Web callbook interface for amateur radio logging systems
First Claim
1. A machine for formatting amateur radio callbook information from a world wide web database display that is intended to be viewed in a web browser, into a consistent record format, comprising:
- a. A character input means which a human operator can use to store an amateur radio callsign in memory. b. A means for transmitting the amateur radio callsign over the world wide web to a earchable callbook database. c. A web display device for optionally displaying results from said transmission of radio amateur callsign. d. A memory to contain the results of said transmission of amateur radio callsign. e. A means of analyzing said memory containing results to determine if the callsign was found. f. A means for analyzing said memory containing results to extract elements such as name, address, etc. g. A record structure in memory to store said extracted elements. whereby allowing said data to be used for automatic lookup from an ham radio logging program, without entering data into a web browser. whereby allowing inserting retrieved data into a logging database or printing mailing labels, envelopes, or post cards.
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Accused Products
Abstract
User enters an amateur radio callsign for which he wishes to retrieve the license holder'"'"'s name, address, and other information such as latitude and longitude of his station, license class, license expiration date, and birthdate. He may enter this in a designated field in the search form callsign field (31), or in another program, such as a logging program (38). A software process searches for the specified callsign on one or more World Wide Web databases. Said process converts the information that is normally displayed in a web browser to a common record format so that the data may displayed in a consistent format (29), and be added to logging databases (39) or used to print mailing labels, envelopes, or post cards (40).
Since there is no single comprehensive database containing all amateur radio operators in the world, multiple World Wide Web databases may be searched in order to find the desired callsign and gather all possible information about the specified station. The user may select which databases are searched (23) and the order in which they are searched (20).
Many web callbook databases, such as the Federal Communications database, contain information for one political entity only (25). The Web Callbook Interface System determines the country that issued the callsign (using commonly-known methods involving lookup tables of callsign prefixes), and bypasses search of single-country databases that do not correspond to the callsign.
Web databases may be marked as “comprehensive” by the user (24). These comprehensive databases are assumed to be complete for the political entity in question. If a callsign is not found in a comprehensive database for a country corresponding to the said callsign, we know that the requested callsign was entered incorrectly and no such station exists. The process stops. It does not search any additional databases.
Revenue of commercial sites displaying advertising is preserved by displaying the site contents in a window (30). This display is presented on top of all other windows on the screen. The user must select another window or click a button (36) to continue using the program.
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Citations
3 Claims
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1. A machine for formatting amateur radio callbook information from a world wide web database display that is intended to be viewed in a web browser, into a consistent record format, comprising:
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a. A character input means which a human operator can use to store an amateur radio callsign in memory. b. A means for transmitting the amateur radio callsign over the world wide web to a earchable callbook database. c. A web display device for optionally displaying results from said transmission of radio amateur callsign. d. A memory to contain the results of said transmission of amateur radio callsign. e. A means of analyzing said memory containing results to determine if the callsign was found. f. A means for analyzing said memory containing results to extract elements such as name, address, etc. g. A record structure in memory to store said extracted elements. whereby allowing said data to be used for automatic lookup from an ham radio logging program, without entering data into a web browser. whereby allowing inserting retrieved data into a logging database or printing mailing labels, envelopes, or post cards. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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Specification