Ranking System

Abstract

A method for ranking objects and determining a top ranked object, the method comprising steps of comparing the objects with each other using a non-predictive process and marking objects successful in each round of texts. Periodically objects are removed from a table containing a rank between the objects; however, marked objects are protected from removal. When only one object remains, a top ranked object is determined.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to methods and system for selection and determination of a rank of an object, and in particular for the determination of a top ranked object, such as a winner in a tournament.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Ranking of objects are important for many application fields wherein one wants to find a most successful or important object from a list of many objects. Ranking processes are often a fair way of selecting objects to use or finding a top ranked object. There are several different ranking methods available today and depending on the application area they look differently.

Ranking processes may be involved in determining an object with the best qualifications with respect to some parameter in order to use that object in a process. For instance, for finding a suitable algorithm in an encryption process or sequencing DNA strings ranking may find applicability.

Also, for instance in sporting tournaments such as world cup in football or ice hockey special tournament rules apply for eliminating teams and determining a rank between participating teams during the course of the tournament. There are many tournaments played every year all over the world with large population of people viewing and having other interests concerning the tournament. In the area of tournaments there is a desire to increase the public's interest and make sure that the best teams do have a high probability to win the tournament while at the same time keeping the excitement of outsiders playing an important role and possibly winning or scoring high on the final ranking.

Today's tournaments are often round-robin events followed by a knock-out (=play-off) phase (used as synonyms here). The last rounds of the round-robin phase often contains matches without significant importance for one or both teams, since the teams may already be qualified to eliminated from the play-off. This may lead to unjust advantages for teams meeting non-motivated challengers and of course also to decreased interest from the audience. Already in the round-robin phase, more skilled teams may be thrown out from the tournaments due to the low number of games in the round-robin (as compared to a traditional league) and effects from each game is increasingly important. The knock-out phase is inherently randomized of course leading to a high probability of teams being thrown out more randomly than in a round-robin phase.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and system for ranking objects that overcomes the shortcomings of conventional ranking methods.

A first aspect of the present invention, a method of ranking objects obtained to be part of a selection process is provided, comprising the iterative steps of:

exposing the objects to a selection process;

arranging the objects in a table according to the current rank between the objects during the selection process;

marking at least one object if the object was successful in a non-predictable event;

removing objects from the table periodically, choosing a pre-determined amount of non-marked objects from a low rank end of the table; and

determining a final top ranked object from the table upon completion of the selection process.

A second aspect of the present invention, a system for determining a winner in tournaments is provided, comprising:

a computational device, comprising

• • a communication interface to a communication network;
  • a processor; and
  • storage device;

input device for obtaining participating teams and game results; and

display device for displaying results and rank of teams in a table;

wherein the computational device is arranged to communicate with the input device and display device, and to arrange the participating teams in a league competition running for a number of rounds, arranging participating teams in the table according to game results obtained using the input device, and storing results in the storage device; the computational device is further arranged to remove a predetermined amount of participating teams from the league periodically, wherein teams to be removed are selected from a bottom end of a league table, however, teams winning a last game prior to the removal of participating teams are protected from removal at this stage; the computational device continues processing until a final team remain.

A third aspect of the present invention, a method of determining a winning team in a tournament is provided, comprising the iterative steps of:

selecting teams to meet in games against each other;

arranging teams in a ranking table according to game results;

protecting winning teams in each round, this step may be referred to as “the winner's guarantee”.

removing periodically teams from the table, selecting non-protected teams from a low rank end of the table;

determining a winner when only one team remains in the table.

The method according to the third aspect of the present invention, may further comprise a step of changing determination function when a predetermined amount of teams remain.

The method according to the third aspect of the present invention, may further comprise a step of in a game between the last two teams determining a winner from one of the following choices: a team higher in rank in the table has to either win or play a draw in order to be determined as winner or a team lower ranked in the table need to win in order to be determined as winner.

The method according to the third aspect of the present invention, wherein a team leading but that has not scored the latest point upon ordinary game time in a final game, must score one more point as a confirmation point in order to be determined as winning team.

The method according to the third aspect of the present invention, wherein a team not in lead in a game is granted an extension of play time if scoring a point within a predetermined amount of time prior to end of ordinary game time.

The method according to the third aspect of the present invention, wherein the team not in lead may be granted an extension of play time for each scoring point during extended play time after ordinary play time.

The method according to the third aspect of the present invention, wherein the tournament is within one of the following: American football, soccer, basketball, handball, ice hockey, rugby, field hockey, baseball, tennis, golf, volleyball, beach volleyball, floor ball, boxing, bowling, wrestling, martial arts, poker, bridge, chess, and go.

A fourth aspect of the present invention, a method for qualifying teams for a final part of a tournament is provided, comprising the steps of:

selecting a number of teams from a high ranking end of a ranking table to meet in a qualifying round;

arranging the selected teams in a play order;

letting winners from the qualifying round qualify for a final part of a tournament.

The step of arranging the selected teams may comprise putting a top most ranked team from the selection against a lowest ranked team from the selection, a second most top ranked team against a second lowest ranked team, and so on until all selected teams are arranged. The step of arranging the selected teams may also comprise using a mathematical formula: team N meets team X+1−N, where a top ranked team is number 1, the number of selected teams are X, and N is a current ranking position.

A fifth aspect of the present invention, an instruction set operated iteratively for determining a winning team in a tournament is provided, comprising:

an instruction set for selecting teams to meet in a game;

an instruction set for arranging teams in a ranking table according to game results;

an instruction set for protecting winning teams in each round;

an instruction set for removing periodically teams from the table, selecting non-protected teams from a low rank end of the table;

an instruction set for determining a winner when only one team remains in the table.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, a method for determining a winner in a game is provided, comprising the step of forcing a team leading but that has not scored the latest point upon ordinary game time in a game, to score one more point as a confirmation point in order to be determined as winning team.

In still yet another aspect of the present invention, a method for equalizing the probability of winning in a game of sports is provided, comprising a step of granting a team not in lead in a game an extension of play time if scoring a point within a predetermined amount of time prior to end of ordinary game time. The team not in lead may be granted an extension of play time for each scoring point during extended play time after ordinary play time.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, a method of determining teams participating in a final part of a tournament is provided, comprising the iterative steps of:

selecting teams to meet in games against each other;

arranging teams in a ranking table according to game results;

protecting winning teams in each round;

removing periodically teams from the table, selecting non-protected teams from a low rank end of the table;

selecting a number of teams from a high ranking end of a ranking table to meet in a qualifying round;

arranging the selected teams to each meet another team from the selected teams;

letting winners from the qualifying round qualify for a final part of a tournament.

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following the invention will be described in a non-limiting way and in more detail with reference to exemplary embodiments illustrated in the enclosed drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a method scheme according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates schematically a system for utilizing the method according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a table in a ranking process according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a device operating the present invention;

FIGS. 5a and b illustrates a game scheme according to a golden qualification method for two different number of game or match rounds respectively according to the present invention; and

FIGS. 6a and b illustrates game schemes according to the present invention for 16 and 32 participating teams respectively.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system or method for arranging objects in a ranking order. At the end of a ranking process a final object is selected and has the highest rank as compared to the other objects.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 1 according to the present invention, wherein a computational device 2 is in communication with a number of interface and/or display units 6 to 11. Communication may be established in many different ways as understood by the person skilled in the art, including, but not limited to, direct connectivity with the computational device 2, direct networked connectivity 3, or networked connectivity 4 via an external network 5, e.g. the Internet. One or several interface units 6 to 11 provide the computational device 2 with information about participating objects and information corresponding to outcome from events part of a ranking process of the objects. The computational device 2 arranges the objects according to the present invention and provides information about a structure comprising a present relative rank of the objects. This structure may be a for instance a table organizing the objects in a rank order with a high ranking end and a low ranking end. Such a table is shown in FIG. 3, where a number of objects 305 to 311 are arranged in the table, 305 represent a currently top ranked object and 311 a currently lowest ranked object.

According to the present invention, the computational device is arranged to remove at least one object from the ranking table. This is done periodically, for instance once after each event round or after a number of event rounds. If, for examples sake, three objects are to be removed, this is illustrated by a line 303 in the table dividing the table into two parts 301 and 302. However, objects successful in a last event round prior to the removal are marked 304 and protected from removal. Thus, the computational device removes a pre-selected amount of the lowest ranked non-marked objects from the table. This is a so called winner's guarantee. The marking may be a viewable in the ranking table in any suitable way, including but not limited to, highlighting a line, positioning a character or some other distinguishable mark, and highlighting the team, keeping a database entry for the system to be aware of the protection, or analyzing the previous result each time in order to determine if the team in question is protected or not.

The number of objects participating in the ranking process is not limited to any number but is preferably more than 5 and less than 200, inclusive.

In FIG. 4 a computational device 400 is shown, comprising a computational unit 401, such as a microprocessor (however, it may be any other type of computing unit, e.g. FPGA, ASIC, embedded processor, DSP, or similar), memory (volatile and/or non-volatile) 404, interface unit 403, display unit 405, and communication means 406. The communication means may include, but is not limited to, Ethernet or serial communication (e.g. a modem using RS232, RS485, Firewire, or USB protocol). The interface unit 403 may be arranged to communicate with a keyboard (not shown) or similar interface device directly or with another computational device via a network. The display unit 405 may also be arranged to communicate with a suitable display device directly or via a network.

A method for ranking the objects will now be described referring to FIG. 2:

• • A number of objects are selected or obtained to be part of the ranking process (201).
  • Each object are weighed, compared, or similarly put against one other object in a non-predictive selection process. All objects participating in the table are exposed to the selection process at least one time (202).
  • The objects are arranged in a table according to the current rank according to a selection process. The selection process is in this invention preferable a non-predictive process, such a random process, or semi random process (203).
  • Objects that were successful in a latest selection process are marked (204).
  • One or several objects are removed from the table and thus not allowed to be part of the selection process any more. The number of eliminated objects may be minimum one object and maximum fifty percent of the remaining objects. Objects to be removed are chosen from a low rank end of the table; however marked objects are protected from being removed (205).
  • The process is iteratively operated until all objects have been removed but one, this object is determined to be a final top ranked object (206).

The objects to be part of the ranking process are pre-selected or obtained through some suitable process and may be entered into a database containing information about the objects and keeping score of the ranking during the ranking process. It is for example suitable to arrange the objects in a table sorted according to the current rank during the process; such a table may have a high rank end and a low rank end, wherein the most successful objects are sorted at the high rank end of the table and the least successful objects are sorted at the low rank end of the table.

This table is updated during each round of selection process. The selection process may be any type of non-predictive process or at least a semi random process, wherein each object are weighed against one other object. After one or several selection process steps at least one object is removed from the table and taken out from the ranking process and further selection process steps. However, at the latest selection process step, objects that were successful will be protected from being removed in the upcoming removal step.

The ranking process and selection process continues iteratively until a final rank has been established and a final object is chosen to be the top ranked object. Periodically, objects are removed from the table and the table list will thus be shorter for each removal step according to the method.

The ranking process and selection process according to the present invention may be stopped when a pre-determined number of objects remain, and a new determination function for determination of the final rank may be utilized.

Examples of the applicability of the above described ranking and determination process will now be given.

In order to find a suitable algorithm for an encryption system, the ranking method according to the present invention may be used for determining the best algorithm to use, while keeping a “chance” factor in reducing the risk of outsiders determining the chosen algorithm even if they know the algorithms participating in the ranking process. In this case the selection process may be a truly random process, for instance working with quantum mechanical phenomena for controlling selection and weighting events.

A number of algorithms are obtained that are part of a selection process in order to determine a final algorithm to use in an encryption process. Each algorithm meets another algorithm in a comparison using a non-predictive event giving a scoring result, and sorted in a table according to the outcome of the event. After one such round or after a number of rounds a number of algorithms located at a low rank end of the table are removed; however, algorithms that were successful in a last event prior to the removal step are protected from being removed. The process repeats itself (now with fewer algorithms participating) until only a final algorithm remain, which is determined to be a top ranked algorithm to use in an encryption process.

Advantages of using the method according to the present invention in the algorithm determination may be:

• • Reducing the risk of outsiders determining the actual algorithm used.
  • Increasing the possibility that a better algorithm is used.

Ranking of objects also finds application in drug-discovery processes. It is often desirable to be able to rank large biological molecules which are built up of substantially linear chains of single units with regard to their similarity (“homology”). For instance, naturally-occurring peptide chains are comprised of substantially linear chains of amino acids, where each amino acid may be selected from the naturally-occurring amino acids. Similarly, naturally-occurring DNA chains are comprised of substantially linear chains of DNA bases, where each DNA base may be selected from the 4 naturally-occurring bases (A, C, G or T). Often, large biological molecules which have high homology (similarity as to e.g. the nature of an amino acid or DNA base at a given position) will have similar biological properties within the organism, and therefore a similar response to an administered drug. The homology between regions of two large biological molecules may also be compared. Likewise, large biological molecules having low homology will most likely show different responses to an administered drug. The homology between regions of two large biological molecules may also be compared.

According to the present invention, the large biological molecules correspond to the objects described in the method. Their “sequences” (i.e. the order of the single units) are known. The sequences of two large biological molecules are compared in a selection process, and the large biological molecule having a sequence closest to a particular third sequence (highest homology with the third sequence) is considered as having “won” the selection process. It is then placed higher in the table. The process is then repeated for all large biological molecules. Using the method described herein, a collection of large biological molecules can be ranked according to their homology. The process of sequence comparison and ranking is further described in WO04/079625 A2.

For example, in order to determine a winning team in a game tournament, such as in sports, the ranking method according to the present invention may be used. In this case the selection and weighting process will be that participating teams play against each other, which is a semi random process, meaning it is very difficult to predict the outcome of each game.

An embodiment for use in sports game tournaments will now be described in more detail.

In a sports tournament a number of teams will compete for a winning position and an optimal playing system is desired in order to increase the public interest and increase the competitiveness of the games played. The teams participating are obtained prior to the start of the tournament, e.g. from some other league, tournament, seeding, or even random selection process. In a first round of games, each team meets another team and after the first round of games, the teams are arranged in a table (as seen in FIG. 3) sorted after the outcome from these games in the round. This kind of league type tournament may continue for a number of rounds (one or several). After a number of rounds, at least one team is removed from the tournament and table; however any suitable number of teams may be removed during the elimination process, e.g. in one embodiment of the present invention the number of teams to be removed are calculated using the formula.

N/2−X

Where N is the number of participating teams in that round and X is a positive number between 0 and N/2. Preferably, not more than half of the number of teams should be removed.

The teams are removed from the low rank (often the bottom end) of the table, unless a team (one or several) up for removal won the last game prior to this removal step, this winner's guarantee ensures that this or these teams are protected from being removed. The league type tournament continues again a number of rounds (one or several) with the remaining teams, after which a new removal step is initiated. This process continues and repeats itself iteratively until a winning team can be determined. The process according to the present invention may be stopped at some point in order to determine the winning team and the runners up in any other suitable process or using another determination function as understood by the person skilled in the art, for instance in a traditional league, or in a knock-out (play-off) scheme.

FIG. 6a illustrates a tournament involving 16 teams. First teams meet in a number of game rounds, three in this case, before any teams are eliminated; however, after round three four teams are eliminated, after round five another two teams are eliminated, and so on until only two teams remain for a final game determining the winner. FIG. 6b illustrates another example wherein 32 teams participate in the tournament and successively the number of teams playing in the tournament are reduced until only two teams remain for the final game determining the over all winner.

In each round of games, selection of which teams meet which teams may be done using several different ways, e.g. by a seeding selection based on the previous games within the tournament, by random selection, or by choice (e.g. by participating teams, the public, a panel of elected people, or officials).

The ranking in the table can be based on several different choices such as, but not limited to, game results, scoring points, or if last game won or lost.

The method may be implemented and used for many different sports, such as, but not limited to, American football, soccer, basketball, handball, ice hockey, rugby, field hockey, baseball, tennis, golf, volleyball, beach volleyball, floor ball, boxing, bowling, wrestling, and martial arts (including, but not limited to, all traditional budo sports such as karate, judo, jiu jitsu, sumo, kendo, aikido, taekwando, kung fu, and so on), card games (e.g. poker and bridge), and knowledge and skill tournaments (e.g. chess, checkers, go, trivial pursuit, back gammon, dame, and reversi).

Advantages of the present invention (as compared to known solutions) in the example of sports game tournament comprise:

• • More teams can participate
  • More flexible in number of rounds and/or match days
  • All games are of significant importance.
  • Increases the public interest for each game.
  • Possibly more goals or scoring points.
  • More fair tournament (eliminates the risk that teams are thrown out from the tournament due to results in other matches in the round-robin goes “wrong” and reduces the risk that the best teams from the first part of the tournament are eliminated due to single unsuccesful performances, like the situation can be in a knock-out phase)
  • Flexibility on planning of when games are played. For instance games may be independently played since they need for playing some games simultaneously as is necessary during standard tournaments.
  • Free choice of number of teams, e.g. there is no need for having an even number of teams participating in the tournament at the start.
  • Flexibility in combining different types of tournament modes, such as round-robin, knock-out phase, ordinary league, and other forms of gaming.
  • All teams participating at any phase in the tournament can win the whole tournament.
  • No risk for participation of low motivated teams.
  • More matches between the best teams
  • Ranking (Seeding) can be used for giving all teams the same conditions—not favouring or discriminating any team.

The tournament embodiment of the present invention may further comprise a final step determining the winning team wherein the team heading the table is determined to be the winner if the teams in the final game play an even result. It may also comprise the step of scoring a confirmation point in order to be determined as the winner. A team leading over the other team at the end of ordinary game time in a game, must have scored the latest point otherwise it has to score one point more in order to receive the confirmation point and be determined as winner. A team that has scored fewer points at ordinary game time must score even or win according to the confirmation point function.

The method used in a sports tournament may further comprise a step of extending the game time if a team not leading scores a point a predetermined amount of time prior to ordinary game time, thus reducing the lead of the other team. In the elongated game time, for each reducing scoring point, the team behind will be allowed another amount of elongation time.

One of the great advantages of the present invention is that all matches within a tournament has significant importance since all teams playing at any time has the chance to win the tournament due to the “winner's guarantee”. The aspect of “winners guarantee” can also be realised on a single game but then in the form of “last scorer's guarantee”. This means that you cannot lose the game if you scored the last point. So if the team not in lead after full time, the so called “runner-up”, in the match scored the last goal or point, after fulfilled ordinary play-time, the match will continue until the leader after full time scores a “confirmation point” or the runner-up scores consecutive points until it takes the lead and thereby win the match. This is directly applicable for sports where scores are made with a high frequency and even results not are accepted like i.e. basketball. The “last scorers guarantee” will make the match “alive” to the last seconds of the game whatever the result.

For sports where even results are accepted, the match may close by that the runner-up make the result even.

For sports where-scoring are made with low frequency like soccer, “last scorers guarantee” can not realistically be utilised as described above. For these sports the “last scorers guarantee” can be utilised as a minimum guaranteed time of playing period after a runner-up's scoring. The match will end (after ordinary full-time) if the leading team scores a “confirmation point” or the guaranteed times runs out. If the runner-up succeeds in scoring another goal or point a further guaranteed play time period will be granted. The process will repeat until the match ends as indicated above or the runner-up scores even or takes the lead and thereby win depending on the regulations in the specific sport. Also in sports where even results are accepted a further play period can be played after a runner-ups equalising of the result.

By using both “winner's guarantee” and “last scorer's guarantee” a tournament is created where all matches are of significant importance, and all matches are open and not settled until the last moment of the match.

In a “golden qualification” method the best placed teams in a league table may meet in order to determine teams that qualify for a play off or final part of a tournament. For instance the two top most ranked teams in the league may meet and the winner in that game will qualify for the final play off part, if the four most top ranked teams meet, teams with ranking positions number 1 and 4 meet and team number 2 and 3 meet, and so on. Which team meet which team may be described using a mathematical formula based on the ranking table, wherein the top most ranked team is number 1 (C(1)) and the lowest ranked team has number M wherein M is the number of teams in that round:

C(N) meets C(X+1−N)

Where N is a team rank number and X the number of teams selected for the golden qualification round. C(X) is the lowest ranked team selected for golden qualification.

The winners from these games qualify for the final part of the tournament and the losers from these games continue in the league games and the result from the golden qualification may be counted in the tournament, thus added into the remaining ranking table. The loosing teams from the golden qualification may be selected again for a golden qualifying game at a later stage. FIG. 5a illustrates a game scheme with 50 participating teams to start with and how teams are selected using the golden qualification method during a 14 day elimination period. FIG. 5b illustrates a game scheme with 50 participating teams during an 11 day elimination period. However, the invention is not limited to these number of teams and number of elimination days of course. These are only selected for illustrative purposes. The teams not selected to participate in the golden qualification continue to play in the league and meet other teams also not selected to participate in the golden qualification. Also, teams may be eliminated using the winners guarantee method as described above. The final part of the tournament may be played using any suitable tournament scheme, e.g. the winners guarantee scheme as described above according to the present invention.

If there is a draw after ordinary full time of the game in a golden qualification game, the best ranked team before the game may qualify or there may be an extended game time and/or other ways to determine the winner, such as penalty shooting, random draw, or similar ways as understood by the person skilled in the art.

In FIG. 5a, after 6 days or rounds of games, 6 teams are eliminated and during game round 7 one team qualifies using the golden qualification method. During round 8 again one team qualifies, and during round 9 two teams qualifies using the golden qualification method. In FIG. 5b, after 6 rounds 10 teams are eliminated and after 7 rounds two teams are selected using the golden qualification method and eight teams are eliminated. In both examples this process continues until a number of teams have been selected to be part of a final part of the tournament and the rest of the teams have been eliminated. In both these examples 14 teams have been selected for the final part of the tournament and 36 teams have been eliminated. The eliminated teams are in these two examples chosen from the low end of a ranking table with or without the method of protecting teams (the so called winners guarantee) as described above.

Combinations of all these methods may be utilized in order to create an interesting game tournament and increased excitement for the spectators and/or participating member or members of the teams.

The word “team” is to be understood as a playing entity comprising a single player or a plurality of players depending on sport regulations. The term “knock-out” has a similar meaning as “play-off”. The wording “scoring point” is to be understood as obtaining a one or several points as calculated in each sport, e.g. in basket a scoring point may be one, two, or three points, in wrestling a different number of scoring points are distributed depending on what the boxers did, in tennis a scoring point may give a score of 15, 30 or 40 for instance, and so on as should be understood and appreciated by the person skilled in the art.

It should be noted that the word “comprising” does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps than those listed and the words “a” or “an” preceding an element do not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. It should further be noted that any reference signs do not limit the scope of the claims, that the invention or part of the invention may be implemented by means of both hardware and software, and that several “means” may be represented by the same item of hardware.

The above mentioned and described embodiments are only given as examples and should not be limiting to the present invention. Other solutions, uses, objectives, and functions within the scope of the invention as claimed in the below described patent claims should be apparent for the person skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A method of ranking objects, comprising the iterative steps of:

exposing said objects to a selection process;

arranging said objects in a table according to the current rank between said objects during said selection process;

marking at least one object if said object was successful in a non-predictable event;

removing objects from said table periodically, choosing a pre-determined amount of non-marked objects from a low rank end of said table; and

determining a final top ranked object from said table upon completion of said selection process.

2. A system for determining a winner in tournaments, comprising: wherein said computational device is arranged to communicate with said input device and display device, and to arrange said participating teams in a league competition running for a number of rounds, arranging participating teams in said table according to game results obtained using said input device, and storing results in said storage device; said computational device is further arranged to remove a pre-determined amount of participating teams from said league periodically, wherein teams to be removed are selected from a bottom end of a league table, however, teams winning a last game prior to said removal of participating teams are protected from removal at this stage; said computational device continues processing until a final team remain.

a computational device, comprising a communication interface to a communication network; a processor; and storage device;

input device for obtaining participating teams and game results; and

display device for displaying results and rank of teams in a table;

3. A method of determining a winning team in a tournament, comprising the iterative steps of:

selecting teams to meet in games against each other;

arranging teams in a ranking table according to game results;

protecting winning teams in each round;

removing periodically teams from said table, selecting non-protected teams from a low rank end of said table;

determining a winner when only one team remains in said table.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising a step of changing determination function when a predetermined amount of teams remain.

5. The method according to claim 3, further comprising a step of in a game between the last two teams determining a winner from one of the following choices: a team higher in rank in said table has to either win or play a draw in order to be determined as winner or a team lower ranked in said table need to win in order to be determined as winner.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein a team leading but that has not scored the latest point upon ordinary game time in a game, must score one more point as a confirmation point in order to be determined as winning team.

7. The method according to claim 3, wherein a team not in lead in a game is granted an extension of play time if scoring a point within a predetermined amount of time prior to end of ordinary game time.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said team not in lead is granted an extension of play time for each scoring point during extended play time after ordinary play time.

9. The method according to claim 3, wherein said tournament is within one of the following: American football, soccer, basketball, handball, ice hockey, rugby, field hockey, baseball, tennis, golf, volleyball, beach volleyball, floor ball, boxing, bowling, wrestling, poker, martial arts, poker, bridge, chess, and go.

10. A method for qualifying teams for a final part of a tournament, comprising the steps of:

selecting a number of teams from a high ranking end of a ranking table to meet in a qualifying round;

arranging said selected teams to each meet another team from said selected teams;

letting winners from said qualifying round qualify for a final part of a tournament.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein said step of arranging said selected teams comprise putting a top most ranked team from said selection against a lowest ranked team from said selection, a second most top ranked team against a second lowest ranked team, and so on until all selected teams are arranged.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein said step of arranging said selected teams comprise using a mathematical formula: team N meets team X+1−N, where a top ranked team is number 1, the number of selected teams are X, and N is a current ranking position.

13. An instruction set operated iteratively for determining a winning team in a tournament, comprising:

an instruction set for selecting teams to meet in games against each other;

an instruction set for arranging teams in a ranking table according to game results;

an instruction set for protecting winning teams in each round;

an instruction set for removing periodically teams from said table, selecting non-protected teams from a low rank end of said table;

an instruction set for determining a winner when only one team remains in said table.

14. A method for determining a winner in a game, comprising the step of forcing a team leading but that has not scored the latest point upon ordinary game time in a game, to score one more point as a confirmation point in order to be determined as winning team.

15. A method for equalizing the probability of winning in a game of sports, comprising a step of granting a team not in lead in a game an extension of play time if scoring a point within a predetermined amount of time prior to end of ordinary game time.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein said team not in lead is granted an extension of play time for each scoring point during extended play time after ordinary play time.

17. The method according to claim 14, wherein said tournament is within one of the following: American football, soccer, basketball, handball, ice hockey, rugby, field hockey, baseball, tennis, golf, volleyball, beach volleyball, floor ball, boxing, bowling, wrestling, martial arts, poker, bridge, chess, and go.

18. A method of determining teams participating in a final part of a tournament, comprising the iterative steps of:

selecting teams to meet in games against each other;

arranging teams in a ranking table according to game results;

protecting winning teams in each round;

removing periodically teams from said table, selecting non-protected teams from a low rank end of said table;

selecting a number of teams from a high ranking end of a ranking table to meet in a qualifying round;

arranging said selected teams to each meet another team from said selected teams;

letting winners from said qualifying round qualify for a final part of a tournament.

19. The method according to claim 15, wherein said tournament is within one of the following: American football, soccer, basketball, handball, ice hockey, rugby, field hockey, baseball, tennis, golf, volleyball, beach volleyball, floor ball, boxing, bowling, wrestling, martial arts, poker, bridge, chess, and go.

20. The method according to claim 16, wherein said tournament is within one of the following: American football, soccer, basketball, handball, ice hockey, rugby, field hockey, baseball, tennis, golf, volleyball, beach volleyball, floor ball, boxing, bowling, wrestling, martial arts, poker, bridge, chess, and go.