Electronic job aid system for operator of a vehicle system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11780483-B2
Application number	US-201916418599-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 21, 2019
Priority date	May 22, 2018
Publication date	Oct 10, 2023
Grant date	Oct 10, 2023

Abstract

A job aid system and method determine conditions in which a vehicle system is operating or will operate during movement of the vehicle system along one or more routes. A context-sensitive action checklist is selected or generated based on one or more of the conditions. Input from the operator of the vehicle system is received in response to one or more action items in the context-sensitive action checklist that is presented to the operator. An alertness level of the operator is determined based on the input that is received from the operator. One or more alerting actions can be implemented to increase the alertness level of the operator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
determining conditions in which a vehicle system is operating or will operate during movement of the vehicle system along one or more routes;
generating or selecting a context-sensitive action checklist based on one or more of the conditions in which the vehicle system is operating or will operate, the context-sensitive action checklist generated or selected to include a request for an operator of the vehicle system to perform a calculation and provide a result of the calculation for of one or more of (a) a deviation between the movement of the vehicle system and a trip plan that dictates planned operation of the vehicle system as a function of one or more of time, distance, or location along the one or more routes, (b) a difference between a planned amount of fuel to be consumed by the vehicle system and an actual amount of the fuel consumed by the vehicle system, (c) a difference between an actual throttle setting of the vehicle system and a planned throttle setting of the trip plan, (d) an inter-car force of the vehicle system, or (e) an amount of weight that a car of the vehicle system is overweight or underweight relative to a weight threshold;
presenting the context-sensitive action checklist to the operator of the vehicle system during the movement of the vehicle system;
receiving input from the operator of the vehicle system during the movement of the vehicle system and in response to one or more action items in the context-sensitive action checklist that is presented to the operator, the input from the operator including the result of the calculation from the request in the context-sensitive action checklist;
determining an alertness level of the operator of the vehicle system based on the result of the calculation that is received from the operator in response to the request for the calculation in the context-sensitive action checklist; and
implementing one or more alerting actions to increase the alertness level of the operator.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the context-sensitive action checklist is presented on a first operating screen or a first gauge onboard the vehicle system, and the request for the calculation in the action items in the context-sensitive action checklist requires information obtained from another, second operating screen or another, second gauge onboard the vehicle system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the context-sensitive action checklist that is generated or selected additionally includes the one or more action items that request a response from the operator that indicates one or more of performance of the vehicle system or an upcoming trip event that the vehicle system is heading toward along the one or more routes.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the one or more action items request the response from the operator that indicates the upcoming trip event that the vehicle system is heading toward along the one or more routes, the upcoming trip event including one or more of a change in speed limit of the one or more routes, an approach to a section of the one or more routes under maintenance, an approach to a crossing gate along the one or more routes, or an approach to an area restricted by one or more track warrants.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the context-sensitive action checklist that is generated or selected additionally requests that the operator confirms one or more of: that the vehicle system is approaching a section of the one or more routes having a reduced speed restriction that previously was communicated to the operator via radio, that the vehicle system includes a car carrying cargo requiring special handing, that a signal received from a wayside device was received and that a travel restriction represented by the signal was complied with by the vehicle system, or a content of a track warrant received by the operator.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the context-sensitive action checklist is a first context-sensitive action checklist and is generated or selected based on one or more of: a geographic location of the vehicle system or a temporal duration since the operator last provided a response to a previous, second context-sensitive action checklist, wherein the first context-sensitive action checklist varies based on one or more of the geographic location of the vehicle system or a length of time since the operator last completed the second context-sensitive action checklist.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the conditions in which the vehicle system is operating include one or more of a location of the vehicle system, a moving speed of the vehicle system, a throttle setting of the vehicle system, or a brake setting of the vehicle system.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alertness level of the operator that is determined indicates how alert the operator is while controlling movement of the vehicle system.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alertness level of the operator is determined by comparing one or more responses to the context-sensitive action checklist that are received via the input from the operator with one or more designated responses.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the one or more designated responses are determined by one or more sensors.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request is a first request, the car is a first car, and the context-sensitive action checklist additionally includes a second request for the operator to confirm one or more handling requirements for a second car in the vehicle system that restrict one or more of a speed of the second car or a threshold distance that the second car must be kept from a propulsion-generating vehicle in the vehicle system.

12. An electronic job aid system, comprising:
one or more processors configured to be disposed onboard a vehicle system formed from one or more vehicles, the one or more processors configured to determine conditions in which the vehicle system is operating or will operate during movement of the vehicle system along one or more routes, the one or more processors also configured to generate or select a context-sensitive action checklist based on one or more of the conditions in which the vehicle system is operating or will operate, the context-sensitive action checklist generated or selected to include a request for an operator of the vehicle system to perform a calculation and provide a result of the calculation for one or more of (a) a deviation between the movement of the vehicle system and a trip plan that dictates planned operation of the vehicle system as a function of one or more of time, distance, or location along the one or more routes, (b) a difference between a planned amount of fuel to be consumed by the vehicle system and an actual amount of the fuel consumed by the vehicle system, (c) a difference between an actual throttle setting of the vehicle system and a planned throttle setting of the trip plan, (d) an inter-car force of the vehicle system, or (e) an amount of weight that a car of the vehicle system is overweight or underweight relative to a weight threshold,
wherein the one or more processors are configured to present the context-sensitive action checklist to the operator of the vehicle system during the movement of the vehicle system, and to receive input from the operator of the vehicle system during the movement of the vehicle system and in response to one or more action items in the context-sensitive action checklist that is presented to the operator, the input from the operator including the result of the calculation from the request in the context-sensitive action checklist,
wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine an alert

Assignees

• Ge Global Sourcing Llc
• Transp Ip Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Subrahmaniyan Neeraja
• Brooks James D

Classifications

• B61L27/20 Primary

  Trackside control of safe travel of vehicle or train, e.g. braking curve calculation · CPC title

• B61L25/021

  Measuring and recording of train speed · CPC title

• B61L25/025

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

• B61L27/70

  Details of trackside communication · CPC title

• B61L2201/00

  Control methods · CPC title