Patent Document ID: 9753173
Application ID: 15364249
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A system for generating a buffer zone around a buried asset at an above surface location, the system comprising: an electromagnetic locator device communicatively coupled with a communications network, the locator device comprising a plurality of radio frequency antennas, and being configured for: (a) generating a plurality of buried asset data points via the plurality of radio frequency antennas, wherein each buried asset data point comprises a geographical coordinate for the buried asset, wherein the plurality of buried asset data points correspond to analog radio frequency signals that were detected and read from the buried asset at an above-surface location; and (b) transmitting the plurality of buried asset data points via the communications network; a server communicatively coupled with the communications network, a processor including a memory and wherein the processor configured for: (a) receiving from the electromagnetic locator device, via the communications network, the plurality of buried asset data points; (b) generating a plurality of connected line segments that represent a geographical position of the buried asset, wherein the plurality of connected line segments are generated by executing an optimization algorithm based on the plurality of buried asset data points, wherein the optimization algorithm: i) minimizes a total number of line segments, ii) minimizes a distance between a line segment and a corresponding buried asset data point, iii) minimizes instances of line segments that are parallel and iv) minimizes line segments shorter than a predefined threshold; and (c) generating a first data structure that represents a two dimensional area comprising a buffer zone at the above-surface location, wherein the first data structure is generated by: i) calculating a magnitude of error of the plurality of connected line segments based on distances between said plurality of connected line segments and corresponding buried asset data points of the plurality of buried asset data points, and ii) defining a two dimensional area around said plurality of connected line segments, wherein a size of said two dimensional area is proportional to the magnitude of error that was calculated.