Total Traffic Network and Fraunhofer IIS, the leading innovator of technologies for cutting-edge multimedia systems, are working together to deliver real-time news information on Total Traffic Network Plus, such as local and national weather conditions, sports scores, and news headlines, directly to mobile devices in the U.S. through a simple to navigate menu structure. The new offering is based on Journaline, the international standard for high quality data services for the transmission of text-based information over digital broadcast systems.

“As two of the most innovative products on the market today, Journaline and Total Traffic Network are the perfect match of technologies to deliver the highest quality service for traffic and enhanced information,” said Harald Popp, head of the department Multimedia Realtime Systems at Fraunhofer IIS. “Total Traffic Network is the ideal platform for news delivery, and Journaline ensures that all information is transmitted quickly, reliably and smoothly, and presented to the user in a convenient way for immediate access.”

“This is a natural extension to our offering – our users already rely on us for up-to-the-minute traffic updates and with Journaline technology, we’re able to offer them realtime news topics that they care about,” said Lance Locher, Senior Vice President, Total Traffic Network. “Journaline is a revolutionary technology and we’re confident that the millions of Total Traffic Network users will be pleased with this new addition.”
Total Traffic Network is the leading source of current traffic information for 125 metropolitan areas in four countries, supplying real-time traffic data to more than 125 million users through partnerships with automotive manufacturers like BMW, Mazda, Aston Martin, Volvo (all of whom offer subscription- free services) as well as navigation device makers ASUS, Garmin, TomTom, Navigon, Nav N Go, Mio Technology, Delphi, Kenwood, Clarion, Harmon Kardon, Panasonic, Siemens, and Cobra Electronics, among others.
“Total Traffic likes to focus on ‘standardized’ rather than ‘proprietary’ solutions,” added Jeff Littlejohn, EVP of Distribution for Clear Channel Radio “These international standards make it easier for our receiver partners to implement services in an economical and expeditious manner.”
As an open, internationally standardized data application for digital radio systems, Journaline delivers hierarchically structured textual information, enabling users to easily and immediately access topics and information they are most interested in. Users can browse all received information – both program-related and program-independent textual information – and select their favorite news items when and where they want.
Specifically designed for digital broadcast services, Journaline:

• Works with virtually any broadcast platform due to its low transmission bandwidth consumption.
• Supports a metadata option for high quality text-tospeech playback.
• Features geo-referencing to enable the presentation of locally relevant information.
• Delivers a ‚Hot Button‘ feature that allows broadcasters to trigger backchannel interactivity such as, linking to online websites, initiating phone calls or sending short text messages.

The popularity and demand for Journaline is growing. Earlier in 2010, JVC announced its JVC KD-NT3HDT in-dash receiver as the first receiver to support Journaline for in-vehicle applications. This receiver is the first of many to come with Journaline and Total Traffic Network Plus implementation. On a global scale, Journaline is featured on air by many international broadcasters today, particularly over the DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) and DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting, Eureka 147) platforms. In addition, Uniwave recently launched its Di-Wave 100 DRM radio featuring a graphical color screen and Journaline capability and Analog Devices has integrated Journaline into their DAB and DRM receiver reference design platform.

Journaline and Total Traffic Network will be demonstrating this new offering at NAB 2010 in the Fraunhofer IIS Booth C1446, April 12-15. For more information about Journaline visit www.journaline.info.