/or reasons for
override (if any).
[0463] At act 935, it is determined whether the workflow contains
any unprocessed task(s). If so, the process 900 may return to act
910 to enter a next iteration of the loop, for example, to process
the next available task in the workflow. If there are no more
tasks, the final updated workflow may be transmitted to a business
application of interest, such as the business applications 290
described in connection with FIG. 7, and the process 900 may end.
In some embodiments, this transmission may be received by a
scheduling and dispatch application, which may automatically assign
a next ticket to the locate technician upon receiving the final
updated workflow. In some further embodiments, the transmission may
be received by a quality assessment application, which may assign a
quality score to the locate and/or marking operation and may
recommend corrective actions and/or training for the locate
technician if one or more problems are observed.
[0464] Additionally, or alternatively, the updated workflow may be
stored in a suitable database and made available to one or more
applications within the workforce guidance and monitoring system.
Also, even though it is not shown in FIG. 15, an updated workflow
may be transmitted before all of the tasks in the workflow have
been processed. For example, as discussed above, a partially
updated workflow may be transmitted to a scheduling and dispatch
application to enable real-time schedule adjustments. This may be
particularly advantageous in situations where a locate technician
is significantly behind schedule because one or more tasks in the
workflow are more time-consuming than expected.
[0465] C. Execution of Illustrative Workflow Tasks
[0466] As discussed above, FIG. 16 shows a series of popup windows
1005A-D that may be presented to a technician in accordance with
the illustrative 20083771309 workflow described above. For example,
the popup window 1005A may correspond to step 2 of the 20083771309
workflow, the popup window 1005B may correspond to step 3, the
popup window 1005C may correspond to step 4, and the popup window
1005D may correspond to step 10. Various illustrative
implementations (e.g., automatic, semi-automatic and/or manual
implementations) of each of these steps are now described.
[0467] In accordance with some embodiments, the technician may open
the 20083771309 ticket upon completing a previous locate and/or
marking operation, thereby causing the 20083771309 workflow to be
loaded into a local agent (e.g., the local agent 260 shown in FIG.
7), which may begin executing the workflow. Although not shown, the
local agent may provide driving instructions to the technician for
proceeding to the work site for the 20083771309 ticket.
[0468] Upon arrival, the technician may be provide an input to the
local agent indicating that he has arrived. In response, the local
agent may automatically verify whether the technician has arrived
at the correct work site, for example, by comparing geo-location
data received from a GPS device against location information
contained in a corresponding ticket and/or work order. That is, the
local agent may attempt to automatically complete step 2 of the
20083771309 workflow.
[0469] For example, the local agent may receive current GPS
coordinates from a GPS device installed on any suitable equipment
used by the technician, including, but not limited to, the
technician's vehicle, an equipment docking station, a tablet
computer, a mobile phone, a marking device (e.g., the marking
device 110 shown in FIG. 2), a locate transmitter, a locate
receiver, a combined locate and/or marking device and the like. In
some embodiments, the local agent may apply one or more validation
rules to the received GPS coordinates to determine whether they
should be used as the technician's current location. For example,
the local agent may examine recently received GPS coordinates to
determine whether the technician and/or his vehicle are moving
faster than a certain speed threshold. If the speed threshold is
exceeded, the local agent may decide not to use the current GPS
readings and/or present an error message to the technician.
[0470] Additionally, the local agent may retrieve work site
location information such as a work site address, grid coordinates
and/or GPS coordinates from a corresponding ticket and/or work
order. If necessary, the retrieved work site location information
may be converted into GPS coordinates using a suitable geo-coding
algorithm.
[0471] The two sets of GPS coordinates (i.e., current coordinates
and coordinates associated with the work site) may then be
automatically compared to determine whether the technician is
likely to have arrived at the correct work site. For example, a
threshold distance (e.g., 100, 500, 1000 or 1500 feet) may be used
to determine whether the two sets of coordinates represent
locations that are sufficiently close to each other. If the
locations are sufficiently close, the local agent may automatically
update the status of step 2 the 20083771309 workflow to "Verified."
Otherwise, the local agent may generate a visual and/or audible
alert notify the technician that he may have arrived at the wrong
location. For example, in one embodiment, the local agent may
present the popup window 1005A (as shown in FIG. 16) to ask the
locate technician to verify his current position. (Alternatively,
in the embodiments discussed above in connection with FIG. 15, the
local agent may present the popup window 1005A with having
performed an automatic verification of the technician's current
location.)
[0472] In some embodiments, the local agent may present additional
information to assist the technician in verifying his current
position. FIG. 17 shows two popup windows 1700A and 1700B that may
help the technician identify his location relative to the work
site. For example, the popup window 1700A shows a portion of a
street map, on which the work site is identified via an indicator
1705A based on address information contained in the ticket
information. A "Your Are Here" indicator 1710A may be also shown on
the map based on current location information (e.g., current GPS
coordinates provided a GPS device as discussed above). In addition
to studying maps and/or physical surroundings, the technician may
visually compare the locations of the indicators 1705A and 1710A to
determine whether he has arrived at the correct work site.
[0473] Alternatively, the popup window 1700B may be presented,
showing a dig area indicator 1705B based on GPS coordinate
information contained in the ticket information (e.g., GPS
coordinate information associated with a VWL image attached to the
ticket). The dig area indicator 1705B may be overlaid onto an
underlying image (e.g., as in the VWL image 400 shown in FIG. 7A),
although it is not required. As in the popup window 1700A, a "Your
Are Here" indicator 1710B may be also shown in the popup window
1700B and its position relative to the dig area indicator 1705B may
change over time as the technician moves in the vicinity of the
work site. In this manner, the technician may also visually compare
the locations of the indicators 1705B and 1710B to determine
whether he has arrived at the correct location.
[0474] If it is determined that the technician has arrived at the
wrong location, the local agent may dynamically modify the current
workflow to reflect additional tasks to be performed to correct the
error. For example, the local agent may determine whether the
location of the correct work site can be determined based on
information extracted from the corresponding ticket and/or work
order. If such a location can be ascertained (e.g., in the form of
an address or GPS coordinates), the local agent may insert
additional tasks into the workflow, such as determining the
technician's current location, determining a route to the correct
work site, and traveling to the correct work site. Additionally,
information concerning these changes to the workflow may be
transmitted to one or more remote computers for review, or to
enable other business applications, such as a scheduling and
dispatch engine, to make real time adjustments accordingly.
[0475] It should be appreciated that workflows may be dynamically
modified in any suitable manner, not limited to inserting
additional workflow tasks. For example, workflow tasks may also be
deleted and/or moved based on newly available information.
Checklists and sub-workflows may also be added, deleted, moved,
and/or modified as the circumstances require or suggest.
[0476] Referring now to step 3 of the 20083771309 workflow (see
also popup window 1005B shown in FIG. 16), the local agent may
attempt to automatically verify whether the current date is before
the ticket due date (e.g., Jan. 5, 2009). This information may be
obtained from a corresponding work order (e.g., from the due date
information field 508 of the work order 215 shown in FIG. 8).
Alternatively, or additionally, the local agent may attempt to
automatically verify whether the current date and/or time is before
the scheduled work begin date and/or time (e.g., Jan. 4, 2009 at
9:00 AM), which may also be obtained from a corresponding work
order (e.g., from the field 514A of the work order 215 shown in
FIG. 8). The current date and/or time information may be obtained
from any suitable timing system, such as a GPS device installed on
piece of equipment used by the technician. If the current data
and/or time is after the ticket due date and/or the scheduled work
begin date and/or time, an alert may be generated to notify the
technician. Additionally, an update relating to this workflow task
(i.e., step 3 of the 20083771309 workflow) may be transmitted to
one or more remote computers, where a supervisor may be alerted to
the possible missed due date.
[0477] With reference to step 4 of the 20083771309 workflow (see
also popup window 1005C shown in FIG. 16), the local agent may
automatically or semi-automatically verify whether the technician
has successfully identified utility pole number 24860, for example,
by comparing reference location information and actual location
information for the utility pole.
[0478] To obtain reference location information, the local agent
may extract from a corresponding ticket and/or work order any
relevant work site location information, such as address, grid
coordinates and/or GPS coordinates. The local agent may also
extract from the ticket and/or work order any information relating
to the utility pole number 24860, such as an associated facilities
type, an install date, and/or any relevant remarks information
(e.g., the location information 304A shown in FIG. 6).
[0479] Using the extracted work site and/or utility pole
information, the local agent may access one or more relevant
utility plats from a suitable database (e.g., the auxiliary
information sources 250 shown in FIG. 7). For example, the
associated facilities type may be used to identify a suitable
collection of utility plats, and the work site location may be used
to identify one or more plats containing the work site.
Furthermore, the install date of the utility pole number 24860 may
be compared against revision dates of the utility plats to
eliminate plats that may be too old to contain any useful
information. Finally, the reference number "24860" may be used to
automatically identify the desired utility pole on a retrieved
utility plat and to obtain associated location information (e.g.,
GPS coordinates) from the utility plat metadata.
[0480] In an alternative embodiment, the local agent may present
the retrieved utility plat to the technician (e.g., with an aerial
layer enabled) and allow the technician to manually identify the
desired pole, for instance, by clicking on the plat. The local
agent may then obtain GPS coordinates representing the location of
the pole from the associated utility plat metadata.
[0481] Having thus obtained reference location information (e.g.,
GPS coordinates) for the utility pole 24860, the local agent may
prompt the technician to obtain actual location information for the
pole, for example, using a GPS-enabled device with a landmark
functionality. For example, the technician's marking device may be
equipped with a landmark mode such that, when actuated, the marking
device causes the current GPS coordinates to be stored in an
electronic record. Such a marking device is described in
non-provisional application Ser. No. 12/568,087, entitled "Methods
and Apparatus for Generating an Electronic Record of Environmental
Landmarks based on Marking Device Actuations," filed on Sep. 28,
2009 under attorney docket number D0687.70014US01, which is hereby
incorporated herein in its entirety. The local agent may prompt the
technician to physically proceed to the utility pole 24860 with the
marking device and actuate the device while in landmark mode. The
GPS coordinates, thus recorded, may be compared against the
reference GPS coordinates to check for any inconsistencies. For
example, an alert may be generated if the distance between the
reference location and the actual location exceeds a certain
threshold (e.g., 5, 10, 25 or 50 feet).
[0482] It should be appreciated that the landmark functionality
discussed above may be available on other pieces of equipment
instead of, or in addition to, a marking device. For example, it
may be available on the technician's vehicle, cellular phone,
tablet computer, locate receiver, locate transmitter and/or
combined locate and marking device. Also, in addition to comparing
reference and actual location information, the local agent may
prompt the technician to capture a digital image of the utility
pole showing its serial number, for example, using a digital camera
integrated into a piece of locating equipment. The captured image
may be automatically analyzed (e.g., using character recognition)
to determine whether the serial number captured in the image
correspond to the pole number extracted from the ticket and/or work
order.
[0483] In some further embodiments, the local agent may present a
checklist to the technician containing checklist items to be
performed in order to verify the technician has successfully
identified utility pole number 24860. For example, as shown in FIG.
18, a checklist 1800 may be shown concurrently with the popup
window 1005C. The checklist 1800 may contain three items to be
completed by the technician in any suitable ordering: physically
proceed to the utility pole, verify pole number found on the pole,
and pull landmark trigger on a marking device to record actual
location of the pole. Such a checklist may help to ensure that
sufficient information is gathered to enable the local agent to
perform part or all of the location verification discussed above.
For example, the local agent may be configured such that the
technician may not proceed to a subsequent step in the workflow
(e.g., step 5 of the 20083771309 workflow) unless he has completed
(e.g., checked off) every item on the checklist 1800.
[0484] Referring now to step 10 of the 20083771309 workflow (see
also popup window 1005C shown in FIG. 16), the local agent may
automatically or semi-automatically verify whether the locate
technician has successfully located gas facilities within the dig
area and applied marking material and/or flags appropriately.
[0485] To determine whether the locate technician has adequately
located gas facilities. In some embodiments, the local technician
may, in some embodiments, determine an expected scope (e.g.,
length) of gas facilities present in the dig area. This may be
accomplished by extracting dig area information (e.g., GPS
coordinates associated with a dig area indicator) and using a
facilities map to identify all gas facilities that fall within the
dig area.
[0486] Then, the local agent may determine a detected scope (e.g.,
length) of gas facilities by analyzing locate receiver data (e.g.,
as shown in Tables 4 or 5 above). For example, the local agent may
identify GPS points for which an appropriately high signal level is
recorded for gas facilities and compute an extrapolated length
based on the identified GPS points. If the difference between the
expected scope and the detected scope exceeds a certain threshold
(e.g., 5%, 10% or 20% of the expected scope), an alert may be
generated to notify the technician. Additionally, the local agent
may update the present workflow task (i.e., step 10 of the
20083771309 workflow) with discrepancy information and transmit the
updated workflow to remote computer for supervisory review. When
appropriate, a message describing the discrepancy may also be sent
to a one-call center, excavator and/or facilities owner, so that
they may verify and/or update their records accordingly.
[0487] To determine whether the technician applied marking material
and/or flags appropriately, the local agent may analyze marking
device data (e.g., as shown in Tables 1-3 or 5 above). For example,
the local agent may monitor marking material color information
received from a marking device used by the locate technician and
compare the marking material color with a marking material color
retrieved from a lookup table (e.g., Table 1 above) base on the
pertinent facility type (e.g., gas). An alert may be rendered
visually and/or audibly based on the comparison. For example, the
locate technician may see on a screen of a user interface (e.g.,
the user interface 280 shown in FIG. 7) a message "clear to
proceed" if the colors match. Additionally, or alternatively, the
locate technician may hear the same message rendered by a speech
synthesis component of the local agent. As yet another alternative,
both the expected marking color and the detected marking color may
be displayed on the screen so the technician may visually see a
match or mismatch.
[0488] If the color information received from the marking device
does not correlate correctly to the facility type currently being
processed (e.g., gas), visual and/or audible alerts may be
rendered, such as "warning: please check paint color." In some
embodiments, this information may be transmitted in real time to a
supervisor at a remote workforce management center that oversees a
large number of technicians. Additionally, the local agent may,
either automatically or upon instruction by a remote supervisor,
prevent the technician from further marking, for example, by
locking one or more trigger mechanisms on the technician's marking
device.
[0489] In some further embodiments, the local agent may compare
locate receiver data against marking device data to determine
whether the scope of facilities detected matches the scope of
facilities marked. For example, the local agent may identify GPS
points associated with a marking material color corresponding to
the facility type being processed (e.g., gas) and compute an
extrapolated length of marking based on the identified GPS points.
If there is a significant difference between the length of
facilities detected and the length of facilities marked (e.g.,
exceeding a certain percentage threshold, such as 5%, 10% or 20%),
an appropriate alert may be presented to the technician and/or
transmitted to a supervisor.
[0490] As with other workflow tasks discussed above, a checklist
associated with step 10 of the 20083771309 workflow may be
presented to the technician to provide further guidance. For
example, as shown in FIG. 19, a checklist 1900 may be shown
concurrently with the popup window 1005D. The checklist 1900 may
contain a number of items to be completed by the technician in any
suitable ordering: remove locate receiver from a carrying case or a
docking station in the vehicle; remove locate transmitter from a
carrying case or a docking station in the vehicle; check battery
life for the locate transmitter and the locate receiver; connect
transmitter wires using appropriate clips; obtain a ground rod from
the vehicle; physically proceed to the gas meter; connect
transmitter wires to the meter; connect transmitter wires to the
ground rod and insert the ground rod into the ground to ground the
transmitter wires; power on the locate transmitter and receiver;
set operation parameters such as frequency, volume and/or gain;
perform sweep operation using locate receiver to determine a
direction in which gas facilities leave the gas meter; and trace or
walk along the detected gas facilities. Again, such a checklist may
ensure that the technician follows all recommended or necessary
procedures when locating and marking gas facilities.
[0491] It should be appreciated that the present disclosure is not
limited to the examples described above, as other types of data
analyses and system responses may also be suitable. Some further
examples of data analyses and system responses (e.g., alerts) may
be as follows. [0492] The local agent may use location information
such as address and/or GPS coordinates associated with the current
locate and/or marking operation to retrieve a corresponding
facilities map, and determine whether a number of actuations of a
marking device correlate (e.g., within an acceptable tolerance) to
an expected facility length derived based on the facilities map.
Visual and/or audible alerts may be generated accordingly. For
example, in the event of a mismatch, the locate technician may be
asked to verify and confirm the markings. [0493] The local agent
may determine whether geo-location data received from the marking
device correlate (e.g., within an acceptable tolerance) to
facilities geo-locations obtained from the facilities map. Again,
appropriate visual and/or audible alerts may be generated
accordingly. [0494] The local agent may also analyze other ticket
information, such as any instructions regarding a preferred
connection point for a locate transmitter to a facility.
Information regarding an actual connection point may be available
from locating equipment data received from the locate transmitter.
Visual and/or audible alerts may be generated if there is a
mismatch. As another example, if a damage history relating to the
dig area is available in the ticket information, the local agent
may notify the locate technician of the nature of past damages
and/or recommend appropriate precautionary actions.
[0495] Additionally, any of the methods, apparatus and systems
described in the following applications may be used to analyze the
collected locating equipment data and to generate one or more
appropriate system responses. Each of these applications are hereby
incorporated by reference herein:
[0496] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/493,109, filed on Jun.
26, 2009, entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Quality Assessment of
a Field Service Operation;"
[0497] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/557,732, filed on Aug.
7, 2009, entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Quality Assessment of
a Field Service Operation Based on Geographic Information;"
[0498] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/571,356, filed on Sep.
30, 2009, entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Analyzing Locate and
Marking Operations with Respect to Facilities Maps;"
[0499] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/572,202, filed on Oct.
1, 2009, entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Analyzing Locate and
Marking Operations with Respect to Historical Information;"
[0500] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/568,087, filed on Sep.
28, 2009, entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Generating an
Electronic Record of Environmental Landmarks Based on Marking
Device Actuations;" and
[0501] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/572,260, filed on Oct.
1, 2009, entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Analyzing Locate and
Marking Operations with Respect to Environmental Landmarks."
[0502] For example, in accordance with various embodiments
described in above-referenced applications, a quality assessment of
a locate and/or marking operation may be performed based on the
collected locating equipment data, with or without human input. In
some embodiments, the collected locating equipment data may be
compared to "reference information" or "reference data" (which in
some instances is derived from information/data contained in a
"reference" electronic record). Examples of types of reference
information/data used in a quality assessment process may include,
but are not limited to: 1) information/data derived from or
relating to one or more facilities maps that illustrate the
presumed locations of underground facilities purportedly present in
a geographic area proximate to or surrounding and subsuming the
work site; 2) information/data derived from or relating to one or
more previous locate and/or marking operations at or near the work
site (referred to herein as "historical tickets" or "historical
data"); and/or 3) information/data relating to one or more
environmental landmarks present in a geographic area proximate to
or surrounding and subsuming the dig area (e.g., the work site and
its environs), or within the dig area itself (referred to herein as
"landmark information," which may be available, for example, from
facilities maps, historical tickets, and/or field data collected at
or around the time of the locate and/or marking operation being
assessed). For each type of reference information, suitable
criteria and/or metrics may be developed to facilitate an automated
determination of quality assessment.
[0503] As a more specific example, locating equipment data such as
geographic information, facility type information, and/or other
information relating to an underground facility detected and/or
marked may be compared to reference information including
geographic and/or other information relating to the corresponding
facility as indicated on one or more facilities maps (e.g., all or
some of the locating equipment data may be compared to reference
information derived from one or more facilities maps). The
comparison may generally involve determining whether or not there
is agreement between the locating equipment data and the reference
information provided by the one or more facilities maps, which may
in turn involve identifying at least one correspondence or
discrepancy between the compared information, and in some instances
a degree of correspondence.
[0504] As another example, some or all of the locating equipment
data may be compared to some or all of the contents of a reference
electronic record. For example, the reference electronic record may
comprise data derived from or relating to one or more previous (or
"historical") locate and/or marking operations conducted at the
same work site as the current locate and/or marking operation. The
types of data being compared between the current locating equipment
data and the reference electronic record may include geographic
information, facility type information, and/or other information
relating to the facilities identified and/or marked during the
current and historical locate and/or marking operations.
[0505] As a further example, the reference information may comprise
data relating to one or more environmental landmarks ("landmark
information," e.g., geographic information and/or landmark
category/type information relating to one or more environmental
landmarks), and a variety of assessments are possible. For
instance, some or all of the locating equipment data such as
geographic information, facility type information, and/or other
information relating to an underground facility identified and/or
marked may be compared to reference information comprising landmark
information to determine whether or not the location and/or type of
one or more facilities identified and/or marked during the locate
and/or marking operation are expected in view of the location
and/or type of one or more environmental landmarks. Such a
comparison may include identifying at least one correspondence or
discrepancy between the compared data based on or more criteria.
The landmark information may be derived, for example, from one or
more facilities maps, one or more historical tickets, or may be
collected together with (e.g., essentially concurrently with)
various information relating to the locate and/or marking operation
(the locate and/or marking operation to be assessed may include
acquisition of landmark information relating to one or more
environmental landmarks, and this landmark information may be used
for the assessment).
XI. Conclusion
[0506] In summary, the various concepts disclosed herein relating
to: ticket information, ticket use, processing, parsing, analysis,
formatting, appearance, display, and the like; generation or work
orders, technician checklists, and workflows; implementation and
execution of work orders, checklists, and workflows; and generation
of completed tickets, completed/updated checklists,
completed/updated workflows (collectively referred to as technician
activity logs) provide various advantages including, but not
limited to: (1) providing systematic ways of guiding locate
technicians with respect to the work scope and/or workflow of
locate and/or marking operations, thereby improving quality and/or
operating efficiency with respect to locate and/or marking
operations; (2) providing a mechanism by which the locate
technician may acknowledge, add, and/or delete tasks to be
performed during locate and/or marking operations prior to
performing the locate and/or marking operations; (3) providing ways
of manually and/or automatically prompting the locate technician
with respect to tasks that are performed during locate and/or
marking operations; and (4) providing ways of manually and/or
automatically verifying the completion of locate and/or marking
operations.
[0507] While various inventive embodiments have been described and
illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily
envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing
the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the
advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or
modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the inventive
embodiments described herein. More generally, those skilled in the
art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions,
materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be
exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials,
and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or
applications for which the inventive teachings is/are used. Those
skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no
more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific
inventive embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to be
understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of
example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and
equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practiced
otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventive
embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each
individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method
described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such
features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if
such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods
are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the inventive
scope of the present disclosure.
[0508] All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be
understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in
documents incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of
the defined terms.
[0509] The indefinite articles "a" and "an," as used herein in the
specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the
contrary, should be understood to mean "at least one."
[0510] The phrase "and/or," as used herein in the specification and
in the claims, should be understood to mean "either or both" of the
elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively
present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases.
Multiple elements listed with "and/or" should be construed in the
same fashion, i.e., "one or more" of the elements so conjoined.
Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements
specifically identified by the "and/or" clause, whether related or
unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a
non-limiting example, a reference to "A and/or B", when used in
conjunction with open-ended language such as "comprising" can
refer, in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements
other than B); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally
including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to
both A and B (optionally including other elements); etc.
[0511] As used herein in the specification and in the claims, "or"
should be understood to have the same meaning as "and/or" as
defined above. For example, when separating items in a list, "or"
or "and/or" shall be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the
inclusion of at least one, but also including more than one, of a
number or list of elements, and, optionally, additional unlisted
items. Only terms clearly indicated to the contrary, such as "only
one of" or "exactly one of," or, when used in the claims,
"consisting of," will refer to the inclusion of exactly one element
of a number or list of elements. In general, the term "or" as used
herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive
alternatives (i.e. "one or the other but not both") when preceded
by terms of exclusivity, such as "either," "one of," "only one of,"
or "exactly one of." "Consisting essentially of," when used in the
claims, shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of
patent law.
[0512] As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the
phrase "at least one," in reference to a list of one or more
elements, should be understood to mean at least one element
selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of
elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and
every element specifically listed within the list of elements and
not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements.
This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present
other than the elements specifically identified within the list of
elements to which the phrase "at least one" refers, whether related
or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a
non-limiting example, "at least one of A and B" (or, equivalently,
"at least one of A or B," or, equivalently "at least one of A
and/or B") can refer, in one embodiment, to at least one,
optionally including more than one, A, with no B present (and
optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment,
to at least one, optionally including more than one, B, with no A
present (and optionally including elements other than A); in yet
another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than
one, A, and at least one, optionally including more than one, B
(and optionally including other elements); etc.
[0513] It should also be understood that, unless clearly indicated
to the contrary, in any methods claimed herein that include more
than one step or act, the order of the steps or acts of the method
is not necessarily limited to the order in which the steps or acts
of the method are recited.
[0514] In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all
transitional phrases such as "comprising," "including," "carrying,"
"having," "containing," "involving," "holding," "composed of," and
the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean
including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases
"consisting of" and "consisting essentially of" shall be closed or
semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively, as set forth in the
United States Patent Office Manual of Patent Examining Procedures,
Section 2111.03.
* * * * *
References