Patent ID: 7542746

Claim:
An RDS radio unit comprising: a radio tuner tunable to radio frequencies; a control unit capable of controlling the radio tuner and monitoring received signal strength on a frequency to which the radio tuner is tuned, storage means for receiving and storing a list of alternative frequencies; timer means capable of timing a number of operations; wherein the control unit is configured to perform a search for a better channel frequency than an original frequency with a program matching the original frequency only when a first time T 1 has elapsed since the occurrence of an alternative frequency update request or a detection of a received signal strength below a predetermined threshold, and the received signal strength has not regained an acceptable value during T 1 ; wherein the control unit is configured to perform the search during a second time T 2 by tuning the radio tuner through frequencies on the list of alternative frequencies, and if a matching program is found, the radio tuner stays on the found channel frequency, and if T 2 expires before a matching program is found, or if the end of the alternative frequencies list has been reached, the search through the alternative frequencies list is discontinued, and the control unit increments a counter to indicate the number of discontinued searches for alternative frequencies, the counter used to determine when to restart the search.