Patent ID: 8738052

Claim:
In a two-way radio frequency (RF) communications system having at least one fixed terminal, one or more channels, and a plurality of subscriber units, the method comprising, at a first subscriber unit: monitoring, on a first channel, for communications of a first group associated with a first group identification (ID) stored at the first subscriber unit to which the first subscriber unit is subscribed; receiving an incident ID assign message, addressed to one of the first group and the first subscriber unit, instructing the first subscriber unit that it is temporarily assigned to a particular incident and identifying an incident with a corresponding incident ID; the first subscriber unit embedding the incident ID into one or more subsequent transmissions initiated at the first subscriber unit; responsive to receiving an incident ID scan instruction, the first subscriber unit starting an incident ID scan process including scanning a plurality of pre-configured channels and/or groups for communications including an embedded incident ID that matches the received incident ID; if a communication is detected on a particular one of the plurality of pre-configured channels and/or groups including an embedded incident ID that matches the received incident ID, tuning to the particular one of the plurality of pre-configured channels and/or groups; responsive to one of a detected first user input, received incident ID un-assign message, and a first subscriber unit detected first trigger, halting the incident ID scan process; and responsive to one of a detected second user input, the received incident ID un-assign message, and a first subscriber unit detected second trigger, refraining from embedding the incident ID into subsequent transmissions initiated at the first subscriber unit.