Software signal receiver

• US 20050064831A1
• Filed: 08/31/2004
• Published: 03/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Inventors: Feenstra, Sean D., Anderson, David W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,801,476 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/150.100
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 4/36 Conductive members located under tip of screw
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0003 Software-defined radio [SDR] systems, i.e. systems wherein components typically implemented in hardware, e.g. filters or modulators/demodulators, are implented using software, e.g. by involving an AD or DA conversion stage such that at least part of the signal processing is performed in the digital domain digital baseband systems H04L25/00; digital modulation/demodulation H04L27/00; CDMA H04B1/707; TDMA H04B7/2643; image transmission H04N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0007 wherein the AD/DA conversion occurs at radiofrequency or intermediate frequency stage
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/28 the receiver comprising at least one semiconductor device having three or more electrodes

Abstract

A system and method for processing a plurality of received signals within a broad signal space concurrently without the need for multiple hardware tuners. The system includes: a signal directing mechanism for routing a transmitted frequency band into the system, the transmitted frequency band includes a plurality of waveforms, each one of the plurality of waveforms contains information; a storage assembly for storing the transmitted frequency band; a selection assembly for selecting at least one waveform from the transmitted frequency band; a processor for processing information corresponding to the at least one waveform; and a presentation device for presenting the information processed from at least one selected waveform to a user.

Claims

1. A system for processing a broadcast signal comprising:

a signal directing means for routing a transmitted frequency band into said system, the transmitted frequency band having at least one waveform therein;

a selection means for selecting at least one waveform from said frequency band;

a means for processing information corresponding to said at least one waveform;

a means for presenting said information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said signal directing means is an antenna or a wired connection coupled to a signal distribution means.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said selection means selects a plurality of waveforms from said frequency band.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a storage means for storing the transmitted frequency band.

5. A system for processing a broadcast signal comprising:

a signal directing means for routing a transmitted frequency band into said system, the transmitted frequency band having a plurality of waveforms therein, each one of said plurality of waveforms having information contained therein;

a storage means for storing the transmitted frequency band;

a selection means for selecting at least one waveform from said transmitted frequency band;

a means for processing information corresponding to said at least one waveform; and

a means for presenting said information.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising a searching means for searching said transmitted frequency band for a subset of information corresponding to at least one search criterion.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said subset of information corresponding to said at least one search criterion is presented to a user.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein said searching means searches the transmitted frequency band stored by said storage means.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein said searching means searches the transmitted frequency band prior to storage of the transmitted frequency band by said storage means.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein said searching means searches the transmitted frequency band concurrent with storage of the transmitted frequency band by said storage means.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein said searching means searches the information after the information has been processed by said means for processing.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein said means for processing further includes an analog-to-digital conversion means for creating a digitized version of information modulated onto at least one waveform with an analog technique.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said storage means stores said digitized version of said information modulated on at least one waveform with an analog technique.

14. The system of claim 5, wherein said means for presenting said information is a video display.

15. The system of claim 5, wherein said means for presenting said information is an audio presentation device.

16. The system of claim 5, wherein said a means for processing information processes a plurality of waveforms concurrently.

17. The system of claim 5, wherein at least a portion of said selection means being implemented as a software algorithm.

18. The system of claim 6, wherein at least a portion of said means for processing information is implemented as a software algorithm.

19. A system for processing an analog broadcast signal comprising:

a unit for receiving an analog frequency band;

an analog to digital conversion unit for converting the analog frequency band into digital information;

a selection unit for selecting at least one set of digital information corresponding to a signal frequency from said frequency band;

a software algorithm to retrieve said digital information corresponding to a signal frequency from the digital information corresponding to said frequency band;

a software algorithm for processing said digital information signal frequency;

means for communicating said processed digital information to another device.

20. A method of processing a plurality of simultaneously received broadcast signals comprising:

receiving a frequency band comprising a plurality waveforms, each of the plurality of waveforms comprising content respectively associated with a station;

storing the frequency band in a storage means;

accepting control inputs to select from said frequency band at least at least two waveforms comprising a first waveform and a second waveform;

retrieving, from the frequency band stored in the storage means, information corresponding to the first waveform and the second waveform;

processing said information corresponding to the first waveform and the second waveform; and

presenting, in a format suitable for a human user, content associated with the first waveform and content associated with a second waveform.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising providing at least one search criterion and searching the frequency band for content associated with said at least one search criterion.

22. The method according to claim 20, wherein the storing step further comprises storing the frequency band before the first waveform and the second waveform have been processed.