A LOW COST METHOD FOR RECEIVING BROADCAST CHANNELS WITH A CELLULAR TERMINAL

摘要

A wireless communication terminal (16) includes a broadcast signal frequency converter (40) that is communicatively coupled to the terminal's communication signal receiver (16) and is configured to use its communication receiver (16) to process received broadcast signals. In an exemplary embodiment, the converter (40) includes a frequency shifting circuit (54), e.g., a block frequency converter, that shifts broadcast signal bands into communication signal bands, such that received broadcast signals are shifted into a frequency range compatible with the communication receiver's signal path (16). Moreover, the significant digital domain signal processing capability of the communication receiver (16) can be used to receive broadcast television and/or radio signals, provide signal enhancements, and extract other types of information such as RDBS, IBOC, etc. Further, the terminal (10) can be configured to maintain communication network monitoring while receiving broadcast signals by switching the receiver (16) back to a communication network signal long enough to check for pages, etc.