Train control system and train control method

Abstract

To provide a train control system and a train control method for efficiently controlling a device associated with a position of a vehicle.SOLUTION: A train control system includes a vehicle central control apparatus, a device, and a relay. The vehicle central control apparatus outputs a control signal associated with an IP address. The device drives according to the control signal. The relay, which can be connected to the device, assigns an IP address including information related to vehicle number to the connected device. The device includes a recognition unit and a device control unit. The recognition unit recognizes the vehicle number based on predetermined information included in the IP address. The device control unit sorts out the information using the vehicle number recognized by the recognition unit, and executes driving according to the control signal.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present invention relate to a train control system and a train control method.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, a train control system that is arranged on a railway vehicle to perform vehicle control is known. Since the in-formation network used for this train control is equivalent to a LAN, it is necessary to assign a unique IP address to the connected devices. In addition, there is DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) as a protocol for automatically assigning IP addresses to network devices. In DHCP, for a request from a DHCP client, an arbitrary IP address is selected from the address range managed by the DHCP server and assigned.

[0003] However, many vehicle devices are installed in each car with the same configuration. Therefore, in the setting where an arbitrary IP address is assigned by DHCP, even if information indicating the device type is added to the transmission data, it becomes impossible to determine from the information in the packet which position (front or back, car number, etc.) the transmission data is installed in.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a train control system and a train control method capable of more efficiently controlling devices corresponding to the mounting positions.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The train control system according to this embodiment comprises a vehicle central control device, equipment, and a repeater. The vehicle central control device outputs a control signal associated with an IP address. The equipment is driven according to the control signal. The repeater is connectable to the equipment and assigns an IP address containing information related to the car number to the connected equipment. The equipment has a recognition unit and an equipment control unit. The recognition unit recognizes the car number based on predetermined information contained in the IP address. The equipment control unit uses the car number recognized by the recognition unit to select and discard information and executes driving according to the control signal. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0007] [Figure 1] A diagram showing an example configuration of a train control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] A block diagram showing an example configuration of the vehicle's central control system. [Figure 3] A table showing an example of a management table stored in the memory unit. [Figure 4] A block diagram showing an example of a switch configuration. [Figure 5] A table showing an example of a port management table stored in the memory unit. [Figure 6] A block diagram showing an example of a communication block configuration. [Figure 7] A time chart showing an example of vehicle number recognition in this embodiment. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0008] Hereinafter, a train control system and a train control method according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the embodiments shown below are examples of embodiments of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. Furthermore, in the drawings referenced in these embodiments, the same or similar reference numerals are used for identical parts or parts having similar functions, and repeated descriptions may be omitted. Also, the dimensional ratios in the drawings may differ from the actual ratios for illustrative purposes, and some components may be omitted from the drawings. (One embodiment)

[0009] Figure 1 shows an example of the configuration of a train control system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The train control system 1 is a system that controls, monitors, and inspects all equipment within a train set via transmission, and comprises a Train Control and Monitoring System (TCMS) 10, a relay (switch) installed in each car, and a plurality of branch line devices 20. The Train Control and Monitoring System 10 and the branch line devices 20 in each car are connected, for example, by Ethernet® via wired LAN 15 and LAN 25. The detailed configuration of the Train Control and Monitoring System 10 will be described later.

[0010] The branch line equipment 20 operates according to control commands from the vehicle central control device 10. The branch line equipment 20 includes, for example, a repeater 30 and a drive system 40, a brake system 42, and an air conditioning system 44 connected to the repeater 30 via a wired LAN 25. The repeater 30 has a DHCP function and assigns IP addresses that can identify the vehicle number to each of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44. The detailed configuration of the repeater 30 will be described later.

[0011] Each of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 is a DHCP client. The drive system 40 is, for example, a motor, which provides driving force to the drive wheels according to the control signals of the vehicle central control unit 10. The brake system 42 is a wheel braking device, which brakes the wheels according to the control signals of the vehicle central control unit 10. The air conditioning system 44 is, for example, an air conditioner, which adjusts the temperature and humidity inside the vehicle according to the control signals of the vehicle central control unit 10. Each of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 has a communication block 50. The communication block 50 handles the assignment of allocated IP addresses, vehicle number recognition, and vehicle control communication. The detailed configuration of the communication block 50 will be described later. The branch line equipment 20 according to this embodiment is shown as the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44, but is not limited to these. For example, it may be a door control device, destination indicator, and master controller. Also, the combination and number of devices of the branch line equipment 20 may differ.

[0012] Here, an example of the configuration of the vehicle central control device 10 will be described based on Figure 2. Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the vehicle central control device 10. As shown in Figure 2, the vehicle central control device 10 includes a communication unit 100, a storage unit 102, and a vehicle control unit 104.

[0013] The communication unit 100 communicates with multiple branch line devices 20 via wired LANs 15 and 25. The communication unit 100 has, for example, an Ethernet controller and communicates with multiple branch line devices 20, which are devices 40, 42, and 44, via Ethernet communication.

[0014] Figure 3 is a table showing an example of a management table stored in the memory unit 102. The memory unit 102 stores the IP address of each piece of equipment for each train car. The IP addresses are generated according to a predetermined rule shared by each device in the train control system 1. For example, the third octet of the IP address is defined as the train car number, and the fourth octet is defined as the equipment type. More specifically, "10.1.3.5" is processed as the drive system equipment for car 3, and "10.1.4.22" is processed as the air conditioning equipment for car 4. In this embodiment, the IP addresses of each piece of equipment for each train car stored in the memory unit 102 and the IP addresses assigned to the equipment 40, 42, and 44 of the branch line equipment 20 described later are described as fixed values, but are not limited to this.

[0015] For example, when the vehicle control unit 104 outputs control commands to the equipment 40 of all vehicles simultaneously, it sets a multicast address such as "239.255.1.5" as the destination IP address in the IP header, and sets data indicating the control content assigned to the data position for each vehicle in the data section of the Ethernet packet. Note that the second to fourth octets of the multicast address may be set to any number, and are not limited to this.

[0016] Figure 4 is a block diagram showing an example configuration of the repeater 30. The repeater 30 is, for example, a managed switch, and is a DHCP-enabled switch that can control itself. The repeater 30 also has multiple ports. As shown in Figure 4, the repeater 30 has a communication unit 300, a storage unit 302, and a DHCP control unit 304. Devices 40, 42, and 44 connected to the repeater 30 begin communicating the moment they detect link establishment. Therefore, the repeater 30 operates so that all settings are finalized at startup based on the configuration information stored in the storage unit 302.

[0017] The communication unit 300 communicates with the vehicle's central control unit 10 via the wired LAN 15 and with devices 40, 42, and 44 via the wired LAN 25. The communication unit 300 has, for example, an Ethernet controller and relays communication between the vehicle's central control unit 10 and the devices via Ethernet communication.

[0018] FIG. 5 is a table showing an example of a port management table stored in the storage unit 302. The storage unit 302 stores, as setting information, the IP addresses of each device that performs allocation by DHCP for each port number. For example, for port A of the repeater 30 in vehicle No. 1, the IP address "10.1.1.5" is associated, for port B, the IP address "10.1.1.6" is associated, and for port C, the IP address "10.1.1.22" is associated. Similarly, for example, for port A of the repeater 30 in vehicle No. 3, the IP address "10.1.3.5" is associated, for port B, the IP address "10.1.3.6" is associated, and for port C, the IP address "10.1.3.22" is associated. That is, the port management table is a definition of the IP address for each connection port in the repeater 30 of each vehicle.

[0019] In addition, since the IP addresses in the train control system 1 must be unique values, the IP addresses assigned by the repeater 30 to each device 40, 42, 44 must all be different values for each vehicle. That is, the port management tables stored in the storage unit 302 are different for each repeater 30.

[0020] The DHCP control unit 304 is a function that operates as a DHCP server, for example. The DHCP control unit 304 refers to the port management table stored in the storage unit 302 to determine the IP address to be allocated to the devices 40, 42, 44 and perform the allocation in response to the IP address acquisition requests transmitted from the devices 40, 42, 44. For example, the DHCP control unit 304 fixedly returns the IP address "10.1.1.5" as a DHCP offer in response to a DHCP discover from a device connected to port A. Similarly, in response to a DHCP discover from a device connected to port B, the IP address "10.1.1.6" is returned, and in response to a DHCP discover from a device connected to port C, the IP address "10.1.1.22" is returned.

[0021] In this way, the DHCP control unit 304 always assigns and confirms a fixed IP address corresponding to each port A to C to the devices connected to ports A to C. In other words, simply connecting to a predetermined port on the repeater 30 completes the configuration as the intended device. For example, if device 40 connected to port A fails and another replacement device 40 is connected to port A, it will always be assigned the IP address "10.1.1.5". Therefore, the vehicle central control unit 10 can always perform the same control on device 40 connected to port A without having to manage the MAC address of the device connected to port A. In this way, when connecting each device 40, 42, and 44 to the network, workers only need to connect the devices to the designated ports, eliminating the need for prior configuration changes. This reduces the workload for workers and prevents configuration errors. Conversely, with this method, for example, regardless of what device is connected to port A, the IP address assigned to that port will be assigned, so care must be taken when connecting. Basically, since the vehicle wiring is predetermined, problems should not occur.

[0022] Figure 6 is a block diagram showing an example configuration of the communication block 50. As shown in Figure 6, the communication block 50 is, for example, a block having DHCP client functionality, and includes a communication unit 400, a storage unit 402, a request unit 404, and a recognition unit 406.

[0023] The communication unit 400 communicates with the vehicle central control unit 10 and the repeater 30 via wired LAN 15 and wired LAN 25. The communication unit 400 has, for example, an Ethernet driver and communicates with the vehicle central control unit 10 and the repeater 30 via Ethernet.

[0024] The storage unit 402 stores, for example, an IP address determined by DHCP. The request unit 404 executes DHCP processing to obtain an IP address.

[0025] The recognition unit 406 enables the recognition of the installation location, for example, the vehicle number, based on the IP address issued from the repeater 30. For example, the recognition unit 406 decides to identify the third octet of the IP address as the vehicle number, and determines the vehicle number from the IP address. The equipment control unit 408 uses the vehicle number determined by the recognition unit 406 to perform operations corresponding to the vehicle number.

[0026] As a result, the equipment control unit 408 can use the car number obtained by the recognition unit 406 to extract the portion corresponding to its own car from the data indicating the control content set for each car in the Ethernet packet. In particular, this is effective when the vehicle central control device 10 uses multicast to set and transmit information for all cars at once in the control signal. The receiving equipment will extract only the data corresponding to its own car and ignore the information for other cars. In particular, in the transmission of control system devices such as the drive system 40 and brake system 42, the transmission interval is set to several tens of milliseconds, so the more cars there are in a train set, the more the processing load can be reduced. The present invention is most effective when using such multicast transmission processing. Therefore, it is possible not only to reduce the processing load of the vehicle central control device 10 but also to reduce the network load.

[0027] Figure 7 is a time chart showing an example of vehicle number recognition in this embodiment. Here, we will explain the case where the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 of vehicle number 1 have a defined data location where the control signal for themselves is stored, with respect to the data structure of the control signal including a composite command.

[0028] First, the memory unit 302 of the repeater 30 is set with an IP address for each port (step S100). Next, the request units 404 of the communication blocks 50 of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 sequentially request an IP address by DHCP discover (steps S102a, S102b, S102c).

[0029] Next, the DHCP control unit 304 of the repeater 30 sends a fixed IP address assignment proposal (DHCP Offer) in response to the IP address request via DHCP discover, according to the port to which each of the drive system device 40, brake device 42, and air conditioning device 44 is connected (steps S103a, S103b, S103c).

[0030] Next, when the request units 404 of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 receive a DHCP Offer in sequence, they request to use their respective fixed IP addresses (DHCP Request) (steps S104a, S104b, S104c).

[0031] Next, the DHCP control unit 304 of the repeater 30 approves (DHCP Ack) the use of fixed IP addresses for each request unit 404 of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 in response to each DHCP Request (steps S105a, S105b, S105c).

[0032] Next, each request unit 404 of the communication block 50 of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 sets the approved (DHCP Ack) fixed IP address in the storage unit 402 (steps S106a, S106b, S105c).

[0033] Next, the recognition unit 406 of each communication block 50 of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 recognizes its own vehicle number based on, for example, the third octet of the set IP address (steps S107a, S107b, S107c).

[0034] Next, the vehicle central control unit 10 sets, for example, the destination IP address in the IP header to "239.255.1.5" and sends an Ethernet packet with all vehicle information set in a predetermined position in the data section to the drive system unit 40 via multicast communication over wired LANs 15 and 25 (step S108). Similarly, the brake unit 42 and the air conditioning unit 44 define different multicast addresses and perform multicast communication with all vehicle information set in a batch.

[0035] Next, the equipment control units 408 of the communication blocks 50 of the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 of car 1 read the control signals directed to themselves from a predetermined position in the data section of the received Ethernet packet using the car number obtained by the recognition unit 406 (steps S109a, S109b, S109c). As a result, the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 of car 1 can extract only the control signals set for their own car and drive, even if the Ethernet packet was multicast transmitted to all cars at once.

[0036] As described above, according to this embodiment, the relay 30 issues IP addresses containing information related to the mounting position to the connected drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44, enabling the drive system 40, brake system 42, and air conditioning system 44 to perform equipment control using the mounting position recognized by the recognition unit 406 based on the IP address. As a result, by using the IP address information issued from the connected relay 30, control for all cars can be operated with a single program.

[0037] Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these embodiments are presented as examples only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their variations are included in the scope and spirit of the invention, as well as in the claims of the invention and its equivalents. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0038] 10: Vehicle central control unit, 30: Repeater, 40: Drive system unit, 42: Brake unit, 44: Air conditioning unit, 406: Recognition unit, 408: Equipment control unit.

Claims

1. A vehicle central control unit that outputs control signals associated with an IP address, A device that is driven according to the aforementioned control signal, A relay device to which the aforementioned device can be connected, which assigns an IP address containing information related to the vehicle number to the connected device, Equipped with, The aforementioned repeater is, Multiple connection ports, It has a storage unit that stores multiple different IP addresses corresponding to each of the multiple connection ports, The relay device assigns to the device connected to any of the plurality of connection ports a unique IP address associated with the connected connection port and having information related to the vehicle number, The aforementioned device is A recognition unit that recognizes the vehicle number based on the vehicle number information contained in the IP address, A train control system comprising: an equipment control unit that selects and discards information using the car number recognized by the recognition unit and executes the drive according to the control signal.

2. The train control system according to claim 1, wherein the equipment control unit uses the car number obtained by the recognition unit to drive according to the data corresponding to its own car from the data indicating the control content set for each car in the control signal.

3. The aforementioned repeater has a DHCP function, The train control system according to claim 1, which assigns the IP address in response to a DHCP request from the aforementioned device.

4. Multiple different devices are connected to each of the aforementioned multiple connection ports. The train control system according to claim 3, wherein the repeater assigns each of the IP addresses associated with the connected connection port from among the plurality of different IP addresses.

5. The train control system according to claim 4, wherein the control signal is transmitted by multicast.

6. There are multiple such relays, each installed in a different car of the train. The train control system according to claim 5, wherein each of the plurality of relays issues an IP address containing information about the vehicle number that identifies the vehicle at which it is mounted to a device connected to each of the plurality of relays.

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