Method and apparatus for providing transportation status information and using it

1. An apparatus for decoding a Transport Protocol Expert Group (TPEG) traffic information message comprising:

a decoder for extracting traffic information from the TPEG traffic information message, the extracted traffic information including

message management information including (1) message identification (ID) information indicating that the traffic information is status information and (2) a generation time of the traffic information message,

status information including traffic-flow status information of a link, and

location information including latitude and longitude information of the link corresponding to the traffic-flow status information; and

a controller for outputting the traffic-flow status information by referring to the location information,

wherein the status information further includes additional information in the form of text data and a language code identifying a language of the text data, the location information further includes vertex information of a vertex within the link, wherein the vertex information includes longitude and latitude information of the vertex, the latitude and longitude information of the link being different from the latitude and longitude information of the vertex.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller controls to extract average speed data of the link from the traffic-flow status information, and display the extracted average speed data.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller controls to extract travel time data of the link from the traffic-flow status information, and display the extracted travel time data.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller extracts delay time data of the link from the traffic-flow status information, and displays the extracted delay time data.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller extracts traffic congestion type data of the link from the traffic-flow status information.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the decoder is configured to use the message generation time to manage received messages.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the status information further includes additional information in the form of image data or video data.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the additional information describes a point of interest associated with the link and the decoder is configured to extract the information describing the point of interest associated with the link.

9. An apparatus for decoding a Transport Protocol Expert Group (TPEG) traffic information message, comprising:

a reception unit configured to receive the TPEG traffic information message, the TPEG traffic information message including a congestion and travel time message segment, the congestion and travel time message segment relating to a link and including:

a message management container including message management information, the message management information including a message generation time of the congestion and travel time message segment and a message identifier identifying the congestion and travel time message segment;

a status container including a plurality of congestion and travel time status components, the plurality of congestion and travel time status components including:

a traffic flow status information component including traffic flow status information and a traffic flow status identifier identifying that the traffic flow status information component relates to traffic flow status information; and

an additional information component including additional information, an additional information component identifier identifying that the additional information component relates to additional information, and a language code indicating the language of the additional information; and

a location container including at least one TPEG location component, the TPEG location component including

location information identifying the link and a location information identifier identifying the type of the location information, the location information including latitude and longitude information of the link, and vertex information of a vertex within the link, the vertex information including latitude and longitude information of the vertex, the latitude and longitude information of the link being different from the latitude and longitude information of the vertex;

a decoder configured to extract the message management information, the traffic flow status information, the additional information, and the location information in the congestion and travel time message segment.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein:

the traffic flow status information component is a traffic flow prediction status information component;

the traffic flow status information is traffic flow status prediction information; and

the traffic flow status information identifier is a traffic flow prediction status identifier identifying that the traffic flow prediction status information component relates to traffic flow prediction status information.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the message management information further comprises a transmission time of the congestion and travel time message segment.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of congestion and travel time status components includes a traffic flow status information component and a traffic flow status information prediction component.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the traffic flow status information includes average speed data of the link; and

wherein the decoder is further configured to extract the average speed data of the link.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the traffic flow status information includes travel time data for the link; and

wherein the decoder is further configured to extract the travel time data for the link.

15. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the traffic flow status information includes a congestion type; and

wherein the decoder is further configured to extract the congestion type.