Techniques for providing a narrative summary for fantasy games

• US 10,592,596 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2011
• Issued: 03/17/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CBS Interactive Inc. (Paramount Global (f/k/a ViacomCBS Inc.))
• Original Assignee: CBS Interactive Inc. (Paramount Global (f/k/a ViacomCBS Inc.))
• Inventors: Miller, Louis E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gofman, Alex
• Assistant Examiner(s): Black, Linh
• Application Number:
  US13/338,395
• Publication Number:
  US 20130173673A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,002 Days
• Field of Search: 707779, 707627, 707688, 707755-756, 707793, 707803-804, 707811
• 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 13/60 Generating or modifying game content before or while executing the game program, e.g. authoring tools specially adapted for game development or game-integrated level editor
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/828 Managing virtual sport teams
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting

Abstract

Various embodiments for providing a narrative summary for fantasy games are described. Embodiments may include a summary engine executing on a logic device. The summary engine may select a beat writer and a story type. The summary writer may select new content from one or more databases of fantasy league data. The beat writer may affect what story type is selected. The summary engine may construct a master template according to the story type that has empty slots. The summary engine may fill the empty slots of the master template with data from the new content to generate a narrative summary, and publish the narrative template with the slots filled. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a notification from a database of fantasy league data indicating the presence of new content comprising fantasy league data in the database, the database comprising settings for a beat writer for a fantasy league;

responsive to receiving the notification, receiving the new content from the database of fantasy league data;

selecting the beat writer for the fantasy league based on the settings of the beat writer and the new content, the settings of the beat writer including a personal trait setting, a style/personality setting, a content type setting, and a publication setting, the personal trait setting comprising;

(i) a name of the beat writer, (ii) a face of the beat writer, (iii) a voice of the beat writer, (iv) an avatar of the beat writer, and (v) a title of the beat writer, the settings of the beat writer applied to all beat writers in the fantasy league;

selecting a narrative template that has not been used within a predefined time threshold and based on the new content and the selected beat writer, the narrative template comprising empty slots and a story type, the story type comprising one or more word categories comprising a container for one or more sets of word lists, each word category associated with a set of properties, each word list comprising a container for word definitions comprising one or more synonyms, each word definition bound to a data field comprising a range of values;

filling a first slot in the narrative template with a data item from the new content;

filling a conditional word slot of the narrative template with one of;

(i) a word from a first word list of the one or more sets of word lists when a value of the data field to which the first word list is bound satisfies a first condition value of the narrative template associated with the conditional word slot, and (ii) a word from a second word list of the one or more sets of word lists when the value of the data field satisfies a second condition value of the narrative template associated with the conditional word slot;

tracking a frequency of activity and an amount of activity of a fantasy team owner associated with the new content, an activity comprising roster transactions for a fantasy team performed by the fantasy team owner using a fantasy league website for the fantasy league;

publishing the narrative template with the first slot and the conditional word slot filled when the frequency and the amount of activity of the fantasy team owner with the fantasy league website each meet a respective threshold specified in the publication setting of the beat writer, after a publication of a previous narrative template; and

logging the narrative template selected, a date that the narrative template was selected, and the new content published.

2. The method of claim 1, the new content comprising indications of:

a real-world game associated with the new content, a type of the real-world game, a player of the real-world game associated with the fantasy team of the fantasy league and the new content, an injury to the player of the real-world game, an outcome of the real-world game associated with the new content, an outcome of a fantasy league event determined based on the real-world game and the new content, and an amount of the new content.

3. The method of claim 2, the story type further comprising:

(i) a paragraph type comprising a container for a set of paragraph definitions describing a respective paragraph, and (ii) one or more story flavors, each story flavor comprising a respective paragraph type set, the paragraph type set comprising a list of references to one or more of the paragraph types, the beat writer comprising a first beat writer of a plurality of beat writers for the fantasy league, the first beat writer associated with the fantasy team owner, each remaining beat writer of the plurality of beat writers associated with a different fantasy team owner in the fantasy league, each of the plurality of beat writers associated with a respective settings, the method further comprising;

publishing the narrative template at irregular intervals, a frequency of the publishing at irregular intervals based on the tracked frequency of activity of the fantasy team owner;

generating a text-to-speech version comprising an audio stream of speech of the published narrative template; and

publishing the text-to-speech version of the published narrative template.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein publishing comprises at least one of:

publishing to the fantasy league website;

publishing to an electronic mail message;

publishing to a social network;

publishing the text-to-speech version of the published narrative template to a radio feed stream;

publishing a video comprising the avatar speaking the text-to-speech version of the published narrative template;

publishing to a news ticker on at least one of;

a website, a video, and a television program;

publishing a press release; and

publishing to a website external to the fantasy league website.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the narrative template based on an attribute of the narrative template satisfying criteria of the beat writer; and

selecting a word list for filling the word slot according to the criteria of the beat writer.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

scanning, for new content, each of;

a database of fantasy league team data;

a data set of recommended fantasy league transactions;

a database of fantasy league transaction data; and

a database of fantasy league breaking news.

7. An apparatus comprising:

a logic device comprising a processor circuit;

a first data store to store narrative templates comprising story types and story flavors, communicatively coupled to the logic device;

a second data store to store fantasy league data, communicatively coupled to the logic device, wherein a fantasy league comprises a plurality of fantasy teams, each fantasy team having an owner;

a memory storing instructions which when executed by the processor circuit cause the processor circuit to;

receive a notification from the second data store indicating the presence of new content comprising fantasy league data in the second data store, the first data store comprising settings for a beat writer for the fantasy league;

responsive to receiving the notification, receive the new content from the second data store;

select the beat writer for the fantasy league based on the settings of the beat writer and the new content, the settings of the beat writer including a personal trait setting, a style/personality setting, a content type setting, and a publication setting, the personal trait setting comprising;

(i) a name of the beat writer, (ii) a face of the beat writer, (iii) a voice of the beat writer, (iv) an avatar of the beat writer, and (v) a title of the beat writer, the settings of the beat writer applied to all beat writers in the fantasy league;

select a narrative template that has not been used within a predefined time threshold and based on the settings of the beat writer and the new content;

select a story type based on the settings of the beat writer and the new content, the story type comprising one or more word categories comprising a container for one or more sets of word lists, each word category associated with a set of properties, each word list comprising a container for word definitions comprising one or more synonyms, each word definition bound to a data field comprising a range of values;

select a story flavor for the selected story type based on the settings of the beat writer, the story flavor having a plurality of paragraph types associated therewith;

select a paragraph definition for each of the plurality of paragraph types associated with the selected story flavor;

append the selected paragraph definitions together to construct a master template that has not been used within a predefined time threshold, the master template comprising empty slots; and

fill the empty slots of the master template with data from the new content to generate a narrative summary;

fill a conditional word slot of the narrative template with one of;

(i) a word from a first word list of the one or more sets of word lists when a value of the data field to which the first word list is bound satisfies a first condition value of the narrative template associated with the conditional word slot, and (ii) a word from a second word list of the one or more sets of word lists when the value of the data field satisfies a second condition value of the narrative template associated with the conditional word slot;

track a frequency of activity and an amount of activity of a fantasy team owner associated with the new content, an activity comprising roster transactions for a fantasy team performed by the fantasy team owner using a fantasy league website for the fantasy league;

publish the narrative summary with the slots filled when the frequency and the amount of activity of the fantasy team owner with the fantasy league website each meet a respective threshold specified in the publication setting of the beat writer after a publication of a previous narrative summary; and

log the narrative template selected, a date that the narrative template was selected, and the new content published.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, the narrative summary published to at least one of:

a website;

a real simple syndication feed;

an e-mail message;

a news ticker;

a social network site;

a short messaging service message;

a multimedia messaging service message;

a text-to-speech telephone message;

an audio stream;

a video stream; and

a radio broadcast.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, the paragraph type comprising a container for a set of paragraph definitions describing a respective paragraph, each story flavor comprising a respective paragraph type set, the paragraph type set comprising a list of references to one or more of the paragraph types, the new content comprising indications of:

a real-world game associated with the new content, a type of the real-world game, a player of the real-world game associated with the fantasy team of the fantasy league and the new content, an injury to the player of the real-world game, an outcome of the real-world game associated with the new content, an outcome of a fantasy league event determined based on the real-world game and the new content, and an amount of the new content, the filled narrative template published at irregular intervals, a frequency of the publishing at irregular intervals based on the tracked frequency of activity of the fantasy team owner, the memory storing instructions which when executed by the processor circuit cause the processor circuit to;

generate a text-to-speech version comprising speech of the published narrative template; and

publish the text-to-speech version of the published narrative template.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the beat writer comprising a first beat writer of a plurality of beat writers for the fantasy league, the first beat writer associated with the fantasy team owner, each remaining beat writer of the plurality of beat writers associated with a different fantasy team owner in the fantasy league, each of the plurality of beat writers associated with a respective settings, and wherein the second data store comprises:

breaking news data, recommended fantasy transactions data, and fantasy transactions data.

11. A machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed cause a computing system to:

receive a notification from a database of fantasy league data indicating the presence of new content comprising fantasy league data in the database, the database comprising settings for a beat writer for a fantasy league;

responsive to receiving the notification, receive the new content from the database of fantasy league data, wherein a fantasy league comprises a plurality of fantasy teams, each fantasy team having an owner;

select the beat writer for the fantasy league based on the settings of the beat writer and the new content, the settings of the beat writer including a personal trait setting, a style/personality setting, a content type setting, and a publication setting, the personal trait setting comprising;

(i) a name of the beat writer, (ii) a face of the beat writer, (iii) a voice of the beat writer, (iv) an avatar of the beat writer, and (v) a title of the beat writer, the settings of the beat writer applied to all beat writers in the fantasy league;

select a narrative template that has not been used within a predefined time threshold and based on the settings of the beat writer and the new content;

select a story type based on the settings of the beat writer and the new content, the story type comprising one or more word categories comprising a container for one or more sets of word lists, each word category associated with a set of properties, each word list comprising a container for word definitions comprising one or more synonyms, each word definition bound to a data field comprising a range of values;

select a story flavor from a set of story flavors for the selected story type;

select a paragraph definition randomly for each paragraph type of the selected story flavor;

append the selected paragraph definitions together to construct a master template that has not been used within a predefined time threshold, the master template comprising empty slots;

fill the empty slots of the master template with data from the new content to generate a narrative summary;

fill a conditional word slot of the narrative template with one of;

(i) a word from a first word list of the one or more sets of word lists when a value of the data field to which the first word list is bound satisfies a first condition value of the narrative template associated with the conditional word slot, and (ii) a word from a second word list of the one or more sets of word lists when the value of the data field satisfies a second condition value of the narrative template associated with the conditional word slot;

track a frequency of activity and an amount of activity of a fantasy team owner associated with the new content, an activity comprising roster transactions for a fantasy team performed by the fantasy team owner using a fantasy league website for the fantasy league; and

publish the narrative summary when the frequency and the amount of activity of the fantasy team owner with the fantasy league website each meet a respective threshold specified in the publication setting of the beat writer, after a publication of a previous narrative template; and

log the narrative template selected, a date that the narrative template was selected, and the new content published.

12. The storage medium of claim 11, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the computing system to:

select a paragraph definition randomly for each paragraph type of the selected story flavor, when the paragraph definition has not been used within a threshold time period.

13. The storage medium of claim 12, the paragraph type comprising a container for a set of paragraph definitions describing a respective paragraph, each story flavor comprising a respective paragraph type set, the paragraph type set comprising a list of references to one or more of the paragraph types, the new content comprising indications of:

a real-world game associated with the new content, a type of the real-world game, a player of the real-world game associated with the fantasy team of the fantasy league and the new content, an injury to the player of the real-world game, an outcome of the real-world game associated with the new content, an outcome of a fantasy league event determined based on the real-world game and the new content, and an amount of the new content, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the computing system to;

log the paragraph definitions selected, a date that the paragraph definitions were selected, and the new content published;

generate a text-to-speech version comprising speech of the published narrative template; and

publish the text-to-speech version of the published narrative template.

14. The storage medium of claim 13, the beat writer comprising a first beat writer of a plurality of beat writers for the fantasy league, the first beat writer associated with the fantasy team owner, each remaining beat writer of the plurality of beat writers associated with a different fantasy team owner in the fantasy league, each of the plurality of beat writers associated with a respective settings, the storage medium further comprising instructions that when executed cause the computing system to:

format the filled narrative summary for publishing to at least one of;

the fantasy league website;

an electronic mail message;

a social network;

a radio feed;

a video comprising the avatar speaking the text-to-speech version of the published narrative summary;

a news ticker on at least one of;

a website, a video, and a television program;

a press release; and

a website external to a fantasy league website.