Patent ID: 9578678
Date: 2017-02-21
CPC Classifications: E21B,E21D,G06Q,H04W

Claim:
1. An apparatus for providing a resource to complete a locate and/or marking operation, the apparatus comprising: at least one communication interface; at least one memory to store processor-executable instructions; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one memory and the at least one communication interface, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by the at least one processor, the at least one processor: A) controls the at least one communication interface so as to receive a locate request ticket generated by a one-call center to specify the locate and/or marking operation, the locate and/or marking operation comprising detecting and/or marking a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area at a work site, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities at the work site; B) parses the locate request ticket received in A) so as to extract ticket information obtained from the locate request ticket; C) generates an Extensible Markup Language (XML) format file comprising the extracted ticket information; D) performs a statistical analysis of historical information, the historical information being selected based at least in part on the XML format file generated in C) and including at least one of: E) automatically assigns at least one risk designation to the locate request ticket based at least in part on the statistical analysis of the historical information performed in D); and F) controls the at least one communication interface to transmit, and/or controls the at least one memory to store, the at least one risk designation so as to facilitate clearing the locate request ticket and/or dispatching at least one locate technician to perform the locate and/or marking operation, based at least in part on the at least one risk designation automatically assigned in E).