Patent ID: 8897737

Claim:
A method, comprising: displaying an invitation to initiate interaction with an interactive system on a display, the invitation comprising a telephone number or SMS short code associated with a remote call intake system separate from the interactive system; receiving, at the call intake system, call data from a plurality of communication devices through at least one first network connection, wherein the call data originates from an interaction of a plurality of users with the interactive system in response to the invitation to initiate interaction with the interactive system, and wherein the call data comprises data based on at least one of telephone calls and text messages received from the plurality of users in response to the plurality of users calling the telephone number or entering the SMS short code associated with the remote call intake system; balancing and routing the call data to a plurality of call servers of the call intake system; converting the call data into commands for an application, wherein the application is configured to control the interactive system; sending the commands from a command server through a second network connection to a remote command interface, wherein the command interface is configured to control the application, wherein the application and the command interface reside on a local controller of the interactive system, wherein the local controller is configured to cause the interactive system to display content resident in the application in response to remote commands from the command server, and wherein the application is configured to locally generate custom audio or video based on the commands, the application providing the locally generated custom audio or video on at least one of the display or an audio system; and changing a number of call servers to which call data is routed based on a dynamic load to allow for changes in a number of communication devices from which call data is received.