Radio station memory presets with stored audio effects

• US 5,530,924 A
• Filed: 07/05/1994
• Issued: 06/25/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Visteon Global Technologies Incorporated (Visteon Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Ford Motor Company
• Inventors: Miller, Kenneth C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi H.
• Application Number:
  US08/270,879
• Time in Patent Office: 721 Days
• Field of Search: 455/185.1-186.2, 455/194.2, 455/200.1, 455/267, 381/98, 381/101-103, 381/107, 333/28 R, 333/28 T
• US Class Current: 455/186.1
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 1/0008 using a central processing unit, e.g. a microprocessor digital tuning in general H03J5/0245
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/13 Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/04 Circuit arrangements, e.g. for selective connection of amplifier inputs/outputs to loudspeakers, for loudspeaker detection, or for adaptation of settings to personal preferences or hearing impairments combinations of amplifiers H03F3/68; stereophonic systems H04S

Abstract

Selected broadcast stations are stored in a memory and accessed using preset memory buttons on a radio receiver. Audio effects such as tone settings and sound-field simulations are adjusted for a selected broadcast station in accordance with the tastes of an operator of the receiver. The audio effects are stored for recall whenever the selected broadcast station is accessed through the memory preset.

Claims

1. An audio system comprising:

a radio tuner selectably tunable to a plurality of broadcast stations;

audio system operator inputs including a plurality of memory presets for selecting a selected broadcast station and at least one treatment selector for selecting a desired audio effect;

an audio processor coupled to said radio tuner and said treatment selector, said audio processor treating an audio signal derived from said broadcast station with said desired audio effect;

a memory storing broadcast stations corresponding to each of said memory presets, respectively, and storing a desired audio effect corresponding to each of said memory presets, respectively; and

a control responsive to an activation of a respective memory preset to send a tuning command to said radio tuner corresponding to a stored broadcast station associated with said respective memory preset and to send a treatment command to said audio processor corresponding to a stored audio effect associated with said respective memory preset, wherein said control updates a respective stored audio effect in response to an activation of said treatment selector when a currently tuned-in broadcast station was accessed by activation of one of said memory presets.

2. A method of operating an audio system including a broadcast radio receiver having a plurality of memory presets, comprising the steps of:

tuning said receiver to a desired broadcast station;

storing an identification of said desired broadcast station in a memory at a first memory location associated with a selected one of said memory presets;

recalling said identification of said desired broadcast station from said first memory location and tuning said receiver to said desired broadcast station in response to activation of said selected one of said memory presets;

storing an indication that the currently tuned broadcast station was accessed by activation of said selected one of said memory presets;

adjusting an audio effect selected from the group comprising treble level, bass level, and sound field simulation according to a desired reproduction character of said desired broadcast station and concurrently storing an identification of said audio effect in said memory at a second memory location associated with said selected one of said memory presets;

recalling said identification of said desired broadcast station from said first memory location and said identification of said audio effect from said second memory location in response to an activation of said selected one of said memory presets; and

tuning said receiver and adjusting said audio effect based on said recalled identifications, respectively.