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| Summary / Description | This invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for managing a transportation system, and more specifically to methods and apparatus for generating and exchanging data to manage the transportation system. |
| Type of Prior Art | Issued Patents - US |
| Country | United States of America |
| Patent/Application # | 7,219,067 |
| Kind Code | United States (US) - United STATES Patent - A |
| Patentee Name | McMullen; Greerson G. |
| Relevant Pages, Columns, or Lines | Col 2 lines 25 - 41, Col 3 lin |
| URL | http://www.google.com/patents/a... |
| Filing Date | September 10, 1999 |
| Additional Information | The independent claim of the invention can be fragmented into the following flow: 1.A rail car location equipment on a rail car that has: a.) a transmitter to transmit the rail car location data to the remote receiver. b.) an electronic tag for identif |
| Notes | |
Excerpt [Col 3 lines 42- 65] In one embodiment, each railcar or selected group of railcars in a train includes a railcar sub-system 24. Each railcar sub-system 24 includes at least one sensor for generating a data having at least one of a real-time location or position, railcar identification and/or cargo status or information including environmental data concerning the cargo including the temperature, vibration, shock, critical functions of the cargo, e.g., refrigeration unit status, or time until spoilage. As described above, railcar sub-system 24 includes a tracking sub-system 34 for determining real-time position or location of the railcar. For example, each railcar within a train includes one or more sensors for collecting data relevant to that specific railcar. For a railcar having a refrigeration unit and loaded with frozen steaks, railcar sub-system 24 includes a sensor for measuring the temperature inside the railcar, a sensor for measuring the humidity and a sensor for measuring the amount of fuel remaining or used by the refrigeration unit. For a railcar hauling livestock, railcar sub-system 24 includes sensors, e.g., at least one accelerometer, for measuring shock and vibration (longitudinal, horizontal and vertical) and air temperature and humidity. If the data generated by the sensors exceed certain pre-defined or user defined limits, certain actions would be taken.[Col 4 lines 15 – 26] Sensor data generated by railcar sub-system 24 is transmitted in real-time to another sub-system 12 or centers 14 or is collected until the data set meets a defined size or has been collected over a defined period of time. For example, in one embodiment, a data set generated by each sub-system 24 is transmitted to center 14 via locomotive sub-system 22 utilizing links 16. Each data set, in another embodiment, is transmitted to wayside unit 22 as each railcar passes a predetermined location. For example, each data set may be transmitted to at least one wayside unit 22 as the locomotive passes within a pre-defined geographic area or distance from a wayside unit 22. |
A rail car tracking system (10) comprising: rail car location equipment (12) mounted to a rail car (22), the equipment (12) including a transmitter (26) for transmitting rail car location data to a remote receiver (21) and further including an electronically readable tag (33) attached to the rail car (22) for identifying the rail car (22) to a wayside tag reader (36); and locomotive communication equipment (42) mounted in a locomotive (38) and adapted for communication with the rail car location equipment (12) when the rail car (22) and locomotive (38) are coupled into a common train, the locomotive communication equipment (42) being operative to identify the coupled rail car (22) and including a transmitter (48) for transmitting data to the remote receiver (21), the data including rail car data so that the required data transmission from the rail car transmission equipment (26) is reduced.
| Relevance | The cited prior art discloses a method and apparatus for managing a transportation system. The patent clearly discloses a rail car location equipment (rail car sub system 24) and a locomotive communication equipment (locomotive subsystem 22). Further the patent clearly describes that the locomotive communication equipment transmits both locomotive status data as well as status data of each rail car to the remote receiver (central data center 14). |
The rail car tracking system of claim 1 and including a LAN (40) for data transmission between the rail car (22) and the locomotive (38).
| Relevance | Col 4 lines 15 - 26: For example, in one embodiment, a data set generated by each sub-system 24 is transmitted to center 14 via locomotive sub-system 22 utilizing links 16. |
The rail car tracking system of claim 2 and including a plurality of status sensors (32) coupled to the rail car, each of the sensors (32) providing data to the car location equipment transmitter (26) for transmission via the LAN (40) to the locomotive transmitter (42).
| Relevance | col 3 lines 42 - 65: each railcar within a train includes one or more sensors for collecting data relevant to that specific railcar. |
The rail car system of claim 3 and including locomotive systems monitoring equipment (44) coupled in communication with the locomotive communication equipment (42) for transmitting locomotive data to the remote receiver (21).
| Relevance | Col 4 lines 15 - 26: For example, in one embodiment, a data set generated by each sub-system 24 is transmitted to center 14 via locomotive sub-system 22 utilizing links 16. |
An integrated rail car tracking system (10) comprising; a plurality of fixed wayside automatic equipment identification (AEI) readers (36) spaced at predetermined locations along a railway for reading identification data from a AEI tags (33) on rail cars (22) passing along the railway; a locomotive tracking system (42) including an on-board GPS system (45) for providing data indicative of the location of the locomotive (38) and a transmitter (42) for transmitting the location data to a remote receiver (19); a rail car wireless message system (12) attached to a rail car (22) for sending periodic messages indicative of the location of the rail car (22), the message system including a GPS system (24) for generating data indicative of rail car location; and a local area network (LAN) established between the rail car (22) and an associated locomotive (38) whereby the rail car location data is transmitted to the locomotive tracking system (42) for transmission to the remote receiver (19).
| Relevance | The cited prior art discloses a method and apparatus for managing a transportation system. The patent clearly discloses a rail car location equipment (rail car sub system 24) and a locomotive communication equipment (locomotive subsystem 22). Further the patent clearly describes that the locomotive communication equipment transmits both locomotive status data as well as status data of each rail car to the remote receiver (central data center 14). |
The integrated rail car tracking system (10) of claim 6 and including a remote data processor (19) for processing data received by the remote receiver (21) and for extracting from the data information identifying the location, speed and direction of travel of the associated rail car (22).
| Relevance | [Col 2 lines 04 – 06] In one embodiment and referring to FIG. 1, transportation management system 10 includes a plurality of sub-systems 12 for generating, collecting, exchanging and utilizing data. |
The integrated rail car tracking system of claim 7 and including a plurality of status sensors (32) mounted on the rail car (22), the sensors (32) providing status data to the rail car message system (12) for transmission to the remote receiver.
| Relevance | col 3 lines 42 - 65: each railcar within a train includes one or more sensors for collecting data relevant to that specific railcar. |
The integrated rail car tracking system of claim 8 wherein the status sensors (32) include one or more of door opening/closing sensors, pressure sensors, temperature sensors and cargo identification sensors.
| Relevance | col 3 lines 42 - 65: each railcar within a train includes one or more sensors for collecting data relevant to that specific railcar. |
United States