Radio receiver and method for receiving and playing signals from multiple broadcast channels

• US 8,892,025 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2012
• Issued: 11/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iHeartMedia Management Services, Inc. (iHeartMedia, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: iHeartMedia Management Services, Inc. (iHeartMedia, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zigler, Jeffrey D., Lockhart, Kevin R., Wooden, Richard D., Lockhart, Jacqueline J., Myers, Theodore N., Hill, Evan A., Jellison, Tanya R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Simon
• Application Number:
  US13/557,859
• Publication Number:
  US 20120289146A1
• Time in Patent Office: 846 Days
• Field of Search: 455 301- 306, 4554141-4143, 455/154.1, 455/161.1, 455/161.2, 455/166.2, 455/179.1, 4551832-1861
• US Class Current: 455/3.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/22 Arrangements for broadcast of identical information via plural broadcast systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/46 for recognising users' preferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/72 using electronic programme guides [EPG] focusing on identifying broadcast space time H04H60/39 ; menu type display of EPG in television receivers H04N21/47
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4383 Accessing a communication channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A radio receiver may comprise a receiver adaptable for receiving a plurality of broadcast streams over a plurality of broadcast channels, wherein the receiver will attempt to receive a selected broadcast stream on a selected broadcast channel, and if the selected broadcast stream is not receivable on the selected broadcast channel, the receiver will attempt to receive the selected broadcast stream on an alternative broadcast channel. A computer readable medium may allow a user of a receiver to create a composite stream comprising at least one portion selected from each of at least two of a plurality of broadcast streams. A method of open interface merge replication may involve comparing data between first and second databases, and if a conflict exists, updating one of the first and second databases with at least a portion of data from the other of the first and second databases to resolve the conflict.

Claims

1. A radio receiver comprising:

a receiver adaptable for receiving a plurality of broadcast streams over a plurality of broadcast channels;

a computer processor in communication with said receiver; and

a memory interoperable with the processor to;

receive a selection of a selected broadcast stream,

receive a selection of a preferred broadcast channel,

search availability data from a database, beginning with the preferred broadcast channel and continuing according to an order of priority, to determine whether a broadcast channel broadcasting the selected broadcasting stream is available; and

in response to the search indicating that there is no broadcast channel broadcasting the selected broadcasting stream, attempt to tune to an available alternate broadcast channel broadcasting an alternate stream having content matching a user-preferred genre.

2. The radio receiver of claim 1, the memory interoperable with the processor to:

establish the order of priority based, at least in part, on a user input.

3. The radio receiver of claim 1, the memory interoperable with the processor to:

determine whether the selected broadcast stream is broadcast on one of the plurality of available broadcast channels based on electronic program guide data.

4. The radio receiver of claim 1, the plurality of broadcast channels comprises at least one AM channel, at least one FM channel, at least one HD channel, at least one IP channel, at least one ST channel, and at least one CS channel.

5. The radio receiver of claim 1, wherein the memory is further configured to:

store availability data associated with various broadcast streams on various broadcast channels.

6. The radio receiver of claim 1, the memory further interoperable with the processor to:

allow a user to choose the selected broadcast stream based on an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the radio receiver.

7. The radio receiver of claim 1, the memory further interoperable with the processor to:

allow a user to choose the selected broadcast stream from a list of available broadcast streams within a geographic area.

8. A method comprising:

identifying a selected broadcast stream;

identifying a preferred broadcast channel;

determining if the selected broadcast stream is available on a first available broadcast channel, the first available broadcast channel is one of a plurality of available broadcast channels;

in response to a determination that the selected broadcast stream is not available on the first available broadcast channel searching, in a succession according to an order of priority, availability data from a database to determine whether a broadcast channel broadcasting the selected broadcasting stream is available; and

in response to the search indicating that there is no broadcast channel broadcasting the selected broadcasting stream, attempting to receive an available alternate broadcast stream having content matching a user preference.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising:

selecting the alternate broadcast stream from the plurality of broadcast streams based on a user preferred genre.

10. The method of claim 8, comprising:

determining whether the selected broadcast stream is available on one of the plurality of available broadcast channels based on electronic program guide data.

11. The method of claim 8, the plurality of available broadcast channels comprises at least one AM channel, at least one FM channel, at least one HD channel, at least one IP channel, at least one ST channel, and at least one CS channel.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the selected broadcast stream is a preset broadcast stream.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

storing availability data associated with various broadcast streams on various broadcast channels.

14. A device comprising:

a receiver adaptable for receiving a plurality of broadcast streams over a plurality of broadcast channels,

the receiver further adaptable for;

determining if a selected broadcast stream is available on a first broadcast channel,

if the selected broadcast stream is not available on the first broadcast channel, search availability data from a database, beginning with the preferred broadcast channel and continuing searching through a succession of broadcast channels according to an order of priority to determine whether a broadcast channel broadcasting the selected broadcasting stream is available; and

in response to a determination indicating that there is no broadcast channel broadcasting the selected broadcasting stream, attempting to receive an available alternate broadcast stream having content matching at least one user preference.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the at least one user preference includes searching for an alternate broadcast stream on the first broadcast channel.

16. The device of claim 14, wherein the at least one user preference includes selecting the alternate broadcast stream from the plurality of broadcast streams based on preference information indicating a preferred media genre.

17. The device of claim 14, the receiver further adaptable for establishing the order of priority based, at least in part, on a user input.

18. The device of claim 14, the receiver further adaptable for determining whether the selected broadcast stream is available on one of the first broadcast channel and the succession of available broadcast channels based on electronic program guide data.

19. The device of claim 14, the plurality of broadcast channels comprises at least one AM channel, at least one FM channel, at least one HD channel, at least one IP channel, at least one ST channel, and at least one CS channel.