[미국특허]
Methods and apparatus for controlling access to a virtual white line (VWL) image for an excavation project
원문보기
IPC분류정보
국가/구분
United States(US) Patent
등록
국제특허분류(IPC7판)
G06F-003/00
G07B-015/00
출원번호
US-0475956
(2009-06-01)
등록번호
US-8832565
(2014-09-09)
발명자
/ 주소
Nielsen, Steven E.
Chambers, Curtis
Farr, Jeffrey
출원인 / 주소
CertusView Technologies, LLC
인용정보
피인용 횟수 :
2인용 특허 :
71
초록▼
Methods and apparatus for facilitating detection of a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. Source data representing one or more input images of a geographic area including the dig area is electronically received at a first user location, which may be remote
Methods and apparatus for facilitating detection of a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. Source data representing one or more input images of a geographic area including the dig area is electronically received at a first user location, which may be remote from the dig area. The source data is processed so as to display at least a portion of the input image(s) on a display device. One or more indicators are added to the displayed input image(s), via a user input device associated with the display device, to provide at least one indication of the dig area and thereby generate a marked-up digital image. A limited access file comprising information relating to the marked-up image may be transmitted to at least one party associated with the at least one underground facility.
대표청구항▼
1. An apparatus for generating a digital virtual white line image to facilitate performance of a locate and marking operation by a field technician, the locate and marking operation comprising detecting and marking by the field technician, using at least one physical locate mark placed on ground, pa
1. An apparatus for generating a digital virtual white line image to facilitate performance of a locate and marking operation by a field technician, the locate and marking operation comprising detecting and marking by the field technician, using at least one physical locate mark placed on ground, pavement or other surface, 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 comprising: a communication interface;a memory to store processor-executable instructions; anda processing unit coupled to the communication interface and the memory, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by the processing unit, the processing unit: electronically receives, via the communication interface, at least one user input relating to the dig area, the at least one user input constituted by a user electronically sketching, on a base digital image of a geographic area that includes the dig area, an outline of a boundary of the dig area so as to provide at least one electronic dig area indicator that precisely delimits the dig area on the base digital image;based on the at least one user input, renders the digital virtual white line image including the at least one dig area indicator to precisely delimit the dig area on the base digital image and thereby provide at least one indication of the dig area with respect to the geographic area; andtransmits a limited access file comprising information relating to the digital virtual white line image, via the communication interface, to the field technician and/or at least one party associated with dispatching the field technician to the dig area, so as to facilitate the field technician's performance of the locate and marking operation to detect and mark the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility within the dig area, wherein the processing unit transmits the limited access file with data identifying a ticket with which the digital virtual white line image is associated;wherein the limited access file is at least one of a password protected file, a proprietary file, and an encrypted file,and wherein the limited access file is configured so as to facilitate viewing of the digital virtual white line image only via a corresponding image file viewer. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the limited access file is a password protected file. 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the limited access file has a proprietary format. 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the limited access file has a proprietary filename extension. 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the limited access file is an encrypted file. 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the information related to the digital virtual white line image comprises a limited access virtual white line image or data usable to render the limited access virtual white line image. 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the limited access file comprises version information identifying a corresponding version of the image file viewer to facilitate viewing of the digital virtual white line image. 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing unit transmits the corresponding image file viewer, via the communication interface, to the field technician and/or at least one party associated with dispatching the field technician to the dig area. 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the image file viewer prevents write access to the limited access virtual white line image. 10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the image file viewer prevents save access to the limited access virtual white line image. 11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the image file viewer prevents copy access to the limited access virtual white line image. 12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the image file viewer is programmed to require an indication of acceptance of terms and/or conditions prior to permitting the limited access virtual white line image to be viewed. 13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the image file viewer is programmed to determine whether an updated version of the image file viewer is available. 14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the information relating to the digital virtual white line image comprises an image and dig area information relating to the at least one dig area indicator. 15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the dig area information comprises geographic coordinates of the dig area. 16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the dig area information specifies virtual white lines to be rendered on the image. 17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the dig area information comprises access permission information specifying access permissions for the dig area information. 18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the information relating to the digital virtual white line image comprises an XML file including the dig area information. 19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the information relating to the digital virtual white line image comprises metadata including the dig area information. 20. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the information relating to the digital virtual white line image comprises metadata including at least one of: date and/or time information indicating when the digital virtual white line image was created;creator information indicating a creator of the digital virtual white line image;geographic location information identifying a location of the dig area;provider information identifying a service used to create the digital virtual white line image; andgeographic coordinate information identifying geographic coordinates corresponding to the digital virtual white line image. 21. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the information relating to the digital virtual white line image comprises a descriptor file including at least one of: date and/or time information indicating when the digital virtual white line image was created;creator information indicating a creator of the digital virtual white line image;geographic location information identifying a location of the dig area;provider information identifying a service used to create the digital virtual white line image; andgeographic coordinate information identifying geographic coordinates corresponding to the digital virtual white line image. 22. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data identifying the ticket comprises metadata associated with the digital virtual white line image. 23. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data identifying the ticket comprises a descriptor file. 24. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data identifying the ticket comprises a ticket number. 25. A method for generating a digital virtual white line image to facilitate performance of a locate and marking operation by a field technician, the locate and marking operation comprising detecting and marking by the field technician, using at least one physical locate mark placed on ground, pavement or other surface, 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 comprising: A) electronically receiving at least one user input relating to the dig area, the at least one user input constituted by a user electronically sketching, on a base digital image of a geographic area that includes the dig area, an outline of a boundary of the dig area so as to provide at least one electronic dig area indicator that precisely delimits the dig area on the base digital image;B) based on the at least one user input, rendering, via at least one processing unit, the digital virtual white line image including the at least one dig area indicator to precisely delimit the dig area on the base image and thereby provide at least one indication of the dig area with respect to the geographic area; andC) electronically transmitting a limited access file comprising information relating to the digital virtual white line image to the field technician and/or at least one party associated with dispatching the field technician to the dig area, so as to facilitate the field technician's performance of the locate and marking operation to detect and mark the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility within the dig area,wherein the limited access file is transmitted with data identifying a ticket with which the digital virtual white line image is associated,wherein the limited access file is at least one of a password protected file, a proprietary file, and an encrypted file,and wherein the limited access file is configured, via the at least one processing unit, so as to facilitate viewing of the digital virtual white line image only via a corresponding image file viewer. 26. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by at least one processing unit, perform a method for generating a digital virtual white line image to facilitate performance of a locate and marking operation by a field technician, the locate and marking operation comprising detecting and marking by the field technician, using at least one physical locate mark placed on ground, pavement or other surface, 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 comprising: A) electronically receiving at least one user input relating to the dig area, the at least one user input constituted by a user electronically sketching, on a base digital image of a geographic area that includes the dig area, an outline of a boundary of the dig area so as to provide at least one electronic dig area indicator that precisely delimits the dig area on the base digital image;B) based on the at least one user input, rendering the digital virtual white line image including the at least one dig area indicator to precisely delimit the dig area on the base digital image and thereby provide at least one indication of the dig area with respect to the geographic area; andC) electronically transmitting a limited access file comprising information relating to the digital virtual white line image to the field technician and/or at least one party associated with dispatching the field technician to the dig area, so as to facilitate the field technician's performance of the locate and marking operation to detect and mark the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility within the dig area,wherein the limited access tile is transmitted with data identifying a ticket with which the digital virtual white line image is associated,wherein the limited access tile is at least one of a password protected file, a proprietary file, and an encrypted file,and wherein the limited access file is configured so as to facilitate viewing of the digital virtual white line image only via a corresponding image file viewer.
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