Multilevel online tournament

• US 20050278041A1
• Filed: 05/25/2004
• Published: 12/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lamb, Steven D., Bortnik, Michal, Hansen, Johan P., Hoberman, Max
• Granted Patent: US 7,354,345 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/91
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/335 using Internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/407 Data transfer via internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5566 by matching opponents or finding partners to build a team, e.g. by skill level, geographical area, background, play style

Abstract

A multilevel online tournament is provided. The first tournament round has a single bracket and each subsequent tournament round has a winners bracket and a losers bracket corresponding to a bracket in the previous tournament round. The tournament format allows players to match-up against any other player located within the same bracket. The online tournament format also allows participants to start playing match in a round of the tournament prior to the official start of that round. Thus, players are able to more quickly advance through the tournament and spend less time waiting for a suitable opponent. The tournament format also allows for players to request available tournament byes and to automatically progress when they are unable to connect with other players due to quality of service issues.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for conducting an online tournament for a plurality of participants, wherein the online tournament progresses through a plurality of rounds, each round having one or more player brackets, comprising the step of allowing a first participant in any of the brackets having at least one other participant to match-up with another participant in the same bracket of the online tournament.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein participants move into a next tournament round as soon as they complete a current tournament round match.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein participants may begin a next tournament round match before a predetermined start time of the next tournament round.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a request by one of the participants for a bye into the next tournament round; and

(b) granting the request for the bye if a bye is available into the next tournament round.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving a request from one of the participants for an auto-progression into the next tournament round.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of progressing the one participant into a bracket of the next tournament round when the auto-progression deadline is reached.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the bracket is a winners or losers bracket of the next tournament round.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the bracket of the next tournament round is selected based upon a rating of the participant.

9. An online tournament comprising:

a registration period for allowing a plurality of participants to join a tournament;

a competition start time for determining when tournament matches begin;

a round recurrence interval (RRI) that determines the start times of all rounds after a first round; and

an auto-progression deadline (APD) for enforcing a deadline for requesting an auto-progression.

10. The online tournament of claim 9, wherein if the APD is not met by a participant, the participant is eliminated from the tournament.

11. The online tournament of claim 9, wherein the RRI is approximately an amount of time it takes to complete a tournament match.

12. The online tournament of claim 11, wherein if one of the plurality of participants has not registered for a tournament match or requested an auto-progression prior to the APD, the participant is eliminated from the online tournament.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving a request from a player for an automatic progression to the next round prior to the step of assigning N players.

14. A method for progressing a plurality of participants through an online tournament when the plurality of participants cannot complete a match in a current tournament round, comprising:

determining a number of slots N available in a next round winners bracket;

assigning N participants to the winners bracket according to a trust rating; and

assigning remaining participants to a next round losers bracket.

15. A method for administering an online game tournament having a plurality of participants, comprising steps of:

(a) initially placing the group of participants in a single bracket of a first tournament round;

(b) pairing off the participants in each bracket of a current tournament round for game match-ups, each of which result in a winner and a loser, wherein any two participants in a same bracket of the tournament round are allowed to match-up; and

(c) for each match-up, advancing the winner into a next tournament round winners bracket corresponding to the bracket for the current round in which the match-up occurred, and advancing the loser into a next tournament round losers bracket corresponding to the bracket for the current round in which the match-up occurred.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein a match-up in a subsequent tournament round may occur and begin play before a previous tournament round has been completed.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising repeating steps (b) and (c) until each current tournament round bracket has only one participant.

18. A multilevel online tournament comprising a plurality of tournament rounds, wherein two or more of the plurality of tournament rounds simultaneously take place.

19. A method for advancing a participant through an online tournament where the participant is unable to find an opponent comprising steps of:

(a) receiving a request from the participant for a progression;

(b) granting the request if the participant meets a criterion; and

(c) advancing the participant to a next tournament round when the request is granted.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the online tournament includes a progression deadline and the advancing step further comprises advancing the participant to a next tournament round when the progression deadline has passed.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the progression comprises auto-progression.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the participant is unable to find an opponent due to either a NAT or QoS problem.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the participant is unable to find an opponent because there are no available opponents.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the criterion is based on a previous record of the participant.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein the participant is advanced to a next tournament round winners bracket.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein the participant is advanced to a next tournament round losers bracket.

27. The method of claim 24 wherein the criterion for granting the request is one of trustworthiness or skill of the participant.

28. A computer-implemented method for administering a game tournament over a computer network, the tournament having a plurality of participants, comprising steps of:

(a) initially placing the group of participants in a single bracket of a first tournament round;

(b) grouping the participants in each bracket of a current tournament round for game match-ups, each of which result in one or more winners and one or more losers, wherein any two or more participants in a same bracket of the tournament round are allowed to match-up; and

(c) for each match-up, placing the winner into a next tournament round winners bracket corresponding to the bracket for the current round in which the match-up occurred, and placing the loser into a next tournament round losers bracket corresponding to the bracket for the current round in which the match-up occurred.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein pairing off can occur as soon as two participants are advanced into the same bracket.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein when there are a non-standard number of participants in the tournament, granting a bye to the next tournament round to any unmatched-up participant.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein when a specific participant'"'"'s opponent leaves the tournament, progressing the specific participant to the next tournament round winners bracket corresponding to the bracket for the current round in which the match-up was to have taken place.

32. The method of claim 28, wherein when a participant cannot be matched up to another participant due to quality of service or network address translation errors, progressing the unmatched participants to either the next tournament round winners bracket or the next tournament round losers bracket corresponding to the bracket for the current round in which the match-up was to have taken place.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the progression into the next tournament round winners bracket or the next tournament round losers bracket is determined based on a trust level of each progressed participant.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein progression into the next tournament round winners bracket or the next tournament round losers bracket comprises:

determining a number of slots N available in a next round winners bracket;

assigning N participants to the winners bracket based on each participants'"'"' trust rating; and

assigning remaining participants to a next round losers bracket.

35. The method of claim 28, further comprising establishing a round recurrence interval (RRI) which specifies a maximum amount of time for each tournament round.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the RRI is an approximate amount of time it takes to complete a tournament match.

37. The method of claim 28, further comprising establishing an auto-progression deadline (APD) which specifies a time within each round by which each participant must either begin a match, request a bye, or request progression to the next round.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein if the APD is not met by a participant, that participant is eliminated from the tournament.

39. A method for administering an online game tournament having a group of participants, comprising steps of:

(a) initially placing the group of participants in a single bracket of a first tournament round;

(b) allowing the group of participants each to play a game against a score or a deadline, the result of the game being measured by a score or time value; and

(c) upon completion of the games advancing participants based on the score or time value into a next tournament round winners bracket corresponding to the bracket for the current round in which the match-up occurred, and advancing the loser into a next tournament round losers bracket corresponding to the bracket for the current round in which the match-up occurred.