Railway controller with improved application programming

• US 20050178928A1
• Filed: 01/20/2005
• Published: 08/18/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Wade, David Justin, Clark, Shawn T., Murphy, Steve R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,315,770 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 246/1.R
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 29/00 Safety means for rail/road crossing traffic

Abstract

A multi-use wayside railway control system for installation and use in operating wayside railway equipment in a railway wayside application selected from among a plurality of differing railway wayside applications in which the control system could be used. The system includes detectors responsive to and generating data indicative of operating conditions of the selected wayside application, with the data being transmitted to a controller. The controller receives data from the detectors and is responsive to the data for operating the wayside equipment. A programmed processor is operatively associated with the controller and includes a software program storage device for storing a plurality of separately selectable operating programs, each of the operating programs comprising application specific information for a selected wayside application and corresponding configuration of wayside equipment. A control display unit connectible to the program storage device enables selection of one of the stored operating programs compatible with the selected wayside application and corresponding wayside equipment configuration for use by the controller.

Claims

1. A railway control system for wayside equipment comprising:

a controller for operating wayside equipment;

detecting equipment responsive to proximity of a rail vehicle for enabling the controller to operate the wayside equipment;

a program responsive processor operatively associated with the controller for establishing operating conditions for the controller;

a program storage device coupled to the processor and storing a plurality of separately selectable operating programs, each of the operating programs comprising application specific information for a particular configuration of wayside equipment; and

a control display unit connectible to the program storage device for enabling selection of one of the stored operating programs compatible with the wayside equipment configuration for use by the processor.

2. A multi-use wayside railway control system for installation and use in operating wayside railway equipment in a railway wayside application selected from among a plurality of differing railway wayside applications in which the control system could be used comprising:

(A) detectors responsive to and generating data indicative of operating conditions of the selected wayside application, with the data being transmitted to a controller;

(B) a controller receiving data from the detectors and being responsive to the data for operating the wayside equipment;

(C) a software program responsive processor operatively associated with the controller;

(D) a software program storage device coupled to the processor and storing a plurality of separately selectable operating programs, each of the operating programs comprising application specific information for a selected wayside application and corresponding configuration of wayside equipment; and

(E) a control display unit connectible to the program storage device for displaying information indicative of and for enabling selection of one of the stored operating programs compatible with the selected wayside application and corresponding wayside equipment configuration.

3. The multi-use wayside railway control system of claim 2 wherein the control display unit is utilized at initial setup to select one of the stored operating programs and the controller thereafter uses the selected one of the operating programs for controlling the wayside equipment.

4. The multi-use wayside railway control system of claim 3 wherein the program storage device comprises an EPROM.

5. The multi-use wayside railway control system of claim 4 wherein the wayside equipment comprises crossing gates and warning signals at a railway crossing of a roadway.

6. A method for encoding a memory device with a plurality of different programs for configuring a railway system controller with at least one of the programs, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of programs;

concatenating the plurality of programs into a memory image;

copying the memory image to a memory device; and

installing the memory device in a wayside controller;

reading the memory device and providing a set of configuration information to the railway system controller; and

displaying indications of the programs stored in the memory device for allowing selection of at least one of the programs to be provided to the railway system controller.