Interactive game system and method - Patent Review 5018736

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to contests, and more particularly to an interactive sports contest system which allows remotely located participants to compete by optimizing the performance of their team rosters through the selection and trading of players.

Professional or college sports support a broad range of secondary competitions ranging from betting on the outcome of particular games to betting on a particular performance of a given player. Contests based upon player performances include the fantasy sports leagues such as fantasy baseball and fantasy football. In the fantasy sports leagues, sometimes called "rotisserie leagues", participants assume the position of an owner of an imaginary team. Prior to the beginning of a professional sport season, the owners conduct a "draft" of professional athletes to fill the roster of their team. As the imaginary teams usually employ the actual player positions in the sport, spots on the rosters are filled with players who play the particular position.

The drafting of players may take a variety of forms, including a bidding draft and a rotation draft. In the bidding draft, each owner is initially provided with a specific bankroll of bidding units which may be used to bid against other owners in an attempt to obtain a specific player. Alternatively, in the rotation draft, the owners determine an order of selection, and proceed through a number of rounds to fill out the rosters However, under either draft structure, once a player has been drafted by an owner, that player is no longer available to other owners. Therefore, each owner must reprioritize the available players throughout the draft process. As in the professional sports leagues, the owners may trade players during the contest. Typically, after the draft, and throughout the season, the trades are made between owners, and between the players not selected in the initial draft. The teams in a fantasy sports league typically accumulate a "won-lost" record by competing head to head against each of the other teams in the league. In a "game" between two teams, the team whose players performed better in the previous week is declared the winner. Typically, each team competes on the cumulative statistics of the drafted players.

Other contests based upon sporting events have included officiating a given contest, as disclosed in the patent to Tovar (U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,526). Tovar discloses a contest based upon the signaling of infractions of the rules during a live sporting event. The infractions as perceived by the participants are compared to the actual calls made by an official, or referee of the game. The first participant to signal the occurrence of an infraction, that the official also signals, is awarded multiple points, while subsequent participants to signal the infraction are awarded a lesser number of points. The individual scores of the participants are accumulated, and the one having the highest score at the end of the sporting event is declared the winner.

Another game which may be played in conjunction with a sporting event is disclosed in Fascenda (U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,546). Fascenda discloses a game of skill playable by several remote participants in conjunction with a live sporting event, such as a televised football game. The Fascenda disclosure requires participants to predict a future variable of the live sporting event, wherein the participant's prediction is stored over the life of the live event. Subsequent to the live event, the participant's accumulated predictions are processed and compared to the actual occurrences of the game. The winner is the viewer most accurately predicting the events throughout the live sporting event.

These previous contests are really limited to participants that have an in-depth understanding of the relevant sport. In addition, the drafting of the fantasy sports leagues does not permit interactive competition by a large number of participants. Also, some interactive systems require the remote participants to use specialized equipment such as a transmitter/receiver used to interact while the sporting event is being played. When special equipment is required, the availability of the contest is further limited. In addition, the draft in the fantasy sports leagues requires at least one collective meeting of all the participants during the course of the contest. The necessity of these meetings makes it difficult for remote participants to compete.

Therefore, a need exists for a sports contest which provides interactive competition among a plurality of remote participants. There is a need for a contest in which participation does not require specialized equipment in order to enter or compete. In addition, a need exists for an interactive competition which does not hinge upon the simultaneous monitoring of a specific live event. There is also a need for an interactive competition which does not require a slavish time commitment by the participants to a predetermined professional sports schedule. A further need exists for an interactive sports contest which provides a periodic incentive for the application of skill and foresight.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

An interactive sports contest system is disclosed. The contest provides an interactive competition among a plurality of remote participants. The interactive sports contest employs a central controller; a plurality of data entry terminals; a data link; a contest roster; a statistical data base; a team database; a formula for calculating each contest player's score as a function of the athlete's statistics, and a publication, which is communicated to the participants such as a radio or television broadcast, point of sale display, or any printed publications such as a newspaper, which includes a system access code.

The contest is based upon a score generated by each participant's selected team roster. Each participant's team roster is composed of a number of athletes as selected by the participant from the "Contest Roster". The Contest Roster is a list prepared for the contest and advantageously consists of substantially all of the players from actual contest lineups. However, the Contest Roster does not necessarily include all of the athletes of the sport on which the contest is based. Each team roster is scored as a function of the actual performances of the individual players on the team during the term of the contest. The score for each athlete on the Contest Roster is determined by use of a predetermined formula. The competition resides in the ability of each participant to select and maintain a team roster which will generate the most points according to the player score calculation.

The central controller is employed to provide the necessary data handling and participant interface so as to promote competition among the participants. Preferably, the central controller includes or has access to: the Contest Roster; the team roster of each participant as stored in the team database; and the statistical database including the score for each player in the Contest Roster. Preferably, the controller provides a current evaluation of the team roster of each participant, in addition to all players on the Contest Roster. A contest player is advantageously evaluated on a daily or weekly basis as a function of that player's statistics so that each player's performance may take the form of a numerical quantity. This quantity is then added to the week-to-date and contest-to-date scores of each participant. The cumulative week-to-date and contest-to-date scores are then made available to each participant at each remote location through the data entry terminals. A participant's team roster performance is determined by summing the individual scores of all the players on that participant's team roster. The team roster total score is also made available to remote participants through the data entry terminals. In the preferred embodiment, the central controller may be accessed by a plurality of remote data entry terminals. Data exchange between the central controller and the data entry terminals occurs through the data link.

The contest for a particular sport requires each participant to select a team roster from the Contest Roster of athletes who participate in the particular sport. The athletes listed on the Contest Roster may play, for example, on the college or professional level. Preferably, a listing of the players included within the Contest Roster is readily available to each remote participant and includes substantially all of the athletes associated with the sport. Preferably each player on the Contest Roster is identified by a code for purposes of communication with the central controller. Each player on the Contest Roster is available to be employed on the roster of any participant. Since each participant may select any player on the Contest Roster there is no bidding, or competitive drafting among participants to obtain certain players from the Contest Roster. Therefore, a player on the Contest Roster may appear on a plurality of participant team rosters.

The selected team roster is entered into the central controller from the data entry terminal. Preferably, the code identifying a selected player is entered into the central controller as the participant creates or modifies the team roster.

Preferably, the statistics reflecting the actual performances of each player are available to the participants (for example, through some form of publication, such as a daily newspaper), as well as entered and stored in the statistical database. Each member of the Contest Roster is evaluated or scored according to the player score calculation. The player score calculation provides quantification of those characteristics in the statistical database which are associated with a given player. The scores generated by each member of a participant's team roster are added together to provide a team roster total. Competition among the participants is based upon a comparison of the team roster totals for a given time period. A participant wins the competition by maintaining the team roster which generates the most points during the time period.

Preferably, the contest extends throughout the course of the professional sports season. However, the professional season may be segmented into a finite number of discrete periods over which the score of each team roster is monitored. In the preferred embodiment the discrete periods are weekly. Therefore, in addition to a cumulative overall season total, participants may compete for the highest total within each discrete period of the season.

The weekly and cumulative overall season total scores may be publicized in some form of mass media such as a daily newspaper. In addition to publishing scores, the publication media, such as a newspaper, for example, may include rules for the contest as well as instructions on how to participate. In this context, the publication is included as a part of the overall contest system.

In order for a participant to maximize, or optimize, the performance of their team roster, the participant may trade players between their team roster and the Contest Roster. As discussed above, the Contest Roster contains a listing of all the available players in the contest. Poor performances, injuries or anticipated future performances of the players provides the continual need to reevaluate the performance of the players on a participant's team roster. As each participant knows the player score calculations for evaluating the players, the characteristics of each player as reflected by the accumulated statistics, and the schedule for the actual games to be played, each participant may continuously evaluate the value of each member of their team roster so as to determine whether a trade should be made.

The interactive sports contest thereby provides competition among a plurality of participants by affording common available players, and known statistics which are used to rank a participant's team roster according to a known formula for calculating player scores.

Although the preferred embodiment is described in terms of an interactive baseball contest, the interactive sports contest may be based upon other sports such as basketball, football, hockey, soccer, golf, rugby, cricket, tennis or horse racing, where the players, performances may be periodically presented in the form of selected statistics.

Further, some of the features disclosed may well have applicability in other interactive systems which do not involve sports or contests. For example, the system of the present invention may be implemented as a stock exchange contest. In such a contest certain stocks are advantageously included as members or elements of the data register. Each participant can be given a certain number of imaginary dollars with which to purchase a subset of stocks. The participant with the highest return on their investment for a given period would be the contest winner. Other features of this embodiment such as daily score update, and participant interaction (for example, trading or buying stocks) through the data entry terminal would be implemented in a manner simliar to the interactive sports contest .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of the components incorporated into the central controller of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3-5 are flowcharts which diagram the sequence of interaction between the participant and the game system to be followed when entering the contest.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart which diagrams the sequence of interaction between the participant and the game system to be followed when interacting as a participant in the contest.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart which diagrams the sequence of interaction between the participant and the game system to be followed during the team roster scores subroutine of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 illustrates the specifics of the sequence of interaction between the participant and the game system to be followed during the trading subroutine of FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 illustrates the specifics of the sequence of interaction between the participant and the game system to be followed during the Contest Roster evaluation subroutine of FIG. 6.

FIG. 10 illustrates the specifics of the sequence of interaction between the participant and the game system to be followed during the team roster verification subroutine of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The disclosed interactive contest system includes an apparatus for accommodating the interactive sports contest and a method for conducting the interactive sports contest. Of course it is also possible that the apparatus of the interactive contest system, and certain elements of the method outlined for conducting an interactive sports contest may also be applied to an interactive stock investment contest or the like.

APPARATUS OF THE INTERACTIVE CONTEST SYSTEM

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the interactive contest system includes a central controller 100; data entry terminals 105; a data link 108; a Contest Roster 110; a statistical database 120; a team roster database 130; and a player score computer 270 contained within statistical database 120 for calculating a score for each player as a function of the individual player's actual performance. Alternatively, for example, the player score computer 270 may be used to update the prices of certain stocks on the stock exchange.

CENTRAL CONTROLLER

The central controller 100 includes or has access to a Contest Roster 110 which advantageously includes a list of athletes which can be relied upon in the contest. The central controller 100 also includes or has access to the team roster database 130 which includes the team rosters as selected and entered by each of the participants, including the identifying information which associates a team roster to the corresponding participant. The central controller 100 also includes or has access to the statistical database 120 which includes the recent statistics of each player on the Contest Roster 110. The central controller 100 also includes or has access to the player score for each player on the Contest Roster 110 as based upon the associated statistical database 120. Preferably, the central controller 100 is adapted to recognize and distinguish machine recognizable signals, such as transmitted by a conventional Touch-Tone.TM. telephone 102.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of the central controller 100, as well as some external components. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the central controller 100 incorporates a programable digital computer 200, a memory storage unit 210, a modem 220, a tone discriminator 230, and a voice response system 240. The apparatus for playing back the recorded human voice over the data link 108 to the participant's terminal (preferably a Touch-Tone.TM. Telephone) could be any well known recording and play back system including magnetic tape, magnetic disc, or optical disc. The programable digital computer 200 may be implemented by any of a plurality of commercially available computer systems. The processing and storage capacity needed depends upon the anticipated number of contestants. The memory storage unit 210 may advantageously be any one of a plurality of commercially available devices, such as a floppy or hard disk, or any combination thereof. The modem 220 can likewise be any conventional modem device for use with a digital computer. The modem 220 communicates signals from two external sources, the player score computer 270 through modem 225, and the publisher 250. Information may be exchanged with the publisher 250 via the modem link 222 or the statistical database 120. Alternatively or in addition to modem communication the central controller 100 may transmit printed information to the publisher 250 via a facsimile telecopier.

As shown in FIG. 10 the statistical database 120 advantageously includes a player score computer 270, a storage unit 275, and a means of statistical input 278. The player score computer 270 has access to both the storage unit 275, and the statistical input 278. The player score computer 270 also has within its memory the formula that is used to convert the selected player statistics into a numerical performance value for each player. The player score computer 270 periodically computes the numerical performance value for each individual player.

The statistical database 120 is separate from the central controller 100 so that it can be placed in the most convenient possible location for the collection and processing of the necessary statistics.

While this configuration has been found to be advantageous, the functions provided by the statistical database 120, including the calculation of the player score, could easily be combined with those performed by the central controller 100 so that only one computer system is required.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the data entry terminals 105 are advantageously Touch-Tone.TM. telephones 102, and are connected to a tone discriminator 230 via data link 108. The transmitted signals are preferably machine recognizable, such as can be deciphered by the tone discriminator 230. The tone discriminator 230 converts the transmitted data from audible frequencies to digital signals. These digital signals are easily recognized by the programable digital computer 200.

Once the transmitted data has been processed, the programable digital computer 200 sends the appropriate output to the voice response system 240. The output of the programable digital computer 200 may, for example, prompt one of a number of pre-recorded messages to be played, so that the system may respond in a human voice. This human voice is then transmitted back to the participant's data entry terminal 105 (e.g., a Touch-Tone.TM. telephone 102) via the data link 108. Voice response systems using Touch-Tone.TM. telephones as the data input and receiving terminal are well known in the art and need not be described in detail here.

The human voice may advantageously be produced by any conventional means. One such means of producing a simulated human voice is to incorporate a number of prerecorded tape messages into the interactive game system. Each input by a participant would trigger the central controller 100 to provide an appropriate voice recording which would be relayed over the data link 108 to the participant. Those messages which are likely to occur several times over the course of the interaction between the participant and the game system, may be synthesized by a conventional voice synthesizer. Such messages may include individual numbers such as "one", "two", etc., which are likely to be repeated several tim