System of controlling traffic signals

Claim 2

A coordinated traffic signalling control system comprising a plurality of local controllers, each of said controllers including an offset circuit and a split circuit, radio receiver means at each controller tuned to receive the standard frequency and time signals broadcast for general reception by a preexisting standard signal radio station, a time discriminator circuit coupled to said receiver for generating timing signals from the broadcast signals received by said receiver, programmer means responsive to said generated timing signals for generating traffic pattern instruction signals, and control means responsive to said generated timing signals and to said generated traffic pattern instruction signals for controlling the operation of said offset and split circuits.

Claim 3

The combination of claim 1 wherein said control means includes an offset adjusting circuit, and counter means connected to said split circuit, to said offset circuit, and to said offset adjusting means.

Claim 4

The combination of claim 2 including means coupling said traffic pattern instruction signals to a portion of said counter means, whereby said counter means generates a sync pulse and a cyclic pulse in accordance with said instruction signals.

Claim 5

The combination of claim 1 wherein said control means includes counter means responsive to said traffic pattern instruction signals for generating a sync pulse and a cyclic pulse in accordance with said instruction signals, offset pulse and split pulse generating circuits including further counter means controlled by said cyclic pulse, an offset adjusting circuit, means coupling said sync pulse to said offset adjusting circuit, said offset adjusting circuit being operative to compare said sync pulse with the pulses generated by said offset pulse and split pulse generating circuits for selectively generating a correcting signal, and means coupling said correcting signal to said further counter means to control the outputs of said offset pulse and split pulse generating circuits.

Claim 6

The combination of claim 1 wherein said control means includes means responsive to said traffic pattern instruction signals for generating a sync pulse and a cyclic pulse, said offset circuit including means responsive to said cyclic pulse for generating an offset pulse, and means for comparing said generated offset pulse and said sync pulse, said comparing means being operative to selectively generate a correcting signal for controlling the operation of said offset circuit.

Claim 7

The combination of claim 1 wherein said control means includes means responsive to said traffic pattern instruction signals for generating a sync pulse and a cyclic pulse, said split circuit including means responsive to said cyclic pulse for generating a split pulse, and means for comparing said generated split pulse and said sync pulse, said comparing means being operative to selectively generate a correcting signal for controlling the operation of said split circuit.

Claim 8

A coordinated traffic signalling control system having a plurality of local controllers, each controller including radio receiver means for receiving a radio wave signal from an external radio station thereby to control traffic signals synchronously with other controllers, said receiver means being tuned to a transmitting station broadcasting standard frequency and time signal emissions in the service area in which the traffic signalling control system is located, each local controller comprising time signal discriminator means for developing a series of time signals from the standard frequency and time signal received by said receiver means, a traffic control pattern selector responsive to said developed time signals and operative to generate a selected pattern of instruction signals, means responsive to said instruction signals for generating a sync pulse and a cyclic pulse in accordance with selected instruction signals, an offset and split circuit coupled to said pattern selector for control thereby, counter means responsive to said cyclic signal for further controlling said offset and split circuit, whereby said offset and split circuit generates an output corresponding to said selected traffic control pattern, and an offset control circuit connected to compare said sync pulse with the output of said offset and split circuit, said offset control circuit being operative in response to said comparison to generate a correcting signal to vary the output of said offset and split circuit.

Claim 9

A coordinated traffic signalling control system having a plurality of local controllers, each controller including radio receiver means for receiving a radio wave signal from an external radio station thereby to control traffic signals synchronously with other controllers, said receiver means being tuned to a transmitting station broadcasting standard frequency and time signal emissions in the service area in which the traffic signalling control system is located, each local controller comprising time signal discriminator means for developing a series of time signals from the standard frequency and time signal received by said receiver means, a traffic control pattern selector responsive to said developed time signals and operative to generate a selected pattern of instruction signals, means responsive to said instruction signals for generating a sync pulse and a cyclic pulse in accordance with selected instruction signals, an offset and split circuit coupled to said pattern selector for control thereby, counter means responsive to said cyclic signal for further controlling said offset and split circuit, whereby said offset and split circuit generates an output corresponding to said selected traffic control pattern, and an offset control circuit connected to compare said sync pulse with the output of said offset and split circuit, said offset control circuit being operative in response to said comparison to generate a correcting signal to vary the output of said offset and split circuit.

Claim 10

The system of claim 7 wherein said means for generating said sync pulse and said cyclic pulse includes further counter means.