Controlling a crowd of multiple mobile station devices

• US 9,576,297 B1
• Filed: 05/04/2015
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: West Technology Group LLC (West Corporation)
• Original Assignee: West Corporation
• Inventors: Groenjes, Jason H
• Primary Examiner(s): Arevalo, Joseph
• Application Number:
  US14/703,203
• Time in Patent Office: 659 Days
• Field of Search: 455/410, 455/3.04, 455/432.1, 455/99, 455/59, 455/418, 455/466, 455/73
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/08 providing for individual presentation of information to a plurality of student stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

A method and apparatus of communicating with multiple mobile station devices in a concerted effort is disclosed. According to one example method of operation the method may include identifying a number of mobile station devices as being present at the pre-defined venue location via a server and initiating an application on the server that establishes a feedback menu display. The method may also include transmitting the feedback menu display to each of the identified mobile station devices receiving feedback messages from a majority of the mobile station devices responsive to the feedback menu display questions, and processing the feedback messages and providing a result to the moderator device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving preferences, from a moderator, to offer a preferred audience demographic larger weighted results than other audience members, wherein the preferences comprise user information parameters defining the demographic that is to receive a higher weight;

launching automatically a mobile application on a plurality of mobile station devices on an event date based on one of a location and a time frame;

initiating the application on a server that establishes a feedback menu display;

transmitting the feedback menu display to at least one of the plurality of mobile station devices;

receiving feedback messages from a majority of the plurality of mobile station devices responsive to the feedback menu display questions, wherein the feedback messages comprise the user information parameters; and

processing the feedback messages and providing a result to a moderator device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the feedback messages comprise at least one selected option from the feedback menu display and the processing of the feedback messages comprises determining, via the server, a percentage of a number of the at least one selected option received among a total number of the plurality of mobile station devices that received the feedback menu display.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising identifying the plurality of mobile station devices as being present at a particular venue location, wherein the identifying comprises transmitting a request for specific location information to each of the plurality of mobile station devices and receiving and storing the specific location information in an application server database.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating a most popular feedback decision from the majority of the plurality of mobile station devices; and

transmitting a result to the moderator device indicating the most popular feedback decision.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving user profile information parameters from each of the plurality of mobile station devices corresponding to a plurality of users of the plurality of mobile station devices.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the user profile information parameters comprise at least one of name, age, sex, occupation, address, and income level.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising weighting at least one of the user profile information parameters defined by the input preferences to increase feedback results in favor of the preferred demographic specified by the preferences prior to processing the feedback messages and providing the result to the moderator device.

8. An Apparatus, comprising:

a processor configured to

receive preferences from a moderator to offer a preferred audience demographic larger weighted results than other audience members, wherein the preferences comprise user information parameters that defines the demographic that is to receive a higher weight, and

initiate an application that establishes a feedback menu display;

a transmitter configured to transmit the feedback menu display to at least one of a plurality of mobile station devices at a predetermined time; and

a receiver configured to receive feedback messages from a majority of the plurality of mobile station devices responsive to the feedback menu display questions, wherein the feedback messages comprise the user information parameters, wherein

the processor is further configured to process the feedback messages and provide a result to a moderator device and to automatically launch the application on the plurality of mobile station devices on an event date based on one of a location and a time frame.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the feedback messages comprise at least one selected option from the feedback menu display and the processor is configured to process the feedback messages based on a percentage of a number of the at least one selected option received among a total number of the plurality of mobile station devices that received the feedback menu display.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to identify the plurality of mobile station devices as being present at a particular venue location, wherein the plurality of mobile station devices being identified comprises the transmitter configured to transmit a request for specific location information to each of the plurality of mobile station devices and the receiver configured to receive and store the specific location information in an application server database.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to calculate a most popular feedback decision from the majority of the plurality of mobile station devices, and the transmitter is further configured to transmit a result to the moderator device that indicated the most popular feedback decision.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive user profile information parameters from each of the plurality of mobile station devices that correspond to a plurality of users of the plurality of mobile station devices.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the user profile information parameters comprise at least one of name, age, sex, occupation, address, and income level.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to weight at least one of the user profile information parameters defined by the received preferences to increase feedback results in favor of the preferred demographic specified by the preferences prior to the feedback messages being processed and the result provided to the moderator device.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to store instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to:

receive preferences from a moderator to offer a preferred audience demographic larger weighted results than other audience members, wherein the preferences comprise user information parameters that define the demographic that is to receive a higher weight;

automatically launch an application on a plurality of mobile station devices on an event date based on one of a location and a time frame;

initiate the application on a server that establishes a feedback menu display;

transmit the feedback menu display to at least one of the plurality of mobile station devices;

receive feedback messages from a majority of the plurality of mobile station devices responsive to the feedback menu display questions, wherein the feedback messages comprise the user information parameters, wherein feedback messages from the preferred audience demographic have a higher weight than the other audience members; and

process the feedback messages and provide a result to a moderator device.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the feedback messages comprise at least one selected option from the feedback menu display and the feedback messages being processed comprises a determination, via the server, a percentage of a number of the at least one selected option received among a total number of the plurality of mobile station devices that received the feedback menu display.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to identify the plurality of mobile station devices as being present at a particular venue location, wherein the plurality of mobile station devices being identified comprises a request being transmitted for specific location information to each of the plurality of mobile station devices and the specific location information being received and stored in an application server database.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:

calculate a most popular feedback decision from the majority of the plurality of mobile station devices; and

transmit a result to the moderator device that indicates the most popular feedback decision.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to receive user profile information parameters from each of the plurality of mobile station devices that correspond to a plurality of users of the plurality of mobile station devices.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the user profile information parameters comprise at least one of name, age, sex, occupation, address, and income level, and the processor is further configured to weight at least one of the user profile information parameters defined by the received preferences to increase feedback results in favor of the preferred demographic specified by the preferences prior to the feedback messages being processed, and to provide the result to the moderator device.