Patent ID: 7844286

Claim:
A method for providing a notification, the method comprising: storing emergency broadcast information on a network-enable portable device, the emergency broadcast information comprising at least a listing of one or more broadcast technologies that are supported by the device and one or more emergency broadcast channels associated with each supported broadcast technology; updating the emergency broadcast information with data from a network-based emergency broadcast information database via over-the-air programming; receiving information at the portable device via a wireless network, wherein the information is indicative of: an occurrence of an emergency broadcast; and a relevance of the emergency broadcast; determining, at the portable device, in accordance with the information, whether the emergency broadcast is relevant; and upon determining that the emergency broadcast is relevant: retrieving a least a subset of the emergency broadcast information; providing a notification via the portable device of the occurrence of the emergency broadcast, the notification including the at least a subset of the emergency broadcast information; and automatically tuning the portable device to one of the one or more emergency broadcast channels identified by the subnet of the emergency broadcast information.