Patent ID: 8214091

Claim:
A system for determining a possible location of a train in a track network comprising a plurality of interconnected tracks having a plurality of wayside devices associated with the tracks, the system comprising: a positioning system configured to determine an estimated location area of a train within the track network; a track database comprising track location data; a computer configured to: (i) obtain the determined estimated location area of the train from the positioning system; (ii) identify a plurality of tracks in the estimated location area of the train, based upon the track location data; (iii) obtain signal system data for at least one wayside device associated with at least one of the plurality of tracks identified within the estimated location area; (iv) determine at least one possible train location on at least one of the identified plurality of tracks based at least in part upon the obtained signal system data, wherein the signal system data comprises at least one of the following: wayside device change data, wayside device behavior data, or any combination thereof; wherein, when a plurality of possible train locations is determined, the computer is further configured to: determine a direction of travel of the train; determine at least one of a track route forward and a track route backward for each of the plurality of possible train locations; obtain signal system data for at least one wayside device associated with at least one of the track route forward and the track route backward for at least one of the plurality of possible train locations; and determine a best possible train location based upon at least one of the following: the determined direction of travel, the determined track route forward, the determined track route backward, the obtained signal system data.