User dynamically definable centralized notification between portable devices

#The present invention generally relates to the field of portable electronic devices, and particularly to user dynamically definable centralized notification between portable devices, such as personal handheld devices and the like.

#Optimized data accessing solutions are needed to address the increases in technology, methods and variety of ways consumers access diverse types of data. For instance, a consumer may use a wireless telephone to speak with another person, but in other instances may want to access text messages, and therefore, utilize a text messaging pager or the like. Even though some communication functions have been further combined into single devices, these devices are typically not well suited to provide all the desired functions, i.e. instead of doing one thing well, a variety of functions are provided in different form factor devices, and consequently not in an optimized manner, causing a user to forgo certain desired functionality. Therefore, users may still wish to utilize a variety of portable devices to obtain the functionality desired.

#Additionally, as new forms of data communication and updates to preexisting communication methods become available, a user may have even more devices. Thus, consumers wishing to avail themselves of all the different types of functionality may be forced to carry a wide range of devices, which may be tiresome, difficult to manage, and even more difficult to coordinate.

#The numerous advantages of the present invention may be better understood by those skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying figures in which:

#FIG. 1 is an illustration of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention wherein a system including a plurality of portable electronic devices capable of accessing data from diverse sources is shown;

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention wherein portable electronic devices are configured for communication over a provider network and a local network to enable data transfer;

#Reference will now be made in detail to the presently preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

#Referring generally now to FIGS. 1 through 6, exemplary embodiments of the present invention are shown. Consumers are becoming more and more “connected” through the accessibility of data even in mobile instances. For instance, today, consumers may have a variety of portable devices, from personal digital assistants, wireless phones including cell phones, portable information handling systems, and the like. These devices may have a wide range of functionality, and may access and deliver data utilizing a variety of similar and disparate mechanisms. However, the accessing and carrying of all theses different devices may become troublesome. Further, each device may have features tailored to specific situations, making them optimal in certain situations, but a liability in others. Therefore, the present invention provides user-definable notification between portable devices to enable a user to optimize the accessing of information by taking advantage of specific device characteristics.

#Referring now to FIG. 1, an embodiment 100 of the present invention is shown within a system that includes a plurality of portable electronic devices. A user may utilize a variety of portable electronic devices to access data from diverse sources. The electronic devices may include a wireless phone 102, personal digital assistant 104, pager 106, portable information handling system and the like without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Each of the devices may have functionality tailored to providing access in an optimized manner. For instance, a wireless phone 102 may enable a user to talk to other users of wireless or wired phones over a wireless network 108, such as a cellular network and the like. However, use of the wireless phone 102 may be obtrusive is certain instances, such as business meetings, movie theaters, and the like. Therefore, it may be desirable to receive notification of a call or message in such an instance over the pager 106. The pager 106 have a silent notification means, and may receive notifications of phone numbers, as well as to send and receive text messages in certain instances. Therefore, a user of the pager 106 may be able to communicate silently, and receive data in an unobtrusive manner. However, communication over the pager 106 may be inefficient in instances in which more than simple ideas need to be conveyed.