Patent ID: 7570178

Claim:
A traffic display, comprising: a display, which receives a first altitude for a first aircraft and a second altitude for a second aircraft within an area around the first aircraft, the display including a vertical traffic indicator which is presented on the display, the vertical traffic indicator comprising: a visual representation of at least one flight level having a first state and a second state; a visual representation of at least one aircraft, positioned in relation to the visual representation of the at least one flight level to indicate an altitude for the at least one aircraft; wherein the visual representation of the flight level is in the first state when the flight level is available for the first aircraft to transit to and the visual representation of the flight level is in the second state when the flight level is not available for the first aircraft to transit to; wherein the vertical traffic indicator represents the area around the first aircraft, the first altitude for the first aircraft is indicated on the vertical traffic indicator, and the second altitude for the second aircraft is indicated on the vertical traffic indicator.