Method, vehicle device and controller for operating a track-bound traffic system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11479282-B2
Application number	US-201816622433-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 14, 2018
Priority date	Jun 13, 2017
Publication date	Oct 25, 2022
Grant date	Oct 25, 2022

Abstract

A method operates a track-bound traffic system which in a particularly efficient manner and at the same time with a comparably low degree of complexity allows the position of at least one vehicle end of a track-bound vehicle to be ascertained. For this purpose, the method is carried out such that a track-side device transmits first information which directly or indirectly characterizes the location of the track-side device and second information which directly or indirectly characterizes the travel direction of a track-bound vehicle. The first and second information is received by the track-bound vehicle at the location of the track-side device; and a position of at least one vehicle end of the track-bound vehicle is ascertained by the track-bound vehicle on the basis of the received first and second information.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for operating a rail-borne traffic system, which comprises the steps of:
transmitting, via a track-side device, a first piece of information that indirectly or directly identifies a location of the track-side device and also a second piece of information that indirectly or directly identifies a direction of travel of a rail-borne vehicle, the transmitting step including the substeps of:
transmitting the first and second pieces of information by the track-side device which is disposed in a first track section at a distance from an adjacent second track section, wherein the distance is dimensioned such that, in a case of the direction of travel of the rail-borne vehicle from the first track section in a direction toward the second track section, the second track section is not occupied by the rail-borne vehicle at a moment the first and second pieces of information are received, whereas, in a case of the direction of travel of the rail-borne vehicle from the second track section in a direction toward the first track section, the second track section is occupied by the rail-borne vehicle at the moment the first and the second pieces of information are received; and
determining the second piece of information on a basis of track clear signalling information in relation to at least the second track section;

receiving the first and second pieces of information by the rail-borne vehicle at the location of the track-side device; and
determining a position of at least one vehicle end of the rail-borne vehicle on a basis of the first and second pieces of information received.

2. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises transmitting the first and second pieces of information by the track-side device being a balise.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the track clear signalling information identifies that the second track section is clear of rail-borne vehicles and on a basis thereof the track-side device transmits the second piece of information that indicates the direction of travel of the rail-borne vehicle from the first track section in the direction toward the second track section.

4. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises transmitting the track clear signalling information by a track clear signalling system that has at least the second track section to a track-side electronic unit and the track-side electronic unit causes the track-side device to transmit the second piece of information.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the first and second track sections of the track clear signalling system have axle counters or railway track circuits.

6. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises:
detecting the direction of travel of the rail-borne vehicle by a track-side sensor; and
transmitting the direction of travel detected indirectly or directly to the trackside device by the track-side sensor.

7. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises transmitting, via the rail-borne vehicle, the position of the at least one vehicle end to a track-side controller of the rail-borne traffic system.

8. The method according to claim 7 , which further comprises taking the position of the at least one vehicle end of the rail-borne vehicle into consideration by the track-side controller when controlling and/or protecting the rail-borne vehicle.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein in a case of the rail-borne vehicle being a railway vehicle, the first and second track sections being in a form of railway track sections and the track-side controller being a control device of a communication-based train control system, while taking into consideration the position of the at least one vehicle end of the rail-borne vehicle the track-side controller determines movement authority for the rail-borne vehicle and/or causes the rail-borne vehicle to change over into a moving-block operation.

10. A control device configuration for a rail-borne traffic system, the control device configuration comprising:
a track-side device;
a vehicle device containing:
a vehicle-side receiver for receiving a first piece of information that indirectly or directly identifies a location of said track-side device and also a second piece of information that indirectly or directly identifies a direction of travel of a rail-borne vehicle from said track-side device; and
a vehicle-side controller for determining a position of at least one vehicle end of the rail-borne vehicle on a basis of the first and second pieces of information received; and

said track-side device configured to transmit the first piece of information that indirectly or directly identifies the location of said track-side device and also the second piece of information that indirectly or directly identifies the direction of travel of the rail-borne vehicle, said track-side device is disposed in a first track section at a distance from an adjacent second track section, wherein the distance is dimensioned such that, in a case of the direction of travel of the rail-borne vehicle from the first track section in a direction toward the second track section, the second track section is not occupied by the rail-borne vehicle at a moment the first and the second pieces of information are received, whereas, in a case of the direction of travel of the rail-borne vehicle from the second track section in the direction toward the first track section, the second track section is occupied by the rail-borne vehicle at a moment the first and the second pieces of information are received; and
the control device configuration is configured so as to determine the second piece of information on a basis of track clear signalling information in relation to at least the second track section.

11. The control device configuration according to claim 10 , wherein said track-side device is a balise.

12. The control device configuration according to claim 10 , wherein the track clear signalling information identifies that the second track section is clear of rail-borne vehicles and said track-side device is configured so as to transmit the second piece of information that indicates the direction of travel of the rail-borne vehicle from the first track section in the direction toward the second track section.

13. The control device configuration according to claim 12 , further comprising:
a track-side electronic unit for receiving the track clear signalling information from a track clear signalling system that contains at least the second track section; and
said track-side electronic unit causing said track-side device to transmit the second piece of information.

14. The control device configuration according to claim 10 , further comprising a track-side sensor for detecting the direction of travel of the rail-borne vehicle and the control device configuration is configured in such a manner that said track-side sensor transmits the direction of travel detected indirectly or directly to said track-side device.

15. The control device configuration according to claim 10 , wherein the control device configuration is configured to:
transmit, via said track-side device, the first piece of information that indirectly or directly identifies the location of said track-side device and also the second piece of information that indirectly or directly identifies the direction of travel of the rail-borne vehicle;
receive the first and second pieces of information by the rail-borne vehicle at the location of said track-side device;
determine the position of at least one vehicle end of the rail-borne vehicle on a basis of the

Assignees

• Siemens Mobility GmbH

Inventors

• Alonso Garrido Oscar
• Luehrs Peter
• Rahn Karsten

Classifications

• B61L25/025

  Absolute localisation, e.g. providing geodetic coordinates · CPC title

• B61L1/16

  Devices for counting axles; Devices for counting vehicles · CPC title

• B61L1/18

  Railway track circuits (rail joints E01B11/00, e.g. insulated rail joints E01B11/54) · CPC title

• B61L25/023 Primary

  Determination of driving direction of vehicle or train · CPC title

• B61L3/121 Primary

  using magnetic induction · CPC title