Device for interfacing railway driver advisory system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016016598-A1
Application number	US-201514798875-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 14, 2015
Priority date	Jul 17, 2014
Publication date	Jan 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A train management system includes: an on-board server unit of a given train; and a railway operating centre. The railway operating centre includes: (i) a track monitoring unit which monitors locations of trains and statuses of trackside signalling equipment, and creates signalling settings to be enacted by the signalling equipment based on the current train locations and the current statuses of the trackside signalling equipment; and (ii) a timetable updating unit which updates timetables for the trains based on the current train locations. The train management system further includes a calculation module which, while the given train is running, repeatedly calculates a recommended speed profile for the given train compatible with the latest updated timetable for the given train and latest updated signals from the signalling settings. The on-board server unit displays the latest recommended speed profile as advice for the driver of the train.

First claim

1 . A train management system including:
an on-board server unit of a given train; and a railway operating centre which includes: (i) a track monitoring unit which monitors locations of trains and statuses of trackside signalling equipment, and creates signalling settings to be enacted by the signalling equipment based on the current train locations and the current statuses of the trackside signalling equipment; and (ii) a timetable updating unit which updates timetables for the trains based on the current train locations; wherein the train management system further includes a calculation module which, while the given train is running, repeatedly calculates a recommended speed profile for the given train compatible with the latest updated timetable for the given train and latest updated signals from the signalling settings; and wherein the on-board server unit displays the latest recommended speed profile as advice for the driver of the train.

2 . A train management system according to claim 1 , wherein the railway operating centre further includes an interface unit which, while the given train is running, sends the latest updated timetable and the latest updated signals to the on-board server unit; and
wherein the calculation module is a part of the on-board server unit.

3 . A train management system according to claim 2 , wherein the interface unit further includes a signalling management module which checks if the signalling settings in front of the given train have changed, the interface unit sending the updated signals to the on-board server unit only when the signalling settings in front of the train have changed.

4 . A train management system according to claim 1 , wherein the railway operating centre further includes an interface unit; and
wherein the calculation module is a part of the interface unit, which sends the recommended speed profile to the on-board server unit.

5 . A train management system according to claim 1 , wherein the on-board server unit also displays the latest updated timetable and the latest updated signals as advice for the driver of the train.

6 . A train management system according to claim 1 , wherein the railway operating centre further includes a track description database which contains information on maximum track speeds, and the calculation module calculates the recommended speed profile for the given train compatible with the latest updated timetable and the latest updated signals but not exceeding the maximum speeds.

Assignees

• Hitachi Ltd

Inventors

• Li Dong

Classifications

• B61L21/065

  for signals, including signals actuated by the vehicle · CPC title

• B61L23/34

  for indicating the distance between vehicles or trains by the transmission of signals therebetween · CPC title

• B61L15/0072

  On-board train data handling · CPC title

• B61L27/0027 Primary

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B61L15/0018

  Communication with or on the vehicle or train · CPC title