Fully flexible multi-tuner front end architecture for a receiver

A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions that when executed enable an entertainment system to:

• in a first mode, cause a first tuner of the entertainment system to receive and process a first radio frequency (RF) signal from a first antenna configured for a first band to output a first audio signal of a first radio station and cause a second tuner of the entertainment system to receive a second RF signal from a second antenna configured for the first band to determine signal quality metrics for one or more radio stations of the first band;
• in a second mode, cause the first tuner to output a first signal representation of the first RF signal and cause the second tuner to receive and process the second RF signal from the second antenna to output a second signal representation of the second RF signal;
• cause a phase diversity combining circuit to process the first and second signal representations to output an audio signal of the first radio station, while a broadcast of the first radio station is output from the entertainment system;
• and
• in a third mode, cause the first tuner to receive and process the first RF signal from the first antenna to generate a first audio signal of the first radio station, and cause the second tuner to receive and process the second RF signal from the second antenna to generate a second audio signal of a second radio station, and cause a linker circuit to transition from the first audio signal to the second audio signal, the linker circuit to output a final audio signal without impairments due to the transition.

A system comprising:

• a first integrated circuit (IC) including a first tuner and a second tuner, the first IC including:
• a first pad to receive a first radio frequency (RF) signal from a first frequency modulation (FM) antenna and symmetrically output the first RF signal to the first tuner and the second tuner, and to a first loop-through buffer to provide the first RF signal to a second IC;
• a second pad to receive a second RF signal from a second FM antenna and symmetrically output the second RF signal to the first tuner and the second tuner, and to a second loop-through buffer to provide the second RF signal to the second IC;
• the first tuner having a first plurality of mixers including a first mixer to receive and downconvert the first RF signal to a first downconverted signal, a second mixer to receive and downconvert the second RF signal to a second downconverted signal, and a first signal processing path to process a selected one of the first downconverted signal and the second downconverted signal;
• the second tuner having a second plurality of mixers including a second mixer to receive and downconvert the second RF signal to a fourth downconverted signal, a first mixer to receive and downconvert the first RF signal to a third downconverted signal, and a second signal processing path dynamically controllable to process a selected one of the third downconverted signal and the fourth downconverted signal;
• and
• a microcontroller to dynamically control transitions of the first tuner and the second tuner between a plurality of operating modes while a first audio signal is output by at least one of the first and second tuners;
• and
• the first and second antennas coupled to the first IC.

An integrated circuit (IC) comprising:

• a first voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) to oscillate at a first oscillation frequency;
• a second VCO to oscillate at a second oscillation frequency;
• a first divider coupled to the first VCO to produce a first LO signal;
• a second divider coupled to the second VCO to produce a second LO signal;
• wherein the first LO signal and the second LO signal are substantially at a common frequency, and a frequency range of the first oscillation frequency and a frequency range of the second oscillation frequency are mutually exclusive.