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OwnerAlbert Donald Darby, Jr., David Poltz +4inventors
InventorsAlbert Donald Darby, Jr., David Poltz, Mark Hefner, Irfan Ali, William Schoonmaker, George Jarman
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A system and method for communicating over networks, particularly generally-linear networks such as a netowrk of railcars in a railway train. The disclosed system and method include the relaying of packets which may contain plural messages down a line of nodes. Acknowledgement of the packets is obtained implicitly by listening to a subsequenct relay of the packet and retransmission of the packet is effected on a diverse antenna in the event of non-acknowledgement. Message bandwidth is shared among the nodes of the system by a message priority system and by the reservation of portions of a packet for certain types of messages. Message bandwidth is also shared by the use of groups of nodes as relay particpiants and by periodically changing the group which is peforming the relay operations.
A method of determining a physical order of plural railcars in a train consist where the railcars are connected to each other through a pneumatic brake pipe and an RF communication link and where the train consist includes at least one head end unit (HEU), comprising the steps of:
In a train comprising at least one head end unit (HEU) and plural railcars connected by a pneumatic brake pipe and an electrical communications link, a method of determining the relative order of the railcars in the train comprising the steps of:
In a train comprising at least one head end unit (HEU) and plural railcars, where the HEU and railcars are coupled together through a pneumatic brake pipe and each railcar and HEU contains a communication unit for sending and receiving electrical signals, a method of determining the relative position of each railcar in the train comprising the steps of:
In a train comprising at least one head end unit (HEU) and plural railcars where the HEU and railcars are coupled together through a pneumatic brake pipe and each railcar and HEU contains a communication unit for sending and receiving messages, a method of each railcar determining its relative position of each railcar in the train, comprising the steps of:
In a train comprising at least one head end unit (HEU) and plural railcars where the HEU and railcars are coupled together through a pneumatic brake pipe and each railcar and HEU contains a communication unit for sending and receiving electrical signals, a method of determining the relative position of each railcar in the train comprising the steps of:
In a method of determining the relative position of plural railcars in a train having at least one head end unit (“LIEU”) where the HEU and all of the railcars are connected by pneumatic and wireless communication systems, the improvement wherein each railcar transmits a wireless signal upon receipt of a pneumatic signal and determines its relative position in the train from the difference in time between the receipt of a pneumatic signal originating from the HEU and the receipt of a wireless signal transmitted by the immediately preceding railcar.
In a method of determining the relative position of plural railcars in a train having at least one head end unit (“HEU”) where the HEU and all of the cars are connected by a common pneumatic communication system and where the HEU and each of the railcars is connected to a plurality of the railcars by a wireless communication system, the improvement wherein each railcar transmits a wireless signal upon receipt of a pneumatic signal and determines its relative position in the train using the time of receipt of the wireless signal received over the wireless communication system in closest proximity to receipt of a pneumatic signal.
In a train comprising at least one head end unit (HEU) and a plurality of railcars connected by a pneumatic brake pipe and an electrical communications link with each railcar in the train and the HEU, a method of determining the order of the railcars comprising:
The method of claim 23 wherein the electrical signal comprises a unique address assigned to each railcar based on the time at which the pneumatic pressure pulse reached the transmitting railcar.
The method of claim 26 wherein each one of the plurality of railcars self-determines the unique address based on of the railcar in the train.
In a train comprising at least one head end unit (HEU) and a plurality of railcars connected by a pneumatic brake pipe and an electrical communications link with each railcar in the train and the HEU, a method of determining the order of the railcars comprising:
In a train comprising at least one head end unit (HEU) and plural railcars connected by a pneumatic brake pipe and an electrical communications link, a method of determining the relative order of the railcars in the train comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.