Patent ID: 7546115

Claim:
A method for wireless communication of a traffic signal over a network, the method comprising: receiving an encoded message in a vehicle transceiver unit (VTU) of a first of a plurality of vehicles on the network, wherein the encoded message includes data related to the traffic signal; decoding the encoded message in the VTU of the first vehicle to form a message having a plurality of fields of the data related to the traffic signal; determining if the message is forwardable from the first vehicle to another one or more vehicles on the network, the forwardable determination being made by using at least one of the plurality of fields; when the message is determined to be forwardable: modifying at least one of the plurality of fields to form a modified message; encoding the modified message to form a modified encoded message; and forwarding the modified encoded message to a second of the plurality of vehicles, the second vehicle approaching the traffic signal; and discarding the message when the message is determined to be non-forwardable.