Method and apparatus for determining wagon order in a train
First Claim
1. A method for determining the order of wagons in a train, said method comprising:
- Configuring a plurality of wagons of a train to sense at least one environmental condition that said wagons are respectively exposed to when said train is moving;
Configuring said wagons to generate a corresponding announcement message in response to a change in state of said environmental condition;
Configuring a first wagon of said train to listen for said announcement message generated by any of said plurality of wagons; and
Configuring said first wagon to compute a sequence of said announcement messages from an order in which said wagons have been heard.
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for determining the order of wagons in a train. The invention configures a plurality of wagons of a train to sense at least one environmental condition that the wagons are respectively exposed to when the train is moving. The invention configures the wagons to generate a corresponding announcement message in response to a change in state of the environmental condition. The invention configures the first wagon of the train to listen for the announcement message generated by any of the plurality of wagons. The invention configures the first wagon to compute a sequence of the announcement messages from an order in which the wagons have been heard.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for determining the order of wagons in a train, said method comprising:
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Configuring a plurality of wagons of a train to sense at least one environmental condition that said wagons are respectively exposed to when said train is moving; Configuring said wagons to generate a corresponding announcement message in response to a change in state of said environmental condition; Configuring a first wagon of said train to listen for said announcement message generated by any of said plurality of wagons; and Configuring said first wagon to compute a sequence of said announcement messages from an order in which said wagons have been heard. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19)
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17. An apparatus for determining the order of wagons in a train, said apparatus comprising:
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at least one of a sensor operable to sense at least one of an environmental condition that a wagon is exposed to when a train is moving; at least one of a transmitter operable to generate an announcement message in response to a change in a state of said environmental condition being sensed by said sensor; at least one of a receiver operable to listen for said respective announcement messages generated by other said wagons of said train; and at least one of a data-processor operable to compute a sequence of said announcement messages from an order in which they have been heard by said receiver.
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20. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for determining the order of wagons in a train, the method comprising the steps of:
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Configuring a plurality of wagons of a train to sense at least one environmental condition that said wagons are respectively exposed to when said train is moving; Configuring said wagons to generate a corresponding announcement message in response to a change in state of said environmental condition; Configuring a first wagon of said train to listen for said announcement message generated by any of said plurality of wagons; and Configuring said first wagon to compute a sequence of said announcement messages from an order in which said wagons have been heard.
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Specification