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US-20260129382-A1 - METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR CONTROL OF THE PRESENTATION OF BROADCAST DATA FROM A PLURALITY OF MOBILE DEVICES

US20260129382A1US 20260129382 A1US20260129382 A1US 20260129382A1US-20260129382-A1

Abstract

A hybrid in-person and remote audiovisual conference broadcasting system provides a centrally controlled system for managing and broadcasting the audiovisual data collected from mobile devices both in humanly perceptible proximity of an in-person public-address system and beyond humanly perceptible proximity to the in-person public-address system. In an exemplary embodiment, a moderator controls requests from various participant members to broadcast audio or video from their personal mobile device to the other group members. Some members may be in proximity to an in-person public address system where they may for example be able to hear amplified audio and see live projected or otherwise presented video. In this exemplary embodiment, remote users not in proximity to the in-person public address system may also participate by for example listening to and viewing the broadcast audiovisual data on their personal mobile devices. Both in-person/local users and remote users may request to be selected for broadcasting to all users.

Inventors

  • Kenneth Nathaniel Sherman
  • Andrew Michael Livingston

Assignees

  • Social Microphone, Inc.

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20251230

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A method of controlling a presenting of broadcast data from a plurality of mobile devices, comprising the steps of: receiving by a central communication processor broadcast requests from said plurality of mobile devices; determining reception available statuses of at least some mobile devices of said plurality of mobile devices; organizing by the central communication processor the broadcast requests in a queue based in part on the reception available statuses; selecting by the central communication processor a first mobile device from the said plurality of mobile devices based in part on the queue; and presenting in humanly perceptible form by the central communication processor selected broadcast data received from the first mobile device using other mobile devices of said plurality of mobile devices.
  2. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the central communication processor controls admission of each mobile device of said plurality of mobile devices to said plurality of mobile devices.
  3. 3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of: terminating by the central communication processor presenting by any mobile device of said plurality of mobile devices.
  4. 4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of: blocking selectively transmitting of broadcast data between mobile devices of the mobile device group by the central communication processor.
  5. 5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of: enabling by an input from a moderator received by the central communication processor the presenting of the selected broadcast data from the first mobile device using mobile devices of said plurality of mobile devices.
  6. 6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of: displaying by the central communication processor indicia of a user of the first mobile device via other mobile devices of said plurality of mobile devices.
  7. 7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the organizing adjusts for latency in the reception of the broadcast requests.
  8. 8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the central communication processor receives technological capability criteria of at least one mobile device of said plurality of mobile devices.
  9. 9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the technological capability criteria include one or more of signal strength, volume, quality, or impedance.
  10. 10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the organizing is based on one or more of location of the mobile devices, the time of the broadcast request, or a priority code.
  11. 11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the organizing is further controlled by input from a moderator received by the central communication processor.
  12. 12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected broadcast data includes video data.
  13. 13 . A system to present broadcast data from a plurality of mobile devices, comprising: a central communication processor configured to receive broadcast requests from mobile devices of said plurality of mobile devices; reception available statuses of at least some mobile devices of said plurality of mobile devices, the reception available statuses determined by the central communication processor; a queue comprising the broadcast requests, the queue organized by the central communication processor based at least in part on the reception available statuses; and selected broadcast data received by the central communication processor from at least a selected mobile device of said plurality of mobile devices and transmitted by the central communication processor to other mobile devices of said plurality of mobile devices for presentation in humanly perceptible form, the selected mobile device selected from said plurality of mobile devices by the central communication processor based in part on the queue.
  14. 14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the queue is further organized by the central communication processor according to technological capability criteria of at least one of mobile device of said plurality of mobile devices.
  15. 15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the technological capability criteria include one or more of: signal strength, volume, quality, or impedance.
  16. 16 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the queue is further organized using one or more of locations of the mobile devices, a time of the broadcast request, or a priority code.
  17. 17 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the central communication processor controls the presentation of the broadcast data based on one or more of: buffering, prioritizing, storing, and redirecting.
  18. 18 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the selected broadcast data includes video data.
  19. 19 . The system of claim 13 , wherein each mobile device of said plurality of mobile devices is identified by the central communication processor.
  20. 20 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the central communication processor displays indicia of a user of the first mobile device via other mobile devices of said plurality of mobile devices.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This patent application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/888,019 filed Aug. 15, 2022, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/408,411 filed on Aug. 21, 2021, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 11,451,914 on Sept. 20, 2022, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/006,865 filed on Aug. 30, 2020, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 11,102,595 on Aug. 24, 2021, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/865,073 filed on Jan. 8, 2018, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,764,697 on Sept. 1, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/988,598, filed on Jan. 5, 2016, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,866,979 on Jan. 9, 2018, which is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/844,412, filed Mar. 15, 2013, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,232,307 on Jan. 5, 2016, which is a continuation-in-part patent application of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/430,618 , filed Mar. 26, 2012, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,452,026 on May 28, 2013, which is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/220,791 , filed Jul. 28, 2008, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,144,893 on Mar. 27, 2012, which in turn claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/962,067 , filed Jul. 26, 2007, and having the title, MASH-UP OF PHYSICAL SPACE AND CYBERSPACE. Each of the above patents and patent applications is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the field of communications, particularly closed environment communication, conferencing and the use of existing voice and data systems in these fields of communication. Background There are numerous personal mobile communication devices available on the market at the present time, such as cellular phones, PDA's (Personal Digital Assistants), Wi-Fi and Bluetooth laptop processors (PC and Mac), smartphones, such as the Apple iphone, Samsung Galaxy, and other hand-sized, computer-based communication devices, and even electronic tablets, such as the Apple ipad, the ASUS Nexus 7 and the like with mobile communication applications. Despite their ubiquity, the technology for these systems is still underutilized and use has focused on their primary functions and not derivative or ancillary capabilities, especially when combined with other technologies. In conferences, meetings, classrooms and the like, a typical question-and-answer period allows participants to ask questions from the floor. In a large venue without amplification, others in the room often have trouble hearing the speaker. Commonly, a microphone is provided in one or more aisles or a portable microphone is passed to a person wishing to ask a question. This can force people to maneuver their seating towards the aisles where microphone access might be more easily available, or cause some significant and disturbing activity in audiences and lead to disruption of the underlying meeting. The movement of the microphones through the audience can be tedious, slow (e.g., from one extreme corner of a room to another) and cumbersome. There can also be such significant jousting for attention as to be disconcerting to participants and lead to a loss of audience control. This current system also may not work because a microphone is not available, does not work well, or there is no portable microphone handy near the participant who wishes to speak. Often, the participant speaker doesn't properly use a microphone—waving it about or placing it too far away from his or her mouth while speaking—thus negating the advantages of the microphone. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention addresses or substantially mitigates these problems. Conventional data transmission systems are used in a group setting for data transmission from participants to a central communication point for sequential communication of information from participants, through the central communication point to the group. Individual data transmissions can be queued (if extended communications), received and downloaded if textual in content, or otherwise organized in a received or reception available status. Vocal communications can be broadcast on a conventional speaker/broadcast system by uploading the vocal communication from a participant, and electronically inputting it into a multi-speaker system (preferred) or a single speaker system. Data transmission may be fed into a display unit for display to the moderator only (to screen incoming materials) or directly onto a group display or a combination of the two. Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, in which like reference designations represent like features throughout the figures. This summary is presented to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of t