Over-the-air radio broadcast signal metadata

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10938494-B2
Application number	US-201715787397-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 18, 2017
Priority date	Apr 22, 2016
Publication date	Mar 2, 2021
Grant date	Mar 2, 2021

Abstract

Over-the-air radio broadcast signals are commonly used to deliver a variety of programming content (e.g., audio, etc.) to radio receiver systems. Supplemental data (e.g., metadata) may be provided to radio broadcast receiver systems, where such supplemental data is associated with the programming content delivered via the over-the-air radio broadcast signals. In exemplary embodiments described herein, a radio receiver system receives both (i) primary programming content via over-the-air radio broadcast transmission, and (ii) metadata related to the programming content via wireless Internet. This use of metadata provides a user with an enhanced experience regardless of the type of terrestrial broadcast signal that is received at the user's radio receiver system. Users receiving radio broadcast signals at a receiver system may view images, videos, multimedia displays, text, etc., that is related to the programming content received via the over-the-air radio broadcast signals.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A broadcast radio receiver system comprising:
an over-the-air radio broadcast hardware communication module to receive a terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal via a radio broadcast transmission transmitted over a radio broadcast channel, the terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal including a primary programming audio content;
a wireless internet protocol hardware communication module to receive a wireless internet protocol signal via a wireless internet communication medium transmitted over an internet protocol channel, the wireless internet protocol signal including metadata associated with the primary programming audio content of the terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal, the metadata including information describing the primary programming audio content;
a broadcast radio receiver display; and
a processor to: cause the broadcast radio receiver display to display at least a portion of the metadata based on the received terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal; detect a disruption of the terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal; and cause a copy of the primary programming audio content to be played through the audio system responsive to detecting the disruption, wherein the wireless internet protocol signal includes the copy of the primary programming audio content.

2. The broadcast radio receiver system of claim 1 , the processor further to select a portion of the metadata associated with the primary programming audio content, wherein displaying the portion of the metadata includes displaying the selected portion of the metadata on the broadcast radio receiver display.

3. The broadcast radio receiver system of claim 1 , further including an audio system, the processor further to cause the primary programming audio content to be played through the audio system, wherein the terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal includes the primary programming audio content.

4. The broadcast radio receiver system of claim 1 , wherein the metadata includes a set of static metadata.

5. The broadcast radio receiver system of claim 4 , wherein the set of static metadata includes at least one of a radio station call sign, a radio station name, and a radio station logo.

6. The broadcast radio receiver system of claim 1 , wherein the metadata includes a set of dynamic metadata.

7. The broadcast radio receiver system of claim 6 , wherein the set of dynamic metadata includes at least one of a song name, an artist name, and an album name.

8. A method for providing metadata associated with terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signals to a broadcast radio receiver system, the method comprising:
receiving a terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal at a radio broadcast receiver via a radio broadcast transmission transmitted over a radio broadcast channel, the terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal including a primary programming audio content, the metadata including information describing the primary programming audio content transmitting a metadata request to a station data device; the metadata request including identification of the radio broadcast channel; and;
receiving a wireless internet protocol signal at the radio broadcast receiver via a wireless internet communication medium transmitted over an internet protocol channel responsive to the metadata request, the wireless internet protocol signal including metadata associated with the primary programming audio content of the terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal; and
displaying at least a portion of the metadata based on the received terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein:
the radio broadcast receiver includes a radio display; and
displaying the portion of the metadata includes displaying the portion of the metadata on the radio display.

10. The method of claim 9 , further including selecting a portion of the metadata associated with the primary programming audio content, wherein displaying the portion of the metadata includes displaying the selected portion of the metadata on the radio display.

11. The method of claim 8 , further including playing a primary programming audio content through the radio broadcast receiver, wherein the terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal includes the primary programming audio content.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the station data includes at least one of a station data API service and a station data messaging service.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the metadata includes a set of static metadata.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the set of static metadata includes at least one of a radio station call sign, a radio station name, and a radio station logo.

15. The method of claim 8 , wherein the metadata includes a set of dynamic metadata.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the set of dynamic metadata includes at least one of a song name, an artist name, and an album name.

17. A method for providing metadata associated with terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signals to a broadcast radio receiver system, the method comprising: receiving a terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal at a radio broadcast receiver via a radio broadcast transmission transmitted over a radio broadcast channel, the terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal including a primary programming audio content, the metadata including information describing the primary programming audio content; receiving a wireless internet protocol signal at the radio broadcast receiver via a wireless internet communication medium transmitted over an Internet protocol channel, the wireless internet protocol signal including metadata associated with the primary programming audio content of the terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal; and displaying at least a portion of the metadata based on the received terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal; detecting a disruption of the terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal; and playing the digital streaming audio copy of the primary programming audio content through the radio broadcast receiver responsive to detecting the disruption, wherein the wireless internet protocol signal includes the digital streaming audio copy of the primary programming audio content.

18. The method of claim 17 , further including selecting a portion of the metadata associated with the primary programming audio content, wherein: the radio broadcast receiver includes a radio display; displaying the portion of the metadata includes displaying the portion of the metadata on the radio display.

19. The method of claim 17 , further including playing a primary programming audio content through the radio broadcast receiver, wherein the terrestrial over-the-air radio broadcast signal includes the primary programming audio content.

20. The method of claim 17 , further including transmitting a metadata request from the radio broadcast receiver to a station data service, the metadata request including an identification of the radio broadcast channel, wherein receiving the wireless internet protocol signal is responsive to transmitting the metadata request.

Assignees

• Ibiquity Digital Corp
• Ibiquily Digital Corp

Inventors

• Dillon Robert Michael
• Venezia Paul

Classifications

• H04H60/74 Primary

  using programme related information, e.g. title, composer or interpreter · CPC title

• H04H60/88

  which are wireless networks · CPC title

• H04H2201/40

  characterised in that additional data relating to the broadcast data are available via a different channel than the broadcast channel · CPC title

• H04H60/12

  wherein another information is substituted for the portion of broadcast information · CPC title

• H04H60/13

  Arrangements for device control affected by the broadcast information · CPC title