Patent ID: 7299075

Claim:
A digital communication device for identifying and communicating with other digital communication devices within a communication range, comprising: a transmitter configured to transmit a first control signal and a first voice signal directly to other digital communication devices without utilizing fixed towers to re-transmit the first control signal and the first voice signal; a receiver configured to receive a second control signal and a second voice signal directly from at least one of the other digital communication devices without utilizing fixed towers to re-transmit the second control signal and the second voice signal; a computational unit configured to control the transmitter to periodically transmit identifying information as the first control signal, the first control signal being received as remote identifying information by the other digital communication devices within the communication range; a user interface having a display area for displaying information corresponding to at least a portion of the second control signal received from the other digital communication devices, wherein the information is displayed on the display area as a list selectable by a user to create a selected set of digital communication devices; a speaker configured to output the second voice signal received by the receiver; and a microphone configured to receive a voice communication from the user, wherein the user interface includes a transmit button, and the computational unit is configured to control the transmitter and the microphone to transmit the voice communication as the first voice signal while the transmit button is selected by the user to the selected set of digital communication devices, wherein the first voice signal is received by the other digital communication devices within the communication range, and wherein the voice communication is output exclusively on the speaker of the selected set of digital communication devices within the communication range.