SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM FOR TRACKING A RAILYARD INVENTORY
First Claim
1. A system for tracking a vehicle inventory in a staging yard wherein a plurality of the vehicles are connected in a series and are moved and arranged on a plurality of designated pathways in the staging yard by a powered vehicle, the system comprising:
- a plurality of sensors positioned in the staging yard, wherein each sensor is associated with a designated pathway in the staging yard for detecting a vehicle entering or exiting the pathway and transmits one or more signals indicating the vehicle has entered or exited the pathway and an identification of the associated pathway; and
one or more controllers having data relative to the connected series of vehicles in the staging yard, said data comprising a total number of vehicles in the series and a sequence in which the vehicles are linked together and identified relative to a reference vehicle;
wherein the one or more controllers, responsive to movement of the vehicles in the staging yard and to the signals received from the sensors, store in a memory the number of vehicles from the connected series having entered or exited each pathway in the staging yard, and the sequence in which the vehicles are arranged on each pathway in the staging yard.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for tracking a rail yard inventory may be incorporated in a rail yard that has a plurality of tracks on which a plurality of railcars in a train are moved and arranged wherein each track is associated with a destination of the railcars on the track. A controller, responsive to signals from sensors, counts the number of railcars that enter and exit a track to determine if railcars have been added or removed from the train. The controller updates the railcar sequence in the train and a database having data relative to the location of each railcar in the rail yard and sequence in which railcars are linked on a track.
26 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A system for tracking a vehicle inventory in a staging yard wherein a plurality of the vehicles are connected in a series and are moved and arranged on a plurality of designated pathways in the staging yard by a powered vehicle, the system comprising:
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a plurality of sensors positioned in the staging yard, wherein each sensor is associated with a designated pathway in the staging yard for detecting a vehicle entering or exiting the pathway and transmits one or more signals indicating the vehicle has entered or exited the pathway and an identification of the associated pathway; and one or more controllers having data relative to the connected series of vehicles in the staging yard, said data comprising a total number of vehicles in the series and a sequence in which the vehicles are linked together and identified relative to a reference vehicle; wherein the one or more controllers, responsive to movement of the vehicles in the staging yard and to the signals received from the sensors, store in a memory the number of vehicles from the connected series having entered or exited each pathway in the staging yard, and the sequence in which the vehicles are arranged on each pathway in the staging yard. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for tracking a rail yard inventory that includes a plurality of railcars moved and arranged on a plurality of tracks within rail yard and each track is associated with a destination of the railcars on the track, the method comprising:
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providing data relating to a train in the rail yard, the data comprising a total number of railcars in the train, an identifier for each railcar in the train, and a sequence in which the railcars are linked together;
counting the number of railcars that enter and exit each track in the rail yard;identifying each railcar that enters and exits each track in the rail yard; and
,storing in a memory;
(i) for each track in the rail yard, data relative to the number of railcars in the train having entered and exited a track in the rail yard, the identifier for each railcar having entered and exited the track, and the sequence in which railcars are arranged remaining on the track after the railcars have exited the track; and
(ii) the sequence in which railcars are linked in the train. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer readable memory medium that stores a program for tracking a rail yard inventory that includes a plurality of railcars moved and arranged on a plurality of tracks within rail yard and each track is associated with a destination of the railcars on the track, the computer program comprising:
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a computer module for providing data relative to a train in the rail yard, the data comprising a total number of railcars in the train, an identifier for each railcar in the train, and a sequence in which the railcars are linked together; a computer module for counting the number of railcars that enter and exit each track in the rail yard; a computer module for identifying each railcar that enters and exits each track in the rail yard; and
,a computer module for storing in a memory;
(i) for each track in the rail yard, data relative to the number of railcars in the train having entered and exited a track in the rail yard, the identifier for each railcar having entered and exited the track, and the sequence in which railcars are arranged remaining on the track after the railcars have exited the track; and
(ii) the sequence in which railcars are linked in the train. - View Dependent Claims (20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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21. The computer readable memory medium of claim 21, further comprising a computer module for updating the memory and data in the memory relative to the number of railcars in the train having entered and exited a track in the rail yard, the identifier for each railcar having entered and exited the track, the sequence in which the railcars are linked together in the train, and the sequence in which the railcars are linked remaining on the track each time a train adds railcars to the train or drops railcars from the train.
Specification