Patent ID: 7940742

Claim:
A method for decoding traffic information data, the method comprising: receiving, at a receiver, traffic information data in a traffic message, the traffic information data including: speed information indicating a travel speed across a road-segment from a first location to a second location, and a first identifier for enabling a determination that the speed information is included in the traffic information, predicted speed information indicating a predicted travel speed across the road-segment from the first location to the second location, and a second identifier for enabling a determination that the predicted speed information is included in the traffic information, time information indicating a time with which the predicted speed information corresponds, and a third identifier for enabling a determination that the time information is included in the traffic information, and a congestion tendency value reflective of a congestion tendency of the road-segment from the first location to the second location, and a fourth identifier for enabling a determination that the congestion tendency information is included in the traffic information, wherein the congestion tendency value corresponds to one of multiple values in a congestion tendency table utilized in generating and decoding the traffic information data; and decoding a status of traffic congestion of the road-segment from the first location to the second location based on the received traffic information data in the traffic message and the congestion tendency table.