Model train control system

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG.
1, a model train control system 10 includes a communications transport 12 interconnecting a client program 14 and a resident external controlling interface 16.
The client program 14 executes on the model railroad operator's computer and may include any suitable system to permit the operator to provide desired commands to the resident external controlling interface 16.
For example, the client program 14 may include a graphical interface representative of the model railroad layout where the operator issues commands to the model railroad by making changes to the graphical interface.
The client program 14 also defines a set of Application Programming Interfaces (API's), described in detail later, which the operator accesses using the graphical interface or other programs such as Visual Basic, C++, Java, or browser based applications.
There may be multiple client programs interconnected with the resident external controlling interface 16 so that multiple remote operators may simultaneously provide control commands to the model railroad.
The communications transport 12 provides an interface between the client program 14 and the resident external controlling interface 16.
The communications transport 12 may be any suitable communications medium for the transmission of data, such as the internet, local area network, satellite links, or multiple processes operating on a single computer.
The preferred interface to the communications transport 12 is a COM or DCOM interface, as developed for the WINDOWS operating system available from MICROSOFT CORPORATION.
The communications transport 12 also determines if the resident external controlling interface 16 is system resident or remotely located on an external system.
The communications transport 12 may also use private or public communications protocol as a medium for communications.
The client program 14 provides commands and the resident external controlling interface 16 responds to the communications transport 12 to exchange information