GB2375006A

GB2375006A - Data processing system

Info

Publication number: GB2375006A
Application number: GB0109964A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jerome Spaargaren
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-04-24
Filing date: 2001-04-24
Publication date: 2002-10-30
Also published as: GB0109964D0

Abstract

A method of matching opponents in a game held via mobile communications devices, said method comprising:<BR> ```registering geographical locations for a plurality of players;<BR> ```matching opponents in a process in which said locations are taken into account; and<BR> ```enabling said matched opponents to play a game via mobile communications devices after said matching process has been conducted. The geographical locations are registered by sensing the location of a player's mobile communications device.

Description

Data Processing System This invention relates to a data processing system, in particular, but not exclusively, a data processing system comprising mobile communications devices for playing games, and methods for enabling opponents to play games therewith.

Mobile telephone handsets and other wireless devices are known which have location-awareness. Mobile radio networks are known which allow accurate location sensing for handsets active in the network. The location sensing may be handset-based (for example via a global positioning

system (GPS) receiver integrated or associated with the handset), networkbased (for example the Cursor" sytem developed by Cambridge Positioning Systems), or both (for example network-assisted GPS). It is proposed to include a network-based entity, referred to herein as a"Location Server" (LS), which provides current (or most-recent) handset locations to authorised third parties. In the case of handset-based positioning it has been proposed the handsets may continually report the handset position to the LS, to allow the network detailed knowledge of the handset's location, thereby enabling for example location-based push technology.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of matching opponents in a game held via mobile communications devices, said method comprising: registering geographical locations for a plurality of players; matching opponents in a process in which

said locations are taken into account; and enabling said matched opponents to play a game via mobile communications devices after said matching process has been conducted.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of arranging and playing a game via a mobile communications device, said method comprising: registering a geographical location using said mobile communications device; using said mobile communications device to access a service for matching opponents in a process in which said location is taken into account; and playing a game via said mobile communications devices after said matching process has been conducted.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of conducting a competition via mobile communications devices, said method comprising: awarding a prize to a winner of the competition; determining a local outlet where the prize can be obtained; and informing the winner of the local outlet.

Features and advantages of the different aspects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention, made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of a mobile communications system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic illustration of a gaming server in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; Fig. 3 is a schematic illustration of a streaming video server in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; Fig. 4 is a map illustrating geo-political regional divisions used in embodiments of the present invention; and Figs. 5 to 8 illustrate tournament result structures used in embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 1 schematically illustrates one embodiment of the invention in which user terminals are in the form of cellular radio communications devices with network access to various service resources and other user terminals.

The devices have voice and data communications capability, and are capable or running software applications loaded onto the devices. Examples of such as devices are smartphones, which combine the features of a handheld computing device and cellular telephone, and a PDA/cellular telephone combination.

As shown in Figure 1, exemplary mobile terminals 2,4, 6 are able to conduct cellular radio communications via radio basestations 8,10, which form part of a known public cellular radio network 12. The cellular network 12 may for example be a GSM cellular network, or a third generation cellular network such as a UMTS network. In any case, terminals 2,4, 6 have access to a public data communications network 16, such as the Internet, via packet data communications gateway 14, which may for example take the form of a

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) gateway, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) gateway, an Imode gateway, etc.

Each mobile terminal 2,4, 6 is able to determine its geographical location with an internal or co-located positioning module such as a GPS receiver or on-board triangulation-based location calculation equipment. Alternatively, mobile network 12 is able to locate mobile terminal using cell registration or triangulation methods such as those described above. Further alternatively, a hybrid positioning technology may be used wherein the mobile handset and mobile network cooperate to sense the location of the mobile terminal. The sensed location data is made available via Internet location server 18. Service provision nodes are capable of obtaining the geographic location of a mobile terminal from location server 18 by providing the server 18 with a suitable identifier for the terminal, such as its directory number or an allotted IP address. Alternatively, location data may be requested and provided to mobile device 14 via other signalling channels available in mobile network 26.

Internet positioning server 18 is capable of taking a mobile terminal identity received in a service request, for example an HTTP GET request, and transmitting an HTTP response containing the requested location data. When a mobile terminal registers with gaming server 20, the gaming server may obtain geographical location data, preferably in the form of global location identifying coordinates (e. g. latitude and longitude coordinates) by transmitting such a request to the positioning server 18.

In alternative embodiments, the location of a mobile terminal may be obtained via a different interface, for example directly from the mobile terminal itself, for example via Short Message Service (SMS) messages, incall signalling (e. g. DTMF tones) during a call involving the mobile terminal. In these cases, the registration procedure includes either the transmission of an SMS to the gaming server 20 or a voice call to gaming server from the mobile station in question.

Mobile terminals 2,4, 6 may access content and gaming services available at gaming server 20 by using suitable hypermedia browser software applications and/or gaming platform software applications. For example, gaming server 20 may include Web and/or WAP servers and user terminals 2, 4,6 may run Web browser or WAP micro-browser terminal application programs.

Connected to gaming server 20 is a streaming video server 22, where from users may view, via an internet connection either at mobile or fixed terminals, animated video content showing games currently in progress involving other players.

Figure 1 also illustrates, for exemplary purposes, mobile terminals 24, 26, receiving cellular radio communications access via basestation 28 from a second mobile communications network 30. Mobile communications network 30 includes a gateway server 32 providing access to the gaming server 20 and streaming video server 22 via public data communications network 16.

Mobile communications network 30 includes a location server 34, operating

in the same way as location server 18 as described above, whereby gaming server 20 may be informed of the location of a mobile terminal 24,26 operating within mobile communications network 30. In this way, users of mobile terminals receiving service via different mobile communications networks may play a game together as opponents. Although only two different mobile communications networks are illustrated in Figure 1, in practice users from a large number of mobile communications networks, which are geographically dispersed in different countries across the world, may have access to the gaming server 20 via the public data communications network 16.

Figure 2 schematically illustrates elements of game server 20.

Although illustrated as a single data processing device, the elements of game server may in practice be implemented on number of associated server devices. Game server 20 includes a game application server 36. Game application server 36 stores a catalogue including a plurality of game applications and/or content pages (such as WAP decks) which user may download to play different games. Each game application has a counterpart application in gameplay engine 38, which controls a game during play for each participating player, with two-way communication of gameplay data between each of the terminal application and the server application occurring during play; the actions of one of the players may thus be communicated to each of the other player's terminal in a multi-player game via the gameplay engine 38.

Data relating to location-based competitions being held is stored in competition database 40. This data includes player profiles including player name and current registered location, current playing category (such as league level identifier, or the cup round to which the player has progressed), positions or rankings relative to other players and game statistics detailing games already played by each player and the results thereof. In one embodiment, the rankings are based on results data stored indicating whether the player won, lost or drew a game. In a further embodiment, the rankings are based upon scores achieved during a game.

Opponent matching engine 42 uses data stored in competition database 42 to match opponents in a process used to control the running of the competition.

The matching process used depends upon the type of competition being held, and in embodiments of the present invention the process includes taking the player's registered location into account, and preferably also includes taking into account a player's playing category and/or at least some of a player's game statistics data into account.

Figure 3 schematically illustrates elements present in streaming video server 22. Although illustrated as a single data processing device, the elements of game server may in practice be implemented on number of associated server devices. The server includes game animation engine 44, which receives gameplay data from gameplay engine 38 during a game controlled by gameplay engine 38 and generates video images containing an animated version of the game being played. The animation engine passes the

animated content to a streaming video server 46 for access by users from a mobile or fixed internet device; in this way, scheduled or unscheduled games, in particular those between relatively successful players (for example between national champions) may be broadcast for live viewing by interested parties. Although not illustrated in Figure 32, the streaming video server may also include a gameplay or video data store for storing games in progress, for subsequent viewing by interested parties via a data streaming connection.

In embodiments of the present invention, national tournaments are held in order to find national champions and other players of a relatively high standard, i. e. of a standard sufficient for playing at a high level. In further embodiments, the national champions and other national level players may play in international tournaments, wherein the players are matched with opponents from other countries. International regional tournaments (for example European or North American tournaments) may also be run.

Figure 4 illustrates a map of a country (Australia is used merely as an exemplary country) divided into geo-political regions in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The national region is divided into first tier sub-national regions, which are preferably known first tier sub-national regions, these in the case of Australia being the eight Australian states (states also being used in, for example the USA and Germany; in other countries not having states as first tier national divisions, existing immediately sub-national

geo-political divisions are preferably used ; for example in the case of the England these are the counties of the various"nations".)

In Fig. 4 the eight Australian states are indicated with the reference characters A to H. The state of Western Australia (A) is illustrated as being divided into four second tier geo-political regions Al to A4. Western Australia is used for exemplary purposes; it should be appreciated that other of the states are each preferably similarly divided into sub-state regions. The regions of the second tier are selected a) to have meaningful identifiers to players and b) to have generally similar populations (preferably within a factor of 10, more preferably within a factor of 5, even more preferably within a factor of 2). The population similarity requirement is used in order to ensure that local tournaments held within the local regions have a sufficient stock of potential players in order to allow a tournament to be played in each local region, and to tend to ensure that players progressing from local level tournaments to state or national level tournaments have sufficiently high skill levels. In order to provide meaningful identifiers to players, preferably the divisions generally follow metropolitan and/or district boundaries and/or geographical features (such as rivers, highways, coastlines) and/or include divisions which run north-south and/or east-west. In the example shown, Al and A2 form coverage for the state capital city, Perth. Region Al is a submetropolitan region, which is given the local region identifier"North Perth" for identifying as a home region the local region which players registering within its boundaries are associated with. Region Al includes a boundary generally following the city's coastal boundary and its northern metropolitan outskirts, and a boundary formed by the river running through the centre of

the city. Region A2 is a sub-metropolitan region, which is given the local region identifier"South Perth"for identifying as a home region the local region which players registering within its boundaries are associated with.

Region A2 includes a boundary generally following the city's coastal boundary and its southern metropolitan outskirts, and a boundary formed by the river running through the centre of the city. Region A3 is a generally rural region, with a generally low population density (the lowest of the four regions; hence its largest selected area) which is given the local region identifier "North West Australia"for identifying as a home region the local region which players registering within its boundaries are associated with.

Region A3 includes a boundary generally following the state's northern coastal boundary, the northern metropolitan outskirts of Perth, the interstate boundary and a boundary selected to run generally east-west to form separate northern and southern regions. Region A4 is a generally rural region, which is given the local region identifier"South West Australia"for identifying as a home region the local region which players registering within its boundaries are associated with. Region A4 includes a boundary generally following the state's southern coastal boundary, the southern metropolitan outskirts of Perth, the interstate boundary and the east-west separating the region from the North West Australian boundary. Note that, although the above refers to coastal boundaries, the boundaries (all of national, state and local regional boundaries) preferably include the surrounding coastal waters to allow players on seagoing vessels to enter the tournaments.

Note that, in the case of relatively sparsely populated sub-national regions (for example the Northern Territory (B) ), it may be desirable not to form sub-state regions, since the total population of the state as a whole may be insufficient to allow sufficiently populated divisions for tournaments to be held; in this case tournaments are generally held on a state level and above for players having the state as a home territory in which they are registered.

Figures 5 to 8 illustrate examples of data structures which are held in competition database 40 in different embodiments of the invention; players competing in a competition may also be sent content (e. g. a browsable page) illustrating the competition data in a form as shown in any of Figures 5 to 8.

Figure 5 illustrates a national league table, indicating player ranking positions, player names (which are selected by the players when setting up a player profile and retrieved on registering for a tournament), their home state (determined in accordance with the state in which the current home location of the player falls) and current points which the players have earned during tournament gameplay. The highest entry 100 in the table indicates details of a players holding national league champion position. Second and third entries indicate details of players currently holding national team player positions. At the end of the tournament, players holding these positions are entered into a subsequent international tournament, also managed by game server 20, which may take the form of a league tournament or a cup tournament similar to that described in further detail below. At the lower end of the table is a relegation zone 106. At the end of the tournament, players holding positions within this

zone are entered into a subsequent lower level tournament, also managed by game server 20, which may take the form of a league tournament or a cup tournament similar to that described in further detail below.

The national league table is, in the embodiment shown, one consisting of a substantially fixed number of players (the number of players may vary somewhat due to relegation to and promotion from lower level leagues). The number of players is preferably fixed at a selected number. In this embodiment, players may select when to play league games, and in order to ensure a reasonable chance of a player having an available opponent within the league tournament whenever the player desires to play, the number of players is preferably set at above fifty, even more preferably above one hundred or even two hundred (the example shown has the number of national league tournament participants set at 200 at any time.) However, the number is preferably kept reasonably low (say below 1000, more preferably lower than 500 and even more preferably lower than 300) to allow a player a reasonable opportunity to become familiar with other players in the same tournament. In alternative embodiments, in which a player is constrained by opponent matching engine 42 to play tournament games at scheduled times (for example scheduled by agreement between the players or at known Figure 6 illustrates a state league table, indicating player ranking positions, player names (which are selected by the players when setting up a player profile and retrieved on registering for a tournament), their home local region (determined in accordance with the local region in which the current

home location of the player falls) and current points which the players have earned during tournament gameplay. Entries in a promotion zone 108 in the table indicate details of players holding state league leader positions. The number of these positions is preferably determined in accordance with a population of the state, for example the total state population or the number of players having a current registered location in that state at a particular time.

This characteristic tends to ensure that players within the national league tournament are of a reasonably consistent skill level, on the basis that each state should on average produce a number of national standard players which corresponds with its fraction of the national player population. Thus, in this example of Australia, the various state league tournaments have allocations of promotion places varying generally in accordance with their relative populations (with one place as minimum); as an example these allocations may be as follows: (A) Western Australia (pop. 2 million approx. ) : 2 promotion places (B) Northern Territory (pop. 0.2 million approx. ) : I promotion place (C) Queensland (pop. 3.5 million approx. ) : 4 promotion places (D) New South Wales (pop. 6.5 million approx. ) : 7 promotion places (E) ACT (pop. 0.3 million approx. ) : 1 promotion place (F) Victoria (pop. 5 million approx): 5 promotion places (G) Tasmania (pop. 0.5 million approx. ) : I promotion place (H) South Australia (pop. 1.5 million approx. ) : 2 promotion places

At the end of the tournament, players holding these promotion positions are entered, along with other previously identified national level players as desired, into a subsequent national tournament also managed by game server 20, which may take the form of a league tournament or a cup tournament similar to that described herein. At the lower end of the state league table is a relegation zone 110. At the end of the tournament, players holding positions within this zone are entered into a subsequent local level tournament, also managed by game server 20, which may take the form of a league tournament or a cup tournament similar to that described in further detail below. Because the number of player being relegated from national league tournament is not fixed (although the total number being relegated from the national tournament may be fixed, the number being relegated from a particular state depends upon the success of the state's players during the tournament), either the number promoted from or relegated from the state tournament, or alternatively promoted from local level tournaments, to be described below is variable in accordance with the numbers being relegated from the national tournament, or the total number of players participating in state tournament is allowed to fluctuate over time in accordance with the number received from the national tournament.

The state league table is, in the embodiment shown, one consisting of a substantially fixed number of players (the number of players may vary somewhat due to relegation to from and promotion from and to lower level leagues and a higher level league). The number of players is preferably fixed

at a selected number. In this embodiment, players may select when to play league games, and in order to ensure a reasonable chance of a player having an available opponent within the league tournament whenever the player desires to play, the number of players is preferably set at above fifty, even more preferably above one hundred or even two hundred (the example shown has the number of national league tournament participants set at 200 at any time. ) However, the number is preferably kept reasonably low (say below 1000, more preferably lower than 500 and even more preferably lower than 300) to allow a player a reasonable opportunity to become familiar with other players in the same tournament. In alternative embodiments, in which a player is constrained by opponent matching engine 42 to play tournament games at scheduled times (for example scheduled by agreement between the players or at known convenient times (such as daytime hours during weekends) set by the matching engine 42), or within scheduled periods (for example a tournament to take place within predetermined times on a predetermined date), the preferred number of league participant is preferably lower; preferably the numbers are at least half, more preferably at least a quarter of those indicated above, in these embodiments.

Figure 7 illustrates a local league table, for example for region Al of Western Australia, indicating player ranking positions, player names (which are selected by the players when setting up a player profile and retrieved on registering for a tournament), their current home location name (not shown) and current points which the players have earned during tournament

gameplay. Entries in a promotion zone 112 in the table indicate details of players holding local league leader positions. The number of these positions is preferably determined in accordance with a population of the local region, for example the total local region population or the number of players having a current registered location in that local region at a particular time. This characteristic tends to ensure that players within the state league tournament are of a reasonably consistent skill level, on the basis that each local region should on average produce a number of state standard players which corresponds with its fraction of the state player population. At the end of the tournament, players holding these promotion positions are entered, along with other previously identified national level players as desired, into a subsequent state tournament also managed by game server 20, which may take the form of a league tournament or a cup tournament similar to that described herein.

Entry 114 illustrates the lowest positioned player in the local league table.

Since the local league is the lowest level league, in order not to prevent players from entering the league, the number of players in the local league is preferably not fixed. The maximum number may be fixed at a high level (for example above 300, above 500 or even above 1000) in order to keep the league within manageable limits; in this case players only playing infrequently may be ejected from the league to make room for other players in the limit is reached. Furthermore, to prevent the league from not operating without sufficient players, the minimum number of players is preferably set relatively low, preferably less than twenty, more preferably less than ten.

In the case of all of the above-described league-based tournaments, a selected scoring system may be implemented in each case, for example a predetermined number of points being awarded for a win, less for a draw and still less (or negative points) being awarded for a loss. Players may be restricted to a maximum number of games within a tournament, to prevent the player from amassing points merely by playing relatively large numbers of league games.

Opponent matching engine 42 conducts the matching of opponents within leagues. Firstly, the matching engine restricts players to play league games within the league of which the player is currently a member. Secondly, the matching engine makes matches based upon a player indicating availability for gameplay, for example by logging on to the system or by responding to a an individual challenge or invitation to play sent by the matching engine 42. Thirdly, the matching engine 42 conducts intra-league matches, based upon past opponent matching history within the tournament (e. g. to ensure a player is matched with an opponent which he or she has not yet played within the league, if possible.) If a league game opponent is unavailable to a player, the player may instead select to play a non-league game (for example for practice purposes); in this case the player is matched by matching engine 42 with a player of similar skill lever and preferably having a locational proximity, in terms of registered location, to that of the player. For example, if the player is of a local league standard, the matching engine preferably identifies an available

local league player from an adjacent local league if no players are available from the player's own league. Alternatively, the player may select to play an opponent of a similar skill level with a registered location in a particular area.

For example, if the player is of a local league standard in Australia and the player wishes to play a local league player from Japan, the matching engine matches the player with a Japanese-registered local league player.

Figure 8 illustrates an alternative embodiment of tournament in accordance with the present invention, a national cup tournament. In alternative embodiments, the cup tournament may be a lower level tournament (reference is made to the geo-political areas illustrated in the example of Fig. 4), such as a state level tournament or a local level tournament. Further alternatively, the tournament may be an international tournament. In the example illustrated, the tournament consists of four rounds (preferably, the number of rounds is higher than this). The entrants may be selected on a first-come-first-served basis, with entries being filled by registrants following a tournament entry acceptance start date/time, and/or by use of prequalifying lower level tournaments, such as (in the case of a national cup tournament) state league or cup tournaments. The number of entries from each state is preferably determined approximately in accordance with a population (total, mobile-subscriber or game-playing) of the state.

Furthermore, the ties within the first round are preferably arranged by opponent matching engine 42 either such that entries from the same state do, or cannot, (depending on a preferred treatment of locational origin) meet in

the first (and preferably at least second) round. Thus, in one embodiment, (shown as option (a) in Fig. 8) in which entrants from the same state do not meet in the first round, a first round draw may be arranged as follows: (A) Western Australia (pop. 2 million approx. ) : 2 places; 1,16 (B) Northern Territory (pop. 0.2 million approx. ) : 1 place; 3 (C) Queensland (pop. 3.5 million approx. ) : 3 places; 6,10, 15 (D) New South Wales (pop. 6.5 million approx. ) : 4 places; 2,5, 9,13 (E) ACT (pop. 0.3 million approx. ) : 1 place; 12 (F) Victoria (pop. 5 million approx): 3 places; 4,11, 14 (G) Tasmania (pop. 0.5 million approx. ) : 1 place; 8 (H) South Australia (pop. 1.5 million approx. ) : 1 place ; 7 In an alternative embodiment (shown as option (b) in Fig. 8), in which the opponents are gradually matched with others generally further afield as they progress through the rounds of the competition, players from the same, or adjacent states, are arranged by matching engine meet each other in the first round of the competition.

(A) Western Australia (pop. 2 million approx. ) : 2 places; 1,2 (B) Northern Territory (pop. 0.2 million approx. ) : 1 place; 3 (C) Queensland (pop. 3.5 million approx. ) : 3 places; 4,5, 6 (D) New South Wales (pop. 6.5 million approx. ) : 4 places; 7,8, 9,10 (E) ACT (pop. 0.3 million approx. ) : 1 place; 11 (F) Victoria (pop. 5 million approx): 3 places; 12,13, 14 (G) Tasmania (pop. 0.5 million approx. ) : 1 place; 15

(H) South Australia (pop. 1.5 million approx. ) : 1 place; 16 In the case of both embodiments (a) and (b) described above, matching engine 42 further matches the opponents in subsequent rounds on the basis of the results they achieve; namely the winner of a game proceeds to the next round and is matched with the adjacent tie winner.

Whilst the above example relates to a national cup competition, a similar scheme may be used in cup competitions at different levels; for example an international cup competition may have a first round tie draw arranged by opponent matching engine on the basis of populations and locations of nations in which players entering the competition hold current registered locations. Similarly, a state cup competition may have a first round tie draw arranged by opponent matching engine on the basis of populations and locations of local regions in which players entering the competition hold current registered locations.

In the above-described embodiments, the games played are preferably two-player, three-player or four-player games ; examples of such games include fighting games, in which a player controls an avatar which conducts combat with an avatar controlled by the opponent (s), and such a game has a predetermined extent, ether in time (as in the case of for example a boxing game) or in terms of points scored against the other player (s); racing games, in which a player controls an avatar or a representation of a vehicle which races against an avatar or a representation of a vehicle controlled by the other player (s), and such a game has a predetermined extent, either in time or length

of the race course. Other examples of games suitable to be played in accordance with the present invention include graphically represented versions of multi-player board or card games, such as chess, draughts, scrabbleTM, poker, etc.

In an alternative embodiment, the players as referred to above are in fact teams of players playing via mobile communications terminals; in such cases a team may be assembled on the basis of their currently registered location and teams from the same area may be matched against teams from other areas. Games suitable for use in this embodiment include graphically represented versions of multi-player team sports such as soccer, ice hockey, etc.

Whilst in the above-described embodiment, particular types of user terminal were exemplified, in other embodiments of the invention, users may make use of terminals in the form of data processing devices of any type or combination, such as gaming consoles, personal computers, portable computers, PDAs, mobile telephones, digital interactive broadcast/cable/satellite televisions and/or set top boxes, etc.

Whilst in the above, league and cup tournaments are described, other types of known tournaments may also be utilised, either alone or in combination with other types of tournament. For, example, a round robin tournament (in which all players play each other once) may be arranged wherein players are matched such that all players have registered locations falling within a particular level of region (e. g. local or state level).

It should be noted that, in all of the above-described embodiments, players may use a long-term registered location for multiple tournaments, or may register location afresh for each tournament, so that a player tends to compete in local tournaments whose coverage is as closely matched to the player's current location as possible. For example, a player may select to use a first registered location to play in a tournament local to their school on a school day and to use a different registered location to play in a tournament local to their home on a weekend.

Whilst in the above embodiments the game server 20 is connected via a public data communications network 16, in order to ensure relatively fast gameplay, the server may be connected directly to one or more mobile network systems via high bandwidth links.

In preferred embodiments of the invention, a winner of a tournament may be awarded a prize using a registered location. For example, the result of a player winning a local cup competition may not only be to place the player in the next level tournament, but may also be that the player receives a local prize ; the gaming server 20 may either alone, or in combination with another location-based service, give instructions and directions for the collection of the local prize: for example to go to a local fast food chain outlet to present a given prize code and to collect a given prize. The outlet may be selected to be local to the current location of the winner, sensed via the mobile terminal of the winner following completion of the tournament.

At the start of a gaming system in accordance with the present invention, as players register for playing within the particular national territory, the league or cup tournaments may be begun by starting placing entries in the highest level tournaments, with the lower level tournaments eventually being populated as the gaming population increases, right down to lowest regional level of the predefined gaming structure. If the number of players at a predefined lower lever increases above a preferred maximum amount, excess players may be placed in a further, lower level tournaments covering the same or smaller regional areas.

In a further alternative embodiment to the substantially fixed-size tournaments described above, the number of players within a tournament at a particular level may be varied in dependence on the level of gaming activity of players (to give players the chance to have a preferred frequency, or number, of games within a tournament.) Advantages of the present invention include highly local opponent matching in league or cup tournaments, and the accompanying generation of high skill level tournaments for players in higher level tournaments.

Claims

1. A method of matching opponents in a game held via mobile communications devices, said method comprising: registering geographical locations for a plurality of players; matching opponents in a process in which said locations are taken into account ; and enabling said matched opponents to play a game via mobile communications devices after said matching process has been conducted.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said locations are registered by means of a process in which the location of a player's mobile communications device is sensed.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, comprising storing data relating to games played for said plurality of players, and taking said data into account in said matching process.

4. A method according to claim 4, wherein said data includes a skill parameter derived from the results of games played.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein said matching process comprises matching players with a relatively low skill parameter with other players with a relatively low skill parameter.

6. A method according to claims 3,4 or 5, wherein said data includes a playing category derived from the results of games played.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein said matching process is arranged such that a first player in a first playing category tends to be matched with a second player in said first playing category, whereas a third player in a second, different, playing category tends to be matched with a fourth player in said second playing category.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein players in said first category have locations which tend to be arranged more densely than players of said second category.

9. A method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein players in said first category generally have results indicating lower game playing skill than players in said second category.

10. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein said matching process comprises placing said players into a plurality of groups, different of said groups having coverage of different geographical areas.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein said different geographical areas comprise geo-political regions.

12. A method according to claim 11, wherein said regions comprise national regions.

13. A method according to claim 11 or 12, wherein said regions comprise sub-national regions.

14. A method according to claim 11,12 or 13, wherein said regions comprise sub-metropolitan regions.

15. A method according to any of claims 10 to 14, wherein said regions comprise different tiers of regional divisions, including a first tier in which the regions have relatively large coverage and a second tier in which the regions have relatively small coverage.

16. A method according to any of claims 10 to 15, wherein said regions comprise generally similarly populated regions having sizes selected

such that each of said generally similarly populated regions comprises a similar population.

17. A method according to claim 16, wherein said generally similarly populated regions have a population variance of less than a multiple of 10.

18. A method according to claim 17, wherein said generally similarly populated regions have a population variance of less than a multiple of 5.

19. A method according to claim 15, wherein said generally similarly populated regions have a population variance of less than a multiple of 2.

20. A method according to any of claims 16 to 19, wherein said population is a population of players registered for said competition.

21. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein said method comprises generating one or more league tables which identify rankings which a player achieves by playing games in a league competition.

22. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein said method comprises generating one or more cup tables which identify rounds through which a player progresses by playing games in a cup competition.

23. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein said matching process comprises matching players by proximity, based on said locations.

24. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein said game is a two-, three-or four-player game.

25. A method according to claim 24, wherein said game comprises any of a board game, a card game, a fighting game, a racing game.

26. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein said game comprises a two-team game, each said team comprising multiple players.

27. A method according to claim 26, wherein team players are selected in accordance with a registered location.

28. A method of arranging and playing a game via a mobile communications device, said method comprising: registering a geographical location using said mobile communications device; using said mobile communications device to access a service for matching opponents in a process in which said location is taken into account; and

playing a game via said mobile communications devices after said matching process has been conducted.

29. A method of conducting a competition via mobile communications devices, said method comprising: awarding a prize to a winner of the competition; determining a local outlet where the prize can be obtained; and informing the winner of the local outlet.

30. A method according to claim 29, wherein the outlet is local to a registered location of the mobile communications device used by the winner of the competition.