Abstract:
A method for controlling operation of an integrated mobile communication and broadcast program reproduction device and of operating the device includes monitoring an occurrence of a trigger event at the device; and upon occurrence of the trigger event, recording a broadcast program signal received by the device. An integrated mobile communication and broadcast program reproduction device has a trigger event monitor and a broadcast program recorder for recording a broadcast program when a trigger event occurs. A trigger event may be receipt of an incoming call, the making of an outgoing call, the identification of predetermined content in a received program and the start of a predetermined program. Different trigger events may be prioritized. Recorded material may be reproduced, with broadcast material being received being recorded whilst previously recorded material is reproduced.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0001]     This application relates to the fields of telephonic communication and broadcast communication.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     A mobile communication terminal device such as a cellular telephone for permitting mobile telephonic communication over a cellular communication network is well known. Portable reproduction devices such as a portable commercial radio broadcast receiver, a portable television broadcast receiver, and a playback device are also well known.  
         [0003]     The integration of mobile communication terminal devices and portable reproduction devices has received attention from inventors in the past, thereby to satisfy a user who is desirous of a unit which serves as both an integrated communication and broadcast program reproduction device.  
         [0004]     Integration of a mobile telephonic communication device and a portable broadcast program reproduction device to form an integrated mobile communication and broadcast program reproduction device (integrated device) may pose some inconvenience to a user.  
         [0005]     It may thus happen that a person is listening to or watching a radio program or a television program and the person desires to use the integrated device for telephonic communication, with the result that the person has to stop listening to or watching the program.  
         [0006]     Thus, the user may want to use the integrated device as a telephone whilst simultaneously recording a program that is being broadcast for later reproduction.  
         [0007]     Further, a user of the integrated device may be unaware that a program is being broadcast in which he is interested. In such case, it may be desirable for a user automatically to be notified that the program has commenced, or is about to commence, so that the user may reproduce the program by means of the integrated device, or the program may be automatically recorded.  
         [0008]     In addition, a user may want to monitor programs being broadcast to ascertain if any of them are of interest and then to reproduce or record the program. The user may also want to prioritize programs. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0009]     Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements and in which:  
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a schematic architecture of a communication system, of which an integrated communication and broadcast reproduction device, in accordance with an example embodiment, forms part.  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  shows a simplified functional block diagram of the integrated communication and broadcast reproduction device, in accordance with an example embodiment, forming part of the communication system in  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  shows, in more detail, a schematic functional block diagram of the integrated communication and broadcast reproduction device, in accordance with an example embodiment, of  FIG. 2 ;  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  shows a block flow diagram of method for controlling an integrated communication and broadcast program reproduction device, in accordance with an example method;  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  shows a functional block flow diagram of part of the method in  FIG. 4 ;  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  shows a functional block flow diagram of part of the method in  FIG. 4 ;  
         [0016]      FIG. 7  shows a functional block flow diagram of part of the method in  FIG. 4 ;  
         [0017]      FIG. 8  shows a functional block flow diagram of part of the in  FIG. 4 ;  
         [0018]      FIG. 9  shows a functional block flow diagram of part of the in  FIG. 4 ; and  
         [0019]      FIG. 10  shows a functional block flow diagram of part of the in  FIG. 4 .  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0020]     In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of an embodiment of the present invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.  
         [0021]     In the drawings, reference numeral  10  generally indicates a communication system, which includes a communication network  12 . The communication network  12 , in this example embodiment, is an essentially wireless cellular telephonic communication network based on the Global System of Mobile (GSM) communication standard, Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA) standard, or the like. However, any mobile communication technology, including Third Generation (3G), and further developed mobile communication technologies can be employed in other embodiments of the invention.  
         [0022]     The communication system  10  also includes a cellular telephone  14  which is able to receive and make telephone calls via the network  12 . The telephone  14  also has a broadcast receiver arrangement which includes broadcast reception equipment whereby broadcast programs can be reproduced on the cellular telephone  14  for enjoyment of the user.  
         [0023]     The system  10  further includes radio broadcasters  16 ,  18 . In this example they are respectively a commercial radio broadcaster  16  and a commercial television broadcaster  18 . It will be appreciated by a person ordinarily skilled in the art that broadcasters  16 ,  18  can deploy any broadcasting technology, including analog and/or digital broadcasting technologies with, the broadcast receiver arrangement of the cellular telephone  14  having equivalent technology. Accordingly, the invention is in no way limited to any specific broadcasting technology even though reference may be made to a specific broadcasting technology elsewhere in the description of example embodiments.  
         [0024]     The system  10  includes further a geostationary satellite  15  for broadcasting programs such as commercial television programs and movies, the cellular telephone  14  also being capable of receiving and reproducing these programs.  
         [0025]     It is known for a mobile communication terminal device, such as the cellular telephone  14 , to have an integrated broadcast program reception module for receiving broadcasts such as a radio program or a television program which are reproducible audible and/or visually, as the case may be, on the cellular telephone  14 . In such case, the cellular telephone  14  serves a dual purpose, on the one hand, the cellular telephone  14  is employed for telephonic communication, and on the other hand the cellular telephone  14  is employed for reproduction of the relevant broadcasts.  
         [0026]     Accordingly, from time-to-time, a user may want to use the cellular telephone  14  as a telephonic communication device when a radio or television program, which the user wants to listen to or watch, is being broadcast. Also, the user may be listening to or watching a program using the cellular telephone  14 , when an incoming telephone call is received. Further, a user may want to watch or listen to a particular radio or television program or a radio or television program having content of interest of the user, and a user would like to be alerted when said radio or television program is broadcast.  
         [0027]     Referring to  FIG. 2 , a simplified schematic functional block diagram of an integrated mobile communication and broadcast program reproduction device which is in the form of the cellular telephone  14 , is shown. The cellular telephone  14  includes a telephonic communication module  32  to establish a telephonic connection with the cellular communication network  12 . A broadcast receiver arrangement  34  also forms part of the cellular telephone  14  to receive a transmitted broadcast program signal from an associated broadcaster  16 ,  18 . The broadcast receiver arrangement  34  is configured for receiving a broadcast from one of an analog radio broadcast, a digital radio broadcast, an analog television broadcast, a digital television broadcast, an analog movie broadcast and a digital movie broadcast.  
         [0028]     The cellular telephone  14  also includes a recording module  36  to record at least a part of the received broadcast program signal in response to a trigger event, and a recording activating module  38  for activating the recording module  36  in response to the trigger event to record a predetermined broadcast program. As will appear from the further description below, a trigger event includes an incoming telephone call, an outgoing telephone call, identification of predetermined content in the received broadcast program signal and the provision of a programming start indicator which indicates that a predetermined program has commenced or is about to commence.  
         [0029]     The recording activating module  38  is, in one embodiment, responsive to a user of the device, as is described in more detail below. Further, the cellular telephone  14  includes a user selected criterion occurrence detecting module  40  for detecting the occurrence of a user selected criterion in the received broadcast program, the recording activating module  38  being automatically operable by the user selected criterion occurrence detecting module  40 .  
         [0030]     The cellular telephone  14  includes an incoming call detecting module  42  for detecting a trigger event in the form of an incoming telephone call. A pause button  44  is provided for the cellular telephone  14  to pause reproduction of a broadcast upon detecting an incoming or an outgoing telephone call. Similarly, a playback pause button  46  to pause and then playback the broadcast program in response to reception and termination of a telephone call respectively, is provided for the cellular telephone  14 .  
         [0031]     Moreover, the cellular telephone  14  includes a user selected criterion storage module  48  for storing a user selected criterion and a user selected criterion input module  50  for inputting the user selected criterion into the storage module  48 . Detection of the user selected criterion occurring in a broadcast program may define the trigger event. As is explained below, the user selected criterion is at least one word and the user selected criterion occurrence detecting module  40  includes a speech recognition module  52  for recognizing the presence of the at least one word in the broadcast program. In addition or instead, the trigger event may be derived from envelope information of a broadcast program signal.  
         [0032]     To this end, a user program selection storage module  54  forms part of the cellular telephone  14  for selecting a broadcast program to be recorded, which program details are employed for detecting the broadcast program and for activating the activating module  38 , detecting the broadcast program defining the trigger event. Program details of the selected program may include a start time, end time, date and channel, and the details are stored, in use, in the user program selection storage module  54 .  
         [0033]     The cellular telephone optionally includes also a user alerting module  56  for alerting a user that recording of a broadcast program has commenced.  
         [0034]     The cellular telephone  14  includes further a microcontroller unit  58 , and a user interfacing arrangement  60  for entering a user selected criterion into the cellular telephone  14 , and an optional peripheral interfacing module  66  for interfacing with peripheral devices, such as a removable digital storage device, and the like, the functions of which are explained in more detail below, as it relates to the methodology of the invention.  
         [0035]     The cellular telephone  14  may include also an onboard memory arrangement  62  which typically comprises program and data memory for storing a set of processor executable instructions  64 , which when executed by the microcontroller unit  58 , performs functions of the cellular telephone  14  in accordance with the methodology of the invention.  
         [0036]     Referring to  FIG. 3 , an example schematic functional block diagram of the cellular telephone  14  in  FIG. 2  is shown, in more detail. The telephonic communication module  32  includes a cellular telephonic communication interfacing arrangement  84  to establish a telephonic connection with the cellular communication network  12 . The broadcast receiver arrangement  34  includes, in this example embodiment, two broadcast receiving modules, namely a radio broadcast receiving module  72  comprising a FM/AM radio tuner  74  and a demodulator/de-multiplexer  76 , and a television broadcast receiving module  78  comprising a television tuner  80  and a decoder/de-multiplexer  82 . The cellular telephone  14  further includes a satellite interfacing module  70  for direct satellite communication from the satellite  15 . These receiving modules  70 ,  72 ,  78 , are configured for receiving digital- and/or analog broadcasts and their associated broadcast envelops of program information if available from the broadcasters  16 ,  18 . Thus, the broadcast receiver arrangement  34  is configured for receiving a broadcast from one of an analog radio broadcast, a digital radio broadcast, an analog television broadcast, a digital television broadcast, an analog movie broadcast and a digital movie broadcast. In an embodiment, multiple tuners of the same kind may be provided in the telephony device in order to enable monitoring and/or recording multiple channels at the same time. Thus, in an example embodiment, the cellular telephone  14  may tune in, monitor, and record multiple programs simultaneously.  
         [0037]     The recording module  36  optionally includes a removable memory writer/reader device  86  such as a Secure Digital (SD) memory drive for writing to and reading from a SD card. Instead, the memory writer/reader device  86  can be a Multimedia Memory Card (MMC) drive for receiving a MMC card. The recording module  36  also includes a buffer memory  90  which is defined by the onboard data memory  70 , for recording at least a part of the received broadcast program signal in response to a trigger event. It will however be appreciated that SD and MMC cards are merely examples and that any other removable media drive may be utilized.  
         [0038]     The peripheral interface module  66  includes a short range communication interface module  88  for example to permit Infrared and Bluetooth communication between the cellular telephone  14  and a personal computer for permitting a user to download a broadcast program recording to the personal computer from the cellular telephone  14 , if so desired. Further, the peripheral interface module  66  also includes a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface and port  92   
         [0039]     The Adaptive Speech Recognition (ASR) module  52  (see  FIG. 2 ) receives as its input an audio content, for recognising speech from the audio content, and for producing as its output a transcription of the recognised speech. The function of the ASRM as part of this example embodiment for activating the recording module  36  in response to the trigger event to record a predetermined broadcast program is described below.  
         [0040]     The user selected criterion storage module  48  includes a criteria database  94  for storing the user selected criterion. As is explained below, the user selected criterion is at least one word and the user selected criterion occurrence detecting module  40  includes the speech recognition module  52  for recognizing the presence of the at least one word in the broadcast. The user program selection storage module  54  includes a program storage database  96  for storing details of a selected broadcast program.  
         [0041]     The cellular telephone optionally includes also a user alerting module  56  for alerting a user that recording of a broadcast program has commenced.  
         [0042]     The microcontroller unit  58  includes a microprocessor comprising a digital baseband processor and an analog baseband processor, and associated controlling modules, herein after together referred to as the microcontroller unit  58  for ease of description.  
         [0043]     The onboard memory arrangement  62  includes a program memory  68  for storing a set of processor executable instructions  64  which, when executed by the microcontroller  58 , performs any one of the methodologies of the invention, and a data memory  70  for temporary and/or permanent storage of data. The data memory  70  includes a general data space  96 , and a data space defining the user criteria database  94 , an internal recording buffer  90 , and a predetermined- and alternative action database  98 , respectively for storing, general data  97 , user selected criteria  95 , media contents of a broadcast  91 , and a predetermined- or alternative action  99  which is to be performed by the cellular telephone  14  when a radio or television program in which a user is interested is identified.  
         [0044]     In conventional fashion, the user interface arrangement  60  includes a display in the form of a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen  100 , an alphanumeric keypad  102 , and an audible sound output device having two loudspeakers  104 . An audio amplification unit  106  forms part of the cellular telephone  14 , the loudspeakers  104  being electrically connected to the audio amplification unit  106 , operatively able also to output a stereo format audible sound.  
         [0045]     A power source and power management unit  108  forms part of the cellular telephone  14  for supplying regulated electrical power to electrical components of the cellular telephone  14 .  
         [0046]     It will be appreciated that the methodology is performed when the set of processor readable instructions  64 , stored on a data carrier, is executed by the microcontroller unit  58 . Execution of the set of instructions  64  thus forms applications, the functional steps of which are in accordance with any methodology described herein, which functional steps are described by way of example below.  
         [0047]     Broadly, in accordance with the methodology,  FIG. 4  shows a flow diagram, generally indicated by reference numeral  110 , for controlling operation of an integrated mobile communication and broadcast program reproduction device such as the cellular telephone  14 . The method includes monitoring, at block  112 , an occurrence of a trigger event at the device. Monitoring the occurrence of a trigger event includes monitoring a received broadcast program for an occurrence of a user selected criterion. In such case, the user selected criterion is a word and the occurrence of the word is detected using speech recognition techniques to detect the presence of the word in an audio component of the received broadcast program  
         [0048]     In addition, the broadcast program is identified by selecting a broadcast program to be recorded with a selection storage module, and storing details of the selected program for identifying the selected broadcast program, identification of the selected broadcast program defining the trigger event. The details of the selected program are selected from the group comprising a start time, end time, date and channel, and the details are stored, in use, in the user program selection storage module.  
         [0049]     Instead, a reproduction of the broadcast program on the cellular telephone may already be in progress, in which case, the trigger event can include detecting an incoming call or an outgoing call.  
         [0050]     The method further includes, upon detection of the trigger event, recording, at block  114 , a broadcast program received by the cellular telephone. In addition, other actions can be performed by the cellular telephone  14  upon detection of the trigger event, such as alerting a user of commencement of the broadcast program. Actions such as alerting a user and recording a broadcast program is hereinafter referred to as predetermined actions.  
         [0051]     Accordingly, the method  110  includes, identifying, at block  115 , an occurrence of a user selected criterion in a broadcast program, identifying, at block  116 , a predetermined action associated with the user selected criteria, and performing, at block  117 , the predetermined action associated with the user selected criteria when the broadcast program which meets the user selected criteria is identified.  
         [0052]     The method includes populating the user criteria database  94  with a user selected criterion  95  by entering the user criterion into the cellular telephone  14 . Two types of user selected criteria  95  can be entered into the user criteria database  94 , namely keywords and program entries. Accordingly, with reference to  FIG. 6 , the user selects, at block  118 , a function on the cellular telephone  14 , which prompts, at block  120 , the user either to select a keyword option, or a program entry option, the keyword option permitting a user to enter keywords which are used to identify a radio or television program in which the user is interested, and the program entry option permitting a user to enter a broadcast channel and a scheduled starting time of a radio or television program in which the user is interested.  
         [0053]     If a user selects, at block  120 , the program entry option, then branch  120 . 1  is followed, and a program entry application is executed, at block  122 , on the cellular telephone  14 , which prompts, at block  124 , the user to select between a program information retrieve option for accessing over the Internet program information, such as broadcasting channels and program broadcast schedules, or a program information enter option for entering a broadcast channel and scheduled program starting time in the case of the user already knowing these program information.  
         [0054]     If a user selects the retrieve program information option, at block  124 , then branch  124 . 1  is followed, and a broadcast information retrieving application executes, at block  126 , which prompts, at block  128 , the user to select a source of broadcast information from which a user desires to retrieve broadcast program information. In this example embodiment, the user is prompted, at block  128 , to select a broadcast envelope option, the broadcast envelope including broadcast program information which is broadcast and readily available for broadcast information program retrieval, or to select a broadcast database option for retrieving program information from a broadcast database, which database is accessible over the Internet, if the telephone  14  is Internet enabled. If a user selects, at block  128 , the broadcast envelope option, then the associated broadcast reception module, radio or television broadcast reception module  72 ,  78 , as the case may be, receives the broadcast envelope of program information, and the microcontroller  58  retrieves the program information from the received broadcast envelope, renders it into a readable text format which is displayed, at block  130 , on the LCD  102 , so that a user can browse through the broadcast program information. The broadcast program information which is retrieved from the broadcast envelope typically includes program titles, program schedule starting times, and program content descriptions of the respective programs which are still to follow.  
         [0055]     A user then browses through the displayed broadcast information using the keypad  100  and selects a broadcast program in which the user is interested. On selection of the broadcast program, the selected broadcast channel and program starting time is passed, at block  132 , as a program entry  95  to the user criteria database  94  operable for the processing arrangement automatically to identify the broadcast program in which the user is interested.  
         [0056]     For example, with an Internet enabled telephone  14 , if a user selects, at block  128 , the broadcast database option, then branch  128 . 2  is followed, and a connection over the data communication network  12  (e.g., by way of GPRS) is established, at block  138 , between the cellular telephone  14  and a broadcast program database  17 ,  19 . The user enters, at block  140 , a WAP page address of the broadcast program database, so that the broadcast program information for the specific broadcaster is retrieved from the broadcast program database  17 ,  19 , and displayed on the LCD  102 . Similarly as above, the user scrolls or browses through the displayed broadcast program information using the keypad  100  and selects a broadcast program in which the user is interested. On selection of the broadcast program, the broadcast channel and scheduled program starting time is passed, at block  132 , as a program entry  95  to the user criteria database  94  operable for the microcontroller unit  58  to identify the broadcast program in which the user is interested.  
         [0057]     Instead, if a user selects the enter program information option, at block  124 , then branch  124 . 2  is followed, and a user is prompted, at block  136 , to enter the broadcast channel and the scheduled program starting time information, which in turn, is passed, at block  134 , as a program entry  95  to the user criteria database  94  operable for the processing arrangement  32  to identify the broadcast program in which the user is interested.  
         [0058]     If a user, at block  120 , selects the keyword option, then branch  120 . 2  is followed, and a keyword setup application executes, at block  142 , which prompts, at block  144 , a user to select between an add keyword option and an edit keyword option. If a user selects the add keyword option, at block  144 , then branch  144 . 1  is followed, and a user enters, at block  146 , a keyword which relates to an interest of the user with the keypad  100  into the cellular telephone  14 . The keyword is in the form of an alpha- or alphanumeric text string which is descriptive of an interest of the user. “Keyword” is meant to include singular words and word phrases. For example, the user enters the word “baseball” which is a sport in which the user is interested. The keyword is then passed, at block  134 , to the user criteria database  94  operable for the microcontroller unit  58  automatically to identify a broadcast program in which the user is interested, by monitoring broadcasts as is explained hereunder.  
         [0059]     If a user selects the edit keyword option, at block  144 , then branch  144 . 2  is followed, and the keywords  95  which are stored on the user criteria database  94  is retrieved, at block  148 , and displayed on the LCD  102 . The user then uses the keypad  100  to alter or delete, at block  150 , the keywords  95  previously stored on the user criteria database  94 , after completion of which the alterations is passed, at block  134 , to the user criteria database  94  operable for the microcontroller unit  58  to identify a broadcast program in which the user is interested, by monitoring broadcast programs as is explained hereunder.  
         [0060]     Referring to  FIG. 7 , identifying a predetermined action associated with the user selected criteria, at block  116  of  FIG. 5 , includes populating a predetermined action database  98  with at least one predetermined action  99 , which predetermined action  99  is to be performed when the broadcast program in which the user is interested is identified. The predetermined action database may be populated by executing, at block  152 , a database population application, after which a user is prompted, at block  154 , to select between a action setup option for selecting one or more actions from a list of predetermined actions which is to be performed when the program of interest to the user is identified, and a priority setup option for prioritising the user criteria selectively to perform the predetermined actions associated with keywords having a higher priority, rather than the predetermined actions pertaining to keywords having a lower priority.  
         [0061]     If a user selects the action setup option, then branch  154 . 1  is followed and the user criteria  95  (keyword and program entry) which are available on the user criteria database  94  is retrieved, at block  156 , by the microcontroller  58  and displayed on the LCD  102  of the cellular telephone  14 , at block  158 , so that a user can browse with the keypad  102  through the stored user criteria.  
         [0062]     To this end, the user criteria  95  includes the keywords which are to be used for automatically identifying a radio or television program in which the user is interested, and the program entries comprising their respective program channels and the scheduled starting times. A user selects, at block  160 , a keyword or a program entry, on selection of which the user is prompted, at block  162 , with a list of predetermined actions which is displayed on the LCD  102 . In this embodiment of the invention, the list of predetermined actions may comprise: i) alert user of identified broadcast, which when selected merely alerts the user of said identified broadcast and waits for the user to take any further action; ii) alert user and record, which when selected alerts the user of said identified broadcast and automatically starts recording the identified broadcast; and iii) alert user and reproduce, which when selected alerts the user and automatically starts reproducing the identified broadcast program on the cellular telephone  14 . As is explained hereunder, alternative predetermined actions are also performed in association with keyword and program entries  95 .  
         [0063]     A user selects, at block  164 , a particular action  99  from the list of predetermined actions, which particular action  99  is then associated with the selected keyword or program entry  95 , as the case may be, and the predetermined action database is updated, at block  166 , with the particular predetermined action  99 , so that when the user criteria  95  is met, e.g. when a radio or television program of interest to the user is identified, the microcontroller  58  can query the predetermined action database  98  to determine which action is to be performed in association with the relevant keyword or program entry  95 .  
         [0064]     Instead, if a user selects, at block  154 , the priority setup option, then branch  190 . 2  is followed, and the user selected criteria  95  which is stored on the user criteria database  94  is retrieved, at block  170 , and displayed, at block  172 , on the LCD  102 , so that the user can browse through it with the keypad  100 . A user selects, at block  176 , a keyword or program entry, on selection of which a list of priority values is displayed, at block  178 , on the LCD  102 . In this example embodiment, the list of priority values includes two priority values, indicated with the numerals “ 1 ” and “ 2 ” respectively, one being the highest priority, and two being the lowest priority. It will be appreciated that more priority values than two can be employed, however, for easy of illustration, only two priority settings are used in this embodiment.  
         [0065]     For example, the entered user criteria  95  may comprise the keyword “baseball”, and the entered program entry, TV channel 3, 16:00, which is a broadcast program about “history of man”. A user is interested in topics, “baseball” and “history of man”, but, the user prefers “baseball” over “history of man”. Thus, in the instance when the broadcast program on TV channel 3 starts at 16:00, and the cellular telephone  14  automatically detects another broadcast program which relates to “baseball”, then a user would prefer rather to reproduce the “baseball” program than the “history of man” program. Accordingly, the user sets the keyword “baseball” to a priority “1”, and the program entry for “history of man” to priority “2”. Thus, should the scenario occur where two broadcasts of interest to the user are broadcast and identified in overlapping times slots, then the priority setting determines which predetermined action is to be performed, in this case, the predetermined action associated with the baseball program is performed, as is has associated with it the higher priority. It will however be appreciated that in other embodiments more than one broadcast program may be recorded simultaneously using multiple tuners.  
         [0066]     A user selects and sets, at block  180 , a priority of the selected keywords or program entry  95 , which priority is then associated with the selected keyword or program entry  95 , as the case may be, and the user criteria database  94  is updated, at block  182 , with the set priority, so that when the broadcast of interest to the user is detected or identified, the microcontroller unit  58  can query the criteria database  94  to determine a priority of the keyword or the program entry  95 .  
         [0067]     After completion of the action setup and priority setup as explained above, the cellular telephone  14  is activated to monitor the broadcasts so that the predetermined actions can be taken when a broadcast which is of interest to the user is automatically identified.  
         [0068]      FIG. 8  shows a flow diagram of performing the predetermined action, at block  117  of  FIG. 5 , when the broadcasts (radio or television program) in which the user is interested are identified.  
         [0069]     Keeping in mind that two types of user selected criteria  95 , namely a keyword and a program entry, are stored on the user criteria database  94 , it will be appreciated that different procedures, or embodiments in accordance with the methodologies, are employed for utilising the two types of user selected criteria  95  to identify a broadcast program in which the user is interested. Thus, at block  192 , a broadcast monitoring application executes on the cellular telephone  14 , for determining, at block  194 , the types of user criteria  95  which are stored on the criteria database  94  to initiate or execute associated procedures.  
         [0070]     If a program entry is detected, at block  194 , as one type of user selected criteria  95  which is available on the user criteria database  94 , then branch  194 . 1  is followed, and the program entry, in particular the broadcast channel and the scheduled program starting time, are retrieved, at block  196 , by the microcontroller  58  from the user criteria database  94 , and temporarily stored in the general data memory  96  for use with an interrupt handle which sets a broadcast active trigger, at block  198 , as soon as the scheduled program starting time is met.  
         [0071]     If a keyword is detected as available on the user criteria database  94 , at block  194 , then branch  194 . 2  may be followed, and the microcontroller  58  controls the tuner modules  72 ,  78  sequentially to scan, at block  200 , through available broadcast channels. The microcontroller  58  controls the tuner modules  72 ,  78  in such a way that it stays for a predetermined period of time tuned to one channel, and then jumps to a next channel. During its stay at one channel, a portion of the radio or television program is captured and temporarily stored, at block  204 , on, for example, the internal recording buffer  90 .  
         [0072]     An audio content of the temporarily stored program is then retrieved, at block  206 , form the temporarily stored program portion, and may be passed to the ASR module, which in turn, performs, at block  208 , speech recognition on the audio content and transcribes the speech into text related data which is also temporarily stored in the data memory  70 . Further, program information from the broadcast envelope of the program is retrieved, at block  210 , and temporarily stored in the data memory  51 . It will be appreciated that if a selected keyword is stored in the audio domain then ASR functionality may not be required.  
         [0073]     At block  212 , the keywords are compared to the temporarily stored speech content and program information, to determine, at block  214 , whether or not any of the retrieved speech and program information matches any of the keywords in the user criteria database  94 .  
         [0074]     If a match is not found, then branch  214 . 1  is followed and the microcontroller  58  switches, at block  216 , the broadcast tuner modules  72  or  78  to another channel and the scanning process starts again, at block  206 .  
         [0075]     Instead, if a keyword match is found, at block  214 , then branch  214 . 2  is followed, to block  198  at which the broadcast identified trigger is activated.  
         [0076]     At this stage, when the broadcast identified trigger is set, at block  198 , either by way of a program entry time match or a keyword match, and the predetermined action which is associated with the match is to be performed, the microcontroller  58  interrogates the predetermined action database  98 , at block  217 , to determine the particular predetermined action  99  which is associated with the keywords or program entry  95 , as the case may be, with which a match was found.  
         [0077]     In this example embodiment, any one of three example predetermined actions can be associated with the keyword with which a match was found, namely: i) alert the user of the identified broadcast, which when selected merely alerts the user of said identified broadcast and waits for the user to take any further action; ii) alert the user and record, which when selected alerts the user of said identified broadcast and automatically starts recording the identified broadcast; and iii) alert the user and reproduce, which when selected alerts the user and automatically starts reproducing the identified broadcast program on the cellular telephone  14 .  
         [0078]     In  FIG. 9 , if the particular predetermined action is identified, at block  218 , as “alert user”, then branch  218 . 1  is followed and the user is alerted, at block  220 , that the radio or television program has been identified. The user is alerted by, for example, sounding an audible alarm and/or displaying a soft button, such as a pause or pause/playback button, on the LCD screen  102 .  
         [0079]     Otherwise, if the particular predetermined action is identified, at block  218 , as “alert user and reproduce”, then branch  218 . 2  is followed to determine, at block  220 , whether or not the modules, such as the LCD screen  102  and loudspeakers  104 , are free (not in use) for reproduction of the identified radio or television program on the cellular telephone  14 . If the relevant modules are available for reproduction of the radio or television program, then branch  220 . 1  is followed to alert, at block  224 , the user of the identified radio or television program, and, the radio or television program is automatically reproduced, at block  226 , on the cellular telephone. Instead, if it is determined, at block  220 , that the relevant reproduction modules are in use, then an alternative predetermined action is performed. In this example, the alternative action is to record the identified radio or television program, thus, availability of the recording arrangement is determined, at block  228 . In this example embodiment, the recording arrangement includes the SD drive and SD card or the internal buffer, thus either of them is used to record the identified radio or television program. If either of the SD drive or the internal buffer is available, then the user is alerted, at block  230 , and recording commences, at block  232 , of the identified radio or television program. At block  228 , if the recording arrangement is not available for recording, the user is alerted, at block  234 , of the identified radio, or television program.  
         [0080]     If, at block  218 , the predetermined action is identified as “alert and record”, then branch  218 . 3  is followed, and, similarly as above, it is determined at block  228 , whether or not the recording arrangement is available for recording the identified radio or television program. If either of the SD drive  102  or the internal buffer  90  is available, then the user is alerted, at block  230 , and recording commences, at block  232 , of the identified radio or television program. At block  228 , if the recording arrangement is not available for recording, the user is alerted, at block  234 , of the identified radio, or television program.  
         [0081]     Further, a scenario may occur that a user needs to perform a function with the cellular telephone  14 , such as requesting or receiving a telephone call, or executing an available application on the cellular telephone  14 , such as consulting a diary application, in which case, conveniently, a user would wish temporarily to interrupt the radio or television program which is being reproduced on the cellular telephone  14 , and to resume reproduction thereof later, without missing the portion of the radio or telephone program which was broadcast during the interruption. Accordingly, in accordance with the methodology, with reference to  FIG. 10 , the cellular telephone  14 , while reproducing a radio or telephone program, detects, at block  240 , a trigger event in the form of an incoming or outgoing call, and receives an interruption request from the user by setting up a playback/pause soft button, at block  241 . The user depresses the pause button, and the reproduction of the radio or television program on the cellular telephone  14  terminates temporarily and recording or buffering of the relevant program commences, at block  242 .  
         [0082]     After termination of the relevant application or telephone call, a user selects, at block  244 , either to resume reproduction of the radio or television program in real time, or to resume reproduction in delayed time. If a user selects the delayed time option, then branch  244 . 1  is followed, and the recorded portion  91  of the program is played back from the point when the reproduction was interrupted by retrieving the recorded portion  91  from buffer  90 , while the remaining broadcast is continuously buffered or recorded, so that, in effect, a delayed reproduction of the radio or television program is performed on the cellular telephone  14 . Instead, if a user selects the resume real-time option, then the recording is terminated, at block  248 , and reproduction commences in real time, in which case a user can later retrieve the recorded program portion  91  from the recording memory  90 , if so desired.  
         [0083]     Although example embodiments have been described with reference to specific example embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.