Method and apparatus for allowing a user of a display-based terminal to communicate with communication units in a communication system

• US 6,366,782 B1
• Filed: 10/08/1999
• Issued: 04/02/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fumarolo, Arthur L., Jackson, Brett A.
• Primary Examiner(s): BANKS HAROLD, MARSHA DENISE
• Application Number:
  US09/415,297
• Time in Patent Office: 907 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456, 455/457, 455/404, 455/521, 455/520, 455/518, 455/519, 455/414, 455/557, 455/508, 455/509, 340/901, 340/904, 340/905, 340/988, 340/990, 340/989, 340/995, 340/286.01, 340/286.02, 340/286.06, 340/286.14, 340/825.49, 340/539, 340/457, 340/577, 340/329-332, 340/335, 340/969, 340/978, 379/45, 379/48, 379/49, 379/38, 701/708, 701/117, 701/342, 701/357.09, 701/357.1, 701/357.13, 701/357.07
• US Class Current: 455/457
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/08 Trunked mobile radio systems

Abstract

A display-based terminal (101) employs a method and apparatus for allowing a user of the terminal to communicate with communication units (105-113) in a communication system (100). The terminal displays a map (300, 400) to the user indicating locations of communication units in at least a portion of the communication system. The terminal then receives a selection from the map of at least one communication unit (105, 108, 109, 113) and an indication (309, 311) of the user'"'"'s desire to communicate with the selected communication unit. The indication of the user'"'"'s desire to communicate may be contemporaneous with the user'"'"'s selection of the communication unit, for example, when the user has, prior to such selection, indicated a desired type (302-305, 401-404) of communication and/or a desired transmission mode (406) for subsequent communications with the communication units. Responsive to receipt of the user'"'"'s selection of the communication unit and indication of a desire to communicate, the terminal automatically initiates a communication with the selected communication unit.

Claims

1. A method comprising the steps of

displaying a map of a geographic area on a display-based terminal, wherein the map contains a plurality of two-way communication units in their associated locations within the geographic area;

accepting, by the display-based terminal, a selection, from a user of the display based terminal, of at least one two-way communication unit of the plurality of two-way communication units from the displayed map;

accepting, by the display-based terminal, an indication of the user'"'"'s desire to begin communication with the selected at least one two-way communication unit; and

without involving further manual action by the user;

automatically obtaining communication information necessary to begin the two-way communication; and

automatically, responsive to the step of obtaining communication information necessary to begin the two-way communication, opening a voice communication resource between the display-based terminal and the at least one two-way communication unit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication information comprises at least one of an individual identification, a talkgroup identification, an encryption key, a voice communication resource identification, a base station identification, a private line code, and a digital private line code.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of selecting a type of voice communication.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein subsequent communications are automatically of the type of voice communication selected in the step of selecting.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing a visual indication on the map of at least one two-way communication unit that is presently transmitting on any voice communication resource.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of two-way communication units are in a voice communication system that includes a wireless infrastructure, wherein the wireless infrastructure includes at least one base station, and wherein the step of opening comprises the steps of:

keying up a base station of the wireless infrastructure; and

activating a user input device of the display-based terminal.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the user input device is at least one of a foot switch, a panel microphone, a push-to-talk activator, a computer mouse, a keyboard, a touchscreen display, a voice recognition device, and a voice activated device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing an indication on the display-based terminal that the voice communication resource is open.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of accepting, by the display-based terminal, an indication from the user of the user'"'"'s desire to terminate a voice communication with the selected at least one two-way communication unit.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing a visual indication on the map of the selected at least one two-way communication unit, which visual indication is different than a visual indication for non-selected two-way communication units.

11. A method comprising the steps of:

displaying a map of a geographic area on a display based terminal, wherein the map contains a plurality of two-way communication unit'"'"'s in their associated locations within the geographic area;

accepting, by the display based terminal, a transmission mode from the user of a display based terminal;

accepting, by the display based terminal, a selection, from the user of the display based terminal, of at least one two-way communication unit of the plurality of two-way communication units from the displayed map; and

without involving further manual action by the user;

automatically obtaining voice communication information necessary to begin voice communication in the transmission mode; and

automatically, responsive to the step of obtaining voice communication information necessary to begin voice communication in the transmission mode, opening a voice communication resource in the transmission mode between the display-based terminal and the at least one two-way communication unit.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of providing a visual indication on the map of the selected at least one two-way communication unit, which visual indication is different than a visual indication for non-selected two-way communication units.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the communication information comprises at least one of an individual identification, a talkgroup identification, an encryption key, a voice communication resource identification, a base station identification, a private line code, and a digital private line code.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of selecting a type of voice communication.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the type of voice communication includes at least one of an individual call, a group call, a data call, and a voice call.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein subsequent voice communications are automatically made using the transmission mode.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of providing a visual indication on the map of at least one two-way communication unit that is presently transmitting on any voice communication resource.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of two-way communication units are in a voice communication system that includes a wireless infrastructure, wherein the wireless infrastructure includes at least one base station, and wherein the step of opening a voice communication resource comprises the steps of:

keying up a base station of the wireless infrastructure; and

activating a user input device of the display-based terminal.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the user input device is at least one of a foot switch, a panel microphone, a push-to-talk activator, a computer mouse, a keyboard, a touchscreen display, a voice recognition device, and a voice activated device.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of providing an indication on the display-based terminal that the voice communication resource is open.

21. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of accepting, by the display-based terminal, an indication from the user of the user'"'"'s desire to terminate the voice communication with the selected at least one two-way communication unit.

22. A method for a display-based terminal to communicate with at least one of a plurality of two-way communication units in a communication system, the method comprising the steps of:

displaying a map to a user of the display based terminal indicating locations of the plurality of two-way communication units;

receiving, from the user, an indication of a type of communication to be used for subsequent communications with at least some communication units of the plurality of two-way communication units;

receiving, from the user, a selection from the map of at least one two-way communication unit of the at least some communication units to produce at least one selected communication unit; and

responsive to receiving the selection and without involving further manual action by the user;

automatically obtaining stored communication information necessary to at least initiate a voice communication of the type indicated in the indication; and

responsive to the step of obtaining stored communication information and without involving further manual action by the user;

automatically, initiating a voice communication of the type indicated in the indication with the at least one selected communication unit based on the stored communication information.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the stored communication information includes at least one of an individual identification, a talkgroup identification, an encryption key, a voice communication resource identification, a base station identification, a private line code, and a digital private line code.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of providing a visual indication on the map of the at least one selected communication unit that is different than a visual indication of unselected two-way communication units.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of providing a visual indication on the map of a two-way communication unit of the at least one selected communication unit that is presently transmitting a voice communication.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the type of voice communication comprises any one of an individual voice communication, an individual data communication, a group voice communication, and a group data communication.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of automatically initiating a voice communication comprises the steps of:

accessing a voice communication resource in support of the voice communication; and

activating a user input device that enables the user to input user information for transmission over the voice communication resource.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the user input device is at least one of a foot switch, a panel microphone, a push-to-talk activator, a computer mouse, a keyboard, a touchscreen display, a voice recognition device, and a voice activated device.

29. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of displaying an indication to the user that the voice communication has been initiated.

30. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of receiving an indication from the user of a desire to terminate the voice communication with the at least one selected communication unit.

31. A method for a display based terminal to communicate with at least one of a plurality of two-way communication units in a voice communication system, the method comprising the steps of:

displaying a map to a user of the display based terminal, the map including representations of the plurality of two-way communication units and indicating locations of the plurality of two way communication units within at least a portion of the voice communication system;

receiving a message from a transmitting communication unit of the plurality of two-way communication units;

modifying a representation of the transmitting communication unit to visually identify the transmitting communication unit to the user of the display-based terminal;

determining at least a type for the message received from the transmitting unit;

receiving, from the user of the display based terminal, a selection from the map of the representation of the transmitting communication unit; and

responsive to user input without involving further manual action by the user;

automatically obtaining communication information necessary to send a response to the transmitting communication unit;

automatically, responsive to the step of obtaining communication information necessary to send a response, opening a voice communication resource between the display-based terminal and the transmitting communication unit; and

sending a response to the transmitting two-way communication unit, wherein a type for the response is identical to the type for the message.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of determining at least a type for the message further comprises determining a transmission mode for the message and wherein the step of sending a response further comprises the step of sending a response having a transmission mode that is identical to the transmission mode for the message.

33. A display-based terminal, comprising:

a graphical user interface that displays, to a user of the display based terminal, a map indicating locations of a plurality of two-way wireless communication units;

a selection device for use by the user of the display based terminal to select from the map at least one two-way wireless communication unit of the plurality of two-way wireless communication units with which the user desires to communicate to produce at least one selected communication unit;

a memory device that has stored therein communication information necessary to at least initiate a voice communication with the at least one selected two-way communication unit; and

a processor coupled to the graphical user interface, the memory device, and the selection device, the processor, responsive to the selection device and without further manual action by the user;

automatically retrieving the communication information from the memory device,

automatically opening a voice communication resource between the display-based terminal and the at least one two-way wireless communication unit, and

automatically, at least initiating the voice communication with the at least one selected communication unit based on the communication information.

34. The display-based terminal of claim 33, wherein the communication information includes at least one of an individual identification, a talkgroup identification, an encryption key, a voice communication resource identification, a base station identification, a private line code, and a digital private line code.

35. The display-based terminal of claim 33, further comprising a user input device, coupled to the processor, that enables the user to input user information during the voice communication, wherein the user input device is at least one of a foot switch, a panel microphone, a push-to-talk activator, a computer mouse, a keyboard, a touchscreen display, a voice recognition device, and a voice activated device.

36. The display-based terminal of claim 33, wherein the selection device comprises at least one of a computer mouse, a keyboard, a touchscreen portion of the graphical user interface, a voice recognition device, and a voice activated device.

37. The display-based terminal of claim 33, wherein the display-based terminal is part of a voice communication system that includes a wireless infrastructure, wherein the display-based terminal is located remotely from the wireless infrastructure, and wherein the display-based terminal further comprises a radio transceiver, coupled to the processor, for exchanging voice and data information with the wireless infrastructure.

38. The display-based terminal of claim 33, wherein the map further indicates a location of at least one incident and a status of at least one of the plurality of two-way wireless communication units.

39. A voice communication system comprising:

a plurality of wireless two-way communication units;

a wireless infrastructure; and

a display-based terminal, coupled to the wireless infrastructure and controlling voice communication between the plurality of two-way communication units, the display based terminal comprising;

a graphical user interface that displays, to a user of the display-based terminal, a map indicating locations of the plurality of two-way wireless communication units;

a selection device for use by the user of the display-based terminal to select from the map at least one two-way wireless communication unit of the plurality of two-way wireless communication units with which the user desires to communicate to produce at least one selected communication unit;

a memory device that has stored therein communication information necessary to at least initiate a voice communication with the at least one selected communication unit; and

a processor coupled to the graphical user interface, the memory device, and the selection device, the processor, responsive to the selection device and without involving further manual action by the user;

automatically retrieving the communication information from the memory device,

automatically opening a voice communication resource between the display-based terminal and the at least one selected communication unit, and

automatically at least initiating the voice communication with the at least one selected communication unit through the wireless infrastructure based on the communication information.

40. The voice communication system of claim 39, wherein the display-based terminal is located remotely from the wireless infrastructure and wherein the display-based terminal further comprises a radio transceiver, coupled to the processor, for exchanging information with the wireless infrastructure.

41. The voice communication system of claim 39, wherein the display-based terminal further comprises a user input device, coupled to the processor, that enables the user to input user information during the voice communication.