SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USING A MOBILE DEVICE AS AN INPUT DEVICE FOR SURVEYS AT A LIVE EVENT

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.