Radio reception system for general purpose computer

• US 5,790,958 A
• Filed: 10/16/1995
• Issued: 08/04/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: MMGT Enterprises, Inc.
• Inventors: McCoy, Michael S., Hayworth, Michael E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Eisenzopf, Reinhard J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Lee
• Application Number:
  US08/543,317
• Time in Patent Office: 1,023 Days
• Field of Search: 455/88, 455/89, 455/90, 455/348, 455/344, 455/349, 455/45, 455/74, 455/66, 455/67.7, 455/161.2, 455/161.1, 455/167.1, 455/184.1, 455/185.1, 455/186.1, 455/550, 379/57, 379/58, 379/556, 379/557, 340/825.44, 340/311.1, 364/705.05
• US Class Current: 455/557
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/34 using an out-of-band subcarrier signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/53 Arrangements specially adapted for specific applications, e.g. for traffic information or for mobile receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/13 radio data system/radio broadcast data system [RDS/RBDS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/70 characterised in that receivers can be addressed
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/27 Arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information

Abstract

A radio data reception system operates within a host processing system such as a personal computer and receives FM broadcast transmissions encoded with either RDS or MBS digital data modulated upon a subcarrier frequency. The radio data reception system operates in one of three modes to interpret the RDS or MBS digital data. A first mode of operation provides a user of the radio data reception system with complete FM stereo tuner functions displayed on a monitor. The radio data reception system receives and decodes RDS data transmissions in the FM stereo tuner mode and displays the RDS data on the monitor. In second and third modes of operation, the radio data reception system receives and processes MBS digital data. In the second mode of operation, the MBS data is used by the host processing system to monitor pages received by a user of the system. MBS digital data received in the third mode of operation can be compiled and stored into large binary files within the host processing system for later retrieval by a user.

Claims

1. A radio reception system that imparts at least FM stereo functionality to a general purpose computer, the general purpose computer including a processor, a display monitor and a set of audio speakers, the system comprising:

a card that attaches to and communicates with the general purpose computer, the card including FM receiver circuitry that receives a broadcast FM signal and extracts a stereo audio signal therefrom, the card further including an audio port that is coupled to the FM receiver circuitry, the audio port providing access to the audio signal to allow the audio signal to be routed to and played on the audio speakers, the card further including an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter coupled to an output of the FM receiver circuitry, the A/D converter configured to digitize the audio signal to produce a digital audio signal, the card configured to transfer the digital audio signal to the general purpose computer; and

application software that runs on the processor of the general purpose computer and communicates with the card to control an operation of the card, the application software implementing a graphical user interface that provides functionality for enabling a user of the general purpose computer to control and monitor the operation of the card using the display monitor, the graphical user interface including tuner controls that allow the user to interactively control the FM receiver to tune into and listen to selected FM radio stations.

2. The radio reception system of claim 1, wherein the application software provides functionality for allowing the user to selectively store a segment of the digital audio signal to a memory of the general purpose computer for subsequent playback.

3. The radio reception system of claim 1, wherein the card is configured to plug into a standard expansion slot of the general purpose computer.

4. The radio reception system of claim 1, wherein the card is configured to connect to an external communications port of the general purpose computer.

5. The radio reception system of claim 1, wherein the FM receiver circuitry includes digital data decoder circuitry that extracts digital message data from a broadcast FM signal and transfers the digital message data to the general purpose computer, and wherein the application software displays at least some of the digital message data to the user via the graphical user interface.

6. The radio reception system of claim 5, wherein the digital data decoder is configured to extract digital message data that is formatted according to at least one of the RDS standard and the MBS standard.

7. The radio reception system of claim 5, wherein the FM receiver circuitry concurrently extracts the audio signal and the digital message data from broadcast FM signals to allow the user to monitor data broadcasts while listening to audio broadcasts.

8. The radio reception system of claim 1, wherein the card further includes audio signal processing circuitry that processes the audio signal, the audio signal processing circuitry controllable from the graphical user interface to allow the user to interactively adjust sound characteristics of the audio signal.

9. The radio reception system of claim 1, wherein the FM receiver circuitry includes first and second FM receivers, and wherein the card and the application software are configured such that the user can independently control the first and second receivers.

10. A general purpose computer that includes functionality for implementing an FM stereo tuner, the computer comprising:

a computer processor operatively coupled to a display monitor, a memory, and a set of audio speakers;

FM receiver circuitry operatively coupled to the computer processor, the FM receiver circuitry configured to extract a stereo audio signal from an FM broadcast transmission, the receiver circuitry coupled to the audio speakers to provide the audio signal to the speakers for audible playback;

an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter coupled to an output of the FM receiver circuitry, the A/D converter configured to digitize the audio signal to produce a digital audio signal, the A/D converter coupled to the computer processor to transfer the digital audio signal to the computer processor; and

application software which is stored in the memory and executed by the processor, the application software configured to control an operation of the FM receiver circuitry, the software implementing a graphical user interface that provides functionality for enabling a user of the general purpose computer to control and monitor the operation of the FM receiver circuitry to tune into and listen to selected FM radio stations.

11. The general purpose computer of claim 10, wherein the application software provides functionality for allowing the user to selectively store a segment of the digital audio signal to the memory.

12. The general purpose computer of claim 10, wherein the FM receiver circuitry is provided on a card the plugs into a slot of the computer and communicates with the computer processor.

13. The general purpose computer of claim 12, wherein the card provides functionality for implementing a general purpose personal computer sound card.

14. The general purpose computer of claim 10, wherein the FM receiver circuitry includes digital data decoder circuitry that extracts digital message data from a broadcast FM signal, and wherein the application software displays at least some of the digital message data to the user via the graphical user interface.

15. The general purpose computer of claim 14, wherein the digital data decoder is configured to extract digital message data that is formatted according to at least one of the RDS standard and the MBS standard.

16. The general purpose computer of claim 14, wherein the FM receiver circuitry concurrently extracts the audio signal and the digital message data from broadcast FM signals.

17. The general purpose computer of claim 10, wherein the FM receiver circuitry further includes audio signal processing circuitry that processes the audio signal, the audio signal processing circuitry controllable from the graphical user interface to allow the user to interactively adjust sound characteristics of the audio signal.

18. The general purpose computer of claim 10, wherein the FM receiver circuitry includes first and second FM receivers, and the application software is configured to allow the user to independently control the first and second receivers.

19. A radio data reception system for receiving a group of FM broadcast signals having digital data modulated on subcarrier signals of said group of FM broadcast signals, said radio data reception system comprising:

a tuner for selecting and receiving a desired FM broadcast signal from said group of FM broadcast signals;

a decoder for demodulating digital data transmitted on a subcarrier frequency of said desired FM broadcast signal;

a microprocessor receiving said digital data from said decoder, said microprocessor comprising means for detecting RDS digital data and MBS digital data, said means for detecting initiating a first set of processing instructions when said digital data is RDS digital data and said means for detecting initiating a second set of processing instructions when said digital data is MBS digital data; and

interface means for transmitting said digital data to a host processing system, said interface means signalling said host processing system when said digital data is available for transmission by setting a flag indicating the presence of said digital data;

wherein said digital data is divided into separate data types each having a corresponding flag, said setting of said flag for a data type occurring when new digital data is received for said data type, and wherein said host processing system ignores said data type when said flag is not set.