Trackable dipole devices, methods, and systems for use with marking paint sticks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11117150-B1
Application number	US-201816160874-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Oct 15, 2018
Priority date	Jun 14, 2016
Publication date	Sep 14, 2021
Grant date	Sep 14, 2021

Abstract

Location systems and methods for locating paint and other markings on a surface are disclosed. A paint marking stick may include a magnetic field sonde that is actuated in conjunction with dispensing of paint or other markers, where the sonde generates a magnetic field signal in conjunction with dispensing of paint or placement of a marker. A corresponding utility locator may receive the sonde magnetic field dipole signal and determine and store positional information and type information associated with the paint or other marker.

First claim

We claim:

1. A paint marking stick for use with a utility locator, comprising:
an elongate paint marking stick body having a proximal end and a distal end;
a handle coupled at or near the proximal end of the marking stick body;
a paint dispenser assembly coupled at or near the distal end of the marking stick body for dispensing paint;
a trackable magnetic field dipole device including a body, a power supply, an alternating current (AC) signal generator, and a magnetic field dipole antenna operatively coupled to the AC signal generator for generating a magnetic field dipole signal at the AC frequency, the dipole device coupled at or near the distal end of the body;
an actuator; and
an actuation apparatus operatively coupled to the actuator for deploying paint from the paint dispenser assembly and initiating generation of the magnetic field dipole signal from the trackable dipole device in conjunction with deployment of paint from the paint dispenser.

2. The paint marking stick of claim 1 , wherein the paint dispenser assembly includes a paint can holder and wherein the actuator is disposed at least partially on the handle.

3. The paint marking stick of claim 2 , wherein the actuator is manually user-triggered.

4. The paint marking stick of claim 2 , wherein the trackable dipole device includes one or more utility designator elements, each including a sensor assembly and electronics, to sense a selected utility type on the corresponding utility designator elements and generate an output signal corresponding to the selected utility type.

5. The paint marking stick of claim 4 , wherein the utility locator includes a dodecahedral antenna array for receiving the magnetic field dipole signal, the dodecahedral antenna array including 12 antenna coils mounted in a corresponding dodecahedral shaped frame.

6. The paint marking stick of claim 1 , further comprising an optical character recognition module programmed to determine a character or symbol based on the received electromagnetic dipole signal and/or a captured image of deployed paint.

7. The paint marking stick of claim 1 , further comprising an audio recording module, including a microphone and a non-transitory memory, to capture and store an audio signal from a user in conjunction with the deployment of paint.

8. A method for marking a utility locate using paint, comprising:
generating, in response to a user actuation, deployment of marking paint from a paint marking stick;
in conjunction with the generating deployment of marking paint, triggering an AC magnetic field dipole signal from a trackable magnetic field dipole device operatively coupled to the paint marking stick;
receiving, at an associated buried utility locator, the AC magnetic field dipole signal;
determining, in the buried utility locator, a position of the trackable magnetic field dipole device relative to a reference point of the buried utility locator;
storing, in a non-transient memory, the position of the trackable magnetic field dipole device relative to the reference point of the buried utility locator;
determining, in the buried utility locator, locate information of a buried utility;
storing the locate information of the buried utility in the non-transitory memory; and
associating the locate information with the position of the trackable magnetic field dipole signal.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the position of the trackable magnetic dipole device includes an orientation.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more utility locator antenna arrays include a dodecahedral antenna array.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the locate information includes a depth of the buried utility below a ground surface.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the locate information further includes a position on the ground surface directly above the buried utility.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising determining, in an optical character recognition module, a character or a captured image of paint deployed from the paint marking stick.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising capturing, in an audio recoding module, an audio signal from the user generated in conjunction with the deployment of marking paint.

Assignees

• Seescan Inc

Inventors

• Olsson Mark S
• Kleyn James F
• Soukup Jan

Classifications

• B65D83/184

  at the end of extension rods · CPC title

• G01V3/165 Primary

  operating with magnetic or electric fields produced or modified by the object or by the detecting device (with electromagnetic waves G01V3/17) · CPC title

• B05B12/002

  Manually-actuated controlling means, e.g. push buttons, levers or triggers (for single units B05B11/00) · CPC title

• B05D1/02

  performed by spraying · CPC title

• B05B9/01

  Spray pistols, {discharge devices}(B05B9/03 takes precedence) · CPC title