WO2011070528A2 - System and method for live interactive gaming - Google Patents

Abstract

An interactive gaming system and method comprising: a processor having an input for receiving dynamic from an external source, the dynamic data comprising information regarding an incident during an event and its location; a user interface used to display a representation of the event, as an image indicative of the locale of the event displayed as comprising a plurality of discrete elements; means for calculating the likelihood of a given incident occurring during the event in one or more of the discrete elements based on historical data; the processing means determining which of the discrete elements is associated with the location of the incident; the display displaying an indicator that an incident occurred in said determined discrete element, and displaying a gaming value determined from the calculated likelihood of an event occurring there. The user interface allows users to select discrete elements for the occurrence of incidents.

Description

System and method for live interactive gaming

Field of invention

The present invention relates to, but not exclusively, a system and method for live interactive gaming, which allows a user to cognitively view information on previous events and make a prediction based on the presented information.

Background

It is known to allow a gamer or punter to place bets on the outcome of a sporting event online. The bets that can be placed are not limited to the outcome, and can be placed on the next occurrence of an incident. For example in the context of sports betting bets may be placed on, say, when the next foul is committed or the time that a goal is scored. It is also known to place bets online during the course of an event. For example, a punter watching a football match may place bets at anytime regarding, say, the final score. The odds used in such events are often time dependent, taking into account various factors such as time left in the event, current situation etc. Such odds are often presented to the punter in text or list form. Such a presentation of data is slow as it requires the punter to view and assimilate the information.

Additionally, the odds often change in response to current events or the number of bets placed. Over the course of an event the odds may change several tens of times making it difficult for the punter to keep track of the changes. Furthermore, it can be difficult to for the punter to understand why the odds have changed and in response to what event. This can be frustrating for the user. Furthermore, if several odds are presented and updated, a change on the odds may not be easily spotted by the punter, especially if the odds change on a regular basis. It is known to supply information during a sporting event on the occurrences of incidents during the event. For example, several websites supply "live" text commentary informing the user of important incidents during a match. For example, a text based football (soccer) match commentary may inform the reader of goals being scored, fouls committed, throw-ins etc. Given the length of a game, it can be difficult to visualise the events and remember where previous events occurred and to spot patterns within a match e.g. a team favouring an attack along the left side of the pitch as opposed to the right.

A further consideration is that the current betting systems are restricted in the type and number of bets that may be placed. For example, a football bet may be along the lines of "how will the next goal be scored, header, shot, own goal?", "who will be the next goal scorer?" There is no little or no geographic aspect to these bets. A bet placed on the next goal scorer will have the same odds if the goal was scored from 40 yards away or from 4 yards away. As a goal scored from 40 yards away is in general less likely the lack of dependency on position can be unsatisfactory to the punter. Additionally, given the nature of some sports, it is desirable to have a form of betting that also reflects the speed and allows a punter to place bets on events where a win may be determined within seconds of the bet being placed as opposed to waiting until the event is finished.

To mitigate at least some of the above problems there is provided an interactive gaming system comprising: a processor having an input for receiving dynamic data regarding an event, such as sport event, from an external source, said dynamic data comprising information regarding an incident during the event and the location of said incident; a user interface which is use displays a representation of the event, as an image indicative of the locale of the event, said image being displayed as comprising a plurality of discrete elements; calculating means for calculating the likelihood of a given incident occurring during the event in one or more of the discrete elements based on historical data; said processing means determining which of the plurality of discrete elements is associated with the location of the incident; said display displaying an indicator that an incident occurred in said determined discrete element, and displaying a gaming value determined from the calculated likelihood of an event occurring in a discrete element; wherein the user interface is enabled to allow a user to select a discrete element for the occurrence of a given incident within the selected discrete element. There is also provided an interactive gaming method comprising: obtaining data regarding an event, such as a sport event, via a dynamic data feed, said dynamic data comprising data regarding an incident during the event and the location of the incident; displaying a representation of the event, as an image indicative of the locale of the event, said image split into a plurality of discrete elements; determining which of the plurality of discrete elements represents the location of the incident; displaying an indicator that an incident occurred in said determined discrete element; calculating the likelihood of an event occurring in one or more of the discrete elements based on historical data; displaying a value indicative of the calculated likelihood of an event occurring in the relevant discrete element; wherein the display is enabled to allow a user to select a discrete element for the future occurrence of a given incident will occur within the selected discrete element.

Brief description of the drawings

An embodiment of the invention is now described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic overview of the apparatus of the invention; Figure 2 is a flow chart of the interactive gaming system according to an aspect of the invention;

Figure 3 is an example of the pitch as presented on the User Interface; Figure 4 is an example of a user selecting a bet;

Figure 5 is an example of a user selecting an area of the pitch where they believe the next shot will occur; and Figure 6 is an example of the user being informed of the success of their bet. Detailed description of an embodiment

An aspect of the present invention is an interactive gaming system which allows a user (or a punter) to say where they believe the next occurrence of particular incident will occur. The term user and punter are used during the course of the specification interchangeably and both describe the person utilising the interactive gaming system.

In particular the invention allows a place a bet on the location the next instance of an incident. For example, if the event being bet upon is a football match the user may bet on what part of the pitch the next shot will originate.

To improve the user experience, and to improve the cognitive understanding of the game, there is provided an image of the locale of the event. If the event is a sporting event, then an image of the locale will be the pitch, arena, court, circuit etc. The image will also be split into regions, or areas, each representing an area in which the user can place a bet. Furthermore, to aid the user's cognitive understanding of the game there is provided a visualisation of the incidents that occur during a game, therefore allowing the user to rapidly assimilate and view patterns or trends that may be occurring during a game. This allows the user to base their selection of the area in which they believe the event will occur to be based on the visualisation and understanding of the presented data. Previously such data would be presented in text form requiring further effort from the user to understand, and also make pattern spotting more time consuming.

The following description is made with reference to a football (soccer) match. However, it will be noted that the ideas discussed can easily be applicable to any type of sporting event. For example, rugby, tennis, car-racing, ice hockey etc. The locale described in the following description is a football pitch which would change according to the sport being played, such as a rugby pitch, a tennis court, a circuit, hockey rink etc. The incidents recorded for each event will also be specific for the event. For example in a rugby match the locations of tackles, free kicks, penalties, drop goals etc could be recorded. The information recorded preferably relates to the incidents upon which bets are placed. The invention may also be used to present information regarding non-sporting events, on which the user would like to make a prediction. For example, in an election a bet may be placed on which area will announce next, or the next area that will elect a member of a particular political party.

Thus while the following description is made with particular reference to a football match, the invention discussed herein can be adapted to cover all sports and indeed other non-sporting events. In Figure 1 shows a schematic of an embodiment of the invention. There is shown: user interface 10; odds calculating engine 12; historical database 14; live event information feed 16; interactive event engine 18 and gambling engine 20.

The UI 10 is in communication with the odds calculating engine 12, the interactive event engine 18 and the gambling engine 20. The odds calculating engine 12 is in communication with the historical database 14, the interactive event engine 18 and the gambling engine 20. The interactive event engine 18 is also in communication with the live event information feed 16. In use, the user is presented with a user interface (UI) 10. The UI 10 may be presented on any suitable display means. For example, the UI 10 may be presented on a standard desktop computer, a Smartphone, PDA, laptop etc. The user interacts with the UI 10 with known input devices such as a mouse, keyboard, touch screen etc (not shown). An example of the form and functionality of such a UI is described in detail with reference to Figures 3 to 6. The UI will have a representation of a football pitch which is portioned into several discrete elements. Events that occur during the match are shown on the UI 10 as well as the odds for an event occurring with a discrete element.

The UI 10 displays information from the odds calculating engine 12, interactive event engine 18 and gambling engine 20.

The odds calculating engine 12 calculates the likelihood of an event occurring from historical data. The historical data may be either data stored from previous events e.g. if the event is a football match, the historical data can be data related to previous games involving both or either team, or data from any previous match which is stored in the historical database 14, or it can be data from the current event e.g. the number of throw-ins that have occurred thus far in a game, or it can be calculated as a mixture of both data from previous games and the current game.

The data stored in the historical database 14 or used from the current event, comprises data regarding the occurrence of certain events and their position. For example, in the case of a booking, the position on the field of where the foul that led to the booking occurred would be recorded. Therefore, the pitch is considered to comprise a number of "discrete elements" in which incidents occur. Ancillary information such as the player involved, the time etc, may also be recorded in the historical database 14. A statistical model is then employed to determine the likelihood of an event occurring within a certain area of the pitch. In a preferred embodiment the statistical data used involves calculating the historic distribution of the events for the team concerned, by dividing the pitch into a number of discrete elements and determining the distribution of the events within the elements. In further embodiments, the data used extends to all available data, not just data collected for the teams involved. In yet another embodiment, the data may be a subset of the entire dataset, the determination of the subset based on business considerations.

A distribution is determined for each incident that the user can predict (e.g. place a bet upon) during the course of the game, thereby giving the likelihood that an incident will occur in an area/ discrete element of the pitch. In the context of gambling it may be undesirable for the enterprise hosting a gambling event to offer odds that are based on the measured likelihood of an event, as they would have no "margin" or profits. Similarly, it would be undesirable to offer odds which are too unfavourable towards the punter as they would not be inclined to place a bet. Therefore, the odds calculating engine 12 is linked to the gambling engine 20. The gambling engine 20 has a rules engine (not shown) from which the odds calculating engine 12 converts the calculated likelihood of incident occurring within a discrete element to a gaming value or odds. The method of setting the odds from the calculated likelihood, occurs via known means such as those typically used in online gaming. In the preferred embodiment, the odds calculating engine 12 at the start of the match determines the odds based on the likelihood of the event occurring based on the data in the historical database 14. As discussed above, the entire dataset within the historical database 14 may be used, or alternatively it may be a subset based on the teams involved, players involved, type of game (league, cup or friendly) etc.

In an embodiment, the odds for each incident remain static through the match. In a further embodiment, the odds are updated during the course of the match.

The odds calculated for each discrete element are sent to the UI 10 which renders the odds on the display. Therefore, the UI 10 shows the odds offered for the subsequent occurrence of an incident in a given area of the pitch (represented as the discrete elements of the pitch).

During the match live event information 16 is supplied to the interactive event engine 18. Information during the match is sent to the interactive engine 18 as an XML feed. The feed contains details of the type of incident e.g. goal, foul, booking, throw-in etc., as well as the location of the event. Whilst XML is the preferred data type, other data feeds may be used. The XML data from the live event information feed 16 is received by the interactive gaming engine which processes the data via known processors.

In all embodiments the information described in the live event information feed 16 is rendered on the UI 10. The XML data contains details of the type of incident; each type of incident is represented by a different icon or graphical representation. For example: a goal may be represented by a shaded football; a shot on target may be represented by a different coloured football; a shot that is off-target may be represented by a football of a different colour; a foul by an "x" symbol etc. Preferably, the icons used should be readily identifiable in order to aid the user's understanding and increase the speed that information is assimilated by the user. The for each incident described in the live event information feed 16 interactive event engine 18 determines what type of incident has occurred and what icon is used to describe the event. Additionally, the location of the incident is determined from the XML feed and in particular in which discrete element the event occurred. The information regarding the icon and the position of the icon is sent to the UI 10 which is updated. Therefore, the UI is updated during the match and shows the occurrence of an incident, type of incident and approximate position. As the live event feed 16 is updated regularly the UI 10 is updated regularly. It will be understood that the UI 10 may be presented to several different users at the same time, and therefore if a user views a UI 10 after a match has commenced the UI will contain the icons representing the occurrence of incidents and updated odds (if applicable).

Therefore, in use the UI 10 presents the user with the odds offered for a given incident occurring within an area of the pitch as well as providing the user with a "history" of the match. Thus the user can quickly spot patterns or trends during the game and see if the odds offered for the occurrence of an incident within a given area represent good value for money.

The user can therefore utilise the information to place bets on where they believe the next incident will occur e.g. where they believe the next foul will occur. The process of the user placing a bet is described in detail later with reference to Figures 3 to 6. The user selects the area and places their bet via the UI 10 which is in communication with the gambling engine 20. The gambling engine 20 provides the framework for creating and maintaining user accounts, taking and paying the money etc. Such systems are well known in the context of online gambling.

Figure 2 is a flow chart of the user experience. There is shown the step of the user logging in at step SI 02; the user selecting an event at step SI 04; the user interface being updated with incidents at step S106; the odds being updated at step S108; the user selecting an area at step SI 10 and placing a bet at step SI 12. At step S102 the user logs into their account. It is assumed that the user has an account from which they can place bets, collect money etc. The user enters their username and password in a known manner to access their account. The user is presented with a number of events on which they can bet. Such events may be different football matches, or different sports, or even non-sporting events. At step SI 04 the user selects which event they wish to view. If the event has not started, the UI 10 shows an image of the pitch and the calculated odds for the occurrence of a given incident within an area of the pitch. If the match has already begun the UI 10 will also show the information of the occurrences of incidents (shoots, goals etc) and their position.

The UI 10 is updated with live information of events at step SI 06. The updating of the UI occurs as described with reference to Figure 1.

The odds calculating engine 12 in response to the incident recalculates the odds and if the odds have changed the UI is updated to reflect the change in odds at step SI 08. Steps S106 and S108 occur throughout the match in response to the incidents. At steps SI 10 and SI 12 the user has identified a pattern and wishes to place a bet. For example, the user may believe that the next booking will occur within a certain area of the pitch. In the preferred embodiment the user bets on where the next occurrence of a specific incident will occur. At step SI 10 the user select which area of the pitch they believe the next incident will occur. The user interacts with the UI 10 via known means such as a mouse or touch screen input to select the area of the pitch. At step SI 12 the user has already selected the discrete area of the pitch and places their stake i.e. places the bet at step SI 14. The process of steps SI 12 and SI 14 are described in detail with reference to Figures 3 to 6.

Figure 3 shows an example of a football pitch presented to the user via the UI 10.

There is shown: the pitch 30; the discrete elements 32; the coordinate system A to G along the length of the pitch and 1 to 5 along the width of the pitch; the odds for the occurrence of an incident within the discrete element 34; fouls represented by "x" 36; yellow cards represented by a light card 38; red cards represented by a dark card 40; shots on goal represented by a light ball 42; shots which resulted in a goal represented by a dark ball 44; and a pin to indicate where the bets have placed by the user 46.

For example, discrete element A2, has odds for the occurrence of an incident 34 (the incident here is the likelihood of a shot occurring within an element) of "x6" i.e. six times the stake. As now incident have occurred in discrete element A2 there are no icons representing events.

Discrete element F3, has odds for the occurrence of an incident 34 of "x8". In the event two fouls have occurred within discrete element F3 and subsequently there are two "x" marks 36. Additionally; two shots have occurred in discrete element F3 which did not lead to goals represented by two light balls 42; a yellow card 38 and a red card 40 have also been issued with the element. Finally, the user has also placed a bet on the occurrence of an incident and a pin 46 is visible in discrete element F3.

As discussed above, the UI 10 and the pitch 30 is updated with data from the live event information feed 16. The interactive event engine 18 calculates which discrete element 32 the incident occurred in, and what graphical representation to use.

For example, if the live event information feed 16 carried information regarding a foul, which lead to a red card. The interactive event engine 18 would determine that a foul is represented by an "x" 36, and that a red card is represented by a dark card 40 (which on a colour screen would normally be red). It would also determine which discrete element 32 the event occurred, say element CI. The "x" 36 and dark card 40 would then be placed within element CI.

In the preferred embodiment, the live event information feed 16 would provide a level of positional detail greater than the coordinate system A to G along the length of the pitch and 1 to 5 along the width of the pitch 30 shown on the UI 10. Therefore, the interactive event engine 18 can determine where within a discrete element an icon should be placed, therefore allowing for the accurate placing on the icons. For example in discrete element A5, the foul "x" 36, occurred towards the top right hand corner of the discrete element 32 and accordingly the "x" 36 is placed near said position. Whilst the example shown in Figure 3 the pitch is divided into a 7 x 5 grid. The number of elements that make the grid may vary according to the gaming requirements. For example, a grid with much smaller discrete elements 32 may be used. Additionally, the example in Figure 3 does not allow a user to place bets in column D. In the present example, this is because the odds 34 shown on the left side of the pitch 30 (i.e. columns A, B and C) regard the team attacking the left hand goal, similar for the odds on the right hand side of the pitch (i.e. columns E, F and G). In the present example this is to improve the clarity of the display, and to avoid the confusion in column D where two sets of odds 34 may be displayed in one discrete element 34. In further embodiments, the odds presented 34 may relate solely to one team. The information provided, in whichever embodiment, is intended to be presented in a cognitive manner to allow the user to quickly identify patterns and help them identify what may be a "good bet".

Figures 4, 5 and 6 show an example of the UI 10, where the user is placing a bet on where they believe the incident, here the next shot on goal, will occur.

There is shown the betting interface 50, comprising: the pitch 30 (as discussed in Figure 3); the event bar 52; betting interface for first team 54; betting interface for second team 56; type of incident 58; account status bar 60; placed bets bar 62; and bet selection box 64.

The event bar 52 displays information regarding the current event selected (here a match between Arsenal and Chelsea) and displayed on the pitch 30. The betting interface for each team 54, 56 also the user to select which incident they believe will occur next for the selected team. The type of incident 58 the user can bet on are "receive next free kick", "receive next booking", "next shot on goal" and "score next goal". Therefore, in the present example the live event information feed 16 will contain information regarding fouls (for "receive next free kick"), bookings ("receive next booking") and shots and goals ("next shot on goal" and "score next goal").

The account status bar 60 informs the user how much money they have left in their account. The placed bets bar 62 allows the user to keep track of the bets they have placed during the course of the match.

In Figure 4 the user has selected betting interface for second team 56 (here Arsenal), the pitch 30 has therefore been updated with a bet selection box 64, which shows the user what elements they may select to place the bet. The user has selected incident 56 "next shot on goal" from the betting interface for second team 56, thereby indicating that they wish to place a bet on where they believe the 2^nd team (Arsenal) will have the next shot on goal. As Arsenal are attacking the goal to the left of the pitch 30, discrete elements 32 in that half of the pitch are selected by the bet selection box 64 indicating to the user that they may only selected discrete elements in columns A, B and C to place the following bet. Such a selection occurs via known data input means e.g. a mouse.

Additionally, in the placed bets bar 62 it can be seen that the user has placed bets four previous bets, off next foul in element C4, next corner in element Al, next free kick in elements C5 and F3. Accordingly, there are pins 46 in each of these discrete elements. In a preferred embodiment, the pins 46 are colour coded with the bets in the placed bets bar 62 to increase the users perception of the data. In Figure 5 the user has selected discrete element 32 B2 as where they believe the next shot from Arsenal will occur. There is shown the interface 50 as in Figure 4 plus stake box 70 and confirmation of bet 72.

Discrete element B2 has odds 34 of "x5". The user inputs their desired stake (i.e. the amount they wish to bet) in the stake box 70. Here the user wishes to place a bet of €10. When the user has submitted their stake they can confirm the bet by selecting the confirmation of bet button 72. In Figure 6, there is shown the interface of Figures 4 and 5, which has been updated in response to an incident occurring in the game.

The placed bets bar 62 now shows the bet that was placed in Figure 5 (i.e. next shoot in element B2 for a€10 stake).

Claims

Claims

1. An interactive gaming system comprising:

a processor having an input for receiving dynamic data regarding an event, such as a sport event, from an external source, said dynamic data comprising information regarding an incident during the event and the location of said incident;

a user interface which is use displays a representation of the event, as an image indicative of the locale of the event, said image being displayed as comprising a plurality of discrete elements;

calculating means for calculating the likelihood of a given incident occurring during the event in one or more of the discrete elements based on historical data;

said processing means determining which of the plurality of discrete elements is associated with the location of the incident;

said display displaying an indicator that an incident occurred in said determined discrete element, and

displaying a gaming value determined from the calculated likelihood of an event occurring in a discrete element;

wherein the user interface is enabled to allow a user to select a discrete element for the occurrence of a given incident within the selected discrete element.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the display is updated with the information from the dynamic data feed to show further occurrences of incidents during the event.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein previous incidents that occurred within a predetermined timescale during the same event are displayed

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the historical data includes data from previous occurrences of the same or similar events

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the historical data includes data of the current event

6. The system of claim 1 wherein each type of incident has a specific indicator

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the system further comprises a betting database to allow the user to place a bet on the future occurrence of an incident

8. The system of claim 1 display further displays an indicator that the user has placed a bet in a given discrete element

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the calculated likelihood of an event occurring within a discrete element is recalculated upon receipt of the dynamic data

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the user places a bet and the display shows if the bet has been successful

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the discrete elements form a grid preferably of uniform sized elements.

12. An interactive gaming method comprising:

obtaining data regarding an event, such as a sport event, via a dynamic data feed, said dynamic data comprising data regarding an incident during the event and the location of the incident;

displaying a representation of the event, as an image indicative of the locale of the event, said image split into a plurality of discrete elements;

determining which of the plurality of discrete elements represents the location of the incident;

displaying an indicator that an incident occurred in said determined discrete element;

calculating the likelihood of an event occurring in one or more of the discrete elements based on historical data;

displaying a value indicative of the calculated likelihood of an event occurring in the relevant discrete element; wherein the display is enabled to allow a user to select a discrete element for the future occurrence of a given incident will occur within the selected discrete element.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the display is updated with the information from the dynamic data feed to show further occurrences of incidents during the event.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein previous incidents that occurred within a predetermined timescale during the same event are displayed

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the historical data includes data from previous occurrences of the same or similar events

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the historical data includes data of the current event

17. The method of claim 12 wherein each type of incident has a specific indicator

18. The method of claim 12 further providing a system further comprises a betting database to allow the user to place a bet on the future occurrence of an incident

19. The method of claim 12 wherein display further displays an indicator that the user has placed a bet in a given discrete element

20. The method of claim 12 wherein the calculated likelihood of an event occurring within a discrete element is recalculated upon receipt of the dynamic data

21. The method of claim 12 wherein the user places a bet and the display shows if the bet has been successful

22. The method of claim 12 wherein the discrete elements form a grid preferably of uniform sized elements.