RAILROAD YARD INVENTORY CONTROL SYSTEM
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A railroad yard inventory control system comprising:
- a) a tag reader with a reader antenna and cooperating transmitting circuitry for transmitting carrier radio waves to a radio frequency identification tag on a railcar, said radio frequency identification tag comprising a tag antenna and cooperating data storage and radio frequency modulation circuitry for receiving and modulating said carrier radio waves, whereby data stored in said tag circuitry is transmitted via said modulated radio waves, b) said tag reader further including cooperating receiving circuitry connected to said reader antenna for receiving said modulated radio waves from said radio frequency identification tag, c) means for decoding railroad car data transmitted via said modulated radio waves, d) a data processing computer remote from said tag reader; and
e) means for transmitting said decoded data to said remote data processing computer, said data processing computer including software for receiving said decoded data and processing said data to generate a listing of railroad cars associated with said railroad car data.
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Abstract
A system for tracking railcar identification and location within a rail yard including readers positioned near rail yard switches and remotely connected to a system data processing computer, typically a PC. The readers include antennas for interrogating RFID tags attached to railcars with radio waves. Identification data obtained from the RFID tags is transmitted from the readers to the system PC via electrical power lines within the rail yard. Processing of the data to standard T-94 format is shifted from the readers to the system PC thereby reducing the processing capability required at each reader.
31 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A railroad yard inventory control system comprising:
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a) a tag reader with a reader antenna and cooperating transmitting circuitry for transmitting carrier radio waves to a radio frequency identification tag on a railcar, said radio frequency identification tag comprising a tag antenna and cooperating data storage and radio frequency modulation circuitry for receiving and modulating said carrier radio waves, whereby data stored in said tag circuitry is transmitted via said modulated radio waves, b) said tag reader further including cooperating receiving circuitry connected to said reader antenna for receiving said modulated radio waves from said radio frequency identification tag, c) means for decoding railroad car data transmitted via said modulated radio waves, d) a data processing computer remote from said tag reader; and
e) means for transmitting said decoded data to said remote data processing computer, said data processing computer including software for receiving said decoded data and processing said data to generate a listing of railroad cars associated with said railroad car data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A rail yard inventory control system comprising:
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a) a radio frequency identification tag reader, said reader comprising at least one antenna directed toward a respective track segment for generating a radio signal of sufficient intensity to interrogate a radio frequency identification tag on a railcar, said reader including means for decoding radio signals received from said tag into a data comprising computer-readable character encoding and means for assembling said decoded data into data packets, b) at least one system computer remote from said tag reader; and
c) means for transmitting said data packets from said reader to said at least one system computer via a power line communications gateway. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16)
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14. A rail yard inventory control system comprising:
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a) a radio frequency identification tag reader, said reader comprising;
i) a first antenna directed toward a first track segment and a second antenna directed toward a second track segment, each of said antennas for generating a radio signal of sufficient intensity to interrogate a radio frequency identification tag on a railcar, ii) signal-translation circuitry for decoding radio signals received from said tag into a data comprising computer-readable character encoding and means for assembling said decoded data into data packets, iii) multiplexer circuitry selectively switching communication with said signal-translation circuitry between said first and second antennas;
iv) a first power line transceiver integral with said reader for transmitting said data packets over an electrical power line; and
v) controller circuitry controlling operation of said multiplexer circuitry and acting as a communications gateway between said signal-translation circuitry and said first power line transceiver;
b) at least one system computer remote from said tag reader; and
c) an electrical power line interfaced with said first power line transceiver to receive said data packet from said first transceiver and carry said data packets to a remote second power line transceiver interfaced with said at least one system computer. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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Specification