Radio receiver

• US 6,134,426 A
• Filed: 05/11/1998
• Issued: 10/17/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Volkel, Andreas
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Nay
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vuong, Quochien B.
• Application Number:
  US09/075,681
• Time in Patent Office: 890 Days
• Field of Search: 455/186.1, 455/185.1, 455/161.1, 455/161.2, 455/161.3, 455/166.1, 455/166.2, 455/226.1, 455/226.2, 455/345, 455/180.1, 455/180.2, 455/179.1
• US Class Current: 455/161.3
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 1/0016 Indicating arrangements digital indication of tuning in general H03J1/048
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 1/0066 with means for analysing the received signal strength H03J1/0083 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/13 radio data system/radio broadcast data system [RDS/RBDS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/60 characterised in that the receiver comprises more than one tuner
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 40/18 Arrangements characterised by circuits or components specially adapted for receiving

Abstract

A description is given of a radio receiver, in particular a VHF receiver, including a receiver stage, an evaluation stage, a memory stage, an operating element, a display element and a control unit. A database of stations which meet predetermined receiving criteria is stored by the control unit in the memory stage. Updating this database is subject to different preconditions, and requires only one receiver stage. The operating element can be used to call the desired stations from the database, in a sequence determined in accordance with different criteria, and these stations can be set to reproduce the radio signals.

Claims

1. A radio receiver comprising:

a receiver stage for receiving and demodulating radio signals;

an evaluation stage for evaluating the quality of the received radio signals in accordance with predetermined receiving criteria;

a storage stage for storing data concerning at least transmitter frequencies and/or transmitter names of stations corresponding to the radio signals which meet said predetermined receiving criteria;

an operating element for setting the receiver stage to receive the radio signal of a desired station;

a display element for displaying information concerning at least the desired station, said information being derived from the stored data; and

a control unit for controlling at least the receiver stage, the storage stage and the display element according to the operation of the operating element, and for controlling the evaluation of the receiving quality by the evaluation stage, characterized in that for tuning the receiver stage to the desired station, the data of the stations corresponding to the radio signals which meet the predetermined receiving criteria are readable from the memory stage, in a sequence determined by the control unit in accordance with selectable characteristics, by operating the operating element, said operating element comprising a single selection member enabling switching from a desired station to a previous or a subsequent station in accordance with said sequence, the data stored in the memory stage being at least partly updated, under any one of the following freely selectable conditions, to form data of stations whose radio signals directly meet the predetermined receiving criteria;

(a) when the receiving quality of the radio signal of a desired station currently does not, or no longer, meet the predetermined receiving criteria, the relevant data in the memory stage are erased and the receiver stage is tuned to receive the radio signal of a new, desired station wherein the new, desired station broadcasts the same program as the hitherto desired station, and the data of the new, desired station replace the erased data of the hitherto desired station in the memory stage; and

the new, desired station is found by autoscanning of the receiver stage;

(b) when the desired station is replaced by a new, desired station by operating the operating element, it is checked whether the radio signal of the new, desired station meets the predetermined receiving criteria;

if so, the data in the memory stage of the control unit are replaced by the data of the new, desired station, wherein the transmission frequency of the new desired station is found by autoscanning of the receiver stage; and

(c) before at least the receiver stage of the radio receiver is turned off, the data of the stations having radio signals which meet the predetermined receiving criteria are stored again in the memory stage by the control unit by means of an autoscanning operation for a frequency range which is as wide as possible and includes all frequencies to which the receiver stage can be tuned;

whereby the data of the stations are gained from the determination of the transmission frequencies of the received radio signals and/or from an RDS data flow received as a part of the radio signals.

2. The radio receiver as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that at least the evaluation stage and the control unit are comprised in a microprocessor.

3. The radio receiver as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the selection member is a station-tuning knob, and the operating element comprises incrementing means coupled to the selection member, said incrementing means serving to switch the receiver stage to a station which, in the specific sequence, is an adjacent station.

4. The radio receiver as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the transmission frequency is selected to define the specific sequence in which the data are read from the memory stage.

5. The radio receiver as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the station names are used to define the specific sequence in which the data are read from the memory stage.