Patent ID: 7702340

Claim:
A method to send at least one message to a recipient using a mobile phone and a keyboard of a computing device that is physically separated from the mobile phone, the method comprising: identifying a number of available ports associated with devices for transmitting data between the computing device and the mobile phone; generating a list of the available ports; displaying a user interface on a display device of the computing device, the user interface having a user-selectable control including the list of available ports, a destination number field for entering a destination number for the at least one message, a message field, a send button, and a phone book button, wherein the user-selectable control enables the user to view the number of available ports; receiving an indication from the user of one port of the list of available ports that is to be used to communicate with the mobile phone, wherein receiving the indication comprises receiving a selection of the one port from the user-selectable control using the computing device; providing a maximum number indication of a maximum number of characters that can be used in each of the at least one message; displaying a body of the at least one message in the message field in response to a user typing the at least one message with the keyboard; displaying a destination number of the recipient in response to one of the user typing the destination number with the keyboard and selecting the destination number from a phone book; and sending the at least one message to the mobile phone via the one port, wherein the at least one message is sent to the recipient using the mobile phone.