| Sirius XM Radio, Inc. Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
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| 20110118966 | Traffic data services without navigation systems - A non-navigation data system for providing traffic data service in a mobile environment can include a data decoder for decoding a digital data stream from a digital audio radio transmission source, location determining means (such as GPS or cellular location determining schemes) for determining a current location of a mobile receiver receiving the digital data stream, a display for displaying traffic data corresponding to the current location, and a plurality of static maps wherein the traffic data corresponding to the current location is overlaid at least over a portion of the static maps. | 05-19-2011 |
| 20110015856 | FUEL EQUIVALENCY FOR DATA SERVICES - A fuel information data service system is presented. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention a fuel information data service can include a controller operable to receive information regarding costs of various types of fuel, and to correlate such costs of fuel information to actual operating costs for a given vehicle, based on a known consumption efficiency for a plurality of types of fuel for that vehicle, to calculate a FuelEQ or fuel equivalency for each fuel offering. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention an exemplary system can further include a presentation device coupled to the controller where the controller is further operable to present such FuelEQ information expressed as a cost per distance traveled. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention a location finding module can be provided, and in addition to displaying various fuel costs and corresponding FuelEQ values, a fuel data system can also display distance and direction data for each available fueling station to a user. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention such a location finding system can send navigational directions to a selected fuel station based on a user selection. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention an exemplary system can alert a user when the vehicle is low on gas and has passed within a predetermined distance to a refueling station with a price lower than a threshold Fuel EQ value (value of cost per distance for fuel) set by the user. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention a navigation system can be used as a location finding module, to both determine distances and direction to a variety of local fueling or energy stations, as well as to calculate and display navigational directions to a selected fuel station in response to a user selection. | 01-20-2011 |
| 20100304663 | Time-varying indirect service authorization method and apparatus - Apparatus and methods for providing both commercial-free content and commercially sponsored content in a flexible manner to various subscriber classes of digital audio radio are presented. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, lower tier subscribers can, for example, sample commercial free content as experienced by higher tier subscribers by means of flexible channel authorization. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention new non-subscribers can be allowed to sample some of the commercial content (such as, when, for example, a default UPC is stored in the radio before shipment) before choosing to subscribe. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a digital audio radio (receiver) can include a controller operable to receive and store an Uplink Package Code (UPC) in the digital audio radio. The radio can be further operable to receive, for example, a broadcast Package Definition Message (PDM) that maps the stored UPC to a list of authorized channels (obtained via a broadcast Package Authorization List (PAL)) for that receiver. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a method of channel authorization for digital audio radios can include assigning an Uplink Package Code (UPC) to, and storing the UPC in, a digital audio radio and receiving a broadcast Package Definition Message (PDM) that maps the UPC to a list of authorized channels (from a Package Authorization List (PAL)). | 12-02-2010 |
| 20100106514 | Travel related services via SDARS - Systems and methods of for providing various services, such as parking services, flight services, and fuel services, to a user using a satellite digital audio radio system are provided. Each data service can be provided independently or in any combination to a user, and each can be independently subscribed to by a user, in various exemplary business models. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a parking data service, providing, for example, information on parking garages near a certain location and the availability of parking spaces in parking garages can be provided. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a flight data services, providing, for example, information such as near real-time updates to changes in arrival and departure statuses of one or more commercial airline flights. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a fuel data service, providing, for example, information on fueling stations and the prices and fuel types available at fueling stations, can be provided. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, such data services can be embedded in an SDARS data stream and made available to users on an SDARS receiver. | 04-29-2010 |
| 20100064199 | Efficient, programmable and scalable low density parity check decoder - In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, methods and apparatus allowing for an efficient design of an LDPC decoder suitable for a range of code-block sizes and bit-rates, which is also suitable for both ASIC and FPGA implementations, are provided. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the overhead associated with correction data sent along the transmission channel can be minimized. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, an LDPC decoder is suitable for both ASIC and FPGA implementations. Method and apparatus allowing for an efficient design of an LDPC decoder suitable for a range of code-block sizes and bit-rates are presented. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, such an LDPC decoder can be implemented in both ASIC and FPGA implementations. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention such an LDPC decoder can be optimized for either eIRA based H matrices or for general H matrices, as may be desirable. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, an H parity matrix can be constructed and/or manipulated to arrange the bit-node message “columns” to facilitate mapping to MPB “columns” and corresponding access via LUT pointer tables to minimize processing cycles so as to, for example: (i) minimize address conflicts within the same MPB that will take multiple access cycles to resolve; (ii) minimize splitting of bit-node messages across MPB “columns” that will take multiple access cycles to resolve; and (iii) balance the bit-node computations across all the MPB/LUT “columns” so that they will complete their computations at nearly the same time. | 03-11-2010 |
| 20100008289 | Method to Minimize Interference into Legacy SDARS Reception by Varying Overlay Modulation as a Function of Satellite Position - In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a degree of hierarchical modulation can be varied as a function of satellite position, which can be related to time of day, and where such hierarchical modulation can be a combination of phase and amplitude shifts. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as each satellite in a multiple satellite system broadcasting to North America moves towards a D-node or an A-node position, the offset angle of a phase-based hierarchical modulation scheme can be varied. Thus, in exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the lowest satellite position in the sky can have the lowest offset angle for overlay bits, which offset angle can, for example, progressively increase as the position of the satellite in the sky increases. At a satellite's highest point in the sky, the overlay offset angle can, for example, thus be at its maximum. To aid a receiver to receive such varying overlay modulated data, the value of a varying overlay offset angle (for each satellite) can be embedded in an Overlay Identification Marker (OIM) in the bit stream broadcast by that satellite. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention each satellite broadcast receiver can thus decode each satellite's signal, knowing its respective instantaneous overlay offset angle. The receiver can then use this information to appropriately correct MRC weightings (weighting more heavily the (higher lying) satellite with the higher degree of Layer 2 modulation) before it is MRC combined across various received signal streams. Similar methods can be implemented for other overlay modulation techniques, and the method can be extended to a broadcast system using N satellites, each having a varying degree of Layer 2 modulation. | 01-14-2010 |
| 20090323872 | Interface between a switched diversity antenna system and digital radio receiver - Methods and apparatus are presented for a digital radio receiver using antenna to receive a signal or signals using at least one other method of diversity. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, both switched antenna diversity and at least one other method of diversity can be utilized in a digital radio broadcast system. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention the timing of an antenna control signal in a receiver can be synchronized so that switchover to a different receiving antenna can occur between adjacent blocks of data being received from whichever of the other diversity sources is then, on average, providing the better reception. For digitally coded transmissions, a clock signal can be provided by a signal processor so as to trigger a diversity controller to switch at an optimum switching time, such as, for example, between groups or “blocks” of digitally encoded information, thus eliminating or minimizing disruption of a contiguous data stream. | 12-31-2009 |
| 20090285155 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING ADDITIONAL DATA OVER LEGACY SATELLITE DIGITAL AUDIO RADIO SIGNALS - Systems and methods for transmitting and receiving additional data, such as video data, over legacy satellite digital audio radio signals are provided. In exemplary embodiments, hierarchical modulation can be used to transmit secondary information over a legacy signal. For example, the Sirius Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (“SDARS”) system may use a second layer of modulation to transmit video data on top of its regular audio signal. In order to support such future services within the original system design, sometimes referred to herein as a “legacy” system, additional information bandwidth can be acquired, for example, by using hierarchical modulation to overlay data for such new services on top of the legacy transmission. In such a system, for example, overlay data can be transmitted by applying a programmable angular offset to legacy QPSK symbols, for forming a new constellation similar to 8PSK. | 11-19-2009 |
| 20090279418 | OVERLAY MODULATION OF COFDM USING PHASE AND AMPLITUDE OFFSET CARRIERS - Systems and methods are presented for transmitting additional data over preexisting differential COFDM signals by modulating existing data carriers with a phase and an amplitude offset. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, additional data capacity can be achieved for an COFDM signal which is completely backwards compatible with existing satellite broadcast communications systems. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention additional information can be overlayed on an existing signal as a combination of amplitude and phase offset from the original QPSK symbols, applied for each information bit of the overlay data. With two additional levels of modulation, a receiver can demodulate the information from each of the previous stages and combine the information into a suitable format for soft decoding. The first stage of demodulation will be recovery of overlay data from the amplitude modulated D8PSK. Because other amplitude variations due to multi-path are also expected, the data gathered from the FFT in the receiver must be equalized to the channel conditions. After channel equalization has been performed, soft overlay data can then be derived from the distance off the unit circle. In order to recover the phase modulated overlay data, the equalized symbols must first be differentially demodulated and corrected for any common phase error offset. After common phase removal, overlay phase information can be obtained. | 11-12-2009 |
| 20090245087 | Slow Speed Mute Resistance Via Selective COFDM Bin Loading - Systems and methods are presented for improving the ability to withstand slow speed mute via diversity transmission while avoiding loss in link level margin. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, systems and methods are presented for improving resistance to slow speed muting by employing transmit diversity where a second signal is not a replica of the original signal. The second signal can be generated, for example, by using only a COFDM FFT bin that contained the cluster sync bit while setting all other bins to zero. That is, only the spectral portion of interest of the COFDM signal need be utilized. In such exemplary embodiments, the same frequency and time delay offset can be used as in current systems and methods, except that the replica COFDM signal can, for example, consist of only one populated FFT bin. | 10-01-2009 |
| 20090172492 | Method and apparatus for interleaving low density parity check (LDPC) codes over mobile satellite channels - Systems, methods and apparatus are described to interleave LDPC coded data for reception over a mobile communications channel, such as, for example, a satellite channel. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a method for channel interleaving includes segmenting a large LDPC code block into smaller codewords, randomly shuffling the code segments of each codeword and then convolutionally interleaving the randomly shuffled code words. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, such random shuffling can guarantee that no two consecutive input code segments will be closer than a defined minimum number of code segments at the output of the shuffler. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, by keeping data in, for example, manageable sub-sections, accurate SNR estimations, which are needed for the best possible LDPC decoding performance, can be facilitated based on, for example, iterative bit decisions. | 07-02-2009 |
| 20090168809 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO JOINTLY SYNCHRONIZE A LEGACY SDARS SIGNAL WITH OVERLAY MODULATION - Methods and apparatus are presented for the joint synchronization of legacy signals with overlay modulation signals in a communications system utilizing a hierarchical modulation scheme. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a synchronization signal can be sent in each of the legacy and overlay bit streams, each using a different approach to frame synchronization, and the two synchronization signals can be used in a complementary manner to synchronize both bit streams. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention a legacy physical frame and an overlay physical frame can be aligned in time. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention a key synchronization signal in a legacy bit stream can be time distributed throughout a legacy transmission frame and can be utilized to assist in both the synchronization of such legacy bit stream and of an overlay bit stream. Additionally, in exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a key synchronization signal in an overlay bit stream can be sent in one fixed physical frame of an overlay transmission frame, and can be utilized to assist in the synchronization of such overlay bit stream as well as legacy data, in a manner that complements the use of the synchronization signal provided in the legacy bit stream. | 07-02-2009 |
| 20090161777 | Overlay Modulation Technique for COFDM Signals Based on Amplitude Offsets - Systems and methods are presented for transmitting additional data over preexisting differential COFDM signals by changing the amplitude of the legacy data symbols. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, additional data capacity can be achieved for a COFDM signal which is completely backwards compatible with existing legacy satellite broadcast communications systems. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, additional information can be overlaid on a legacy COFDM signal by applying an amplitude offset to the legacy symbols. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, special receiver processing can be implemented to extract this additional information, which can include performing channel equalization across frequency bins to isolate the amplitude modulated overlay signal. For example, at each FFT symbol time, average power across neighboring active data bins can be used to determine the localized power at the corresponding FFT bins, and a channel inversion can then, for example, be performed on the data bins to restore, as best as possible, the original transmitted symbol amplitude. | 06-25-2009 |
| 20090161025 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR FAST CHANNEL CHANGE BETWEEN LOGICAL CHANNELS WITHIN A TRANSPORT MULTIPLEX - A system, method and computer program product are provided for fast channel change between logical channels within a transport multiplex. By reducing the amount of time it takes to acquire and display a tuned channel, fast channel change can improve a viewer's experience. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a fast channel change system can simultaneously decode channel data for each channel in a transport multiplex, reconstruct all access units for each channel and send them out on their respective channel stream in the order that each access unit completes to a streamer, store and maintain a minimum amount of channel data in a buffer in each streamer, and output channel data from a streamer corresponding to a tuned channel to a media player. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention data can be input to a de-multiplexer and divided into separate video and audio streams prior to being input to the media player. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention can be utilized in various video applications, such as, for example, Sirius Satellite Radio's Backseat TV™ service. | 06-25-2009 |
