1. A vehicle positioning apparatus comprising:
a plurality of columns each having a first support and a motor adapted to move the first support along an axis of the column;
a second support connected to at least two of the first supports;
a track member connected to said second support, said track member for receiving at least a portion of a vehicle;
at least one load sensor transmitting a load signal indicative of a load on said plurality of columns;
at least one position sensor transmitting a position signal indicative of a position of said first supports; and
a controller in communication with the plurality of columns and receiving the load and position signals, the controller comparing the load and position signals to generate at least one control signal;
wherein the at least one control signal is sent to at least one of said motors for controlling the position of at least one of said first supports.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one load sensor is connected to each of said plurality of columns and at least one position sensor is connected to each said first supports.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said load sensor is an electrical load sensor and said load signal is indicative of an electrical current of said motor.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said plurality of columns comprises at least three columns, the apparatus further comprising:
at least one limit switch connected to at least one of said plurality of columns at a bottom or top end, each limit switch having a first position and a second position;
wherein each limit switch is adapted to move from the first to the second position when one of the first supports is in a position associated with the limit switch.
5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein when one said limit switches is in a second position, movement, of the first support corresponding to the column having the limit switch in the second position, stops.
6. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprising a third limit switch having first and second positions and coupled to at least one of the columns and disposed between the first and second limit switches, the third limit switch in communication with said controller;
wherein the control input is indicative of a position associated with the third limit switch;
wherein the controller calculates a control signal from the position signal, load signal and control input to move the first support to the position associated with the third limit switch; and
wherein movement of at least one of the first supports stops when the third limit switch is in the second position.
7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein each column includes first, second and third limit switches.
8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said position sensor is a linear position sensor coupled to said first support member and said position signal is indicative of a position of said first support member in relation to a fixed point.
9. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:
a first and second limit switch coupled to at least one said plurality of columns, said first and second limit switches respectively positioned at top and bottom ends of said column, each limit switch having first and second positions;
wherein the motor is adapted to stop once one of the top or the bottom limit switches is in the second position, where the second position of one of the top and bottom limit switches indicates that the first support has reached the position associated with the top or the bottom limit switch.
10. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:
a control input received by said controller, the control input indicative of a direction of movement for the second support;
said controller calculating a load distribution among the first supports to generate a calibration for the controller, wherein the load distribution is maintained during movement of the second support.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the load distribution is maintained within a range of loads.
12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the apparatus is a railway drop table, a railway car hoist or a railway truck hoist.
13. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:
at least one secondary column having a motor and two sensors coupled thereto, the motor for moving a first support along an axis;
wherein the controller receives signals from each of the two sensors and generates an secondary column control signal to control the position of the first support of the at least one secondary column
14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the two sensor of the at least one secondary column include a load sensor and a position sensor and wherein the secondary column control signal is calculated so that a load on the at least one secondary column is within a threshold, the threshold associated with a load on said plurality of columns.
15. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said plurality of columns include a flange to releasably secure the columns to a foundation.
16. A controller for a positioning apparatus, the controller comprising:
a processor;
an input module associated with said processor for receiving a control input indicative of a position for the positioning apparatus;
a sensor module associated with said processor for receiving a plurality of sensor signals from each of a plurality of positioning columns, the plurality of columns each having a first support and a motor for moving the first support along an axis of the column;
a position module associated with said processor for calculating a position of each of the first supports from at least a first one of the sensor signals;
a load module associated with said processor for calculating a load on each of the columns from at least a second one of the sensor signals;
a control signal module associated with said processor for comparing the positions of each first support, the loads on each of the columns and the control input to generate a control signal;
wherein the controller transmits the control signal to at least one of the motors to control the position of at least one of the first supports.
17. The device of claim 16 further comprising:
a calibration module for calculating a load distribution among the plurality of columns to generate a calibration for the controller;
wherein the control signal module maintains the load distribution within a range during movement of at least one of the first supports.
18. The device of claim 16 further comprising:
a limit switch module adapted to receive a signal indicative of a limit switch position of at least one limit switch, the limit switch connected to at least one of the plurality of columns;
wherein a limit switch position is indicative of at least one of the first supports in a position corresponding to a first limit switch and said control signal module generates a control signal to stop movement of the first support associated with the column having the first limit switch connected thereto.
19. A positioning column having bottom and top ends, the positioning column for a positioning apparatus and comprising:
a first support and a motor, wherein the motor moves the first support along an axis of the column, said first support adapted to connect to a second support, wherein the second support is adapted to receive at least a portion of a vehicle;
a flange arranged at the bottom end of the column and adapted to releasably secure to a base of the positioning apparatus;
at least two sensors coupled to the column and transmitting a signal to a controller having a processor with a control program executing thereon;
said motor receiving a control signal from the controller for changing the position of the first support in response to the control signal;
20. The device of claim 19 wherein the control signal is calculated by the controller in response to the signal received from said at least two sensors.
21. The device of claim 19 further comprising:
at least one limit switch connected to the column at a bottom or top end, the limit switch having a first position and a second position;
wherein each limit switch is adapted to move from the first to the second position when one of the first supports is in a position associated with the limit switch.
22. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein a first one of said two sensors is an electrical load sensor and said load signal is indicative of an electrical current of said motor.
23. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein a first one said at least two sensors is a load sensor and a second one said at least two sensors is a position sensor.
24. A method for moving a load comprising:
providing a positioning apparatus having at least three columns, each column having a motor adapted to move a first support along an axis of the column, wherein the first supports are connected to a second support;
providing a controller in communication with each of the motors;
receiving a plurality of sensor signals via the controller, at least one of the sensor signals indicative of a load on said positioning apparatus, at least one of the sensor signals indicative of a position of the second support;
comparing the sensor signals to generate a control signal via the controller;
transmitting the control signal to at least one of the motors to control the position of at least one of the first supports.
25. The method of claim 24 wherein the comparing step further comprises:
receiving a control input indicative of a movement direction of the second support;
generating a load distribution indicative of load on each column;
generating a control signal in response to the control input wherein the control signal maintains the load distribution within a range.
26. The method of claim 24 further comprising:
receiving a limit switch signal from a limit switch connected to at least a first one of the columns, the limit switch signal indicative of a position of the limit switch;
preventing movement of at least one of the first supports when the position of the limit switch indicates that the first support of the first one of the columns is in a position associated with the limit switch.
27. The method of claim 24 wherein the controller has a processor with a control program executing thereon.
28. The method of claim 24 wherein at least two of the plurality of sensor signals are received from each of the at least three columns.
29. The method of claim 28 wherein at least one of the plurality of sensor signals received from each column is indicative of a load on one of the columns and at least one of the plurality of sensor signals received from each column is indicative of a position of the first support.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A base station apparatus comprising:
a locating section configured to locate a CSI-RS (Channel State Information-Reference Signal) that is a reference signal for downlink channel estimation in resources for CSI-RS allocated to transmit the CSI-RS;
an index generating section configured to generate a CSI-RS location index indicative of a location position of the CSI-RS located in the resources for CSI-RS by the locating section, the CSI-RS location indexes varying corresponding to the number of CSI-RS ports so that an index pattern of the relatively low number of CSI-RS ports is a subset of an index pattern of the relatively high number of CSI-RS ports; and
a transmission section configured to transmit the CSI-RS location indexes generated by the index generating section to a mobile terminal apparatus.
2. The base station apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the index generating section generates an index pattern comprised of two kinds of CSI-RS location indexes associated with the number of CSI-RS ports of \u201c4\u201d from one basic index associated with the number of CSI-RS ports of \u201c8\u201d, while generating an index pattern comprised of four kinds of CSI-RS location indexes associated with the number of CSI-RS ports of \u201c2\u201d from two kinds of CSI-RS location indexes associated with the number of CSI-RS ports of \u201c4\u201d.
3. The base station apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the index generating section generates an index pattern comprised of two kinds of CSI-RS location indexes of \u201c2n\u201d and \u201c2n+1\u201d associated with the number of CSI-RS ports of \u201c4\u201d from one basic index of \u201cn\u201d associated with the number of CSI-RS ports of \u201c8\u201d, while generating an index pattern comprised of four kinds of CSI-RS location indexes of \u201c4n\u201d, \u201c4n+2\u201d, \u201c4n+1\u201d and \u201c4n+3\u201d associated with the number of CSI-RS ports of \u201c2\u201d from the CSI-RS location indexes of \u201c2n\u201d and \u201c2n+1\u201d.
4. The base station apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the index generating section generates an index pattern comprised of two kinds of CSI-RS location indexes of \u201cn\u201d and \u201cn+N\u201d associated with the number of CSI-RS ports of \u201c4\u201d from one basic index of \u201cn\u201d associated with the number of CSI-RS ports of \u201c8\u201d, while generating an index pattern comprised of four kinds of CSI-RS location indexes of \u201cn\u201d, \u201cn+N\u201d, \u201cn+2N\u201d and \u201cn+3N\u201d associated with the number of CSI-RS ports of \u201c2\u201d from the CSI-RS location indexes of \u201cn\u201d and \u201cn+N\u201d associated with the number of CSI-RS ports of \u201c4\u201d.
5. The base station apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission section simultaneously transmits position information of the CSI-RS to a plurality of mobile terminal apparatuses using a broadcast signal.
6. The base station apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:
a blank resource setting section that sets resources in which the CSI-RS is located in an adjacent area at blank resources,
wherein the transmission section transmits position information of the blank resources to the mobile terminal apparatus.
7. The base station apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the transmission section transmits, to the mobile terminal apparatus, bitmap information indicative of the blank resources in a bitmap form associated with the resources for CSI-RS.
8. The base station apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the transmission section generates position information indicative of a start position and an end position of the blank resources using CSI-RS location indexes generated in the index generating section, and transmits the position information to the mobile terminal apparatus.
9. The base station apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the transmission section transmits the contiguous number of the blank resources contiguous in the resources for CSI-RS to the mobile terminal apparatus as the position information of the blank resources.
10. A signaling method of CSI-RS, comprising;
locating a CSI-RS (Channel State Information-Reference Signal) that is a reference signal for downlink channel estimation in resources for CSI-RS reserved to transmit the CSI-RS;
generating a CSI-RS location index indicative of a location position of the CSI-RS located in the resources for CSI-RS, in the CSI-RS location index an index pattern varies corresponding to the number of CSI-RS ports so that an index pattern of the relatively low number of CSI-RS ports is a subset of an index pattern of the relatively high number of CSI-RS ports; and
transmitting the generated CSI-RS location index to a mobile terminal apparatus.
11. The base station apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the transmission section simultaneously transmits position information of the CSI-RS to a plurality of mobile terminal apparatuses using a broadcast signal.
12. The base station apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the transmission section simultaneously transmits position information of the CSI-RS to a plurality of mobile terminal apparatuses using a broadcast signal.
13. The base station apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the transmission section simultaneously transmits position information of the CSI-RS to a plurality of mobile terminal apparatuses using a broadcast signal.