Patent ID: 8714494

Claim:
A control system for a railway vital application system, comprising: a first controller having an external bilateral communications interface capable of sending and receiving a vital systems message within a railway vital application system, the message including a security code and vital data; a second controller having an external communications interface capable of receiving a vital systems message, but incapable of sending a vital systems message that is generated within the second controller, the second controller having a security code generator; and an inter-controller communications pathway coupling the first and second controllers; wherein the first and second controllers respectively receive an input vital systems message including input vital systems data and an input security code, verify the input message integrity and generate output vital systems data, the second controller generates an output security code and sends it to the first controller, and the first controller sends an output vital systems message including the output vital systems data and the second controller output security code for use within the railway vital application system.