Method and computer-readable medium for social circle push-to-talk service

A method for establishing a push-to-talk social group, the method comprising the acts of:

• receiving at a server comprising an internet application that manages push-to-talk social groups, group setup information from a member of the push-to-talk social group;
• sending from the server a data transmission, including an internet address of the internet application that manages push-to-talk social groups, to each member of the push-to-talk social group;
• receiving at the server from each member of the push-to-talk social group a confirmation of membership in the push-to-talk social group;
• monitoring at a network gateway push-to-talk calling activity to determine when a first member of the push-to-talk social group;
• is involved in a push-to-talk call;
• detecting a push-to-talk call including the first member of the push-to-talk social group
• sending a call record of the detected push-to-talk call to the internet application;
• receiving, from the internet application, a mobile station identifier of an originator of the detected push-to-talk call and a mobile station identifier of a recipient of the detected push-to-talk call based on the call record;
• notifying via the network gateway a second member of the push-to-talk social group that the first member is active on the detected push-to-talk call, wherein a mobile station of the second member of the push-to-talk social group is automatically set up to call the first member to establish a one-to-one call;
• and
• joining via the network gateway the second member to the detected push-to-talk call based on the one-to-one call from the second member, wherein when the detected push-to-talk call is a one-to-one call, the detected push-to-talk call is converted to a group call when the second member of the push-to-talk social group is joined to the detected push-to-talk call.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program for establishing a push-to-talk social group, the computer program comprising instructions for:

• receiving group setup information from a member of the push-to-talk social group;
• sending a data transmission, including an internet address of an internet application that manages push-to-talk social groups, to each member of the push-to-talk social group;
• monitoring push-to-talk calling in a push-to-talk gateway application, based upon the group setup information;
• detecting a push-to-talk call in which a first member of the push-to-talk social group is active;
• sending a call record of the detected push-to-talk call to the internet application;
• receiving, from the internet application, a mobile station identifier of an originator of the detected push-to-talk call and a mobile station identifier of a recipient of the detected push-to-talk call;
• notifying a second member of the push-to-talk social group that the first member is active on the detected push-to-talk call, wherein a mobile station of the second member of the push-to-talk social group is automatically set up to call the first member to establish a one-to-one call;
• and
• joining the second member of the push-to-talk social group to the detected call based on the one-to-one call, wherein when the detected push-to-talk call is a one-to-one call, the detected push-to-talk call is converted to a group call when the second member of the push-to-talk social group is joined to the detected push-to-talk call.