102results about "Broadcast systems characterised by tuner receivers" patented technology

A radio frequency front end for a television band receiver and spectrum sensor includes a first plurality of adaptive matching networks connected to a signal summer that combines signals received by the first plurality of antennas respectively connected to the first plurality of adaptive matching networks and outputs a combined signal to each of a second plurality of downconverter / tuners. The downconverter / tuners are respectively or collectively connected to an analog to digital converter that converts output of the second plurality of downconverter / tuners into at least one digital signal that is output to the television band receiver and spectrum sensor.

One of the most frustrating things when recording for example songs from the radio is that many times by the time the user decides that he / she would like to record for example some song, the beginning of the song is already lost. Or the user might zap between radio stations and tune into the station after the song has already started or for example after the beginning of an interesting conversation or message or News item and is frustrated that he missed the beginning of it. Similarly, for example while zapping through cable TV stations, a user might find for example a fascinating scientific program or a fascinating report and regret that he / she had not seen or recorded it from the start for later reference. The idea of retroactive recording and / or replay has existed already since 1990 and there are a number of patents about it, but they do not deal with the problem of enabling retroactive recording and / or replay also when the user is zapping between channels for example on Radio or on TV. The present invention describes an improved system and method for automatic time-shifted retroactive recording or replay, that applies retroactive recording and / or replay also to a situation of switching between channels. Additional improvements and possible implementations are also shown, including for example improved zapping speed which can be used also without retroactive replay / recording.

An apparatus for outputting received broadcast signals may include a tuner unit that receives broadcast signals through at least one tuner, a distribution unit that distributes the received broadcast signals according to broadcasting systems, a control unit that extracts at least one of video signals, audio signals and data signals from broadcasting system-dependent broadcast signals distributed by the distribution unit in accordance with a user's instruction, and an output unit that outputs the extracted signals.

A system for decoding data, such as travel and traffic information, configured in data blocks embedded in an electromagnetic signal, such as a broadcasted radio signal, has been developed. The system includes a method and receiver for decoding the data with a background tuner in a manner that does not impair the ability of the background tuner to demodulate other signals. While a main tuner is tuned to demodulate a first electromagnetic signal to produce a data stream, the background tuner is switched to decode the data blocks only when the data blocks are expected to be received. In the remaining time, the background tuner is free to demodulate other signals to support a diversity or other function. If a data block is not received, or not received when expected, the background tuner returns to demodulating one or more other frequencies after a predetermined time interval has elapsed.

Data broadcast over different channels may be updated in a digital broadcast receiving device. The device may include a receiver unit, a processor, memory instructions embodied in the memory for execution on the processor. The instructions may be configured to implement the method for updating data broadcast over different channels. A first digital broadcast signal may be received over a first channel. The receiving device may be tuned to a second channel at a predetermined time to receive a second digital broadcast signal. Selected data may be extracted from the second digital broadcast signal and stored or utilized with the receiving device. An update schedule may be generated for data transmitted with a digital broadcast signal. A broadcast time for an update packet may be determined from a packet header. A schedule packet may be generated containing the broadcast time and broadcast before the update packet.

Methods and apparatuses for concurrently recording multiple radio channels. A recorder includes a wideband tuner having a complex mixer for converting a received wideband RF signal to a complex signal that is then digitized. A digital front end module applies a number of complex down-mixers to the digital complex signal to generate the multiple radio channels in the baseband. Each one of the multiple radio channels in the baseband is further filtered, decimated and demodulated. A digital signal processing unit encodes each demodulated channel according to an audio compression format and stores the then encoded audio content to a storage unit. An RBDS decoder parses radio data service information associated with the stored audio content. The radio data service information is stored in a first section of the storage unit while the encoded audio content is stored in a second section of the storage unit.

An object of the present invention is to provide a digital broadcast reception apparatus that allows a stable viewing even if a reception environment changes along with a movement. In the present invention, based on current position information indicating a current position detected by a current position detection section and broadcast area information stored in a broadcast area information storage section, a search-mode switching control section instructs a tuning control section to select a diversity operation mode if the current position is close to a boundary of a broadcast area, and select an independent reception operation mode if the current position is not close to the boundary of the broadcast area. In the diversity operation mode, a first system and a second system are tuned to the same physical channel, and cooperate with each other to demodulate a digital broadcast signal and a make an output through a diversity process. In the independent reception operation mode, the first system and the second system individually and independently demodulate the digital broadcast signal and make an output

The invention relates to a geographical area-related radio channel selection device, which comprises a tuning module and an audio output module. The tuning module is connected with the audio output module. The geographical area-related radio channel selection device also comprises a positioning module, a display input module and a control module, wherein the positioning module, the display input module, and the tuning module are connected with the control module. The invention also provides a geographical area-related radio channel selection method. Due to the adoption of the geographical area-related radio channel selection device and the geographical area-related radio channel selection method, the radio channel selection device can display the radio station name, frequency, system, and strength grade of a radio station signal source which can be received locally on the display input module according to radio regulations, and dynamically refresh the information along the change of the geographical area. The listeners intuitively select channels, and do not need to operate to search the channels per se or remember the name of each radio station. The time consumption is low and the operation is convenient.

A method of performing alternate frequency switching in a radio includes tuning the radio to a primary frequency. A candidate alternate frequency is identified. It is determined whether the candidate alternate frequency is a third order inter-modulation artifact. Tuning is switched from the primary frequency to the candidate alternate frequency only if it is determined in the determining step that the candidate alternate frequency is not a third order inter-modulation artifact.

A radio includes a first tuner and a second tuner. A processor compares a first perceivable volume level of a station tuned by the first tuner to at least one second perceivable volume level of at least one background station tuned by the second tuner. The processor enables automatic volume knob changes using a pre-calibrated lookup table that associates a volume step of the volume knob with a difference between the first perceivable volume level and the second perceivable volume level.