Abstract:
A device to prevent railway crossing accidents between a roadway vehicle and a train, by comparing the UPS location of a roadway vehicle to the UPS location of the railway crossing by means of a mobile computing device, and alerting the operator of a roadway vehicle when the vehicle is at a railway crossing when an FM radio signal transmitted by the train is also detected by the mobile computing device.

Description:
RELATED U.S. APPLICATION DATA 
       [0001]    This patent claims the benefit of: Mobile Computing Based Railway Crossing Collision. Avoidance System—provisional patent application 61/589,349 filed Jan. 22, 2012. 
     
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
       [0002]    This application contains no rights made under federally sponsored research and development. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    The present invention pertains to field of railroad crossing safety, specifically the avoidance of collisions between vehicles using a roadway and a train travelling on railway tracks at the location where the tracks and roadway intersect. 
         [0004]    Currently, the driver of a vehicle must rely on visual and audible queues to prevent a collision with a train when approaching a railway crossing. Given the average number or collision per year between cars and trains, this method has proved ineffective at preventing collisions. 
         [0005]    Common examples of railroad crossing accidents are (1) vehicles travelling in fog who can not see an approaching train and don&#39;t hear any train whistle until it is too late (2) a driver has the windows rolled up and does not hear any train whistle when approaching a railway crossing in the countryside which has only a wooden sign making the train track crossing, and the driver does not otherwise notice the approaching train (2) a semi-trailer that has poor brakes and as a result is unable to stop in time for a train in a railway crossing. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    The present invention utilizes a mobile computing device such as a smartphone in the roadway vehicle having a GPS receiver, and a train equipped with a radio transmitter which can transmit an radio signal (typically an FM radio signal or other radio signal in the line-of-sight frequency) at a nominal range or 0-4 miles. The train radio signal would have to be broadcast at a set frequency and the roadway vehicle would have an FM radio receiver attuned to detect the train FM radio signal, and when detected an input of this occurrence would be input for use by the mobile computing device. 
         [0007]    The GPS location of each railway crossing is stored in a database residing on the mobile computing device. A computer application runs on the smartphone which continually compares the roadway vehicle&#39;s GPS location with all the GPS railway crossing locations. When the roadway vehicle is approaching a railway crossing, the GPS coordinates of the vehicle are compared to the GPS coordinates of all the railway crossing in the database. When the computing device detects that the vehicle is approaching or in the vicinity of a railway crossing the mobile computing device then listens for an FM radio signal transmitted being by a train. If a radio signal is then detected, a visual and/or audio alert is given to the driver. If no radio signal is detected, no alert is given. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  shows a railway crossing where the car is using the present invention and train is using the FM transmitter to broadcast its presence where no cars given an alert or warning by the present invention as to the train&#39;s presence. 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  shows a typical railway crossing where the car is using the present invention and train is using an FM transmitter to broadcast its presence where at least one cars given an alert or warning by the present invention as to the train&#39;s presence. 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  shows a block diagram of the present invention which is located on or inside the roadway travelling vehicle in a simple form where the train continually broadcasts an FM radio signal to broadcast the train&#39;s presence. 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  shows a block diagram of the present invention which is located on or inside the roadway travelling vehicle where the train broadcasts an FM radio signal to all vehicles in the area where the FM radio signal has encoded the information of the train&#39;s speed, distance from the railway crossing on the train&#39;s length. 
           [0012]      FIG. 5  shows a railway crossing where the car is using the present invention and train is using an FM transmitter to broadcast its presence where at all cars receive the FM radio signal from the train, and each car then decodes from the FM radio signal the train&#39;s speed, distance from the crossing, and the train length, and then determines whether based on the vehicles own speed and distance to the crossing if a danger warning should be given the vehicle operator. 
           [0013]      FIG. 6  the flow chart for using the present invention at a railway crossing where the car is using the invention and train is using an FM transmitter to broadcast its presence where at all cars receive the FM radio signal from the train, and each car then decodes from the FM radio signal the train&#39;s speed, distance from the crossing, and the train length, and then determines whether based on the vehicles own speed and distance to the crossing if a danger warning should be given the vehicle operator. 
           [0014]      FIG. 7  the flow chart for using the present invention at a railway crossing where the car is using the present invention and train is using an FM transmitter to broadcast its presence. 
           [0015]      FIG. 8  the flow chart for using the present invention at a railway crossing where the car is using the present invention and train is using an FM transmitter to broadcast its presence and where the present invention also takes into consideration the roadway vehicle&#39;s type (light car, car, SUV, light truck, semi-trailor etc.) and the roadway vehicle&#39;s speed when calculating when to alert the vehicle operator of a possible collision danger. 
           [0016]      FIG. 9  is the computer pseudo code to run the present invention for using the present invention at a railway crossing where the car is using the present invention and train is using an FM transmitter to broadcast its presence. 
           [0017]      FIG. 10  is the computer pseudo code to run the present invention for using the present invention at a railway crossing where the car is using the present invention and train is using an FM transmitter to broadcast its presence and the present invention takes into consideration the roadway vehicle&#39;s type and speed. 
           [0018]      FIG. 11  is the computer pseudo code to run the present invention for using the present invention at a railway crossing where the car is using the present invention and train is using an FM transmitter to broadcast its presence and the present invention takes into consideration the roadway vehicle&#39;s type and speed and also takes into consideration the train&#39;s speed, distance from the railway crossing and the train&#39;s length. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Preferred Embodiment One 
       [0019]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , a train  5  travelling on train tracks  9  (northward in this example) towards a railroad crossing  13  is equipped with an FM radio transmitter  6  that transmits an FM signal  15  at a set frequency at a nominal distance of 1 mile radius  14  in all directions around the train. Any available frequency can be used. Vehicles  1 ,  2 ,  3  (travelling eastward in this example) and  4  (travelling northward in this example) are all travelling in the vicinity of the railway crossing or train. 
         [0020]    Each vehicle  1 ,  2 ,  3  and  4  are equipped with a mobile computing device  57  of  FIG. 3  and an FM receiver  51  of  FIG. 3  which can detect the presence of the FM signal  15  transmitting from the FM transmitter  6  of the train  5 . Referring to of  FIG. 3  the mobile computing device  57  is also equipped with a GPS receiver  52  that can detect the GPS coordinates of the mobile computing device  57 . 
         [0021]    The mobile computing device  57  is also equipped with a CPU  53  and a computer program  58  which compares its GPS location with the location of all railway crossings which are stored in a database  54 . 
         [0022]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , the GPS location  13  of the railway crossing is stored in the database  54  of  FIG. 3 . Referring to  FIG. 3 , when the computer program  58  running on the CPU  53  detects that it is within the logical area  7  of  FIG. 1  the CPU  53  then computes whether the mobile computing device  57  is travelling towards or away from the railway crossing  13 . The logical area  7  of  FIG. 1  is computed by adding a nominal number of feet to both the GPS longitude and latitude coordinates such that if the roadway vehicle is within that logical area the vehicle is considered to be in the railway crossing area for purposes of giving an alert to the operator of the vehicle travelling within that area towards a railway crossing when a train is also present. The logical area can also be calculated by using an additional value stored along with each railway crossing which value represents the speed limit for the roadway at that railway crossing. If the speed limit is say 60 MPH, then the logical area is computed to be larger given that a faster moving vehicle need greater advanced notice of a potential collision with a train, and if the speed limit is only 20 MPH, the logical area is computed to be smaller as only those vehicles close to the railway crossing are considered to be in an area of potential danger and need less advanced notice as a result of their slow speed. 
         [0023]    The output  71  from the CPU  53  is a logical 1 if the vehicle is considered to be in the railway area danger zone, and a logical 0 if it is outside the railway area danger zone, and the output  72  from the FM receiver  51  is a logical 1 if a radio signal (an FM radio signal is used in the present description, though other radio frequencies can be used also) from the train is detected and a logical 0 if it is not detected, are AND&#39;ed  55  together and if both are logical 1&#39;s, the audio/visual alert  56  is activated, alerting the driver of the vehicle that they are approaching a railway crossing and that a train is present. 
         [0024]    While a vehicle might be considered to be in the railway crossing danger area  7  of  FIG. 1 , if that vehicle is traveling away from the railway crossing, then the vehicle is not considered to be in danger, and the output from the CPU  53  would be a logical 0. The computer program  58  examines the UPS coordinates of the vehicle and its direction of travel based on a series of UPS coordinates of the vehicle, and examines the GPS location of the railway crossing  13  and if the vehicle is moving away from the railway crossing  13  then the vehicle is not considered to be in danger of a collision with a train. Referring to  FIG. 1 , vehicle  1 , while in the railway crossing danger zone  13  would not be considered in danger of a collision if a train were also present as it is moving away from the railway crossing. 
         [0025]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , none of the vehicles  1 ,  2 ,  3  or  4  have the alert  56  of  FIG. 3  activated. Vehicle  1  is travelling away from the railway crossing  13 . Vehicle  2  is within the railway crossing danger area  7 , however, Vehicle  2  can not detect the FM signal of the train. Vehicle  4  can detect the FM signal of the train, however, it is not within the railway crossing danger area  7 . 
         [0026]    Optionally, the strength of the radio signal from the oncoming train can vary depending on the train&#39;s speed. For example, if the train is traveling at a slow speed of say  5  MPH, the range of the radio signal can be weaker and can broadcast its signal only at a say ⅛ of a mile for example, as less advanced notice is necessary as a slow moving at 5 MPH train presents no collision risk when ⅛ of a mile away. If the train is travelling at a high rate of speed such as 60 MPH, it can transmit its radio signal at say a 1 mile range. Thus, a faster travelling train gives a more advanced notice that it is approaching by the strength, and thus range, of the FM radio signal. 
         [0027]    Referring to  FIG. 2  which shows a train close to the railway crossing and thus presenting a potential danger of a collision, only Vehicle  2  has the alert  56  of  FIG. 3  activated. Vehicle  1  is travelling away from the railway crossing danger area. Vehicle  2  is within the area railway crossing danger area  7 , travelling towards the crossing, and can detect the FM signal of the train. Vehicle  3  can detect the FM signal of the train, however, it is not within the railway crossing danger area  7 . 
         [0028]    Referring to FIG.  7 —a flowchart for the operation of the mobile computing device  57  of  FIG. 3  for Preferred Embodiment One—the OPS coordinates of the mobile computing device  57  of  FIG. 3  are compared with the GPS locations of all railway crossings. If the mobile computing device  57  is within the area of the railway crossing as computed by area  7  of  FIG. 1  surrounding the railway crossing, then the computer program  58  of  FIG. 3  determines if the mobile computing device  57  of  FIG. 3  is traveling towards the railway crossing. If it is, the mobile computing device  57  of  FIG. 3  then checks for the presence of the FM signal  15  of  FIG. 1  of the train. If present, an alert is given to the operator of the vehicle. 
       Preferred Embodiment Two 
       [0029]    An improvement to the previous embodiment would be for the present invention to take into consideration the type and speed of the vehicle approaching the railway crossing  13  of  FIG. 1 . The type of vehicle information can be stored in an area  59  of  FIG. 3  in the mobile computing device. The vehicle speed can be input into the mobile computing device from the vehicle speedometer or be calculated by the mobile computing device using GPS coordinate reading over a period of time. The method of operation for preferred embodiment two is the same as preferred embodiment one, except that the computer program  58  takes into consideration the vehicle type and speed. A semi-trailer, for example, takes longer to come to a stop than a small car, and therefore the area  7  of  FIG. 1  would be increased when computing whether a the vehicle is in the danger zone area of the railway crossing and in need of being given an alert when the train  5  of  FIG. 1  is also near the railway crossing  13  of  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 8  shows the flowchart for preferred embodiment two.  FIG. 10  shows the pseudo code for the computer program running on the present invention to implement preferred embodiment two. 
       Preferred Embodiment Three 
       [0030]    Referring to  FIG. 5 , a train  5  travelling on train tracks  9  (northward in this example) towards a railroad crossing  13  is equipped with an FM radio transmitter  6  that transmits an FM signal  14  at a set frequency at a nominal distance of a 4 mile radius  15  in all directions around the train. Any available frequency can be used. Preferred embodiment three functions identically to that of preferred embodiments 1 and 2 with the difference being that the train  5  encodes onto the FM radio signal the trains speed, distance to the railway crossing, and the length of the train. For example, a train traveling 5 MPH that, is 1 mile from the train crossing presents no real danger to vehicles  1 ,  2  or  3 . 
         [0031]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , preferred embodiment three receives the encoded FM radio signal  14  of  FIG. 5  via the FM receiver  51  and the mobile computing device then decodes from the FM radio signal  14  of  FIG. 5  the speed, distance from the railway crossing and length information of the train  5  by using a decoder  76  and the speed, distance from the railway crossing and train length are then fed to the CPU  53  and used by the computer program  58  to determine of the train presents a danger to a vehicle in area  7  of  FIG. 5  such that an alert needs to be given to the vehicle operator. 
         [0032]    Referring to  FIG. 5  with respect to the importance of the length of train  5 , travelling on train tracks  9  if train  5  (having the FM transmitter  6  located on the locomotive) is 1 mile past the railway crossing  13  and the train  5  is 2 miles long the computer program  58  of  FIG. 4  would detect a danger exists to a vehicle in area  7  and would then alert the vehicle driver. 
         [0033]      FIG. 6  is the flowchart for the operation of preferred embodiment three.  FIG. 11  is the pseudo code for the computer program  58  for preferred embodiment three.