US Patent 7783415 Traffic information processing apparatus

A traffic information processing apparatus for alleviating the problem of discrepancy between a plurality of traffic information which may be acquired from different sources is disclosed. In the case where a plurality of traffic information are acquired, the information are corrected into reference traffic information selected from the plurality of the traffic information. For example, the traffic information processing apparatus acquires first traffic information (VICS information) used for the navigation process and second traffic information (probe traffic information) having a different source from the first traffic information. From the first and second traffic information, the traffic information for a common object is extracted, and based on the difference between them, the correcting information used for correcting the second traffic information is generated. The traffic information on an object not contained in the first traffic information is acquired by correcting the second traffic information on the object using the correcting information.