Patent ID: 8054202

Claim:
A traffic preemption system comprising: a vehicle preemption unit mounted to a vehicle, the vehicle preemption unit comprising: an optical transmitter adapted to identify to an intersection preemption unit coupled with an intersection system controller the presence of the vehicle, and a vehicle radio transceiver adapted to communicate with the intersection preemption unit, wherein the optical transmitter and the vehicle radio transceiver are each coupled with a vehicle controller adapted to process signals sent and received by the vehicle preemption unit and generate a vehicle identifying characteristic unique to the vehicle, the vehicle identifying characteristic having a time delay unique to the vehicle; wherein the intersection preemption unit comprises: an optical receiver adapted to receive an optical signal from the optical transmitter of the vehicle preemption unit, and an intersection radio transceiver adapted to communicate with the vehicle radio transceiver of the vehicle preemption unit, wherein the optical receiver and the intersection radio transceiver are each coupled with an intersection controller adapted to process signals sent and received by the intersection preemption unit; and wherein the intersection preemption unit is adapted to change a traffic light in favor of the vehicle to which the vehicle preemption unit is mounted in response to one of an optical signal, a radio signal, and a combination of optical and radio signals from the vehicle preemption unit, wherein the one of the optical signal, the radio signal, and the combination of the optical and radio signals includes the time delay of the vehicle identifying characteristic.