The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 28, 1998
Filed:
Nov. 25, 1996
Michael J Ehrenberger, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Randall S Mecca, Columbia, SC (US);
Kenneth Gottschlich, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Christopher R Harper, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Jack I Wilson, Overland Park, KS (US);
Union Switch & Signal Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
A system and method of communicating via digital radio between a train and a device positioned at the wayside of a railway system, wherein the device detects defects at the wayside and information related to the defects is transmitted from the wayside to the train for display in the locomotive cab. A communications unit having a microprocessor control circuit and a transceiver is electrically coupled, preferably by serial connection, to the defect detector along the wayside. The transceiver of the communications unit is in radio communication with an existing transceiver in the head-of-train (HOT) unit located in the locomotive cab at the head-end of the train. The head-of-train unit has a microprocessor control circuit that drives a display which is preferably alphanumeric, for the purpose of displaying messages related to the defects detected by the defect detector at the wayside, and subsequently transmitted between the transceiver of the communications unit and the transceiver of the HOT unit. In a preferred embodiment, the HOT unit includes recording apparatus for recording the messages displayed and an alarm for notifying an operator that a message is being displayed.