Apparatus and method for providing user with road traffic information

An apparatus for providing a user with road traffic information, comprising:

• a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver for providing current position information of a vehicle;
• an electronic map database (DB) for storing electronic map data;
• a teletext broadcast receiver for receiving a teletext broadcast signal, decoding the teletext broadcast signal, and providing digital teletext broadcast data;
• and
• a processor for accessing needed electronic map data stored in the electronic map DB, displaying the accessed electronic map data on a display screen, reflecting current position and direction information of the vehicle on the electronic map, extracting unit road identification (ID) information of a prescribed area on the electronic map, selecting road traffic information corresponding to the extracted unit road ID information from among all road traffic information for every unit road of an overall road network contained in the digital teletext broadcast data, and outputting the selected road traffic information.

A method for providing a user with road traffic information, which gains access to needed electronic map data stored in an electronic map database (DB), displays the accessed electronic map data on a display screen, receives a GPS (Global Positioning System) signal, and reflects current position and direction information of a vehicle on the electronic map, said method comprising the steps of:

• a) receiving teletext broadcast signals, decoding the teletext broadcast signals, and outputting digital teletext broadcast data;
• b) extracting unit road identification (ID) information of a prescribed area contained in the electronic map;
• c) selecting road traffic information corresponding to the extracted unit road ID information from among all unit road ID information of an overall road network contained in the digital teletext broadcast data;
• and
• d) outputting the selected road traffic information.