FR3071117B1 - METHOD FOR PROVIDING INFORMATION RELATING TO AN AUDIO PROGRAM DIFFUSED BY A RADIO STATION - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for providing information relating to stations broadcasting an audio program on a very high frequency band and at least a first and a second data field by means of an RDS digital data transmission service, said method comprising a step of: - Reception (200) and decoding of a signal, - Determining (201) a first part, said fixed part, corresponding to a name of a radio station being listened to and a second part, called dynamic part, in the first field, - Check (202) if the second field has data and if not: - Display (203) the first part determined in a portion of the display dedicated to the name of the station of radio being listened to, - Display (204) the second part determined in a portion of the dedicated display information a program being listened to.

Description

The invention relates to sound reproduction apparatus, and more specifically to the provision to such devices of information relating to stations broadcasting audio programs on a band. very high frequencies in frequency modulation (or FM (Frequency Modulation)).

As known to those skilled in the art, some FM stations broadcast radio frequency modulation (FM) programs in a band of very high frequencies (or VHF), generally between about 87 MHz and about 108 MHz, and frequently called "FM band".

Some of these FM stations also broadcast information via a Radio Data System (or RDS) service. More precisely, the RDS service makes it possible to transmit, by waves, for the station in question, in particular: a PI (Program Indentification) field indicating a unique code assigned to each station, which enables the receivers to identify a station; - A PS (Program Service) field indicating the name of the station, consisting of eight alphanumeric characters and intended to be displayed on the receiver screen. Except in special cases, all stations offer this service. The RDS standard states that the eight characters must be fixed, and represent the name of the station; - RT (for Radio Text): for the broadcasting of texts via the RDS, the texts in question can then be displayed on demand on the screen of the receivers for example to transmit the references of the musical pieces in the course of diffusion.

Initially, the PS field was dedicated to the only name of the station, which allowed the display of the latter on a screen. But today this PS field almost always includes information at least partially defining the program being broadcast, so that it is this program information that is now displayed on the screen and no longer the name of the station. This field is thus diverted to pass dynamic information whereas, the RDS includes a service adapted to the dynamic information, the radiotext.

A solution has been proposed in the French patent application FR3034931 for determining a station name. Unfortunately nothing is provided to provide additional information when the radio text field is not filled. The invention aims in particular to improve the situation by providing the user with information on the program including if the radio text field is not filled.

Specifically, for this purpose, it proposes a method for providing information relating to stations each broadcasting an audio program on a very high frequency band and at least a first and a second data field by means of a transmission service. digital data called "Radio Data System", said method comprising a step of: Receiving and decoding a signal, said method being characterized in that it further comprises steps of: determining a first part, said part fixed, corresponding to a name of radio station being listened to and a second part, called dynamic part, in the first field, Check if the second field contains data and if not:

Display the first part determined in a portion of the display dedicated to the name of the radio station being listened to,

Display the second determined part in a portion of the dedicated display information a program being listened to. The invention makes it possible to display information on the program being listened to when the radio text field is not broadcast, by using information contained in the PS field. The PS field is pre-filtered by separating the characters indicating the name of the station from those indicating other information (usually about the program being listened to). The invention makes it possible to have a complete and clear display when the fields of the data are not completely informed. The invention also has the advantage of being also compatible with signals comprising fully and correctly informed fields.

Advantageously, said first field comprising a plurality of characters, the step of determining a first portion and a second portion in the first field comprises: determining a first portion of the plurality of characters, corresponding to a current radio station name; listening, Determine a second part of the plurality of characters, corresponding to the characters of the first field not present in the first part.

Advantageously, the received signal having a field indicating a station identifier, the step of determining a first part of the plurality of characters uses a correspondence table between a station name stored in correspondence of a received station identifier.

Advantageously, the method of providing information according to the invention also comprises a step of formatting the determined second part, prior to the step of displaying said second part.

Advantageously, the formatting step includes a step of determining an artist name and / or a song name by correlating the characters of the second part with a database of artists and predetermined songs. The invention also relates to a device for providing information relating to stations each broadcasting an audio program on a very high frequency band and at least a first and a second data field by means of a digital data transmission service. says

Radio Data System ", said device comprising a processing means configured to implement the method according to the invention. The invention also relates to a vehicle comprising a device according to the invention. Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear on examining the following detailed description, and the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 represents a vehicle equipped with an information supply device according to FIG. invention; FIG. 2 represents a logic diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of the method according to the invention.

The attached drawings may not only serve to complete the invention, but also contribute to its definition, if any. The object of the invention is in particular to propose a device DF intended to provide information relating to stations broadcasting audio programs on a band of very high frequencies (or VHF) and which have a Radio Data System (or RDS) service. ).

In what follows, it is considered, by way of non-limiting example, that the information supply device DF is part of a motor vehicle V, such as a car. But the invention is not limited to this application. It concerns any system, device or building that can use information relating to FM stations. Thus, the invention relates to any land vehicle, maritime (or fluvial), or air, sound reproduction devices (including radios and HiFi system tuners), facilities (including those of industrial type), and buildings (public or private).

A single vehicle V equipped with an information supply device DF according to the invention is schematically represented in the single figure. As illustrated, a device (information supply) DF, according to the invention, comprises storage means MS and processing means MT.

It will be noted that in the example shown in a nonlimiting manner in the single figure, the device DF is part of an audio reproducing apparatus AR. But this is not obligatory. It could indeed be part of other on-board electronic equipment, coupled to the audio reproducing apparatus AR, or constitute on-board electronic equipment. Therefore, the DF device can be realized in the form of software modules (or computer or "software"), or a combination of electronic circuits (or "hardware") and software modules.

Furthermore, in the example shown without limitation, the sound reproducing apparatus AR is a car radio integrated in the central handset CC which comprises a display screen EA and which is installed in a central portion of the dashboard PB of the vehicle V. But this is not mandatory. It could indeed be independent of this central handset CC and possibly coupled to the latter (CC) via an onboard communication network, possibly of the multiplexed type and allowing on-board electronic equipment, which are connected to it, to exchange information. and instructions.

In addition, it is considered in the following, by way of non-limiting example, that the textual information which is related to the operation of the sound reproduction apparatus AR or the FM programs that it reproduces in the vehicle V are displayed by the display screen EA of the CC central handset. But this is not obligatory. They could indeed be displayed by a screen of the sound reproducing apparatus AR, for example of the LCD type. The sound reproducing apparatus AR comprises in particular a tuner T responsible for receiving (via an antenna not shown) at least the audio programs (FM) and associated RDS messages which are transmitted by waves at very high frequencies and in modulation. frequency (FM) by stations sj (j = 1 to J, and J varying in time and space) when it is stalled (or tuned) to their transmission frequency.

The storage means MS of the device DF are arranged to store a correspondence table between station identifiers 1 (called "Program Idendifiers" (or PI) in the terminology of the RDS standard) and station names nsi (called "Program Service names" (or PSname) in the terminology of the RDS standard). These storage means MS may, for example, be in the form of a non-volatile memory, possibly of software type.

This look-up table includes digital data which defines station IDs 1 and station names nsi and which may be provided by the audio reproduction apparatus AR. This digital data can be obtained from a dedicated service, for example periodically, via a wireless communication module of the vehicle V, or transmitted by way of waves to the vehicle V by this dedicated service, for example periodically and possibly via a wireless communication network. Alternatively, they can be downloaded to a mobile communication equipment (mobile phone or tablet) through a dedicated application, then transferred to the sound reproduction device AR. In another variant, they may be stored on a removable memory element (such as for example a USB key or a memory card) which is temporarily coupled by the user to the device DF. Preferably, the sound reproducing apparatus AR is arranged to provide the device DF with each update of the correspondence table that it receives, so that its storage means MS update the correspondence table that they store for have up to date numerical data (is 1, nsi).

The processing means MT of the device DF are arranged to determine in the correspondence table (stored in the storage means MS) either a station name nsj stored in correspondence of a station identifier isj received in order to provide this station name. nsj determined, ie a station identifier isj stored in correspondence of a station name nsj received in order to provide this station identifier isj determined.

It will be understood that when the device DF is part of the sound reproducing apparatus AR, it provides at least one station name nsj or at least one station identifier isj to this sound reproducing apparatus AR, at the request of the latter AR comprising at least one corresponding isj station identifier or at least one corresponding nsj station name. It will be noted that this last request may itself result from a request or a selection made by a user by means of a man / machine interface, here embedded in the vehicle V. It will also be noted that this man / machine interface can here be part of the AR sound reproduction device or CC central handset, and it can be touch (or digital) and / or (electro) mechanical or voice.

It will also be noted that the sound reproducing apparatus AR may be arranged to provide the human / machine interface means with digital data which defines a station name nsj of a station sj whose program is being broadcast or whose frequency has been selected by a user for display on the EA screen.

The processing means MT of the device DF are also arranged to implement the method of providing information relating to stations broadcasting an audio program on a band of very high frequencies. With reference to FIG. 2, said method comprises a step 200 for receiving and decoding radio data.

Said method further comprises a step of determining 201 a first part, said fixed part, corresponding to a radio station name being listened to and a second part, said dynamic part, in the first field (PS ).

As explained above, according to a first embodiment, the method matches a received station identifier in a dedicated field, with a station name stored in a correspondence table. The name of the station thus identified makes it possible to determine which part of the first field corresponds to the name of the station and by deduction which part corresponds to the information on the current listening.

According to a second embodiment, the method implements filtering based on display durations. The part of the text being displayed longer is considered to be the fixed part, the other part is the one that is displayed for the shortest time as being the dynamic part.

The method also includes a verification step 202 for determining whether the second RT field includes data. The second is normally used to provide textual information about the program being listened to. It is the privileged source of information to generate a display. But as explained previously, this field RT is not always informed.

Also in the absence of information in this field, the method comprises the following steps: - Display 203 of the first part determined in a portion of the display dedicated to the name of the radio station being listened to, - Display 204 of the second part determined in a portion of the dedicated display information a program being listened to.

Optionally, the method of providing information according to the invention further comprises a step of formatting the second determined part, prior to the step of displaying said second part.

This formatting step comprises for example a step of determining an artist name and / or a song name by correlating the characters of the second part with a database of artists and predetermined songs.

By determining an artist and / or a song, it is then possible to filter any unnecessary characters (ie not carrying any useful information for a user) before their display.

Claims (7)

A method of providing information relating to stations each broadcasting an audio program on a very high frequency band and at least a first and a second data field by means of a digital data transmission service called "Radio Data". System ", said method comprising a step of: - Reception (200) and decoding of a signal, said method being characterized in that it further comprises steps of: - Determining (201) a first part, so-called fixed part, corresponding to a radio station name being listened to and a second part, called dynamic part, in the first field, - checking (202) whether the second field comprises data and in the negative: - Displaying (203) the first part determined in a portion of the display dedicated to the name of the radio station being listened to, - displaying (204) the second part determined in a portion of the display ge dedicated to information about a program being listened to. A method of providing information according to claim 1, characterized in that, said first field comprising a plurality of characters, the step of determining (201) a first portion and a second portion in the first field comprises: Determining a first part of the plurality of characters, corresponding to a radio station name being listened to, - determining a second part of the plurality of characters, corresponding to the characters of the first field not present in the first part. A method of providing information as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that, the received signal having a field indicating a station identifier, the step of determining a first portion of the plurality of characters uses a correspondence table between a station name stored in correspondence of a received station identifier. 4. A method of providing information according to one of claims 2 or 3, characterized in that it further comprises a formatting step of the second determined part, prior to the step of displaying said second part. 5. A method of providing information according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the formatting step comprises a step of determining an artist name and / or a song name by correlating the characters of the second part with a database of artists and predetermined songs. 6. A device for providing information relating to stations each broadcasting an audio program on a band of very high frequencies and at least a first and a second data field by means of a digital data transmission service called "Radio Data". System ", said device comprising a processing means configured to implement the method according to one of the preceding claims. 7. Vehicle characterized in that it comprises a device according to the preceding claim.