{"schema_version":"1.0","canonical_url":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-8468206","patent":{"patent_number":"US-8468206","title":"Methods, apparatus and systems for notifying excavators and other entities of the status of in-progress underground facility locate and marking operations","assignee":null,"inventors":[],"filing_date":"2010-06-28T00:00:00.000Z","publication_date":"2013-06-18T00:00:00.000Z","cpc_codes":["G06Q","G06Q","G01C","H04L"],"num_claims":60,"abstract":"Methods, apparatus, and systems for providing information regarding a locate and/or marking operation to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. At least one notification indicating a status of the locate and/or marking operation is electronically transmitted and/or stored so as to inform at least one party associated with requesting the operation (a “requesting party,” e.g., an excavator, a property owner, a facility owner, a regulatory authority, a damage investigator, etc.) of the status of the operation. In one aspect, a requesting party may designate a preferred format, content, and/or method of receiving notifications regarding the locate and/or marking operation. In another aspect, a computer-generated GUI is provided to facilitate submission of requests, generation of “virtual white line” images to indicate one or more dig areas on a digital image of a work site, and/or selection of notifications and preferences for same. In yet another aspect, a requesting party may provide an acknowledgement of receipt (e.g., a “return receipt”) for one or more received notifications."},"analysis":{"summary":null,"layman_explanation":null,"technical_analysis":null,"business_analysis":null,"faqs":null,"topics":[],"tech_cluster":null},"seo":{"title":"Methods, apparatus and systems for notifying excavators and other entities of the status of in-progress underground facility locate and marking operations","description":"Methods, apparatus, and systems for providing information regarding a locate and/or marking operation to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. At le","keywords":[]},"attribution":{"source":"Patentable","source_url":"https://patentable.app","canonical_url":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-8468206","license":"CC-BY-4.0-like","license_terms":"AI-generated analysis on this page (summary, layman_explanation, technical_analysis, business_analysis, faqs) may be reused with attribution and a visible link back to the canonical URL above. Patent abstracts, claims, and bibliographic data are USPTO public domain.","required_link":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-8468206","citation_suggestion":"Patentable. \"Methods, apparatus and systems for notifying excavators and other entities of the status of in-progress underground facility locate and marking operations\" (US-8468206). https://patentable.app/patents/US-8468206","copyright_holder":"Nomic Interactive Technology LLC"},"links":{"html":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-8468206","json":"https://patentable.app/api/llm-context/US-8468206","site":"https://patentable.app","llms_txt":"https://patentable.app/llms.txt"},"generated_at":"2026-05-30T19:08:11.579Z"}