Multilingual code receivers

• US 4,885,689 A
• Filed: 04/22/1987
• Issued: 12/05/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/1987
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation
• Original Assignee: Pulse Electronics Incorporated (Yageo Corporation)
• Inventors: Shockley, James F., Kane, Mark E., Eck, Henry H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lall, Parshotam S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRANS, VINCENT N
• Application Number:
  US07/041,089
• Time in Patent Office: 958 Days
• Field of Search: 246/1 C, 246/7, 246/8, 246/167 R, 340/870.01, 340/870.4, 340/825.13, 375/121, 455/142, 455/143, 370/79, 379/97, 379/93, 364/424
• US Class Current: 701/19
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 1/14 Devices for indicating the passing of the end of the vehicle or train

Abstract

A telemetry receiver which is capable of automatically recognizing certain incompatible code formats and correctly decoding received data from a remotely located telemetry transmitter is disclosed. The specific embodiment is an end of train receiver mounted in the cab of a locomotive which receives encoded transmissions, including encoded brake pipe pressure data, a transmitter mounted on the last car of a train. The receiver permits telemetry equipment to be "mixed-and-matched"; that is, the receiver in the locomotive will respond to the transmissions of a telemetry transmitter attached to the last car of the train no matter what the vendor source. The telemetry receiver is provided with a microprocessor which analyzes the received transmission. The microprocessor is programmed to recognize certain known transmission protocols and formats and then invoke the correct routine for decoding the received data.

Claims

1. A multilingual code receiver for use with end-of-train telemetry systems, said receiving means receiving and correctly decoding different data message formats from a remotely located end-of-train telemetry transmitter, said receiver comprising:

radio frequency receiving means for receiving data from said remotely located end-of-train telemetry transmitter;

means connected to said radio frequency receiving means for scanning a bit stream of said received data and determining which of said different data message formats has been received;

means responsive to said scanning means for extracting data from the received data message according to a detected data message format as determined by said scanning means; and

means for decoding and processing extracted data.

3. A multi-lingual code receiver as recited in claim 1 further comprising identification code means connected as an input to said central processing means for providing an input corresponding to a unique identification code associated with a single telemetry transmitter.

2. A multilingual code receiver for use with end-of-train telemetry systems, said receiver receiving and correctly decoding at least two different data message formats from a remotely located end-of-train telemetry transmitter, said receiver comprising:

radio frequency receiving means for receiving transmissions from said transmitter and providing a digital bit stream output;

central processing means connected to said radio frequency receiving means for buffering said digital bit stream output, said central processing means being programmed to scan a buffered digital bit stream to determine which of said different data message formats was used to transmit data and then to extract, decode and process data according to a detected data message format; and

output means connected to said central processing means for providing an output in response to processed data.

4. A receiver and decoding unit for use in end-of-train telemetry systems, said receiver and decoding unit being controlled by a central processing unit under the control of a stored program for automatically detecting which of several different data message formats have been received from a remote end-of-train telemetry transmitter, said central processing unit performing the following steps:

scanning a bit stream of the received data to determine which of said different data message formats was used to transmit the data;

extracting the data according to the detected data message format; and

decoding and processing the extracted data.

5. An end of train telemetry receiver mounted in a locomotive cab capable of correctly decoding encoded transmissions from a variety of end-of-train telemetry transmitters which can be mounted at an end of the train but which can use different transmission protocols or data formats, said receiver comprising a microprocessor, a read only memory and a random access memory, said read only memory storing a program for controlling said microprocessor, said microprocessor operating under the control of said program and reading and writing data to said random access memory, said microprocessor functioning under said program to analyze a bit stream of a received transmission to determine which transmission protocol or data format was used to transmit data and then to decode the received transmission.

6. The multi-lingual receiver as recited in claim 5 further comprising identification input means connected to said microprocessor for inputting a unique identification number corresponding to a specific telemetry transmitter mounted at the end of the train.

7. The multi-lingual receiver as recited in claim 5 further comprising audio and visual output means connected to said microprocessor for supplying audio and visual output signals according to the decoded received data.