Vital processing system adapted for the continuous verification of vital outputs from a railway signaling and control system
First Claim
1. The method of testing a signaling channel of a system having an operating cycle which comprises the steps of generating a plurality of successive words during substantially all of each of a plurality of successive subcycles of said cycle to produce pluralities of words in each of said subcycles, inputting said pluralities of words into and outputting said pluralities of words from said channel throughout said operating cycle to produce pluralities of outputted words continuously throughout said cycle, each plurality of said pluralities of said outputted words being produced during a different one of said subcycles, compiling the pluralities of outputted words into output words which reflect the format of each said plurality of outputted words and the effect thereon of said channel, and verifying the operation of said channel from said output words.
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Abstract
Continuous verification of vital (fail-safe) outputs from an information processing system is obtained without the need for large computing capacity (overhead). Multibit test sequences are provided continuously during successive subparts of the processor system cycle to vital output interfaces which invert the bits of the signals or do not pass them depending upon the state of the output. A compiler including a random access memory (RAM) addressed by a read only memory (ROM) is configured to divide each sequence by direct and inverse polynomials on alternately occurring parts of the system cycle to provide compressed data. After each part of the system cycle, checkwords are constructed using the resultant compressed data corresponding to each output which must be proven to be in its `off` state. These checkwords are used to verify the vital operation of the system and may be applied to a vital decoder which controls the application of operating power to the output interfaces to disconnect operating power therefrom and condition the outputs to the restrictive state upon detection of a failure which may occur at any time during the entire system cycle.
26 Citations
21 Claims
- 1. The method of testing a signaling channel of a system having an operating cycle which comprises the steps of generating a plurality of successive words during substantially all of each of a plurality of successive subcycles of said cycle to produce pluralities of words in each of said subcycles, inputting said pluralities of words into and outputting said pluralities of words from said channel throughout said operating cycle to produce pluralities of outputted words continuously throughout said cycle, each plurality of said pluralities of said outputted words being produced during a different one of said subcycles, compiling the pluralities of outputted words into output words which reflect the format of each said plurality of outputted words and the effect thereon of said channel, and verifying the operation of said channel from said output words.
- 10. The method of testing a signalling channel of a system having an operating cycle which comprises the steps of generating a plurality of successive words during each of a plurality of successive parts of said cycle to produce pluralities of words, inputting said pluralities of words into and outputting said pluralities of words from said channel throughout the operating cycle to produce pluralities of outputted words continuously throughout said cycle, compiling the pluralities of outputted words into output words which reflect the format of said plurality of words and the effect thereon the said channel, said compiling step including the step of dividing each word of said plurality of outputted words by a polynomial to provide each of said output words, said dividing step being carried out with the aid of a RAM having storage for the bits of each of said words in different locations thereof by presenting each bit of each of said outputted words and conducting a plurality of exclusive or logical operations in sequence utilizing each bit of said outputted words and the bits stored in the locations of said RAM selected in accordance with said polynomial and shifting the locations upon presentation of a successive bit of said outputted word, and verifying the operation of said channel from said output words.
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15. In a vital information processing system adapted for railway signaling and control operations and having means for detecting the state of the outputs therefrom, a system for vital verification of the state of the outputs from the processing system continuously during each processing system cycle, said verification system comprising means for generating a plurality of input word sequences, each of said input said sequences containing a plurality of unique multibit input words, repeatedly during substantially all of each of a plurality of successive subcycles of the system cycle;
- means for transmitting said input word sequences through said detecting means for providing during each of said subcycles a plurality of sequences of outputted words corresponding to said input word sequences and dependent upon the state of the outputs;
means for compiling each of said sequences of outputted words into a multibit output word for each of said sequence of outputted words, the value of which depends upon the absence or presence of a failure mode in the system, for use in said processing system to verify that the state of said outputs is vital.
- means for transmitting said input word sequences through said detecting means for providing during each of said subcycles a plurality of sequences of outputted words corresponding to said input word sequences and dependent upon the state of the outputs;
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16. In a vital information processing system adapted for railway signaling and control operations and having means for detecting the state of the outputs therefrom, a system for vital verification of the state of the outputs from the processing system continuously during each processing system cycle, said verification system comprising means for generating a plurality of input word sequences, each of said input word sequences containing a plurality of unique multibit words, repeatedly during each of a plurality of successive parts of the system cycle;
- means for transmitting said input word sequences through said detecting means for providing a plurality of sequences of outputted words corresponding to said input word sequences and dependent upon the state of the outputs;
means for compiling each of said sequences of outputted words into a multibit output word for each of said sequences of output words, the value of which depends upon the abscence or presence of a failure mode in the system, for use in said processing system to verify that the state of the outputs is vital, and said compiling means comprising means for dividing each sequence of outputted words in each plurality of sequences by at least one polynomial. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
- means for transmitting said input word sequences through said detecting means for providing a plurality of sequences of outputted words corresponding to said input word sequences and dependent upon the state of the outputs;
Specification