Method and System for Drafting One or More Players in a Fantasy Sport

• US 20110306427A1
• Filed: 06/11/2010
• Published: 12/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Yahoo Assets LLC
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pawson, David
• Application Number:
  US12/813,707
• Publication Number:
  US 20110306427A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/798 for assessing skills or for ranking players, e.g. for generating a hall of fame computing the game score A63F13/46
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/812 Ball games, e.g. soccer or baseball
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8011 Ball
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8052 Ball team management

Abstract

Methods, systems and computer readable mediums are provided for drafting one or more players in a fantasy sport. In one method, a list of available players available for drafting to a user'"'"'s fantasy team is retrieved from a data store. Each available player has an associated ranking. A first candidate player and a second candidate player are identified from the available players based, at least in part, upon a first and a second drafting criterion, respectively. A weighted ranking is computed for at least one of the first and the second candidate player using at least one weighting factor corresponding to the first and the second drafting criterion. One of the first and the second candidate player is selected as a drafted player based upon the weighted ranking.

Claims

1. A method for drafting one or more players in a fantasy sport, the method comprising:

retrieving, from a data store, a list of available players available for drafting to a fantasy team of the user at a drafting round, each available player having an associated ranking;

identifying, at a server, a first candidate player from the available players based, at least in part, upon a first drafting criterion;

identifying, at the server, a second candidate player from the available players based, at least in part, upon a second drafting criterion;

computing, at the server, a weighted ranking for at least one of the first candidate player and the second candidate player using at least one weighting factor corresponding to the first drafting criterion and the second drafting criterion; and

selecting, at the server, one of the first candidate player and the second candidate player as a drafted player based upon the weighted ranking.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first drafting criterion is positional need of the fantasy team, wherein identifying the first candidate player comprises:

identifying one or more players from the available players satisfying the positional need; and

selecting, in the order of the ranking, one player from the one or more identified players as the first candidate player.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second drafting criterion is best available player, wherein identifying the second candidate player comprises selecting, in the order of the ranking, one available player of the available players as the second candidate player.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein computing the weighted ranking comprises updating the ranking of the first candidate player with the at least one weighting factor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein computing the weighted ranking comprises updating the ranking of the second candidate player with the at least one weighting factor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one weighting factor comprises a first weighting factor and a second weighting factor, wherein computing the weighted ranking comprises:

updating the ranking of the first candidate player with the first weighting factor; and

updating the ranking of the second candidate player with the second weighting factor, wherein the first weighting factor corresponds to the first drafting criterion and the second weighting factor corresponds to the second drafting criterion.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing an interface to the user to enter the at least one weighting factor.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying, at the server, a third candidate player based, at least in part, upon a third drafting criterion;

computing, at the server, weighted ranking for the third candidate player using a third weighting factor corresponding to the third drafting criterion; and

selecting, at the server, one of the first candidate player, the second candidate player and the third candidate player as the drafted player based upon the weighted ranking.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the third drafting criterion is positional scarcity.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising selecting the at least one weighting factor based, at least in part, upon one or more of composition of the fantasy team and a drafting round.

11. A system for drafting one or more players in a fantasy sport, the system comprising:

one or more network interfaces;

at least one processor;

a memory; and

computer program code stored in a computer readable storage medium, wherein the computer program code, when executed, is operative to cause the at least one processor to;

retrieve, from a data store, a list of available players available for drafting to a fantasy team of the user at a drafting round, each available player having an associated ranking;

identify, at a server, a first candidate player from the available players based, at least in part, upon a first drafting criterion;

identify, at the server, a second candidate player from the available players based, at least in part, upon a second drafting criterion;

compute, at the server, a weighted ranking for at least one of the first candidate player and the second candidate player using at least one weighting factor corresponding to the first drafting criterion and the second drafting criterion; and

select, at the server, one of the first candidate player and the second candidate player as a drafted player based upon the weighted ranking.

12. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with computer-executable instructions for drafting one or more players in a fantasy sport, the computer-executable instructions, when executed, operable to cause at least one processor to:

retrieve, from a data store, a list of available players available for drafting to a fantasy team of the user at a drafting round, each available player having an associated ranking;

identify, at a server, a first candidate player from the available players based, at least in part, upon a first drafting criterion;

identify, at the server, a second candidate player from the available players based, at least in part, upon a second drafting criterion;

compute, at the server, a weighted ranking for at least one of the first candidate player and the second candidate player using at least one weighting factor corresponding to the first drafting criterion and the second drafting criterion; and

select, at the server, one of the first candidate player and the second candidate player as a drafted player based upon the weighted ranking.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the first drafting criterion is positional need of the fantasy team, the computer readable medium further comprising computer-executable instructions operable to cause the at least one processor to:

identify one or more players from the available players satisfying the positional need; and

select, in the order of the ranking, one player from the one or more identified players as the first candidate player.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the second drafting criterion is best available player, the computer readable medium further comprising computer-executable instructions operable to cause the at least one processor to select, in the order of the ranking, one available player of the available players as the second candidate player.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 12 further comprising computer-executable instructions operable to cause the at least one processor to update the ranking of the first candidate player with the at least one weighting factor.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 12 further comprising computer-executable instructions operable to cause the at least one processor to update the ranking of the second candidate player with the at least one weighting factor.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the at least one weighting factor comprises a first weighting factor and a second weighting factor, the computer-readable medium further comprising computer-executable instructions operable to cause the at least one processor to:

update the ranking of the first candidate player with a first weighting factor; and

update the ranking of the second candidate player with a second weighting factor, wherein the first weighting factor corresponds to the first drafting criterion and the second weighting factor corresponds to the second drafting criterion.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 12 further comprising computer-executable instructions operable to cause the at least one processor to provide an interface to the user to enter the at least one weighting factor.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 12 further comprising computer-executable instructions operable to cause the at least one processor to:

identify, at the server, a third candidate player based, at least in part, upon a third drafting criterion;

compute, at the server, weighted ranking for the third candidate player using a third weighting factor corresponding to the third drafting criterion; and

select, at the server, one of the first candidate player, the second candidate player and the third candidate player as the drafted player based upon the weighted ranking.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 12 further comprising computer-executable instructions operable to cause the at least one processor to select the at least one weighting factor based, at least in part, upon one or more of composition of the fantasy team and a drafting round.