Granted Patent B2

US 12,248,894 · App. 17/621,628 · Granted Mar 11, 2025

Inventors: James McDonald (Irving, TX); Chad Smith (Irving, TX)

Assignee: RailPros Field Services, Inc.

G06Q10/063118G06Q10/1093

Abstract

Claims (57)

1. A railroad supplemental safety system, the system comprising:

a plurality of railroad elements including at least one of construction equipment and maintenance equipment, each element equipped with GPS data capability;

a project geofence providing a virtual boundary around a railroad site, the project geofence interacting with a the plurality of railroad elements via GPS data originating from the plurality of railroad elements;

a safety site plan of a the railroad site, the safety site plan being a site plan of the railroad site augmented with locationing information for work by the plurality of railroad elements with a the project geofence therearound;

a safety site schedule for the railroad site, the safety site schedule being a work schedule for the railroad site augmented with schedule data relative to a project pre-work phase, a project work phase, and a project post-work phase; and

non-transitory memory accessible to a processor, the non- transitory memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, by the processor cause the system to:

maintain the safety site plan including updating the safety site plan based on the GPS data originating from the plurality of railroad elements,

maintain the safety site schedule including updating the safety site schedule based on the GPS data originating from the plurality of railroad elements,

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project pre-work phase, calendar the plurality of railroad elements for the project work phase,

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project pre-work phase, periodically remind the plurality of railroad elements of the project work phase,

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project work phase, verify attendance of the plurality of railroad elements within the project geofence,

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project work phase, receive workflow updates relative to the plurality of railroad elements within the project geofence,

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project post-work phase, verify clearance of the plurality of railroad elements from the project geofence, and

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project post-work phase, receive work completion updates relative to the plurality of railroad elements within the project geofence.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further comprise processor-executable instructions that, when executed, by the processor cause the system to:

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project pre-work phase, re-calendaring the plurality of railroad elements for the project work phase if one of the plurality of railroad elements is unavailable.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further comprise processor-executable instructions that, when executed, by the processor cause the system to:

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project pre-work phase, cancelling the plurality of railroad elements for the project work phase if one of the plurality of railroad elements is unavailable.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further comprise processor-executable instructions that, when executed, by the processor cause the system to:

receive a notification from a particular element, the particular element being one of the plurality of railroad elements,

verify attendance of the particular element within the project geofence by analyzing the project geofence and the notification, the notification including global positioning system data.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further comprise processor-executable instructions that, when executed, by the processor cause the system to:

receive a notification from the site, the notification including information about the workflow of a particular element, the particular element being one of the plurality of railroad elements, and

update workflow.

6. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further comprise processor-executable instructions that, when executed, by the processor cause the system to:

receive a notification from a particular element, the particular element being one of the plurality of railroad elements,

verify clearance of the particular elements from the project geofence by analyzing the project geofence and the notification, the notification including global positioning system data.

7. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further comprise processor-executable instructions that, when executed, by the processor cause the system to:

receive a notification from the railroad site, the notification including information about the work completion of a particular element, the particular element being one of the plurality of railroad elements, and

update work completion.

8. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further comprise processor-executable instructions that, when executed, by the processor cause the system to:

send a notification to a particular element, the particular element being one of the plurality of railroad elements, the notification being selected from the group consisting of in-app, text, email, and phone.

9. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of railroad elements further comprise elements selected from the group consisting of project directors, project managers, field crewmembers, and utilities.

10. A method for providing railroad supplemental safety, the method comprising:

providing a plurality of railroad elements including at least one of construction equipment and maintenance equipment, each element equipped with GPS data capability;

creating a project geofence providing a virtual boundary around a railroad site, the project geofence interacting with a the plurality of railroad elements via GPS data originating from the plurality of elements;

creating a safety site plan of the railroad site, the safety site plan being a site plan of the railroad site augmented with locationing information for work with a project geofence therearound;

creating a safety site schedule for the railroad site, the safety site schedule being a work schedule for the railroad site augmented with schedule data relative to a project pre-work phase, a project work phase, and a project post-work phase;

updating the safety site plan and the safety site schedule based on the GPS data originating from the plurality of railroad elements;

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project pre-work phase, calendaring the plurality of railroad elements for the project work phase;

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project pre-work phase, periodically reminding the plurality of railroad elements of the project work phase;

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project work phase, verifying attendance of the plurality of railroad elements within the project geofence;

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project work phase, receiving workflow updates relative to the plurality of railroad elements within the project geofence;

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project post-work phase, verifying clearance of the plurality of railroad elements from the project geofence; and

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project post-work phase, receiving work completion updates relative to the plurality of railroad elements within the project geofence.

11. A method for providing railroad supplemental safety, the method comprising:

providing a plurality of railroad elements including at least one of construction equipment and maintenance equipment, each element equipped with GPS data capability, the plurality of railroad elements further comprise elements selected from the group consisting of project directors, project managers, field crewmembers, and utilities;

creating a project geofence providing a virtual boundary around a railroad site, the project geofence interacting with the plurality of railroad elements via GPS data originating from the plurality of railroad elements;

creating a safety site plan of the railroad site, the safety site plan being a site plan of the railroad site augmented with locationing information for work with a project geofence therearound;

creating a safety site schedule for the railroad site, the safety site schedule being a work schedule for the railroad site augmented with schedule data relative to a project pre-work phase, a project work phase, and a project post-work phase;

updating the safety site plan and the safety site schedule based on the GPS data originating from the plurality of railroad elements;

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project pre-work phase, calendaring the plurality of railroad elements for the project work phase;

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project pre-work phase, periodically reminding the plurality of railroad elements of the project work phase;

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project work phase, verifying attendance of the plurality of railroad elements within the project geofence;

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project work phase, receiving workflow updates relative to the plurality of railroad elements within the project geofence;

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project post-work phase, verifying clearance of the plurality of railroad elements from the project geofence; and

in response to the safety site schedule being in the project post-work phase, receiving work completion updates relative to the plurality of railroad elements within the project geofence.

Assignments (3)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (69)