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| 20080223281 | POP-UP CABLE ELECTRONIC MARKER - A marker fixture for attachment to a utility conduit such as a telecommunications cable. The fixture has an extension member with an electronic marker at one end, and is secured at the other end to the cable. The extension member is movable between a retracted position wherein the marker is adjacent an access point and an extended position wherein the marker is distant from the access point. The extension member is preferably biased toward the extended position and releasably secured at the marker end proximate the utility structure. The marker fixtures may be pre-installed on a utility infrastructure. The extension member is loosely secured so that the fixture may be moved around the cable after it has been installed in a trench to lie atop the access point. The low profile and conforming shape of the fixture make it particularly advantageous for pre-installation on flexible cables wound on large reels. | 09-18-2008 |
| 20080257250 | SURFACE TRACKER - A surface tracker includes a tubular marker body having an interior electronic marker and a visual indicator attached to an upper end of the marker body which extends away from the marker body. When deployed, the marker body is mostly underground and the visual indictor extends upwardly from ground level to provide above-ground visual recognition. The electronic marker may be a passive electronic marker that includes a ferrite core assembly having a longitudinal axis which is generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the marker body. The visual indicator may be a plurality of resilient filaments which pass through a hole in a tab portion of the marker body at its upper end, the filaments being folded about the tab portion and secured to the tab portion using a heat-shrink tube. In an exemplary embodiment, the filaments extend about six inches from the marker body and are brightly colored. | 10-23-2008 |
| 20090058421 | SERVICE TEE MARKER FIXTURE - A service tee marker fixture comprises a disk marker and a cylindrical attachment sleeve fastened concentrically to the disk marker and constructed of a flexible material which provides a releasable friction fit with a service tee cap. For certain sleeve materials a stiffener plate is used to secure an end portion of sleeve adjacent to the disk marker. Detents are formed inside the attachment sleeve to grip matching ribs on the cap. An integrally formed inwardly-extending annular flange at an open end of the sleeve helps retain the sleeve on the cap. When installed the wire coil is horizontal and the marker shields the tee, and is further centered over a centerline of the main pipe. A novel method is also disclosed for using the service tee marker fixtures to survey and locate service line end points. | 03-05-2009 |
| 20100139206 | BELOW FLOOR MARKER - A below floor marker used to locate a pre-installed pipe stub below a finished concrete floor includes a coupling adapted for attachment to the pipe stub, and a cap which fits on the coupling to seal the pipe while pouring the concrete. The top wall of the cap lies an inch or so under the finished floor elevation (FFE). The cap has resilient filaments at a center thereof extending through the thin concrete layer to provide a visual indication of the pipe stub location. An electronic marker is retained within the coupling to provide an additional electromagnetic indication of the pipe stub location. The transmission axis of the electronic marker is aligned with the centerline of the cap/conduit/pipe to provide precise location of the stub. The cap may include an upper sidewall having outer annular notches which facilitate cutting the upper sidewall to a height of the FFE. | 06-10-2010 |
| 20110034276 | ELECTRONIC MARKER STAKES FOR SPORTS FIELDS - A marker stake for locating a boundary reference point on a sports field can be buried and out of sight when not in use, and then quickly located using an electronic receiver which detects a signal emitted by an electronic marker in the marker stake. Various field boundary indicators can be removably attached to the marker stake. The stake may be embodied in a cylindrical body constructed of a moldable polymer with a socket at one end for receiving a pin or post of the field boundary indicator, and the electronic marker embedded inside the body. The electronic marker may be a passive LC marker tuned to a frequency associated with a known field sport. Different sets of such marker stakes tuned to different frequencies may be used to mark and relocate reference points for multiple sports played on the same field. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20110136598 | ELECTRONIC MARKER STAKES FOR SPORTS FIELDS - A marker stake for locating a boundary reference point on a sports field can be buried and out of sight when not in use, and then quickly located using an electronic receiver which detects a signal emitted by an electronic marker in the marker stake. Various field boundary indicators can be removably attached to the marker stake. The stake may be embodied in a cylindrical body constructed of a moldable polymer with a socket at one end for receiving a pin or post of the field boundary indicator, and the electronic marker embedded inside the body. The electronic marker may be a passive LC marker tuned to a frequency associated with a known field sport. Different sets of such marker stakes tuned to different frequencies may be used to mark and relocate reference points for multiple sports played on the same field. | 06-09-2011 |
| 20110148420 | SERVICE TEE MARKER FIXTURE - A service tee marker fixture comprises a disk marker and a cylindrical attachment sleeve fastened concentrically to the disk marker and constructed of a flexible material which provides a releasable friction fit with a service tee cap. For certain sleeve materials a stiffener plate is used to secure an end portion of sleeve adjacent to the disk marker. Detents are formed inside the attachment sleeve to grip matching ribs on the cap. An integrally formed inwardly-extending annular flange at an open end of the sleeve helps retain the sleeve on the cap. When installed the wire coil is horizontal and the marker shields the tee, and is further centered over a centerline of the main pipe. A novel method is also disclosed for using the service tee marker fixtures to survey and locate service line end points. | 06-23-2011 |
| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20080263496 | Enhanced routing grid system and method - Routing systems and methods are provided having various strategies for optimizing and evaluating possible routes for netlist connections. In one embodiment, a data structure or matrix provides cost related data weighted to evaluate the impact proposed a connection or segment will have upon an attribute of interest such as, for example, speed, manufacturability or noise tolerance. This cost information can be related to terrain costs as well as shape costs to provide multidimensional cost information for connections. Processing such higher information cost data is made more efficient with an additive process that is less demanding than a computationally intensive iterative multiplication process. Various methods are also disclosed for shifting and adjusting routing grids to improve use of available space or reduce run time in routing. In another embodiment, a parallel processing scheme is used to process multiple regions on multiple processors simultaneously without creating conflicts, that could arise, for example, when two processors try to route a trace on the same gridpoint. | 10-23-2008 |
| 20080263497 | Enhanced Routing Grid System and Method - Routing systems and methods are provided having various strategies for optimizing and evaluating possible routes for netlist connections. In one embodiment, a data structure or matrix provides cost related data weighted to evaluate the impact proposed a connection or segment will have upon an attribute of interest such as, for example, speed, manufacturability or noise tolerance. This cost information can be related to terrain costs as well as shape costs to provide multidimensional cost information for connections. Processing such higher information cost data is made more efficient with an additive process that is less demanding than a computationally intensive iterative multiplication process. Various methods are also disclosed for shifting and adjusting routing grids to improve use of available space or reduce run time in routing. In another embodiment, a parallel processing scheme is used to process multiple regions on multiple processors simultaneously without creating conflicts, that could arise, for example, when two processors try to route a trace on the same gridpoint. | 10-23-2008 |
| 20080263498 | Enhanced Routing Grid System and Method - Routing systems and methods are provided having various strategies for optimizing and evaluating possible routes for netlist connections. In one embodiment, a data structure or matrix provides cost related data weighted to evaluate the impact proposed a connection or segment will have upon an attribute of interest such as, for example, speed, manufacturability or noise tolerance. This cost information can be related to terrain costs as well as shape costs to provide multidimensional cost information for connections. Processing such higher information cost data is made more efficient with an additive process that is less demanding than a computationally intensive iterative multiplication process. Various methods are also disclosed for shifting and adjusting routing grids to improve use of available space or reduce run time in routing. In another embodiment, a parallel processing scheme is used to process multiple regions on multiple processors simultaneously without creating conflicts, that could arise, for example, when two processors try to route a trace on the same gridpoint. | 10-23-2008 |
| 20090070726 | Enhanced Routing Grid System and Method - Routing systems and methods are provided having various strategies for optimizing and evaluating possible routes for netlist connections. In one embodiment, a data structure or matrix provides cost related data weighted to evaluate the impact proposed a connection or segment will have upon an attribute of interest such as, for example, speed, manufacturability or noise tolerance. This cost information can be related to terrain costs as well as shape costs to provide multidimensional cost information for connections. Processing such higher information cost data is made more efficient with an additive process that is less demanding than a computationally intensive iterative multiplication process. Various methods are also disclosed for shifting and adjusting routing grids to improve use of available space or reduce run time in routing. In another embodiment, a parallel processing scheme is used to process multiple regions on multiple processors simultaneously without creating conflicts, that could arise, for example, when two processors try to route a trace on the same gridpoint. | 03-12-2009 |
