Entertainment system with bandless tuning
First Claim
1. A content selection interface for an entertainment system having apparatus for receiving signals broadcast on at least a first radio band and a second radio band and signals from at least one internet content source, signals in each radio band being allocated to a broadcast service which employs a respective specific type of modulation scheme, the modulation scheme for the first band differing from the modulation scheme for the second band, said interface having a single content selector actuable by a user and means responsive to the content selector for selecting content from among the radio signals and internet content sources which presents to the user said radio signals and said internet content as successive positions in a sequence without the user having to manifest an explicit change of source selection from position to position.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An entertainment system comprising a base unit with a transceiver for interacting, at times, with a control unit via a communications link, and a control unit for controlling the base unit, the control unit being dockable with the base unit to establish direct electrical connection between them, and including a transceiver for interacting with the control unit via said link when undocked. The control unit is a separate aspect of the invention or system. The base unit may contain a tuner, preferably with bandless tuning capability, and may be designed to receive into a universal docking arrangement a digitally controllable auxiliary audio source such as a portable MP3 player or other device. The base unit may further provide alarm clock functionality with numerous features including a “fail-safe” volume control system and fail-safe alarm time setting capability.
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Citations
10 Claims
- 1. A content selection interface for an entertainment system having apparatus for receiving signals broadcast on at least a first radio band and a second radio band and signals from at least one internet content source, signals in each radio band being allocated to a broadcast service which employs a respective specific type of modulation scheme, the modulation scheme for the first band differing from the modulation scheme for the second band, said interface having a single content selector actuable by a user and means responsive to the content selector for selecting content from among the radio signals and internet content sources which presents to the user said radio signals and said internet content as successive positions in a sequence without the user having to manifest an explicit change of source selection from position to position.
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2. A content selection interface for an entertainment system, having apparatus for receiving and decoding signals in a plurality of formats from a corresponding plurality of sources, at least one of the sources being a radio broadcast source and at least one of the sources being an internet source, said interface providing a user only a single content selection device for use in selecting among said signals for content, by presenting available content as successive adjacent positions without requiring explicit source selection, the interface including a counter for tracking operation of the selection device and a processor for generating signals in response to said tracking, the signals mapping the user'"'"'s manipulation of the selection device to a signal source and a specific content from within that source, a display connected and arranged to display content information from the signal sources, and a content selection interface supplying displayed content indicia to a tuner unit which selects and processes the displayed content and causes it to be output;
- the interface further including one or more buttons mappable to corresponding positions of the selection device to facilitate pushbutton selection of corresponding content choices from said broadcast and internet sources.
- View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 9, 10)
Specification