FORM-2
THE PATENT ACT,1970
(39 OF 1970)
AND
THE PATENT RULES, 2003
(As Amended)
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (See section 10;rule 13)
"A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PATROLLING AND MONITORING OF UTILITY NETWORKS AIDED WITH GIS AND GPS"
THE TATA POWER COMPANY LIMITED, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of India, of Bombay House, 24, Homi Mody Street, Fort, Mumbai 400001, Maharashtra, India.
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed:

A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PATROLLING AND MONITORING OF UTILITY NETWORKS AIDED WITH GIS AND GPS
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a method and system for patrolling and monitoring of utility networks, aided with Geographic Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS).
BACKGROUND
Utilities (such as power distribution cables, communication cables, gas pipelines, water supply lines or sewage line) are the backbone of any urban or rural society. However, the maintenance and security of such utilities is a challenging task for the municipal authorities, utility companies etc., as such networks are spread over a large area. If proper monitoring is not done along the routes/roads carrying utility network then it can lead to huge consequences related to their damage and security. Moreover, the maintenance of such networks also involves considerable cost. Physically patrolling and monitoring of these utilities is one of the straight method to control any damage and surety. However, it is an inefficient and time consuming way of controlling these situations.
There are various other methods for monitoring of the patrolling activity. “Guard Tour Patrolling” is one of them. There are prior arts on the principal of monitoring the data by fixed location identifiers located along the route and processing this data for concluding confirmation to patrolling of the routes between these locations. This point to point monitoring involves pre-identification and earmarking with use of different devices such as paper card system, “Watch clock”, “Guard petrol tags”, Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, barcodes, data loggers. The prior art WO 2005010843 A1 specifies use of RFID tags and readers to automate real time alert signals in a security system. It involves conducting security guard patrols and monitoring the progress in real

time by logging each checkpoint of the tour, through the use of RFID tags and readers.
According to another prior art US 6834259 B1 which relates to an improved guard tour monitor system, a guard progresses through a guard tour, he or she uses a touch button reader to read information stored within a plurality of touch memory buttons located along the patrol route. More specifically, this invention specifies a system comprised of electronic hardware and software that insures that patrol guards or officers monitor all desired areas of one or more buildings or property.
However, the abovementioned methods are limited in a manner as they are not able to ensure cost-effective and efficient patrolling and monitoring for utilities.
SUMMARY
The following presents a simplified summary of the subject matter in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of subject matter embodiments. This summary is not an extensive overview of the subject matter. It is not intended to identify key/critical elements of the embodiments or to delineate the scope of the subject matter.
Its sole purpose to present some concepts of the subject matter in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
It is therefore a primary objective of this invention to address the need of cost-effective and efficient patrolling and monitoring of utilities which thereby ensures 100% coverage of patrolling and thereby reducing the incidents of omission and of serious events and situations.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for patrolling and monitoring aided with GIS and GPS technologies.

It is further an object of the present invention to generate a comprehensive monitoring reports and providing thematic representation for criticality of particular patrolling routes/areas.
It is furthermore an object of the present invention to identify the proximity routes/areas from all roads/areas which are un-patrolled but are in the visual vicinity of actual patrolling routes/areas.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a system for patrolling and monitoring of utility networks comprising a plurality of navigation devices to capture all geolocations of patrolled utility network routes; a geo-processing application server to retrieve all locations of the patrolled utility network from the navigation server database and land base data from a land base geo-data server data base; a monitoring device communicatively coupled with geo-processing application server to obtain process input data for defining a patrolled road/routes and integrate data of the patrolled road/routes to generate a patrolling route geometry and filter out unpatrolled road/routes; a display to display the thematic image representation of the patrolled road/routes and unpatrolled road/routes comprising the all location on a map; and a database management unit to manage usage and distribution of the stored data of utility geo-referenced data of network assets and land base data for finding patrolling route geometry and utilize the defined unpatrolled road/routes for patrolling performance monitoring.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a method for patrolling and monitoring of utility networks comprising defining a project area to be patrolled and monitored for a utility network; capturing all locations of patrolled utility networks from a plurality of navigation devices; retrieving, in a geo-processing application server, all locations of the patrolled utility network from a navigation server database and land base data from a land base geo-data server data base; obtaining, in a monitoring device, process input data from the geo-processing application server to define a patrolled road/routes; integrating the

obtained location with the GIS land base data to generate a thematic image representation of a patrolling route geometry; filtering out unpatrolled road routes; displaying the image representation of the patrolled and unpatrolled roads/routes; and managing usage and distribution of the stored data of utility geo-referenced data of network assets and land base data for finding patrolling route geometry and utilize the defined unpatrolled road/routes for patrolling performance monitoring.
These and other objects, embodiments and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the embodiments having reference to the attached figures, the invention not being limited to any particular embodiments disclosed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
The foregoing and further objects, features and advantages of the present subject matter will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals are used to represent like elements.
It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings along with the reference numerals illustrate only typical embodiments of the present subject matter, and are therefore, not to be considered for limiting of its scope, for the subject matter may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
FIGURE 1 illustrates an environment in which invention is implemented.
FIGURE 2 depicts a flowchart of a method for patrolling and monitoring of
utilities for in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Exemplary embodiments now will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey its scope to those skilled in the art. The terminology used in the detailed description of the particular exemplary embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings is not intended to be limiting. In the drawings, like numbers refer to like elements.
It is to be noted, however, that the reference numerals in claims illustrate only typical embodiments of the present subject matter, and are therefore, not to be considered for limiting of its scope, for the subject matter may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
The specification may refer to “an”, “one” or “some” embodiment(s) in several locations. This does not necessarily imply that each such reference is to the same embodiment(s), or that the feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments.
As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes”, “comprises”, “including” and/or “comprising” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or

intervening elements may be present. Furthermore, “connected” or “coupled” as used herein may include operatively connected or coupled. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations and arrangements of one or more of the associated listed items.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
The figures depict a simplified structure only showing some elements and functional entities, all being logical units whose implementation may differ from what is shown. The connections shown are logical connections; the actual physical connections may be different. It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that the structure may also comprise other functions and structures.
Also, all logical units described and depicted in the figures include the software and/or hardware components required for the unit to function. Further, each unit may comprise within itself one or more components which are implicitly understood. These components may be operatively coupled to each other and be configured to communicate with each other to perform the function of the said unit.
Figure 1 illustrates a system (10) and an environment in which the present invention is implemented. A project area is defined which has to be patrolled and monitored for a utility network. The chief element is a monitoring device (15) which communicates with at least one component of the system referred to as

‘Geo-processing application server' (12) to obtain geographic information. The geo-processing application server (12) retrieves current locations of the patrolled utility network from a navigation server database (14) and a land base data including map imagery and infrastructure retrieved from a land base geo-data server data base (16). The navigation server database further captures the current locations of the patrolled utility networks by a plurality of navigation devices (not shown in the figures) carried by patrolling persons in the field.
Further, the monitoring device (15) integrates an geodata of the patrolled road/routes with the all location to generate a thematic image representation of a route geometry and filter out unpatrolled road/routes. The route geometry comprises the location of the utility asset and the infrastructure on the map imagery.
Additionally, a display {15(1)} is coupled with the monitoring device to display the thematic image representation of the patrolled road/routes and unpatrolled road/routes comprising the current location on a moving map.
It further comprises a database management unit {15(2)} to manage usage and distribution of the stored route geometry for patrolling.
The invention, which works on actual data, assumes that the monitoring device (15) and Geo-processing application server (12) have access to databases especially, the ones of navigation and electrical & land. It must be noted here that retrieval of the data from the various databases may not be done without requiring any processing. Thus, the databases are a key part of the present system.
According to a preferred embodiment, the navigation device is enabled with Global Positioning system (GPS).

It would be well understood by a person skilled in the art that the databases and components of the invention are most often hosted in different computers which must be able to communicate (11) using standard protocols and interfaces such as the ones conforming to the OSI or 'Open Systems Interconnection' architecture which defines seven layers of communication protocols ranging from the physical layer to the application layer. In practice the TCP/IP protocol i.e.: 'Transmission Control Protocol over Internet Protocol' is largely used.
The computers hosting the software products and the databases needed to carry out the invention will generally include internal, as well as external storage means. Especially, the content of databases is most often housed in large disk units .
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the patrolling person (persons) carries a navigation device enabled with GPS and a wireless communication while patrolling for 100% coverage of routes/roads. The location data from the devices are continuously sent to the navigation server which captures the data in compatible format. On GIS (geo-processing) server the geo-referenced asset data such as electrical cables and power equipment or communication cable system or water pipes systems or sewage network is used for identifying all those roads/routes which cover them. The navigation data from the navigation server is used in GIS application server for creating the patrolling route geometry. This route geometry is used for comparing and identifying all those roads/routes which also cover the utility network. The balance roads/routes are those which are having utility network but are not covered by patrolling called herewith “Un-patrolled roads/routes”. Further, the system will filter out those roads/routes which are to be excluded from the actual patrolling activity as such will be excluded from “Un-patrolled roads/routes”. The roads/routes which are in the visual vicinity of the patrolled roads but are not to be physically patrolled are also filtered out from “Un-patrolled roads/routes”. The final output generated is

“Un-patrolled” roads/routes” which are used for identifying the asset details for capturing them in the monitoring report. Additionally, the details such as route/road name, locality details, road/route lengths and network components present on the route are captured in the report so as to assist the user managing patrolled and unpatrolled data. It further allows to decide priorities of corrective actions.
In accordance with another embodiment of the monitoring device, it includes an interface to obtain the input from the user for date range and the running of the system based on the disclosed method will give output in the form of monitoring report with percentage of routes patrolled in the form of numbers or lengths or as per user requirement.
Further, the location data from the navigation devices which are carried by patrolling person, are continuously sent over wireless communication system to the navigation server which captures the data in compatible format of navigation server.
Figure 2 depicts a flowchart of a method for patrolling and monitoring of utilities for in accordance with the present invention. Said method is implemented in a defined project area. In step 101, identifying network routes/roads, on GIS (geo-processing) application server, by processing a geo-referenced asset data such as electrical cables and power equipment or communication cable system or water pipes systems or sewage network and geo-referenced road/route data with use of GIS spatial interaction operation. In step 102, the navigation data from the navigation server is used in GIS application server for creating the patrolling route geometry. This route geometry is used for identifying all those roads/routes which also cover the utility network with use of GIS. In step 103, the balance roads/routes are those which are having utility network but are not covered by patrolling called herewith “Un-patrolled roads/routes”. In step 105, the exception input (inputs) to the system will filter out those roads/routes which are to be excluded from the actual patrolling activity as such will be excluded from “Un-

patrolled roads/routes” by GIS set-query compliment operation. In step 107, the roads/routes which are in the vicinity (as per different criteria and parameters) of the patrolled roads but are not actually patrolled are identified by GIS spatial interaction operation. They are further in step 108, filtered out from “Un-patrolled roads/routes” by GIS set-query compliment operation. Finally, in step 109, balance “Un-patrolled roads/routes” are used for identifying the asset details (GIS SPATIAL interaction operation and GIS attribute query for capturing in the monitoring report. The details such as route/road name, locality details, and network route system components present on the route are captured. An interface which will be designed to get the input from the user for date range and the running of the system based on the disclosed method will give output in the form of monitoring report with percentage of routes patrolled in the form of numbers or lengths or as per the user requirement. Secondly, different inputs for exceptions will be shown on GIS map with predefined color and style configuration on the backdrop of GIS map for easy understanding of the patrolling activity (104, 106, 110). Similarly regular interval evaluation report also will be automatically generated with predefined scheduler from GIS system thereby eliminating any manual intervention.
Further, the location data such as the geographic location coordinates eg. x, y coordinates representing longitude, latitude etc. are received over wireless communication system from the field navigation devices carried by patrolling person in the field. This data is used for finding out geographical coincident interactions with the location data of road feature geometry already available in GIS land base geo-data server. This method gives a set of those road records from all road records. Using the location data of all these road records, a temporary GIS feature and corresponding geometry is created using the GIS server’s available capabilities which will have typical locational data associated with it and will represent in GIS as equivalent path/route travelled by patrolling person. This data

of the temporary feature will be held in GIS server memory for further computation and evaluation.
The patrolling as an activity and in actual is done with different approaches of the user of the patrolling practice. This is mainly govern by factors like required accuracy for coverage of patrolling of the roads/routes, total roads to be covered daily or per shift, number of patrolling teams employed etc. For example if the road is two-way then for some users of the practice even the travelling by patrolling person by one way or by one side of the road/route also can be considered as “Patrolled road/route” but for some other users travelling by both ways or both sides of the road must be mandatory to consider the particular road/route as “Patrolled road/route”. For some users of the practice the “proximity roads/routes” mentioned as the “small” roads/ routes (sometime called as off-road) directly connected to the actual patrolled roads/routes also considered as “Patrolled road/routes” depending on the user’s presumption that these small roads can be “visually” patrolled by patrolling person by observing from the junction of the roads and without actually going or travelling these roads. Even the parameters of considering the road/route as “small” or proximity will also depend from user to user. For some users the road having length less than some prescribed max length can be a parameter for “small” road/route. For some users the width of some roads/routs less than prescribed max width can be also a parameter of “small” road/route. For some it can be combination of both and/or for some users it can be some different parameter of the road/route attribute. All such conditions and criteria parameters based on different patrolling criterias of patrolling can be modelled and can be processed in the GIS for filtering out the list. GIS tools like buffer analysis, spatial interaction, attribute query tools can be used for this activity.
The term “cables” and variations thereof, as used herein, can refer to a subsystem that transfers information and/or data between various components. A cable may refer to a part of a communication hardware that interfaces the communication

hardware with interconnects that connect to other components of the corresponding network. Further, a cable may also refer to a subsystem that transfers electricity from one place to other. The power distribution cables carry/ transfer bulk electric power from one distribution center to another and/or from one distribution center to the consumer. These are mainly laid underground the roads, footpaths or other public and/or private areas.
The term “communication unit” or “transceiver” and variations thereof, as used herein, can refer to a collection of communication components capable of one or more of transmission, relay, interconnect, control, or otherwise manipulate information or data from at least one transmitter to at least one receiver. As such, the communication may include a range of systems supporting point-to-point or broadcasting of the information or data. A communication system may refer to the collection individual communication hardware as well as interconnects associated with and connecting the individual communication hardware. Communication hardware may refer to dedicated communication hardware or may refer a processor coupled with a communication means (i.e., an antenna) and running software capable of using the communication means to send and/or receive a signal within the communication system. Interconnect refers some type of wired or wireless communication link that connects various components, such as communication hardware, within a communication system. A communication network may refer to a specific setup of a communication system with the collection of individual communication hardware and interconnects having some definable network topography. A communication network may include wired and/or wireless network having a pre-set to an ad hoc network structure.
The term “final unpatrolled” routes/roads are all those routes/roads which are not physically patrolled and which are also not the part of the exception list from the user of the practice and also not coming under “Different patrolling criteria”. All these “final unpatrolled” roads/routes are the balance roads/routs filtered out at 105 and 108 from physical un-patrolled roads/routes at 103. The exception list can

be the pre-identified list of those route/roads which are not to be patrolled may be due to some reason such as some different mechanism is already in place which assures 100% patrolling for those roads or can be the pre-identified list of those route/roads which are under “Restricted/sensitive” area/zone and are ensured to be 100% patrolled as per user of the practice.
The term “GIS” refers to Geographic Information System, a generic term for a spatial database in which the spatial information is linked to Geo coordinates. Similarly, GPS refers to the Global Positioning System in which satellite-based radio systems, typically satellite-based, provide three-dimensional position and time information to which suitably equipped receivers anywhere on or near the surface of the Earth compute their global position, velocity and orientation (heading). While GIS is used as the preferred universal uniform spatial reference frame, it should be understood from the description that other spatial reference frames are possible.
In an advantageous embodiment, the present invention provides a system and method for cost-effective and efficient patrolling and monitoring of utilities which thereby ensures 100% coverage of patrolling and thereby reducing the incidents of omission and of serious events and situations.
In addition to the above, the present invention also generate a comprehensive monitoring reports and providing thematic representation for criticality of particular patrolling routes/areas.
As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the present invention may be embodied as a method, and apparatus. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, a software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects.
It will be understood that each block of the block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be

provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention. Although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined by the following claims.
We claim:
1. A system (10) for patrolling and monitoring of utility networks comprising:
a plurality of navigation devices to capture all geolocations of patrolled utility network routes;
a geo-processing application server (12) to retrieve all locations of the patrolled utility network from the navigation server database (14) and land base data from a land base geo-data server (16);
a monitoring device (15) communicatively coupled with geo-processing application server (12) to obtain process input data for defining a patrolled road/routes and integrate data of the patrolled road/routes to generate a patrolling route geometry and filter out unpatrolled road/routes;

a display {15(1)} to display the thematic image representation of the patrolled road/routes and unpatrolled road/routes comprising all location on a map; and
a database management unit {15(2)) to manage usage and distribution of the stored data of utility geo-referenced data of network assets and land base data for finding patrolling route geometry and utilize the defined unpatrolled road/routes for patrolling performance monitoring.
2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of navigation devices are carried by patrolling person in the field.
3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said navigation device is enabled with Global Positioning system (GPS).
4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said land base data comprises geo-referenced map data and infrastructure.
5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said route geometry created and comprises the location of the utility asset and the infrastructure on the map.
6. A method for patrolling and monitoring of utility networks comprising:
defining a project area to be patrolled and monitored for a utility network;
capturing all locations of patrolled utility networks from a plurality of navigation devices ;

retrieving, in a geo-processing application server (12), all locations of the patrolled utility network from a navigation server database (14) and land base data from a land base geo-data server data base (16);
obtaining, in a monitoring device (15), process input data from the geo-processing application server (12) to define a patrolled road/routes and unpatrolled road/routes;
integrating the obtained location with the GIS land base data to generate a thematic image representation of a patrolling route geometry;
filtering out unpatrolled road routes;
displaying the image representation of the patrolled and unpatrolled roads/routes; and
managing usage and distribution of the stored of the stored data of utility geo-referenced data of network assets and land base data for finding patrolling route geometry and utilize the defined unpatrolled road/routes for patrolling performance monitoring .
7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said plurality of navigation devices are carried by patrolling person in the field.
8. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said navigation device is enabled with Global Positioning system (GPS).
9. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said land base data comprises geo-referenced map and infrastructure data.

10. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said patrolling route geometry comprises the location of the utility asset and the infrastructure on the map.