Patent ID: 8655540

Claim:
A method of processing rail vehicles, the method comprising: identifying each individual rail vehicle as it moves along a set of rails, the identifying including: emitting and detecting a plurality of horizontally spaced electromagnetic beams across the set of rails, the plurality of electromagnetic beams having a height and angle that enable the detection of a gap between any two of a plurality of types of connected railroad cars without regard to a height of any component of any of the connected railroad cars with respect to the coupler assemblies of the connected railroad cars or a number of wheels of any of the connected railroad cars, wherein the horizontal spacing of the electromagnetic beams is less than a width of the gap; and identifying each rail vehicle based on obstructions of the plurality of electromagnetic beams, an order in which the plurality of electromagnetic beams are obstructed, and an amount of time the plurality of electromagnetic beams are obstructed; acquiring data for each identified rail vehicle as it moves along the set of rails; and providing the acquired data for processing each identified rail vehicle.