Patent ID: RE39210

Claim:
A remote control system for a locomotive, comprising: a first transmitter generating a set of RF signal commands, each RF signal command signalling the locomotive to execute a certain function; a second transmitter generating a set of RF signal commands, each RF signal command from the set of said second transmitter signalling the locomotive to execute a certain function; and a slave controller receiving RF commands from said first transmitter and from said second transmitter and assigning to each one of said first and second transmitters one of a command authority holder operational status and a command authority non-holder operational status, said slave controller being responsive: i) to at least one RF signal command generated by said first transmitter causing the locomotive to execute a predetermined function, ii) to at least one RF signal command generated by said second transmitter causing the locomotive to execute a predetermined function, iii) to an RF signal command other than said at least one RF signal command generated by a selected one of said first and second transmitters to cause the locomotive to perform a certain function, iv) an RF signal command other than said at least one frequency signal command solely generated by a transmitter having a command authority holder operational status, and v) to a command authority relinquish RF signal command generated by one of said first and second transmitters having a command authority holder operational status to assign the command authority holder operational status to the other of said first and second transmitters; wherein said slave controller rejects an RF command, other than said at least one RF signal command, issued from a non-selected one of said first and second transmitters.