WO2007028206A1

WO2007028206A1 - A system and method for conducting a tournament

Info

Publication number: WO2007028206A1
Application number: PCT/AU2006/001308
Authority: WO
Inventors: Leslie Peter Worth
Original assignee: Leslie Peter Worth
Priority date: 2005-09-09
Filing date: 2006-09-08
Publication date: 2007-03-15

Abstract

A method for conducting a tournament on a computing system, comprising the steps of providing a computing system capable of interacting with a plurality of users, the system being arranged to operate a tournament structure, wherein the tournament includes a number of rounds, each round of the tournament being independent of the next round, such that a user may progress from one round to another round independently of the status of other users in the tournament.

Description

A SYSTEM A-STD METHOD FOR CONDUCTING A TOURNAMENT

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method for conducting a tournament, and particularly, but not exclusively, to a system arranged to conduct a tournament on a computing system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many sports competitions utilise a traditional round-based tournament structure .

A round-based tournament structure is one where users compete against each other to ascend to subsequent rounds of the competition. In a simple tournament structure, all users (i.e. players) competing in the tournament are paired, such that the paired users compete against each other in the first round. The winner from each pair subsequently advances to the next round of tournament, until, in the final round, only two users are left. The two users in the final round compete against each other, and the user who wins the final round is declared the winner of the tournament . This tournament structure is well-known in many types of competitions, including sporting competitions such as tennis, football, snooker and pool. The tournament structure is also used in gaming environments, such as poker and blackjack tournaments. A variation of this type of tournament structure consists of preselecting the users to enter the first round by selecting them from a larger group, then, after such a selection, running the tournament in the fashion described above .

An example of where the variation is applied is the World Football Championships, where an initial group of 32 teams is divided into eight groups of four which play a round-robin schedule in the preliminary rounds, but then revert to a traditional "paired" tournament structure when eight teams emerge as the leaders in their respective groups . The main shortcoming of the described traditional tournament structures is the relative rigidity of the tournament structure, which results in "bottlenecks" that affect users, organizers and spectators.

For example, in many types of competitions where each game does not have a set time (e.g. a tennis match or a snooker tournament, where games are not time based, but rather, users continue to play until one user attains a predetermined number of points) , each match in a round may have a very different duration time. Some matches may only last a few minutes, while some may last hours.

In such competitions, the start of the subsequent round cannot begin until the previous round is finished. This creates a bottleneck, as competitors and spectators are forced to wait until the previous round has finished. This raises particular technical problems when tournament structures are implemented on a computing system. With the exponential growth in the number of Internet-based on-line websites and networked servers offering interactive games, where users compete in games such as Virtual Pool, Virtual Tennis, etc; there has been a growing interest in implementing tournament structures in an on-line environment. The traditional tournament structure is difficult to implement in such environments, because users are located in different time zones, have different availabilities and "real world" commitments, and are commonly amateur users who are playing for entertainment value alone. This means that many users are not attracted by the rigidity of a traditional tournament structure.

Moreover, from a computational point of view, offering traditional tournament structures on a computing system results in the inefficient use of computing resources, and is therefore not attractive to the service providers who develop on-line games.

For example, a traditional tournament structure, when implemented on a computing system, must keep track of the progress of each user in the tournament. Frequently, if new users wish to play once a tournament has commenced, the only way to enable the new users to participate is to establish a new tournament. If there are a large number of users at any given time, a computing system has to be programmed to control a large number of tournaments simultaneously. This results in the need to run multiple servers which must share a common user database. This creates technical issues such as balancing load across servers, etc. Additionally, the disadvantages of traditional tournament systems are magnified in an on-line real time environment. For example, users may quit the tournament at any time, or may not wish to wait for another user to finish their round (since they may have other commitments or are simply impatient) . This requires the programmer or system administrator to include and maintain special rule sets which determine how users should advance to the next round if their opponent quits and/or disconnects from the system.

Moreover, a new tournament cannot be started until a predefined number of users register their interest . That is, traditional tournament structures are not flexible.

For these reasons, it has been difficult to create an on-line computer operated tournament system that is straightforward in structure while holding user interest and being fair and equitable to all users.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first aspect, the present invention provides a method for conducting a tournament on a computing system, comprising the steps of providing a computing system capable of interacting with a plurality of users, the system being arranged to operate a tournament structure, wherein the tournament includes a number of rounds, each round of the tournament being independent of the next round, such that a user may progress from one round to another round independently of the status of other users in the tournament .

In one embodiment, the user may be capable of delaying participation in the subsequent round of the tournament when the user completes a round of the tournament .

On delaying participation in the subsequent round of the tournament, the user may be placed in a waiting room.

The user may be matched with another available user, utilising a suitable algorithm, but in one form, the user is randomly matched.

New users may join the tournament whilst it is in progress by joining a first round of the tournament. The user may be randomly matched with another available user when joining the first round of the tournament .

In one embodiment , the number of rounds in the tournament may be dynamically altered to match the number of new users joining the tournament.

In a second aspect, the present invention provides a system for conducting a tournament on a computing system, the system comprising a server including a module arranged to interact with a plurality of users to operate a tournament containing a plurality of rounds, wherein the module operates each round of the tournament independently of all other rounds in the tournament, such that a user may progress from one round to another round independently of the status of other users in the tournament.

In a third aspect, the present invention provides a system for conducting a plurality of tournaments, each tournament including at least two rounds, comprising a plurality of systems in accordance with a first aspect of the invention, wherein users from one tournament, on successfully completing a round, may remain in the one tournament or may be transferred to another one of the plurality of tournaments.

In a fourth aspect, the present invention provides a software application including instructions for controlling a computing system to implement a method in accordance with the first aspect of the invention.

In a fifth aspect, the present invention provides a computer readable medium providing a software application in accordance with a fourth aspect of the invention.

In a sixth aspect, the present invention provides a gaming system, comprising a server including a module arranged to interact with a plurality of users to operate a game containing a plurality of levels wherein a user compete against at least one other user to determine whether the user ascends to a subsequent level, wherein a user may progress from one round to another round independently of the status of other users in the game.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features of the present invention will be presented in a description of an embodiment thereof, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a computing system suitable for implementing an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a cluster of computing systems suitable for implementing an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3 is a flow diagram illustrating the modules of a software application in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 4 is a flow chart depicting a method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT

An embodiment of the present invention broadly relates to a system and method for running or operating a tournament structure . The embodiment described has particular, but not exclusive, relevance in a computing or other electronic communications environment where multiple users wish to interact in real time. This may include an Internet environment where a large number of users may wish to access a networked "on-line" gaming environment. At Figure 1 there is shown a schematic diagram of a computing system 100 suitable for use with an embodiment of the present invention. The computing system 100 may be used to execute applications and/or system services such as a tournament structure in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The computing system 100 preferably comprises a processor 102, read only memory (ROM) 104, random access memory (RAM) 106, and input/output devices such as disk drives 108, input peripherals such as a keyboard 110 and a display (or other output device) 112. The computer includes software applications that may be stored in RAM 106, ROM 104, or disk drives 108 and may be executed by the processor 102. A communications link 114 connects to a computer network such as the Internet. However, the communications link 114 could be connected to a telephone line, an antenna, a gateway or any other type of communications link. Disk drives 108 may include any suitable storage media, such as, for example, floppy disk drives, hard disk drives, CD ROM drives or magnetic tape drives. The computing system 100 may use a single disk drive 108 or multiple disk drives. The computing system 100 may use any suitable operating systems 116, such as Microsoft Windows™ or a Unix™ based operating system. The system further comprises a server application 118. The server application 118 may interface with a database 120 in order to store information, and may interface with other software applications 122. An embodiment of the present invention may be comprised of the software 118, the database 120 and the other software application 122, and may be arranged to interface with other computing systems via the communications link 114. Figure 2 is a diagram showing a computing system network 200 comprising computing systems 100 of Figure 1 networked such that data may be interchanged between the networked computer systems to allow a large number of users to concurrently utilize the applications residing on the computing system network 200. The networked computing system 200 may include a central server 202 arranged to allocate incoming user sessions 204 amongst the plurality of computing systems (generally denoted as a collective by numeral 206) . Data related to the incoming user sessions 204 may be maintained in one or more databases 208 contained in storage media controlled by the server 202, or the data may be passed to one or more of the computing systems 100 within the plurality of computing systems 206. In one embodiment, the system may be implemented as a distributed message-passing system which allows a number of users to interact in an on-line tournament gaming environment. As shown in Figure 3, there is included a number of modules 300 that are arranged such that multiple copies of each module can be run on either the same computer 100 or on each one of the plurality of computing systems 206.

There is included a tournaments module 302, which controls progress of users through the tournament structure. There is also included a "poolhall" module

304, which is the module that controls the game that users play in each round of the tournament . A membership module

306 collates and manages information relevant to each user

(i.e. membership and login information), and a connections module 308 manages incoming connections 310, by balancing the number of incoming connectors across a number of hardware devices (servers) as necessary. The sessions module 312 manages all other modules, and calls upon each module, as needed, to run the tournament as a whole. All modules store information, as required, in a database 314. It will be understood that the modules may be separate and distinct software applications or they may be routines or component parts of a single software application. Moreover, the modules and/or software application may be executed on a single computing system. However, with increases in load and the number of connections, additional computing system may be added and the modules may either be distributed across each of the computing systems, or alternatively, multiple instances of each module may be executed on each of the plurality of computing systems.

The modules, for ease of operability across a number of platforms and operating systems, are written in the Sun Microsystems Java™ language and, in the embodiment described herein, are run on a Microsoft Windows ™ 2000 platform.

The modules implement a tournament structure, an embodiment of which is described with reference to Figure 4.

The tournament structure 400 is organized into a series of virtual "corridors" 402, each corridor representing a round of the tournament . The term "corridor" is a metaphor utilised to explain the tournament structure to a lay user. However, it will be understood that, in a computing environment, the corridor may be programmed as a "level" or delineated using any appropriate signifier. For example, the computing system may store information regarding the level attained by a particular user. A user 404 can arrive (logon to the tournament system) at any time during progress of the tournament. It will be understood that in the context of the embodiment to be described, a "user" is equivalent to a "player" in the tournament structure .

In Figure 4, users are shown arriving at the first corridor 406. Upon arrival the user is immediately matched with another available user in the first corridor 406 and they can begin playing their match. The software application may be designed to allow the users to play any chosen competitive game, such as a virtual pool game, a virtual tennis game, a virtual fighting game, a virtual poker game, etc. In the present example, user 408 is competing against user 410 in a game of virtual pool. A not-yet-matched user 412 is shown, waiting for the next user to arrive so that the user may be matched and begin play.

It will also be understood that in a variation on the embodiment described herein, more than two users may be matched for a particular round. For example, in a virtual poker game, four users may be matched, with the winner out of the four users advancing to the next round.

Other variations in the way in which players are matched are possible. For example, it may be in the interests of the tournament organiser to wait for several users to arrive and then randomly match the users, to minimise collusion between users who may try to join at similar times, in order to immerse their chances of being matched with an opponent of their choosing. Alternatively, the system may contain information regarding the skill level of each user, and may match users according to either comparable or contrasting skill levels. Any number of methods commonly used to match users may be embodied in the software application, and such variation is considered within the ambit of a person skilled in the art.

Once matched users finish their match, the winning user from each match in the first corridor 408 has a choice as to whether they wish to advance to the next round, or whether they wish to delay their advance (for example, the user may have tired of the game and may wish to log off) . If the user wishes to delay their advance to the next round, they may either log off (in which case their attained level is saved so that they may re-enter the tournament at the same level when they next log on) or they may simply pause the game, in which case they may be advanced to a "waiting room" 414. It will be understood that, once again, the use of the term "waiting room" is a metaphor utilised to explain the tournament structure to a lay user. In a computing environment, the waiting room may be modelled as a delay flag which keeps the user connected to the computing system, but does not match the user with another user.

Alternatively, the waiting room may be implemented as a virtual waiting room, where users may talk or otherwise interact with other waiting users, until the user chooses to continue with the next round of the game. This may add some enjoyment to the game. Alternatively, where many users advance simultaneously and it is a requirement of the game that users advance to the next round without delay, there may be no need for the waiting room 414 or any type of delay flag, in which case the advancing users will be matched instantly.

In the case where a delay is warranted (for example, where there are few users on the system, thereby requiring a user to wait some predefined time until another user becomes available) the user is placed in the waiting room 414 and will remain in the waiting room until another user becomes available. In the example shown in Figure 4, waiting room 414 shows users 418, 420, 422 waiting to enter corridor 416.

When the use.r is ready to play in the second corridor 416, the user is matched (randomly or using any other suitable algorithm or matching criteria) with another available user and the matched users begin their second round game. For example, in Figure 4, user 424 is shown competing against user 426.

In a similar manner to the previous round, the winner of each game in the second corridor 416 advances to the subsequent waiting room 428. The user may choose to wait or to play immediately. Once the user makes a decision to play, the user is matched with another available user and proceeds to the third corridor 430. This process is repeated for all subsequent corridors, until only two players remain in the final round. The winner of the final round is declared the winner of the competition.

The number of rounds may be varied depending on the number of users joining the system at any given time.

This tournament structure provides a large number of advantages over a traditional tournament structure. Firstly, the manner in which users progress and are matched up ensures that all users are only required to wait a minimal time (i.e. until any another user becomes available) before the user begins their next round. Moreover, as the tournament structure enters to a constant flow of users, a user may opt to leave the tournament for a defined period of time and re-enter at a later time, without affecting their own level in the tournament, and without inconveniencing other users in the tournament . In other words, the tournament is arranged to allow a user to progress through the tournament independently of the status of other users in the tournament .

Furthermore, the flexibility of the tournament structure alleviates or ameliorates many of the issues associated with running a tournament on a computing system. In the simplest possible tournament structure according to the embodiment described herein, the computing system is only required to keep track of the level achieved by each user, and the availability of each user.

Moreover, due to the relative flexibility available when matching up users, the computer system may utilise any type of algorithm to match users. For example, users may be matched on the basis of skill, past performance, geographical location, age, or any other suitable parameter or criteria. Importantly, the matching criteria can be varied as the user progresses through each round of the tournament . As the relative position of the user and their availability is not essential to the smooth progression of the tournament, the system may also be arranged to provide elaborate tournament structures. For example, if two tournaments were run in parallel at any given time, and one tournament falters (for example, due to a large number of users leaving the tournament) , the remaining users may be inserted into the second tournament at equivalent positions, without disadvantaging either the users in the first tournament or the users in the second tournament . In another example, the system may provide two tournaments, namely an "amateurs" tournament and a "professionals" tournament. A user which begins in the amateur's tournament but shows unusual skill may be automatically transferred to the professional's tournament, without affecting the users in either tournament, and without affecting the status of the user who is being moved to the different tournament. More importantly, while traditional tournament structures require a fixed and predetermined number of users, the tournament structure in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention can easily add users to a live tournament, by simply "feeding" new users into the first corridor, and/or adding a new corridor. This reduces administrative burden, as the -computing system is not required to set up multiple tournaments as more users join the system.

Moreover, if the number of users in a tournament grows exponentially, it is possible to simply add another round or corridor to the tournament without affecting the relative position of all other users. That is, the number of rounds in the tournament can be dynamically changed to match the number of new users joining the tournament. Furthermore, as a user cannot clearly ascertain who their likely opponent will be in the next round, there is little to no incentive for each user to utilise underhanded tactics in order to unbalance the other users or the tournament as a whole. For example, there is no way for a user to slow or delay the progress of the tournament, as other users will simply progress to further rounds of the tournament irrespective of the behaviour of a single user.

As a corollary, this also decreases the computing load on the computing system, as there is little need for sophisticated algorithms to discourage underhanded tactics. The relative anonymity of each user, and the user's inability to clearly know the identity of their next opponent ensures that the tournament is conducted in a fair manner.

Additionally, in traditional tournament structures, when users are waiting for the tournament to start or for their opponent to arrive, computing resources (such as TCP/IP connections, database locks, etc.) are being held but not utilised by the software application.

To keep computing resources from being needlessly held, prior art tournament systems require users to disconnect while an opponent is not available and then reconnect when the opponent is ready to play. This is inconvenient for users, and requires additional programming on the server side to alert users to the availability of an opponent. The embodiment described herein, by matching available players, results in a reduction in user waiting time and correspondingly better utilises computing resources. This provides the double benefit of providing a simpler software application which requires less coding, while providing the user with more flexibility and the ability to progress smoothly and at their own pace through the tournament structure .

The system also provides benefits for the user. Convenience to the user is greatly increased, as the user can join and/or leave the tournament at any time, without affecting their relative position in the tournament.

Moreover, if a user loses a round, they can simply rejoin the tournament at the first round. This is impossible in a conventional tournament structure. In this manner, a user can keep playing and striving towards the final round, thereby increasing the user's interest.

In the preceding paragraphs, reference has been made to a number of terms, such as "games", "users", "corridors", etc. It will be understood that these terms are to be interpreted broadly, as these terms are used to describe one embodiment, but are not to be construed as restrictive on the underlying concept of the invention.

It will also be understood that the tournament system may be applied to any type of game, including but not limited to pool, poker, snooker, contract bridge, chess or similar games .

It will also be understood that whilst the present embodiment describes an Internet enabled version of a software application, the embodiment and invention can be easily applied to operate in other networks, such as a mobile phone network, a local area network, or a peer-to-peer network (such as a number of users playing in a tournament by utilising Bluetooth™ enabled portable devices) .

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. A method for conducting a tournament on a computing system, comprising the steps of providing a computing system capable of interacting with a plurality of users, the system being arranged to operate a tournament structure, wherein the tournament includes a number of rounds, each round of the tournament being independent of the next round, such that a user may progress from one round to another round independently of the status of other users in the tournament .

2. A method in accordance with Claim 1, comprising the further step of the user being capable of delaying participation in the subsequent round of the tournament when the user completes a round of the tournament .

3. A method in accordance with Claim 2 , comprising the further step of, on delaying participation in the subsequent round of the tournament, placing the user in a waiting room.

4. A method in accordance with Claim 1 or Claim 2 , further comprising the step of matching the user with another user by use of an algorithm.

5. A method in accordance with Claim 4, comprising the further step of randomly matching the user with another available user.

6. A method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, comprising the further step of allowing new users to join the tournament whilst it is in progress by joining the new user to a first round of the tournament.

7. A method in accordance with Claim 6, comprising the further step of the user being randomly matched with another available user when joining the first round of the tournament .

8. A method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, comprising the further step of dynamically altering the number of rounds in the tournament to match the number of new users joining the tournament.

9. A system for conducting a tournament on a computing system, the system comprising a server including a module arranged to interact with a plurality of users to operate a tournament containing a plurality of rounds, wherein the module operates each round of the tournament independently of all other rounds in the tournament, such that a user may progress from one round to another round independently of the status of other users in the tournament .

10. A system in accordance with Claim 9, further comprising a module arranged to allow a user of the system to delay participation in a round of the tournament.

11. A system in accordance with Claim 10, further comprising a module arranged to provide a virtual waiting room in which a user is placed when the user delays participation in the next round of the tournament.

12. A system in accordance with Claim 10, further comprising a module arranged to save the round which the user had attained prior to the user disconnecting from the server.

13. A system in accordance with Claim 11 or Claim 12, further comprising a module arranged to utilise an algorithm to match a user with another user.

14. A system in accordance with Claim 13, comprising a module arranged to randomly match one of the plurality of users with another of the plurality of users.

15. A system in accordance with any one of Claims 9 to 14, comprising a module that joins a new user to the tournament whilst it is in progress by joining the new user to a first round of the tournament.

16. A system in accordance with Claim 15, further comprising a module arranged to randomly match the new user with another user when joining the first round of the tournament.

17. A system in accordance with Claim 15 or Claim 16, further comprising a module arranged to dynamically change the number of rounds to accommodate new users joining the tournament.

18. A system for conducting a plurality of tournaments, each tournament including at least two rounds, comprising a plurality of systems in accordance with Claim 9, wherein users from one tournament, on successfully completing a round, may remain in the one tournament or may be transferred to another one of the plurality of tournaments .

19. A software application including instructions for, controlling a computing system to implement a method, to perform the method of any one of Claims 1 to 8.

20. A recordable media incorporating a software application in accordance with Claim 19.

21. A gaming system, comprising a server including a module arranged to interact with a plurality of users to operate a game containing a plurality of levels wherein a user compete against at least one other user to determine whether the user ascends to a subsequent level, wherein a user may progress from one round to another round independently of the status of other users in the game.