GB2455603A - Model railway route controller - Google Patents
Model railway route controller Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- GB2455603A GB2455603A GB0818225A GB0818225A GB2455603A GB 2455603 A GB2455603 A GB 2455603A GB 0818225 A GB0818225 A GB 0818225A GB 0818225 A GB0818225 A GB 0818225A GB 2455603 A GB2455603 A GB 2455603A
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- layout
- controller
- panel
- central processor
- values
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- 238000004891 communication Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 22
- 230000005540 biological transmission Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 20
- 238000005286 illumination Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 11
- 235000014676 Phragmites communis Nutrition 0.000 claims abstract description 7
- 230000003137 locomotive effect Effects 0.000 description 8
- 230000006870 function Effects 0.000 description 6
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 description 6
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 4
- 238000010276 construction Methods 0.000 description 2
- 238000013479 data entry Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000005611 electricity Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000000007 visual effect Effects 0.000 description 2
Classifications
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
- A63H—TOYS, e.g. TOPS, DOLLS, HOOPS OR BUILDING BLOCKS
- A63H19/00—Model railways
- A63H19/24—Electric toy railways; Systems therefor
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
- A63H—TOYS, e.g. TOPS, DOLLS, HOOPS OR BUILDING BLOCKS
- A63H19/00—Model railways
- A63H19/30—Permanent way; Rails; Rail-joint connections
- A63H19/32—Switches or points; Operating means therefor
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
- A63H—TOYS, e.g. TOPS, DOLLS, HOOPS OR BUILDING BLOCKS
- A63H19/00—Model railways
- A63H19/24—Electric toy railways; Systems therefor
- A63H2019/246—Remote controls
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- Train Traffic Observation, Control, And Security (AREA)
Abstract
A controller 10 for operating a model railway layout and associated accessories comprises a front panel 14 bearing a diagrammatic representation 15 of the railway layout, switches or buttons 16 provided on the diagrammatic layout, a central processor (not shown), and a digital command controller (DCC) 24. The switches 16 are in communication with the processor via an electronic transmission bus 18, and are programmed or encoded to represent values, with the values having corresponding values within the DCC 26 and/or accessory decoder devices 30 provided within the layout. Operation of a switch 16 causes the values to be passed from the processor to the DCC 24 for manipulation of an accessory within the layout as designated by the corresponding values within the DCC. The switches 16 may comprise illuminating digital buttons, the illumination being controlled by the processor. The panel may include warning and/or status lights 17 controlled by the processor. The switches 16 may be connected to reed switches and infrared detectors 36 for the purposes of feedback, and the electronic bus transmission 18 may be a single, daisy chained cable. The processor may be contained within a gateway panel 20 forming part of the front panel presentation of the model railway route controller for communication with the DCC. The accessories are preferably track points or turnouts.
Description
1 2455603
A MODEL RAILWAY ROUTE CONTROLLER
Technological Field
This present invention relates to a device and an arrangement for controlling model railway routes, turnouts and other electrical accessories. More particularly this invention relates to providing a traditional control panel with user friendly features attributed to such an arrangement without the cumbersome and complex wiring arrangement, while at the same time providing for performance, efficiency and expectation one would expect from a digital command control system.
Background Art
Model railways and train sets have traditionally been constructed with a set of interconnected sections of train track, electric switches between different sections of the train track and electrically operated devices, such as train locomotives and turnouts. Train locomotives received their power to travel on is the train track by electricity provided by a controller through the track itself. The speed and direction of the train engine is controlled by the level and polarity, respectively, of the electrical power supplied to the train track.
i ii addition, the operator manually pushes buttons or pulls levers to cause the turnouts or other electrically operated devices to function as desired.
As layouts of the interconnected sections of train track become more complex and multiple trains need to be operated independently, there was a move to the establishment of control panels to which the track layout was re-represented in a diagram for the operator to control certain parts of the track from a distance.
This traditional control panel also included buttons or switches which activate sections of the layout and operated turnouts and other accessories and also warning and status lights and incorporated complex wiring, diode matrices and/or relays to achieve its purpose.
While the creation of these traditional control panels were particularly user friendly to the end operator, their construction was anything but. Each s individual switch, lamp, or light needed to be directly wired to its related turnouts, switches or other accessories on the layout.
In order to move away from these traditional control panels and to overcome some of the difficulties associated with the establishing of the complex wiring to interconnect the controller to the train track and related accessories located there along, there has been a move more recently to digital command control (bCC) systems that have been developed to provide a controllability of individual train engines and other electrical devices digitally.
Under this system, each device the operator decides to control, such as a train locomotive, includes an individually addressable digital decoder A digital command station is electrically connected to the train track to provide a command in the form of a set of encoded digital bits to a particular device that includes a digital decoder. The digital command station is typically controlled by a purposely provided micro controller within its own established container or sometimes by a personal computer While providing the ability to individually control different devices of the railway, the digitally command control system still fails to provide a user friendly representation to the operator so they can simultaneously be able to observe the track layout and then operate those particular routes, turnouts and accessories along the track as so desired without having to remember particular codes and the like.
Still further while the digital command control system provides improvements in the controlling of multiple locomotives or engines in the track layout, this improvement and efficiency has not been translated onto the control of those features associated with the track including turnouts, signals, hidden sidings and other related accessories.
Accordingly some model railway layouts include additional accessory decoders to work in conjunction with their digital command controller. In the most part a these decoders are installed under the layout and can control from between one to eight turnout motors usually located nearby within the track arrangement.
The decoder is connected to the track or the digital command controller transmission lines resulting in minimal wiring within a restricted local area.
Nonetheless while the wiring may be substantially less complex than that io associated with the traditional control panel, the difficulty remains in the ease in which the operator can effectively operate and control the turnouts and accessories making up the layout.
As the person skilled in the art will appreciate, there are a variety of ways in which the digital command control system can work with the accessory decoder to have one or more of the turnouts changed, but as wilt be introduced following herewith, none of those current procedures offer a user friendly way in which your average hobbyist can enjoy to simply control the turnouts and other power accessories that make up his or her railway layout.
One way in which one or more turnouts may be changed using the digital command controller system is where one would enter the turnout's code number and press a button on the digital command controller.
A slightly easier way is where the' operator would scroll through a list of turnouts until the selection of the required turnout is located by means of a code number or other types of Alfa numeric abbreviations and a button is then pressed While from a data entry point of view these methods may seem simplistic, the problem arises when the actual controller is in operation and an operator would like to access a particular turnout or the like along the track.
As the person skilled in the art will appreciite the operator would need to be familiar with the locations of all the turnouts within the layout and remember the corresponding code or abbreviated name connected to that particular location.
An alternative way in which one or more turnouts may be changed using the currently available digital command control system in communication with a further accessory decoder would be to use a route selector, wherein these devices include their own control panel which have a series of buttons which may be programmed to set a particular route, for example, set all turnouts along that route in the appropriate directions.
While this is an improvement the problem still remains as to which buttons relate to what particular route. Furthermore such an arrangement is only viable for main routes and there still remains the problems associated with the use with additional layout featyres such as sidings and the like.
Hence while the programming and data input side of things remains an improvement the problem still remains is that when in operation the operator must remember where all the routes, turnouts and the like are along and within the layout and their associated codes, abbreviated names or buttons.
More recently in order to utilize the digital command control system and try and relate it to more traditional control panel representations, some track layout arrangements have seen the interfacing of the track with a computer whereby software packages provide for a monitored display of the layout diagrammatically on the screen of which the selected turnouts, routes and the like can be acknowledged and altered through the computer's mouse selection.
While this provides a visual solution which mimics a traditional layout control panel the problem remains that the use of a computer interface is expensive and in many instances to the hobbyist can be quite intimidating if faced with the use of complex software that needs to be installed, executed and run for its applicatIon.
Still further, as the person skilled in the art will appreciate, computers and their interfaces take up space within the layout of which in many instances is not available, and still further there is often a requirement for multiple operators to control the devices within the layout which would correlate to the requirement of s multiple computers and the associated software, making this suggested arrangement particularly expensive and troublesome.
Therefore as the above has introduced there still remains a need in the relevant art of model railway control to provide a controlling method or system utilizing a control panel that does not use a lot of complex and troublesome wiring but at io the same time maintains the traditional user friendly representation of the layout by means of a diagram and at the same time still maintain performance and controllability that one would expect from a digital command control system.
Summary of the Invention
Accordingly in one form of the invention, there is provided a model railway route controller for operating a model railway layout and associated accessories and the like contained on and along and within said layout, said controller including a front panel to which said model railway layout may be diagrammatically configured or presented thereon, a series of activatable switches or buttons along the diagrammatically presented model railway layout, wherein said activatable switches share, are connected or in communication with an electronic bus transmission to a central processor or the like, said cential processor, or the like, communicating with an accessible portion of the panel by a user or operator, to which the or each activatable switch may be programmed or encoded to represent one or more values, said values receivable, translatable and having corresponding values within a digital command control system and/or any other accessory decoder device incorporated as part of the layout, such that when an activatable switch is selected the values provided for s by the central processor passed on to the digital command control system will -then manipulate or act upon that particular part or turnout within the layout as designated by the values corresponding within the digital command control system.
In preference the activatable panel switch is an illuminating digital button the illumination being controlled by the central processor.
In preference the panel also includes warning and/or status lights the illumination being controlled by the central processor.
In preference the activatable switches located in the layout are connected to reed switches and infrared detectors for the purposes of feedback.
In preference the electronic bus transmission directing and connecting the activatable swItches and warning and/or status lights to the central processor arrangement are a single, daisy chained cable.
In preference the central processor is contained within a gateway panel which forms part of the front panel presentation of the model railway route controller for communication with the digital command controller.
An advantage of such an arrangement Is that this invention still provides for the traditional model railway route controller, wherein an easy to observe schematic diagrammatical representation of the track layout is readily presented to the operator which matches both visually and electronically by virtue of the illuminating digital buttons to the track and various turnouts that need to be manipulated within the layout.
Advantageously however with this invention while the traditional user friendly pane? Is provided for within this model railway route controller, there is no complex wiring or the like employed, nor is there the loss of the efficiency provided for by the improved digital command control system and its related accessory decoder for additional turnouts and locations that need to be manipulated within the layout.
As the person skilled in the art will appreciate the operator can easily visualize by the representation on the front panel all those particular turnouts within the track or along the track that need to be manipulated and as the needs arises the operator simply pushes the digital button which corresponds to a chosen route or siding and the appropriate turnouts located within the layout are set accordingly.
However unlike in the past when buttons were pressed on a traditional control panel this would then directly send off the required electrical signal directly to is the turnout to be manipulated through a series of complex wiring arrangements.
Advantageously however in this invention the pressing of the button simply sends a signal to a micro processor which provide values for that activated switch, of which values are then passed onto the digital command control system where it is translated to a particular set values for the specified turnouts within the layout.
As the person skilled in the art will appreciate to commence the operation of this system originally a series of activatable switches would have to be encoded into the arrangement of which these details will be discussed in greater depth below.
Therefore to further assist a greater understanding of this invention reference will now be made to a preferred embodiment with the assistance of the accompanying figures.
Nonetheless this preferred embodiment should not be considered restrictive of the invention of which has been introduced in its broadest form preceding.
Brief Description of the Illustrations
Figure 1 shows schematically preferred embodiment of the gateway control panel accessible by a user to set up the model railway route controller and to communicate with a digital command control system and this preferred embodiment further accessory decoders for the model railway to be controlled.
Figure 2 shows an example of the model railway route controller comprising the gateway control panel which forms the interface between the activatable buttons and warning/status lights along the diagrammatically represented layout of the control panel and the digital command control system.
Detail Description of the Illustrations
Referring to the drawings now in greater detail where there is provided a model railway route controller shown generally as 10. The model railway route controller 10 includes a control front panel 14 that includes thereon a diagrammatically presented track layout 15 which is similar in representation to the physical track layout of the track to be controlled.
The diagrammatic representation 15 Includes along its length a series of activatable illuminating digital buttons 16 and warning or status lights 17 which are interconnected on an electronic transmission bus 15 in a daisy chain fashion for communication with a micro processor housed within the gateway panel control 20.
The gateway panel 20 is also in communications with a digital command controller 24 through a transmission line 22 of which said digital command controller 24 is in electrical communication via 26 to the layout and also to an additional accessory decoder 30 through a transmission line 28.
Feedback from the layout, relating to the position of trains and the status of turnouts and other accessories, is obtained by an alternative form of the digital buttons 36 which are connected to reed switches, infrared detectors or other similar devices on the layout and are in communication with the gateway panel 20 via the daisy chain bus 18.
In its preferred embodiment the accessory decoder 30 is electrically in communication with the layout via transmission lines 32 to a series of controllable motors.
Hence effectively it is still the digital command controller 24 and the complimentary accessory decoder 30 which manipulates the layout, but this manipulation no longer needs to be done so through the memory of an operator as they connect a turnout within the layout to that of a previously encoded value.
Advantageously with this invention the operator need not remember a certain is code which relates to a turnout within the layout as would be the reciuirement from the digital command controller system1 but in fact all that one has to do is to select one of the digital buttons of which itself has been encoded with a particular values of which values are then passed from the gateway panel 20 to the digital command controller which then is translated to the values programmed for particular turnouts or accessories within the layout.
Advantageously this invention therefore provides for the efficiency of the latest digital command controller systems but at the same time still present to the operator the traditional user friendly panel layout that the hobbyist and the like is more comfortable in using. Nonetheless while the panel presented to the user contains the diagrammatically presented representation of the layout, it does not include any of the cumbersome and complex wiring structure one associates with these conventional panel representations.
it is the unique introduction of the gateway panel 20 which provides the interface between the front pane! 12 of the controller and the digital command controller 24 which is able to bring about the advancement for this kind of invention.
The use of the single cable connected with the push button arrangement means that the front panel itself is not congested or restricted by a series of complex wiring necessities.
In the preferred embodiment each illuminating digital button 16 would include at the top, an illuminated push button which activates the associated route on the layout when pushed. The LED within the button then illuminates to show that that route is selected. This illumination is turned off when any part of the route Is de-selected, usually as a result of a conflicting route being selected by another button on the panel.
Referring now to Figure 2 wherein the gateway panel 20 forms the interface between the illuminated push buttons 16 and the digital command controller 24.
The gateway panel 20 provides a simple means of selling the operation of each button 16 to correspond to a particular turnouts on the layout that need to be manipulated.
Referring now to Figure 1, Central knob 37 includes the selection of operate 38, off 40, set up 42 and search 44.
When operate 38 is selected, the panel has no function and the controller 20 merely passes information between the front pane! 12 of the controller and the digital command controller via the network code shown as number 64.
In the set up 42 mode, an operator may choose what each button is to do when pressed and may also select the function of each warning or status light. When the operator switches to set up mode 42, the last button set will flash to indicate that it is listening. Pressing the up and down arrow marked button 46, will cause the next button in the chain to flash indicating that this particular button is now listening.
Pressing these up and down arrows 46 again, moves the flashing light from button to button until the button to be changed is flashing. The screen will then show the first channel, in this example shown as (01) for the button and the digital command controller accessory code, which in this example reads as (061). Pressing the channel up and down buttons will move the display to other channels on the button up to a total of 20 channels. Each channel operates a turnout or other accessory.
Once at the desired channel, the digital command control code 50 buttons are used to move the digital command controller code of the accessory which is to be thrown by that channel on the button. Holding the buttons down will cause the numbers to move fast The throw buttons 52 sets which way the accessory is to be thrown when the button is pressed By adjusting these settings each button can be made to throw one or many turnouts, signals and other powered accessories in different direction& When the knob 37 is set to the search mode 44, this assists the operator in identifying which button is to operate a specified digital command control code 50. The operator uses the digital command controller code button 50 to select the digital command controller code that is required to be selected. All the buttons containing that code will then flash. The screen will then show the channel number and throw directions for the first of those buttons. This search facility makes it easy to figure out errors that the operator may have made in setting up the required routes of the layout The XpressNet button 54, is used to set the address of the gateway panel in the XpressNet network or similar networks to distinguish it from other hand held controllers and the like.
1 2455603
A MODEL RAILWAY ROUTE CONTROLLER
Technological Field
This present invention relates to a device and an arrangement for controlling model railway routes, turnouts and other electrical accessories. More particularly this invention relates to providing a traditional control panel with user friendly features attributed to such an arrangement without the cumbersome and complex wiring arrangement, while at the same time providing for performance, efficiency and expectation one would expect from a digital command control system.
Background Art
Model railways and train sets have traditionally been constructed with a set of interconnected sections of train track, electric switches between different sections of the train track and electrically operated devices, such as train locomotives and turnouts. Train locomotives received their power to travel on is the train track by electricity provided by a controller through the track itself. The speed and direction of the train engine is controlled by the level and polarity, respectively, of the electrical power supplied to the train track.
i ii addition, the operator manually pushes buttons or pulls levers to cause the turnouts or other electrically operated devices to function as desired.
As layouts of the interconnected sections of train track become more complex and multiple trains need to be operated independently, there was a move to the establishment of control panels to which the track layout was re-represented in a diagram for the operator to control certain parts of the track from a distance.
This traditional control panel also included buttons or switches which activate sections of the layout and operated turnouts and other accessories and also warning and status lights and incorporated complex wiring, diode matrices and/or relays to achieve its purpose.
While the creation of these traditional control panels were particularly user friendly to the end operator, their construction was anything but. Each s individual switch, lamp, or light needed to be directly wired to its related turnouts, switches or other accessories on the layout.
In order to move away from these traditional control panels and to overcome some of the difficulties associated with the establishing of the complex wiring to interconnect the controller to the train track and related accessories located there along, there has been a move more recently to digital command control (bCC) systems that have been developed to provide a controllability of individual train engines and other electrical devices digitally.
Under this system, each device the operator decides to control, such as a train locomotive, includes an individually addressable digital decoder A digital command station is electrically connected to the train track to provide a command in the form of a set of encoded digital bits to a particular device that includes a digital decoder. The digital command station is typically controlled by a purposely provided micro controller within its own established container or sometimes by a personal computer While providing the ability to individually control different devices of the railway, the digitally command control system still fails to provide a user friendly representation to the operator so they can simultaneously be able to observe the track layout and then operate those particular routes, turnouts and accessories along the track as so desired without having to remember particular codes and the like.
Still further while the digital command control system provides improvements in the controlling of multiple locomotives or engines in the track layout, this improvement and efficiency has not been translated onto the control of those features associated with the track including turnouts, signals, hidden sidings and other related accessories.
Accordingly some model railway layouts include additional accessory decoders to work in conjunction with their digital command controller. In the most part a these decoders are installed under the layout and can control from between one to eight turnout motors usually located nearby within the track arrangement.
The decoder is connected to the track or the digital command controller transmission lines resulting in minimal wiring within a restricted local area.
Nonetheless while the wiring may be substantially less complex than that io associated with the traditional control panel, the difficulty remains in the ease in which the operator can effectively operate and control the turnouts and accessories making up the layout.
As the person skilled in the art will appreciate, there are a variety of ways in which the digital command control system can work with the accessory decoder to have one or more of the turnouts changed, but as wilt be introduced following herewith, none of those current procedures offer a user friendly way in which your average hobbyist can enjoy to simply control the turnouts and other power accessories that make up his or her railway layout.
One way in which one or more turnouts may be changed using the digital command controller system is where one would enter the turnout's code number and press a button on the digital command controller.
A slightly easier way is where the' operator would scroll through a list of turnouts until the selection of the required turnout is located by means of a code number or other types of Alfa numeric abbreviations and a button is then pressed While from a data entry point of view these methods may seem simplistic, the problem arises when the actual controller is in operation and an operator would like to access a particular turnout or the like along the track.
As the person skilled in the art will appreciite the operator would need to be familiar with the locations of all the turnouts within the layout and remember the corresponding code or abbreviated name connected to that particular location.
An alternative way in which one or more turnouts may be changed using the currently available digital command control system in communication with a further accessory decoder would be to use a route selector, wherein these devices include their own control panel which have a series of buttons which may be programmed to set a particular route, for example, set all turnouts along that route in the appropriate directions.
While this is an improvement the problem still remains as to which buttons relate to what particular route. Furthermore such an arrangement is only viable for main routes and there still remains the problems associated with the use with additional layout featyres such as sidings and the like.
Hence while the programming and data input side of things remains an improvement the problem still remains is that when in operation the operator must remember where all the routes, turnouts and the like are along and within the layout and their associated codes, abbreviated names or buttons.
More recently in order to utilize the digital command control system and try and relate it to more traditional control panel representations, some track layout arrangements have seen the interfacing of the track with a computer whereby software packages provide for a monitored display of the layout diagrammatically on the screen of which the selected turnouts, routes and the like can be acknowledged and altered through the computer's mouse selection.
While this provides a visual solution which mimics a traditional layout control panel the problem remains that the use of a computer interface is expensive and in many instances to the hobbyist can be quite intimidating if faced with the use of complex software that needs to be installed, executed and run for its applicatIon.
Still further, as the person skilled in the art will appreciate, computers and their interfaces take up space within the layout of which in many instances is not available, and still further there is often a requirement for multiple operators to control the devices within the layout which would correlate to the requirement of s multiple computers and the associated software, making this suggested arrangement particularly expensive and troublesome.
Therefore as the above has introduced there still remains a need in the relevant art of model railway control to provide a controlling method or system utilizing a control panel that does not use a lot of complex and troublesome wiring but at io the same time maintains the traditional user friendly representation of the layout by means of a diagram and at the same time still maintain performance and controllability that one would expect from a digital command control system.
Summary of the Invention
Accordingly in one form of the invention, there is provided a model railway route controller for operating a model railway layout and associated accessories and the like contained on and along and within said layout, said controller including a front panel to which said model railway layout may be diagrammatically configured or presented thereon, a series of activatable switches or buttons along the diagrammatically presented model railway layout, wherein said activatable switches share, are connected or in communication with an electronic bus transmission to a central processor or the like, said cential processor, or the like, communicating with an accessible portion of the panel by a user or operator, to which the or each activatable switch may be programmed or encoded to represent one or more values, said values receivable, translatable and having corresponding values within a digital command control system and/or any other accessory decoder device incorporated as part of the layout, such that when an activatable switch is selected the values provided for s by the central processor passed on to the digital command control system will -then manipulate or act upon that particular part or turnout within the layout as designated by the values corresponding within the digital command control system.
In preference the activatable panel switch is an illuminating digital button the illumination being controlled by the central processor.
In preference the panel also includes warning and/or status lights the illumination being controlled by the central processor.
In preference the activatable switches located in the layout are connected to reed switches and infrared detectors for the purposes of feedback.
In preference the electronic bus transmission directing and connecting the activatable swItches and warning and/or status lights to the central processor arrangement are a single, daisy chained cable.
In preference the central processor is contained within a gateway panel which forms part of the front panel presentation of the model railway route controller for communication with the digital command controller.
An advantage of such an arrangement Is that this invention still provides for the traditional model railway route controller, wherein an easy to observe schematic diagrammatical representation of the track layout is readily presented to the operator which matches both visually and electronically by virtue of the illuminating digital buttons to the track and various turnouts that need to be manipulated within the layout.
Advantageously however with this invention while the traditional user friendly pane? Is provided for within this model railway route controller, there is no complex wiring or the like employed, nor is there the loss of the efficiency provided for by the improved digital command control system and its related accessory decoder for additional turnouts and locations that need to be manipulated within the layout.
As the person skilled in the art will appreciate the operator can easily visualize by the representation on the front panel all those particular turnouts within the track or along the track that need to be manipulated and as the needs arises the operator simply pushes the digital button which corresponds to a chosen route or siding and the appropriate turnouts located within the layout are set accordingly.
However unlike in the past when buttons were pressed on a traditional control panel this would then directly send off the required electrical signal directly to is the turnout to be manipulated through a series of complex wiring arrangements.
Advantageously however in this invention the pressing of the button simply sends a signal to a micro processor which provide values for that activated switch, of which values are then passed onto the digital command control system where it is translated to a particular set values for the specified turnouts within the layout.
As the person skilled in the art will appreciate to commence the operation of this system originally a series of activatable switches would have to be encoded into the arrangement of which these details will be discussed in greater depth below.
Therefore to further assist a greater understanding of this invention reference will now be made to a preferred embodiment with the assistance of the accompanying figures.
Nonetheless this preferred embodiment should not be considered restrictive of the invention of which has been introduced in its broadest form preceding.
Brief Description of the Illustrations
Figure 1 shows schematically preferred embodiment of the gateway control panel accessible by a user to set up the model railway route controller and to communicate with a digital command control system and this preferred embodiment further accessory decoders for the model railway to be controlled.
Figure 2 shows an example of the model railway route controller comprising the gateway control panel which forms the interface between the activatable buttons and warning/status lights along the diagrammatically represented layout of the control panel and the digital command control system.
Detail Description of the Illustrations
Referring to the drawings now in greater detail where there is provided a model railway route controller shown generally as 10. The model railway route controller 10 includes a control front panel 14 that includes thereon a diagrammatically presented track layout 15 which is similar in representation to the physical track layout of the track to be controlled.
The diagrammatic representation 15 Includes along its length a series of activatable illuminating digital buttons 16 and warning or status lights 17 which are interconnected on an electronic transmission bus 15 in a daisy chain fashion for communication with a micro processor housed within the gateway panel control 20.
The gateway panel 20 is also in communications with a digital command controller 24 through a transmission line 22 of which said digital command controller 24 is in electrical communication via 26 to the layout and also to an additional accessory decoder 30 through a transmission line 28.
Feedback from the layout, relating to the position of trains and the status of turnouts and other accessories, is obtained by an alternative form of the digital buttons 36 which are connected to reed switches, infrared detectors or other similar devices on the layout and are in communication with the gateway panel 20 via the daisy chain bus 18.
In its preferred embodiment the accessory decoder 30 is electrically in communication with the layout via transmission lines 32 to a series of controllable motors.
Hence effectively it is still the digital command controller 24 and the complimentary accessory decoder 30 which manipulates the layout, but this manipulation no longer needs to be done so through the memory of an operator as they connect a turnout within the layout to that of a previously encoded value.
Advantageously with this invention the operator need not remember a certain is code which relates to a turnout within the layout as would be the reciuirement from the digital command controller system1 but in fact all that one has to do is to select one of the digital buttons of which itself has been encoded with a particular values of which values are then passed from the gateway panel 20 to the digital command controller which then is translated to the values programmed for particular turnouts or accessories within the layout.
Advantageously this invention therefore provides for the efficiency of the latest digital command controller systems but at the same time still present to the operator the traditional user friendly panel layout that the hobbyist and the like is more comfortable in using. Nonetheless while the panel presented to the user contains the diagrammatically presented representation of the layout, it does not include any of the cumbersome and complex wiring structure one associates with these conventional panel representations.
it is the unique introduction of the gateway panel 20 which provides the interface between the front pane! 12 of the controller and the digital command controller 24 which is able to bring about the advancement for this kind of invention.
The use of the single cable connected with the push button arrangement means that the front panel itself is not congested or restricted by a series of complex wiring necessities.
In the preferred embodiment each illuminating digital button 16 would include at the top, an illuminated push button which activates the associated route on the layout when pushed. The LED within the button then illuminates to show that that route is selected. This illumination is turned off when any part of the route Is de-selected, usually as a result of a conflicting route being selected by another button on the panel.
Referring now to Figure 2 wherein the gateway panel 20 forms the interface between the illuminated push buttons 16 and the digital command controller 24.
The gateway panel 20 provides a simple means of selling the operation of each button 16 to correspond to a particular turnouts on the layout that need to be manipulated.
Referring now to Figure 1, Central knob 37 includes the selection of operate 38, off 40, set up 42 and search 44.
When operate 38 is selected, the panel has no function and the controller 20 merely passes information between the front pane! 12 of the controller and the digital command controller via the network code shown as number 64.
In the set up 42 mode, an operator may choose what each button is to do when pressed and may also select the function of each warning or status light. When the operator switches to set up mode 42, the last button set will flash to indicate that it is listening. Pressing the up and down arrow marked button 46, will cause the next button in the chain to flash indicating that this particular button is now listening.
Pressing these up and down arrows 46 again, moves the flashing light from button to button until the button to be changed is flashing. The screen will then show the first channel, in this example shown as (01) for the button and the digital command controller accessory code, which in this example reads as (061). Pressing the channel up and down buttons will move the display to other channels on the button up to a total of 20 channels. Each channel operates a turnout or other accessory.
Once at the desired channel, the digital command control code 50 buttons are used to move the digital command controller code of the accessory which is to be thrown by that channel on the button. Holding the buttons down will cause the numbers to move fast The throw buttons 52 sets which way the accessory is to be thrown when the button is pressed By adjusting these settings each button can be made to throw one or many turnouts, signals and other powered accessories in different direction& When the knob 37 is set to the search mode 44, this assists the operator in identifying which button is to operate a specified digital command control code 50. The operator uses the digital command controller code button 50 to select the digital command controller code that is required to be selected. All the buttons containing that code will then flash. The screen will then show the channel number and throw directions for the first of those buttons. This search facility makes it easy to figure out errors that the operator may have made in setting up the required routes of the layout The XpressNet button 54, is used to set the address of the gateway panel in the XpressNet network or similar networks to distinguish it from other hand held controllers and the like.
Claims (6)
1. A Model railway route controller for operating a model railway layout and associated accessories and the like contained on and along and within said layout, said controller including a front panel to which said model railway layoubnay be diagrammatically configured or presented thereon, a series of activatable switches or buttons along the diagrammatically presented model railway layout, wherein said activatable switches share, are connected or in communication with an electronic bus transmission to a central processor or the like, said central processor, or the like, communicating with an accessible portion of the panel by a user or operator, to which the or each aetivatable switch may be programmed or encoded to represent one or more values, said values receivable, translatable and having corresponding values within a digital command control system and/or any other accessory decoder device incorporated as part of the layout, such that when an activatable switch is selected the values provided for by the central processor passed on to the digital command control system will then manipulate or act upon that particular part or turnout within the layout as designated by the values corresponding within the digital command control system.
2. A controller as claimed in claim 1, wherein the activatable panel switch is an illuminating digital button the illumination being controlled by the central processor.
3. A controller as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the panel also includes warning and/or status lights the illumination being controlled by the central processor.
4. A controller as claimed in claim 1,2 or 3 wherein the activatable switches located in the layout are connected to reed switches and infrared detectors for the purposes of feedback.
5. A controller as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the electronic bus transmission directing and connecting the activatable switches and warning and/or status lights to the central processor arrangement is a single, daisy chained cable.
6. A controller as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the central processor is contained within a gateway panel which forms part of the front panel presentation of the model railway route controller for communication with the digital command controller.
G:\CLJENT\410-420\CC3\419477\CB\MAS'I'ER.WPD
6. A controller as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the central processor is contained within a gateway panel which forms part of the front panel presentation of the model railway route controller for communication with the digital command controller.
G:\CLJENT\410-420\CC3\419477\CB\MAS'I'ER.WPD
CLATMS
1. A Model railway route controller for operating a model railway layout and associated accessories and the like contained on and along and within said layout, said controller including a front panel to which said model railway layoubnay be diagrammatically configured or presented thereon, a series of activatable switches or buttons along the diagrammatically presented model railway layout, wherein said activatable switches share, are connected or in communication with an electronic bus transmission to a central processor or the like, said central processor, or the like, communicating with an accessible portion of the panel by a user or operator, to which the or each aetivatable switch may be programmed or encoded to represent one or more values, said values receivable, translatable and having corresponding values within a digital command control system and/or any other accessory decoder device incorporated as part of the layout, such that when an activatable switch is selected the values provided for by the central processor passed on to the digital command control system will then manipulate or act upon that particular part or turnout within the layout as designated by the values corresponding within the digital command control system.
2. A controller as claimed in claim 1, wherein the activatable panel switch is an illuminating digital button the illumination being controlled by the central processor.
3. A controller as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the panel also includes warning and/or status lights the illumination being controlled by the central processor.
4. A controller as claimed in claim 1,2 or 3 wherein the activatable switches located in the layout are connected to reed switches and infrared detectors for the purposes of feedback.
5. A controller as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the electronic bus transmission directing and connecting the activatable switches and warning and/or status lights to the central processor arrangement is a single, daisy chained cable.
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| AU2007905498A AU2007905498A0 (en) | 2007-10-08 | A model railway route controller |
Publications (2)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| GB0818225D0 GB0818225D0 (en) | 2008-11-12 |
| GB2455603A true GB2455603A (en) | 2009-06-17 |
Family
ID=40042308
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB0818225A Withdrawn GB2455603A (en) | 2007-10-08 | 2008-10-06 | Model railway route controller |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| GB (1) | GB2455603A (en) |
Citations (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE4431476A1 (en) * | 1994-09-03 | 1996-03-07 | Ingo Planert | Model railway signal box controlling matrix of dummy and active modules |
| JP2001054684A (en) * | 1999-06-07 | 2001-02-27 | Jr East Japan Information Systems Co | Centralized control device for railroad model |
-
2008
- 2008-10-06 GB GB0818225A patent/GB2455603A/en not_active Withdrawn
Patent Citations (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE4431476A1 (en) * | 1994-09-03 | 1996-03-07 | Ingo Planert | Model railway signal box controlling matrix of dummy and active modules |
| JP2001054684A (en) * | 1999-06-07 | 2001-02-27 | Jr East Japan Information Systems Co | Centralized control device for railroad model |
Non-Patent Citations (2)
| Title |
|---|
| Swansoft Technologies 'Turnout Control & Display Panel Interface module ', http://www.videotrainsimulator.com/news.html, dated April 2007. * |
| The MERG (Model Electronic Railway Group) DCC System (http://www.merg.org.uk/resources/overview.htm, dated 26/2/03). * |
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| GB0818225D0 (en) | 2008-11-12 |
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| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| WAP | Application withdrawn, taken to be withdrawn or refused ** after publication under section 16(1) |