Multilevel online tournament
First Claim
1. 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.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. 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:
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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.
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2. A method for administering an online game tournament comprising steps of:
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(a) initially placing a group of participants in a single bracket of a first tournament round, wherein a size of the group of participants requires at least three complete tournament rounds to determine a winner; (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; (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; and (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) until each current tournament round bracket has only one participant. - View Dependent Claims (3)
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4. A computer-implemented method for administering a game tournament over a computer network, comprising steps of:
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(a) initially placing a group of participants in a single bracket of a first tournament round, wherein a size of the group of participants requires at least three complete tournament rounds to determine a winner; (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; (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; and (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) until each current tournament round bracket has only one participant. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for administering an online game tournament comprising steps of:
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(a) initially placing a group of participants in a single bracket of a first tournament round, wherein a size of the group of participants requires at least three complete tournament rounds to determine a winner; (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; (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, and (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) until each current tournament round bracket has only one participant.
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Specification