Method for managing the circulation of vehicles on a railway network and related system
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
This method includes, the railway network being subdivided into resources (1 to 5) whereof the state is driven by a ground controller (11), and each vehicle including an onboard controller (21) capable of communicating with the ground controller (11), of:
- planning, by a regulating unit (31), of a vehicle'"'"'s mission;
- transmitting said mission to the vehicle (20), the onboard controller of which:
- identifies a group of resources permitting the vehicle to continue its mission;
- reserves the identified resources with the ground controllers;
- once all of the resources are allocated, interlocks each resource in a required state;
- verifies that each resource is reserved and is in the required state; and, when this verification is positive,
- extends permission for the vehicle to move on the path corresponding to said group of resources.
54 Citations
36 Claims
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1-18. -18. (canceled)
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19. A method for managing circulation of vehicles on a railway network, the network being subdivided into a plurality of resources, each resource having an allocation state, assuming the value “
- allocated”
or “
unallocated,” and
having an interlocking state, assuming one value from among a plurality of predetermined values, one or several of the resources being driven by a ground controller equipped for wireless communication, a regulating unit capable of planning all of movements of the vehicles circulating on the network, and being connected to fixed base stations, on the ground, being equipped for wireless communication, and each vehicle circulating on the network including an onboard controller equipped for wireless communication permitting communication with the ground controllers and base stations connected to the regulating unit, the method comprising;planning, by the regulating unit, of a mission assigned to a vehicle; transmitting the mission from the regulating unit to the onboard controller of the vehicle; identifying, by the onboard controller of the vehicle and for a given time slot of the mission, a group of resources that, on condition each of the resources being allocated to the vehicle and being in a required interlocking state, would permit the vehicle to continue said mission, by using a path on the network corresponding to the group of identified resources; reserving the identified resources by implementing a predetermined protocol in the onboard controller requiring, from each of the ground controllers associated with the resources of the group of identified resources, the specific allocation of the resource to the vehicle; then, once all of the resources of the group have been allocated to the vehicle, interlocking the resources by implementing a further predetermined protocol of the onboard controller requiring, from each of the ground controllers associated with the resources of the group of allocated resources, modification of the interlocking state of the resource in compliance with the required interlocking states; verifying, by the onboard controller of the vehicle, that each of the resources of the group of identified resources has been allocated to the vehicle and is in the required interlocking state; and
,when the result of the verifying step is affirmative, extending authorization, by the onboard controller, for the vehicle to move on the path of the network corresponding to the group of identified resources, allocated and correctly interlocked. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
- allocated”
-
27. A controller onboard a vehicle circulating on a railway network subdivided into a plurality of resources that respectively have an allocation state, assuming the value “
- allocated”
or “
unallocated,” and
an interlocking state, assuming one value from amongst a plurality of predetermined values, each resource of the network being associated with a single ground controller, each ground controller including;
radio communications;
a processor permitting allocation of the associated resource and ordering a change in the interlocking state of the associated resource;
a driver capable of determining the instantaneous interlocking state of the associated resource and, on command by the processor, driving the associated resource according to interlocking parameters of a received interlocking request, the onboard controller comprising;onboard controller radio communications permitting exchange of messages between the onboard controller and the ground controllers; an identifier permitting identification of a group of resources that, on condition of each of the resources being allocated to the vehicle and being in a requested interlocking state, would permit the vehicle to continue a mission, by taking a path on the network corresponding to the group of identified resources, the mission being managed by a regulating unit including a planner so as to manage, on a network scale, movements of the vehicle and any other vehicles and to create a mission for each of the vehicle and any other vehicles, the regulating unit being connected to fixed base stations, on the ground, including a wireless communications permitting communication with the onboard controller to transmit the mission assigned to the vehicle; an allocator and releaser permitting, from a group of identified resources, generation of resource allocation requests intended to be sent to the ground controllers associated with the identified resources, and processing of resource allocation responses coming from the ground controllers, and permitting, from a group of allocated resources, generation of resource interlocking requests, which include interlocking parameters, intended to be sent to the ground controllers associated with the allocated resources, and processing of resource interlocking responses coming from the ground controllers; and a verifier permitting verification that all of the resources of a group of identified resources have been allocated to said vehicle and that all of the resources of a group of allocated resources are in the requested interlocking state. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 36)
- allocated”
-
33. A ground controller capable of being associated with at least one resource of a railway network subdivided into a plurality of resources that respectively have an allocation state, assuming the value “
- allocated”
or “
unallocated,” and
an interlocking state, assuming one value from amongst a plurality of predetermined values, and, onboard a train circulating on the network, an onboard controller including radio communications and an allocator and releaser permitting generation of a resource allocation request intended to be sent to the ground controller, or a resource interlocking request including interlocking parameters and intended to be sent to the ground controller, the ground controller comprising;radio communications capable of receiving an allocation or interlocking request for the resource associated with the ground controller; a processor capable of allocating the associated resource in compliance with a received allocation request and ordering a modification of the interlocking state of the associated resource in compliance with a received interlocking request; and a driver capable of determining the instantaneous interlocking state of the associated resource and, upon command from the processor, driving the associated resource according to the interlocking parameters of the interlocking request. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35)
- allocated”
Specification