System and method for tracking and managing construction projects
Granted: May 18, 2010
Patent Number:
7720703
System and methods are described for assisting a contractor in managing information associated with a construction project. The amount of information relating to labor, materials, scheduling and billing and the number of individuals accessing the information can be overwhelmingly large for even a simple construction project. As such, the system and methods described are particularly useful for gathering, maintaining and disseminating the voluminous amount of information associated with a…
Digital camera with GNSS picture location determination
Granted: May 18, 2010
Patent Number:
7719467
A digital camera for providing a short burst of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signal samples in a picture data file with an approximate time for reading by a computer apparatus some time later for determining the geographical location and an accurate time of the picture.
Position indicating and guidance system and method thereof
Granted: May 11, 2010
Patent Number:
7714993
The present invention provides operators the ability to follow a predetermined path and achieve desired digging depth by watching steering and elevation indicators of just one system. The indicators are activated by data derived from the interception of signals generated by a single laser transmitter and a receiver array mounted on the machine. The system according to the present invention uses the multiple, tilted fan beams provided by the laser transmitter to calculate elevation angle…
Very low speed vehicle control algorithm operating in the spatial domain
Granted: May 11, 2010
Patent Number:
7715964
A method of operating a vehicle at a substantially low speed based on change in the vehicle position. The method comprises the following steps: (A) transforming a steering control algorithm into a substantially low speed (SLS) steering control algorithm, wherein the (SLS) steering control algorithm is configured to operate the vehicle in an asynchronous low speed mode; and (B) implementing the SLS steering control algorithm as a controller configured to operate the vehicle in the…
Differential GPS corrections using virtual stations
Granted: May 4, 2010
Patent Number:
7711480
Method and apparatus for providing GPS pseudorange correction and carrier phase correction information for navigation or surveying activities over a selected geographic region S of arbitrary size. In a navigation mode, a virtual reference station (VRS), positioned near a selected location L, receives differential GPS (DGPS) correction signals, translates these signals into a selected format, and broadcasts this DGPS information in this format for use by a local user. In a survey mode,…
Position based velocity estimator
Granted: April 27, 2010
Patent Number:
7706976
A method of determining speed and heading of a rover/rover having one degree of freedom comprising the following steps: (A) determining a rover position coordinates using at least one source of a radio position measurements; (B) storing a set of statistically different rover points in a memory block, and (C) using a subset of rover points including a plurality of stored rover points and a current rover point to determine a speed and a heading of the rover. It is assumed that each rover…
Method and system for angle measurement
Granted: April 13, 2010
Patent Number:
7697127
An angle measurement device includes a light source configured to emit light along an optical path and a patterned member positioned along the optical path and configured to rotate about an axis of rotation. The patterned member includes a periodic optical variation. Light passing through the patterned member provides a spatially modulated optical waveform. The angle measurement device also includes an imaging device positioned along the optical path and including a plurality of…
GNSS signal processing with clock difference modeling
Granted: April 6, 2010
Patent Number:
7692578
Three new methods are presented to improve floating solutions and ambiguity resolution for multiple global satellite navigation systems (GNSS), one of which may be an FDMA-based GNSS such as GLONASS: (1) modeling of the hardware-related differential clock error between two (or more) different GNSS, (2) modeling the frequency-dependent biases present in frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) GNSS, and (3) an ambiguity resolution method called Scoreboard Partial Fixing (SPF). The…
System for standard positioning service and precise positioning service cooperative operation
Granted: March 16, 2010
Patent Number:
7679552
A system for standard positioning service (SPS) and precise positioning service (PPS) cooperative operation is disclosed. In one embodiment, a PPS receiver is utilized to process a PPS data portion of a positioning signal. In addition, an SPS receiver is utilized to process an SPS data portion of the positioning signal. Furthermore, the PPS receiver and the SPS receiver are communicatively coupled such that the PPS data portion from the PPS receiver is cross-validated with the SPS data…
Method and apparatus for GPS geofencing of mobile transmissions
Granted: February 23, 2010
Patent Number:
7668562
A method and apparatus for geofencing mobile transmissions. The method includes determining a geographic location of a mobile transmitter. Then, a geographic interference contour of the mobile transmitter is determined. The mobile transmitter is operating over a specific frequency at the geographic location. A neighboring service contour is then determined. The neighboring service contour is associated with an FCC license that allows transmissions over a specific channel that includes…
Pneumatically actuated clutch
Granted: February 16, 2010
Patent Number:
7661516
A clutch assembly having a drive shaft operably connected to a first hub or clutch plate. A second hub or clutch plate adjacent to the first clutch plate and operably connected to a second drive shaft. A release ring positioned to selectively release both clutch plates. Positioned to engage the release ring is a pneumatic actuating member that is operably connected to a source of compressed air.
Decoding GPS satellite data at low signal to noise levels by computing total probability of current data bit at current time epoch
Granted: February 16, 2010
Patent Number:
7664207
A method of decoding a GPS carrier signal comprising: (A) receiving a phase modulated GPS signal by using a GPS antenna; (B) extracting a GPS data from the received phase modulated GPS signal; and (C) computing a total probability of a current GPS data bit being “one” or “zero” at a GPS time epoch by using a decoding algorithm.
Pneumatically actuated clutch
Granted: February 16, 2010
Patent Number:
7661517
A clutch assembly having a drive shaft operably connected to a first hub or clutch plate. A second hub or clutch plate adjacent to the first clutch plate and operably connected to a second drive shaft. A release ring positioned to selectively release both clutch plates. Positioned to engage the release ring is a pneumatic actuating member that is operably connected to a source of compressed air.
Damping system and method for a pendulously supported crossline generator
Granted: December 29, 2009
Patent Number:
7637022
A damping system and method for a pendulously supported crossline generator is disclosed. The crossline generator comprises a support body pendulously supported and having ear portions and a paddle. A rotation damping device having cages each with a magnet set is provided, wherein the ear portions extend into respective ones of the cages. A pitch damping device having a damping housing and a ring magnet supported in the damping housing is also provided. The paddle has a plate portion…
Method and system for controlling steering deadband in a mobile machine
Granted: December 29, 2009
Patent Number:
7640088
A method and system for controlling steering dead band in a mobile machine is described. The method includes measuring the dead band, storing a value corresponding to thereto, and applying the dead band value to a controller of a steering mechanism. The steering mechanism is thus controlled according to the dead band value to compensate for the dead band.
Geo-referenced object identification method, system, and apparatus
Granted: December 15, 2009
Patent Number:
7634380
A method and system are described, which are used to identify a geo-referenced object. In one embodiment, a position determining component is used to determine the geographic position of a handheld electronic device. An azimuth determination component determines an azimuth from the handheld electronic device to an object. An incline measurement device measures the vertical angle between the handheld electronic device and the object. Finally, based upon the geographic position, azimuth,…
Method and system for controlling a valuable movable item
Granted: December 1, 2009
Patent Number:
7627427
One embodiment in accordance with the invention can include a controller that can be coupled with a position determining component, and a motion detecting component. In one embodiment, the motion detecting component detects motion of a valuable movable item and generates a signal to the controller indicating the motion. The controller, in response to the signal, causes the position determining component to determine the geographic location of the valuable movable item. A determination is…
Managed traverse system and method to acquire accurate survey data in absence of precise GPS data
Granted: November 17, 2009
Patent Number:
7619561
A method and system obtains precise survey-grade position data of target points in zones where precise GPS data cannot be obtained, due to natural or man-made objects such as foliage and buildings. The system comprises a GPS receiver mounted on a survey pole, with an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and an electronic distance meter (EDM) also mounted on the pole. The system and method obtains GPS data when outside the zone and uses the IMU inside the zone to traverse to a target point,…
Method and a system for communicating information to a land surveying rover located in an area without cellular coverage
Granted: November 3, 2009
Patent Number:
7613468
Embodiments of the present invention pertain to methods and systems for communicating information to a roving positioning device. In one embodiment, a cellular communication device, a non-cellular wireless communication device, and a computer networking device for forwarding data packets are coupled with a bus. A request originating from a roving positioning device for a location-specific position correction is received via the non-cellular wireless communication device. A controller…
System for producing orthogonal, intersecting light beams
Granted: October 27, 2009
Patent Number:
7609449
A system for producing three light beams on orthogonal, intersecting lines, includes a diode laser source providing a laser beam, and a lens for collimating the beam. A pair of reflective surfaces reflect first and second portions of the collimated beam, producing first and second substantially orthogonal output beams, while permitting a third portion of the collimated beam to pass unreflected as a third output beam. The third output beam is substantially orthogonal to the first and…
