Patent ID: 6633784
Filing Date: 2003-10-14
Classification: B61L

Abstract:
For use with a railroad locomotive comprising a plurality of operational systems monitored by an on-board monitor for collecting operational information from the operational systems in functional dependence on configuration information supplied to the on-board monitor by a remote monitoring and diagnostic center, wherein the operational information is transmitted to and analyzed at the remote monitoring and diagnostic center for assessing the operational performance of the locomotive, a method for controlling the on-board monitor comprising the steps of:establishing a communications link between the on-board monitor and the remote monitoring and diagnostic center; transmitting the operational information from the on-board monitor to the remote monitoring and diagnostic center over the communications link; modifying on-board monitor configuration information in data storage at the remote monitoring and diagnostic center in response to the operational performance of the locomotive; storing the modified configuration information at the remote monitoring and diagnostic center; at the remote monitoring and diagnostic center, determining whether there is modified configuration information for the on-board monitor; and in response to determining if there is modified configuration information transmitting the modified configuration information to the on-board monitor from the remote monitoring and diagnostic center, such that the on-board monitor thereafter collects operational information in functional dependence on the modified configuration information.