Patent ID: 7193528

Claim:
A method for outputting traffic information in a motor vehicle, comprising: receiving and thereafter buffering traffic messages together with the respective position of the route section or point to which the traffic message relates; determining whether or not the position of the route section to which the traffic message relates lies in a selected area; storing only those traffic messages that relate to the selected area together with the respective position of the route section or to a point to which the traffic message relates; comparing positions of the traffic messages with a respective position of the motor vehicle in which the traffic information is to be output in order to determine distances between the respective positions in the traffic messages and the position of the motor vehicle; sorting the traffic messages in accordance with distances determined; outputting the traffic messages starting with the smallest distance; detecting whether the traffic message is significant for a current direction of travel or for an opposite direction of travel; and outputting only traffic messages that are relevant to the current direction of travel.