Patent Document ID: 7965231
Application ID: 12184999

Base Claim:
1. A method of communicating between a plurality of navigation devices comprising: obtaining positional information for a first navigation device by assessing a plurality of global positioning satellite signals; generating a data signal for transmission to a plurality of other devices, the data signal including a latitude value obtained from the positional information for the first navigation device, a longitude value obtained from the positional information for the first navigation device, and an identification of the first navigation device; transmitting the data signal to a communication device through a signal cable, wherein the communication device is separate from the first navigation device; and transmitting the data signal, utilizing the communication device, to a plurality of other navigation devices such that each of the plurality of navigation devices can identify and display a geographic position of the first navigation device.

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Claim 4:
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the data signal is a National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) signal, the NMEA signal includes 82 characters, wherein: character 1 is a dollar sign, characters 2 through 6 is a transmission type, characters 7 through 8 is a latitude degree, character 9 is a period, characters 10 through 14 is latitude minutes, character 15 is a latitude direction, characters 16 through 18 is a longitude degree, character 19 is a period, characters 20 through 24 are longitude minutes, characters 25 is a latitude direction, characters 26 through 35 are a waypoint name, characters 36 through 37 is an ICON index value, characters 38 through 40 is an altitude measurement, characters 41 through 46 is a SCODE value, characters 47 through 48 is a group identification, characters 49 through 54 is a date, characters 55 through 60 is a time reading, character 61 is an asterisk, and characters 62 through 82 are a checksum and sentence delimiter.