SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A WIRELESS PHONE ENABLED WITH WEATHER ALERTS

• US 20100210248A1
• Filed: 02/13/2009
• Published: 08/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Embarq Holdings Company LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: MORRISSEY, MICHAEL, Cook, Andrew, Smoyer, Clinton, Kerr, Jade, Mathur, Mohit
• Granted Patent: US 9,857,501 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.100
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/02 Instruments for indicating weather conditions by measuring two or more variables, e.g. humidity, pressure, temperature, cloud cover or wind speed G01W1/10 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface

Abstract

A system and method for processing weather alerts through a cell phone. One or more channels of a radio network of a weather service are received through the cell phone. One or more weather alerts are received through the one or more channels. A determination is made whether the one or more weather alerts are applicable to a user of the cell phone. The one or more weather alerts are communicated to a user through the cell phone in response to determining the one or more weather alerts are applicable to the user.

Claims

1. A method for processing weather alerts through a cell phone, the method comprising:

receiving one or more channels of a radio network of a weather service through the cell phone;

receiving one or more weather alerts through the one or more channels;

determining whether the one or more weather alerts are applicable to a user of the cell phone; and

communicating the one or more weather alerts to a user through the cell phone in response to determining the one or more weather alerts are applicable to the user.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the weather service is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more weather alerts are specific area message encoding (SAME) messages.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

converting the one or more weather alerts into a text format; and

displaying the text format to the user.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

communicating an indicator to the user indicating that the one or more weather alerts are received and are applicable to the user.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the indicator is communicated to a Bluetooth device linked with the cell phone.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining a location of the cell phone;

receiving the one or more weather alerts for the location of the cell phone.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the location of the cell phone is determined utilizing a global positioning location of the cell phone.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the one or more weather alerts are received based on user preferences stored in the cell phone.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the user preferences specify one or more locations for which the one or more weather alerts are received.

8. The method according to claim 8, wherein the location of the cell phone is determined utilizing triangulation.

12. A cell phone for receiving weather alerts, the cell phone comprising:

a transceiver operable to receive one or more weather channels of a radio network;

alert logic operable to determine whether one or more alerts received through the one or more channels are applicable to a location of the user; and

a user interface operable to communicate the one or more alerts to the user.

13. The cell phone according to claim 12, further comprising:

location logic in communication with the alert logic, the location logic being operable to determine the location of the user utilizing wireless triangulation.

14. The cell phone according to claim 12, further comprising:

a global positioning system in communication with the alert logic, the GPS being operable to determine the location of the user.

15. The cell phone according to claim 12, wherein the weather channels are an FM broadcast, and wherein the alert logic further includes a converter for visually displaying the one or more alerts to a display of the user interface.

16. The cell phone according to claim 12, further comprising:

a memory in communication with the alert logic, the alert logic operable to store user preferences, the user preferences specifying one or more locations for which the user selects to receive the one or more alerts.

17. A cell phone for communicating weather alerts, comprising;

a processor operable to execute a set of instructions;

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory being operable to store the set of instructions, the set of instructions being operable to;

receive one or more channels of a weather service through the cell phone utilizing a radio network;

receive one or more weather alerts through the one or more radio channels, the one or more weather alerts being associated with the location of the cell phone;

determine whether the one or more weather alerts are applicable to a user of the cell phone; and

communicate the one or more weather alerts to a user through the cell phone in response to determining the one or more weather alerts are applicable to the user.

18. The cell phone according to claim 17, wherein the set of instructions are further executed to:

determine the location of the user.

19. The cell phone according to claim 17, wherein the set of instructions are further executed to:

display the one or more weather alerts in a specific area message encoding format

20. The cell phone according to claim 17, wherein the set of instructions are further executed to:

convert the one or more weather alerts to a format displayable by the cell phone.