Patent ID: 8884783

Claim:
A priority control unit for use with light-based and GPS-based traffic control priority systems, wherein the light-based traffic control priority system activates preemption of a traffic signal in response to pulses of light encoding a priority request, and the GPS-based traffic control priority system activates preemption of a traffic signal in response to a radio signal encoding a priority request, comprising: a light emitter subsystem configured to emit pulses of light that encode a priority request for activating preemption of a traffic signal by the light-based traffic control priority system; a GPS-based subsystem configured to transmit a priority request by radio waves, the priority request for activating preemption of a traffic signal by the GPS-based traffic control priority system; a shared communications bus coupled to the light emitter subsystem and to the GPS-based subsystem; and a switch coupled to the light emitter subsystem and to the GPS-based subsystem, wherein the switch simultaneously activates both the light emitter subsystem and the GPS-based subsystem for transmitting priority requests in response to user control.