Systems and methods for creating and participating in ad-hoc virtual communities
First Claim
1. A method of creating a community of individuals that interact via a plurality of communications devices, the plurality of communications devices including a plurality of mobile communications devices in communication via a stateless messaging protocol, the method comprising:
- receiving a request from a host to create the community, the host having security privileges for administering the community;
assigning a unique identifier to the community;
defining admission criteria for selecting, amongst one or more individuals, a plurality of participants in the community;
receiving, from one or more individuals, a request to join the community, wherein the request is sent via the stateless messaging protocol, the request including the unique identifier for the community;
authenticating the request against the admission criteria to determine whether to add the one or more individuals to the plurality of participants in the community;
enabling the distribution of dynamically generated content from any one of the plurality of participants to the plurality of participants in the community via the messaging protocol.
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Abstract
Systems and methods are described for creating and expiring ad hoc communities of mobile and fixed-line phone and Internet users for the purpose of facilitating one-to-many communication amongst the users in response to live events. Embodiments of the invention allow one-to-many communication by any individual participant in a community to all other participants in a community via standard messaging protocols, and further allow dynamically generated content to be distributed amongst the participants in the community. Such dynamically generated content may include interactive contests amongst participants, surveys of the participants, or the distribution of audio visual content generated from or transmitted via mobile devices used by the participants. Embodiments of the invention include systems and methods for preserving state data regarding the communities, participants, and events in order to facilitate concurrent participation in multiple communities.
48 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method of creating a community of individuals that interact via a plurality of communications devices, the plurality of communications devices including a plurality of mobile communications devices in communication via a stateless messaging protocol, the method comprising:
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receiving a request from a host to create the community, the host having security privileges for administering the community; assigning a unique identifier to the community; defining admission criteria for selecting, amongst one or more individuals, a plurality of participants in the community; receiving, from one or more individuals, a request to join the community, wherein the request is sent via the stateless messaging protocol, the request including the unique identifier for the community; authenticating the request against the admission criteria to determine whether to add the one or more individuals to the plurality of participants in the community; enabling the distribution of dynamically generated content from any one of the plurality of participants to the plurality of participants in the community via the messaging protocol. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11)
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10. The method of claim 108, further comprising forwarding up-to-date results of the survey to the plurality of participants in the community via the messaging protocol in real-time.
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12. A method of communicating amongst a plurality of individuals, wherein the plurality of users are in communication via a plurality of mobile communications devices by use of a stateless messaging protocol, the method comprising:
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creating a plurality of discrete communities amongst the plurality of individuals, wherein each community includes a plurality of participants selected from the plurality of individuals; within each community in the plurality of communities, forwarding an identical query to each of the participants in the community, wherein the query is forwarded via the messaging protocol, wherein the query corresponds to two or more possible responses; within each community, for each of the two or more possible responses, dynamically generating a response key, wherein the response key uniquely identifies the community, the participant, and the possible response; within each community, forwarding to each of the participants each of the two or more possible responses with the response key; upon an pre-defined occurrence, de-allocating the response key so that the response key may be re-assigned, or recycled. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A system for exchanging content via a messaging protocol, the system comprising:
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a plurality of communities, each of the pluralities of communities including a plurality of individuals in communication via the messaging protocol; a plurality of queries to be forwarded to the plurality of individuals via the messaging protocol, wherein the query is forwarded as text; a plurality of text-based or multi-media responses to the plurality of queries, the plurality of text-based responses to be forwarded to the plurality of individuals via the messaging protocol; a plurality of unique keywords, each of the plurality of unique keys including an a string of characters; one or more state databases, wherein the one or more state databases include an injective map of a plurality of keywords to a plurality of tuples, each of the plurality of tuples indicating a query from the plurality of queries, a text-based or multi-media response from the plurality of responses, and an individual from the plurality of individuals, wherein the state database is updated in real-time; one or more servers operative to receive a plurality of messages from the plurality of individuals via the messaging protocol, to retrieve a keyword from each of the messages, and to decipher the query, the text-based response, and the individual corresponding to the message by comparing the keyword against the one or more state databases. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification