System, Apparatus And Method For Hardware And Software Support Of Radio Functionality

At least one computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed enable a system to:

• receive, in a radio stack in execution on a processor, a request for a selected radio station from a radio application;
• determine one or more control parameters for a demodulator to demodulate content of the selected radio station;
• and
• determine whether demodulation is to be performed internally to the processor and in response to a determination that the demodulation is to be performed internally to the processor, send the one or more control parameters to an internal processing engine of the processor to execute a software defined demodulator, wherein the processor is incorporated on a circuit board that is designed to accommodate a hardware demodulation circuit coupled to the processor and usable in a first system that includes the hardware demodulation circuit to demodulate the content and usable in a second system that includes the processor to demodulate the content and does not include the hardware demodulation circuit.

A system comprising:

• at least one antenna to receive at least one radio frequency (RF) signal;
• at least one tuner coupled to the at least one antenna to receive and process the at least one RF signal to output a downconverted modulated signal;
• a processor coupled to the at least one tuner to demodulate the downconverted modulated signal when the system does not include a hardware demodulator circuit, the processor further to process the demodulated downconverted signal and output an audio signal;
• an audio processor coupled to the processor to process the audio signal and output a processed audio signal, wherein the at least one tuner is adapted on a first layout portion of a circuit board, the processor is adapted on a second layout portion of the circuit board and the audio processor is adapted on a third layout portion of the circuit board, the circuit board further including a fourth layout portion to which the hardware demodulator circuit is adapted when included in the system, the circuit board further including first interconnect circuitry to couple the at least one tuner to the hardware demodulator circuit when the hardware demodulator circuit is included in the system and second interconnect circuitry to couple the hardware demodulator circuit and the processor when the hardware demodulator circuit is included in the system, the circuit board a single circuit board usable when the system includes the hardware demodulator circuit and usable when the system does not include the hardware demodulator circuit;
• and
• an interconnection member to couple the at least one tuner to the processor when the system does not include the hardware demodulator circuit.