Patent ID: 6876839

Claim:
A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having thereon computer program code means, when said program is loaded, to make the computer execute, when supplied with at least tuning band and avoidance band data, a method of determining an appropriate intermediate frequency or intermediate frequency range for a radio frequency (r.f.) receiver in which a received modulated r.f. signal is mixed with a signal from a local oscillator at a different frequency to yield as one of the mixing products a signal at a desired intermediate frequency for subsequent processing, the method comprising the steps of: a) determining a tuning band of radio frequencies which the receiver is desired to receive; b) determining an avoidance band containing radio frequencies closed to external transmission and/or frequencies of sources of outside interference; c) identifying a plurality of spurious mechanisms by which the receiver either receives or transmits spurious signals and determining the frequencies of the spurious signals in relation to the intermediate frequency; and d) determining which intermediate frequencies result in spurious emissions to or responses from the avoidance band for any of the frequencies in the tuning band.