Patent ID: 7738897

Claim:
A method for conducting a dispatch multi-party communication session between multiple participants, comprising the acts of: establishing a dispatch multi-party communication session in a dispatch network; conducting a first portion of the session for a first time period in a broadcast mode, wherein in the broadcast mode a chairperson controls a floor of the dispatch multi-party communication session such that only participants designated by the chairperson, of the multiple participants in the dispatch multi-party communication session, may request to speak during the broadcast mode and wherein all of the participants designated by the chairperson are able to speak during the broadcast mode; and conducting a second portion of the session for a second time period in an open mode, wherein in the open mode the chairperson controls the floor of the dispatch multi-party communication session such that all of the multiple participants in the dispatch multi-party communication session may request to speak during the open mode and wherein all of the multiple participants in the dispatch multi-party communication session are able to speak during the open mode; wherein the second time period follows the first time period and wherein during the first time period the session is only conducted in the broadcast mode and wherein during the second time period the session is only conducted in the open mode.