CONTENT SCHEDULING FOR FANTASY GAMING

• US 20110028221A1
• Filed: 10/13/2010
• Published: 02/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Data Services Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Relyea, Don, Roberts, Brian, Stallings, Heath
• Granted Patent: US 8,930,405 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/42
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/951 Calendar or scheduling

Abstract

An exemplary method includes a media program scheduling facility 1) retrieving data associated with a fantasy game, the data representing players of interest engaged in a real-life competitive activity that forms a basis for the fantasy game, 2) determining, based on the data representing the players of interest and on media program listing data associated with a plurality of media programs, one or more of the media programs that are associated with the players of interest, and 3) providing a scheduling screen for display, the scheduling screen containing listing information for each of the one or more media programs determined to be associated with the players of interest. Corresponding systems and methods are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

retrieving, by a media program scheduling facility, data associated with a fantasy game, the data representing players of interest engaged in a real-life competitive activity that forms a basis for the fantasy game;

determining, by the media program scheduling facility based on the data representing the players of interest and on media program listing data associated with a plurality of media programs, one or more of the media programs that are associated with the players of interest; and

providing, by the media program scheduling facility, a scheduling screen for display, the scheduling screen containing listing information for each of the one or more media programs determined to be associated with the players of interest.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the real-life competitive activity includes a sports league, the players of interest include a plurality of sports players, and the one or more of the media programs determined to be associated with the players of interest comprise multimedia representations of sporting competitions in which at least some of the plurality of sports players are participants.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the scheduling screen includes an interactive program guide; and

the listing information for each of the one or more media programs determined to be associated with the players of interest is integrated within the interactive program guide.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the interactive program guide includes a grid of cells; and

the listing information for each of the one or more media programs determined to be associated with the players of interest is displayed within one or more of the cells.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the data representing the players of interest includes player identifier information for each of the players of interest; and

the scheduling screen contains player identifier information displayed together with the listing information within the one or more of the cells.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the scheduling screen contains a fantasy roster displayed together with the listing information, the fantasy roster including entries for the players of interest associated with a fantasy league team.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the listing information for each of the one or more media programs determined to be associated with the players of interest is arranged as a list of one or more program listings representing the one or more media programs.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the listing information contained in the scheduling screen is configured to display together with a video content view on a display.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining, by a statistics facility, performance statistics data representative of performances of the players of interest in the real-life competitive activity; and

providing, by the statistics facility, a statistics screen for display, the statistics screen containing the performance statistics data representative of the performances of the players of interest in the real-life competitive activity.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the statistics screen is configured for display together with the scheduling screen on a display.

11. The method of claim 1, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

12. A method comprising:

determining, by a media program scheduling facility, one or more players associated with a fantasy team included in a fantasy sports game, each of the one or more players associated with a real team within a real-life sports league that forms a basis for the fantasy sports game;

determining, by the media program scheduling facility, one or more media programs associated with the one or more players, the determining including

identifying the real team associated with each of the one or more players, and

using the real team associated with each of the one or more players to query media program listing information; and

providing, by the media program scheduling facility, a scheduling screen for display, the scheduling screen containing listing information for each of the one or more media programs determined to be associated with the one or more players.

13. The method of claim 12, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

14. A system comprising:

a first database storing data associated with a fantasy game, the data representing players of interest engaged in a real-life competitive activity that forms a basis for the fantasy game;

a second database storing media program listing data associated with a plurality of media programs; and

a scheduling facility communicatively coupled to the first and second databases, the scheduling facility configured to

determine, based on the data representing the players of interest in the first database and the media program listing data in the second database, one or more of the media programs that are associated with the players of interest, and

provide a scheduling screen for display, the scheduling screen containing listing information for each of the one or more media programs determined to be associated with the players of interest.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the real-life competitive activity includes a sports league, the players of interest include a plurality of sports players, and the one or more of the media programs determined to be associated with the players of interest comprise multimedia representations of sporting competitions in which at least some of the plurality of sports players are participants.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the scheduling facility is implemented by at least one of:

a media distribution system configured to distribute the plurality of media programs via an access network; and

a user system configured to access and present the plurality of media programs distributed by the media distribution system via the access network.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the media program listing data specifies temporal intervals during which the media programs are scheduled for distribution by the media distribution system.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the scheduling screen includes an interactive program guide; and

the listing information for each of the one or more media programs determined to be associated with the players of interest is integrated within the interactive program guide.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein:

the interactive program guide includes a grid of cells; and

the listing information for each of the one or more media programs determined to be associated with the players of interest is displayed within one or more of the cells.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein:

the data representing the players of interest includes player identifier information for each of the players of interest; and

the scheduling screen contains player identifier information displayed together with the listing information within the one or more of the cells.