Digital radio receiver system and method

摘要

Provided is a digital radio receiver system and method for switching from receiving a first broadcast service to an alternative broadcast service. Also provided is a digital radio receiver system and method for scanning for broadcast services in a broadcast signal to generate an alternative broadcast service list for use in controlling the digital radio receiver system. A digital radio receiver utilizes spectrum awareness data, which includes data defining one or more frequencies at which broadcast services may be receivable, in order to faster selection of an alternative broadcast service from an alternative broadcast service list containing data relating to alternative broadcast services that are linked by a relationship to other broadcast services. By using the spectrum awareness data, only entries that are considered valid (i.e. entries that are determined to be alternative services that the receiver may receive) are retrieved from the alternative broadcast service list, which reduces the time taken for a receiver to switch to an alternative broadcast service from an initially received broadcast service.

主权项

1. A method of switching from receiving a first broadcast service to an alternative broadcast service in a digital radio receiver system, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving, demodulating and decoding a first broadcast signal to output a first broadcast service, the first broadcast signal comprising a plurality of frames, each frame comprising a plurality of time-interleaved channels, each channel comprising broadcast data associated with one or more broadcast services; detecting a level of deterioration in the first broadcast service that is greater than a threshold level of deterioration; selecting an alternative broadcast service from an alternative broadcast service list based on spectrum awareness data, the spectrum awareness data defines one or more frequencies at which the first broadcast signal is receivable by a receiver, the one or more frequencies of the spectrum awareness data being a filtered subset of the plurality of frequencies at which the first broadcast signal is receivable, and the alternative broadcast service list comprising data defining one or more broadcast services that are linked by a relationship to the first broadcast service; controlling a tuner and/or demodulator and/or decoder of a digital radio receiver to switch to and receive, demodulate and decode the selected alternative broadcast service; and updating the spectrum awareness data during reception of the first broadcast signal, without an interruption to the received broadcast data, by:
receiving, demodulating and decoding a first frame in the first broadcast signal at an initial frequency;tuning the tuner to tune away from the initial frequency at which the first broadcast signal is being received to a different frequency, the different frequency being one of a plurality of frequencies at which the first broadcast signal is receivable;detecting the first broadcast signal at the different frequency;storing data corresponding with the detected first broadcast signal at the different frequency to update the spectrum awareness data; andtuning the tuner to tune back to the initial frequency and receiving, demodulating and decoding a second frame in the first broadcast signal, the first and second received frames being consecutive frames in the first received broadcast signal, wherein tuning the tuner to the different frequency, detecting the first broadcast signal at the different frequency, storing the data corresponding with the detected first broadcast signal at the different frequency, and tuning the tuner back to the initial frequency occurs during reception of a portion of the frame corresponding with broadcast data from unwanted broadcast services, such that there is no interruption to decoded desired broadcast data.