Invalidity dossier
US 8786428
Track worker safety information system and method
Current assignee: Alstom Transportation Germany GmbH
Added 9/24/2026, 2:03:25 AM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-v4-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US8786428B2
Title: Track worker safety information system and method
Patent number / application: US8786428B2; application US13/097,403; earlier publication US20110278401A1.
Assignee: Original assignee Bombardier Transportation GmbH; current assignee listed as Alstom Transportation Germany GmbH (per the source's own caveat that assignee listings may be inaccurate).
Key dates: Priority date 2010-05-14; filing date 2011-04-29; publication date 2014-07-22. Status listed as Active, with adjusted expiration 2032-10-24. These dates and statuses are expressly labeled assumptions, not legal conclusions.
Inventors: Keith Burton Sheardown, Mark Willer, Pankaj Sood, Nerraj Sood, Peter Basl.
Purpose: To protect mobile track workers at track level using enhanced location awareness, providing worker-location information to train operators in a timely manner. The text notes tracks need visual inspection periodically, e.g., every 48 to 72 hours, and that workers inspecting, repairing, or maintaining tracks are at risk from moving trains.
Plain-language scope: One disclosed method is computer-implemented: detectors in a network coupled to a communications network detect track-worker presence, and the system controls broadcast of human-perceivable indications (visual, such as flashing light, or audible, such as pre-recorded or live messages) to broadcast units based on that presence. Trains may also be detected. The system may comprise identification readers along the track reading worker-carried identification tags, beacons broadcasting location notifications, and a communication network linking readers and beacons to a processor-controlled data processing system; a broadcast unit may integrate a reader and a beacon. A related method announces individuals on or near a pathway to a vehicle operator: detectors and indicators are positioned along the pathway, and each detector's acquired data causes a unique subset of indicators to output indications. Detectors may include magnetic card, RFID, or biometric readers; indicators may include LEDs, LCDs, incandescent, fluorescent, or metal halide/HID lights; networks may be wired, wireless, or combined.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US8786428B2/en
What the excerpt does not establish: It is explicitly marked "[Excerpt only; consult the source for omitted text.]" It does not establish the full claims, the complete specification or figures, the full prosecution history, the enforceability or validity of any claim, the accuracy of the listed assignee or legal status, or the content and dates of any prior art beyond names given. No litigation, ownership-transfer, or prior-art conclusions should be drawn from this excerpt.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:30:57 PM
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Litigation summary
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PTAB challenges
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Assignment history
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Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
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