Patent ID: 8793315

Claim:
A method of managing participants in an online session, the method comprising: detecting that a first participant has disconnected from the online session including three or more communicatively coupled participant computing devices, wherein the first participant is responsible for managerial functionality associated with the online session, and wherein the detection of the disconnected first participant is performed by one of the remaining participants of the online session; broadcasting a notification to the remaining participants of the online session, the notification broadcast by one of the remaining participants of the online session following detection that the first participant has disconnected from the online session, the notification indicating that the first participant has disconnected from the online session; re-assigning the functionality associated with the first participant to one of the remaining participants of the online session, wherein the re-assignment is based on user-specified preferences of the remaining participants and wherein the user-specified preferences comprise willingness or unwillingness to be re-assigned the functionality; and obtaining a new participant after the first participant has disconnected from the online session to replace the first participant, wherein the new participant is not currently a part of the online session and the new participant replaces the first participant without prior approval or an election involving the first participant or any of the remaining participants.