Method and system for transmitting enforceable instructions in positive train control systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10081378-B2
Application number	US-201314032710-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 20, 2013
Priority date	Sep 20, 2012
Publication date	Sep 25, 2018
Grant date	Sep 25, 2018

Abstract

A method and a system for transmitting enforceable instructions in a positive train control (PTC) system includes receiving, by a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) calculator, at least one enforceable instruction from railroad systems. The CRC calculator calculates at least one enforceable instruction CRC based at least partly on the at least one enforceable instruction and transmits the at least one enforceable instruction CRC to a back office server of the PTC system and/or an on-board system of a locomotive. Methods for cyclic redundancy check (CRC) hazard mitigation in a positive train control (PTC) system and verifying enforceable instruction data on-board a train are also disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for transmitting enforceable instructions in a positive train control (PTC) system, the method comprising:
receiving, by a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) calculator, at least one enforceable instruction from railroad systems;
converting, by the CRC calculator, the at least one enforceable instruction into a neutral data format that is the same for each railroad of a plurality of different railroads, wherein the neutral data format is different from a normalized format used by a back office server of the PTC system to convert the at least one enforceable instruction;
calculating, by the CRC calculator, the at least one enforceable instruction CRC based at least partly on the at least one enforceable instruction in the neutral data format; and
transmitting, by the CRC calculator, the at least one enforceable instruction CRC to at least one of the back office server of the PTC system and an on-board system of a locomotive.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CRC calculator is at least one of external to and remote from the railroad systems.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one enforceable instruction is a plurality of enforceable instructions, and wherein the CRC calculator calculates a plurality of individual enforceable instruction CRCs based at least partly on the plurality of enforceable instructions.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the CRC calculator calculates a composite enforceable instruction CRC based at least partly on a portion of the plurality of individual enforceable instruction CRCs associated with a train for a subdivision/district of a plurality of different subdivision/districts of the PTC system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one enforceable instruction is a plurality of enforceable instructions, and wherein the CRC calculator calculates a composite enforceable instruction CRC based at least partly on a portion of the plurality of enforceable instructions associated with a train for a subdivision/district of a plurality of different subdivision/districts of the PTC system.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CRC calculator is separate from and does not share any components or data storage with the back office server.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one enforceable instruction CRC comprises at least one of the following: an authority data CRC, a bulletin data CRC, an authority void data CRC, a bulletin void data CRC, or any combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
replicating, by a replicator, a message including the at least one enforceable instruction sent by the railroad systems to the back office server; and
receiving, by the CRC calculator, the replicated message.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
calculating, by the CRC calculator, the at least one enforceable instruction CRC based at least partly on the at least one enforceable instruction in the neutral data format.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving, by the back office server, the at least one enforceable instruction from the railroad systems;
converting, by the back office server, the at least one enforceable instruction into a normalized format, wherein the normalized format is different from the neutral format;
calculating, by the back office server, at least one BOS enforceable instruction CRC based at least partly on the at least one enforceable instruction in the normalized format;
receiving, by the back office server, the at least one enforceable instruction CRC from the CRC calculator; and
transmitting, by the back office server, the at least one BOS enforceable instruction CRC and the at least one enforceable instruction in the normalized format with the at least one enforceable instruction CRC to the on-board system.

11. A system for transmitting enforceable instructions in a positive train control (PTC) system, the system comprising:
a server computer, connected to at least one network, wherein the server computer is configured to:
receive at least one enforceable instruction from railroad systems;
convert the at least one enforceable instruction into a neutral data format that is the same for each railroad of a plurality of different railroads, wherein the neutral data format is different from a normalized format used by a back office server computer of the PTC system to convert the at least one enforceable instruction;
calculate at least one enforceable instruction CRC based at least partly on the at least one enforceable instruction in the neutral data format; and
transmit the at least one enforceable instruction CRC to at least one of the back office server computer of the PTC system and an on-board system of a locomotive.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the server computer is at least one of external to and remote from the railroad systems.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one enforceable instruction is a plurality of enforceable instructions, and wherein the server computer calculates a plurality of individual enforceable instruction CRCs based at least partly on the plurality of enforceable instructions.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the server computer calculates a composite enforceable instruction CRC based at least partly on a portion of the plurality of individual enforceable instruction CRCs associated with a train for a subdivision/district of a plurality of different subdivision/districts of the PTC system.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one enforceable instruction is a plurality of enforceable instructions, and wherein the server computer calculates a composite enforceable instruction CRC based at least partly on a portion of the plurality of enforceable instructions associated with a train for a subdivision/district of a plurality of different subdivision/districts of the PTC system.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the computer is separate from and does not share any components or data storage with the back office computer server.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one enforceable instruction CRC comprises at least one of the following: an authority data CRC, a bulletin data CRC, an authority void data CRC, a bulletin void data CRC, or any combination thereof.

18. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:
a replicator computer, connected to at least one network, wherein the replicator computer is configured to:
replicate a message including the at least one enforceable instruction sent by the railroad systems to the back office server; and
send the replicated message to the server computer.

19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the server computer is configured to calculate the at least one enforceable instruction CRC based at least partly on the at least one enforceable instruction in the neutral data format.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the back office server is configured to:
receive the at least one enforceable instruction from the railroad systems;
convert the at least one enforceable instruction into a normalized format, wherein the normalized format is different from the neutral format;
calculate at least one BOS enforceable instruction CRC based at least partly on the at least one enforceable instruction in the normalized format;
receive the at least one enforceable instruction CRC from the server computer; and
transmit the at least one BOS enforceable instruction CRC and the at least one enforceable instruction in the normalized format with the at least o

Assignees

• Wabtec Holding Corp

Inventors

• Ruhland Kristofer M
• Fenske James L
• Shaw Karen A

Classifications

• B61L23/041

  Obstacle detection · CPC title

• B61L15/0063

  Multiple on-board control systems, e.g. "2 out of 3"-systems · CPC title

• B61L3/125

  using short-range radio transmission · CPC title

• B61L3/008

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B61L27/0088

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic