Remote control system for a locomotive using voice commands

• US 20030097210A1
• Filed: 12/23/2002
• Published: 05/22/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cattron North America, Inc. (Cattron Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CANAC Incorporated
• Inventors: Horst, Folkert, Georgiev, Stephan P., Mattar, Brigide
• Granted Patent: US 6,799,098 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/19
• CPC Class Codes: B61C 17/12 Control gear; Arrangements for controlling locomotives from remote points in the train or when operating in multiple units control from points outside the train B61L3/00; fluid-actuated telemotors, servomotors F15B; control devices in general G05
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 17/00 Switching systems for classification yards
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 3/127 for remote control of locomotives remote control of locomotives within a train consist B61C17/12
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence

Abstract

A remote control system for a locomotive. The remote control system includes a lead controller and follower controller connected to one another over a wireless communication link. The lead controller issues commands over the wireless communication link and those commands are implemented by the follower controller mounted on-board the locomotive. The lead controller is responsive to voice commands uttered by the operator.

Claims

1. A follower controller module adapted for mounting on board a locomotive, said follower controller module comprising a processing module operative for:

a) receiving a signal indicative of a spoken utterance;

b) generating in response to the signal received in a) data indicative of a command to be executed by the locomotive;

c) said follower controller module being responsive to the data indicative of a command to be executed by the locomotive for generating local control signals for issuing to the locomotive so as to cause the locomotive to execute the command.

2. A follower controller module as defined in claim 1, wherein said processing module comprises a communication link interface suitable for receiving a signal indicative of a spoken utterance over a wireless link.

3. A follower controller module as defined in claim 2, wherein the wireless link is a radio frequency link.

4. A follower controller module as defined in claim 2, wherein said processing module includes a speech recognition engine to generate data indicative of at least one vocabulary item as being a match to the spoken utterance.

5. A follower controller module as defined in claim 4, wherein the data indicative of the at least one vocabulary item is an orthographic representation of the at least one vocabulary item.

6. A follower controller module as defined in claim 4, wherein said processing module includes a speech recognition dictionary including a plurality of vocabulary items, said speech recognition engine being coupled to said speech recognition dictionary and being operative to identify amongst the plurality of vocabulary items at least one vocabulary item that is a potential match to the spoken utterance.

7. A follower controller module as defined in claim 6, said follower controller module being adapted to transmit a signal to a lead controller to cause the vocabulary item selected by the speech recognition engine to be conveyed to a human operator.

8. A follower controller module as defined in claim 7, wherein said processing module includes a text-to-speech converter adapted for processing the vocabulary item selected by the speech recognition engine to generate a synthetic audio representation of the vocabulary item, said follower controller module being adapted to transmit a signal to a lead controller indicative of synthetic audio representation of the vocabulary item to cause the vocabulary item selected by the speech recognition engine to be conveyed to a human operator.

9. A follower controller module as defined in claim 7, wherein said processing module includes a command validation unit adapted for validating the data indicative of at least one vocabulary item as being a match to the spoken utterance

10. A follower controller module as defined in claim 9, wherein the signal derived from a spoken utterance is a first signal, said follower controller being adapted for receiving a second signal indicative of a confirmation signal, said command validation unit being operative to validate the vocabulary item selected as being a match to the spoken utterance at least in part on the basis of the second signal.

11. A remote control system for a locomotive, comprising:

a) a portable lead controller module;

b) a follower controller module mounted onboard a locomotive;

c) a processing module;

d) said lead controller module and said processing module being operative to establish a wireless communication link therebetween for exchanging data;

e) said lead controller module being operative to;

i) receive a signal derived from a spoken utterance;

ii) transmit the signal derived from a spoken utterance over the wireless communication link to said processing module;

f) said processing module being operative to;

i) receive from the lead controller the signal derived from a spoken utterance;

ii) in response to the signal derived from a spoken utterance, generate data indicative of a command to be executed by the locomotive;

iii) transmit data indicative of the command to be executed by the locomotive to the follower controller module;

g) said follower controller module being responsive to the data indicative of a command to be executed by the locomotive for generating local control signals for application to the locomotive to cause the locomotive to execute the command.

12. A remote control system as defined in claim 11, wherein said processing module comprises a communication link interface suitable for receiving the signal indicative of a spoken utterance from the lead controller over the wireless communication link.

13. A remote control system as defined in claim 12, wherein the wireless communication link is a radio frequency link.

14. A remote control system for a locomotive as defined in claim 11, wherein said processing module includes a speech recognition engine to generate data indicative of at least one vocabulary item as being a match to the spoken utterance.

15. A remote control system for a locomotive as defined in claim 14, wherein the data indicative of at least one vocabulary item as being a match to the spoken utterance is an orthographic representation of the at least one vocabulary item.

16. A remote control system for a locomotive as defined in claim 15, wherein said processing module includes a speech recognition dictionary including a plurality of vocabulary items, said speech recognition engine being coupled to said speech recognition dictionary and being operative to identify amongst the plurality of vocabulary items at least one vocabulary item that is a potential match to the spoken utterance.

17. A remote control system for a locomotive as defined in claim 16, wherein said processing module is adapted to transmit a signal to the lead controller to cause the vocabulary item selected by the speech recognition engine to be conveyed to a human operator.

18. A remote control system for a locomotive as defined in claim 17, wherein said processing module is operative to transmit over the wireless communication link to said lead controller module a signal indicative of the vocabulary item selected by the speech recognition engine as being a match to the spoken utterance, said lead controller module being operable to audibly communicate to the human operator the vocabulary item selected by the speech recognition engine as being a match to the spoken utterance.

19. A remote control system for a locomotive as defined in claim 17, wherein said processing module includes a text-to-speech converter for generating the signal conveying the vocabulary item selected by the speech recognition engine as being a match to the spoken utterance in synthetic speech form.

20. A remote control system for a locomotive as defined in claim 15, wherein said processing module includes a command validation unit.

21. A remote control system for a locomotive as defined in claim 20, wherein said command validation unit is operative to validate the data indicative of at least one vocabulary item as being a match to the spoken utterance.

22. A remote control system for a locomotive as defined in claim 21, wherein the signal derived from a spoken utterance is a first signal, said command validation unit being operative to validate the data indicative of at least one vocabulary item as being a match to the spoken utterance in response to a second signal derived from a spoken utterance that is received by said processing module.

23. A remote control system for a locomotive as defined in claim 11, wherein said processing module is part of the follower controller module.

24. A remote control system for a locomotive as defined in claim 11, wherein said processing module is mounted in the locomotive.

25. A remote control system for a locomotive as defined in claim 11, wherein said processing module is located remotely from said lead controller module and said follower controller module, and said follower controller module is in communication with said processing module over a wireless communication link.

26. A remote control system for a locomotive as defined in claim 25, wherein said processing module includes a communication link interface for transmitting over the wireless communication link to the follower unit the data indicative of a command to be executed by the locomotive.

27. A processing module adapted to process voice signals suitable for use in a locomotive remote control system, said processing module comprising:

a first port for receiving over a wireless communication link a signal derived from a spoken utterance;

a processing unit operatively coupled to said first port, said processing unit being adapted for processing the signal derived from a spoken utterance to generate data indicative of a command to be executed by a locomotive;

a second port adapted for releasing the data indicative of a command to be executed by the locomotive to a follower controller module mounted on board a locomotive.

28. A processing module as defined in claim 27, wherein said first port is adapted to receive a signal derived from a spoken utterance over a wireless communication link, the signal derived from the spoken utterance being issued by a lead controller module.

29. A processing module as defined in claim 28, wherein said first port is adapted to receive a plurality of signals issued by a plurality of distinct lead controller modules, wherein each of the plurality of signals is derived from a respective spoken utterance.

30. A processing module as defined in claim 29, wherein each lead controller module in the plurality of distinct lead controller modules is associated to a corresponding follower controller module selected from a plurality of follower controller modules, said processing module being operative for:

in response to each of the plurality of signals;

a) generating data indicative of a command to be executed by a locomotive;

b) transmitting the data generated to a follower controller module selected from a plurality of follower controller modules corresponding to the lead controller module which transmitted the signal from which the data indicative of a command was generated.

31. A processing module as defined in claim 27, wherein the wireless communication link is an RF communication link.

32. A processing module as defined in claim 27, wherein the wireless communication link is a cellular telephone link.

33. A processing module as defined in claim 31, wherein said second port is adapted to release data generated in response to the signal to the follower controller module over a wireless communication link.

34. A processing module as defined in claim 27, wherein said processing unit comprises a speech recognition engine to generate data indicative of at least one vocabulary item as being a match to the spoken utterance.

35. A processing module as defined in claim 34, wherein the data indicative of the at least one vocabulary item is an orthographic representation of the at least one vocabulary item.

36. A processing module as defined in claim 34, wherein said processing unit further comprises a speech recognition dictionary including a plurality of vocabulary items, said speech recognition engine being coupled to said speech recognition dictionary and being operative to identify amongst the plurality of vocabulary items at least one vocabulary item that is a potential match to the spoken utterance.

37. A processing module as defined in claim 36, said first port is adapted to release a for transmission to a lead controller to cause the vocabulary item selected by the speech recognition engine to be conveyed to a human operator.

38. A processing module as defined in claim 37, wherein said processing unit comprises a text-to-speech converter adapted for processing the vocabulary item selected by the speech recognition engine to generate a synthetic audio representation of the vocabulary item, said first port being adapted to transmit a signal to a lead controller indicative of synthetic audio representation of the vocabulary item to cause the vocabulary item selected by the speech recognition engine to be conveyed to a human operator.

39. A processing module as defined in claim 37, wherein said processing unit comprises a command validation unit adapted for validating the data indicative of at least one vocabulary item as being a match to the spoken utterance

40. A processing module as defined in claim 39, wherein the signal derived from a spoken utterance is a first signal, said first port being adapted for receiving a second signal indicative of a confirmation signal, said command validation unit being operative to validate the vocabulary item selected as being a match to the spoken utterance at least in part on the basis of the second signal.