Patent ID: 9341740
Filing Date: 2016-05-17
CPC Classification: G01B,G01C,G01J,G01S,G01V

Claim Text:
1. A locator device, comprising: a housing; a buried object detection module disposed in the housing for determining the relative position and orientation of a buried object based on magnetic field signals emitted from the buried object; an optical ground tracking apparatus for tracking movement of the locator disposed within or coupled to the housing, comprising: an output light snoot assembly; an input light snoot assembly; an output light generator assembly; an input light sensor assembly; and a processing element configured to receive one or more signals from the input light sensor assembly and generate, based at least in part on the received signals, location or tracking information associated with a position or movement of the locator device; wherein the location or tracking information includes data associated with a movement of the locator device across a tracking surface responsive to operator movement of the locator.