U.S. patent application number 10/422289 was filed with the patent office on 2003-10-30 for interactive sports system.
Invention is credited to Chanda, Parthapratim, Friedler, Ariel Manuel, Porsch, Adam Grant.
Application Number | 20030203757 10/422289 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 29254600 |
Filed Date | 2003-10-30 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030203757 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Chanda, Parthapratim ; et
al. |
October 30, 2003 |
Interactive sports system
Abstract
A system for interactive sports. The system is comprised of
participants and two or more real-life athletes organized
individually or in teams. Participants direct operational decisions
for a real-life athlete or team of athletes who must follow the
directions of participants. Participants compete against other
participants controlling other athletes and teams, based on the
performance of the athletes or teams that they control.
Participants vote by numerous communications media and their
preferences are collected and processed by an information system.
Participants also communicate with real-life athletes and players
and other participants. Athletes and teams compete and winners
receive compensation. Participants who control winning teams are
also eligible for compensation.
Inventors: |
Chanda, Parthapratim;
(Forest Hills, NY) ; Friedler, Ariel Manuel;
(Arlington, VA) ; Porsch, Adam Grant; (Arlington,
VA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Parthapratim Chanda
68-21 Harrow Street
Forest Hills
NY
11375
US
|
Family ID: |
29254600 |
Appl. No.: |
10/422289 |
Filed: |
April 24, 2003 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60375542 |
Apr 25, 2002 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
463/42 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63F 13/828 20140902;
A63F 13/33 20140902; A63F 13/86 20140902; A63F 13/12 20130101; A63F
13/87 20140902; A63F 2300/69 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
463/42 |
International
Class: |
A63F 009/24 |
Claims
We claim:
1) An interactive sports system comprising a) Participants b) Two
or more players, individually, or organized into two or more teams
c) A system allowing participants to direct a significant
operational decision or action for a player or team.
2) The interactive sports system of claim 1 wherein the significant
player or team operational decision or action includes, but is not
limited to, one or more of the following: a) Naming the player or
team b) Choosing the logo of the player or team c) Selecting the
initial players d) Selecting a coach e) Selecting starting line-ups
for each game f) Selecting specific plays during games g) Selecting
game point spreads h) Substituting players during games i)
Providing feedback to players before, during and after games j)
Communicating live with players after games k) Trading players l)
Selecting a season Most Valuable Player m) Setting player salary
and bonuses
3) The interactive sports system of claim 1 wherein participants
are comprised of one or more of the following: broadcast viewers,
fans, others who participate in directing a major team activity
and/or characteristic.
4) The interactive sports system of claim 1 wherein a team is
comprised of two or more players.
5) The interactive sports system of claim 1 wherein participants
provide instructions to a team and/or player prior to, during and
after one or more games.
6) The interactive sports system of claim 1 wherein participants
direct the major team activity and/or characteristic by providing
instructions via one or more of the following: telephone, internet,
television, mail, remote control, text messaging and other
communication media.
7) The interactive sports system of claim 1 wherein instructions of
participants are processed to produce a narrower set of
instructions, based on at least a plurality of voting
participants.
8) The interactive sports system of claim 1 wherein players and
teams follow the instructions.
9) The interactive sports system of claim 1 wherein players and
teams compete to win.
10) The interactive sports system of claim 1 wherein player and
team competition is broadcast by one or more of the following: live
performance, television, radio, internet.
11) The interactive sports system of claim 1 wherein a participant
registers to direct the activities and characteristics of only one
player or team.
12) The interactive sports system of claim 1 wherein participants
who register to direct the activities and characteristics of the
winning player or team receive a prize.
13) The interactive sports system of claim 1 wherein a player who
wins in an individual sport or plays on the winning team of a team
sport receives a prize.
14) The interactive sports system of claim 1 wherein participants
can pose new significant operational decision choices to other
participants.
15) The interactive sports system of claim 1 wherein participants
may take part in a separate fantasy competition with other
participants.
16) The interactive sports system of claim 1, further comprising a
fantasy competition.
17) The interactive sports system of claim 1 wherein one or more
players are selected from the general public.
18) The interactive sports system of claim 1 wherein one or more
players, in addition to playing, are involved in a community
activity.
19) The interactive sports system of claim 18 wherein the community
activity is broadcast by one or more of the following: live
performance, television, radio, internet.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] Not applicable
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0002] Not applicable
BACKGROUND--FIELD OF INVENTION
[0003] This invention relates to all varieties of sports.
BACKGROUND--DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
[0004] The concept of fantasy sports is well known and popular.
Fantasy sports allow participants to select active real-life
athletes from existing sports teams to form virtual teams which the
participants control. Virtual teams are evaluated based on
different statistical criteria related to the "real-life"
performances of the players that constitute the virtual teams.
Fantasy sports usually involve leagues of participants who compete
against each other for the best performing virtual team.
Participants may alter their virtual teams by engaging in
transactions such as purchasing players or trading players with
other virtual teams.
[0005] The concept of fantasy sports is limited in that it is
virtual in character, as implied in the name of the concept
itself--"fantasy" sports. Participants create virtual teams that
are distinct and separate from the real-life teams and athletes.
Participants do not control the teal-life teams and athletes that
constitute their virtual teams. For example, participants can not
trade the real-life players. Nor can they affect the decisions the
real-life teams make that affect their virtual teams.
[0006] One variation has been in the case of a sports team, "Club
PK-35," a Finnish soccer team, that enabled fans to vote on three
to ten questions relating to team tactics, choice of players and
substitutions during games. Winning votes were transmitted to the
coach who followed them. While the interactivity level of the
Finnish team was greater than ordinary fantasy sports,
viewer-participants were limited to voting on a limited range of
questions. The participants could not vote on some of the
fundamental questions that underlie the management of a sports
team--which players should comprise the team, which players should
be traded, how much players should be paid, or who the coach should
be. The participants could not decide what decisions to vote on.
Participants also could not provide feedback to the real-life
players. The Finnish variation also did not involve more than one
team and did not provide a competitive dimension to the experience
of the participant.
[0007] Both fantasy sports and its variation in the case of the
Finnish team suffer from the serious limitation that participants
are limited in the decisions they can make. Important operational
decisions are not made by participants. For example, in both
systems participants can not control whether players are traded,
whether the coach should be replaced or what salaries the players
should receive. Participants also can not provide communicate
directly with players. Furthermore, no system provides both the
real-life voting of the Finnish soccer team with the competition
between participants of fantasy sports leagues.
[0008] The need exists for a new system for sports by which
participants can play numerous roles in the sport process.
Participants can vote on the operational decisions of real-life
sports teams, from choosing the real-life players who engage in the
sport to who is traded. Participants can decide which decisions
participants should vote on. Participants can communicate directly
with real-life athletes and players and provide feedback and chat
with the real-life athletes directly. Finally, participants can
compete against other participants with the knowledge that they
influenced the real-life performance of their team.
SUMMARY
[0009] In accordance with the present invention a system of
interactive control of sports teams, by which participants decide
the operational decisions of real-life sports teams or individual
players and compete against one another based on the performance of
their teams or players.
[0010] Objects and Advantages
[0011] Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the present
invention are:
[0012] (a) to provide Participants with the ability to choose the
players that comprise a sports team;
[0013] (b) to provide Participants with the ability to choose the
basic attributes of a sports team--including its name and uniform
design;
[0014] (c) to provide Participants with the ability to provide
feedback to the players that comprise a sports team, before, during
and after real-life games;
[0015] (d) to provide Participants with the ability to substitute
players, before, during and after real-life games;
[0016] (e) to provide Participants with the ability to create a
sports team from inception;
[0017] (f) to provide Participants with the ability to cast votes
through a variety of means including, but not limited to, phone,
internet, remote control, and mail.
[0018] (g) to provide Participants with the ability to trade
real-life players;
[0019] (h) to provide Participants with the ability to determine
the compensation levels of real-life players;
[0020] (i) to provide Participants with the ability to decide which
decisions the participants should vote on;
[0021] (j) to provide Participants with the ability to financially
benefit from the performance of the real-life sports team or player
they control;
[0022] (k) to provide Participants with the ability to compete with
other Participants who are also subject to the aforementioned
objects and advantages;
[0023] (l) to provide Participants to communicate with other
Participants through a variety of means including, but not limited
to, the internet;
[0024] (m) to provide players and teams an opportunity to
participate in community activities.
[0025] Further objects and advantages will become apparent from a
consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.
DRAWING FIGURES
[0026] FIG. 1 is a flowchart of the system forming the present
invention
[0027] FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the system by which information
flows from participants to players and teams.
DESCRIPTION--FIG. 1 AND FIG. 2--PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0028] A preferred embodiment of the present invention is
illustrated in FIG. 1. In a preferred embodiment, the disclosure
relates to a league of basketball teams. The league is comprised of
the top amateur and/or professional basketball players from around
the world. The league is under the full control and management of
participants, who include viewers of game broadcasts at home and
live, and other interested parties.
[0029] At the start of the season, viewers register online to
become a co-owner of one of the teams in the league. Following
registration, co-owners make every major decision facing their team
throughout the season by voting online, over the phone, with remote
control technology, and other available technology. A majority or
plurality of votes of all viewing owners of each team, depending on
the type of issue voted upon, determine what the team actually
does. The decisions voted on include, but are not limited to, the
following:
[0030] a) Naming the player or team
[0031] b) Choosing the logo of the player or team
[0032] c) Selecting the initial players
[0033] d) Selecting a coach
[0034] e) Selecting starting line-ups for each game
[0035] f) Selecting specific plays during games
[0036] g) Selecting game point spreads
[0037] h) Substituting players during games
[0038] i) Trading players
[0039] j) Selecting a season Most Valuable Player
[0040] k) Setting player salary and bonuses
[0041] Participants also provide feedback to individual players and
chat with them electronically. Participants make the critical
decisions owners and GMs make every day and see their effects play
out in real time with real players in real games.
[0042] FIG. 1 details this process. The arrows denote voting. At
the top of the drawing, participants vote for a team they want to
co-own. They then vote on numerous decisions and provide feedback
to and chat with players and teams. Those decisions and feedback
are followed by players and teams, providing direct control to
participants. This process is repeated during games and throughout
the season. Teams and players compete in a season format and the
best performing team wins a prize. Participant co-owners of the
winning player or team also receive a prize.
[0043] FIG. 2 details the flow of information in the preferred
embodiment of this invention. Participants access numerous
communication avenues to vote. They transmit different decisions
and feedback for their respective teams, denoted in FIG. 2 by the
different types of Decision/Feedback triangles. Their decisions are
transmitted via these communication avenues and are collected and
processed at one or more information processing units which
calculate majority and plurality votes for the decisions and
feedback and relay those results to the teams which follow the
results in their actions.
[0044] The league and all of its games are broadcast over
television and internet. The league is launched with a public
search for players. Open auditions and talent searches produce a
field of contenders who compete further to determine their skill
and fitness levels and create a final group of draft choices. At
this stage, participants register online and over the phone by
creating a personal account and signing up with one of the teams.
As part owners of their team, fans can register for only one team
and can vote only on decisions facing their team. Owners then vote
on the team name and logo and coach.
[0045] The league begins with an introductory episode introducing
viewers to the concept and the players, followed by a televised
draft, regular season play and tournament play leading to the
crowning of one championship team. The winning team and the league
MVP, chosen by viewers, win cash prizes and national exposure.
Participants who co-own the championship team also win prizes.
[0046] At the draft broadcast, co-owners select the players that
will comprise their team by majority vote. In the preferred
embodiment, the structure of the draft consists of a round based
draft in which 1) the order of picks for the teams will be selected
randomly; 2) each team will choose players, with one of their
players selected automatically by computer from the remaining
players. The draft is set up as a snake-selection system in which
the first round votes for teams proceed from team one to the last
team and votes for the next round start from the last team and work
backwards to the team one. Voting is predominantly live, with some
absentee ballots. While viewers are voting, clips of the top
un-drafted players are shown, with commentary from sports
analysts.
[0047] Once players are drafted and the team's logo, name and coach
are selected, co-owners chat with both other participants and
players before the first game. Co-owners vote on the starting line
ups for the first regular season game. During the game, co-owners
vote on substitutions and play selection and provide feedback to
players. At the end of the game, all viewers vote on the best and
worst player of the game.
[0048] Between games co-owners provide feedback to individual
players and chat live with co-owners and individual players.
Participants can pose new questions or operational choices to their
fellow participants to decide upon. Co-owners can trade players or
replace players with reserve athletes. Trades work in the following
way: 1) Each team has a designated deadline to trade. The worst
team of the week chooses first, and their owners have 24 hours to
make a trading selection; 2) Co-owners are asked if they want to
trade the worst performing player from the previous week, selected
by sports analysts; 3) They are then asked to vote for one of the
remaining players in the reserve squad; 4) If more than 50% of
co-owners vote in favor of the trade then the player will be
substituted with the reserve player who receives a plurality of the
votes; 5) Once each team's choice is approved, fans of the next
worst team of the week will have the following 24 hours to go
through the process and choose from one of the remaining players in
the reserve squad or the player traded back to the reserve squad by
the previous team. If a player is injured, selection of a
replacement player follows the same protocol as the player trade
system described above.
[0049] During the voting process, participants will view the voting
progress before the polls close on all votes in an online voting
interface. That interface provides video clips, stats, player
diaries and game recaps for fans to conduct the most detailed
research into their players and teams
[0050] Fans also have the ability to predict the final game score
of the next set of games, with the winner(s) with the best
predictions identified on TV at the end of the show.
[0051] This process repeats itself through a round-robin
championship tournament in which one team will prevail. At the end
of the championship game, fans vote for the championship Most
Valuable Player (MVP). The MVP will be announced at the end of the
program and will receive a cash bonus
ADDITIONAL EMBODIMENTS
Example 1
[0052] Fantasy League
[0053] An interactive sports game system as described herein may
also comprise a fantasy league element. For example, participants
may take part in a fantasy-like component alongside the show. This
option will allow fans to create their own dream team of players
from the entire league and completely control all trades. Like
other fantasy leagues, fans will be able to compete in groups with
their friends. The broadcaster or other corporate sponsor could
decide to charge a nominal fee to participate in the Fantasy League
and the winner could be eligible for a prize.
Example 2
[0054] Community Involvement
[0055] An interactive sports game system as described herein may
also comprise a community involvement component. For example,
players could also perform community service during the week which
would form interesting human story clips for the show. A community
involvement component could further differentiate this system from
any other sports programming or system. A community involvement
component could provide marketing opportunities for the program in
new communities and good will for the idea.
ALTERNATIVE EMBODIMENTS
Example 1
[0056] Individual Sports
[0057] An interactive sports game system as described herein may
also comprise individual athletes rather than teams of athletes.
Such an embodiment of the system would be used for golf, tennis,
bowling, archery and other individual sports.
ADVANTAGES
[0058] From the description above, a number of advantages of my
interactive sports system become evident:
[0059] (a) The system allows for the control of operational
decisions of real-life sports teams and athletes.
[0060] (b) The system allows for competition between participants
based on their real control of real-life sports teams and
athletes.
[0061] (n) The system offers the possibility for participants to
create a real-life sports team.
[0062] (o) The system allows participants to control their sports
teams through various communications media.
[0063] (p) The system allows participants to financially benefit
from the performance of a real-life sports team whose performance
they control;
[0064] (q) The system allows participants to communicate with
real-life athletes, teams and other participants.
[0065] (r) The system allows participants to pose new questions or
operational choices to their fellow participants to decide
upon.
[0066] (s) The system allows athletes to participate in community
activities.
CONCLUSION, RAMIFICATIONS, AND SCOPE
[0067] Accordingly, the reader will see that the interactive sports
system provides the opportunity for participants to control the
operational decisions of real-life athletes and teams. Those
operational decisions may include, but are not limited to, creating
a team, choosing players, making trades and setting salaries.
Furthermore, the interactive sports system provides participants
the opportunity to compete with other participants based on the
performances of the real-life athletes and teams that the
participants control. Furthermore, the interactive sports system
has the additional advantages that:
[0068] Participants can communicate directly with real-life
athletes, teams and other participants.
[0069] Participants can use various communications media, including
but not limited to telephone, internet, television, mail, remote
control and text messaging, to vote and communicate with athletes
and teams and other participants,
[0070] Participants can financially benefit from the performance of
a real-life sports team, performance they can control.
[0071] Athletes are selected from the general public.
[0072] Participants can pose new questions or operational choices
to their fellow participants to decide upon.
[0073] The system allows athletes to participate in community
activities.
[0074] Although the description above contains many specificities,
these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the
invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the
presently preferred embodiments of this invention. For example, the
operational decisions can be different from those included in this
embodiment, such as location of the team, selection of the general
manager, etc.; or the communications media can take a different
form, such as a special module that fans use to communicate
electronically with athletes and teams, etc.
[0075] Thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the
appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the
examples given.
[0076] Definitions
[0077] The term "including" is used herein to mean "including but
not limited to".
[0078] The articles "a" and "an" are used herein to mean "one or
more" or "at least one" of the grammatical object of the
article.
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