Over the last decade, the theory of reproducing kernels has made a major breakthrough in the field of pattern recognition. It has led to new algorithms, with improved performance and lower computational cost, for non-linear analysis in high dimensional feature spaces. Our paper is a further contribution which extends the framework of the so-called kernel learning machines to time-frequency analysis, showing that some specific reproducing kernels allow these algorithms to operate in the time-frequency domain. This link offers new perspectives in the field of non-stationary signal analysis, which can benefit from the developments of pattern recognition and Statistical Learning Theory.