Patents by Inventor Alan P. Dean

Alan P. Dean has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6816110
    Abstract: A precision positioning AGM system is provided for detecting the location of an AGM device, as well as the time of a smart pig passing the location. The practice combines two processes into one by using a GPS receiver at the AGM location to record raw GPS measurements at each AGM location. A second GPS receiver is provided at a remote known base location. These position signals and a pig-passage time signal from the AGM provide high accuracy positioning and pig passage time, with only one crew being required. These signals are broadcast to a remote monitoring site. This makes real-time pig tracking unnecessary and eliminates the need for more than one crew visiting the same site.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2004
    Assignee: Varco I/P, Inc.
    Inventors: Ziwen W. Liu, Alan P. Dean