METHOD OF PROVIDING A CELLULAR PHONE/PDA COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
A cellular, PDA communication device and communication system for allowing a plurality of cellular phone users to monitor each others' locations and status, to initiate cellular phone calls by touching a symbol on the touch screen display with a stylus which can also include point to call conferencing calling. Each participant's cellular phone PDA device includes GPS navigation receiver with application software for point to call cellular phone initiation to participants and geographical entities including vehicles, persons or events, conference calls and video transfers. The method and system also includes automatic shifting from GPRS/EDGE/CDMA/1XEVDO to SMS when any of the cellular phones in the communication network is in the voice mode and in use and for automatic shifting back to GPRS/EDGE/CDMA/1XEVDO upon completion of the voice phone call.
1 . A method comprising:
performing by one or more computers:
receiving through the Internet Automatic Identification System (AIS) information comprising identities of one or more ships and their respective locations;
sending through the Internet the identities and respective locations of the one or more ships to a plurality of user devices wherein each of the user devices is configured to display, for each of the ships, respective data representing the location of the ship; and
receiving through the Internet at various times from one or more of the user devices respective first information comprising an identity and location of the user device and sending the identity and location to one or more of the other user devices,
wherein each of the other user devices is configured to display respective data representing the location of the user device.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the AIS information for the one or more ships comprises respective headings and speeds of the ships and wherein sending the identities and respective locations of the ships further comprises sending the respective headings and speeds of the ships to the plurality of user devices.
3 . The method of claim 2 wherein each of the user devices is configured to display, for each of the ships, the heading and speed of the ship.
4 . The method of claim 21 wherein a particular map is an aerial photograph, a satellite image, or a chart.
5 . The method of claim 1 wherein receiving at various times from a particular user device respective first information comprises:
receiving the first information from the particular user device at a time based on one or more of: speed of the particular user device, distance traveled by the particular user device, or passage of a predetermined time interval.
6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the respective first information further comprises one or more of: a battery level of the user device, Global Positioning System (GPS) strength, and cellular signal strength.
7 . The method of claim 22 , further comprising:
receiving from a first user device information indicating user selection of one or more of the displayed symbols corresponding to second user devices and, based thereon:
obtaining respective contact information for each of the second user devices; and
facilitating a respective communication between the first user device and each of the second user devices using the contact information of the second user device.
8 . The method of claim 7 wherein a particular communication is a phone call, a short message service message, a voice message, a text message, an electronic mail message, an image, or a video.
9 . The method of claim 7 wherein particular contact information is a phone number or an Internet Protocol address.
10 . The method of claim 1 wherein a particular user device is a smart phone, a personal data assistant, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, or a laptop computer.
11 . A system comprising:
one or more computers programmed to perform operations comprising:
receiving through the Internet Automatic Identification System (AIS) information comprising identities of one or more ships and their respective locations;
sending through the Internet the identities and respective locations of the one or more ships to a plurality of user devices wherein each of the user devices is configured to display, for each of the ships, respective data representing the location of the ship; and
receiving through the Internet at various times from one or more of the user devices respective first information comprising an identity and location of the user device and sending the identity and location to one or more of the other user devices,
wherein each of the other user devices is configured to display respective data representing the location of the user device.
12 . The system of claim 11 wherein the AIS information for the one or more ships comprises respective headings and speeds of the ships and wherein sending the identities and respective locations of the ships further comprises sending the respective headings and speeds of the ships to the plurality of user devices.
13 . The system of claim 12 wherein each of the user devices is configured to display, for each of the ships, the heading and speed of the ship.
14 . The system of claim 23 wherein a particular map is an aerial photograph, a satellite image, or a chart.
15 . The system of claim 11 wherein receiving at various times from a particular user device respective first information comprises:
receiving the first information from the particular user device at a time based on one or more of: speed of the particular user device, distance traveled by the particular user device, or passage of a predetermined time interval.
16 . The system of claim 11 wherein the respective first information further comprises one or more of: a battery level of the user device, Global Positioning System (GPS) strength, and cellular signal strength.
17 . The system of claim 24 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving from a first user device information indicating user selection of one or more of the displayed symbols corresponding to second user devices and, based thereon:
obtaining respective contact information for each of the second user devices; and
facilitating a respective communication between the first user device and each of the second user devices using the contact information of the second user device.
18 . The system of claim 17 wherein a particular communication is a phone call, a short message service message, a voice message, a text message, an electronic mail message, an image, or a video.
19 . The system of claim 17 wherein particular contact information is a phone number or an Internet Protocol address.
20 . The system of claim 11 wherein a particular user device is a smart phone, a personal data assistant, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, or a laptop computer.
21 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the user devices is configured to display, for each of the ships, respective data representing the location of the ship by displaying a respective symbol representing the ship on a respective map at a position corresponding to the location of the ship.
22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein each of the other user devices is configured to display respective data representing the location of the user device by displaying a respective symbol representing the user device on the respective map at a position corresponding to the location of the user device.
23 . The system of claim 11 , wherein each of the user devices is configured to display, for each of the ships, respective data representing the location of the ship by displaying a respective symbol representing the ship on a respective map at a position corresponding to the location of the ship.
24 . The system of claim 23 , wherein each of the other user devices is configured to display respective data representing the location of the user device by displaying a respective symbol representing the user device on the respective map at a position corresponding to the location of the user device.
25 . A method comprising:
performing by one or more computers:
receiving through the Internet Automatic Identification System (AIS) information comprising an identity and a location of a ship;
selecting one or more user devices to receive the identity and the location of the ship based, at least in part, on the location of the ship, wherein each of the one or more user devices is configured to display data representing the location of the ship; and
sending the identity and the location of the ship through the Internet to the one or more selected user devices.
26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the one or more selected user devices include first and second user devices, the method further comprising:
receiving through the Internet at various times from the second user device information comprising an identity and location of the second user device; and
sending the identity and location of the second user device to the first user device, wherein the first user device is configured to display data representing the location of the second user device.
27 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the first user device is configured to display data representing the location of the ship by displaying a symbol representing the ship on a map at a position corresponding to the location of the ship, and wherein the first user device is configured to display data representing the location of the second user device by displaying a symbol representing the second user device on the map at a position corresponding to the location of the second user device.
28 . A system comprising:
one or more computers programmed to perform operations comprising:
receiving through the Internet Automatic Identification System (AIS) information comprising an identity and a location of a ship;
selecting one or more user devices to receive the identity and the location of the ship based, at least in part, on the location of the ship, wherein each of the one or more user devices is configured to display data representing the location of the ship; and
sending the identity and the location of the ship through the Internet to the one or more selected user devices.
29 . The system of claim 28 , wherein the one or more selected user devices include first and second user devices, and wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving through the Internet at various times from the second user device information comprising an identity and location of the second user device; and
sending the identity and location of the second user device to the first user device, wherein the first user device is configured to display data representing the location of the second user device.
30 . The system of claim 29 , wherein the first user device is configured to display data representing the location of the ship by displaying a symbol representing the ship on a map at a position corresponding to the location of the ship, and wherein the first user device is configured to display data representing the location of the second user device by displaying a symbol representing the second user device on the map at a position corresponding to the location of the second user device.