US20150005075A1

US20150005075A1 - Stack Roster Fantasy Sports Game and Platform

Info

Publication number: US20150005075A1
Application number: US14/074,376
Authority: US
Inventors: Thomas Dermonte Stephenson, Jr.
Original assignee: SPORT GAMET INTERNATIONAL LLC; Sports Gamet International LLC
Current assignee: SPORT GAMET INTERNATIONAL LLC; Sports Gamet International LLC
Priority date: 2013-06-27
Filing date: 2013-11-07
Publication date: 2015-01-01
Also published as: US20150005076A1; US10052562B2; US20170106292A1

Abstract

A method and system for playing a fantasy sport competition among a plurality of Users, includes instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium for transmitting User selections to suitably order Players in the User roster comprising a User prioritized list of Players according to positions, such that for each position the User has reflected a plurality of choices in order of User preference. A server receives Invited User rosters from each Invited User. Each Invited User roster includes that Invited User's prioritized list of Players according to positions. To create Stack Roster pairings, the User is compared with each Invited User and each Invited User with each other. Where two Users select a single player for the same position within a Stack Roster pairing, the system and method move on to compare both Users' next selection of Player at a position, until each can be given their choice of Player.

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 61/840,303 filed Jun. 27, 2013, the contents of which are incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a game played by several players on a network and more specifically a fantasy sports game.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Fantasy sports have enjoyed a longer and more consistent growth over the three decades since they were introduced largely due to their inherent orality. Virality is a metric that has been borrowed from the field of epidemiology. It pertains to how quickly an element or content spreads through the population. Because of their reliance on public statistics generated either daily or weekly, are inherently asynchronous, which is to say that they do not require any two persons competing thereby to be communicatively connected to each other to play. Even more importantly, they rely upon and foster growth of a community of competitors, i.e. competition is only possible if a User “shares” his game with friends.
For purposes of clarity within this discussion, two terms will be defined that may or may not have their normal meaning to the reader. There is an inherent confusion in the use of the word “player” in fantasy sports, as so many sports that lend themselves to fantasy play refer to athletes as “players”. To curb the occasion of such confusion, two words will be used throughout to have the meanings set out here:
“User”—An individual, registered on a server, who engages in game play as a manager competing within any fantasy sport hosted on the server.
“Instigating User”—One of the Users who designates at least one other User (herein “Invited User”) to the server, thereby to initiate a fantasy sports competition.
“Player”—Any athlete or other individual competing in a real-live sporting event from which statistics are garnered, examples of which are baseball players, basketball players, soccer players, football players, race car drivers/race cars, mixed martial artists, etc.
“Season” is any defined interval of competition between Users; as used herein, the season may coincide with a season as recognized by the governing authorities of the various sports or it may be one defined by the Users, such as a single day of competition. Seasons can even span multiple years, if the Users so define the Season. Any interval of play for which statistics can be reliably garnered the Users can define as a season.
Fantasy sports often involves team sports and the draft process requires various player positions to be filled. The number of Players a User claims is dependent upon the rules of the sport the Player is playing and/or the manner in which each individual fantasy sports game is devised, and would therefore be any number of Players.
Fantasy sports are any of several games where Users manage a roster of Players drawn from any group for whom statistics are compiled. In each of the possible sports ranging from NFL football to MLS soccer to NASCAR racing and those many other sports for which news sources publish statistics, a fantasy sport game exploiting those statistics can be devised. Users rely upon their ability to acquire and field a team of athletes pursuant to such rules as the group of Users define or adopt. Users compete against one another receiving points for their acquired Players' real life statistics as the Players compete in their real life sports. Any injury or other impediment a Player suffers in the season is reflected in the resulting statistics a Player garners for the season in question. Similarly, any particularly good performance will shift a Player's statistics upward. In short, just as a real-life general manager in a sport must contend with the vagaries of the performance of human athletes that make up his team, so, too, does the fantasy sports User. As such, the fantasy player User gets to sample, vicariously, the sensations ABC™ Sports touts as the “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” by imparting a personal stake in each Player's performance.
The advent of powerful computers and the Internet revolutionized fantasy sports, allowing scoring to be done entirely by computer, and, thereby, allowing leagues to develop their own scoring systems, often based on less popular statistics. In this way, for example, fantasy baseball has become a sort of real-time simulation of baseball, and allowed many fans to develop a more sophisticated understanding of how the real-world game works. According to statistics from a 2009 article in Forbes, nearly 11 million people play fantasy baseball today, in all fantasy sports, Ad Week estimates nearly 32 million people.
Generally, as the play in all fantasy sports centers on the manager's staffing decisions, the teams are rated on the performance of each of a roster of athletes and the associated statistics they accumulate as the season progresses. As such, the original draft and subsequent trades present User managers with their scoring opportunities. Users, as managers, often draft teams before the season begins (or very shortly thereafter). One conventional approach is to hold an auction, whereby each User as manager has a fixed amount of money to bid for athletes, and he must fill his team's roster within their budget. Another conventional approach is to perform a serpentine system draft of available athletes until all teams are filled. Because selecting and trading athletes is the key issue that defines the play of any fantasy sports game relative to mark performance as against other manager Users, each variant that changes that process creates a distinct game.
Conventionally, fantasy sports have User's organized into leagues. One such league in fantasy baseball is known as the Roach Motel League, founded in 1981 at Columbia University in New York. Original Rotisserie League member Glen Waggoner was an administrator at Columbia and he passed along the rules to a group of undergraduates. The Roach Motel League, still consisting primarily of original members, has held a draft and played the game every year since 1981. But, absent such an infrastructure, there is no good way to organize head-to-head or three-way competition where there is not enough available Users to populate an entire league. Because league play is also rather slow, it would be advantageous for any user to have the opportunity to play in several distinct groups. Nonetheless, a User may not wish to order their choices to actually participate in distinct Player drafts for each group. What is needed in the art is a means of instantaneously forming teams of Players around each User's own selections without the need for distinct traditional style drafts to enable play in each group.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred and alternative examples of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the following drawings:

FIG. 1A is a graphical representation of first step in an exemplary interface for enabling a Stack Roster “draft” for a fantasy sports game;

FIG. 1B is a graphical representation of second step in an exemplary interface for enabling a Stack Roster “draft” for a fantasy sports game;

FIG. 1C is a graphical representation of third step in an exemplary interface for enabling a Stack Roster “draft” for a fantasy sports game;

FIG. 2 is a graphical representation of the resulting roster in an exemplary interface for enabling a Stack Roster “draft” for a fantasy sports game;

FIG. 3 is a graphical representation of a challenge to initiate play in an exemplary interface for enabling a Stack Roster “draft” for a fantasy sports game;

FIGS. 4A1, 4A2, and 4A3 are a graphical representation of a process of roster reconciliation of rosters in an exemplary Stack Roster “draft” for a fantasy sports game;

FIG. 4B is a graphical representation of a scheme for scoring during a “season” in an exemplary interface for enabling a Stack Roster “draft” for a fantasy sports game;

FIG. 4C is a graphical representation of sample scoring during a “season” in an exemplary interface for enabling a Stack Roster “draft” for a fantasy sports game;

FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C are a block diagram representation of a data structure in an exemplary interface for enabling a Stack Roster “draft” for a fantasy sports game; and

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a computer network enabling a Stack Roster “draft” for a fantasy sports game.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As has been indicated above in the Background section, the event that defines fantasy sports play is the User's selection of Players. Rather than to begin the explanation of the invention with a description of the mechanics that enable a User's selection of Players for play in a group of Users, beginning the description at a higher level will make the later description of those mechanics much more understandable. Understanding that the invention is practiced on a network such as the Internet by interaction with an interface that is generally represented in interaction with the User in FIGS. 1 through 9.
Beginning with a User's eye view of the process at FIG. 1, an Instigating User, after appropriately signing into the system, providing such information and funds as are necessary to qualify for participation, is presented with an interface screen 100 having two principal features, generally similarly configured roster elements: 1) a Player pool 101; and 2) a User Team Roster. In the presently preferred embodiment, these roster elements are as shown, but the invention could be practiced with graphic elements that display players identities such as tile-like icons shown in FIG. 1A and referred to as “tiles” 105B, 105C, and 105D and graphically represented receptacles to receive those tiles referred to as “slots”. While these same functions could as easily be represented in a range of graphic representations, even in a simplest form in textual lists representing each of the Player pool 101 and the User team roster 103, the graphic representations shown in FIG. 1A is most readily adapted to this explanation of game play.
The Player pool in this embodiment is further divided by positions. For example, such positions might include a quarterback, a running back, a wide-receiver and a tight end in NFL™ football and, by contrast, a pitcher, a catcher, and a first baseman, etc. in MLB™ baseball. Similarly each sport would have its own designation for such positions. In order to facilitate display identities of the numerous players that would make up a roster, the configuration of the presently preferred embodiment may optionally be divided into pages, each page representing a position as the sport defines it. Thus the pool 101 is divided into pages such as 101P1, 101P2 etc. while the User team roster is similarly divided into pages such as 103P1, 103P2, etc. Advantageously, in the presently preferred embodiment, selecting a page on one of the pool 101 or the roster 103 will result in both the pool 101 and the roster 103 displaying the corresponding pages, e.g. selecting page 2 in the roster will cause page 2 to display in each of the roster and the pool.
In some sports, such as NASCAR™ auto racing, generally only drivers receive recognition with published statistics and so there are no distinct positions but rather a team comprising several drivers. For such sports, the pool 101 and the roster 103 may not be divided into individual positions as there is no useful distinction that would make such a division useful. In such a case, the position would not be necessary or included to selectively display distinct portions of the roster 103 and the pool 101.
A User must now populate the Instigating User's team roster 103 from the Player candidates listed in the pool 101. Once again, the presently preferred embodiment involves moving tiles 105B, 105C, and 105D from the pool 101 to the Instigating Users team roster 103 to occupy one of the slots 107A, 107B, 107C, 107D, 107E, and 107F; the invention is not so limited as the invention may be practiced in several alternate embodiments, including, as discussed above, so simple an interface as textual lists. The presently preferred embodiment is described to illustrate movement of Players from the pool 101 to the User's team roster 103 and further to illustrate prioritization of the User's team roster 103, through the use of tiles 105B, 105C, and 105D and slots 107A, 107B, 107C, 107D, 107E, and 107F as enabling a graphical user interface.
A User populates the team roster 103, As shown in FIG. 1B by dragging a tile in a selecting move 109, in this case tile 105B to one of the vacant slots, in this case 107A, on the User team roster 103 and as a result achieves at least two of the instant invention's constituent steps, one of selecting a Player and one of placing a priority on the Player. Additionally, further moves 109 may occur as are dictated in various embodiments of the instant invention. For example, each Player may have a value attached to the player, the value being the price of acquiring the Player, analogous to salaries in real life sports or even the actual annual contractual salary of the Player. At this point, the values are merely noted in this embodiment and are subject to subsequent steps when an actual User's team roster is determined by the reconciliation described below. These values place additional realistic constraints on the User in forming teams, thereby further mimicking constraints on real-life team managers, as will be further explained below.
The graphic interface 100 inherently presents certain advantages in that the movement of tiles such as tile 105B inherently removes the player from the pool 101 to the roster 103 preventing duplicate designations of Players as being on the User's team roster 103.
The User continues selecting Players in the manner described above until all of the slots 107A, 107B, 107C, 107D, 107E, and 107F. (Six slots being shown only as a non-limiting example; the invention can be practiced with more or fewer slots as selected rules may dictate). The User may also move a Player tile 105B from one slot 107A to another slot 107C to adjust priority among the several choices until all six of the slots 107A, 107B, 107C, 107D, 107E, and 107F are filled and ordered according to the priority the User places on each Player. Likewise, the User progresses through each of the positions, moving from page 101P1 through 101P7 of the pool and similarly through pages 103P1 through 103P7. The interface works to afford the User suitable opportunity to make selections and set priorities throughout the User team roster.
Referring to FIG. 1C, at some point, the User has completely populated, reviewed and prioritized the User's team roster 103 by filing, in this non-limiting case slot 107A with Player B's tile 105B, slot 107B with Player A's tile 105A, slot 107C with Player C's tile 105C, slot 107D with Player F's tile, slot 107E with Player E's tile 105E, slot 107F with Player D's tile 105D and has similarly filed each of the other player positions 103P2, 103P3, 103P4, 103P5, 103P6 and 103P7 to populate each to reflect selections and organize the selections at each position according to the User's priorities. Having suitably filled the roster 103, the User executes a save by clicking 111 the “Save” button on the roster 103.
Depicted in FIG. 2, the roster 103 has a structure indicating User selections and prioritization. The top line picks illustrated here represent the User's desired “starting lineup” 103V (1^stor top picks for each player position) for competition against other Users. Ultimately, the actual Players that represent the User in fantasy competition are determined by the “Stack Roster Match Up” process, which is described below and which is initiated when one Instigating User invites one or many other Invited Users to engage in competitive fantasy game play. In actual play, it will be a rare occasion where a User will get all of his intended first lineup 103V but such would happen in the rare case where the User would select as first picks Players no other User had selected. The data structure of the roster 103 is made clear by the graphic portrayal: along the x-axis, positions are set forth in a manner determined by the platform and along the y-axis, players are ordered at each position in accord with the preferences of the User with the most favored having the top position. (For the sake of disclosure, there is nothing in the inherent structure of the invention or its practice that requires that the number of picks be the same for each position. As rules are adopted for each fantasy sport, the number of picks can, likewise, be adopted, resulting in a data structure matrix that may not match a perfect rectangle in rank and file).
As FIG. 3 depicts, having once assembled a User team roster 103A, the very quality of the instant invention is the inherent virality possible due to the ability to assemble competing Users outside of the construct of a league. To demonstrate, an Instigating User A 10A may now invite other users, here portrayed as other Users B-E 10B-E, to compete against in fantasy play. (Necessarily any User must have a completed User's team roster in order to play, but the number of users need not fall neatly into such as might be necessary to populate a bracket). Invited Users B-E 10-B-E need not be persons having any prior relationship with the Instigating User A 10A. For this reason, the platform, in one embodiment, can receive and add Users to forming groups of Users on a random or on a referral basis. Similarly, one Instigating User 10A can participate in any number of distinct groups using the same roster 103A because of the capabilities of the engine to distinctly reconcile multiple User team rosters 103A-E for each distinct group. The capabilities of the instant invention stem from the roster reconciliation described below.
Once the Instigating User 10A has successfully created a User team roster 103A, the User A 10A may elect to invite several other Invited Users 10B-E (by way of nonlimiting example) to play by using the platform as described below. The Instigating User A 10A may also ask the platform to assign or find other Invited Users 10B-E to play in the group as the Instigating User A 10A may request. Each registered User 10A-E has a unique identification which allows the Instigating User A 10A to send invitations to selected friends and acquaintances whose identification is known to the Instigating User A 10A through the platform. In each instance of User selection, the platform delivers an invitation to play to identified Invited Users 10B-E.
Once an invitation has been issued from Instigating User A 10A to each other identified Invited User B-E, the Invited Users 10B-E are given the opportunity to accept the invitation. Such of them who accept become the competing group. For example, in FIG. 3, Invited User B 10B and Invited User C 10C each accepts the invitation; Invited User D 10D and Invited User E 10E each decline. The platform will receive the User team rosters 103B, C along with the User A roster 103A for the roster reconciliation process to ultimately determine the Players that will represent each User 10A-C in fantasy competition. In this manner, the process fosters a gaming community in the same manner as social video games in that the invitation process serves to leverage the player's social network. Such an invitation process allows the game to serve to build a community as playing is only possible if a User “shares” his game with friends.
The User team roster each User has built out according to the above discussion merely represents that User's desired or proposed lineup. Much like the notes a General Manager takes into a draft for any of several professional team sports, the User Team Roster is more like a “wish list” in that it does not reflect actual choices allowed relative to each other User. Ultimately, the Players that will accrue points on behalf of User or the Users actual lineup that will compete in fantasy play will be determined by the process referred to as the “Stack Roster Match Up.” In the Stack Roster Match Up, each User's team roster will be treated as a set of stacks, one for each position as is shown in FIG. 2 relative to each of the positions. Within each stack, specific players from a User's team roster are matched up with another User's stack relative to the same position. In the event both Users have selected the same player as their first choice, they will cancel one another out, resulting in neither User being able to utilize that particular player against each other in active/actual game play. As a result of the cancelling move, the process moves to the second choice in the position stack. This process will continue moving down the stack of players until each user has a selection that is different from that of the other User. The first 2 players that do not matchup on a given tier will represent their respective Users in that position for actual fantasy sports game play/competition.
A first example is shown in FIGS. 4A1, 4A2, and 4A3. As shown in FIG. 3, Instigating User A 10A, has invited Invited User B 10B and Invited User C 10C to play and each has accepted. Users receive points by head-to-head competition with each of the other Users in the group of Users by comparing the scores aggregated over the Season by the Players each User carries on his or her roster. As each of the Players are presumed to accumulate distinct statistics over the Season, it is desirable for Users to have distinct rosters. In competition between the Users, the Users are grouped into competing pairs, and the rosters of each of the two Users in the competing pair of Users are reconciled such that relative to each other, each User has a distinct Player occupying each position on the User's roster.
Thus, to assign the available Players to each of the Users in a competing pair to most closely meet their selections as expressed in their User Roster, the method of reconciling is depicted in FIG. 4A1. Beginning with a hypothetical competing pair (“Stack Roster pair”) comprising the Instigating User A 10A, and the Invited User B 10B, a roster for competition relative to User B 10B is derived from the User Roster 103A, Instigating User A 10A submitted, when that roster is compared to the User Roster 103B, Invited User B 10B submitted.
As a result, each User has a roster relative to the other User in the competing pair which is constructed as shown. Position by position, each of the User rosters such as roster 103A is compared to the roster 103B of User B to yield specific Stack Rosters for each User relative to the other, in this case roster 103AB for User A relative to User B and 103BA for User B relative to Instigating User A. In Instigating User A's User roster 103A, the Player occupying a position is compared to the Player on User B's User roster 103B at the same position and in the corresponding choice in order to compare for matching selections. As in this example, Instigating User A designated a first pick 103A1 and, probably by virtue of that Player's excellence in an earlier season, Invited User B designates the same player 103B1 as her first pick. According to the rules of the Stack Roster, relative to each other, the choices 103A1 and 103B1 cancel, requiring the Stack Roster platform to move to the second choices. Comparing second choices 103A2 to 103B2, Instigating User A and Invited User B have chosen the same Player again causing those choices to cancel as between Instigating User A and Invited User B. Similarly the third choices 103A3 and 103B3 cancel as do fourth choices 103A4 and 103B4. It is not until the fifth choice where Instigating User A and Invited User B select different Players. Thus, relative to each other, Instigating User A will play his fifth choice 103A5 in his roster 103AB relative to Invited User B who will play her fifth choice 103B5 as the same is shown in her roster 103BA relative to the Instigating User A.
The Stack Roster reconciler now moves, as shown in FIG. 4A2, to generate the rosters of Instigating User A relative to Invited User C (rosters 103AC and 103CA respectively) and Invited User C's relative to Instigating User A (rosters 103BC and 103CB respectively). In forming rosters 103AC and 103CA, having both selected the same first choice 103A1 vs. 103C1 produces a match and neither User keeps the Player. The Stack Roster reconciler then moves to the second choices 103A2 and 103C2 and finds them to be distinct. Position by position, in a like manner to that of FIG. 4A1, rosters 103AC and 103CA are populated to fill a team. Importantly, while they are both derived from Instigating User A's User roster 103A, in roster 103AB at this position, relative to Invited User B, Instigating User A is playing 103A5 in this position; whereas in roster 103AC, relative to Invited User C, Instigating User A is playing 103A2. There is no inconsistency in having the Instigating User A playing distinct rosters 103AB and 103AC in this competition, and to do so, adds an appealing ripple to such games.
Similarly, as depicted in FIG. 4A3, relative to Invited User C, Invited User B will play her second choice 103B2 against Invited User C's second choice 103C2, as shown in FIG. 4A3. Just as relative to Instigating User A, Invited User C has expressed in her User team roster 103C, the same first choice 103C1 as has Invited User B as her first choice 103B1. As the rules dictate, these first choices cancel resulting in the selection of the second choice relative to each other.
The Stack Roster Match Up process illustrated in FIG. 4A1, 4A2, and 4A3 would continue in the same manner deriving the rosters for all game participants relative to each other, progressing through all of the positions until each of the Users have a full and complete Stack Roster relative to each other (By the convention above, User A has 103AB and 103AC; User B, 103BA and 103BC; and User C, 103CA and 103CB.). The User(s) are then ready to engage in actual “consequential” fantasy game play against one another as shown in FIG. 4B, the outcome of which will be determined by the performance of the actual Players that populate each of the Users several rosters.
As is evident in FIG. 4B, play between three users actually results in three distinct competitions for points: Instigating User A's roster 103A is compared to Inviting User B's roster 103B in competition 115AB (taking into account the earlier described method of selection relative to each User); Instigating User A's roster 103A against Invited User C's roster 103C in competition 115AC; and Invited User B's roster 103B, against Invited User C's roster 103C in competition 115BC.
The competitions are each scored first as derived in each of the distinct competing pairs. The Players (actual athletes on the respective rosters) play out their regular sporting events and will accumulate statistics that are scored on each of the rosters that contain their names over the course of the Season. Referring to FIG. 4C, in a hypothetical Season, thus, where Instigating User A's roster 103A is compared to Invited User B's roster 103B (placed in competition 115AB), the two rosters are compared position by position to accumulate a total across the entirety of each User's rosters. Importantly, there is no reason why User A's roster 103A relative to User B's roster 103B would be the same as User A's roster
In scoring the several rosters, we see Instigating User A's roster 103A of Players accumulated a statistic of 129 point relative to Invited User B's roster 103B which garnered 135 points. In competition 115AC where Instigating User A's roster 103A is played against Invited User C's roster 103C, Instigating User A's roster 103A scored 133 points against Invited User C's roster 103C which scored 134 points to take the win. Invited User B's roster 103B is compared against Invited User C's roster 103C in competition 115BC where the 134 points scored by User C's roster 103C easily outdistanced the 126 points scored by User B's roster 103B. Other variants have been suggested where, for example, pitcher's unique statistics are weighted against those of catchers or fielders. Likewise, quarterbacks' unique statistics may be weighted to move the outcome more than that of defensive centers.
While rules may vary without changing the essential nature of the fantasy game, the most straightforward embodiment of the invention simply totals points scored in each of the three competitions 115AB, 115AC, and 115BC, yielding a win for Invited User C having a total of 268 points, bettering both Instigating User A and Invited User B at the relevant position. While the winning or losing has been defined in this particular example by the performance of each User's selected Players at only one position, the reader will certainly understand that rosters will, in the main, consist of several positions in most sports. These narrower examples have been provided simply to better explain the exact nature populating rosters and deriving scores.
FIGS. 5A-5C are example block diagrams illustrating data flows within the Stack Roster platform according to example embodiments. FIG. 5A illustrates an arrangement of systems, modules, and devices according to one embodiment. The illustrated arrangement includes a Stack Roster reconciler 200, a client device 201, a merchant system 202, and a scoring compiler system 203. The client device 201 operated by a User 10 who is in the process of entering Player selection information for the purposes of effectuating formation of a User team roster 103 (prior Figures) by or authentication of eligibility via a merchant system 202. The modules, systems, and devices illustrated with respect to FIGS. 5A-5C may be differently arranged, operated, or constituted in other embodiments. For example, the merchant system 202 and the scoring compiler 203 may be merged as a single system and operated by a single entity. In other embodiments, a third party provider may be present to either authenticate a User or to replace one or more functions of the merchant system 202 or to provide the functions of the scoring compiler system 203.
The client device 201 includes a User Team Roster interface (“UI”) 210 and a Player Pool module 206. Examples of the UI 210 are described with respect to FIGS. 1A-1C, above. The UI 210 is typically provided by the merchant system 202, such as when the UI 210 is implemented as part of a Web page received from a Web-based e-commerce system hosted or provided by the merchant system 202. In other embodiments, the UI 210 may be part of a standalone client application, such as a Stack Roster desktop or mobile application.
The UI 210 includes a user interface element 212. The UI element 212 may be any control, field, aspect, or other portion of the UI 210. For example, the UI element 212 may be a text field, a drop down menu, a selection group, a chooser, a button, a hidden field, or the like. In some embodiments, the user 10 may interact with the UI element 212, such as by clicking and dragging a movable control, editing a text field or pressing a button. In other embodiments, UI element 212 is inactive with respect to direct user interaction. For example, the UI element 212 may be a draggable element within a list control and/or a text element in a document tree that represents the UI 210.
In the illustrated example, the User 10 specifies a Player for a position via the UI element 212. Specifying other Users to interact with using the Stack Roster platform may include entering (e.g., typing) a user's name, team name or other information into an editable text field. In other embodiments, User selection options may include interacting with a drop down or other selection control to set or store the User profile information item (e.g., an address, phone number) in the UI element 212.
Then, the User 10 specifies a particular fantasy sport in order to select a Player pool from which to construct a roster 206 and also to uniquely designate an identity for this User team roster to facilitate multiple rosters within a given sport for the User. In the illustrated example, the module 206 is received from the Stack roster reconciler 200. For example, the module 206 may be a Web page or popup (possibly including JavaScript or other code) displayed via a Web browser of the client device 201. The Web page may include a user interface as well as corresponding logic for facilitating the specification of extended Player options. Example user interfaces of example modules are discussed in more detail with respect to FIGS. 1A-1C, above.
Once the User 10 has specified the unique User team roster 103, the module 206 determines, generates, or prepares a series of slots ordered to various positions in accord with the User's 10 selection in a manner as described above. The indication may be a textual representation of identity of the User team roster, such as a fictitious name or code that includes an alphabetic string (e.g., “HAL”), a numeric string (e.g., “1001”), an alphanumeric string (e.g., “APPT7”), a symbolic string (e.g., “%**!”), or some combination of the preceding. The indication of the User team roster may also or instead be or include a binary (e.g., not human-readable) representation of the User team roster item. In some embodiments, the name or code may be generated by the UI based upon a name given by the User. In some instances, the selection of a particular sport may generate an indication specifically for that sport.
In another embodiment, the indication may be a network identifier that identifies (directly or indirectly) a network-accessible computing system or module that is configured to provide the Player Pool information for that selected sport upon request. For example, the indication may be a network address, a host name, a uniform resource identifier, or the like. The indication will typically further include an identifier, key, or other argument that can be used by the network-accessible computing system to look up or otherwise access the second Player information.
The indication of the User team roster 103 is then entered into the UI element 212. This may be a manual or automatic process. For example, the module 206 may instruct the user 10 to enter (e.g., type or copy-paste) the indication of the User team roster 103 into the UI element 212. In another approach, the module 206 may automatically modify the UI element 212 to include the indication of the User team roster. For example, the module 206 may access the UI element 212 (e.g., by looking up its identifier in a DOM or other document data structure) and then modify the data stored in the element 212 (e.g., a slots 107 in the User team roster) to also include the indication of a Player selections by the User 10.
Next, the User team roster UI 210 transmits the User team roster and the indication of the Player selections, data as graphically represented in 103 (FIG. 2) to the merchant system 202. In some embodiments, the indication of the User team roster 103 will be transmitted along with some or all of the User profile. For example, if the indication of the User team roster includes a tag that has been inserted into data structure of the User team roster, such that when the User team roster (including the tag) will be transmitted to the merchant system 202, the merchant system can verify the User's entitlement to play and consequently transmitting the User's team roster to the Stack Roster reconciler. The User team roster, may, in a similar manner contain a tag indicating identities of other Users selected to play in a particular game using this User team roster 103. In other examples, the indication may be transmitted as a distinct element of a data structure allowing the indication to be stored distinctly from the indication.
The merchant system 202 may then process the received User team roster, the invitations, and the User 10 profile. For example, the merchant system 202 may User address verification, profile modifications, or similar operations based on its role in assure User payment to play. Doing so may include parsing out or extracting the indication of the User profile identification from User team roster so that the profile (or other information) stored therein can be isolated for purposes of payment verification or designating invited Users from a pool of such data stored in the User profile. In other embodiments, the merchant system 202 does not include any logic for processing (and does not otherwise interpret) one or more of the received User invitation information items. In such embodiments, the merchant system 202 may receive the invited User information with the User team roster that includes a tag as embedded within the invited and then forward or otherwise transmit the received items to some other system, such as the Scoring Compiler 203. In other embodiments, the invited User information is sent from the UI element 212 to the Stack Roster reconciler 200 through network means without the Merchant System altering the data structure.
After receiving and possibly processing the User team roster and included data items, the merchant system 202 may forward the items onwards to the Stack Roster reconciler for each of the invited Users after each User has been verified in the Merchant System 202. User rosters 103 are reconciled in accord with the method of FIG. 4A in order to cause the Scoring Compiler to initiate a new competition as requested by the user 10. Once each User is verified, optionally to include the status of having paid, the reconciling of the rosters occurs.
At a FIG. 5B, the intermediate play is shown. As a result of the actions of the Stack Roster reconciler 200, the fully reconciled rosters are either returned to the Merchant system, or, in a non-depicted embodiment, the Stack Roster reconciler 200 sends the reconciled rosters to the Scoring Compiler 203. One of the functions of the Scoring Compiler 203 is to garner all statistics for all players, and in a presently preferred embodiment, third party vendors send the information to the Scoring Compiler 203 using either of a “push” or a “pull” configuration to garner statistics on each of the Players represented by each of the tiles in the Player pool 101 as shown in FIG. 1A. In collecting all relevant statistics, the Scoring Compiler 203 serves as a data store of the latest and also historic statistics for each of the Players for perusal by the Users as well as for, ultimately, scoring the competition. In one embodiment, the tiles 105 A-E will include either the statistics themselves or a link directing the UI Element 212 to the statistics supplied by the Scoring Compiler 203 for display to inform the User in the Player selection process, as shown in FIGS. 1A through 1C.
The Scoring Compiler 203 (or, as described above, the Merchant System 202 in communication with the Scoring Compiler 203) then interprets the received statistics and performs the appropriate or necessary functions to score each of the reconciled rosters in accord with the method depicted in FIGS. 4B and 4C, such as delivering intermediate scores to the UI element 212 for display on the Client Device 201, displaying standings, creating and storing specific User statistics such as scoring for distinct positions in the roster 103. The Scoring Compiler 203 may also transmit to the Player Pool Module statistics to enable Users to compile unique and new User team rosters for play, for example in Major League Baseball™, a second season after the All-Star break.
FIG. 5C illustrates data flows in an embodiment to complete the season. The arrangement of components and systems shown in FIG. 5C is similar to that of FIGS. 5A and B. In FIG. 5C, the Merchant System uses a network identifier to facilitate transmission of and access to extended all User team rosters and the reconciled Rosters as between several Users. In the completion of the competition The Merchant System 202, in an embodiment, compiles the statistical data for the season drawing from the Scoring Compiler 203 to generate and provide standings posted at a uniform resource identifier (“URI”) that identifies a network-accessible system that is configured to provide the standings to each User in response to a request. In other embodiments, the URI may be directly parsed to determine an standings without interaction with a remote system. In some embodiments, a standings may be determined from the URI (e.g., as an embedded tag) and the UI element 212 directly, as standings may be determined by interacting based on the URI with a remote system.
Generating the URI by the Merchant System 202 may include interacting with the Stack Roster reconciler 200. For example, the Merchant System may transmit specified game information including User profiles to the Stack Roster reconciler 200, and after receiving the data, retrieves the appropriate statistics from the Scoring Compiler 203 to generate standings there for publication.
In an embodiment, the URI generated by the Merchant system 202 is then entered into the UI element 212 for display, as discussed above. In this example, the merchant system 202 forwards the reconciled rosters and the URI to the UI Element. The Scoring Compiler 203 then determines the specified those persons available for play based upon the setting of such an option within the User's profile, determining the appropriate URI, and then by communicating, based on the URI, with the Stack Roster reconciler 200. More particularly, the Scoring Compiler 203 transmits to the facilitator 200 a request based on the URI. In an HTTP-based embodiment, the request may be an HTTP GET that includes URI parameters, including any key-value pairs or other arguments that were part of the URI (e.g., id=12345). The Reconciler 200 then determines the scoring based on the competition identifier, such as by looking up the particular reconciled rosters based on a received identifier. The Stack Roster reconciler 200 then transmits the standings back to the UI element 212.
Note that the illustrated arrangement of modules may be differently constituted in some embodiments. For example, the Player Pool module 206 may be incorporated dynamically into the Scoring Compiler 203, as discussed with respect to FIG. 4B, above. As another example, the merchant system 202 and the Scoring Compiler 203 may be integrated as a single system, rather than as distinct systems as shown. Furthermore, the Stack Roster reconciler 200 may be a component of one of the other modules, such as the Scoring Compiler 203 or the merchant system 202.
In other embodiments, additional modules or systems may also be present. For example, some embodiments may include a third-party statistics (“TPL”) provider that stores the statistics on the Scoring Compiler 203 to produce the resulting User scores.
Example embodiments described herein provide applications, tools, data structures and other support to implement a Stack Roster reconciler to be used to provide a platform for gaming. Other embodiments of the described techniques may be used for other purposes, including for extending a user interface generally and/or using an existing communication protocol or data records to provide, carry, or transmit information beyond that which the protocol is designed to represent or transport. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth, such as data formats and code sequences, and the like, in order to provide a thorough understanding of the described techniques. The embodiments described also can be practiced without some of the specific details described herein, or with other specific details, such as changes with respect to the ordering of the logic, different logic, or the like. Thus, the scope of the techniques and/or functions described are not limited by the particular order, selection, or decomposition of aspects described with reference to any particular routine, module, component, and the like.

Example Computing System Implementation

FIG. 6 is an example block diagram of an example computing system 300 for implementing a Stack Roster reconciler 200 according to an example embodiment. In particular, FIG. 4 shows a computing system 300 that may be utilized to implement a Stack Roster reconciler 200.
Note that one or more general purpose or special purpose computing systems/devices suitably instructed may be used to implement the Stack Roster reconciler 200. In addition, the computing system 300 may comprise one or more distinct computing systems/devices and may span distributed locations. Furthermore, each block shown may represent one or more such blocks as appropriate to a specific embodiment or may be combined with other blocks. Also, the Stack Roster reconciler 200 may be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or in some combination to achieve the capabilities described herein.
In the embodiment shown, computing system 300 comprises a computer memory (“memory”) 301, a display 302, one or more Central Processing Units (“CPU”) 303, Input/Output devices 304 (e.g., keyboard, mouse, CRT or LCD display, and the like), other computer-readable media 405, and network connections 306 connected to a network 350. The Stack Roster reconciler 200 is shown residing in memory 401. In other embodiments, some portion of the contents, some or all of the components of the Stack Roster reconciler 200 may be stored on and/or transmitted over the other computer-readable media 305. The components of the Stack Roster reconciler 200 preferably execute on one or more CPUs 303 and facilitate the reconciliation of rosters and ultimately the scoring options as described herein. Other code or programs 330 (e.g., an administrative interface, a Web server, and the like) and potentially other data repositories, such as data repository 320, also reside in the memory 301, and preferably execute on one or more CPUs 303. Of note, one or more of the components in FIG. 6 may not be present in any specific implementation. For example, some embodiments may not provide other computer-readable media 305 or a display 302.
The Stack Roster reconciler 200, in one embodiment, includes a widget provider 311, a tag manager 312, a user interface manager 315, a application program interface (API) 316, and a data store 318. In other embodiments, functions performed by one or more of the illustrated components may be performed externally to the Stack Roster reconciler 200.
The Stack Roster reconciler 200 interacts via the network 350 with client devices 201, merchant systems 202, and Scoring Compiler 203. The network 350 may be any combination of media (e.g., twisted pair, coaxial, fiber optic, radio frequency), hardware (e.g., routers, switches, repeaters, transceivers), and protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, WiMAX) that facilitate communication between remotely situated humans and/or devices. In some embodiments, the network 350 may be or include multiple distinct communication channels or mechanisms. The client devices 201 include mobile phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants, laptop computers, tablet computers, desktop computers, and the like.
Users or others (e.g., customer service representatives) may use the client devices 201 to construct User team rosters 103 or other items via the merchant systems 202. The merchant systems 202 in turn prepare User profiles, invite Users to play, facilitate online chats and conveys statistics garnered from the Scoring Compiler 203. The Scoring Compilers 203 are used to, at least garner and store Player statistics from sources including from third party vendors.
The widget provider 311 manages the storage and distribution of various modules, blocks, widgets, or the like to enable enhance functionality and to increase the appeal of the game during play, such as an online chat between Users in a particular game to enable “smack talk” among the Users. Another such widget might distribute latest Player interview clips to Users having selected that Player on their User team roster. For example, a developer may create a new widget and provide the widget to the Stack Roster reconciler 200 for storage and further distribution by the widget provider 311. The widget provider 311 may respond to requests received from client devices 201 or merchant systems 202 during the season. For example, a User may use one of the client devices 201 to interact with a Web page that includes a link to a Bank page that gives Users credits for later games based upon instantaneous standings, the link causing a widget to be retrieved by the client device 201 from the widget provider 311.
The tag manager 312 performs tag generation and translation services. For example, given a User and a stack roster, the tag manager 312 may generate a tag that is configured to represent that information. The tag manager 312 may also, given a tag or other identifier, respond with the other User stack rosters specified by the identifier. In some embodiments, some or all of the logic of the tag manager may be incorporated into a widget or a Scoring Compiler 203.
The UI manager 315 provides a view and a controller that facilitate user interaction with the Stack Roster reconciler 200 and its various components. For example, the UI manager 315 may provide interactive access to the Stack Roster reconciler 200, such that users or systems can obtain or configure widgets, generate tags, translate tags, and the like. In some embodiments, access to the functionality of the UI manager 415 may be provided via a Web server, possibly executing as one of the other programs 430. In such embodiments, a user operating a Web browser (or other client) executing on one of the devices/ systems 201, 202, and/or 203 can interact with the Stack Roster reconciler 200 via the UI manager 315.
The API 316 provides programmatic access to one or more functions of the Stack Roster reconciler 200. For example, the API 316 may provide a programmatic interface to one or more functions of the Stack Roster reconciler 200 that may be invoked by one of the other programs 330 or some other module. In this manner, the API 316 facilitates the development of third-party software, such as user interfaces, widgets, tag translation services (e.g., for integrating functions of the Stack Roster reconciler 200 into Web applications), and the like. In addition, the API 316 may be in at least some embodiments invoked or otherwise accessed via remote entities, such as one of the Scoring Compilers 203, to access various functions of the Stack Roster reconciler 200.
The data store 318 is used by the other modules of the Stack Roster reconciler 200 to store and/or communicate information. The components of the system 200 use the data store 318 to record various types of information, including widgets and other controls, information about scoring and statistics provided by third-party vendors. Although the components of the system 200 are described as communicating primarily through the data store 318, other communication mechanisms are contemplated, including message passing, function calls, pipes, sockets, shared memory, and the like.
In an example embodiment, components/modules of the Stack Roster reconciler 200 are implemented using standard programming techniques. For example, the Stack Roster reconciler 200 may be implemented as a “native” executable running on the CPU 303, along with one or more static or dynamic libraries. In other embodiments, the Stack Roster reconciler 200 may be implemented as instructions processed by a virtual machine. In general, a range of programming languages known in the art may be employed for implementing such example embodiments, including representative implementations of various programming language paradigms, including but not limited to, object-oriented (e.g., Java, C++, C#, Visual Basic.NET, Smalltalk, and the like), functional (e.g., ML, Lisp, Scheme, and the like), procedural (e.g., C, Pascal, Ada, Modula, and the like), scripting (e.g., Perl, Ruby, Python, JavaScript, VBScript, and the like), and declarative (e.g., SQL, Prolog, and the like).
The embodiments described above may also use either well-known or proprietary synchronous or asynchronous client-server computing techniques. Also, the various components may be implemented using more monolithic programming techniques, for example, as an executable running on a single CPU computer system, or alternatively decomposed using a variety of structuring techniques known in the art, including but not limited to, multiprogramming, multithreading, client-server, or peer-to-peer, running on one or more computer systems each having one or more CPUs. Some embodiments may execute concurrently and asynchronously, and communicate using message passing techniques. Equivalent synchronous embodiments are also supported. Also, other functions could be implemented and/or performed by each component/module, and in different orders, and by different components/modules, yet still achieve the described functions.
In addition, programming interfaces to the data stored as part of the Stack Roster reconciler 200, such as in the data store 318, can be available by standard mechanisms such as through C, C++, C#, and Java APIs; libraries for accessing files, databases, or other data repositories; through scripting languages such as XML; or through Web servers, FTP servers, or other types of servers providing access to stored data. The data store 318 may be implemented as one or more database systems, file systems, or any other technique for storing such information, or any combination of the above, including implementations using distributed computing techniques.
Different configurations and locations of programs and data are contemplated for use with techniques of described herein. In addition, the modules may reside on client or server systems that are physical or virtual computing. Also, one or more of the modules may themselves be distributed, pooled or otherwise grouped, such as for load balancing, reliability or security reasons. A variety of distributed computing techniques are appropriate for implementing the components of the illustrated embodiments in a distributed manner including but not limited to TCP/IP sockets, RPC, RMI, HTTP, Web Services (XML-RPC, JAX-RPC, SOAP, and the like). Other variations are possible. Also, other functionality could be provided by each component/module, or existing functionality could be distributed amongst the components/modules in different ways, yet still achieve the functions described herein.
Furthermore, in some embodiments, some or all of the components of the Stack Roster reconciler 200 may be implemented or provided in other manners, such as at least partially in firmware and/or hardware, including, but not limited to one or more application-specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”), standard integrated circuits, controllers executing appropriate instructions, and including microcontrollers and/or embedded controllers, field-programmable gate arrays (“FPGAs”), complex programmable logic devices (“CPLDs”), and the like. Some or all of the system components and/or data structures may also be stored as contents (e.g., as executable or other machine-readable software instructions or structured data) on a computer-readable medium (e.g., as a hard disk; a memory; a computer network or cellular wireless network or other data transmission medium; or a portable media article to be read by an appropriate drive or via an appropriate connection, such as a DVD or flash memory device) so as to enable or configure the computer-readable medium and/or one or more associated computing systems or devices to execute or otherwise use or provide the contents to perform at least some of the described techniques. Some or all of the components and/or data structures may be stored as non-transitory contents on tangible, non-transitory storage mediums. Some or all of the system components and data structures may also be stored as data signals (e.g., by being encoded as part of a carrier wave or included as part of an analog or digital propagated signal) on a variety of computer-readable transmission mediums, which are then transmitted, including across wireless-based and wired/cable-based mediums, and may take a variety of forms (e.g., as part of a single or multiplexed analog signal, or as multiple discrete digital packets or frames). Such computer program products may also take other forms in other embodiments. Accordingly, embodiments of this disclosure may be practiced with other computer system configurations.
While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, as noted above, many changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is not limited by the disclosure of the preferred embodiment. Instead, the invention should be determined entirely by reference to the claims that follow.

Claims

1. A method for playing a fantasy sport competition among a plurality of Users, the method comprising:

by a client device having instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the device being communicatively connected to a network:

transmitting User selections to suitably order Players in the User roster comprising a User prioritized list of Players according to positions, such that for each position the User has reflected a plurality of choices in order of User preference;

by the server having instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the server being communicatively connected to the network:

receiving Invited User rosters from each Invited User, each Invited User roster comprising that Invited User's prioritized list of Players according to positions;

pairing the User with each Invited User and each Invited User with each other to create Stack Roster pairings; and

for each Stack Roster pairing, comparing the User's roster to the Invited User's roster for each position to create a single Player choice for each of the User and the Invited User at each position to create a Stack Roster for the pairing.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising;

by the server:

receiving Player statistics reflecting actual play during a relevant period; and

generating scores for each of the User and the Invited User in the Stack Roster pairing according to the received Player statistics for each Player in the Stack Roster.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

By the server:

compiling the scores for the User and the Invited User for each Stack Roster pair, and

generating standings based upon comparing compiled scores for each of the User and the Invited Users.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting User selections to suitably order Players in the User roster further comprises:

by the client device:

transmitting information identifying the User; and

receiving a list of Players available for User selection ordered according to Player positions; and

by the server:

generating the list of Players; and

transmitting the list of Players.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving Invited User rosters from each additional User further comprises:

by the client device:

transmitting User selections designating Invited Users; and

by the server:

transmitting an invitation to each designated Invited User to generate an Invited User Player roster; and

receiving from each additional User an Invited User Player roster.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the transmitting User selections designating additional Users further comprises:

by the client device:

selecting additional Users for designation from a list of available Users; and

by the server:

generating a list of available Users; and

transmitting the list of available Users to the User.

7. A system for facilitating Users in the play of fantasy sport games, the system comprising:

a Merchant System residing upon a server having instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the server being communicatively connected to the network, the Merchant System being configured to:

receive a User Player roster, comprising a plurality of Players listed according to a position and in an order determined by a User's prioritized list of Players for that position, from a plurality of registered Users each using a client device that is communicatively connected with the network; and

receiving a request from an Instigating User to invite at least one of the plurality of registered Users to for a competing group;

a Stack Roster reconciler, communicatively connected to the merchant system, comprises:

a data store containing each of the User Player rosters received from the merchant system;

a memory having instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium; and

a central processing unit which, in response to the instructions performs a method including:

defining the Instigating User and each Invited User into Stack Roster pairings;

reconciling the User rosters for each User in each Stack Roster pairing relative to the other User in the Stack Roster pairings into a Stack Roster; and

calculating scores for each Stack Roster, based upon Player statistics received from a Scoring Compiler relevant to a defined period; and

the Scoring Compiler, communicative coupled to the Stack Roster reconciler and the merchant system and comprising:

a data store for receiving statistics for each Player in each User Player roster; and

a transmitting means to convey statistics to the Stack Roster compiler.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the instruction causing the center processing unit to reconcile the User rosters comprise instructions to perform the method including:

for each User in each Stack Roster pairing, retrieving each Users' prioritized list of Players for each position and commencing from a first priority:

comparing the Players on each User's prioritized list for that priority to determine if each is distinct;

if the Players on each User's prioritized list for that priority are distinct, assign each of the Players to the User in accord with that User's priority and move to the next position; and

if the Players on each User's prioritized list for that priority are not distinct, the central processing unit will compare Players in a similar manner according to the next priority.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein, the merchant system receives calculated scores for each User from the Stack Roster and transmits the scores to each User at designated intervals.

10. A computer having instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the device being communicatively connected to a network to facilitate playing a fantasy sport competition among a plurality of Users, the computer comprising:

instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium causing the central processing unit to perform the following operations:

receiving User rosters from each User, each User roster comprising that User's prioritized list of Players according to positions;

receiving from an Instigating User request for Invited Users;

pairing the User with each Invited User and with each other Invited User to create Stack Roster pairings; and

for each Stack Roster pairing, comparing a first User's roster to a second User's roster for each position to create a single Player choice for each of the Users at each position to create a Stack Roster for the pairing.

11. The computer of claim 10, further comprising;

generating scores for each of the User and the additional User in the Stack Roster pairing according to the received Player statistics for each Player in the Stack Roster.

12. The computer of claim 11, further comprising:

By the server:

compiling the scores each User in each Stack Roster pair according to the Stack Roster, and

generating standings based upon comparing compiled scores for each of the User and the additional Users.

13. The computer of claim 10, wherein transmitting User selections to suitably order Players in the User roster further comprises:

receiving information identifying the Instigating User;

generating the list of Players; and

transmitting the list of Players.

14. The computer of claim 10 wherein receiving additional User rosters from each additional User further comprises:

receiving a list of Invited Users;

transmitting an invitation to each designated additional User to generate an Invited User Player roster; and

receiving from each Invited User an additional User Player roster.

15. The computer of claim 10 wherein the transmitting User selections designating additional Users further comprises:

generating a list of available Users;

transmitting the list of available Users to the Instigating User;

receiving selections from the list of available Users from the Instigating User; and

transmitting an invitation to each of the designated Users.