System and method for using a mobile device as an input device for surveys at a live event

Abstract

A method is provided for interacting with audience members in an event, each of the potential attendees having available thereto a unique identifier. The method comprises creating, for an attendee, a unique ID (UID) on a mobile wireless device (MWD) by the steps of inputting to the MWD one of the unique identifiers, combining the obtained unique identifier with a UID time stamp at the time of creation of the UID; receiving with a server on a first wireless channel communications from the MWD; registering the UID at the physical location of the event; generating a visual query; displaying on the MWD response indicators; receiving at the server from the registered attendee a response, to the query over the first wireless channel; and storing in a database on the server the received response in association with the displayed query.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for interacting with audience members in an event, wherein the event has a finite number of participating attendees selected from attendees of the event, each of the participating attendees having available thereto a unique identifier, comprising the steps of:
 for each participating attendee, creating a unique ID (UID) on a mobile wireless device (MWD) by the steps of:
 inputting to the MWD one of the unique identifiers; and 
 combining the obtained unique identifier with a UID time stamp at the time of creation in the MWD to provide the UID; 
   receiving with a server on a first wireless channel communications from the MWD of each participating attendee;   registering the UID of each participating attendee at the physical location of the event;   generating at the server a visual query;   displaying on a physical display at the event the visual query, wherein the query relates to a plurality visual messages;   displaying on the MWD of each participating attendee response indicators;   receiving at the server from each participating attendee a select response, each response resulting from one of the participating attendees selecting one of the response indicators, to the query over the first wireless channel;   storing in a database on the server the received responses in association with the displayed query;   associating the respective received responses with the respective UIDs;   creating a query ID (QID) associated with the displayed query;   creating respective response time stamp indicating the respective times at which the respective responses were received by the server;   creating a data record for the each UID, the UID data record including:
 the respective UID, 
 the QID, 
 the respective received response, and 
 the respective response time stamp; 
   creating a data record for the QID, the QID data record including:
 the QID; 
 each of the respective received responses, 
 each respective UID, and 
 each respective response time stamp; 
   performing statistical analysis on the QID data record;   selecting, based on the statistical analysis of the QID record, one of the visual messages from the plurality of visual messages; and   displaying on the physical display at the event the selected visual message.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the event is a closed venue. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each unique identifier is a respective fixed location associated with the venue. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein each respective fixed location is a defined seat in a closed venue having a seat identifier as the location. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein registering each respective unique ID comprises recognizing each respective MWD at a predetermined and fixed location within the venue. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein recognizing each respective MWD comprises a scan of the MWD in the vicinity of the predetermined and fixed location. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein registering each respective UID comprises responding to a request for registration by transmitting the respective UID to a server over the first wireless channel. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the response indicators comprise alphabetic symbols. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the response indicators comprise numeric symbols. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the response indicators comprise symbols of differing colors. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving at the server a select response includes receiving a timestamp associated with the response. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving at the server select responses includes receiving the responses within a defined time window. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising associating each respective received response with statistical information related to an attendee classification. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising assigning each respective UID to a statistical category based on the respective received response and the displayed query. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the UID data record also includes statistical information that is related to an attendee classification and that is based on the received response. 
     
     
         16 . A system for interacting with audience members in an event, wherein the event has a finite number of potential attendees, each of the potential attendees having available thereto a unique identifier, the system comprising:
 a first wireless channel;   a mobile wireless device (MWD) for each participating attendee, each respective MWD configured to display response indicators and to communicate responses over the first wireless channel;   a unique ID (UID) for each participating attendee, created on the respective MWD, each UID comprising:
 a unique identifier available to the respective attendee; and 
 a time stamp indicating the time of creation of the respective UID on the respective MWD; 
   a server configured to generate a visual query and to receive communications from each MWD over the first wireless channel;   a physical display for displaying visual messages and the visual query; and   a database, on the server, configured to store a plurality of visual messages and to store responses that are received from the MWD and that are associated with the displayed visual query;   wherein the server is also configured to perform a statistical analysis on the stored responses, to select, based on the statistical analysis of the stored responses, a visual message from the plurality of visual messages, and to communicate the visual message to the physical display.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the event is a closed venue. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the MWD is also configured to communicate timestamps indicating the time at which the responses are communicated over the first wireless channel. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein each unique identifier comprises a respective fixed location associated with the venue. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein each respective fixed location comprises a defined seat in a closed venue having a seat identifier as the location.