Viewer interactive event system

Abstract

An Internet or phone polling system provides audiences of competitive events the opportunity to interact with these events by determining which contestants may compete and the activities the contestants will perform. The audience may then judge the performance of each contestant by rating performances. The audience members compete against one another by predicting the overall top rated contestants. The audience members compete against one another while controlling and determining the outcome of the competitive event they are viewing. The system provides viewers as well as the contestants a chance to win awards, cash and prizes as a result of their participation.

1 . A method comprising: 
 receiving contestant selections from a plurality of viewers, each of said contestant selections indicating one or more contestants selected by the viewers from a plurality of contestants;    generating production information based on the received contestant selections; and    assigning a point value to one or more of said plurality of viewers based on a contestant selection received from said one or more of said one or more viewers.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the production information comprises information identifying one or more contestants selected by a plurality of viewers.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein assigning the point value comprises: 
 assigning one or more game points to said viewer in response to receiving a contestant selection from said viewer indicating one or more contestants selected by a highest number of said plurality of viewers.    
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising: 
 receiving activity selections from the plurality of viewers, each of said activity selections indicating one or more activities to be performed by the selected contestants in a production.    
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising: 
 displaying a first production including one or more contestants identified in the production information performing activities identified in the production information.    
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising: 
 receiving performance ratings from said plurality of viewers in response to said displaying.    
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising: 
 casting one or more of said contestants in a second production in response to said performance ratings.    
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising: 
 assigning another point value to a viewer in response to a performance rating received from said viewer.    
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising: 
 awarding a prize to the viewer based on the point values assigned to the viewer.    
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein one of the point values comprises a select point value and the other point value comprises a cast point value.  
     
     
         11 . A method comprising: 
 presenting an audition production to a plurality of viewers, said audition production comprising a plurality of contestants;    receiving votes from a plurality of viewers;    selecting one or more contestants from said plurality of contestants based on the received votes;    assigning one or more points to viewers that voted for one or more of the contestants; and    creating a second production including said one or more contestants in a second production.    
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein creating the second production comprises creating a television program.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein creating the second production comprises creating a movie.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein creating the second production comprises creating a video game.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein creating the second production comprises creating a cartoon.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein creating the second production comprises creating a publication.  
     
     
         17 . The method  claim 11 , wherein receiving votes comprises receiving performance ratings from the viewers.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising: 
 awarding a prize to one or more viewers in response to a number of points assigned to said one or more viewers.    
     
     
         19 . Apparatus comprising: 
 a receiver operative to receive viewer selections from a plurality of viewer input devices, said viewer selections including information indicative of a plurality of contestants in a competition;    a processor operative to assign points to viewers in response to received viewer selections and to generate production information in response to received viewer selections, said production information including information indicative of one or more contestants selected by a highest number of viewers; and    a memory operative to store viewer selections and viewer information including viewer points.    
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the viewer selections further include information indicative of selected activities, and 
 wherein said production information includes activities selected by a majority of viewers.    
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the game controller is further operative to assign points to a viewer in response to receiving a viewer selection from said viewer matching a selection by a majority of said viewers.  
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the receiver is further operative receive viewer ratings of contestants in a production generated in response to said production information.  
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 22 , wherein the receiver is further operative to assign viewer points in response to viewer selections and viewer ratings.  
     
     
         24 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the plurality of viewer input devices include a plurality of telephones.  
     
     
         25 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the plurality of viewer input devices include a plurality of networked computers.  
     
     
         26 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , further comprising a server hosting a website including a plurality of interactive pages.  
     
     
         27 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the processor is further operative to determine prize awards in response to viewer points.  
     
     
         28 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the memory comprises one or more databases.  
     
     
         29 . An article comprising a machine-readable medium including machine-executable instructions, the instructions operative to cause a machine to perform operations including: 
 receive contestant selections from a plurality of viewers, each of said contestant selections indicating one or more contestants selected by the viewers from a plurality of contestants;    generate production information based on the received contestant selections; and    assign a point value to one or more of said plurality of viewers based on a contestant selection received from said one or more viewers.    
     
     
         30 . The article of  claim 29 , wherein the production information comprises information identifying one or more contestants selected by a plurality of viewers.  
     
     
         31 . An article comprising a machine-readable medium including machine-executable instructions, the instructions operative to cause a machine to: 
 present an audition production to a plurality of viewers, said audition production comprising a plurality of contestants;    receive votes from a plurality of viewers;    select one or more contestants from said plurality of contestants based on the received votes;    assign one or more points to viewers that voted for one or more of the contestants; and    create a second production including said one or more contestants in a second production.    
     
     
         32 . The article of claim  31 , further comprising instructions operative to cause the machine to: 
 award a prize to one or more viewers in response to a number of points assigned to said one or more viewers.