Traffic preemption system with headway management

• US 7,432,826 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2005
• Issued: 10/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Global Traffic Technologies LLC (Vontier Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Global Traffic Technologies LLC (Vontier Corp.)
• Inventors: Schwartz, Mark A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Phung
• Application Number:
  US11/154,347
• Publication Number:
  US 20070008173A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,209 Days
• Field of Search: 340/902, 340/907, 340/901, 340/916, 340/906, 701/117
• US Class Current: 340/902
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/081 Plural intersections under common control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/087 Override of traffic control, e.g. by signal transmitted by an emergency vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/123 indicating the position of vehicles, e.g. scheduled vehicles; Managing passenger vehicles circulating according to a fixed timetable, e.g. buses, trains, tramstransmission of navigation instructions to vehicles G08G1/0968

Abstract

A traffic-preemption system and method that communicates an identification code from vehicles to a traffic location. Traffic light control equipment, such as a receiver and traffic light circuit at each intersection of a controlled area, is used to manage headway in mass-transit systems as well as to provide traffic light pre-emption for emergency vehicles. Each traffic light circuit in the controlled area has a receiver located at a traffic location and adapted to receive an identification code from a mass-transit vehicle. A decoding circuit responds to the received identification code by attempting to identify the mass-transit vehicle and determine the timing on the identified route that improves an identified vehicle'"'"'s headway and/or route timing. In response to determining the timing, a traffic-preemption command is generated for a traffic light on the identified route.

Claims

1. A traffic-preemption system, comprising:

a transmitter adapted to transmit an identification code of a mass-transit vehicle; and

a traffic light circuit having

receiver located at a traffic location and adapted to receive the identification code, and

a decoding circuit adapted to attempt to identify the mass-transit vehicle using the identification code, compare a time of the mass-transit vehicle'"'"'s arrival at the traffic location with a pre-determined schedule, and, in response to determining a variance between the time of arrival and the pre-determined schedule, generate a traffic-preemption command for a traffic light.

2. The traffic-preemption system of claim 1, wherein the decoding circuit is further adapted to generate the traffic-preemption command for a traffic light at the traffic location.

3. The traffic-preemption system of claim 1, wherein the decoding circuit is further adapted to generate the traffic-preemption command for a traffic light at a traffic location further along the mass-transit vehicle'"'"'s route.

4. The traffic-preemption system of claim 1, wherein the decoding circuit is further adapted to generate the traffic-preemption command for a traffic light based on a preemption hierarchy.

5. The traffic-preemption system of claim 1, wherein the receiver is further adapted to receive an identification code from a second mass-transit vehicle;

and the decoding circuit is further adapted to attempt to identify the second mass-transit vehicle, compare a time of the second mass-transit vehicle'"'"'s arrival at the traffic location with a pre-determined schedule, and, in response to determining a variance between the time of arrival and the pre-determined schedule for both mass-transit vehicles, generate a traffic-preemption command for a traffic light based on the mass-transit vehicle having the largest variance.

6. The traffic-preemption system of claim 1, wherein the mass-transit vehicle further comprises a receiver configured to facilitate two-way communications between the mass-transit vehicle and the traffic light circuit, whereby variance information may be communicated to the mass-transit vehicle.

7. A method for managing headway of a mass-transit vehicle at a traffic location in a traffic-preemption system, comprising:

transmitting an identification code from a transmitter associated with the mass-transit vehicle;

receiving the identification code at a receiver situated at the traffic location;

identifying the mass-transit vehicle using the identification code;

comparing a time of the mass-transit vehicle'"'"'s arrival at the traffic location with a predetermined schedule;

determining a variance between the time of arrival and the pre-determined schedule; and

generating a traffic-preemption command for a traffic light based on the determined variance.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising generating the traffic-preemption command for the traffic light in response to the determined variance exceeding a threshold.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the traffic-preemption command is generated for the traffic light at the traffic location.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the traffic-preemption command is generated for the traffic light at a traffic location further along the mass-transit vehicle'"'"'s route.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the traffic-preemption command is generated based on a preemption hierarchy.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the traffic-preemption command is generated to facilitate regular intervals between the mass-transit vehicle and other mass-transit vehicles.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the traffic-preemption command is generated to facilitate schedule adherence by the mass-transit vehicle.

14. A traffic-preemption system, comprising:

a first transceiver associated with a mass-transit vehicle and adapted to transmit an identification code of the mass-transit vehicle and receive encoded information; and

a controller provided at each one of a plurality of intersections;

a respective second transceiver coupled to each controller and adapted to receive the transmitted identification code from the first transceiver and to transmit the encoded information to the first transceiver; and

a respective decoding circuit coupled to each controller and adapted to attempt to identify the mass-transit vehicle using the identification code;

wherein the controller is adapted to compare a time of the mass-transit vehicle'"'"'s arrival at the one of the intersections with a pre-determined schedule, and, in response to determining a variance between the time of arrival and the pre-determined schedule, generate a traffic-preemption command for a traffic light and transmit variance information to the mass-transit vehicle.

15. The traffic-preemption system of claim 14, wherein the controller is further adapted to generate the traffic-preemption command for a traffic light at the mass-transit vehicle'"'"'s present intersection.

16. The traffic-preemption system of claim 14, wherein the controller is further adapted to generate the traffic-preemption command for a traffic light at an intersection further along the mass-transit vehicle'"'"'s route.

17. The traffic-preemption system of claim 14, wherein the controller is further adapted to generate the traffic-preemption command for a traffic light based on a preemption hierarchy.

18. A traffic-preemption system, comprising:

means for transmitting an identification code from a transmitter associated with the mass-transit vehicle;

means, for receiving the identification code at a receiver situated at the traffic location;

means for identifying the mass-transit vehicle using the identification code;

means for comparing a time of the mass-transit vehicle'"'"'s arrival at the traffic location with a pre-determined schedule;

means for determining a variance between the time of arrival and the pre-determined schedule; and

means for generating a traffic-preemption command for a traffic light based on the determined variance.

19. The traffic-preemption system of claim 18, wherein the generating means comprises means for determining if the variance exceeds a threshold.

20. The traffic-preemption system of claim 19, wherein the generating means comprises means for determining a traffic-preemption command hierarchy.