Requesting and providing acknowledgements to specific PTT talk spurts

• US 9,143,903 B2
• Filed: 10/19/2012
• Issued: 09/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Kerger, Kameron N., da Silva, Gabriel Moura, Lindner, Mark A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Simon
• Application Number:
  US13/656,460
• Publication Number:
  US 20140113672A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,068 Days
• Field of Search: 455/416, 455518-521
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/10 Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-On-Call services

Abstract

The disclosure is directed to requesting and providing acknowledgements to a talk spurt in a group communication. An embodiment transmits the talk spurt to one or more recipients participating in the group communication, receives a selection of one or more target recipients among the one or more participating recipients, and transmits a request to each of the one or more target recipients to acknowledge the talk spurt. An embodiment receives, at a mobile device, a talk spurt during the group communication, receives, at the mobile device, a request to acknowledge the talk spurt, and transmits, by the mobile device, an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative acknowledgement (NACK) in response to the request without obtaining the floor of the group communication.

Claims

1. A method for requesting acknowledgements to a talk spurt in a group communication, comprising:

transmitting, by a mobile device, the talk spurt to one or more recipients participating in the group communication;

receiving, by the mobile device during or after the transmitting the talk spurt, a selection of one or more target recipients among the one or more recipients participating; and

transmitting, by the mobile device, a request to each of the one or more target recipients to acknowledge the talk spurt, wherein the request is not a voice command selection of the one or more target recipients.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the group communication is a push-to-talk call.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a user interface of the mobile device transmitting the talk spurt comprises a checkbox for each of the one or more recipients participating in the group communication.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the receiving the selection comprises receiving a selection of a corresponding checkbox for each of the one or more target recipients.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the selection comprises identifying a name of each of the one or more target recipients spoken during the talk spurt.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an acknowledgment (ACK) or a negative acknowledgment (NACK) from each of the one or more target recipients.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein transmitting the ACK or the NACK does not require the one or more target recipients to obtain a floor of the group communication to send the ACK or the NACK.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the mobile device transmitting the request does not have to yield a floor of the group communication to receive the ACK or the NACK.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

in response to the NACK, automatically retransmitting the talk spurt to the one or more target recipients that negatively acknowledged the talk spurt.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

in response to the NACK, transmitting another talk spurt containing information similar to information contained in the transmitted talk spurt.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

transmitting the another talk spurt to the one or more recipients participating in the group communication.

12. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

displaying an indication of each received ACK and/or NACK.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the indication is displayed as graying-out an icon representing a target recipient on a display of at least the one or more target recipients.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the indication is displayed as a checkmark corresponding to a target recipient on a display of at least the one or more target recipients.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the indication comprises removing a target recipient from a display of at least the one or more target recipients.

16. The method of claim 6, wherein a floor of the group communication is locked until all ACKs or NACKs are received.

17. The method of claim 6, wherein a floor of the group communication is not locked until all ACKs or NACKs are received.

18. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the one or more recipients participating in the group communication receives the ACK or the NACK from each of the one or more target recipients.

19. An apparatus for requesting acknowledgements to a talk spurt in a group communication, comprising:

logic configured to transmit, by a mobile device, the talk spurt to one or more recipients participating in the group communication;

logic configured to receive, by the mobile device during or after transmission of the talk spurt, a selection of one or more target recipients among the one or more recipients participating; and

logic configured to transmit, by the mobile device, a request to each of the one or more target recipients to acknowledge the talk spurt, wherein the request is not a voice command selection of the one or more target recipients.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the group communication is a push-to-talk call.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein a user interface of the mobile device comprises a checkbox for each of the one or more recipients participating in the group communication.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the logic configured to receive the selection comprises logic configured to receive a selection of a corresponding checkbox for each of the one or more target recipients.

23. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the logic configured to receive the selection comprises logic configured to identify a name of each of the one or more target recipients spoken during the talk spurt.

24. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising:

logic configured to receive an acknowledgment (ACK) or a negative acknowledgment (NACK) from each of the one or more target recipients.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein transmission of the ACK or the NACK does not require the one or more target recipients to obtain a floor of the group communication to send the ACK or the NACK.

26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the mobile device does not have to yield a floor of the group communication to receive the ACK or the NACK.

27. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising:

logic configured to automatically retransmit, in response to the NACK, the talk spurt to the one or more target recipients that negatively acknowledged the talk spurt.

28. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising:

logic configured to transmit, in response to the NACK, another talk spurt containing information similar to the information contained in the transmitted talk spurt.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising:

logic configured to transmit the other talk spurt to the one or more recipients participating in the group communication.

30. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising:

logic configured to display an indication of each received ACK and/or NACK.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the indication is displayed as graying-out an icon representing a target recipient on a display of at least the one or more target recipients.

32. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the indication is displayed as a checkmark corresponding to a target recipient on a display of at least the one or more target recipients.

33. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the indication comprises removal of a target recipient from a display of at least the one or more target recipients.

34. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein a floor of the group communication is locked until all ACKs or NACKs are received.

35. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein a floor of the group communication is not locked until all ACKs or NACKs are received.

36. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein each of the one or more recipients participating in the group communication receives the ACK or the NACK from each of the one or more target recipients.

37. An apparatus for requesting acknowledgements to a talk spurt in a group communication, comprising:

means for transmitting, by a mobile device, the talk spurt to one or more recipients participating in the group communication;

means for receiving, by the mobile device during or after transmission of the talk spurt, a selection of one or more target recipients among the one or more recipients participating; and

means for transmitting, by the mobile device, a request to each of the one or more target recipients to acknowledge the talk spurt, wherein the request is not a voice command selection of the one or more target recipients.

38. A non-transitory computer-readable medium for requesting acknowledgements to a talk spurt in a group communication, comprising:

at least one instruction to transmit, by a mobile device, the talk spurt to one or more recipients participating in the group communication;

at least one instruction to receive, by the mobile device during or after transmission of the talk spurt, a selection of one or more target recipients among the one or more recipients participating; and

at least one instruction to transmit, by the mobile device, a request to each of the one or more target recipients to acknowledge the talk spurt, wherein the request is not a voice command selection of the one or more target recipients.