FANTASY SPORT TALENT SCOUT SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREFORE

Abstract

Methods for a computer implemented fantasy sports game are described. A computer-implement fantasy sports game method provides data from a plurality of information sources related to one or more fantasy sports players. The data is weighted based on predetermined logic rules to produce a value associated therewith. The values are aggregated to provide a ranking of the one or more fantasy sports players. The ranked players are compared to players on a participant's roster and recommendations are made to the participant.

Description

BACKGROUND

Fantasy sports and fantasy sports leagues are well known and becoming increasingly popular. Certain of these fantasy leagues are provided by fantasy sports applications hosted by servers, such as the servers in the World Wide Web that allow users to participate on-line. Generally, a fantasy sport or league is a simulation game where participants select active real-life players in various positions to form fantasy teams. A fantasy sports league consists of a plurality of fantasy sports teams and consequently a number of these participants. Each fantasy team in the fantasy league usually competes against all the other teams in the fantasy league (head to head style) in scheduled matchups or accumulates statistics in chosen categories throughout the season (rotisserie style or ranked style). Success of a particular fantasy team in the fantasy league is determined by the cumulative number of points obtained by each of the fantasy players corresponding to the performance of the real-life players during the real-life athletic competitions. The fantasy team with the best won-lost record compiled during a fantasy season by the participant's fantasy team determines the winner.

Typically, the performance of a fantasy player is based on the statistics the real-life athlete obtained during the course of the athlete's real-life athletic competition, as determined at the end of the athletic competition. For example, in a football fantasy league, a certain number of points may be assigned to a particular accomplishment of a real-life player such as touchdowns, rushing yards, receiving yards, passing yards, etc. When selecting or drafting a particular fantasy player for a fantasy team for a scheduled competition, the fantasy sport participant may be limited to past performance information of the real-life player embodied in player statistics. In other words, these statistics only provide information about the real-life player's performance which has already occurred.

A fantasy sport participant may seek out additional information about particular fantasy players from alternative sources such as, for example, fantasy sports writers, real-life sports writers, fantasy sports experts, real-life sports writers, percentages illustrating how often players are selected by other fantasy teams in other fantasy leagues for a given competition, etc. However, the fantasy sport participant must process this information on a case by case basis to determine which fantasy player will be part of the participant's line-up for an upcoming game or competition. In addition, certain sources of information may be more important to a particular participant or a particular league as compared with other sources of information. For example, certain participants may be more influenced by information from fantasy sports experts as compared to real-life sports experts since the focus of a fantasy sports expert is to provide information that will help a fantasy sports participant select players that will produce the most number of points for the participant. This may be in contrast to a real-life sports expert that may only provide information about the chances of a particular team winning against an opponent rather than the performance of individual players and the accumulation of fantasy sports points.

Moreover, certain fantasy experts may provide fantasy player recommendations based on a standard fantasy league point allocation rather than a point allocation associated with a particular league. For example, in fantasy football a passing touchdown by a real-life player may be worth six (6) points to a fantasy football participant. However, certain leagues allocate only four (4) points for a passing touchdown. A recommendation by a fantasy expert for particular fantasy players may be more applicable to a fantasy league using a standard point allocation rather than for a fantasy league that has customized its point allocation. Similarly, percentages illustrating how often players are selected by other fantasy teams in other fantasy leagues may not be weighted as highly when recommending the selection of fantasy players if the assigned point allocation is different between leagues. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present improvements have been needed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a fantasy sports system in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates assistant GM information in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of talent scout module in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of talent scout sourcing module in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of talent scout weighting module in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of talent scout recommendation module in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 7, 8A AND 8B illustrates an embodiment of a logic flow for a fantasy sports system in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of a computing architecture.

FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a communications architecture.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments are generally directed to fantasy sports systems and methods of playing that provide participants with player recommendations based on various sources of information and participant input. Some embodiments are directed to customizing the applicability and/or weighting of certain of the various sources of information to obtain recommendations based on a particular fantasy sports league. A computer-implemented fantasy sports game method comprises providing data from a plurality of information sources related to one or more fantasy sports players. The data from the plurality of information sources is weighted as defined by a participant or user for a particular fantasy league. The weighted information is aggregated to provide a player ranking. This ranking is compared with a participant's player roster to determine if a player recommendation should be provided to the participant and what that recommendation is.

Generally and for purposes of this disclosure, fantasy sports leagues may be associated with real-life sports, professional and/or amateur (e.g. college football), having multiple games in an individual season. Typical sports include, for example, football, baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, golf, tennis, etc. The operation and function of a fantasy sports league is generally known and typically comprises at least two fantasy teams formed of fantasy players selected or drafted to comprise a fantasy team roster. Each of the fantasy players represent a real-life athlete that participates in a professional or amateur real-life sport. The real-life statistics of each player on each fantasy team are compiled after each real-life game. The statistics correlate to a particular number of fantasy points as mentioned above.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a fantasy sports system 10 comprising a plurality of fantasy sports participants 15₁ . . . 15_N, a network communication system 20 that allows each of the plurality of fantasy sports participants 15 . . . 15_N to communicate with fantasy sports system server(s) 30. Each of the fantasy sports participants may access the system server(s) utilizing fantasy participant devices having the exemplary computer architecture as described with reference to FIG. 6. The network communication system 20 may be broadly interpreted as a network of any type or an interconnection of a plurality of networks providing bi-directional communication between each of the participants and the fantasy sports system server(s) 30.

As would be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, fantasy sports system server(s) 30 provides access to fantasy game information and facilitates fantasy game play by each of the plurality of fantasy sports participants 15₁ . . . 15_N. For example, fantasy sports system server(s) 30 may store fantasy player information module 40 for one or more fantasy teams in one or more fantasy leagues including, for example, fantasy player statistics, text data, images, audio, video, etc. The information stored in fantasy player information is provided to assist fantasy sports participants in selecting particular real-life players as fantasy sports players on a roster or line-up. This information is managed by the fantasy sports system server(s) 30 and accessed by participants in order to facilitate game play using fantasy game module 45. As used herein, “statistics” includes any identifiable, measurable, monitored or recorded action by a real-life player in the player's real-life sport. Each real-life sport includes commonly used statistics which translate into points associated with the fantasy sports league. Statistics are calculated, input, or provided by one or more databases either manually or preferably automatically and/or electronically, i.e., by computer or similar processing device and stored in fantasy player information module 40. Electronically includes, but is not limited to computer, Internet, or other suitable electronic processing. Automatic updating can occur at set time intervals which may depend on the type of fantasy sport (e.g. football may be updated once per week), customized when a fantasy league is organized or upon request by a fantasy sports participant. In addition, the statistics may be provided independently by a separate system or integrated with system 10. In further variations, the statistics are received in real-time and/or the player updates are generated automatically or upon request.

Included as part of the fantasy sports system server(s) 30 is a fantasy game module 45 and an assistant general manager module 55. Fantasy game module 45 facilitates game play for the fantasy sports participants 15₁ . . . 15_N. Assistant GM module 55 accesses fantasy player information from fantasy player information module 40 based on requests from the fantasy sports participants 15₁ . . . 15_N in order to allow each participant to generate, modify, and recommend fantasy players as well as providing the ability to manage a participant's fantasy sports team for a given competition. In particular, the assistant GM module 55 provides a participant access to information about one or more players. For example, once a participant accesses the assistant GM module, information such as the player's name, upcoming opponent, and access to a talent scout module is provided. Changes in fantasy team line-ups may occur during a fantasy season, such as by replacement of players for non-performance, injury, or other reasons, including trade of roster players between fantasy team owners. Additionally, players may be reserved, benched, activated or started, as specific league rules permit.

The assistant GM module 55 and fantasy player information 40 as well as other components and data may be communicatively coupled via various types of communications media and may coordinate operations between each other within the fantasy sports system server(s) 30 and fantasy game module 45. The coordination may involve the uni-directional or bi-directional exchange of information. For instance, the fantasy game module 45 may control the fantasy sports server(s) 30 to manage communication in the form of signals communicated over communications media between each of the components and/or functions therein as well as with the fantasy sports participants 15₁ . . . 15_N via network communication system 20.

A new and unique operational aspect of a fantasy sports league system 10 in accordance with the present disclosure, as provided by the fantasy sports system server(s) 30, is directed to utilization of the assistant GM module 55 to provide fantasy sports participants 15₁ . . . 15_N with automated assistance in making fantasy team line-up decisions easily and quickly. This is accomplished by incorporating various sources of fantasy sports and fantasy player related information as well as the customized weighting of such player information based on particular fantasy league parameters to provide fantasy player line-up recommendations to fantasy sports participants. In particular, within the fantasy sports system server(s) 30, the assistant GM module 55 identifies the player name 60, upcoming opponent information 70, game time and day 80 and allows access to the talent scout module 90 as shown in FIG. 2. The talent scout module 90 provides the participants 15₁ . . . 15_N with a combination of certain information from fantasy player information 50 as well as information from other sources customizable by a fantasy sports participant which is analyzed to provide recommendations regarding line-ups, trades, free agent acquisitions, etc. as described in more detail herein. It is the selection, weighting and aggregation of information and data from various sources which is analyzed based on predetermined logic rules associated with a particular fantasy sports league that provides recommendations to the fantasy sports participants regarding player line-up selections, changes, additions, etc.

FIG. 3 generally illustrates modules that may comprise talent scout 90. In particular, talent scout module 90 includes a talent scout sourcing module 100 which selects player information from one or more of a plurality of sources. The talent scout module 100 provides the selected sources of information to talent scout weighting module 200 which determines the weighting for each of the one or more selected sources of information. The weighting of each of the selected sources of information is customizable by a fantasy sports participant 15₁ . . . 15_N as described in more detail below. The talent scout weighting module 200 also aggregates the weighted information and outputs information to talent scout ranking module 300 which ranks the playersby position. This information is provided to the assistant GM module shown in FIG. 6 which compares the player rankings with a player roster associated with a fantasy sports participant 15₁ . . . 15_N. Once compared, a player recommendation is provided to the participant which may indicate that a participant should trade, add or otherwise modify a participant's roster for a given fantasy competition.

FIG. 4 illustrates talent scout sourcing module 100 which generally functions to select one or more of a plurality of sources of information 101₁ . . . 101_N applicable for a particular fantasy sports league. Information sources 101₁ . . . 101_N may comprise information from fantasy sports experts and/or writers which provide player recommendations via fantasy sports blogs, Internet postings, newsletters, or other forms of information dissemination. Information sources 101₁ . . . 101_N may also represent information from real-life sports experts and/or writers which provide information about real-life sports teams and players.

The sources of information that are selected to be analyzed may be set-up as a default for a particular fantasy sports league within system 10 or may be customizable by a fantasy sports participant 15₁ . . . 15_N. In particular, talent scout sourcing module 100 includes a sourcing information module 102 which receives the plurality of sources of information 101₁ . . . 101_N, and based on one or more sets of user source selection 103, selects particular ones 110₁ . . . 110_N of the plurality of sources. Selection of the information sources by a participant may be based on participant preferences regarding the source of the information. For example, a participant may believe that a certain fantasy sport expert has more credibility than other fantasy sport experts. In addition, a participant may prefer a source of fantasy sport information over other information sources based on past performance history and experience with a particular writer, blogger, expert, etc.

The sourcing information 101₁ . . . 101_N may be provided to sourcing information module 102 in a push or pull format depending on the particular source of information. In other words, information may be pushed to module 102 based on the source of that information or may be pulled by module 102 from particular sources based on requests implemented by a particular fantasy league. For example, information from a particular fantasy sports expert may be pulled at regular intervals and supplied to sourcing information module 102. In another embodiment, particular fantasy sports writers may push their particular sourcing information to module 102 which extracts pertinent statistics, selections and other information for fantasy sports players contained in the articles written by such fantasy sports writers. The present disclosure does not impose restrictions on the information from various sources other than that the information be related to a particular fantasy sports league and fantasy sports players within the fantasy sports league. Those having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the sourcing information content may be structured data, such as, for example, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Extensible Markup Language (XML), or a subset of a general format such as RSS (Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication), a hybrid or extension of some such standard, or the like. Feed formatted content may be accessed through a feed, stored in a local file, or the like of fantasy sports system server(s) 30. The sourcing information and data may correspond to the formatted content of a webpage, or other formatted text and/or data.

Additionally, sourcing information may also relate to values representing how often particular players are selected for starting line-ups by other fantasy teams in other fantasy leagues. A separate module may be provided in fantasy sports system server(s) 30 and/or communicated to server(s) 30 which extract line-up information from other fantasy leagues supported by server(s) 30 and supply such data as additional sourcing information 101_N to sourcing information module 102 which may or may not be selected by a participant 15₁ . . . 15_N based on the one or more sets of user source selection 103.

FIG. 5 illustrates the talent scout weighting module 200 and the operation of applying user defined source weighting to the various sources of selected player information 110₁ . . . 110_N and the aggregation thereof to provide player rankings by aggregation module 215. The sourcing information 110₁ . . . 110_N is supplied to a source weighting module 210 which weighs the source of information based on a participant's preferences. In particular, source weighting module 210 includes user defined source weighting sub-modules 210₁ . . . 210_N which correspond to each source of information 110₁ . . . 110_N respectively and provides a weighting to the player information contained in each source. For example, if sourcing information 110₁ is associated with information from a fantasy sports expert, user defined source weighting sub-module 210₁ may associate this information with a first particular weighting W. Sourcing information 110₂ may be associated with opinions from a fantasy sports blog and user defined source weighting sub-module 210₂ may allocate this information with a second particular weighting W₂ where W₁>W₂. In this manner, a participant is weighing the source of information 110₁ more than the source of information 110₂ since this source of information is from an expert that the participant believes is better or more accurate than the source of information 110₂. Furthermore, sourcing information 110₃ may represent extracted information from a real-life expert of the real-life sport associated with a real-life player that corresponds to the fantasy sports player and user defined source weighting sub-module 210₃ may assign weighting W₃ to this information where W₂>W₃. This process continues such that each piece of sourcing information 110_N has an associated weight W_N. In this manner, a participant can customize the weighting of each source of information using the source weighting sub-modules 210₁ . . . 210_N by position and/or source. This selection and weighting process provides each participant with the ability to decide if a particular source of information is reliable by giving it a higher weighting than other sources of information.

In operation, each weighted source of information output from sub-modules 210₁ . . . 210_N of module 210 is supplied to aggregation module 215 which aggregates each weighted source of information to provide a value to each player to obtain a ranking of all the players in a particular position. For example, aggregation module 215 may rank each quarterback from the weighted sources of information from each source weighting sub-module 210₁ . . . 210_N to arrive at a value for each quarterback in the league. These values are then ranked to place each quarterback in the fantasy sports league in order as described in more detail with reference to FIG. 6. This order may be from highest value to lowest value or lowest value to highest value and these values may be based on a particular league's rules and point values. In this manner, user defined source weighting sub-modules 210₁ . . . 210_N allow a participant to weight each source of information 110₁ . . . 110_N to arrive at a value for each player which is aggregated using aggregation module 215 and outputted to assistant GM Module 300 via player ranking information 230 for each position.

It is important to note that one of the novel aspects of the present disclosure is that each of the weighting values W₁ . . . W_N referenced above and the calculation thereof is customizable to provide player recommendations based on the particular fantasy sports league. In particular, module 210 is customizable for a fantasy sports league with a weighting based on the importance of particular sourcing information 110₁ . . . 110_N depending on the preference of a participant 15₁ . . . 15_N. For example, sourcing information 110_N may be provided by a certain fantasy expert related to fantasy players. The fantasy expert projections are a set of player statistics and the individual league scoring system is applied to these statistics so each league will have appropriate fantasy points. As such, this source of information may receive a lower weighting for one fantasy league as compared to another fantasy league supported by system 10 because of the differences in point allocation. Alternatively, sourcing information 114_N-1 may be provided by a certain fantasy expert related to fantasy players based on a fantasy league point allocation that corresponds to the point allocation associated with the particular fantasy league. This sourcing information may receive a higher weighting for one fantasy league as compared to another fantasy league.

In another embodiment, module 210 may provide the ability to weigh certain information to essentially provide an override, whether positive or negative, associated with a player. For example, certain sourcing information from a particular writer, expert, etc., such as information that a player(s) may be injured or otherwise not playing in a given game, may be programmed to receive a greater weighting percentage than all other sourcing information since this information may substantially impact the ability of a fantasy player to produce any fantasy points. Thus, this type of information may trigger module 210 to either exclude these players from the player rankings output by aggregation module 215 or indicate to a fantasy sports participant that a player should not be drafted or selected for a fantasy team. In addition, the sourcing information may be analyzed and aggregated by module 215 which provides a ranking to indicate that a fantasy sports participant trade one or more fantasy players as described in more detail below.

FIG. 6 illustrates the assistant GM module 300 which includes fantasy player ranking module 305 and player comparison module 310. The assistant GM module compares the player ranking information from talent scout weighting module 200 with the players in a participant's roster to provide the participant with fantasy player recommendations. In particular, the fantasy players at a particular position are ranked by fantasy player ranking module 305 based on the outputted information 230 from talent scout weighting module 200. Fantasy player ranking module 305 may include a plurality of ranking sub-modules 305₁ . . . 305_N used to rank players based on various parameters. For example, sub-module 305₁ may be used to rank all quarterbacks (e.g. for a fantasy football league) in the league. Sub-module 305₂ may be used to rank only the top N number of players at a position different from the quarterback position (e.g. running back position). In this manner, the player weighting module 305 may be used to rank different players at different positions based on league and/or participant preferences.

These ranked players are compared to the corresponding player at the same position on a participant's roster by player comparison module 310 and a participant may customize this comparison process. For example, a participant may define that if a player on the participant's roster is ranked in the top N number of players provided by talent scout weighting module 200, then the talent scout recommendation module 300 will not recommend the participant to modify its roster to include one of the N number of players. Alternatively, a participant may define, at module 310, that if a player on the participant's roster does not appear on the ranking of players provided by talent scout weighting module 200 at that position, then the ranking module 305 will recommend the participant to modify its roster to include one of the N number of players. A participant may define, at module 310, that if a player provided by talent scout weighting module 200 is ranked higher than a player on the participant's roster at the corresponding position, then the assistant GM module 300 will recommend the participant to modify its roster to include one of the N number of players. If the ranking of the player at the same position on the participant's roster is lower than the player ranking, then the assistant GM module 300 will recommend that the player on the participant's roster be replaced. This replacement may be by starting a bench player or trading for another player as outlined in FIG. 8. In this manner, the assistant GM module 300 determines if a player is of a caliber and quality to deserve a roster spot on a participant's fantasy team.

Operations for the above-described fantasy sports embodiments may be further described with reference to one or more logic flows. It may be appreciated that the representative logic flows do not necessarily have to be executed in the order presented, or in any particular order, unless otherwise indicated. Moreover, various activities described with respect to the logic flows can be executed in serial or parallel fashion. The logic flows may be implemented using one or more hardware elements and/or software elements of the described embodiments or alternative elements as desired for a given set of design and performance constraints. For example, the logic flows may be implemented as logic (e.g., computer program instructions) for execution by a logic device (e.g., a general-purpose or specific-purpose computer).

FIGS. 7, 8A and 8B illustrate an embodiment of a logic flow 700 and 800. The logic flow 700 may be representative of some or all of the operations executed by one or more embodiments described herein, such as the fantasy sports system 10, for example. In the illustrated embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the logic flow 700 may receive sourcing information and data associated with one or more fantasy sports players at block 705. For example, various sources of player information 110₁ . . . 110_N are selected for aggregation based on a particular fantasy sports league within system 10. Each of the information sources 110₁ . . . 110_N may be selected from a larger group of information sources 101₁ . . . 101_N based on various rules associated with a particular fantasy league.

The logic flow 700 may receive sourcing information and data associated with one or more real-life sports players at block 710. For example, the sources of player information 110₁ . . . 110_N may be associated with real-life players which correspond to fantasy player information. This selection may be controlled by a particular participant and is customizable within the fantasy sports league of system 10. Real-life player information may be selected from a larger group of real-life information sources 101₁ . . . 101_N based on various rules associated with a particular fantasy league. The content of each of the fantasy sports player sources of information 705 and the real-life sports player information 710 may be structured data, or a subset of a general format data or a hybrid or subset thereof as described above.

The logic flow 700 receives the various sources of player information 110₁ . . . 110_N and weighs the information and data at block 715 based on customized fantasy sports league rules and/or user defined parameters. In particular, the various sources of information may be weighed based on the preference of a participant. For example, the sources of information and data may be weighed based on whether or not the information is supplied by a fantasy sports expert, real-life sports expert, fantasy sports writer, etc. Certain information may receive a higher or lower rating as compared to other sources of information based on participant preferences. The player information from the sources of information at a particular position receives a value based on this weighing process. For example, each of the players at the quarterback position will receive a value based on the weighing of the sources of information at step 715. The weighing process is customized by a participant for the fantasy sports league in that particular information may be weighted differently than other sources of information. In addition, the sources of information may receive different weightings or undergo different logic rules for one fantasy league as compared to another fantasy league supported by system 10. This customization option may be based on parameters unique to a particular fantasy league such as, for example, differences in fantasy player point allocations, changes in fantasy competition schedules, differences in league rules, etc. Player recommendations are based on these logic rules performed on the weighted information and data.

The logic flow 700 takes the weighted player information and data having particular values and aggregates these values at step 720. This aggregation is used to rank the players by position at step 725. Continuing with the above example, all the quarterbacks in the league may be ranked at step 725 based on the various sources of information 110₁ . . . 110_N, the weighting process performed at step 715 and the aggregation aggregation process performed at step 720. The ranking of players at each position is compared to the roster of a participant at step 810. After this comparison, a determination is made at step 820 if the players from the sourcing information are ranked higher than a player on the participant's roster at the corresponding position. If the players from the sourcing information are not ranked higher than a player on the participant's roster, then the process proceeds to step 825 and no player recommendation is provided to the participant. If players from the sourcing information are ranked higher than a player on the participant's roster, then the process proceeds to step 830. A determination is made at step 830 if the participant has a bench player on its roster that is either one of the ranked players from the sourcing information or if the participant bench player is ranked higher than the participant's player at that position on the current roster. If either of these conditions is satisfied, then the process proceeds to step 835 where the participant's bench player is recommended. If either of these conditions is not satisfied, then the process proceeds to step 840 where a determination is made if a bench player (on another participant's roster is ranked higher at that position than the participant's player at the same position. If this condition is satisfied then the process proceeds to step 845 and a recommendation is made to the participant to trade for the bench player from the other participant's roster. If the bench player on another participant's team at the same position is not ranked higher than the participant's player at the same position than the process proceeds to step 850. A determination is made at step 850 whether the ranked player from the source information is otherwise available to be claimed. If the player is available to be claimed, the process proceeds to step 855 and the player is recommended. If not, the process proceeds to step 860 where a determination is made whether or not the ranked player from the sourcing information in on another team's active roster (e.g. non-bench player). If the ranked player from the source information is on another team's roster than a trade for that player is recommended at step 865, if not then the process proceeds to step 870 and no recommendation is made.

It should be noted that each of these steps in the process may be customized to provide player recommendations for lineup changes, drafts, trades, etc., based on a participant's preferences. In addition, the number and details of each recommendation at steps 835 and 845, as well as the absence of a recommendation at step 825 may be dependent on the fantasy league parameters. Player recommendations may also be based on the time during the fantasy sports season at which the recommendations are provided. For example, early in the fantasy sports season or during the player draft, recommendations on all or a subset of fantasy sports players may be provided due to the fact that the fantasy sports participants 15₁ . . . 15_N are creating their rosters and additional recommendations are needed. In this case, the comparison process at step 810 may not executed since during roster creation there is no participant roster to compare to. In this manner, the number and nature of the recommendations provided by logic flows 700, 800 and system 10 are customizable for a given fantasy sports league.

FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of an exemplary computing architecture 900 suitable for implementing various embodiments of the fantasy sports system and methods as previously described. In particular, the computing architecture 900 may be used by a fantasy sports participant 15₁ . . . 15_N and/or the fantasy sports system server and/or a portion thereof. The computing architecture 900 includes various common computing elements, such as one or more processors, co-processors, memory units, chipsets, controllers, peripherals, interfaces, oscillators, timing devices, video cards, audio cards, multimedia input/output (I/O) components, and so forth. The embodiments, however, are not limited to implementation by the computing architecture 900.

As shown in FIG. 9, the computing architecture 900 comprises a processing unit 904, a system memory 906 and a system bus 908. The processing unit 904 can be any of various commercially available processors. Dual microprocessors and other multi-processor architectures may also be employed as the processing unit 904. The system bus 908 provides an interface for system components including, but not limited to, the system memory 906 to the processing unit 904. The system bus 908 can be any of several types of bus structure that may further interconnect to a memory bus (with or without a memory controller), a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of commercially available bus architectures.

The system memory 906 may include various types of memory units to store information in system 10 and may be, for example, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, polymer memory such as ferroelectric polymer memory, ovonic memory, phase change or ferroelectric memory, silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) memory, magnetic or optical cards, or any other type of media suitable for storing information. In the illustrated embodiment shown in FIG. 9, the system memory 906 can include non-volatile memory 910 and/or volatile memory 912. A basic input/output system (BIOS) can be stored in the non-volatile memory 910.

The computer 902 may include various types of computer-readable storage media, including an internal hard disk drive (HDD) 914, a magnetic floppy disk drive (FDD) 916 to read from or write to a removable magnetic disk 918, and an optical disk drive 920 to read from or write to a removable optical disk 922 (e.g., a CD-ROM or DVD). The HDD 914, FDD 916 and optical disk drive 920 can be connected to the system bus 908 by a HDD interface 924, an FDD interface 926 and an optical drive interface 928, respectively. The HDD interface 924 for external drive implementations can include at least one or both of Universal Serial Bus (USB) and IEEE 1394 interface technologies.

The drives and associated computer-readable media provide volatile and/or nonvolatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions, and so forth. For example, a number of program modules can be stored in the drives and memory units 910, 912, including an operating system 930, one or more application programs 932, other program modules 934, and program data 936 applicable to system 10. The one or more application programs 932, other program modules 934, and program data 936 can include, for example, the fantasy sports system 10, the systems used by fantasy sports participants 15₁ . . . 15_N, and/or the fantasy sports system server(s) 30.

A fantasy sports participant 15₁ . . . 15_N can enter commands and information into the computer 902 through one or more wire/wireless input devices, for example, a keyboard 938 and a pointing device, such as a mouse 940. Other input devices may include a microphone, an infra-red (IR) remote control, a joystick, a game pad, a stylus pen, touch screen, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 904 through an input device interface 942 that is coupled to the system bus 908, but can be connected by other interfaces such as a parallel port, IEEE 1394 serial port, a game port, a USB port, an IR interface, and so forth.

A monitor 944 or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus 908 via an interface, such as a video adaptor 946 and can be used to display player recommendation information R₁ . . . R_N to the one or more fantasy sports participants 15₁ . . . 15_N. In addition to the monitor 944, a computer typically includes other peripheral output devices, such as speakers, printers, and so forth.

The computer 902 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections via wire and/or wireless communications to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 948. The remote computer 948 can be a workstation, a server computer, a router, a personal computer, portable computer, microprocessor-based entertainment appliance, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described relative to the computer 902, although, for purposes of brevity, only a memory/storage device 950 is illustrated. The logical connections depicted include wire/wireless connectivity to a local area network (LAN) 952 and/or larger networks, for example, a wide area network (WAN) 954. Such LAN and WAN networking environments are commonplace in offices and companies, and facilitate enterprise-wide computer networks, such as intranets, all of which may connect to a global communications network, for example, the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 902 is connected to the LAN 952 through a wire and/or wireless communication network interface or adaptor 956. The adaptor 956 can facilitate wire and/or wireless communications to the LAN 952, which may also include a wireless access point disposed thereon for communicating with the wireless functionality of the adaptor 956.

When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 502 can include a modem 958, or is connected to a communications server on the WAN 954, or has other means for establishing communications over the WAN 954, such as by way of the Internet. The modem 958, which can be internal or external and a wire and/or wireless device, connects to the system bus 908 via the input device interface 942. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 902, or portions thereof, can be stored in the remote memory/storage device 950. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers can be used.

The computer 902 is operable to communicate with wire and wireless devices or entities using the IEEE 802 family of standards, such as wireless devices operatively disposed in wireless communication (e.g., IEEE 802.11 over-the-air modulation techniques) with, for example, a printer, scanner, desktop and/or portable computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), communications satellite, any piece of equipment or location associated with a wirelessly detectable tag (e.g., a kiosk, news stand, restroom), and telephone. This includes at least Wi-Fi (or Wireless Fidelity), WiMax, and Bluetooth™ wireless technologies. Thus, the communication can be a predefined structure as with a conventional network or simply an ad hoc communication between at least two devices. Wi-Fi networks use radio technologies called IEEE 802.11x (a, b, g, etc.) to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless connectivity. A Wi-Fi network can be used to connect computers to each other, to the Internet, and to wire networks (which use IEEE 802.3-related media and functions).

FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary communications architecture 1000 suitable for implementing various embodiments of fantasy sports system 10 and associated methods as previously described. The communications architecture 1000 includes various common communications elements, such as a transmitter, receiver, transceiver, radio, network interface, baseband processor, antenna, amplifiers, filters, and so forth. The embodiments, however, are not limited to implementation by the communications architecture 800.

As shown in FIG. 10, the communications architecture 1000 comprises one or more clients 1002 and servers 1004. The clients 1002 may implement the systems used by the fantasy sports participants 15₁ . . . 15_N. The servers 1004 may implement the fantasy sports system server 30. The clients 1002 and the servers 1004 are operatively connected to one or more respective client data stores 1008 and server data stores 1010 that can be employed to store information local to the respective clients 1002 and servers 1004, such as cookies and/or associated contextual information.

The clients 1002 and the servers 1004 may communicate information between each other using a communication framework 1006. The communications framework 1006 may implement any well-known communications techniques, such as techniques suitable for use with packet-switched networks (e.g., public networks such as the Internet, private networks such as an enterprise intranet, and so forth), circuit-switched networks (e.g., the public switched telephone network), or a combination of packet-switched networks and circuit-switched networks (with suitable gateways and translators). The clients 1002 and the servers 1004 may include various types of standard communication elements designed to be interoperable with the communications framework 1006, such as one or more communications interfaces, network interfaces, network interface cards (NIC), radios, wireless transmitters/receivers (transceivers), wired and/or wireless communication media, physical connectors, and so forth. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired communications media and wireless communications media. Examples of wired communications media may include a wire, cable, metal leads, printed circuit boards (PCB), backplanes, switch fabrics, semiconductor material, twisted-pair wire, co-axial cable, fiber optics, a propagated signal, and so forth. Examples of wireless communications media may include acoustic, radio-frequency (RF) spectrum, infrared and other wireless media. One possible communication between a client 1002 and a server 1004 can be in the form of a data packet adapted to be transmitted between two or more computer processes. The data packet may include a cookie and/or associated contextual information, for example.

Various embodiments may be implemented using hardware elements, software elements, or a combination of both. Examples of hardware elements may include devices, components, processors, microprocessors, circuits, circuit elements (e.g., transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors, and so forth), integrated circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logic devices (PLD), digital signal processors (DSP), field programmable gate array (FPGA), memory units, logic gates, registers, semiconductor device, chips, microchips, chip sets, and so forth. Examples of software elements may include software components, programs, applications, computer programs, application programs, system programs, machine programs, operating system software, middleware, firmware, software modules, routines, subroutines, functions, methods, procedures, software interfaces, application program interfaces (API), instruction sets, computing code, computer code, code segments, computer code segments, words, values, symbols, or any combination thereof. Determining whether an embodiment is implemented using hardware elements and/or software elements may vary in accordance with any number of factors, such as desired computational rate, power levels, heat tolerances, processing cycle budget, input data rates, output data rates, memory resources, data bus speeds and other design or performance constraints, as desired for a given implementation.

Some embodiments of the fantasy sports system 10 and associated methods may comprise an article of manufacture. An article of manufacture may comprise a storage medium to store logic. Examples of a storage medium may include one or more types of non-transitory computer-readable storage media capable of storing electronic data, including volatile memory or non-volatile memory, removable or non-removable memory, erasable or non-erasable memory, writeable or re-writeable memory, and so forth. Examples of the logic may include various software elements, such as software components, programs, applications, computer programs, application programs, system programs, machine programs, operating system software, middleware, firmware, software modules, routines, subroutines, functions, methods, procedures, software interfaces, application program interfaces (API), instruction sets, computing code, computer code, code segments, computer code segments, words, values, symbols, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, for example, an article of manufacture may store executable computer program instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform methods and/or operations in accordance with the described embodiments. The executable computer program instructions may include any suitable type of code, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like. The executable computer program instructions may be implemented according to a predefined computer language, manner or syntax, for instructing a computer to perform a certain function. The instructions may be implemented using any suitable high-level, low-level, object-oriented, visual, compiled and/or interpreted programming language.

Some embodiments may be described using the expression “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” along with their derivatives. These terms mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

Some embodiments may be described using the expression “coupled” and “connected” along with their derivatives. These terms are not necessarily intended as synonyms for each other. For example, some embodiments may be described using the terms “connected” and/or “coupled” to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. The term “coupled,” however, may also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but yet still co-operate or interact with each other.

It is emphasized that the Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. Section 1.72(b), requiring an abstract that will allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and “wherein,” respectively. Moreover, the terms “first,” “second,” “third,” and so forth, are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A computer-implement fantasy sports game method comprising:

providing data from a plurality of information sources related to one or more fantasy sports players;

weighing a set of data from the plurality of information sources to provide a value associated with said one or more fantasy sports players;

aggregating the values associated with said one or more fantasy sports players;

ranking the one or more fantasy sports players based on the associated aggregated values;

comparing the ranked players to a participants player roster; and

determining if one or more of the ranked players has a higher ranking than a corresponding player on a participants roster at a particular position.

2. The computer-implemented fantasy sports game method of claim 1 wherein if the ranked player has a higher ranking than the corresponding player on a participant's roster, then the method further comprising recommending the ranked player to the participant.

3. The computer-implemented fantasy sports game method of claim 1 wherein the weighing of the set of data from the plurality of information sources is customizable by a participant.

4. The computer-implemented fantasy sports game method of claim 1 wherein the information sources are associated with fantasy sports players.

5. The computer-implemented fantasy sports game method of claim 1 wherein the information sources are associated with real-life sports players.

6. The computer-implemented fantasy sports game method of claim 1 wherein the weighing of the set of data from the plurality of information sources is based on rules associated with a particular fantasy sports league.

7. The computer-implemented fantasy sports game method of claim 1 wherein the information sources are provided based on rules associated with a particular fantasy sports league.

8. The computer-implemented fantasy sports game method of claim 1 wherein the information sources are provided based on selection by a participant.

9. The computer-implemented fantasy sports game method of claim 1 wherein the ranking the one or more fantasy sports players is based on player position.

10. The computer-implemented fantasy sports game method of claim 1 wherein the recommending of the ranked player to the participant further includes determining if the ranked player is part of another fantasy team and if so, providing a recommendation to the participant to trade for the ranked player.

11. The computer-implemented fantasy sports game method of claim 1 wherein the recommending of the ranked player to the participant further includes determining if the ranked player is a bench player associated with the participant's player roster, and if so, providing a recommendation to the participant to play the bench player.

12. An article of manufacture comprising a storage medium containing instructions that when executed enable a system to:

provide data from a plurality of information sources related to one or more fantasy sports players;

weigh the information sources based on user input to output a value associated with the one or more fantasy sports players;

aggregate the weighted values; and

rank the one or more fantasy sports players based on the associated aggregated weighted values.

13. The article of claim 12, further comprising instructions that when executed enable the system to display N number of fantasy sports players from the one or more fantasy sports players based on the aggregated weighted values.

14. The article of claim 12, further comprising instructions that when executed enable the system to compare the ranking of the one or more fantasy sports players to corresponding players on a roster of a participant at a same position.

15. The article of claim 14, further comprising instructions that when executed enable the system to recommend a particular one of the one or more fantasy sports players to a fantasy sports game participant having a higher ranking than a player on the roster of the participant at the same position.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory to store a fantasy sports game system for execution by the processor, the fantasy sports game system comprising: an information sourcing module operative to receive or supply information from a plurality of sources associated with one or more fantasy sports players; a weighting module operative to weight the information from the plurality of sources of information and provide a value associated therewith; an aggregation module operative to aggregate the corresponding values of the weighted information from the plurality of sources; a ranking module operative to determine the ranking of the one or more fantasy sports players based on the corresponding values; and a recommendation module operative to compare the one or more ranked fantasy sports players with one or more players on a participant roster at the same position and if the ranked fantasy sports players have a higher ranking than the one or more players on a participant roster, then recommending the ranked player at the same position.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 further comprising a display configured to provide a recommendation of the one or more fantasy sports players.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the weighting module is operative to weight the aggregated data based on rules associated with a particular fantasy sports league.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the weighting module is operative to weight the aggregated data based on participant input.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the aggregation module is operative to aggregate the data from the plurality of information sources based on participant input.