Patent Grant
8505045
This invention relates to systems and methods for providing a fantasy sports contest application, and more particularly, this invention relates to systems and methods for providing advertisements in a fantasy sports contest application.
Athletic endeavors have long supported a broad range of secondary competitions which include wagering on the outcome of particular games and wagering on the performance of a particular player.
In known fantasy sports contests, the user selects a roster, a team, a particular individual, or a group of individuals in an athletic contest. The user of a fantasy sports contest system is given the ability to take on the role of a fictional general manager with powers which may include the ability to draft, trade, dismiss and otherwise manage the player or players on the user's fantasy sports team.
Conventionally, the rules in a fantasy sports contest are set by a fantasy sports contest system provider, or are set by a league commissioner who sets the rules under which a group of fantasy or rotisserie sports game users competes against each other. For example, for every goal scored in real-life by a member of the user's fantasy soccer team, a conventional fantasy sports contest system might award five points to the user in the fantasy competition.
A provider of a conventional fantasy sports contest system may also provide additional services, which include providing statistical information on real-life games and players, tracking users' scores in the fantasy contest, and enabling transactions and other interactions among the users.
A fantasy sports contest may be based on a variety of real-life athletic events, and typically involves participants selecting players from real-life team sports (e.g., football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer or rugby), selecting players from real-life sports where individuals compete (e.g., golf, tennis or automotive racing), or selecting competitors from competitions involving animals (e.g., horse and dog racing). The user's selections are typically stored in the user's fantasy sports contest roster. The performance of these selections in real-life competition determines the user's performance in the fantasy sports competition.
One of the benefits of fantasy sports contests is that they provide a potentially lucrative venue for advertising, especially when implemented using an interactive application to provide the ability to be part of a fantasy sports contest via a distal medium. Presently, interactive applications accessible via the Internet using the World Wide Web are used to implement fantasy sports contests and may display advertisements to the user along with the featured content. These advertisements can be interactive in nature, and can enable the user to obtain further information on a product or service, or enable the user to purchase the product or service.
However, present fantasy sports Contest applications do not take full advantage of the information provided by the user in the process of participating in the fantasy sports contest to target advertisements toward particular users or user groups, nor do they incorporate advertisements into the fantasy sports contest to attract user attention to displayed advertisements. Further, present fantasy sports contest applications do not utilize television sports broadcasts associated with the fantasy sports contest to increase user interest in advertisements. It would therefore be desirable to provide improved ways in which to present advertisements in conjunction with a fantasy sports contest.
In view of the foregoing, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide improved ways in which to present advertisements in conjunction with a fantasy sports contest.
This and other objects are accomplished in accordance with the principles of the present invention by providing systems and methods for displaying advertisements to a user using a fantasy sports contest application. The fantasy sports contest application may be any suitable software, hardware, or both. The fantasy sports contest application may be provided to the user using an interactive cable television system, using an Internet client/server system, using a satellite television system, or using any other suitable system. The advertisements may be distributed using systems and methods substantially equivalent to systems and methods used to distribute the fantasy sports contest application data. Alternatively, the advertisements may be distributed by any other suitable systems and methods.
The fantasy sports contest application of the present invention may be implemented on any suitable platform, or on any suitable combination of platforms. For example, in an interactive television system, the fantasy sports contest application may be implemented using a multichannel set-top box receiver, a television capable of running software programs, a two-way remote control, any other suitable device or any suitable combination of devices. At least one of the devices used in an implementation is capable of communicating advertisements to the user.
Advertisements may be simultaneously shown in advertisement regions with the user's fantasy sports contest team roster or along with other information generated by the fantasy sports contest application. The advertisements may include text messages, video, animation, static images, interactive multimedia content, links for directing users to, for example, an Internet website, any other suitable content, or any combination thereof.
The fantasy sports contest application may provide any suitable number of advertisement regions displayed in any suitable locations on a display screen. For example, the fantasy sports contest application may show an advertisement for a product or service alongside, embedded within, or as a background image of a listing of the user's fantasy sports contest team roster or current fantasy sports contest results summary screen.
The fantasy sports contest application may be invoked, used, or both by allowing the user to press one or more buttons on a remote control, by making a selection from a menu or other presentation of user-selectable choices, or by other suitable means by which a selection may be made (e.g., a speech recognition command interface). Alternately, the fantasy sports contest application may be invoked automatically.
The fantasy sports contest application may schedule advertisements to be displayed during a certain event (e.g., pre-game, half-time and post-game coverage of an athletic contest), within a particular time period of the beginning or end of the event, or both of a television sports broadcast being provided in conjunction with a fantasy sports contest. The fantasy sports contest application may select advertisements for each predefined event status in the television broadcast to increase the likelihood of a user response.
The fantasy sports contest application may personalize advertisements for the user or a group of users using user profiles. Such a user profile may include one or more kinds of information on the user such as the user's demographic data, a history of the user's past usage of the fantasy sports contest application, a history of the user's past usage of other applications (e.g., an electronic programming guide (“EPG”) used to access program schedule information), a history of the user's past television viewing selections, and any other data available to advertisers through the use of data mining applications, or through the use of any other suitable technique (e.g., purchasing user data from outside vendors).
The fantasy sports contest application may display to the user local advertisements of specific local or regional interest to the user at a particular geographic location. In one suitable approach, the fantasy sports contest application may ascertain the geographic location of the network node used by the user to access the fantasy sports contest application. The fantasy sports contest application may then display advertisements that are of local interest to the user. In another suitable approach, a server at each local network node may store a bin of local advertisements that may be retrieved for display to the user upon request by user equipment, inserted into a continuous stream of advertisements for display to the user, displayed to the user using a combination of these methods, or using any other suitable method.
The fantasy sports contest application may use advertisements as an integral part of the fantasy sports contest. For example, notification of the one or more prizes that the user may win in an advertiser-sponsored fantasy sports contest may be through an advertisement. For example, the fantasy sports contest application may allow the user who is among the leaders in a fantasy sports contest to receive an electronic message, telephone call, or personalized advertisement notifying the user to call a certain number, or to select the displayed advertisement to claim the prize. To prevent more than one claimant for a prize, the fantasy sports contest application may use one or more personal identification numbers (also known as PINs) or passwords. For example, once a PIN or password has been used in a contest or promotion, no other claimant would then be able to use that PIN or password to collect a prize.
The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:
The present invention is primarily described herein in terms of the fantasy sports contest application. It will be understood that any other suitable software, hardware, or both may be used in conjunction with the fantasy sports contest application or in place of the fantasy sports contest application to implement some or all of the features of the present invention.
The fantasy sports contest application of the present invention may be any suitable software, hardware, or both that may be used to implement the features of the present invention. The fantasy sports contest application may be implemented at any suitable location in the system described in
The fantasy sports contest application of the present invention may be used to implement fantasy sports contests that include any suitable sports contest in which the user is given the ability to make decisions that may affect the standing of the user in the sports contest. For example, in typical team-oriented fantasy sports contests, the user may participate in the capacity of a general manager. In this situation, the user may be have responsibilities such as creating a team roster (e.g., drafting players), selecting player positions, selecting reserves, making trades, and otherwise maintaining the composition of the user's team roster. It will be understood that any other suitable decision-making capability may be given to the user in a fantasy sports contest in addition to or in place of those indicated above.
The fantasy sports contest of the present invention need not be limited or restricted in time. For example, a fantasy sports contest may last an entire season, multiple seasons, a portion of the season, a definite period of time (e.g., one month, two weeks, three days, one hour, etc.), the duration of a particular event (e.g., Wimbledon, etc.), a portion of a particular event, or any other suitable period of time.
In one suitable approach, fantasy sports contests may include contests in which the user is not necessarily playing the role of a general manager. For example, fantasy sports contests may involve the user determining or guessing (i.e., blindly or with calculation) whether particular outcomes will occur (e.g., whether a particular golfer will make the next put). Any such suitable decision-making may be the basis of a fantasy sports contest or a part of a fantasy sports contest.
The fantasy sports contests of the present invention may use any suitable one or more scoring systems. For example, existing fantasy scoring systems include straight point systems (e.g., points are awarded and subtracted based on real-life plays without regard to the performance of other players on other fantasy teams in a league), rotisserie systems (e.g., points are awarded based on the user's relative ranking against other users), head-to-head systems (e.g., users in a league are matched against one another in a round-robin series of one-on-one contests during the course of a season). There are merely illustrative scoring systems. Any other suitable scoring system may be used in the fantasy sports contests of the present invention.
It will be understood that the above are merely illustrative elements of fantasy sports contests. Any other suitable arrangement or approach may be used. It will further be understood that the nature of the fantasy sports contests may vary depending on which activity or sport is involved or based on any other suitable criteria.
The fantasy sports contest application of the present invention may provide to the user fantasy sports contest information. Fantasy sports contest information may include any suitable information associated with one or more fantasy sports contests in which the user participates or in which the user may have an interest. For example, fantasy sports contest information may include information regarding the user's one or more rosters, the user's standing in each of the fantasy sports contests in which the user participates, one or more point tallies that the user has accumulated in each of the user's respective fantasy sports contests, information regarding the number of trades the user may make, information regarding the amount of fantasy money the user has available to add players to a roster, information regarding deadlines to make trades or perform any other suitable task associated with one or more fantasy sports contests, or any other suitable information. Fantasy sports contest information may also include information regarding real-life athletes (e.g., names, statistics, etc.), real-life sports leagues (e.g., game schedules, standings, etc.), real-life sporting events (e.g., baseball games, golf tournaments, tennis matches, etc.), sports arenas, weather information, sports commentary, or any other suitable information regarding real-life sports or events that may have an affect on the one or more fantasy sports contest in which the user participates.
Aspects of the operation of fantasy sports contest applications are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,603 (Hughes, et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,846,132 (Junkin), U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,854 (Junkin), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,610 (Junkin), which are all hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
An illustrative client/server system in accordance with the present invention is shown in
Server 100 may include one or more servers that may be located at a single location or across two or more locations (e.g., in a distributed network arrangement). Server 100 may access one or more databases (e.g., databases 104, 106, 116, and 126) that may store information related to a fantasy sports contest. Databases 104, 106, and 116 may store fantasy sports contest information such as the roster of players available for drafting, the schedule for the fantasy sports contest, fantasy sports contest rules, or any other suitable information related to the fantasy sports contest. Database 126 may store user profiles on the users of the fantasy sports contest, which may include information for determining the users' preferences. Alternatively, user profiles may be stored locally at user equipment 110. Server 100 may also include a source of advertising 102 for providing advertisements and related information. Information from server 100 and source 102 may be transmitted to user equipment 110 via communications network 108. Communication network 108 may be a satellite network, a telephone network, an Internet network, a cable network, or any other suitable communication network. If it is desired to transmit video signals over communication network 108, a network that enables relatively high bandwidth transmission (e.g., cable network, satellite network) may be desirable.
The fantasy sports contest information transmitted by server 100 to user equipment 110 includes data which is communicated to users as part of the fantasy sports contest such as statistical information, rosters, standings, etc. The advertising information transmitted by server 100 to user equipment 110 includes text, graphics, and video advertisements for various products and services. If desired, some of the fantasy sports contest information and advertising information may be provided using data sources at facilities other than server 100, which are directly connected to user equipment 110 via communications network 108.
For example, data related to tracking user interaction with the fantasy sports contest application and other applications may be communicated to a data collection location that is separate from server 100. Similarly, advertising information may be generated by an advertising facility that is separate from server 100.
Server 100 may distribute the fantasy sports contest application and related data as well as advertisements and related data to user equipment 110 via communication network 108.
User equipment 110 at each user's location may include processing equipment 119. Processing equipment 119 may be based on a personal computer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a handheld computing device, a PC tablet, etc. Processing equipment 119 may be used to implement the fantasy sports contest application at the user's location. Alternately, the fantasy sports contest application may be partially implemented on server 100 and partially implemented on processing equipment 119.
Fantasy sports contest information may be distributed to user equipment 110 periodically (e.g., once per hour or once per week). Fantasy sports contest information may also be distributed continuously or on-demand to user equipment 110. A connection may be established to server 100, and any sources of information independent from server 100 through communications network 108. The fantasy sports contest application may request certain fantasy sports contest information, advertisements, and advertisement related information to be sent from server 100 and independent sources. Server 100 may include a processor to handle these information distribution tasks. User processing equipment 119 may also include a processor to handle tasks associated with implementing a fantasy sports contest application, including requesting appropriate information from server 100.
Server 100 may include database 126 for storing user profiles of the fantasy sports contest users. A user profile may include any suitable information that may help determine the user's preferences and may include information on the user's demographics data, the user's interaction history with the fantasy sports contest application and other interactive applications (e.g., electronic program guide application (“EPG”)). Information such as the contents of the user's fantasy sports contest team roster, the frequency with which the user views highlight reels of a certain team, the history of past purchases made by the user through interactive advertisements in the fantasy sports contest application may all be included in the user profile. In addition, information on the television viewing habits of the user, the Internet web browsing favorites of the user, and other related information may also be included in the user profile.
At user equipment 110, display equipment 118 displays fantasy sports contest information and advertisements. The fantasy sports contest information and advertisements may include audio information. Audio equipment 120 may be used to output audio info. Audio equipment may include speakers found in televisions, speakers for personal computers, or any other suitable audio equipment. The user may use input device 112 to access information related to the fantasy sports contest. Such input devices may include one or more suitable devices such as remote controls, keyboards, voice controlled devices, track balls, computer mice or any other suitable device.
Certain functions such as the user's instructions to make a change in roster choices and the monitoring of the user's use of the fantasy sports contest application may require user equipment 110 to transmit data to server 100 over communication network 108. If desired, such data may be transmitted using a communications network separate from communications network 108 used for fantasy sports contest information and advertising data. If functions such as these are provided using communications networks separate from network 108, some communications originating from user equipment 110 may be made directly with the separate networks.
A number of suitable techniques may be used to distribute graphics information for advertisements. For example, graphics information may be distributed from source 102 in a continuously-looped arrangement, where the fantasy sports contest application implemented on user processing equipment 119 may capture appropriate advertisements for display from the stream of information being transmitted. With such a continuously-looped arrangement, a map indicating the location of the latest graphics information may be downloaded periodically to user equipment 110. This allows any databases used in source 102 for storing advertisements to be updated, and also allows source 102 to be changed. Graphics information may be downloaded to user equipment 110 periodically and stored locally. The graphics information may be accessed locally when needed by the fantasy sports contest application implemented (at least partially) using processing equipment 119 at the user's location. Another approach involves using the fantasy sports contest application to request graphics information when needed. Information on the location of graphics information may be downloaded to user equipment 110, and may be updated as needed. The fantasy sports contest application implemented (at least partially) using processing equipment 119 may then request and receive appropriate graphics information as needed.
Text information for advertisements may be provided to user equipment 110 using paths that are substantially equivalent to the paths used for distributing fantasy sports contest information. For example, text information may be stored locally in processing equipment 119 and updated periodically. Text information may also be provided by server 100 using a continuously-looped arrangement, or on request.
When an advertisement is interactive, the user may select the advertisement and may, as a result, access (e.g., via communication paths 122 or 124) one or more destinations such as an advertiser's Internet website, an advertiser's product ordering database, etc. The location accessed by the user may be fixed according to information associated with the selected advertisement, may be system selected, or may be a function of some data the user has provided.
In one embodiment, the fantasy sports contest application of the present invention may be implemented on an interactive television platform. An illustrative fantasy sports contest system in accordance with this embodiment of the present invention is shown in
Television distribution facility 208 is a facility for distributing television signals to users, such as a cable system head end, a broadcast distribution facility, or a satellite television distribution facility.
The fantasy sports contest information transmitted by main facility 202 to television distribution facility 208 includes data which is communicated to users as part of the contest such as statistical information, rosters, standings, etc. The advertising information transmitted by main facility 202 to television distribution facility 208 includes text, graphics, and video advertisements for various products and services. If desired, some of the contest and advertising information may be provided using data sources at facilities other than main facility 202.
For example, data related to tracking player interaction with the fantasy sports contest application and other applications may be communicated to a data collection location that is separate from main facility 202 and separate from television distribution facility 208. Similarly, advertising information may be generated by an advertising facility that is separate from main facility 202 and television distribution facility 208.
Regardless of its source, advertising information may be maintained on a server 212 within television distribution facility 208 if desired. Server 212 may be capable of handling text, graphics, and video. In addition, server 212 may be capable of providing interactive services such as handling the ordering of products and services advertised via interactive advertisements. Server 212 may be based on one or more computers.
Television distribution facility 208 may distribute fantasy sports contest information and applications as well as advertising data and applications to user television equipment 214 or other user equipment via communications paths 216. This information may be distributed over an out-of-band channel on paths 216 and may be distributed using any of a number of suitable techniques. For example, text and graphics advertisements may be distributed over an out-of-band channel using an out-of-band modulator. Video advertisements may also be distributed in this way, although large quantities of video information may be more efficiently distributed using one or more digital channels on paths 216. Such digital channels may also be used for distributing text and graphics.
Each user may have a receiver such as set-top box 218 or other suitable television or computer equipment into which circuitry similar to set-top box circuitry has been integrated. For clarity, the present invention is described primarily in connection with user equipment based on a set-top box arrangement. This is merely illustrative. The fantasy sports contest may be implemented using user television equipment 214 that is based on a personal computer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), or handheld computing device, etc. If desired, the fantasy sports contest may be implemented using a client-server architecture using user television equipment 214 as a client processor and a server such as server 212.
Fantasy sports contest information may be distributed to set-top box 218 periodically (e.g., once per hour or once per week). Fantasy sports contest information may also be distributed continuously or on-demand. A connection may be established to television distribution facility 208 using communication link 210. A request for certain fantasy sports contest information or advertisement information may be sent from set-top box 218 to television distribution facility 208. Television distribution facility 208 may respond by sending information responsive to the request back to set-top box 218 using communications link 216. Main facility 202 may include a processor to handle information distribution tasks. Each set-top box 218 may include a processor to handle tasks associated with implementing a fantasy sports contest application on set-top box 218. Television distribution facility 208 may include a processor for tasks associated with monitoring the user's interactions with the fantasy sports contest implemented on set-top box 218 and for handling tasks associated with the distribution of information related to the fantasy sports contest and associated advertisements.
During use of the fantasy sports contest application implemented, at least in part, on set-top box 218, statistical information relating to the fantasy sports contest may be displayed on display 220. Set-top box 218, and display 220, which may be part of a television, may be controlled by one or more remote controls 222 or any other suitable user input interfaces such as a wireless keyboard, a mouse, a trackball, a dedicated set of buttons, etc.
Communications paths 216 preferably have a sufficient bandwidth to allow television distribution facility 208 to distribute scheduled television programming, pay programming, advertisements, promotional product videos, and other video information to set-top box 218 in addition to the fantasy sports contest application and related data. Multiple television and audio channels (analog, digital, or both analog and digital) may be provided to set-top box 218 via communications paths 216. If desired, fantasy sports contest and advertising information may be distributed by one or more distribution facilities that are similar to, but separate, from television distribution facility 208 using communications paths that are separate from communications paths 216 (e.g., using Internet paths).
Certain functions such as the user's instructions to make a change in the user's roster choices may require set-top box 218 to transmit data to television distribution facility 208 over communications paths 216. If desired, such data may be transmitted over telephone lines or other separate communications paths. If functions such as these are provided using facilities separate from television distribution facility 208, some of the communications involving set-top box 218 may be made directly with the separate facilities.
A number of suitable techniques may be used to distribute advertisements. For example, if each path 216 includes a number of traditional analog television channels, one or more of these channels may be used to support a number of digital channels. The bandwidth of each analog channel that is used to support digital channels may support ten or more of such digital channels. If desired, advertisement videos may be provided from server 212 or other suitable equipment at television distribution facility 208 in a continuously-looped arrangement on these digital channels. Information provided to set-top box 218 may then be used to determine which digital channels to tune to when it is time to display a desired video. Alternatively, videos may be provided on demand. With this approach, set-top box 218 and server 212 may negotiate to determine a channel on which to provide the desired video. Videos that originate from main facility 202 or a separate facility may be distributed to user television equipment 214 using these or other suitable techniques or a combination of such techniques.
As shown in
Graphics information for advertisements may be downloaded periodically (e.g., once per day) to set-top box 218 of
Text information for advertisements may be provided to set-top box 218 using paths that are substantially equivalent to the paths used for distributing fantasy sports contest information. For example, advertising data from database 206 of
A cable modem may be used to distribute texts, graphics, and videos. Text information, graphics information, and videos for advertisements may also be distributed using a combination of these techniques or any other suitable technique.
As shown in
For example, in another suitable arrangement, the fantasy sports contest application may provide a display screen as illustrated in
In one suitable arrangement, the fantasy sports contest application may display multiple fantasy sports contest information regions and advertisement regions throughout a display. For example, one or more fantasy sports contest information regions may be used to display information related to rosters, whereas one or more other fantasy sports contest information regions may be used to display information related to fantasy sports contest league standings, or any other suitable information.
It will be understood that a window arrangement may be used in a television-based user equipment arrangement as well. In this case, the user preferably may use a pointing device such as a mouse, trackball, touch-pad, or any other suitable pointing device to move a pointer or any other suitable navigation tool on the display screen to manipulate the windows and perform any other suitable function typically performed using a pointing device.
In one suitable arrangement, fantasy sports contest information regions 604 and advertisement regions 606 may be displayed over broadcast 602 for a preset period, of time when a preset condition is met, such as when the fantasy sports contest information to be displayed in region 604 is updated, or when the user wins a prize in the fantasy sports contest. In another suitable arrangement, fantasy sports contest information regions 604 and advertisement regions 606 may each be displayed on a preset schedule and for a preset period of time at each scheduled display.
In general, each display screen in accordance with the present invention may have more than one advertisement region, more than one fantasy sports contest information region, and optionally the display of a fantasy sports contest related television broadcast, or any other suitable information. Advertisement regions and fantasy sports contest information regions may be semi-transparent overlays, opaque overlays obscuring a portion of the television display screen, displays in a reduced screen format that allows the entire content of the television display to be viewed in a reduced screen, or any other suitable alternative display.
The fantasy sports contest application may allow any or all advertisement regions to be selectable. The user may select an advertisement region using any suitable technique. For example, as shown in
In one suitable approach, the fantasy sports contest application may provide advertisements having selectable content within the advertisements themselves. In this situation, the fantasy sports contest application may allow the user to navigate a highlight region (e.g., highlight region 510) to both the advertisement region in which the advertisement is displayed and then to the selectable elements of the advertisement, or only to the selectable elements of the advertisement (i.e., not allowing the advertisement region as a whole to be selected). Any such suitable selection technique may be used.
In one suitable approach, the fantasy sports contest application may provide fantasy sports contest information and advertisements in a flip and browse arrangement. Flip and browse is discussed in Bennington et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,418,556, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
In one suitable arrangement, the fantasy sports contest application need not display fantasy sports contest information and advertisements simultaneously with a television broadcast.
It will be understood that display screen 800 is merely illustrative. Any other suitable arrangement may be used in a full-screen display of fantasy sports contest information and advertisements. For example, advertisement regions 802 may overlay fantasy sports contest information region 804 or may be arranged with fantasy sports contest information region 804 such that all information may be viewed unobscured.
In one embodiment of the present invention, advertisements displayed by the fantasy sports contest application may be used to inform the user of particular prizes being offered for particular achievements in the fantasy sports contest, and to enable the user to collect the awarded prize.
In one example illustrated by
In one suitable arrangement, the fantasy sports contest application may use advertisements in conjunction with a real-time fantasy sports contest to inform users of prizes being awarded for instant performance in the real-time fantasy sports contest. In a real-time fantasy sports contest, instant scoring opportunities may be generated based on the real-time events displayed in a television sports broadcast. For example, the fantasy sports contest application may cause the user to be prompted to predict the outcome of a real-time situation occurring in a sports contest being currently broadcast to the user. The user may be awarded points in the fantasy sports contest for a correct prediction, or deducted points for an incorrect prediction.
In accordance with the present invention, advertisements displayed simultaneously with the broadcast of a sport contest (e.g., a sports contest being used by the fantasy sports contest application to generate scoring opportunities) may continuously entice the user by continuously informing the user of prizes being awarded for performance in instant scoring opportunities.
In one example illustrated by
In one suitable arrangement, advertisements that award instant prizes may be stored in advertising database 206 and may be selected by the fantasy sports contest application for display to the user using a point value system. For example, each scoring opportunity and each advertisement offering a prize may be assigned a point value by difficulty of the opportunity and value of the prize, respectively. Scoring opportunities may be matched with advertisements assigned similar point values. Alternately, advertisements offering instant prizes may be selected using other suitable criteria. Using advertisements in the fantasy sports'contest application to inform the user of an instant reward for performing in the fantasy sports contest may attract more attention to the advertisement, the fantasy sports contest, and the related television broadcast.
The advertisements displayed in advertisement regions may be interactive and may lead the user to information screens having further information on an item, an interactive order form, or an advertiser's Internet web site. The user may select a particular advertisement for interaction by highlighting and selecting the advertisement region in which the advertisement is being displayed. For example, when the user selects an interactive advertisement (e.g., by selecting advertisement region 506 of
As illustrated in
In one suitable approach, interactive advertisements may be used to inform the user when the user has won a prize in the fantasy sports contest. The interactive advertisement may also enable the user to instantly collect the awarded prize. As illustrated in
In another suitable approach, user selection of the prize advertisement may lead to information screen 1400 of
In another suitable approach, illustrated by
At step 1504 (which may occur either substantially immediately after step 1502 or after one or more other steps), the fantasy sports contest application may display to the user an interactive advertisement informing the user of a prize being offered in the fantasy sports contest. The advertisement is displayed to the user along with a fantasy sports contest information region displaying corresponding fantasy sports contest information related to the achievement required to win the prize. For example, the fantasy sports contest application may display advertisements of prizes based on a preset schedule, and the appropriate advertisements may be transmitted to set-top box 218 and stored for display according to the schedule or according to any other suitable technique for acquiring advertisement as discussed previously with regard to
At step 1514, if the user qualifies for or wins a prize in the fantasy sports contest the fantasy sports contest application displays an advertisement notifying the user that a prize has been won at step 1516. User selection of the advertisement at step 1518 results in the fantasy sports contest application enabling the user to claim the prize at step 1520. For example, the fantasy sports contest application may display to the user an interactive order form such as that of
If the user does not qualify for or win a prize at step 1514, user selection of the interactive advertisement at step 1506 may cause the fantasy sports contest application to display to the user a further information screen such as that of
In one embodiment of the present invention, the fantasy sports contest application may schedule particular advertisements to be displayed during or around particular events of a television broadcast related to the fantasy sports contest. For example, a television broadcast of a sports contest that has an impact on the outcome of the fantasy sports contest. Advertisements may be selectively scheduled, taking into consideration the nature of the advertisement and the item being promoted, to better take advantage of user purchasing habits associated with certain events in a television broadcast of a sports contest. Particular advertisements may be selectively scheduled for display at a particular time or particular times in relation to the status of the sports contest being broadcast (e.g., right before the contest, at half-time, or some time after a contest).
For example, ordering food and beverages for consumption in connection with watching a television sports broadcast is a common occurrence. As illustrated by
In another suitable approach illustrated by
In another suitable approach illustrated by
In one suitable arrangement, advertisements may be transmitted from a television distribution facility 208 to set-top box 218 according to a preset schedule, transmitted from television distribution facility 208 as an entire package and displayed by set-top box 218 using a preset schedule, or may be transmitted from television distribution facility 208 when requested by set-top box 218. Set-top box 218 may be programmed to take certain actions based on the occurrence of certain events in the television sports broadcast or programmed to take actions according to a preset schedule. For example, the vertical blanking interval (“VBI”) of the television broadcast signal may provide the fantasy sports contest application with information about the event status of the current sports contest (e.g., before the game, during the game, in commercial, after the game, etc.). In one suitable arrangement, advertisements may be categorized for each event status in advertising database 206. For example, advertisements requiring a large time commitment may be categorized as appropriate for intermissions in the sports contest, and advertisements that promote food delivery may be categorized as appropriate for before the start of the sports contest. Television distribution facility 208 or set-top box 218 may process the event status information included in the broadcast signal and accordingly transmit or request, respectively, the advertisements categorized as appropriate for each predefined event status.
At step 1906, the fantasy sports contest application requests advertisements categorized as appropriate for the particular event status. For example, set-top box 218 may request that a package of advertisements deemed appropriate for the determined event status be transmitted from server 212. The fantasy sports contest application then displays the appropriate advertisements to the user at step 1908. In an iterative process, the fantasy sports contest application continuously determines event status for the purpose of displaying the appropriate advertisements for the appropriate event status.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the fantasy sports contest application may target advertisements toward a particular user or group of users using user profiles. A user profile may include any suitable information that may help determine the user's preferences and may include information on the user's demographics data, the user's interaction history with the fantasy sports contest application and other interactive applications, the contents of the user's fantasy sports contest team roster, the frequency with which the user views highlight reels of certain players or teams, the user's history of past purchases, the television viewing habits of the user, the user's history of Internet web browsing, psychographic information, and any other suitable user information.
For example, the user profile may include information on the user's fantasy sports contest team roster. Such information may show that the user has a tendency to choose players from one real-life team more often than any others for the user's fantasy sports contest team roster. The fantasy sports contest application may use this information from the user profile to target particular advertisements for display to that particular user promoting that particular real-life team's merchandise, or that particular real-life team's televised contests.
The user profile may include information accumulated from monitoring the user's interaction with the fantasy sports contest application. For example, information such as the frequency with which the user views a particular player's statistics, or the frequency with which the user views a player's or team's highlights, may be collected in the user profile. Information on merchandise purchased through advertisements in the fantasy sports contest application may also be collected in the user profile.
The user profile may be stored in any suitable location in the system of
The user profile may include information collected by the fantasy sports contest on the user's interaction with other interactive applications (e.g., electronic program guide application, Internet applications), whether or not these applications are implemented using the same system as the fantasy sports contest application. For example, the user profile may include a history of user purchases of pay-per-view sports programs. Similarly, a history of products and services purchased through an interactive application (e.g., e-commerce transactions via a Web browser) may be included in the user profile.
Certain advertisements may also be selected for one or more users based on information in the user profile on the user's past television viewing habits. For example, the user that tends to watch proportionally more basketball games than golf contests may be targeted to see a relatively greater number of promotions for real-life and fantasy sports contest basketball than the average user, who might see a proportionally greater number of advertisements for golf theme promotions. More detailed information, such as frequency with which the user watches games featuring certain teams may also be collected for the user profile. For example, television programs may be categorized into suitable groups. Data on the television program being viewed by the user may be continuously transmitted by the set-top box 218 to server 212 and stored in the user profile on database 224. This data may be sorted to produce information on the user's television viewing preferences, which may be used by the fantasy sports contest application to select advertisements for display to the user.
Information on the user's Internet web browsing habits (e.g., browsing favorites, or browsing history), voluntary survey responses, and any other suitable information on the user may be included in the user profile and used to select advertisements for display to the user.
The source of information included in the user profile and used to target advertisements to users is not limited to what is described here. Information included in the user profile may be purchased, or otherwise obtained, from third party vendors who collect information about individuals in marketing databases.
At step 2006, the fantasy sports contest application selects advertisements matching the user's preferences for display to the user. The fantasy sports contest application then transmits the selected advertisements to the user equipment (e.g., set-top box 218) for display to the user at step 2008.
In one embodiment, the fantasy sports contest application may display to the user local advertisements specifically targeted for the user's geographic location. In one suitable approach, in an interactive television implementation, the fantasy sports contest application may detect the network node (e.g., a local cable system headend) from which the user accesses the fantasy sports contest application. The fantasy sports contest application may use this network node information to identify the user's geographic location and to select a package of geographically targeted advertisements from advertising database 206 for transmission to set-top box 218. The package of local advertisements may be stored at set-top box 218 and updated from database 206 as needed. Alternatively, set-top box 218 may request local advertisements from advertising database 206 as needed for display to the user. Alternatively, the local advertisements may be streamed to the user in real-time or in quasi-real time feeds.
In another suitable approach involving distributed network nodes, server 300 at network node 302 may include a bin of local advertisements. Network node 302 at a particular geographic location may be part of a local cable system, which may provide the bin of local advertisements from local advertisers. In one suitable arrangement, set-top box 218 may request local advertisements from server 300 as needed for display to the user. In another suitable arrangement, set-top box 218 may download the entire bin of local advertisements from server 300 for storage at the user's location. In another suitable arrangement, the local advertisements may be automatically fed for display to the user and may replace advertisements that are indicated to be preemptable by local advertisements. Server 300 may update the bin of local advertisements stored on set-top box 218 by negotiating additional download operations using any suitable method. In another suitable arrangement, server 300 may insert local advertisements into a continuous stream of advertisements being transmitted from television distribution facility 208 to set-top box 218 using, for example, one or more digital television channels.
In one suitable approach, the headend apparatus may be programmed to make use of information already collected by the fantasy sports contest application of the present invention. The headend could then use information to personalize the local advertisements displayed to the user.
In another suitable approach, information on the user's geographic location may be included in the user profile on user profile database 224. The fantasy sports contest application may use geographic location information included in the user profile to select an appropriate package of local advertisements for display to the user. The fantasy sports contest application may directly transmit the local advertisements to set-top box 218 for display to the user, may transmit the local advertisements to set-top box 218 for local storage and display, or may transmit the local advertisements to server 300 for distribution to set-top box 218.
In one suitable arrangement, the fantasy sports contest application may display local advertisements to the user according to a preset schedule for displaying advertisements. The preset schedule for displaying advertisements may include scheduled slots set aside for the display of local advertisements. When the schedule calls for a local advertisement to be displayed to the user, the fantasy sports contest application may load a local advertisement for display to the user that is stored at user equipment 214, at server 212/300, at database 206, or any other suitable location. Alternately, the fantasy sports contest application may load a local advertisement for display to the user that is being transmitted to the user using a continuous stream of advertisements on one or more dedicated television channels, or any other suitable method of transmission.
If desired, the fantasy sports contest application may be implemented as an on-line application hosted by a server connected to the Internet. The on-line fantasy sports contest may be displayed using a web browser on a personal computer, a web-enabled set-top box, a Web TV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PC tablet, a personal organizer, or other suitable user equipment with suitable Internet access capabilities. With such an arrangement, fantasy sports contest application data and advertisement data may be stored remotely on a server that the user of the on-line fantasy sports contest may access through an Internet connection and may download the data locally. In the implementation of such a system, server 100 of
Thus, systems and methods for fantasy sports contest applications with enhanced advertising capabilities are provided. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be practiced by other than the described embodiments, which are presented for purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the present invention is limited only by the claims which follow.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/633,020, filed Dec. 8, 2009, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/234,726, filed Aug. 30, 2002, which claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 60/329,587, filed Oct. 15, 2001, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
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| 20100210331 A1 | Aug 2010 | US |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Parent | 12633020 | Dec 2009 | US |
| Child | 12769843 | US | |
| Parent | 10234726 | Aug 2002 | US |
| Child | 12633020 | US |
