System and method for virtual block operational status control with long block time delay

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12503145-B2
Application number	US-202318161559-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2023
Priority date	May 5, 2017
Publication date	Dec 23, 2025
Grant date	Dec 23, 2025

Abstract

A system and method for virtual block operational status control with long block time delay is presented. The present disclosure can advantageously increase the capacity and safety of the existing railroad track infrastructure used by the railroads by determining whether a virtual block is healthy or unhealthy. The long block mode can provide a coarse granularity on the presence of a train. In virtual block mode, the system can implement a finer granularity so the virtual aspects of the sub blocks can be realized. The present disclosure provides a long block mode that can provide the system an opportunity to analyze the potential tradeoffs between granularity and reliability by determining which mode (virtual block or long block) is best utilized in a given situation. The system can operate by default in long block mode and ignore the virtual block capabilities until absolutely needed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system for virtual block operational status control, comprising:
a memory having a first database with operational statuses or specifications related to a vehicle or at least a portion of a railroad track; and a processor operably coupled to the memory and capable of executing machine-readable instructions to perform program steps, the program steps including:
generate a plurality of virtual blocks within a physical block;
generate a long block within the physical block;
operate in a long block mode until a virtual block occupancy is detected;
determine whether a first group of virtual blocks from the perspective of a first wayside house are healthy;
operate in a virtual block mode, identifying the occupancy of each of the healthy virtual blocks from the first wayside house perspective, when the first group of virtual blocks are healthy; and
operate in the long block mode, identifying the occupancy of the long block from the first wayside house perspective, when the first group of virtual blocks are unhealthy.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first group of virtual blocks are from the eastbound perspective of the first wayside house.

3 . The system of claim 1 , the program steps further comprising:
determine whether a second group of virtual blocks from the perspective of the first wayside house are healthy.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the second group of virtual blocks are from the westbound perspective of the first wayside house.

5 . The system of claim 1 , the program steps further comprising:
generate a virtual block health status indication.

6 . The system of claim 1 , the program steps further comprising:
perform checks over a first time period after the occupancy of a virtual block is detected to determine whether it is safe to maintain virtual block mode.

7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the first time period is a 10-second interval.

8 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the operation in a virtual block mode can fail into a long block mode when a virtual block becomes unhealthy or its health is undetermined.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the health of a virtual block is represented by a single bit.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the physical block is a section of track between insulated joints.

11 . A method of virtual block operational status control, comprising:
generating, via control logic, a plurality of virtual blocks within a physical block; generating, via the control logic, a long block within the physical block; operating in a long block mode until a virtual block occupancy is detected; determining, via control logic, whether a first group of virtual blocks from the perspective of a first wayside house are healthy; operating in a virtual block mode, identifying the occupancy of each of the healthy virtual blocks from the first wayside house perspective, when the first group of virtual blocks are healthy; and operating in the long block mode, identifying the occupancy of the long block from the first wayside house perspective, when the first group of virtual blocks are unhealthy.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the first group of virtual blocks are from the eastbound perspective of the first wayside house.

13 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining whether a second group of virtual blocks from the perspective of the first wayside house are healthy.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the second group of virtual blocks are from the westbound perspective of the first wayside house.

15 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
generating a virtual block health status indication.

16 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
performing checks, via the control logic, over a first time period after the occupancy of a virtual block is detected to determine whether it is safe to maintain virtual block mode.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the first time period is a 10-second interval.

18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the operation in a virtual block mode can fail into a long block mode when a virtual block becomes unhealthy or its health is undetermined.

19 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the health of a virtual block is represented by a single bit.

20 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the physical block is a section of track between insulated joints.

Assignees

• Bnsf Railway Co

Inventors

• Allen Jeffrey R
• Ramolt Michael E
• Shue Kent R
• Russell Brent A

Classifications

• B61L23/044

  Broken rails · CPC title

• B61L3/221

  using track circuits · CPC title

• B61L23/168

  using coded current · CPC title

• B61L1/188

  Use of coded current · CPC title

• B61L21/10

  Arrangements for trains which are closely following one another · CPC title