Patent ID: 8509834
Filing Date: 2013-08-13
Classification: H04L,H04M,H04Q,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method for establishing a push-to-talk social group, the method comprising the acts of: receiving at a server from a mobile station group setup information comprising a group name for the push-to-talk social group and a mobile station identifier for each member of the push-to-talk social group; transmitting from the server to each mobile station of the push-to-talk social group a confirmation request including an internet address for an internet application that manages communications in the push-to-talk social group in response to the group setup information; receiving at the server from each mobile station of the push-to-talk social group a confirmation of membership in the push-to-talk social group, including a name corresponding to each member of the push-to-talk social group; monitoring at a network gateway based on the received confirmations of membership in the push-to-talk social group push-to-talk calling activity to determine when a first member of the push-to-talk social group is involved in a push-to-talk call; detecting at the network gateway a push-to-talk call including the first member of the push-to-talk social group further comprising receiving a call record for the detected call and parsing at the server the call record to determine a mobile station identifier of each of the originator mobile station and the recipient mobile station; notifying via the network gateway a second member of the push-to-talk social group that the first member is active on the detected push-to-talk call, wherein a mobile station of the second member of the push-to-talk social group is automatically set up to call the first member to establish a one-to-one call; and joining via the network gateway the second member of the push-to-talk social group to the detected push-to-talk call based on the one-to-one call from the second member, wherein when the detected push-to-talk call is a one-to-one call, the detected push-to-talk call is converted to a group call when the second member of the push-to-talk social group is joined to the detected push-to-talk call.