Radio station recommendations

Abstract

Implementing and applying a database with radio station information that is gathered from client devices as stations become available to a plurality of users (i.e., “crowd sourced” radio station information) and allowing for a client device to download only the radio station information that is pertinent to the travel route of the user and/or radio station selection criteria associated with the client device or the user. Radio station information can be rendered via a graphical interface of a client device to allow the user to informatively select a new radio station, either before or as a current radio signal degrades to the point of being unusable. Radio station information may be rendered to cause the user's terrestrial radio to tune to a new station.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method implemented by one or more processors, the method comprising:
 identifying at least one location associated with a planned travel trajectory of a user;   providing data indicative of the at least one location to a remote computer;   receiving, in response to the providing, a list of radio stations, wherein the list of radio stations is tailored to the user based on the at least one location, wherein the list of radio stations comprises a mapping for each of the radio stations, and wherein each of the mappings includes a radio station frequency mapped to a coverage area;   storing the mappings in a database on one or more client devices operated by the user;   identifying a current audio stream providing output to the user;   determining an attribute of the current audio stream;   identifying a current location of the user;   identifying, from the mappings, one or more proximate radio stations with mapped coverage areas that are proximate to the current location based on the current location and the determined attribute; and   outputting data indicative of one or more proximate radio stations to the user as a suggestion via one or more client devices of the user.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a signal strength of the current audio stream;   wherein the suggestion is output in response to a determination that the signal strength of the current audio stream does not exceed a threshold signal strength.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the suggestion is output as a selectable option and wherein the method further comprises:
 in response to user selection of the selectable option, tuning a terrestrial radio antenna to the radio station frequency associated with the suggestion.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 automatically switching to one of the proximate radio stations for which indicative data was output as the suggestion based on the signal strength of the current audio stream meeting a particular criteria.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 automatically switching to one of the proximate radio stations for which indicative data was output as the suggestion based on a determination that the distance that has been traveled since the suggestion was output has exceeded a threshold.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 automatically switching to one of the proximate radio stations for which indicative data was output as the suggestion based on a determination that the time that has elapsed since the suggestion was output has exceeded a threshold.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising identifying one or more radio station selection criteria associated with the client device or the user; and
 providing the one or more radio station selection criteria to the remote computer;   wherein the station list is further tailored to the user based on radio station selection criteria.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data indicative of one or more proximate radio stations to the user as a suggestion is output as graphical content via a graphical user interface (GUI) of the one or more client devices. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the graphical content indicates one or more coverage areas of the one or more proximate radio stations along the planned travel trajectory of the user. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the coverage areas are depicted as one or more polygons. 
     
     
         11 . An electronic system comprising:
 one or more processing devices;   one or more machine-readable storage devices for storing instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:
 identifying at least one location associated with a planned travel trajectory of a user; 
 providing data indicative of the at least one location to a remote computer; 
 receiving, in response to the providing, a list of radio stations, wherein the list of radio stations is tailored to the user based on the at least one location, wherein the list of radio stations comprises a mapping for each of the radio stations, and wherein each of the mappings includes a radio station frequency mapped to a coverage area; 
 storing the mappings in a database on one or more client devices operated by the user; 
 identifying a current audio stream providing output to the user; 
 determining an attribute of the current audio stream; 
 identifying a current location of the user; 
 identifying, from the mappings, one or more proximate radio stations with mapped coverage areas that are proximate to the current location based on the current location and the determined attribute; and 
 outputting data indicative of one or more proximate radio stations to the user as a suggestion via one or more client devices of the user. 
   
     
     
         12 . The electronic system of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more machine-readable storage devices store instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to perform operations further comprising:
 determining a signal strength of the current audio stream;   wherein the suggestion is output in response to a determination that the signal strength of the current audio stream does not exceed a threshold signal strength.   
     
     
         13 . The electronic system of  claim 10 , wherein the suggestion is output as a selectable option and wherein the one or more machine-readable storage devices store instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to perform operations further comprising:
 in response to user selection of the selectable option, tuning a terrestrial radio antenna to the radio station frequency associated with the suggestion.   
     
     
         14 . The electronic system of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more machine-readable storage devices store instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to perform operations further comprising:
 automatically switching to one of the proximate radio stations for which indicative data was output as the suggestion based on the signal strength of the current audio stream meeting a particular criteria.   
     
     
         15 . The electronic system of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more machine-readable storage devices store instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to perform operations further comprising:
 automatically switching to one of the proximate radio stations for which indicative data was output as the suggestion based on a determination that the distance that has been traveled since the suggestion was output has exceeded a threshold.   
     
     
         16 . The electronic system of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more machine-readable storage devices store instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to perform operations further comprising:
 automatically switching to one of the proximate radio stations for which indicative data was output as the suggestion based on a determination that the time that has elapsed since the suggestion was output has exceeded a threshold.   
     
     
         17 . The electronic system of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more machine-readable storage devices store instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to perform operations further comprising:
 identifying one or more radio station selection criteria associated with the client device or the user; and   providing the one or more radio station selection criteria to the remote computer;   wherein the station list is further tailored to the user based on radio station selection criteria.   
     
     
         18 . The electronic system of  claim 10 , wherein the data indicative of one or more proximate radio stations to the user as a suggestion is output as graphical content via a graphical user interface (GUI) of the one or more client devices. 
     
     
         19 . The electronic system of  claim 18 , wherein the graphical content indicates one or more coverage areas of the one or more proximate radio stations along the planned travel trajectory of the user. 
     
     
         20 . The electronic system of  claim 19 , wherein the coverage areas are depicted as one or more polygons.