It's happened to almost everyone who has ever driven a long distance: eventually, you lose the AM or FM radio station you're listening to because of a limited, legal broadcast radius. It further you go, the more it begins to fade or listening becomes hindered by increasing static and noise. Now, if you're familiar with the new area you are driving into, maybe you already know an alternative station to tune to.
But, what if you're not?
According to Corey Dietz at about.com, this problem may soon be eliminated with new smart radio technology which Panasonic Automotive Systems of America has recently filed a patent for.
According to the paperwork filed for the patent:
"The invention may provide a smart automotive FM/AM auto-scanner which, as the vehicle moves out of reception range of a currently-tuned radio station, may automatically (e.g., without user intervention) scan frequencies and find an FM/AM station that is most similar to the currently-tuned station. As used herein, stations may be "similar" in that they broadcast the same genre of music or talk. Thus, if the vehicle is traveling out of the broadcast range of a currently-tuned to jazz station, then the radio may automatically find another jazz station that is within reception range of the radio."
"...if the station going out of reception range is broadcasting a syndicated program, then the invention includes offering to, or automatically, switching tuning to another station on which the same syndicated program is being broadcast."
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