US20110281620A1

Movatterモバイル変換

Info

Publication number: US20110281620A1
Application number: US12/779,271
Authority: US
Inventors: Zachary Hays
Original assignee: Rovi Technologies Corp
Current assignee: Adeia Guides Inc
Priority date: 2010-05-13
Filing date: 2010-05-13
Publication date: 2011-11-17
Also published as: WO2011143492A3; WO2011143492A2

Abstract

A substantially real-time status of an athletic competition may be accessed while it is being broadcast to a user on user equipment. An upcoming event of a pre-determined type in the athletic competition may be detected based on the accessed real-time status. A wagering opportunity may be generated based on the type of the event, where the wagering opportunity may related to an outcome of the upcoming event. The wagering opportunity may be presented to the user via the user equipment.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In known fantasy sports contests, a user (i.e., a fantasy sports contestant) selects a roster, a team, a particular individual, or a group of individuals in a season-long athletic competition. Fantasy sports contests are typically based on real-life team athletic competitions (e.g., football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, rugby, etc.), real-life athletic competitions in which individuals compete (e.g., golf, tennis, automotive racing, etc.), and real-life sporting events involving animals (e.g., horse and dog racing). The user is given the ability to take on the role of a fictional general manager with powers that may include the ability to draft, trade, dismiss and otherwise manage the user's fantasy sports contest team selections.

A need remains for systems and methods that may efficiently generate substantially real-time wagering opportunities for users who are watching a broadcast of an athletic competition on user equipment, and may customize those wagering opportunities based on statistical sports data or other information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Systems and methods may be provided for presenting a wagering opportunity related to an athletic competition that is being broadcast to a user on user equipment in accordance with embodiments of the invention. As used herein, a “wagering opportunity” may include not only an opportunity to participate in a wager that has been generated by a system or an individual, but also an opportunity to create a new wager that may be accepted by any suitable individuals.

In some embodiments, a substantially real-time status of the athletic competition may be monitored while it is being broadcast. For example, if the athletic competition is a baseball game, the monitored status may include parameters such as the current inning and score, which defensive players are covering various positions on the field, which offensive players are currently on base (if any), the expected batting lineup for the remainder of the inning, who is currently at bat, how many strikes and balls have been recorded against the current batter, which plays have been attempted and the status of those plays, the types of pitches being thrown, and any other suitable information.

In some embodiments, an upcoming event of a pre-determined type may be detected based on the monitored real-time status. For instance, it may be detected that a player belonging to the user's fantasy baseball team is expected to come up to bat in the relatively near future. A wagering opportunity may then be generated relating to an outcome of the upcoming event. For instance, a wagering opportunity may be generated relating to whether the player belonging to the user's fantasy baseball league will get a hit, will strike out, or will walk.

In some embodiments, the generation of the wagering opportunity may include retrieval of a wagering opportunity template corresponding to the upcoming event of interest and configuration of the template based on parameters of the upcoming event. The configuration may include, for example, determination of statistical odds that a given outcome for the event may occur. The determined odds may affect the decision of whether a particular wagering opportunity is suitable for presentation to the user, the expected payout of a successful wager on the upcoming event, or any other suitable aspects of the wagering opportunity. The configured wagering opportunity may then be presented to the user via the user equipment on which the athletic competition is being broadcast.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative media guidance screen in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a second illustrative media guidance screen in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative user equipment device in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative content delivery system in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative fantasy sports configuration screen in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative table of wager templates in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 7 shows an illustrative fantasy sports wagering opportunity screen in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 8 shows an illustrative fantasy sports options screen in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 9 shows an illustrative fantasy sports wagering unavailability screen in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 10 shows an illustrative fantasy sports wagering participants screen in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 11 shows an illustrative fantasy sports wager outcome screen in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 12 shows another illustrative fantasy sports wager outcome screen in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 13 shows an illustrative flow chart of a first part of a process for presenting a wagering opportunity related to an athletic competition in accordance with embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 14 shows an illustrative flow chart of a second part of a process for presenting a wagering opportunity related to an athletic competition in accordance with embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

In accordance with embodiments of the invention, systems and methods may be provided for presenting a wagering opportunity related to an athletic competition that is being broadcast on user equipment to a user. A substantially real-time status of the athletic competition may be monitored while it is being broadcast to a user on user equipment. An upcoming event of a pre-determined type in the athletic competition may be detected based on the monitored real-time status. For instance, it may be determined that a player that is being tracked in the user's fantasy sports league may be expected to execute a play in the relatively near future. A wagering opportunity related to a possible outcome of the event may then be generated based on the type of the event. For instance, if certain outcomes of the play have a likelihood above a certain threshold, a wagering opportunity may be generated for that outcome, where the expected payout if the user wins the wager may be based on the determined likelihood. The wagering opportunity may then be presented to the user via the user equipment on which the athletic competition is being broadcast.

Although certain examples in this disclosure are illustrated in the context of fantasy sports for purposes of clarity, it will be appreciated that many concepts of the present invention may also be applied outside that context. For instance, embodiments of the invention may permit a user to engage in wagers with other individuals that are not connected to any fantasy sports contest or league, wagers on athletes not on any of the user's fantasy sports teams, wagers on sports for which the user does not belong to any fantasy sports leagues, or wagers on events that take place in any programs (e.g., non-sports programs). Thus, it will be understood that the invention will generally not be limited to systems and methods that are explicitly tied to a fantasy sports. Additionally, although certain examples in this disclosure are illustrated in the context of a user wagering on athletic competitions that are currently being broadcast to the user, it will be appreciated that many concepts of the invention may be applied to wagers on competitions or programs that are not currently being watched by the user, as well as wagers on events that are not being broadcast at all.

The amount of media (e.g., broadcasts of sporting events) available to users in any given media delivery system can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form of media guidance through an interface that allows users to efficiently navigate media selections and easily identify media that they may desire. An application which provides such guidance is referred to herein as an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a media guidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms depending on the media for which they provide guidance. One typical type of media guidance application is an interactive television program guide. Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to as electronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that, among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many types of media content including conventional television programming (provided via traditional broadcast, cable, satellite, Internet, or other means), as well as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand (VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming media, downloadable media, Webcasts, etc.), and other types of media or video content. Guidance applications also allow users to navigate among and locate content related to the video content including, for example, fantasy sports, video clips, articles, advertisements, chat sessions, games, etc. Guidance applications also allow users to navigate among and locate multimedia content. The term multimedia is defined herein as media and content that utilizes at least two different content forms, such as text, audio, still images, animation, video, and interactivity content forms. Multimedia content may be recorded and played, displayed or accessed by information content processing devices, such as computerized and electronic devices, but can also be part of a live performance. It should be understood that the invention embodiments that are discussed in relation to media content are also applicable to other types of content, such as video, audio and/or multimedia.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speed wireless networks, users are accessing media on personal computers (PCs) and other devices on which they traditionally did not, such as hand-held computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile telephones, or other mobile devices. On these devices users are able to navigate among and locate the same media available through a television. Consequently, media guidance is necessary on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be for media content available only through a television, for media content available only through one or more of these devices, or for media content available both through a television and one or more of these devices. The media guidance applications may be provided as on-line applications (e.g., provided on a web-site), or as stand-alone applications or clients on hand-held computers, PDAs, mobile telephones, or other mobile devices. The various devices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications are described in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to provide media listings and media information to users.FIGS. 1-2 show illustrative display screens that may be used to provide media guidance, and in particular media listings. The display screens shown inFIGS. 1-2,5, and7-12 may be implemented on any suitable device or platform. While the displays ofFIGS. 1-2 and5 are illustrated as full screen displays, they may also be fully or partially overlaid over media content being displayed. A user may indicate a desire to access media information by selecting a selectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, a listings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicated button (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user input interface or device. In response to the user's indication, the media guidance application may provide a display screen with media information organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in a grid, by time, by channel, by media type, by category (e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories of programming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organization criteria.

FIG. 1 shows illustrative grid program listings display100 arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different types of media content in a single display.Display100 may includegrid102 with: (1) a column of channel/media type identifiers104, where each channel/media type identifier (which is a cell in the column) identifies a different channel or media type available; and (2) a row oftime identifiers106, where each time identifier (which is a cell in the row) identifies a time block of programming.Grid102 also includes cells of program listings, such asprogram listing108, where each listing provides the title of the program provided on the listing's associated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can select program listings by movinghighlight region110. Information relating to the program listing selected byhighlight region110 may be provided inprogram information region112.Region112 may include, for example, the program title, the program description, the time the program is provided (if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), the program's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming provided according to a schedule, the media guidance application also provides access to non-linear programming which is not provided according to a schedule. Non-linear programming may include content from different media sources including on-demand media content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g., streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored media content (e.g., video content stored on a digital video recorder (DVR), digital video disc (DVD), video cassette, compact disc (CD), etc.), or other time-insensitive media content. On-demand content may include both movies and original media content provided by a particular media provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time Warner Company L. P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM are trademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content may include web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or content available on-demand as streaming media or downloadable media through an Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid

102 may provide listings for non-linear programming including on-demand listing114, recordedmedia listing116, andInternet content listing118. A display combining listings for content from different types of media sources is sometimes referred to as a “mixed-media” display. The various permutations of the types of listings that may be displayed that are different thandisplay100 may be based on user selection or guidance application definition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings, only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated,

listings

114,116, and118 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayed ingrid102 to indicate that selection of these listings may provide access to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings, or Internet listings, respectively. In other embodiments, listings for these media types may be included directly ingrid102. Additional listings may be displayed in response to the user selecting one of thenavigational icons120. (Pressing an arrow key on a user input device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons120.)

Display

100 may also includevideo region122,advertisement124, andoptions region126.Video region122 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs that are currently available, will be available, or were available to the user. The content ofvideo region122 may correspond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed ingrid102. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referred to as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other media guidance application display screens of the present invention.

124 may provide an advertisement for media content that, depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscription programming), is currently available for viewing, will be available for viewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing, and may correspond to or be unrelated to one or more of the media listings ingrid102.Advertisement124 may also be for products or services related or unrelated to the media content displayed ingrid102.Advertisement124 may be selectable and provide further information about media content, provide information about a product or a service, enable purchasing of media content, a product, or a service, provide media content relating to the advertisement, etc.Advertisement124 may be targeted based on a user's profile/preferences, monitored user activity, the type of display provided, or on other suitable targeted advertisement bases.

Whileadvertisement124 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped, advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and location in a guidance application display. For example,advertisement124 may be provided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent togrid102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. In addition, advertisements may be overlaid over media content or a guidance application display or embedded within a display. Advertisements may also include text, images, rotating images, video clips, or other types of media content. Advertisements may be stored in the user equipment with the guidance application, in a database connected to the user equipment, in a remote location (including streaming media servers), or on other storage means or a combination of these locations. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application is discussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson et al., International Patent Publication No. WO 99/45702, published Sep. 10, 1999, Ward, III et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004, and Schein et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will be appreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidance application display screens of the present invention.

Options region

126 may allow the user to access different types of media content, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidance application features.Options region126 may be part of display100 (and other display screens of the present invention), or may be invoked by a user by selecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignable button on a user input device. The selectable options withinoptions region126 may concern features related to program listings ingrid102 or may include options available from a main menu display. Features related to program listings may include searching for other air times or ways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling series recording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite, purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a main menu display may include fantasy sports options, search options, VOD options, parental control options, access to various types of listing displays, subscribe to a premium service, edit a user's profile, access a browse overlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user's preferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user to customize displays and features to create a personalized “experience” with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may be created by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by the media guidance application monitoring user activity to determine various user preferences. Users may access their personalized guidance application by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to the guidance application. Customization of the media guidance application may be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations may include varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays, font size of text, etc.), aspects of media content listings displayed (e.g., programming related to fantasy sports, only HDTV programming, user-specified broadcast channels based on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display of channels, recommended media content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g., recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality, etc.), parental control settings, and other desired customizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profile information or may automatically compile user profile information. The media guidance application may, for example, monitor the media the user accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with the guidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application may obtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to a particular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the user accesses, such as www.tvguide.com, from other media guidance applications the user accesses, from other interactive applications the user accesses, from a handheld device of the user, etc.), and/or obtain information about the user from other sources that the media guidance application may access. As a result, a user can be provided with a unified guidance application experience across the user's different devices. This type of user experience is described in greater detail below in connection withFIG. 4. Additional personalized media guidance application features are described in greater detail in Ellis et al., International Patent Publication No. WO 00/04707, published Jan. 27, 2000, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., International Patent Publication No. WO 02/069636, published Sep. 6, 2002, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 2.Video mosaic display200 includesselectable options202 for media content information organized based on media type, genre, and/or other organization criteria. Indisplay200,television listings option204 is selected, thus providing

listings

206,208,210, and212 as broadcast program listings. Unlike the listings fromFIG. 1, the listings indisplay200 are not limited to simple text (e.g., the program title) and icons to describe media. Rather, indisplay200 the listings may provide graphical images including cover art, still images from the media content, video clip previews, live video from the media content, or other types of media that indicate to a user the media content being described by the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also be accompanied by text to provide further information about the media content associated with the listing. For example, listing208 may include more than one portion, includingmedia portion214 andtext portion216.Media portion214 and/ortext portion216 may be selectable to view video in full-screen or to view program listings related to the video displayed in media portion214 (e.g., to view listings for the channel that the video is displayed on).

The listings indisplay200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing206 is larger than

listings

208,210, and212), but if desired, all the listings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes or graphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user or to emphasize certain content, as desired by the media provider or based on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphically accentuating media listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/324,202, filed Dec. 29, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access media content and the media guidance application (and its display screens described above and below) from one or more of their user equipment devices.FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment of illustrativeuser equipment device300. More specific implementations of user equipment devices are discussed below in connection withFIG. 4.User equipment device300 may receive media content and data via input/output (hereinafter “I/O”)path302. I/O path302 may provide media content (e.g., broadcast programming, on-demand programming, fantasy sports content, Internet content, and other video or audio) and data to controlcircuitry304, which includesprocessing circuitry306 andstorage308.Control circuitry304 may be used to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable data using I/O path302. I/O path302 may connect control circuitry304 (and specifically processing circuitry306) to one or more communications paths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a single path inFIG. 3 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry

304 may be based on anysuitable processing circuitry306 such as processing circuitry based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, programmable logic devices, etc. In some embodiments,control circuitry304 executes instructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e., storage308). In client-server based embodiments,control circuitry304 may include communications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidance application server or other networks or servers. Communications circuitry may include a cable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment. Such communications may involve the Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths (which is described in more detail in connection withFIG. 4). In addition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enables peer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communication of user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (described in more detail below).

Memory (e.g., random-access memory, read-only memory, or any other suitable memory), hard drives, optical drives, or any other suitable fixed or removable storage devices (e.g., DVD recorder, CD recorder, video cassette recorder, or other suitable recording device) may be provided asstorage308 that is part ofcontrol circuitry304.Storage308 may include one or more of the above types of storage devices. For example,user equipment device300 may include a hard drive for a DVR (sometimes called a personal video recorder, or PVR) and a DVD recorder as a secondary storage device.Storage308 may be used to store various types of media described herein and guidance application data, including program information, guidance application settings, user preferences or profile information, or other data used in operating the guidance application. Nonvolatile memory may also be used (e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions).

Control circuitry

304 may include video generating circuitry and tuning circuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2 decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, or any other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of such circuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog, or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconverting and downconverting media into the preferred output format of theuser equipment300.Circuitry304 may also include digital-to-analog converter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry for converting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encoding circuitry may be used by the user equipment to receive and to display, to play, or to record media content. The tuning and encoding circuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitry described herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating, encoding, decoding, scaler, and analog/digital circuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or more general purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may be provided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and record functions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording, etc.). Ifstorage308 is provided as a separate device fromuser equipment300, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multiple tuners) may be associated withstorage308.

A user may control thecontrol circuitry304 usinguser input interface310.User input interface310 may be any suitable user interface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard, touch screen, touch pad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognition interface, or other user input interfaces.Display312 may be provided as a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements ofuser equipment device300.Display312 may be one or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD) for a mobile device, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images. In some embodiments,display312 may be HDTV-capable.Speakers314 may be provided as integrated with other elements ofuser equipment device300 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component of videos and other media content displayed ondisplay312 may be played throughspeakers314. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to a receiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio viaspeakers314.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitable architecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone application wholly implemented onuser equipment device300. In such an approach, instructions of the application are stored locally, and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodic basis (e.g., from the VBI of a television channel, from an out-of-band feed, or using another suitable approach). In another embodiment, the media guidance application is a client-server based application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device300 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests to a server remote to theuser equipment device300. In one example of a client-server based guidance application,control circuitry304 runs a web browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server.

In yet other embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded and interpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (run by control circuitry304). In some embodiments, the guidance application may be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by a user agent running oncontrol circuitry304. For example, the guidance application may be a EBIF widget. In other embodiments, the guidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files that are received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitable middleware executed bycontrol circuitry304. In some of such embodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital media encoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encoded and transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio and video packets of a program.

User equipment device

300 ofFIG. 3 can be implemented insystem400 ofFIG. 4 asuser television equipment402,user computer equipment404, wirelessuser communications device406, or any other type of user equipment suitable for accessing media, such as a non-portable gaming machine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to herein collectively as user equipment or user equipment devices. User equipment devices, on which a media guidance application is implemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of a network of devices. Various network configurations of devices may be implemented and are discussed in more detail below.

User television equipment

402 may include a set-top box, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellite television, a television set, a digital storage device, a DVD recorder, a video-cassette recorder (VCR), a local media server, or other user television equipment. One or more of these devices may be integrated to be a single device, if desired.User computer equipment404 may include a PC, a laptop, a tablet, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PC media server, a PC media center, or other user computer equipment. WEBTV is a trademark owned by Microsoft Corp. Wirelessuser communications device406 may include PDAs, a mobile telephone, a portable video player, a portable music player, a portable gaming machine, or other wireless devices.

It should be noted that with the advent of television tuner cards for PC's, WebTV, and the integration of video into other user equipment devices, the lines have become blurred when trying to classify a device as one of the above devices. In fact, each ofuser television equipment402,user computer equipment404, and wirelessuser communications device406 may utilize at least some of the system features described above in connection withFIG. 3 and, as a result, include flexibility with respect to the type of media content available on the device. For example,user television equipment402 may be Internet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, whileuser computer equipment404 may include a tuner allowing for access to television programming. The media guidance application may also have the same layout on the various different types of user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of the user equipment. For example, on user computer equipment, the guidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a web browser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled down for wireless user communications devices.

Insystem400, there is typically more than one of each type of user equipment device but only one of each is shown inFIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize more than one type of user equipment device (e.g., a user may have a television set and a computer) and also more than one of each type of user equipment device (e.g., a user may have a PDA and a mobile telephone and/or multiple television sets).

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent media guidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices. Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and program favorites, programming preferences that the guidance application utilizes to make programming recommendations, fantasy sports preferences, display preferences, and other desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channel as a favorite on, for example, the web site www.tvguide.com on their personal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as a favorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipment and user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, if desired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can change the guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless of whether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device. In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user, as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled tocommunications network414. Namely,user television equipment402,user computer equipment404, and wirelessuser communications device406 are coupled tocommunications network414 via

communications paths

408,410, and412, respectively.Communications network414 may be one or more networks including the Internet, a mobile phone network, mobile device (e.g., Blackberry) network, cable network, public switched telephone network, or other types of communications network or combinations of communications networks. BLACKBERRY is a service mark owned by Research In Motion Limited Corp.

Paths

408,410, and412 may separately or together include one or more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-optic path, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g., IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wireless signals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path or combination of such paths.Path412 is drawn with dotted lines to indicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown inFIG. 4 it is a wireless path and

paths

408 and410 are drawn as solid lines to indicate they are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, if desired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be provided by one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a single path inFIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipment devices, these devices may communicate directly with each other via communication paths, such as those described above in connection with

paths

408,410, and412, as well other short-range point-to-point communication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wireless paths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or other short-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is a certification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipment devices may also communicate with each other directly through an indirect path viacommunications network414.

System

400 includesmedia content source416, mediaguidance data source418, andsports data source424 coupled tocommunications network414 via

communication paths

420,422, and426, respectively.

Paths

420,422, and426 may include any of the communication paths described above in connection with

paths

408,410, and412. Communications withmedia content source416, mediaguidance data source418, andsports data source424 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths, but are shown as a single path inFIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each ofmedia content source416, mediaguidance data source418, andsports data source424, but only one of each is shown inFIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The different types of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, any two or more ofmedia content source416, mediaguidance data source418, andsports data source424 may be integrated as one source device. Although communications between

sources

416,418, and424 with

user equipment devices

402,404, and406 are shown as throughcommunications network414, in some embodiments,

sources

416,418, and424 may communicate directly with

user equipment devices

402,404, and406 via communication paths (not shown) such as those described above in connection with

paths

408,410, and412.

Media content source

416 may include one or more types of media distribution equipment including a television distribution facility, cable system headend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g., television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediate distribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demand media servers, and other media content providers. NBC is a trademark owned by the National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by the ABC, INC., and HBO is a trademark owned by the Home Box Office, Inc.Media content source416 may be the originator of media content (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) or may not be the originator of media content (e.g., an on-demand media content provider, an Internet provider of video content of broadcast programs for downloading, etc.).Media content source416 may include cable sources, satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers, or other providers of media content.Media content source416 may also include a remote media server used to store different types of media content (including video content selected by a user), in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems and methods for remote storage of media content, and providing remotely stored media content to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connection with Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,673,314, issued Mar. 2, 2010, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Mediaguidance data source418 may provide media guidance data, such as media listings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcast channels, media titles, media descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parental control ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information, actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos, etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, etc.), advertisement information (e.g., text, images, media clips, etc.), on-demand information, and any other type of guidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locate desired media selections.

Media guidance application data may be provided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. In some embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-alone interactive television program guide that receives program guide data via a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed, trickle feed, or data in the vertical blanking interval of a channel). Program schedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the user equipment on a television channel sideband, in the vertical blanking interval of a television channel, using an in-band digital signal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitable data transmission technique. Program schedule data and other guidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog or digital television channels. Program schedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the user equipment with any suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specified period of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to a request from user equipment, etc.). In some approaches, guidance data from mediaguidance data source418 may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. For example, a guidance application client residing on the user's equipment may initiate sessions withsource418 to obtain guidance data when needed. Mediaguidance data source418 may provide

user equipment devices

402,404, and406 the media guidance application itself or software updates for the media guidance application.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-alone applications implemented on user equipment devices. In other embodiments, media guidance applications may be client-server applications where only the client resides on the user equipment device. For example, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as a client application oncontrol circuitry304 ofuser equipment device300 and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., media guidance data source418). The guidance application displays may be generated by the mediaguidance data source418 and transmitted to the user equipment devices. The mediaguidance data source418 may also transmit data for storage on the user equipment, which then generates the guidance application displays based on instructions processed by control circuitry.

Sports data source

424 may provide data of any of the types that may be provided bymedia content source416 and mediaguidance data source418.Sports data source424 may include any equipment that may be included inmedia content source416. In accordance with embodiments of the invention,sports data source424 may provide data used in various sports-related applications that may run at least partially onuser equipment300 or remotely, including applications that allow a user to participate in fantasy sports contests and place wagers related to fantasy sports. For example,sports data source424 may provide rules relating to administration of fantasy sports teams and leagues, statistics related to past sporting events and individual player performance, substantially real-time status updates for ongoing athletic competitions, profiles of users participating in fantasy sports leagues (including point totals, standings, players included in users' fantasy sports teams, information on other individuals in each user's fantasy sports league, and other suitable information), rules governing potential wagering opportunities that may be presented to or proposed by the user, the status of past or pending wagers, or any other suitable information or combinations thereof. The data provided bysports data source424 may be created and updated in any suitable way. For instance,sports data source424 may exchange information with providers of substantially real-time sports competition status and statistics, with companies that administer fantasy sports leagues, with media content providers, with

user equipment

402,404, or406, or with any other suitable entities or combinations thereof.

Media guidance system

400 is intended to illustrate a number of approaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devices and sources of media content and guidance data may communicate with each other for the purpose of accessing media and providing media guidance. The present invention may be applied in any one or a subset of these approaches, or in a system employing other approaches for delivering media and providing media guidance. The following three approaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 4.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each other within a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with each other directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemes describe above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similar device provided on a home network, or viacommunications network414. Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate different user equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may be desirable for various media guidance information or settings to be communicated between the different user equipment devices. For example, it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidance application settings on different user equipment devices within a home network, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., International Patent Publication No. WO 00/04707, published Jan. 27, 2000. Different types of user equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with each other to transmit media content. For example, a user may transmit media content from user computer equipment to a portable video player or portable music player.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment by which they access media content and obtain media guidance. For example, some users may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobile devices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidance application implemented on a remote device. For example, users may access an online media guidance application on a website via a personal computer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA or web-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g., recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidance application to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guide may control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with a media guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Various systems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where the user equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, is discussed in, for example, Ellis et al., International Patent Publication No. WO 00/04709, published Jan. 27, 2000, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outside a home can use their media guidance application to communicate directly withmedia content source416 to access media content. Specifically, within a home, users ofuser television equipment404 anduser computer equipment406 may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locate desirable media content. Users may also access the media guidance application outside of the home using wirelessuser communications devices406 to navigate among and locate desirable media content.

It will be appreciated that while the discussion of media content has focused on video content, the principles of media guidance can be applied to other types of media content, such as music, images, etc.

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative fantasysports configuration screen500 in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Fantasysports configuration screen500 may be accessed in any suitable way, such as via navigation of menus and options provided in an interactive media guidance application, by pressing a dedicated “Sports” button in user interface310 (FIG. 3), or using any other suitable techniques or combinations thereof. Fantasysports configuration screen500 may enable a user to customize various options affecting how she interacts with various fantasy sports leagues usinguser equipment300. For instance,

options

502,503, and504 may allow the user to configure options regarding how a fantasy sports team roster is created, how fantasy sports team members are traded with other participants in the fantasy sports league, and how current standings in the league are updated and reported, respectively.

In accordance with embodiments of the invention,option506 may allow the user to configure aspects of how real-time wagering on athletic competitions broadcast on user equipment300 (FIG. 3) is performed. In the example depicted inFIG. 5, the downward-facing arrow at the lefthand side ofoption506 may indicate that the real-time wagering options have been selected and draw the user's attention to the individual options below.Radio buttons508 may allow the user to select whether real-time wagering opportunities will be generated automatically by the interactive program guide or another application, whether the user will be expected to manually propose wagering opportunities, or whether real-time wagering will be disabled. In some embodiments, turning real-time wagering “Off” may hide or gray out

options

510,512,514,516,518,520, and522, or otherwise make them inaccessible until the “Auto” or “Manual” option is selected.

Option

510 may allow a user to select one or more sports for which real-time wagering will be enabled, using any suitable interface. InFIG. 5,option510 is shown with a drop-down menu allowing only a single sport to be selected, but it will be appreciated that other input options are available (e.g., keyword searching, selection of multiple options from a list, etc.). If multiple sports are selected,

options

512,514,516,518,520, and522 may be presented for each of the selected sports. In the example shown inFIG. 5, the user has elected to enable real-time wagering for baseball. Although many of the illustrative examples discussed herein pertain to baseball, it will be appreciated that concepts of the invention may be used with a wide variety of sports, including but not limited to football, basketball, hockey, rugby, soccer, tennis, golf, boxing, and racing (e.g., automotive, horse, dog, etc.), and the invention is not limited to any particular sport or athletic competition.

Continuing with this example,option512 may allow the user to select a league corresponding to the sport selected inoption510, as the user may participate in any of a number of different available fantasy sports leagues. Here, the user has indicated inoption512 that he would like to engage in real-time wagering based on his baseball team in the Yahoo! Fantasy sports league. Fantasysports configuration screen500 may also allow a user to input account login information inusername field514 andpassword field516, using any suitable techniques (e.g., a graphical keyboard that appears when the user selects either of those fields). Entering such account information would allow the application performing real-time wagering to receive and update information on the user's fantasy sports team, such as the athletes on the user's team roster, the fantasy sports points that the user has accrued during the current season, information on the other individuals currently engaged in a particular fantasy sports contest with the user (which may be much smaller than the universe of individuals participating in the overall league, which in this example is Yahoo! Fantasy baseball), the user's standing within the contest she is participating in, or any other suitable information. In some embodiments, if the user does not supply this login

information using fields

514 and516, the application may prompt the user for account login information when a wagering opportunity is first presented to the user.

Options

518,520, and522 may be used to configure default wagering options for the user. For example,option518 may be used to select what type of rewards the user would like to wager on. InFIG. 5, the user has indicated inoption518 that she would like to win or lose contest points, which will affect the user's standing in the fantasy baseball league. The user may also indicate, for example, that she would like to wager for money, specific merchandise, rewards points that may be redeemed for merchandise, or any other suitable type of reward. If the reward selected includes money, the user may also be asked for credit card or other payment information, in order to facilitate automatic crediting and debiting of wagering results. In some embodiments, the user may change the type of rewards being wagered on each time a wagering opportunity is accepted.

Option

520 may allow the user to enter a default bet corresponding to the type of reward selected inoption518. For example, the user may choose to bet a default amount of 100 points, or five dollars, depending on whether points or cash was selected inoption518. In some embodiments, the user may change the amount wagered each time a wagering opportunity is accepted.

Option

522 may allow the user to select who may participate in any given wager. In the example shown inFIG. 5, the user has chosen to open up wagering to everyone who participates in the Yahoo! Fantasy baseball league. Of course, not all members of that league will participate in every wagering opportunity that is presented to the user, but under this selection none of them will be precluded from participating in a wager with the user. The user may also choose, for example, to engage in wagers only with members in a specific contest, or with a select group of friends or other individuals. In some embodiments, real-time wagering may be performed using a pari-mutuel approach, where the payout for a successful wager may be determined based on the number and disposition of other bets for the same wager. In some embodiments, the user may opt to perform wagers only with the “system,” in which case wagers may be performed not with other individuals but with the guidance application, the company managing the fantasy sports league, a sponsor, or any other suitable entity.

It will be noted that the options and layout depicted inFIG. 5 are illustrative, and other options and layouts are contemplated. Once a user has entered her preferred fantasy sports configuration, the data may be registered by selecting “OK” option524 (e.g., using a soft key “A” in user input interface310 (FIG. 3)). Alternatively, the user may return to the previous menu or screen by selecting “Back” option526 (e.g., using a soft key “B” in user input interface310 (FIG. 3)).

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative table600 of wager templates in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Table600 may be stored in any suitable location, such asstorage308 on user equipment300 (FIG. 3) or in any of

sources

416,418, and424 (FIG. 4), in any suitable data structures, such as arrays or hash tables. In accordance with embodiments of the invention, table600 may map particular events, listed incolumn602, that may occur during any athletic competition with a set of potential wagers, listed incolumn604, corresponding to that event. A particular set of potential wagers corresponding to an event may be referred to herein as a “template” for a wagering opportunity. The illustrative table600 shown inFIG. 6 is for baseball, but it will be appreciated that similar tables may be prepared for other sports. Table600 may be used to generate wagering opportunities for the user when it is determined that one of the events listed incolumn602 is expected to occur in the relatively near future in an athletic competition that is being broadcast to the user, as explained in greater detail below.

In this illustrative example,event606 may correspond to a batter being up to bat, with no players currently on base. In some embodiments, this event will only trigger a potential wagering opportunity if the batter in question belongs to a fantasy sports team of the user. In other embodiments, the athlete being wagered on need not belong to the user's fantasy sports team. For instance, the user may choose to be presented with wagers for any of several favorite athletes, which the user may designate in any suitable manner.Potential wagers608 may indicate wagers that the user may engage in whenevent606 occurs. For example, the user may choose to wager that the batter will obtain a hit, strike out, or walk. In some embodiments,potential wagers608 may be organized in a hierarchical fashion. For instance, not only may the user place a wager on the batter getting a hit, but the user may also wager on the particular type of hit expected (e.g., single, double, triple, or home run). In accordance with embodiments of the invention, potential wagers may be qualified before being presented to the user based on various parameters, as explained in greater detail in connection withFIG. 7.

In this example,event610 may correspond again to a batter being up, but this time with at least one man on base. Here,potential wagers612 include allpotential wagers608, which may be available for any at-bat. The inclusion ofwagers608 is indicated by the entry labeled “[At bat, no one on base],” corresponding toevent606. In practice, such cross-referencing may be accomplished in any suitable way, such as by storing a pointer topotential wagers608.Potential wagers612 may additionally include other potential wagers corresponding to the possibility that a hit is obtained, namely, that the hit results in a double play or a run batted in. These potential wagers may be sub-categories of the general wager corresponding to a hit, just as the possibilities of obtaining a single, double, triple, or home run were sub-categories.Potential wagers612 may also include a new category that is only possible when there is at least one man on base, that is, that a player on base will attempt to steal a base, an attempt that may be successful or unsuccessful. Thus, the user may be presented with an opportunity to wager that such an attempt will occur, and may also wager on the expected outcome of that attempt.

In some embodiments, when it is determined that an event listed incolumn602 will occur in the near future, not all potential wagers corresponding to the event will be presented to the user. Rather, as explained in greater detail below, the potential wagers will be qualified according to any suitable criteria (e.g., statistical likelihood of a particular outcome occurring), and only potential wagers that are deemed suitable (e.g., possessing an outcome likelihood greater than a certain threshold) will be presented.

Other events and potential wagers may be included in table600, which is meant to be illustrative and not exhaustive. It will be appreciated that, at any given moment in an athletic competition, several events listed incolumn602 may be relevant. For instance, another possible event is the beginning of a new inning, triggering potential wagers such as the number of expected points to be scored by a given team during that inning. Of course, when a new inning begins,event606 may also be triggered because at least three players from each team will be expected to come up to bat. Thus, events listed incolumn602 need not be mutually exclusive, and may be combined. In some embodiments, a wagering opportunity template may include not only a set of potential wagers, but also information on graphics, formatting, layout, menus, and other information that may be helpful in presenting a wagering opportunity to a user with user equipment300 (FIG. 3).

FIG. 7 shows an illustrative fantasy sportswagering opportunity screen703 in accordance with embodiments of the invention.Program region702 may be used to display an athletic competition that is currently being broadcast to a user on user equipment300 (FIG. 3). In the illustrative example depicted inFIG. 7, a baseball game may be shown inprogram region702, and a media guidance application or other application may detect that an upcoming event may be of interest to the user and present wagering opportunities for that event to the user. For instance, it may be determined that an athlete on the user's fantasy baseball team (in this case, Derek Jeter), is expected to come up to bat relatively soon, and may present fantasy sportswagering opportunity screen703 to allow the user to place wagers on potential outcomes of the athlete's at-bat. In some embodiments, the player of interest need not belong to a fantasy sports team managed by the user, but may simply be an athlete that the user has indicated interest in.

Fantasy sportswagering opportunity screen703 may be presented to the user at any suitable time, for example, a pre-determined time period (e.g., ten minutes) before the event of interest (e.g., Derek Jeter's at-bat) is expected to occur, at a certain milestone like the beginning of an inning, as soon as the information on the expected upcoming event is available, or any other suitable time. In some embodiments, fantasy sportswagering opportunity screen703 may be manually invoked by user selection of suitable options, as explained in greater detail below. Although fantasy sportswagering opportunity screen703 is depicted as an overlay bar inFIG. 7, in some embodiments it may occupy different portions or all ofdisplay700. Similarly, any of the wagering screens depicted inFIGS. 8-12 may occupy different portions or all of their respective displays.

In accordance with embodiments of the invention, fantasy sportswagering opportunity screen703 may retrieve a template containing potential wagers corresponding to the upcoming event from table600 (FIG. 6) or a similar data structure. In this case, assuming that Derek Jeter is expected to come up to bat with no one on base, the application may retrieve a template containing potential wagers608 (FIG. 6). Then, the potential wagers may be qualified before being presented to the user. For instance, statistical odds of each potential outcome occurring may be examined, and a potential wager may be presented to the user only if the odds of an examined outcome are greater than a certain threshold. In the example shown inFIG. 7, the application may determine that Derek Jeter's hit rate is approximately 0.282 (e.g., by retrieving such information from sports data source424 (FIG.4)), which is sufficiently high to present to the user a wager on whether Derek Jeter will obtain a hit on his next at-bat. Similar statistics may be obtained for other potential wagers, including wagers for a strike out, a walk, and various types of hits such as a single, double, triple, and home run.

Wagers that are determined to be suitable may be presented to the user inwager options708. In this example, it may be determined that the statistical likelihood of Derek Jeter hitting a home run are so low (e.g., lower than a certain threshold, which may be fixed or vary by type of outcome being examined) that a wager on that potential outcome is not suitable for presentation to the user.Wager options708 presented to the user may include indications of the likelihood of each event occurring in parentheses. In some embodiments, these likelihoods may be used to determine the expected payout should a user accept and win a particular wager. For example, if user accepts and wins the wager that Derek Jeter will get a hit, his expected payout will be 1/0.282 or approximately 3.55 times her wagered amount. It will be appreciated that information on expected awards may be indicated in other ways. For instance, instead of listing the likelihood of an outcome occurring, the expected payout multiplication factor or payout amount may be listed directly, or information indicative of payment may be omitted entirely to save space. In the example shown inFIG. 7, the user may select any ofoptions706 to place a wager on the corresponding event, so that she may bet not only on whether Derek Jeter will get a hit, but also on the type of hit he is expected to get. Of course, the likelihood of a particular type of hit occurring is lower than the likelihood of Derek Jeter getting a hit in general, so the potential payout of the former wager will be higher.

It will be appreciated that this example is merely illustrative, and extensions and variations are contemplated. For example, if Derek Jeter were expected to come up to bat with a player already on base, potential wagers612 (FIG. 6) may be examined and presented to the user if they are deemed suitable. Potential wagers612 (FIG. 6) may include potential wagers608 (FIG. 6) along with additional wagers corresponding to the fact that a player is on base, such as a wager on whether a base will be stolen. In this case, again, a statistical likelihood of the base-stealing attempt may be examined to determine the suitability of the base-stealing wager. So, for example, if a player who is a relatively good hitter but a relatively slow runner, and consequently almost never attempts to steal a base, happens to be on first base, potential wagers corresponding to a base-stealing attempt may be disqualified from presentation. The likelihoods may also be tailored in any suitable way, such as by examining not only stolen-base statistics for a particular player, but stolen-base statistics for when that particular player is on a particular base. As another example, potential wagers may be tailored based on factors such as how many pitches a pitcher has thrown in the game currently being watched, or whether the pitcher played for a substantial amount of time in a previous game. Any other suitable statistics that may be provided bysports data source424 may be used.

Once the user has chosen whichwagering options708 to accept (e.g., by checking the boxes corresponding to those options or by using any other suitable selection mechanism), the user may indicate the desired amount to be wagered using wagered-amount options710. In some embodiments, wagered-amount options710 may be pre-populated with default wager options previously indicated by the user (e.g., in fantasy sports configuration screen500 (FIG. 5), but the user may be provided with an opportunity to change details of the wager. In this example, the user has selected to bet 100 points in her fantasy baseball league. It will be appreciated that wagers may be placed for other types of rewards, such as cash, prizes, prize points, or any other suitable rewards or combinations thereof. The user may accept their selected wagering opportunities by selecting “OK” option712 (e.g., using a soft key “A” in user input interface310 (FIG. 3)) or decline the opportunity to place any wager at this time by selecting “No Thanks” option714 (e.g., using a soft key “B” in user input interface310 (FIG. 3)). In some embodiments, wagering opportunities may only be accepted up to a certain time before the upcoming event to be wagered on actually occurs or is broadcast, to prevent wagering on an event whose outcome may already be publicly known or available.

FIG. 8 shows an illustrative fantasy sports options screen803 in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Fantasy sports options screen803 may permit a user to engage in various types of transactions relating to fantasy sports, and may be displayed in response to any suitable action, such as selection of a dedicated button on user input interface310 (FIG. 3) corresponding to fantasy sports, navigation through any suitable media guidance application menus or options, or any other suitable ways or combinations thereof. Fantasy sports options screen803 may allow the user to, for example, create a new fantasy sportsteam using option806, trade players on existing fantasy sportsteams using option808, examine current standings in fantasy sports leagues orcontests using option810, or engage in real-timewagering using option812. The desired option may be selected by appropriately positioninghighlight region814 over the option and pressing an “OK,” “Enter,” or “Select” button in user input interface310 (FIG. 3), or in any other suitable way.

In accordance with embodiments of the invention, selecting real-time wagering option812 may allow the user to request a wagering opportunity related to the athletic competition being broadcast inprogram region802. If such an opportunity exists, the user may then be presented with suitable wagering options in any suitable manner, such as using fantasy sportswagering opportunity screen703 or a similar screen. If no such opportunity exists, the user may be presented with a screen informing her of that, such as the one shown inFIG. 9. In some embodiments, if the user manually requests wagering opportunities (e.g., using real-time wagering option812), the qualification process described above in connection withFIGS. 6 and 7 may be bypassed, such that potential wagers with very low-probability outcomes may still be presented to the user. In other embodiments, a search for wagering opportunities may be expanded beyond athletes and events that would normally be focused on (e.g., those corresponding to athletes on the user's fantasy sports team), in order to maximize the possibility that a user may be presented with a wagering opportunity when one is manually requested. If the user decides that she does not wish to select any of the options displayed in fantasysports options screen803, she may exit the screen by selecting “Back” option816 (e.g., using a soft key “A” in user interface310 (FIG. 3)).

FIG. 9 shows an illustrative fantasy sportswagering unavailability screen903 in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Fantasy sportswagering unavailability screen903 may be displayed when a user attempts to initiate a real-time wager related to an athletic competition being broadcast inprogram region902, but no real-time wagering opportunities are available. Real-time wagering opportunities may be unavailable for any suitable reason, such as temporary hardware or software failure, because the athletic competition of interest is currently on a break, because upcoming events of interest are still too far away or are unlikely to occur, because of unavailability of particular types of data from sports data source424 (FIG. 4), because fantasy sports athletes being tracked by the user are not active in the athletic competition of interest, or for any other reason. The user may acknowledge the unavailability by selecting “OK” option908 (e.g., using a soft key “A” in user input interface310 (FIG. 3)). In some embodiments, other options may be provided to the user, such as an option to enter fantasy sports options screen803 (FIG. 8) to perform other transactions related to fantasy sports.

FIG. 10 shows an illustrative fantasy sports wagering participants screen1003 in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Fantasy sports wagering participants screen1003 may be presented at any suitable time, for example, after a user accepts a wagering opportunity presented to her in fantasy sports wagering opportunity screen703 (FIG. 7), in response to a selection of an appropriate menu option in a media guidance application, or at any other suitable times or combinations thereof. Fantasy sports wagering participants screen1003 may allow the user to choose groups or individuals to invite to join a particular wager or series of wagers. It will be noted that other individuals may be given opportunities to engage in some or all of the same wagers as the user even without specific invitations using fantasy sports wagering participants screen1003 or a similar interface. Thus, in some embodiments, fantasy sports wagering participants screen1003 simply allows a user to send a specific wagering opportunity to an individual or group when that individual or group would not otherwise receive it (e.g., because they are not watching the same athletic competition at the same time, or because they have configured their own options to not present particular wagering opportunities). In some embodiments, an individual who is invited to participate in a wager by a user will be notified that they are being invited by the current user, in order to encourage them to participate in the wager. In some embodiments, expected payouts or losses may be affected by the participation of others in a wager (e.g., if a pari-mutuel approach to computing payouts is used).

Fantasy sports wagering participants screen1003 may include amessage1006 asking the user if she would like to invite friends to participate. The user may choose to not invite anyone by selecting “No”option1008, or may choose to invite one or more individuals by selecting “Yes”option1010. If “Yes”option1010 is selected, the user may be provided with any suitable ways to select individuals to invite to participate in the wager. For instance,option1012 may allow the user to search for a particular user or group (e.g., using a graphical keyboard that appears ifoption1012 is selected, or by directly using keys that are included in user input interface310 (FIG. 3)). As another example,option1014 may allow a user to select friends from the user's buddy list, where the list may correspond to a fantasy sports league or contest, or may be imported from another application such as a social networking service, instant messaging platform, or e-mail address book. As yet another example,option1016 may allow the user to select one or more of various pre-defined groups, such as the group of participants in a particular fantasy sports league or contest. The user may select the desired option usinghighlight bar1018. It will be noted that the layout depicted inFIG. 10 is merely illustrative, and other options and interfaces may be provided.

FIG. 11 shows an illustrative fantasy sportswager outcome screen1103 in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Fantasy sportswager outcome screen1103 may be displayed after it has been determined that a user has won a wager that she had accepted (e.g., after an outcome of the event wagered on becomes known and updated in sports data source424 (FIG. 4). The user may be presented withcongratulations message1106, informing the user that she has won. The actual award that is credited to the user may be indicated in award field1108. In this illustrative example, the user had bet 100 fantasy sports points that Derek Jeter would get a hit in his next at-bat, an event that had a statistical likelihood of approximately 0.282. After it is determined that Derek Jeter did indeed get a hit, the payout may be calculated and displayed in field1108.

Fantasy sportswager outcome screen1103 may also display updated information corresponding to the user's account, reflecting the award just received. In this example, the user may be notified infield1110 that she now has a certain number of fantasy sports points (e.g., 2355 inFIG. 5), resulting in a particular standing (e.g., a ranking of 12 among 527 participants) in her fantasy baseball league or contest. Other suitable information and options may be provided. The user may acknowledge the information conveyed by fantasy sportswager outcome screen1103 by selecting “OK” button1114 (e.g., by using a soft key “A” in user input device310 (FIG. 3)).

FIG. 12 shows another illustrative fantasy sportswager outcome screen1203 in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Fantasy sportswager outcome screen1203 may be displayed after it has been determined that a user has lost a wager that she had accepted (e.g., after an outcome of the event wagered on becomes known and updated, such as in sports data source424 (FIG. 4). The user may be presented withmessage1206, informing the user that she has lost. The actual loss that has been deducted from the user may be indicated inloss field1208. In this illustrative example, the user had bet 100 fantasy sports points that Derek Jeter would get a hit in his next at-bat. After it is determined that Derek Jeter did not get a hit, the loss may be recorded and displayed infield1208.

Fantasy sportswager outcome screen1203 may also display updated information corresponding to the user's account, reflecting the deduction of the recent loss. In this example, the user may be notified infield1210 that she now has a certain number of fantasy sports points left (e.g., 1900 inFIG. 5), resulting in a particular standing (e.g., a ranking of 38 among 527 participants) in her fantasy baseball league or contest. Other suitable information and options may be provided. The user may acknowledge the information conveyed by fantasy sportswager outcome screen1203 by selecting “OK” button1214 (e.g., by using a soft key “A” in user input device310 (FIG. 3)).

FIG. 13 shows an illustrative flow chart of afirst part1300A of a process for presenting a wagering opportunity related to an athletic competition in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Atstep1302, real-time automatic wagering may be enabled in any suitable way, such as using fantasy sports configuration screen500 (FIG. 5) or a similar interface. In some embodiments, real-time automatic wagering may be enabled automatically by a system, e.g., when a user performs certain transactions with a fantasy sports league through an interactive media guidance application or an application or service that communicates with the guidance application, thereby indicating a potential interest in sports wagering.

Atstep1304, a real-time status of an athletic competition may be monitored. The athletic competition may be broadcast to a user with user equipment300 (FIG. 3). The monitoring may be performed using sports data source424 (FIG. 4), which may provide substantially real-time status updates on events occurring in an athletic competition. The monitored status may indicate, for example, scores, player positions, plays executed, the outcomes of such plays, and any other suitable information or combinations thereof.

Atstep1306, it may be determined whether there is an upcoming event of interest. In some embodiments, the event of interest may be an event of a particular type that is maintained in a data structure such as table600 (FIG. 6). In some embodiments, an event of interest may correspond to a player that a user is tracking through a fantasy sports league or contest, or that the user has otherwise expressed an interest in. In other embodiments, the event of interest may not correspond to any particular player or players. If an event of interest is detected, the process may proceed to step1308. If not, the process may loop back tostep1304 until such an event is detected.

Atstep1308, a template corresponding to the type of the event of interest detected instep1306 may be retrieved. The template may indicate a set of potential wagers for the event, such as the illustrative potential wagers depicted inFIG. 6. In some embodiments, the potential wagers may be organized in a hierarchical structure, may include sets of potential wagers corresponding to other types of events, or both. In some embodiments, detection of one specific event may trigger retrieval of multiple templates and thus multiple sets of potential wagers. In some embodiments, templates may include not just information on potential wagers, but also information on layouts and graphics that may be used to present potential wagers to the user.

Atstep1310, it may be determined whether the probability of any particular outcome corresponding to each potential wager retrieved instep1308 is greater than a certain threshold. For instance, if one potential wager relates to a base-stealing attempt in a baseball game, the probability that a particular player that is currently on base will try to steal a base may be compared to a particular numerical threshold. In some embodiments, the threshold may vary according to one or more factors, such as the player who would perform the play to be wagered on, the position of the player, overall information on the particular game being examined, or any other suitable factors or combinations thereof. The probability may be determined by retrieving and possibly processing data from sports data source424 (FIG. 4) or any other suitable source. If the probability for an outcome associated with a particular wager does not exceed the threshold, the process may discard that potential wager without presenting it to the user and proceed back tostep1304. If, however, the outcome for the wager exceeds the threshold, the process may then proceed to link “A.”

FIG. 14 shows an illustrative flow chart of asecond part1300B of a process for presenting a wagering opportunity related to an athletic competition in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Atstep1312, at least one wagering opportunity may be presented to the user with data indicating possible rewards associated with each opportunity. The opportunity may be presented using any suitable interface, such as fantasy sports wagering opportunity screen703 (FIG. 7). The data indicating possible rewards may be presented in any suitable format, such as directly listing a likelihood of the outcome to be wagered on, listing a reward multiplier that will be applied to a wagered amount if the player wins, listing the exact amount of a reward to be received if the user wins the wager, indicating a current estimate of the expected reward based on pari-mutuel information received from other participants, or any other suitable format or combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the data indicating possible rewards may be omitted from the display.

Instep1314, it may be determined whether the user accepts the wagering opportunity presented to her. For example, the user may accept a wagering opportunity by selecting thecorresponding option708 for the wager and selecting “OK”button712 in sports wagering opportunity screen703 (FIG. 7) or a similar display. If the user does not accept the wagering opportunity (e.g., she selects “No Thanks” option714 (FIG.7)), the process may proceed to link “B” and back to step1304 (FIG. 13). If she does accept the wagering opportunity, the process may proceed to step1316. Atstep1316, the wagered amount may be received. The user may indicate the amount she wishes to wager and the type of item she wishes to wager (e.g., fantasy sports points, money, etc.) using any suitable interface, such as options710 (FIG. 7).

Atstep1318, the outcome of the event of interest, which the user engaged in a wager in, may be determined. The outcome may be retrieved from a substantially real-time status stored in sports data source424 (FIG. 4) or any other suitable source. Atstep1320, the result of the wager may be processed based on the outcome of the event of interest. For example, the user may be shown fantasy sportswager outcome screen1103 or a similar screen if she wins the wager. Similarly, she may be shown fantasy sportswager outcome screen1203 if she loses the wager. Additionally, the reward or loss resulting from the wager may be credited or debited, respectively, through any suitable techniques, such as by communicating with a fantasy sports service (whose account login information may be provided using

fields

514 and516 of fantasy sports configuration screen500 (FIG.5)), with sports data source424 (FIG. 4), or other suitable providers, systems, or combinations thereof. Similarly, if the user wagered on money, the crediting or deduction of money may be performed through a credit card, a stand-alone account that the user has set aside for the purpose of fantasy sports wagering, or through any other suitable mechanisms.

It will be appreciated that the process depicted inFIGS. 13 and 14 is merely illustrative. In practice, steps may be added, deleted, modified, re-ordered, or combined without deviating from the spirit or scope of the invention. For instance, in some embodiments, the user may select one or more individuals or groups to engage in wagers with, using fantasy sports configuration screen500 (FIG. 5), fantasy sports wagering participants screen1003, or any other suitable interfaces. Additionally, in some embodiments, the user may reachstep1306 through a manual request for a wagering opportunity (e.g., using real-time wagering option812 of fantasy sports options screen803 (FIG. 8))

It is to be understood that while certain forms of the present invention have been illustrated and described herein, it is not to be limited to the specific forms or arrangement of parts described and shown. Those skilled in the art will know or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the embodiments and practices described herein. Accordingly, it will be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method for presenting a wagering opportunity related to an athletic competition that is being broadcast on user equipment to a user, the method comprising:

accessing a substantially real-time status of the athletic competition while it is being broadcast;

detecting an upcoming event of a pre-determined type in the athletic competition based on the accessed real-time status;

generating the wagering opportunity based on the type of the event, wherein the wagering opportunity relates to an outcome of the upcoming event; and

presenting the wagering opportunity to the user via the user equipment.

2. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising:

determining that the user participates in a fantasy sports league; and

determining that an athlete tracked by the user in the fantasy sports league is participating in the athletic competition.

3. The method ofclaim 2 further comprising presenting the generated opportunity to a second user via second user equipment, wherein:

the second user also participates in the fantasy sports league; and

an athlete tracked by the second user in the fantasy sports league is participating in the athletic competition.

4. The method ofclaim 1 wherein generating the wagering opportunity comprises:

retrieving a template corresponding to the type of the upcoming event; and

configuring the template according to parameters of the upcoming event.

5. The method ofclaim 4 wherein configuring the template comprises determining an expected reward if the user accepts and wins the wagering opportunity, wherein the expected reward is different from an expected loss if the user accepts and loses the wagering opportunity.

6. The method ofclaim 5 wherein determining the expected reward comprises:

determining, based on at least one statistic, a probability that an outcome of the event will occur; and

determining the expected reward based on the determined probability.

7. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising:

determining whether parameters of the upcoming event are suitable for wagering; and

generating the wagering opportunity only if it is determined that the parameters of the upcoming event are suitable for wagering.

8. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the wagering opportunity is automatically presented to the user when the upcoming event of the pre-determined type is detected.

9. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising receiving a user input, wherein the wagering opportunity is presented to the user in response to receiving the user input.

10. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the athletic competition and the wagering opportunity are simultaneously displayed on the user equipment.

11. A system for presenting a wagering opportunity related to an athletic competition that is being broadcast on user equipment to a user, the system comprising user equipment configured to:

access a substantially real-time status of the athletic competition while it is being broadcast;

detect an upcoming event of a pre-determined type in the athletic competition based on the accessed real-time status;

generate the wagering opportunity based on the type of the event, wherein the wagering opportunity relates to an outcome of the upcoming event; and

present the wagering opportunity to the user via the user equipment.

12. The system ofclaim 11 wherein the user equipment is further configured to:

determine that the user participates in a fantasy sports league; and

determine that an athlete tracked by the user in the fantasy sports league is participating in the athletic competition.

13. The system ofclaim 12 wherein:

the user equipment is further configured to present the generated opportunity to a second user via second user equipment;

the second user also participates in the fantasy sports league; and

14. The system ofclaim 11 wherein the user equipment is further configured to:

retrieve a template corresponding to the type of the upcoming event; and

configure the template according to parameters of the upcoming event.

15. The system ofclaim 14 wherein:

the user equipment is further configured to determine an expected reward if the user accepts and wins the wagering opportunity; and

the expected reward is different from an expected loss if the user accepts and loses the wagering opportunity.

16. The system ofclaim 15 wherein the user equipment is further configured to:

determine, based on at least one statistic, a probability that an outcome of the event will occur; and

determine the expected reward based on the determined probability.

17. The system ofclaim 11 wherein the user equipment is further configured to:

determine whether parameters of the upcoming event are suitable for wagering; and

generate the wagering opportunity only if it is determined that the parameters of the upcoming event are suitable for wagering.

18. The system ofclaim 11 wherein the user equipment is further configured to automatically present the wagering opportunity to the user when the upcoming event of the pre-determined type is detected.

19. The system ofclaim 11 wherein the user equipment is further configured to:

receive a user input; and

present the wagering opportunity to the user in response to receiving the user input.

20. The system ofclaim 11 wherein the user equipment is further configured to display the athletic competition and the wagering opportunity simultaneously.

21-30. (canceled)