Abstract:
A digital RF receiver and method for providing regional data to a user acquired from a large geographic data broadcast. The RF receiver receives an RF signal containing a stream of broadcast data. The stream of broadcast data includes primary data and more geographically limited regional data. The receiver includes a device for selecting a user specific region, and a decoder for acquiring the regional data. The receiver further includes a data processor for processing the regional data and the selected user specific region to obtain regional data designated for the user specific region, and an output for outputting the regional data pertaining to the selected user specific region.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
         [0001]    The present invention generally relates to radio frequency (RF) receivers and, more particularly, to an RF receiver and method of providing geographic region specific data to a user.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Automotive vehicles are commonly equipped with audio radios for receiving broadcast radio frequency (RF) signals, processing the RF signals, and broadcasting audio information to passengers in the vehicle. More recently, satellite digital audio radio (SDAR) services have become available that offer digital radio service covering a large geographic area, such as North America. Currently, a couple of satellite based digital audio radio services are available in North America, which generally employ either geo-stationary orbit satellites or highly elliptical orbit satellites that receive uplinked programming which, in turn, is rebroadcast directly to digital radios in vehicles on the ground that subscribe to the service. Each vehicle subscribing to the digital service generally includes a digital radio having a receiver and one or more antennas for receiving the digital broadcast.  
           [0003]    The radio receivers are programmed to receive and decode the digital data signals, which typically include many channels of digital audio. In addition to broadcasting the encoded digital quality audio signals, the satellite based digital audio radio service may also transmit data that may be used for various applications. The broadcast signal may also include other information for reasons such as advertising, informing the driver of warranty issues, providing information about the broadcast audio information, and providing news, sports, and entertainment broadcasting. Accordingly, the digital broadcast may be employed for any of a number of satellite audio radio, satellite television, satellite Internet, and various other consumer services.  
           [0004]    In current satellite based digital audio radio services, the same data stream is generally broadcast to all users of the service over a large geographic area covering multiple cities, states and countries. With the adoption of the consumer services broadcast, the ability to acquire local regional information such as local news, weather, traffic information and other local or regional information is generally not available. With large coverage services, the transmission of regional information is impractical because of the large number of possible regions within the broadcast coverage area and the lack of interest for users to hear or otherwise receive regional information for geographic regions outside of their own region of interest.  
           [0005]    Accordingly, it is therefore desirable to provide for an RF receiver that can receive primary data designated for a broad geographic coverage region and also provide more geographically limited regional data to a user. In particular, it is desirable to provide for a radio receiver that may receive local information such as local news, weather, and traffic information that is specific to the end user&#39;s region of interest.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a digital RF receiver and method are provided for providing to a user regional data acquired from a data broadcast distributed over a large geographic area. The RF receiver includes an input for receiving an RF signal containing a stream of broadcast data. The stream of broadcast data includes primary data and regional data. The primary data is intended to be distributed over a broadcast area, and the regional data is specific to a select geographic region of the broadcast area. The receiver also includes a device for selecting a user specific region, and a decoder for acquiring the regional data from the stream of broadcast data. The receiver further includes a data processor for processing the regional data and the selected user specific region to obtain regional data designated for the selected user specific region, and an output for outputting the regional data pertaining to the selected user specific region. The RF receiver is thereby able to acquire and output regional information broadcast over a large geographic area.  
           [0007]    These and other features, advantages and objects of the present invention will be further understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art by reference to the following specification, claims and appended drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    The present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a digital RF receiver for processing broadcast data containing primary and local geographic data according to the present invention;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a stream of broadcast data including both primary and periodic regional data;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 3 is a block diagram further illustrating the regional data within the stream of broadcast data;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 4 is a block diagram further illustrating regional data interleaved within the stream of broadcast data;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 5 is a block diagram further illustrating the regional data;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a user input routine for entering a user specific region according to one embodiment; and  
         [0015]    [0015]FIGS. 7A and 7B is a flow diagram illustrating a routine for acquiring regional information pertaining to the user selected region according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0016]    Referring to FIG. 1, a digital RF receiver  10  is illustrated for receiving RF signal broadcasts containing a stream of broadcast data. According to one embodiment, the RF signal broadcasts may be transmitted according to a satellite based digital audio radio service (SDAR) for providing any of a number of consumer services including radio, television, internet, and other data broadcast services. The RF signal broadcast may otherwise be transmitted via terrestrial or other satellite-based RF broadcast services. The digital RF receiver  10  is well suited to be employed on a vehicle that is mobile and may travel throughout multiple regions within a large geographic area.  
         [0017]    The digital RF receiver  10  has an input for receiving an RF signal containing a stream of broadcast data. The input may include an antenna  12  for receiving satellite or terrestrial based broadcast signals. The digital RF receiver  10  also communicates with a user interface  28  having one or more outputs, such as output  50 , and one or more inputs, such as input  52 . Output  50  may include an audio output device (e.g., speaker), a visual output device (e.g., display) or other output device(s). Input  52  may include a voice recognition input device, a keypad, or other user inputs.  
         [0018]    The digital RF receiver  10  is configured to receive and process digital data signals received by the input antenna  12 . The digital radio receiver  10  includes an RF tuner  14  receiving as an input the RF signals received by the antenna  12 . The RF tuner  14  selects a frequency bandwidth of digital audio and/or other data to pass RF signals within a tuned frequency bandwidth. The digital radio receiver  10  also includes a digital demodulator and decoder for extracting the time division multiplexed (TDM) digital data stream  40 . The digital data stream  40  includes primary data generally intended for broadcast and distribution over a wide geographic broadcast area and regional data that is intended to be a distributed in a more limited geographic size local region within the broadcast area. The regional data is processed as described herein in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0019]    The digital RF receiver  10  includes a regional data block de-interleaver channel decoder  18  that decodes the digital data stream  40  to determine and separate the primary data intended for wide geographic use from the regional data intended for regional use. The channel decoder  18  outputs primary data  42  shown in block  30  to an output  50  of the user interface  28 . The primary data  42  may then be presented to the user via any of a number of outputs such as audio and/or visual outputs. The channel decoder  18  also outputs regional records  44  containing the regional data that is specific to predetermined geographic regions. The regional records  44  are input to a controller  20  which processes the regional records as described herein.  
         [0020]    The controller  20  includes a microprocessor  22  and memory  24 . The microprocessor  22  may include a conventional microprocessor having the capability for processing algorithms and data as described herein. The memory  24  may include read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory, and other commercially available volatile and non-volatile memory devices. Stored within memory  24  and accessed/processed by microprocessor  22  is data storage  26 , region specific data selection user input routine  100 , and region specific data de-interleaver routine  110 .  
         [0021]    The region specific data selection user input routine  100  captures a user selected input of a specific region and stores the user selected input region in memory. The user input data may include any of a number of region identifiers including a name or identification (e.g., alphanumeric code) for a city, county, state, zip code, highway name/number, or other regional identifiers. The user input selection of the specific region may be achieved by use of a keypad input, a menu selection, voice recognition, or other available input devices. The region specific data de-interleaver routine  110  processes the regional data, obtains regional data for the user selected region, and compiles the regional data to form a completed message so that it may be output to a user as regional data  32 .  
         [0022]    A time serially transmitted stream of data  40  is illustrated in FIGS. 2-5 containing primary data service  42  and periodically transmitted regional data blocks  44 . The primary data service  42  generally contains data intended for distribution to users over a wide geographic broadcast area. The primary data service  42  may include various forms of data such as audio (e.g., music), video images, Internet data, or other consumer oriented data. The primary data service  42  is intended to cover a broad geographic region without containing significant amounts of regionally specific data.  
         [0023]    The regional data  44  is shown periodically transmitted blocks of data embedded within the primary data service stream  40 . The regional data blocks  44  may include various forms of data such as audio (e.g., music), video, Internet data, or other consumer oriented data that generally pertains to one or more geographic regions within the broadcast. By periodically transmitting the regional data blocks  44  between blocks of primary data service  42 , the regional data blocks  44  may be broadcast with little or no delay in the transmission of the primary data service  42 .  
         [0024]    As shown in FIG. 3, each regional data block  44  is divided into a series of regionally specific records  44 A- 44 N. The region specific records  44 A- 44 N each contains regional information relevant to a predetermined geographic region. The region specific records  44 A- 44 N contain an identifier identifying the predetermined region. Each of region records  44 A- 44 N could be of fixed length, or the regional data block  44  may contain a preamble identifying the number of subsequent records and the length of each regional record.  
         [0025]    Referring to FIG. 4, record  44 A pertaining to a specific geographic region are shown buffered and concatenated to form a complete regional message for its intended geographic region. That is region  1  which is provided in region specific record  44 A may include data acquired from a series of regional data blocks  44  which, over a period of time, is acquired and compiled to form the complete regional data message. It should be appreciated that each of regions  44 A- 44 N may likewise be buffered and concatenated to form separate complete messages for each geographic region of interest.  
         [0026]    Referring to FIG. 5, regional data message  44 A is further shown containing a regional identifier  48  and a data block  46 . The regional identifier  48  may be stored in a record preamble and may include any of a number of geographic region identifiers including a name or code (e.g., alphanumeric code) for a city, county, state, zip code, highway name/number, or other identifiers that associate the information in data block  46  with a specific geographic region. The regional identifier  48  is compared with the user selected input to determine if the user has selected this regional data.  
         [0027]    The region specific data selection user input routine  100  is shown in FIG. 6 for capturing and storing the user entered regional input into memory. Routine  100  begins at step  102  and checks for an input request from a user in decision step  104 . According to one embodiment, the input request from the user may include entry of a regional identifier by a user. If an input request has been received from a user, routine  100  proceeds to step  106  to capture the selected user input region and stores the selected region in memory. Otherwise, routine  100  continues to check for a region input request from the user.  
         [0028]    According to another embodiment, the user input may include an automatically generated local geographic region of interest. This may be accomplished by employing a position determining device, such as a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, to determine the current position of the receiver/user. Given the current position (e.g., latitude and longitude coordinates) of the receiver/user, a local regional coverage zone may be identified and used as the selected region input.  
         [0029]    Referring to FIGS. 7A and 7B, the region specific data de-interleaver routine  110  is shown beginning at step  112 . In step  114 , routine  110  obtains the current user selected region stored in memory. The current region stored in memory is generated by user input routine  100 . Proceeding to step  116 , the next regional record from the regional data block de-interleaver is obtained. The region identification associated with this regional record is parsed from the record preamble in step  118 . Next, in decision step  120 , routine  110  determines if the region record matches the stored region selected by the user and, if not, returns to step  116  to obtain the next record. If the region record matches the stored region selected by the user, routine  110  proceeds to step  122  to parse the record number from the preamble.  
         [0030]    Proceeding to decision step  124 , routine  110  determines if the record number is equal to one and, if not, returns to step  116  to obtain the next record. If the record number is equal to one, as determined in decision step  124 , routine  110  proceeds to step  126  to parse the total number of records in the message. The total number of records are then stored in memory in step  128 . The record data is also stored in memory in step  130 .  
         [0031]    Proceeding to step  132 , routine  110  obtains the next record from the regional data block de-interleaver. Routine  110  then parses the region from the record preamble in step  134 . In decision step  136 , routine  110  checks whether the region record matches the stored region selected by the user and, if not, returns to step  132  to obtain the next record. If the region record matches the stored region selected by the user, routine  110  proceeds to store the record data in memory in step  138 . Routine  110  then proceeds to decision step  140  to determine if the record data is the last record and, if not, returns back to step  132  to obtain the next record. If the record data is the last record, routine  110  proceeds to concatenate the records to form a complete regional message in step  142 . The regional message is then output to the user interface in step  144  so that it may be presented as an output to a user via an output device. Thereafter, routine  110  returns to the beginning by way of step  146 .  
         [0032]    Accordingly, the RF receiver of the present invention advantageously provides primary information intended for a wide area broadcast and the ability to provide more geographically limited regional data to a user. Thus, both wide area and local area data can be broadcast via a single service and processed by a single receiver. It should be appreciated that a user may utilize the present invention to receive local news, weather, traffic, and other information from a larger national broadcast without being subjected to regional data in regions outside of the region of interest.  
         [0033]    It will be understood by those who practice the invention and those skilled in the art, that various modifications and improvements may be made to the invention without departing from the spirit of the disclosed concept. The scope of protection afforded is to be determined by the claims and by the breadth of interpretation allowed by law.