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| Summary / Description | The prior art relates to a method and system for improving the integrity of a distributed power communication system for controlling the functionality of one or more mobile assets remote from a lead mobile asset. |
| Type of Prior Art | Issued Patents - US |
| Country | United States of America |
| Patent/Application # | US 6,759,951 |
| Kind Code | United States (US) - United STATES Patent - A |
| Patentee Name | |
| Relevant Pages, Columns, or Lines | [Col 2 lines 15 – 64] |
| URL | http://www.google.com/patents/a... |
| Filing Date | October 24, 2002 |
| 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 identify |
| Notes | This prior art discloses only the second key feature (please see additional information for the list of key features of the invention). Please rely on the prior art US 6,511,023 for the first key feature. |
Excerpt [Col 2 lines 15 – 64]One embodiment allows for lead locomotive 18, remote locomotive 22, remote trail locomotive 24 and remote locomotive 26 to be equipped with appropriately configured hardware and software to allow for a distributed power communication scheme, such as one implemented by the assignee of the present invention, to be established among the locomotives. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, each locomotive 18, 22, 24 and 26 may include one or more RF antennas 32, one or more radio or transceiver units 34 that may operate in conjunction with a control module 35 that includes a processor 36 and equipment 37 for monitoring and controlling the locomotive. |
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 | [Col 2 lines 15 – 64] One embodiment allows for lead locomotive 18, remote locomotive 22, remote trail locomotive 24 and remote locomotive 26 to be equipped with appropriately configured hardware and software to allow for a distributed power communication scheme, such as one implemented by the assignee of the present invention, to be established among the locomotives. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, each locomotive 18, 22, 24 and 26 may include one or more RF antennas 32, one or more radio or transceiver units 34 that may operate in conjunction with a control module 35 that includes a processor 36 and equipment 37 for monitoring and controlling the locomotive. |
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 | [Col 2 lines 15 – 64] One embodiment allows for lead locomotive 18, remote locomotive 22, remote trail locomotive 24 and remote locomotive 26 to be equipped with appropriately configured hardware and software to allow for a distributed power communication scheme, such as one implemented by the assignee of the present invention, to be established among the locomotives. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, each locomotive 18, 22, 24 and 26 may include one or more RF antennas 32, one or more radio or transceiver units 34 that may operate in conjunction with a control module 35 that includes a processor 36 and equipment 37 for monitoring and controlling the locomotive. |
United States