Systems and methods to manage privilege to speak
View Patent ↗Methods and apparatuses to prioritize requests for speaking privilege in a communication session. In one embodiment, a method includes: receiving from an audience one or more bids for privilege to speak in a communication session; selecting one or more speakers from the audience based at least in part on the one or more bids; receiving voice communications from the one or more speakers; and transmitting the voice communications to the audience in the communication session.
1. A method, comprising:
presenting, by a computing device, a broadcast to an audience comprising a plurality of members, the broadcast selected from the group consisting of a radio station broadcast, a television station broadcast and a teleconference;
receiving, by the computing device, a plurality of bids from a respective plurality of members of the audience for the privilege to provide communications input as part of the broadcast;
selecting, via the computing device, a member from the plurality of bidding audience members to provide communications input as part of the broadcast based at least in part on a value of the bid from the selected audience member;
receiving communications input from the selected audience member; and
transmitting the communications input received from the selected audience member to the audience as part of the broadcast.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to selecting the selected audience member, providing at least one communication connection to the selected audience member to receive the communications input.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein providing the at least one communication connection comprises:
calling back the selected audience member at a telephone number provided by the selected audience member.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one communication connection is at least partially via voice over Internet protocol.
5. The method of claim 2 , wherein providing the at least one communication connection comprises:
a connection provider establishing a first voice over Internet protocol call with a telecommunication carrier using a telephone number provided by the selected audience member, the telecommunication carrier bridging the first voice over Internet protocol call to a switch of a public switched telephone network to the selected audience member.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
mixing the communications input received from the selected audience member with an audio stream for broadcast to the audience.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the communications input is broadcast to the audience substantially in real time as the communications input is received from the selected audience member.
8. The method of claim 2 ,
wherein the bids from the members of the audience are received from via the at least one communication connection.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein bids from the members of the audience are received as audio signals transmitted over the at least one communication connection.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the privilege to provide communications input is for a pre-determined period of time as part of the broadcast.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein a starting time of the pre-determined period of time is not known a priori to the audience.
12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
providing a starting time of the pre-determined period to the audience to indicate an end of an auction of the privilege to provide communications input.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the auction is conducted in a time period after an opportunity to provide communications input is available.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
starting an auction of the privilege to provide communications input prior to when an opportunity to provide communications input is available.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the auction is closed in response to the availability of the opportunity to provide communications input.
16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to selecting the selected audience member, charging the selected audience member according to the at least one bid from the selected audience member.
17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a fee charged to the selected audience member based on a price bid of a next highest bid below a bid of the selected audience member;
wherein the fee charged to the selected audience member is one increment above the next highest bid below the bid of the selected audience member.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communications input is delivered to the audience via a broadcasting media; and the communications input is received from a telephonic connection.
19. A tangible non-transitory machine readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:
present a broadcast to an audience comprising a plurality of members, the broadcast selected from the group consisting of a radio station broadcast, a television station broadcast and a teleconference;
receive a plurality of bids from a respective plurality of members of the audience for the privilege to provide communications input as part of the broadcast;
select a member from the plurality of bidding audience members to provide communications input as part of the broadcast based at least in part on a value of the bid from the selected audience member;
receive communications input from the selected audience member; and
transmit the communications input received from the selected audience member to the audience as part of the broadcast.
20. A system, comprising:
a processor; and
memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to:
present a broadcast to an audience comprising a plurality of members, the broadcast selected from the group consisting of a radio station broadcast, a television station broadcast and a teleconference;
receive a plurality of bids from a respective plurality of members of the audience for the privilege to provide communications input as part of the broadcast;
select a member from the plurality of bidding audience members to provide communications input as part of the broadcast based at least in part on a value of the bid from the selected audience member;
receive communications input from the selected audience member; and
transmit the communications input received from the selected audience member to the audience as part of the broadcast.