System, method and program for configuring a mobile terminal to function as a two-way radio

• US 20090233596A1
• Filed: 03/14/2008
• Published: 09/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Critical RF Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Critical RF Incorporated
• Inventors: Calabrese, Stephen
• Granted Patent: US 8,112,078 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/426.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

A system, method and program for enabling a mobile terminal to communicate with a transceiver via two-way radio over a communication network. The mobile terminal receives a first radio communication, converts the first radio communication into first data packets, masks a destination port of the first data packets to appear as a data transfer port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with a server, and transmits the first data packets having the masked destination port to the server via the communication network. The mobile terminal receives second data packets, which are converted from a second radio communication transmitted from the transceiver and have a destination port masked to appear as a data receiving port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server, from the server via the communication network, converts the second data packets to the second radio communication, and outputs the second radio communication.

Claims

1. A system for enabling a mobile terminal to communicate with a radio frequency transceiver via two-way radio, the system comprising:

a mobile terminal configured to receive audio inputs and output audio;

a radio frequency transceiver configured to broadcast radio communications to a plurality of radio terminals, and receive radio communications from at least one of the plurality of radio terminals; and

a server configured to transmit first data packets from the mobile terminal to the radio frequency transceiver via a communication network, receive second data packets, which are converted from a radio communication transmitted from the radio frequency transceiver, via the communication network, and transmit the second data packets to the mobile terminal via the communication network,

wherein the mobile terminal comprises;

a command input unit configured to receive a command input including a transmit command to transmit a first radio communication to the radio frequency transceiver via the communication network, and a network address of the sever on the communication network;

an audio input unit configured to receive the first radio communication as an audio input when the command input unit receives the command input;

a conversion unit configured to convert the first radio communication received by the audio input unit into the first data packets, and mask a destination port of the first data packets to appear as a data transfer port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server;

a transmission unit configured to transmit the converted first data packets having the masked destination port to the server via the communication network;

a reception unit configured to receive the second data packets from the server via the communication network, and output the received second data packets to the conversion unit, which is configured to convert the second data packets into a second radio communication; and

an audio output unit configured to output the second radio communication converted by the conversion unit,

wherein the server is configured to transmit the converted first data packets received from the transmission unit of the mobile terminal to the radio frequency transceiver via the communication network, and the radio frequency transceiver is configured to broadcast the first radio communication, which is converted from the received first data packets, to the plurality of radio terminals,

wherein the radio transceiver is configured to receive the second radio communication from at least one of the plurality of radio terminals, and transmit the received second radio communication to the server, which is configured to receive, via the communication network, second data packets converted from the second radio communication transmitted from the radio transceiver, and

wherein the server is configured to transmit the second data packets, whose destination port has been masked to appear as a data receiving port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server, to the reception unit of the mobile terminal.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication network is one of the Internet and a private network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first radio communication received by the audio input unit is a half-duplex radio communication, and the second radio communication output by the audio output unit is a half-duplex radio communication.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the conversion unit is configured to make the destination port of the first data packets appear to be any data transfer port that is not associated with transferring audio data converted from voice data.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the conversion unit is configured to make the destination port of the first data packets appear to be one of a port associated with transferring a website and a port associated with transmitting email.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the conversion unit is configured to mask the destination port of the first data packets by appending a header containing a data transfer port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server to an original header of the first data packets.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the conversion unit is further configured to mask a source port of the first data packets in the header appended to the original header to a data source port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmission unit is configured to transmit the converted first data packets having the masked destination port to the server via the TCP/IP protocol, and the reception unit is configured to receive the second data packets from the server via the TCP/IP protocol.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second data packets each contain a digitized half-duplex radio communication including an audio component.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a computer connected to the server via the communication network; and

an interface connecting the computer to the radio transceiver to exchange radio communication signals between the radio frequency transceiver and the computer,

wherein the server is configured to transmit the first data packets to the computer together with a PTT (push-to-talk) instruction identifying the first data packets as a half-duplex radio communication.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the computer is configured to receive the first data packets and the PTT instruction from the server via the communication network, convert the first data packets to the first radio communication, and transmit the converted first radio communication and the PTT instruction to the interface;

the interface is configured to connect an audio output terminal of the computer to an audio input terminal of the radio frequency transceiver, and, in accordance with the PTT instruction, activate a transmit terminal of the radio frequency transceiver to transmit the converted first radio communication to the radio terminals;

the interface is configured to connect a receive terminal of the radio frequency transceiver to an audio input terminal of the computer, and is configured to be connected to a control terminal of the computer;

the interface is configured to transmit a communication reception instruction to the control terminal of the computer when the radio frequency transceiver receives the second radio communication from the at least one radio terminal, and transmit the second radio communication received from the radio frequency transceiver to the audio input terminal of the computer; and

the computer, upon receiving the communication reception instruction, is configured to convert the second radio communication received from the radio frequency transceiver to the second data packets, and transmit the converted second data packets to the server via the communication network.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer is configured to mask the destination port of the second data packets to appear as a data receiving port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the server, upon receiving the second data packets, is configured to mask the destination port of the second data packets to appear as a data receiving port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal further comprises a control unit configured to activate the audio input unit when the command input is input to the command input unit, activate the conversion unit when the audio input receives the first radio communication, activate the conversion unit when the reception unit receives the second data packets, and activate the audio output unit when the conversion unit converts the second data packets into the second radio communication.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmission unit and the reception unit of the mobile terminal connect to the communication network via at least one of a cellular network and a satellite network.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of radio frequency transceivers each being configured to broadcast radio communications to a corresponding plurality of radio terminals, respectively;

a plurality of computers respectively provided for the plurality of radio frequency transceivers in one-to-one correspondence, each of the plurality of computers being respectively connected to the server via the communication network; and

a plurality of interfaces respectively connecting the plurality of computers to the plurality of radio frequency transceivers to exchange radio communications between the plurality of computers and the plurality of radio frequency transceivers, respectively.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein:

the plurality of computers are configured to receive the first data packets from the server via the communication network, convert the first data packets to the first radio communication, and transmit the converted first radio communication to the corresponding interface;

the plurality of interfaces are configured to connect an audio output terminal of the corresponding computer to an audio input terminal of the corresponding radio frequency transceiver, and activate a transmit terminal of the corresponding radio frequency transceiver to transmit the converted first radio communication to the corresponding plurality of radio terminals;

the plurality of interfaces are configured to connect a receive terminal of the corresponding radio frequency transceiver to an audio input terminal of the corresponding computer, and the corresponding radio frequency transceiver is configured to transmit a radio communication received from at least one of the corresponding plurality of radio terminals to the audio input terminal of the corresponding computer via the corresponding interface; and

the computer receiving the radio communication via the corresponding interface is configured to convert the received radio communication to the second data packets, and transmit the converted second data packets to the server via the communication network.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the command input received by the command input unit includes a designation of a group of a plurality of independent radio frequency transceivers each being configured to transmit radio communications to and receive radio communications from a corresponding plurality of radio terminals, respectively.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the server is configured to multicast the first radio communication to the plurality of radio frequency transceivers.

20. A system for enabling a plurality of mobile terminals to communicate with each other via two-way radio, the system comprising:

a first mobile terminal configured to receive a first radio communication as an audio input, transmit first data packets as the received first radio communication, and output a second radio communication as an audio output;

a second mobile terminal configured to receive the second radio communication as an audio input, transmit second data packets as the received second radio communication, and output the first radio communication as an audio output; and

a server configured to receive the first data packets from the first mobile terminal via a communication network, transmit the received first data packets to the second mobile terminal via the communication network, receive the second data packets from the second mobile terminal via the communication network, and transmit the received second data packets to the first mobile terminal via the communication network,

wherein the first mobile terminal comprises;

a first command input unit configured to receive a first command input including a first transmit command to transmit the first radio communication to the second mobile terminal via the communication network, and a network address of the server on the communication network;

a first audio input unit configured to receive the first radio communication when the first command input unit receives the first command input;

a first conversion unit configured to convert the first radio communication received by the first audio input unit into the first data packets, and mask a destination port of the first data packets to appear as a data transfer port of the first mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server;

a first transmission unit configured to transmit the converted first data packets having the masked destination port to the server via the communication network;

a first reception unit configured to receive the second data packets from the server via the communication network, and output the received second data packets to the first conversion unit, which is configured to convert the second data packets into the second radio communication; and

a first audio output unit configured to output the second radio communication converted by the first conversion unit, and

wherein the second mobile terminal comprises;

a second command input unit configured to receive a second command input including a second transmit command to transmit the second radio communication to the first mobile terminal via the communication network, and the network address of the server on the communication network;

a second audio input configured to receive the second radio communication when the second command input unit receives the second command input;

a second conversion unit configured to convert the second radio communication received by the second audio input unit into the second data packets, and mask a destination port of the second data packets to appear as a data transfer port of the second mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server;

a second transmission unit configured to transmit the converted second data packets having the masked destination port to the server via the communication network;

a second reception unit configured to receive the first data packets from the server via the communication network, and output the received first data packets to the second conversion unit, which is configured to convert the first data packets into the first radio communication; and

a second audio output unit configured to output the first radio communication converted by the second conversion unit.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the communication network is one of the Internet and a private network.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the first and second conversion units are respectively configured to make the destination port of the first and second data packets appear to be any data transfer port that is not associated with transferring audio data converted from voice data.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the first and second conversion units are respectively configured to make the destination port of the first and second data packets appear to be one of a port associated with transferring a website and a port associated with transmitting email.

25. The system of claim 20, wherein:

the first conversion unit is configured to mask the destination port of the first data packets by appending a header containing a data transfer port of the first mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server to an original header of the first data packets; and

the second conversion unit is configured to mask the destination port of the second data packets by appending a header containing a data transfer port of the second mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server to an original header of the second data packets.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein:

the first conversion unit is further configured to mask the source port of the first data packets in the header appended to the original header of the first data packets to a data source port of the first mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server; and

the second conversion unit is further configured to mask the source port of the second data packets in the header appended to the original header of the second data packets to a data source port of the second mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein:

the server is configured to remove the masking header appended to the first data packets received from the first mobile terminal, determine that the first data packets are to be received by the second mobile terminal based on identification information of the second mobile terminal included in the original header of the first data packets, mask the destination port of the first data packets by appending another header containing a data receiving port of the second mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server to the original header of the first data packets, and transmit the first data packets having the other masking header appended thereto to the second mobile terminal; and

the server is configured to remove the masking header appended to the second data packets received from the second mobile terminal, determine that the second data packets are to be received by the first mobile terminal based on identification information of the first mobile terminal included in the original header of the second data packets, mask the destination port of the second data packets by appending another header containing a data receiving port of the first mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server to the original header of the second data packets, and transmit the second data packets having the other masking header appended thereto to the first mobile terminal.

28. The system of claim 20, wherein:

the first transmission unit is configured to transmit the converted first data packets having the masked destination port to the server via the TCP/IP protocol, and the first reception unit is configured to receive the second data packets from the server via the TCP/IP protocol; and

the second transmission unit is configured to transmit the converted second data packets having the masked destination port to the server via the TCP/IP protocol, and the second reception unit is configured to receive the first data packets from the server via the TCP/IP protocol.

29. The system of claim 20, wherein the first and second data packets each contain a digitized half-duplex radio communication including an audio component, which includes one of a recorded voice and a digital image representing a facsimile communication.

30. The system of claim 20, wherein:

the first mobile terminal further comprises a first control unit configured to activate the first audio input unit when the first command input is input to the first command input unit, activate the first conversion unit when the first audio input unit receives the first radio communication, activate the first conversion unit when the first reception unit receives the second data packets, and activate the first audio output unit when the first conversion unit converts the second data packets into the second radio communication; and

the second mobile terminal further comprises a second control unit configured to activate the second audio input unit when the second command input is input to the second command input unit, activate the second conversion unit when the second audio input unit receives the second radio communication, activate the second conversion unit when the first reception unit receives the first data packets, and activate the second audio output unit when the second conversion unit converts the first data packets into the first radio communication.

31. The system of claim 20, further comprising a plurality of the second mobile terminals, wherein:

the first command input unit is configured to receive the first command input unit including a designation of a predetermined number of the plurality of second mobile terminals to which the first radio communication is to be transmitted;

the first conversion unit is configured to, when converting the first radio communication into the first data packets, identify a unique address of each one of the predetermined number of the plurality of second mobile terminals in an original header of the first data packets, and mask the destination port of the first data packets by appending a header containing a destination port of the first mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server to the original header of the first data packets;

the first transmission unit is configured to transmit the converted first data packets having the masked destination port and the original header identifying the unique address of each one of the predetermined number of the plurality of second mobile terminals; and

the server is configured to multicast the first data packets to each one of the predetermined number of plurality of second mobile terminals.

32. The system of claim 20, wherein the first and second transmission units and the first and second reception units of the first and second mobile terminals, respectively, connect to the communication network via at least one of a cellular network and a satellite network.

22. The system of 20, wherein the first radio communication received by the first audio input unit is a half-duplex radio communication, and the second radio communication received by the second audio input unit is a half-duplex radio communication.

33. A mobile terminal configured to communicate with a transceiver via two-way radio over a communication network via a server interfacing the mobile terminal and the transceiver over the communication network, the mobile terminal comprising:

a command input unit configured to receive a command input including a transmit command to transmit a first radio communication to the transceiver via the communication network, and a network address of the server on the communication network;

an audio input unit configured to receive the first radio communication as an audio input when the command input unit receives the command input;

a conversion unit configured to convert the first radio communication received by the audio input unit into first data packets, and mask a destination port of the first data packets to appear as a data transfer port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server;

a transmission unit configured to transmit the converted first data packets having the masked destination port to the server via the communication network for the server to transmit the first radio communication, which is converted from the first data packets, to the transceiver;

a reception unit configured to receive second data packets, which are converted from a second radio communication transmitted from the transceiver and which have a destination port masked to appear as the data transfer port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server, from the server via the communication network, and output the received second data packets to the conversion unit, which is configured to convert the second data packets into the second radio communication; and

an audio output unit configured to output the second radio communication as an audio output.

34. The mobile terminal of claim 33, wherein the communication network is one of the Internet and a private network.

35. The mobile terminal of claim 33, wherein the first radio communication received by the audio input unit is a half-duplex radio communication, and the second radio communication outputted by the audio output unit is a half-duplex radio communication.

36. The mobile terminal of claim 33, wherein the conversion unit is configured to make the destination port of the first data packets appear to be any data transfer port that is not associated with transferring audio data converted from voice data.

37. The mobile terminal of claim 36, wherein the conversion unit is configured to make the destination port of the first data packets appear to be one of a port associated with transferring a website and a port associated with transmitting email.

38. The mobile terminal of claim 33, wherein the conversion unit is configured to mask the destination port of the first data packets by appending a header containing a data transfer port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server to an original header of the first data packets.

39. The mobile terminal of claim 38, wherein the conversion unit is further configured to mask the source port of the first data packets in the header appended to the original header of the first data packets to a data source port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server.

40. The mobile terminal of claim 33, wherein the transmission unit is configured to transmit the converted first data packets having the masked destination port to the server via the TCP/IP protocol, and the reception unit is configured to receive the second data packets from the server via the TCP/IP protocol.

41. The mobile terminal of claim 33, wherein the first and second data packets each contain a digitized half-duplex radio communication including an audio component, which includes one of a recorded voice and a digital image representing a facsimile communication.

42. The mobile terminal of claim 33, further comprising a control unit configured to activate the audio input unit when the command input is input to the command input unit, activate the conversion unit when the audio input unit receives the first radio communication, activate the conversion unit when the reception unit receives the second data packets, and activate the audio output unit when the first conversion unit converts the second data packets into the second radio communication.

43. The mobile terminal of claim 33, wherein the transceiver is at least one of another mobile terminal and a radio frequency transceiver, which is configured to receive the first radio communication converted from the first data packets via the server, and perform two-way radio communications with other radio frequency transceivers.

44. The mobile terminal of claim 33, wherein the transmission unit and the reception unit connect to the communication network via at least one of a cellular network and a satellite network.

45. A computer-readable recording medium having a program stored thereon that causes a mobile terminal communicatively connected to the computer-readable recording medium to communicate as a two-way radio with a transceiver over a communication network via a server, the program causing the mobile terminal to perform operations comprising:

receiving a command input including a transmit command to transmit a first radio communication to a transceiver via the communication network, and a network address of the server;

receiving the first radio communication as an audio input;

converting the received first radio communication to first data packets upon receiving the command input;

masking a destination port of the first data packets to appear as a data transfer port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server;

transmitting the converted first data packets having the masked destination port to the server via the communication network for the server to transmit the first data packets, which are converted back into the first radio communication, to the transceiver;

receiving second data packets from the server via the communication network, the second data packets having been converted from a second radio communication transmitted from the transceiver and having a destination port masked to appear as a data receiving port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server;

converting the received second data packets into the second radio communication; and

outputting the second radio communication.

46. The computer-readable recording medium of claim 45, wherein the computer-readable recording medium is configured to be inserted into a memory slot of the mobile terminal.

47. The computer-readable recording medium of claim 45, wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of the mobile terminal.

48. The computer-readable recording medium of claim 45, wherein the program is an application program operable with an operating system of the mobile terminal.

49. The computer-readable recording medium of claim 45, wherein the communication network is one of the Internet and a private network.

50. The computer-readable recording medium of claim 45, wherein the first radio communication received in the operation of receiving the first radio communication is a half-duplex radio communication, and the second radio communication outputted in the operation of outputting the second radio communication is a half-duplex radio communication.

51. The computer-readable recording medium of claim 45, wherein the operation of masking the destination port of the first data packets comprises making the destination port of the first data packets appear to be any data transfer port that is not associated with transferring audio data converted from voice data.

52. The computer-readable recording medium of claim 51, wherein the operation of masking the destination port of the first data packets comprises making the destination port of the first data packets appear to be one of a port associated with transferring a website and a port associated with transmitting email.

53. The computer-readable recording medium of claim 45, wherein the operation of masking the destination port of the first data packets comprises appending a header containing a data transfer port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server to an original header of the first data packets.

54. The computer-readable recording medium of claim 53, wherein the program further causes the mobile terminal to perform an operation of masking the source port of the first data packets in the header appended to the original header of the first data packets to a data source port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server.

55. The computer-readable recording medium of claim 45, wherein the operation of transmitting the converted first data packets comprises transmitting the converted first data packets having the masked destination port to the server via the TCP/IP protocol, and operation of receiving the second data packets from the server comprises receiving the second data packets from the server via the TCP/IP protocol.

56. The computer-readable recording medium of claim 45, wherein the first and second data packets each contain a digitized half-duplex radio communication including an audio component,

which includes one of a recorded voice and a digital image representing a facsimile communication.

57. The computer-readable recording medium of claim 45, wherein the program further causes the mobile terminal to perform operations comprising:

activating an audio input unit of the mobile terminal when the command input is received, by applying an appropriate voltage to the audio input unit;

activating a conversion unit of the mobile terminal when the first radio communication is received, by applying an appropriate voltage to the conversion unit;

activating the conversion unit when the second data packets are received, by applying an appropriate voltage to the conversion unit; and

activating an audio output unit of the mobile terminal when the second data packets are converted into the second radio communication.

58. The computer-readable recording medium of claim 45, wherein the transceiver is at least one of another mobile terminal and a radio frequency transceiver, which is configured to receive the first radio communication converted from the first data packets via the server, and perform two-way radio communications with other radio frequency transceivers.

59. The computer-readable recording medium of claim 45, wherein the program causes the mobile terminal to connect to the communication network via at least one of a cellular network and a satellite network to perform the operation of transmitting the converted first data packets to the server and the operation of receiving the second data packets from the server.

60. A method of enabling a mobile terminal to communicate as a two-way radio with transceivers over a communication network via a server, the method comprising:

receiving a command input including a transmit command to transmit a first radio communication to a transceiver via the communication network, and a network address of the server;

receiving the first radio communication as an audio input;

converting the received first radio communication to first data packets upon receiving the command input;

masking a destination port of the first data packets to appear as a data transfer port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server;

transmitting the converted first data packets having the masked destination port to the server via the communication network for the server to transmit the first data packets, which are converted back into the first radio communication, to the transceiver;

receiving second data packets from the server via the communication network, the second data packets having been converted from a second radio communication transmitted from the transceiver and having a destination port masked to appear as a data receiving port of the mobile terminal configured to exchange data with the server;

converting the received second data packets into the second radio communication; and

outputting the second radio communication.