An apparatus comprises a digital input port configured to receive digital audio packets of main program service (MPS) audio; a modem operatively coupled to the digital port; an analog input port configured to receive an audio engineer society format (AES) audio signal that is a digitized version of the analog signal component of the frequency modulation (FM) hybrid radio signal; and an alignment unit configured to time-align the AES audio signal with the digital audio packets at the modem; wherein the modem is configured to generate the FM hybrid radio signal using the digital audio packets and the time-aligned AES audio signal.

A radio transmitter comprises transmitting circuitry and processing circuitry. The transmitting circuitry broadcasts a frequency modulation (FM) in-band on-channel (IBOC) radio signal, wherein the FM IBOC radio signal includes multiple subcarriers grouped into multiple frequency partitions. The processing circuitry is configured to receive input bits for transmitting; encode and puncture the input bits using forward error correction (FEC) encoding; distribute encoded input bits between a main encoded component and a backup encoded component, wherein encoded bits of the backup encoded component are delayed for a specified duration relative to encoded bits of the main encoded component; allocate the encoded input bits of the main and backup encoded components into frequency diverse sidebands of the FM IBOC radio signal; and modulate the encoded input bits for transmitting using the frequency diverse sidebands of the FM IBOC radio signal, wherein the modulation is a type of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).

A system for peak-to-average-power ratio (PAPR) reduction of a frequency shifted plurality of digital broadcast signals taking into account the combined signal peaks in order to transmit the signals more efficiently in a single broadcast transmission system. The PAPR algorithm takes into account a rotating constellation phase offset for the shifted signals corresponding to the amount of applied frequency shift. In the case of a dual sideband In-Band-On-Channel (IBOC) signal typically used in conjunction with an FM carrier in the center, the sidebands can be interleaved to create a new IBOC signal definition and take the place of the FM carrier for an all-digital transmission that is backward compatible with IBOC receivers allowing for a gradual migration to all digital broadcasting.

A method for optimising the transmission power of an FM radio broadcasting transmitter includes sampling a signal representative of the audio content to be broadcasted by the FM radio broadcasting transmitter; continuously calculating the constituent parameters of the representative signal from frequency, amplitude, dynamic range, temporal distribution, energy and power; continuously analysing the parameters by comparison with a model of psycho-acoustic data; generating a controlling signal for controlling the power of the transmitter as a function of the results of the analysis and of the calculations allowed by the constituent parameters and the continuous psycho-acoustic data; driving of the RF power of the transmitter by means of the controlling signal.

A device for implementing the method in an FM radio broadcasting transmitter is also proposed.

Service modes specify how digital content is formatted in sidebands of an FM radio channel. In an improved service mode, encoded bits can be distributed between an in-band encoded component and a cross-band encoded component, where the encoded bits in the in-band encoded component are desynchronized by a specified duration with respect to the encoded bits in the cross-band encoded component. The encoded bits in the in-band encoded component can be allocated into frequency partitions that are used by a legacy service mode, such as MP1 or MP3, which can provide backward compatibility with the legacy service mode. The encoded bits in the cross-band encoded component can be allocated into frequency partitions that are not used by the legacy service mode, and are found in the opposite sideband, compared with the legacy service mode, which can provide time diversity within a single sideband.

An apparatus comprises a digital input port configured to receive digital audio packets of main program service (MPS) audio; a modem operatively coupled to the digital port; an analog input port configured to receive an audio engineer society format (AES) audio signal that is a digitized version of the analog signal component of the frequency modulation (FM) hybrid radio signal; and an alignment unit configured to time-align the AES audio signal with the digital audio packets at the modem; wherein the modem is configured to generate the FM hybrid radio signal using the digital audio packets and the time-aligned AES audio signal.

A method for processing audio signals in a radio transmitter, includes: receiving an analog audio sample stream and a digital audio sample stream; determining offsets in time between the analog audio stream and the digital audio stream using a normalized cross-correlation of audio envelopes of the analog audio sample stream and the digital audio sample stream; filtering the determined offsets in time to produce filtered offset values; determining an alignment slip adjustment value as a function of the filtered offset values; aligning the analog audio sample stream and the digital audio sample stream using the determined alignment slip adjustment value; and generating a hybrid radio signal for broadcast that includes time-aligned analog audio and digital audio.

An audio processor includes a detector configured to determine a correlation of first and second data corresponding to an analog FM component and an HD FM component, respectively, of a broadcast RF signal. A signal processor is configured to receive an input audio signal, to generate an analog FM audio signal and an HD FM audio signal therefrom and to control a relative timing of the analog FM audio signal and the HD FM audio signal based on the determined correlation. The signal processor may include a multiband limiter configured to generate a multiband limited audio signal responsive to the input audio signal, an HD FM audio processor configured to generate the HD FM audio signal responsive to the multiband limited audio signal, and an analog FM audio processor configured to generate the analog FM audio signal responsive to the multiband limited audio signal and to delay the analog FM audio signal responsive to the timing control signal.

A method of processing a digital radio broadcast signal includes: (a) determining a plurality of current correlation sample values representative of a time delay between samples in an analog audio sample stream and samples in a digital audio sample stream; (b) determining a current inversion status; (c) updating a delay history and an inversion status history; (d) checking the current correlation sample values for consistency with a first confidence threshold; (e) if consistency is found in step (d), determining if each of a first plurality of values in the delay history is consistent within a predetermined range of the current correlation sample values; (f) if consistency is found in step (e), determining if a value in the inversion status history is consistent with the current inversion status; and (g) if the consistency is found in step (f), allowing blending of an output to the digital audio sample stream.

A method of processing a digital radio broadcast signal includes: (a) determining a plurality of current correlation sample values representative of a time delay between samples in an analog audio sample stream and samples in a digital audio sample stream; (b) determining a current inversion status; (c) updating a delay history and an inversion status history; (d) checking the current correlation sample values for consistency with a first confidence threshold; (e) if consistency is found in step (d), determining if each of a first plurality of values in the delay history is consistent within a predetermined range of the current correlation sample values; (f) if consistency is found in step (e), determining if a value in the inversion status history is consistent with the current inversion status; and (g) if the consistency is found in step (f), allowing blending of an output to the digital audio sample stream.