Model train control system
OwnerMatthew A. Katzerinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system which operates a digitally controlled model railroad transmitting a first command from a first client program to a resident external controlling interface through a first communications transport. A second command is transmitted from a second client program to the resident external controlling interface through a second communications transport. The first command and the second command are received by the resident external controlling interface which queues the first and second commands. The resident external controlling interface sends third and fourth commands representative of the first and second commands, respectively, to a digital command station for execution on the digitally controlled model railroad.
Claims27
A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting a plurality of commands from a plurality of client programs to an interface;
- (b) receiving said plurality of commands at said interface;
- (c) said interface queuing said plurality of commands and deleting one of said commands based upon a criteria;
- and
- (d) said interface sending a command representative of at least one of said plurality of commands not deleted to a digital command station for execution on said digitally controlled model railroad.
A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting a first command from a first client program to an interface;
- (b) receiving said first command at said interface;
- (c) selectively queuing said first command in a command queue based upon a criteria;
- and
- (d) said interface selectively sending a second command representative of said first command to one of a plurality of digital command stations.
A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting a plurality of commands from a plurality of client programs;
- (b) receiving said commands at said interface;
- (c) queuing said commands, and deleting one of said commands based upon a criteria;
- and
- (d) said interface sending a command representative of one of said plurality of commands to a digital command station.
A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting a first command from a first client program to a first processor;
- (b) receiving said first command at said first processor;
- (c) queuing said first command in a command queue that is not a first-in-first-out queue;
- and
- (d) said first processor providing an acknowledgment to said first client program indicating that said first command has been validated against permissible actions regarding said model railroad and properly executed prior to execution of commands related to said first command by said digitally controlled model railroad.
A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting commands from a plurality of client programs to an interface;
- (b) receiving said commands at said interface;
- (c) said interface queuing said commands;
- (d) comparing a plurality of said commands to one another to determine if the result of executing said commands would result in no net state change of said model railroad and the execution of one of said first and second commands would result in a net state change of said model railroad;
- and
- (e) said interface sending a command representative of one of said commands to a digital command station.
A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting a first command from a first client program to an interface;
- (b) receiving said first command at said interface;
- (c) comparing said first command against other commands in a command queue to determine if the result of executing said first command and said other commands would result in no net state change of said model railroad;
- and
- (d) said interface selectively sending a second command representative of said first command to a digital command station.
A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting a plurality of commands from a plurality of client programs to an interface;
- (b) receiving said commands at said interface;
- (c) comparing a plurality of said commands to one another to determine if the result of executing a plurality of said commands would result in no net state change of said model railroad;
- and
- (d) said interface sending a command representative of one of said commands to a digital command station.
A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting commands from a first client program to a first processor;
- (b) receiving said commands at said first processor;
- (c) comparing said commands against one another in a command queue to determine if the result of executing a plurality of said commands would result in no net state change of said model railroad;
- and
- (d) said first processor providing an acknowledgment to said first client program indicating that one of said commands has been executed.
A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting a plurality of commands from a plurality of client programs to an interface;
- (b) receiving said commands at said interface;
- (c) said interface queuing said commands;
- (d) comparing said commands to one another to determine if the result of executing a plurality of said commands would result in a net state change of said model railroad that would also result from a single different command;
- and
- (e) said interface sending said single different command representative of the net state change of said plurality of commands of step (d) to a digital command station.
A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting a command from a first client program to an interface;
- (b) receiving said command at said interface;
- (c) comparing said command against other commands in a command queue to determine if the result of executing said first command and at least one other said other commands would result in a net state change of said model railroad that would also result from a single different command;
- and
- (d) said interface selectively sending said single different command to a digital command station.
A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting a plurality of commands from a plurality of client programs to an interface;
- (b) receiving said commands at said interface;
- (c) comparing said commands to one another to determine if the result of executing said commands would result in a net state change of said model railroad that would also result from a single different command;
- and
- (d) said interface sending said single different command to a digital command station if as a result of said comparing such a single different command exists.
A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting a plurality of commands from a plurality of client programs to an interface;
- (b) receiving said commands at said interface;
- (c) said interface queuing said commands;
- (d) queuing said commands in a command queue based on a non-first-in-first-out prioritization;
- and
- (e) said interface sending a command representative of one of said queued commands to a digital command station based upon said prioritization.
A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting a plurality of commands from a plurality of client programs to an interface;
- (b) receiving said commands at said interface;
- (c) queuing said commands in a command queue based on a non-first-in-first-out prioritization;
- and
- (d) said interface sending a command representative of at least one of said queued commands to a digital command station based upon said prioritization.
A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting a command from a client program to a processor;
- (b) receiving said command at said processor;
- (c) queuing said command in a queue based on a non-first-in-first-out prioritization;
- and
- (d) said processor providing an acknowledgment to said client program indicating that said command has been executed by said model railroad.
A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting a plurality of commands from a plurality of client programs to an interface;
- (b) receiving said commands at said interface;
- (c) said interface queuing said commands;
- (d) queuing said commands in a command queue having the characteristic that valid commands in said command queue are removed from said command queue without being executed by said model railroad;
- and
- (e) said interface sending a command representative of at least one of said queued commands to a digital command station if not said removed.
A method of operating a digitally controlled model railroad comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting a command from a client program to a processor;
- (b) receiving said command at said processor;
- and
- (c) queuing said command in a queue having the characteristic that valid commands in said queue are removed from said queue without being executed by said model railroad.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.