Method and system for providing redundancy in railroad communication equipment

• US 20050137759A1
• Filed: 08/10/2004
• Published: 06/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Global Sourcing LLC (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Kraeling, Mark Bradshaw, Wheeler, Mark, Staton, Brian Lee, Foy, Robert James, Peltz, David Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,783,397 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/19
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 3/127 for remote control of locomotives remote control of locomotives within a train consist B61C17/12

Abstract

A railway communication system (10) includes a transmitter (12) receiving an input and producing a communication signal (18). The communication signal (18) includes at least two different portions (20,22) for separately encoding respective indications (38,40) of the input. The system also includes a receiver (14) coupled to a controlled device, the receiver (14) extracting at least one of the respective indications (38,40) from the communication signal (18). The receiver controls the device responsive to the at least one extracted indications (38,40).

Claims

1. A railway communication system comprising:

an operator control unit (OCU) comprising a first processor and a second processor for embedding media access data and application data respectively into a message;

the first OCU processor responsive to a first operator input device for encoding a first data string into the message;

the second OCU processor responsive to a second operator input device redundant to the first operator input device for encoding a second data string into the message;

a locomotive control unit (LCU) comprising a first processor and a second processor for decoding the media access data and application data respectively from the message;

a first device of a locomotive responsive to the first LCU processor for performing a function upon receipt of the first data string; and

a second device of the locomotive, redundant to the first device, responsive to the second LCU processor for performing the function upon receipt of the second data string.

2. A railway communication system comprising:

a transmitter comprising at least two transmitter processors, each transmitter processor separately receiving an input and together producing a communication signal comprising at least two different portions for separately encoding respective indications of the input; and

a receiver comprising at least two receiver processors, each receiver processor coupled to a respective controlled device, at least one of the receiver processors extracting one of the respective indications from the communication signal and controlling the device responsive to at least one of the extracted indications.

3. A railway communication method comprising:

receiving a plurality of separate indications of an input in a plurality of separate processors of a transmitter;

separately encoding the respective indications in different portions of a communication signal;

transmitting the communication signal from the transmitter and receiving the communication signal in a receiver;

separately extracting the respective indications from the communication signal in a plurality of separate processors of the receiver; and

controlling a device responsive to at least one of the respective extracted indications.

4. A railway communication system comprising:

a communication signal comprising at least two different portions for separately encoding signal identification information; and

a receiver comprising at least two processors, each processor separately responsive to a respective one of the at least two different portions of the communication signal;

each processor measuring a predetermined time period from a detection of respective signal identification information and each processor determining if subsequently received respective signal identification information is detected within the predetermined time period to confirm that the receiver is receiving communication signals at a desired reception rate.

5. A railway communication system comprising:

a transmitter comprising at least two processors, each processor separately providing respective transmitter identifiers;

a communication signal comprising at least two different portions for separately encoding the respective transmitter identifiers; and

a receiver comprising at least two receiver processors, each of the receiver processors detecting separate ones of the respective transmitter identifiers to identify the transmitter.

6. In a railway communication system utilizing multiple processors for encoding both media access and application information into a single message data stream, a method of providing redundancy for a safety-critical function without the need for transmitting completely redundant safety-critical messages enabling the safety-critical function, the method comprising:

using a first of the multiple processors but not a second of the processors to encode first safety critical data into the message; and

using the second of the multiple processors but not the first of the processors to encode second safety critical data redundant with the first safety critical data into the message.

7. A railway communication system comprising:

a transmitter receiving an input and producing a communication signal comprising at least two different portions for separately encoding respective indications of the input; and

a receiver coupled to a controlled device, the receiver extracting at least one of the respective indications from the communication signal and controlling the device responsive to the at least one of the extracted indications.

8. The communication system of claim 7, the transmitter further comprising at least two transmitter processors, each transmitter processor separately receiving the input and encoding the respective indications of the input in the different portions of the communication signal.

9. The communication system of claim 7, the receiver further comprising at least two receiver processors, each receiver processor coupled to a respective controlled device, at least one of the receiver processors extracting one of the respective indications from the communication signal.