Patent Publication Number: US-2015072791-A1

Title: Systems and methods for an internet competition network

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     
         
         U.S. Ser. No. 13/729,157: SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AN INTERNET COMPETITION NETWORK 
         U.S. Ser. No. 13/374,412: INTERNET COMPETITION NETWORK 
         U.S. 61/631,150: SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DEFINING USER CUSTOM RANK SYSTEM ON AN INTERNET COMPETITION NETWORK OR SOCIAL NETWORK 
         U.S. 61/631,144: SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SEARCHING ON AN INTERNET COMPETITION NETWORK 
         U.S. 61,631,145: SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DYNAMICALLY COMPARING GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS BASED ON DATA OF AN INTERNET COMPETITION NETWORK 
         U.S. 61/631,147: SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DEFINITION OF A CUSTOM COMPETITION ACTIVITY ON AN INTERNET COMPETITION NETWORK OR SOCIAL NETWORK 
         U.S. 61/631,146: SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DEFINITION OF CUSTOM FORMULAS FOR AN INTERNET COMPETITION NETWORK ACTIVITY ON AN INTERNET COMPETITION NETWORK OR SOCIAL NETWORK. 
         U.S. 61/631,148: SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CHALLENGE MANAGING BETWEEN USERS OF AN INTERNET COMPETITION NETWORK OR SOCIAL NETWORK 
         U.S. 61/631,149: SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DYNAMICALLY CALCULATING USER REPUTATION ON AN INTERNET COMPETITION NETWORK OR SOCIAL NETWORK. 
         U.S. 61/631,152: SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DYNAMICALLY GENERATING INTERNET COMPETITION NETWORK USER PROFILES 
         U.S. 61/631,151: SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR COMPETITION EVENT MANAGEMENT ON AN INTERNET COMPETITION NETWORK OR SOCIAL NETWORK 
       
    
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Species have competed since the beginning of time for food, mating or survival. Unlike other living species most of the modern human competition activities are for fun, recreation or personal growth. With the exception of war which is the highest level of competition, most of the modern competition activities are designed to cultivate the human body, using the body as a competition element or competing alongside with other means like vehicles, animals or tools. 
     One particular problem is that most of the data generated by actual competition activities like amateur sports, beauty contest, farm fairs or paint contest are not recorded or taken into account by actual social networks. This leads to the situation where each organization that wants to promote their members records and achievements have to develop and maintain a separate website, making the data of a particular activity dispersed and disorganized. 
     Data on small organized networks like videogames are segregated due to competition between companies. Users who have more than one console or mobile device don&#39;t have a central place to see the data and achievements they generate on networks like Xbox Live, PlayStation network or BattleNet. 
     Sports social networks are still tied to the Social network model requiring the users to join and post their data without means of validation from the organization they belong. Those networks are in their majority followers of big sports activities giving their members only the information from well-established sports and teams and not from their local communities. Another drawback of the Sports social networks is that they lack a tool where the users can create their own sports or recreational activities, forcing the users to choose from a set of predefined activities from well-known sports with few choices for modification or customization. 
     Second, there is a need for recreational institutions or little sports leagues like little league baseball, football or amateur soccer for a centralized tool to keep and maintain current and historical data about their members to impact their local community. The lack of resources or knowledge is leading that well established sports are getting almost all the attention from the fans. 
     The adaptation and following of rules when a small organization joins a regional, national or international organization also presents difficulties when maintaining their websites. Many sports and recreational organizations have little variations of the rules depending on geographical region, age or staff preferences. 
     Another limitation is that most of the current networks are constructed based on what users like, not on what they do or have; making difficult for users who share a common activity to find each other, share experiences or to team up. It is said that many people like baseball or football but not all of them practice those sports. 
     Examples of operations that users can&#39;t make on actual social networks are:
         a) Find Photographers who live in Boston and have a Canon 7D DSLR and invited them to a photo safari.   b) Find Hip Hop dancers that graduated at Olmsted Performing Arts dance Academy and invite them to a dance contest.   c) Find a female singer, a drummer and two guitars players and contact them to form a rock band.   d) Find all 2011 Chevrolet Camaro owners from Florida and contact them to form a Camaro owner&#39;s club.   e) Find and contact a female British Bulldog owner from The Bronx, N.Y. to ask for assistance and recommendations   f) Find golf players who live in Toronto, Canada and have a handicap of 10 and invite them to participate in a golf tournament.   g) Compare two geographic regions based on competition or activities data.   h) Vote as “Dislike” or rate as 1 to 5 stars on people, topics or organizations   i) Vote daily as a fan for one of the participants of a beauty contest.       

     Rare competition activities have little or no support on the web, making them difficult to be discovered by other people in their local communities. Competitors of math tournaments, mustache contest, extreme sports or garden contest rarely see their data or achievements on the web. In most cases even if a small organization has their website, data about competition events is disorganized and is not maintained with time. This is causing that in most cases a web site visitor can&#39;t see the winners from previous years. 
     On the other hand most social networks require that users must declare a close relationship with other users to allow them to interact. Users are forced to declare their teachers, trainers, mentors, roommates and teammates as friends even if they&#39;re not considered as such by the users. 
     Other main limitation of the current networks is that their design is specifically for connecting people; animals, pets, plants, vehicles, gadgets and tools are out of their operational model. Animals in some cultures are considered as part of the family and people love to talk and share information about their pets. On the other hand people who have some tool, vehicle or gadget find it difficult to find and associate with others because they lack a tool to find people based of what they have. Lots of people like a Chevrolet Camaro, but even fewer people have a Chevrolet Camaro. 
     One big obstacle for actual networks is that COPPA (Children Online Privacy Protection Act) law established that websites who directly collect information from their children must have a written content from their parents if the child is younger than 13 years of age, making it difficult to collect competition data from underage people. Also the before mentioned law requires that websites must physically delete at parent request all data that could lead to directly contacting the child, making it difficult to design with databases that can support orphan data. 
     Also talent seekers lack a tool to compare talented competitors (men, animals, machines or tools) from different geographic regions, disciplines and ages, by using their own search methods, formulas or calculation criteria to compute raw data the way they want. 
     The lack of and administration tool where a person can direct and administer all aspect of a competition or recreational activity is preventing that nonprofessional sports organizations from posting their information to the internet. In addition most of the professional organizations lack a tool for posting historic data from each member, leaving that data on paper sheets on files in their offices, causing historic information on competition and recreational activities to disappear with time because of the deterioration of those sheets. 
     Other organizations have spreadsheets to manage their data, which in the long run can cause data loss due to the lack of backup procedures, or it could be tedious to maintain data structure and rules when new data is added each year. 
     Therefore a new type of network must be established with a total differentiation from social networks and with its own set of rules, user types, member interactions, activities, user policies and the addition of other non-human elements such animals, plants, vehicles or tools. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention is comprised by systems and methods to allow internet connected users to record, evaluate and maintain data related to virtual or live activities. All data related to a User, Organization, Competitor or Dependent is concentrated into a single profile allowing users to have all their activities in one place. Any profile can be followed by users in the network having the “Follower” user role. Users with elevated privileges can create activities on the network with their own custom set of data types, rules and ranking systems to mimic any virtual or live activity. Users can also add dependent profiles which can accommodate data about all means they use to compete such as animals, plants, tools, gadgets, vehicles, humans, organizations or teams. Also follower users can subscribe to receive continuous up to date information about other users, competitors, organizations, dependents, events or activities. 
     Internet enabled services are provided to allow a group of users such as people, organizations or artificial intelligences to connect, follow and compete between them. The system can also be used by users to store data about live or virtual competition activities or events. The system receives its configuration parameters formulas for statistics calculation, preferences for ranking, top competitor criteria, user roles and privileges from one or more databases located on one or more servers. Parameters can be predefined to mimic well known competition activities like baseball or football or can be created from scratch by users with elevated privileges (Commissioner Role) to mimic any virtual or live activity. Also users are provided with templates with data, rules and ranking systems of most popular sports and competition activities which they can modify and adapt to their needs. 
     Using any internet connected device such as cellphones, smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers, video game consoles, portable video game consoles, smart TVs or PDAs one or more users can connect to a central or distributed server farm. Operations on this server farm are performed on multiple servers such as web servers, database servers, application servers, mobile app servers, backup servers, security servers or load balancing servers. 
     Information in the network can be stored on both SQL and No-SQL databases. Information in the database is comprised of but not limited to general information on each user such as name or email, general or detailed data about competition activities and roles that users have in the network. Users can have one or more roles in the network. User roles govern what users can do or see in the network. 
     Members relate or interact with others based on his competition data; members can then have conversations if they belong to the same team or organization or if they compete against each other in an event. In an Internet Competition Network there is no such thing as friend request, family request or discussion groups. Users interact with each other using automatically assigned competition driven relationships such as teammate, roommate, mentor, colleague, rival or opponent. 
     User roles governs what users can do or see in an Internet Competition Network, those roles can comprise:
         a) Follower: follows other users, organizations, teams, dependents, and events.   b) Competitor: competes on events, can challenge other competitors   c) Arbiter: Validates events and certify data   d) Commissioner: Creates and administer activities, invites to events   e) Scout: Can search for talented competitors to propose a contract or offer.   f) Sponsor: Can create activities and events related to his brand or name.   g) Annotator: Enters or capture competition data on an event   h) Administrator: Administers the network, reserved for employees of the company who runs the network.       

     For the sake of comprehension from now on when we mention a user having or using a specific role it will be named with the name of the role followed by the word “User” or “Users”. 
     All members of the network such as humans, organizations, teams, plants, gadgets, or tools can also be evaluated based on their participation on events by a reputation system; the reputation system can calculate reputation by won, lost or disqualification, but other actions can lower the reputation like not attending to a previously confirmed event. 
     Competitor users can set preferences based on reputation; an example could be a user not accepting challenge request from other users with reputation lower than 90%; however not accepting certain number of challenge request can also lower the reputation of the user. 
     Arbiter users are also governed by the reputation system; in that manner the decision of an arbiter can be impugned by participating users on the event he judged, disputes are then solved by the user who is in charge of the activity (Commissioner User). Not attending to events and the total of “dislikes” votes he receives can lower his reputation. When attending to an event, competitors can see the arbiters and their reputation, and are also able to propose another arbiter in case the reputation the arbiters does not meet the expectations. 
     User interaction on an Internet Competition Network can be initiated or terminated by sending requests such as:
         a) Team request: invitation to associate two or more users to forma team   b) Mentor request: request asking for assistance or tutorship   c) Scout request: Request directed to a Commissioner user to see and evaluate data related to his activity.   d) Challenge request: Invitation directed to one or more Competitor users asking them to participate in an event.   e) Arbiter request: Invitation to attend, evaluate and certify data of an event.   f) Revoke request: directed to an Arbiter or Commissioner user to review or reevaluate the results of an event, award, record or achievement.   g) Link request: directed to a Commissioner user from a Competitor to link all data related to the first; After this request is accepted all data related to the Competitor is shown in his profile   h) Organizational request: Invitation from an organization to a superior organization to be accepted as a member.   Appeal request: directed to a Commissioner or Arbiter user to reconsider a decision.   Delete request: a special request from a parent to a Commissioner user asking to delete all data that can lead to contact an underage child directly.       

     The network also allows organizations to add their members by creating standalone profiles that can be linked to users later on. In that sense a competitor can be part of the network without being an active user. 
     Because an email or other personal information is not required to subscribe to the network underage children can subscribe freely with just entering a username and their age. Further operations the user can do or see are then allowed taking the specified age into account. This model does not directly collect personal information about underage children or any information than can lead to contact the child. Directing or staff members can add standalone profiles by registering general information about those children as they had on paper. Underage children and their parents can view their managed profiles with the same consent they gave by taking the child and registering in the organization. 
     Also to comply with COPPA regulations parents can send a “Delete request” to a Commissioner user on any activity, in this case the Commissioner user is obligated to delete all personal information about the child. If the Commissioner user does not respond to the request in a reasonable time frame then Administrator users can take action to attend to the parent request and comply with COPPA regulations, sending an admonition message to the Commissioner user for not responding to the parent request. Failing to answer several delete request from parents can cause the Commissioner user to lose his role, and his activity can be cancelled or deactivated. 
     When a “Delete request” is answered by a Commissioner user or Administrator user all personal information of the user profile is physically deleted from the database and the username is named “Deleted user” or “Deleted competitor”, however all data related to competition events, awards and interaction are not deleted to maintain data consistency. A unique identifier or “ID” will be used to identify the user profile and prevent orphaned data. This ID is sent via email to the parents with information on how to reestablish the profile and reconnect the data in case they change their minds or the child grows and decide to join the network by himself. 
     The network also allows users to add as “Dependent” all means they use to compete such as animals, plants, tools, vehicles, gadgets or teams. Those dependents can compete along with the user or in his name. Each dependent has his separate profile an can be followed by users; in this manner Follower users can receive continuous updated information about a talented dog, a special vehicle or a team of people who are dependents of a coach or manager. 
     Some activities in the network could require that members need to have a certain dependent with specific characteristics in order to participate in events. In this manner a mountain bike activity could require a bike with specific properties, a golf players club could require a specific handicap or a Desert Rally club could require the appliers to have an Hummer H3 SUV or a Harley Davidson motorcycle to be accepted as members. 
     When invited to an event where dependent competitors will be used, all attending Competitor users can view profiles of other attending competitors and their dependents. In that manner by example all attending competitors to a paint ball competition can see the weapons each other will use. 
     The network also provides means to compare any member of based on their competition data and other public available data. Other comparison options are like or dislike votes or 1 to 5 star rating. Users can view and compare any element of the network based on geographic regions or other criteria or activity and see how they was ranked on previous years. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The previous summary, as well the following detailed description of the invention is better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings exemplary diagrams that illustrate the information flow, user roles, database entities and access rights; however, the invention is not limited to the specific methods and instrumentalities disclosed in the drawings. 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram showing the internet network environment where the invention may be implemented. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram showing user types, roles and dependents members. The diagram also shows the roles and dependent members that each type of user can have and the elements that can be grouped to form a team. 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram showing the database entities, user roles and access types. 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram showing the data definition, formulas, statistics, raw data, data rules and user generated profile data entities in a database engine. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates the creation of a competition activity on a user profile. 
         FIG. 6  is another illustration showing the creation of activity data types, rules and references on a user profile. 
         FIG. 7  is another illustration showing the process of creating formulas in a competition activity. 
         FIG. 8  illustrates the rank definition process of an activity in a user profile. 
         FIG. 9  illustrates the top competitor criteria definition of an activity on a user profile. 
         FIG. 10  illustrates how to send challenge request on a user profile 
         FIG. 11  illustrates pending challenge request on a user profile 
         FIG. 12  illustrates pending arbiter request on a user profile. 
         FIG. 13  illustrates a list of activities on a user profile with the reputation for each one represented by a percentage number 
         FIG. 14  illustrates small colored screen portions with a summary of the user&#39;s generals plus his reputation known as a mini-profile. 
         FIG. 15  illustrates a list of activities in on a user profile in which a he can see his rank and reputation represented by a percentage number. 
         FIG. 16  illustrates a list of activities on an Arbiter user profile with the reputation for each activity represented by a percentage number. 
         FIG. 17  illustrates a summary of statistics and awards by activity on a Competitor user profile. 
         FIG. 18  illustrates a list of awards on a user profile. 
         FIG. 19  illustrates a list of dependent profiles on a user profile 
         FIG. 20  illustrates a dependent member profile on a user profile 
         FIG. 21  illustrates a live event annotation or data entry operation by an Annotator or Arbiter user. 
         FIG. 22  illustrates a virtual event, a discrete math tournament with real time evaluation. 
         FIG. 23  illustrates a following section screen of an event on a user profile. 
         FIG. 24  illustrates the results of a live single event and the chat session between competitor users who attended. 
         FIG. 25  illustrates a single elimination tournament in a follower user profile. 
         FIG. 26  illustrates the results of a beauty contest event on a user profile. 
         FIG. 27  illustrates two round robin tournaments following section on a user profile. 
         FIG. 28  illustrates a search operation with options and filters. 
         FIG. 29  illustrates a comparison between two geographical regions based on competition data generated in the network and other public available data. 
         FIG. 30  shows comparison charts between several elements, showing public data from other sources combined with reputation and user rating from the competition network. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     A) Field of the Invention 
     This invention generally relates those activities in which beings compete between each other; those beings can be living organism like humans or animals, virtual intelligences or robots or legal persons like organizations or teams. Those activities can be either live if is taking place in the physical world or virtual if is taking places in a computer generated virtual world. In particular this invention is directed to live and virtual competition activities such as sports, contest or videogames. 
     This invention also relates to internet connected networks, web services and particularly to systems and methods to allow internet connected users to record data about live or virtual competition activities, define their own by adding data definitions and formulas to mimic any live or virtual competition activity and add all means they use to compete such as animals, plants, vehicles or tools. 
     The invention also relates to web services and technologies to allow non-competing users to follow or stay in touch by receiving continuous up to date information about users, organizations or dependents members (animals, plants, vehicles or tools) they&#39;re interested in. 
     The invention also relates to systems and methods to compare two elements of the network based on internal data from one or more databases. This comparison can also be complemented with public available data. The comparison system can determine the winner automatically by analyzing the data and the rules containing them. 
     The invention is also related with systems and methods to allow users with elevated privileges to create one or more custom set of formulas and data definitions to manage the data they&#39;re in charge of; or creating custom reports with their own formulas and process steps to view the data the way they want. Only users with the Commissioner, Sponsor or Scout roles can create said custom reports. 
     B) Detailed Description: 
       FIG. 1  is a diagram showing the internet structure where the invention is implemented. Here a user  1  connects to one or more services of the network through the internet cloud  2  using one or more internet connected devices  20 - 29 . One or more server farms  3  are responsible of those services, the server farm can comprise of one or more Application servers  30 , Mobile Application servers  31 , Web servers  32 , or Database servers  33 . Other servers can be added to the server farm to cover support operations such as load balancing, backup or firewalling. 
     The user  1  can be a human, an Organization or an Artificial intelligence (robot), the user can access the services of the network by using a Portable computer or PDA  20 , a desktop PC  21 , a Tablet computer  22 , a Laptop computer  23 , a Dumb phone  24 , a Smartphone  25 , a Videogame console  26 , a Portable videogame console  27 , a Smart TV  28  or other device that can connect to the internet cloud  2 . 
     Server farms  3  can be located on a single geographical region or distributed across multiple regions for load balancing purposes. The Server farms  3  can be comprised of one or more Application server  30 , Mobile Application server  31 , Web server  32  or Database server  33  to cover the demand of information from the users. 
     Application servers  30  provide connection services and perform calculations to send the results to connected devices  20 - 29  through the internet cloud  2 . 
     Mobile Application servers  31 , provides connection and services for applications running on devices  20 - 29  connected to the internet cloud  2 , applications or Apps on internet connected devices  20 - 29  then perform the calculations by themself. 
     Web servers  32  are responsible for providing connection and services to web browsers running on internet connected devices  20 - 29 . 
     One or more Database servers  33  store data and send by demand elements of information  34  to other servers  30 - 33  such as: Events, User data, Formulas, Challenge requests, Activities, Rules, Top Competitors or Statistics  FIG. 4 . 
       FIG. 2  is a diagram showing the user roles related to each user type and the dependents each user can have. Three types of users  1 - 3  can subscribe to the network to perform operations and a fourth type of user  4  that perform administrative tasks and enforce user policies of the company that runs the network. 
     A Human user type  1  is used by a living person who can access the network through an internet enabled device  FIG. 1   20 - 29 . A Human user can have one or more user roles such as: Follower  10 , Competitor  11 , Arbiter  12 , Commissioner  13 , Scout  14 , Sponsor  15 , or Annotator  16 . Also Human users can have one or more dependent members such as: Humans  20 , Animals  21 , Plants  22 , Robots  23 , Vehicles  24 , Teams  25 , or Tools  26 . 
     An Organization User  2  can be used by one or more members of the organization to connect and perform operation in its name. An Organization user  2  can have one or more roles such as: Follower  10 , Competitor  11 , Arbiter  12 , Commissioner  13 , Scout  14 , Sponsor  15  or Annotator  16 . Also Organization users  2  can have one or more dependent members such as: Humans  20 , Animals  21 , Plants  22 , Robots  23 , Vehicles  24 , Teams  25  or Tools  26 . 
     A Robot user  3  is an artificial intelligence that can be permanently logged to the network or can be connected by a limited time. Robot users  3  can be programs or games that other users can challenge or compete against, or can be software attached to physical devices to compete in live events. Robots users  3  have limited roles such as: Competitor  11 , Arbiter  12  or Annotator  16 . Also Robot users  3  can only have as dependent members other Robots  23 , Vehicles  24  and Tools  26 . 
     The Administrator user type  4  is a special user who works for the company that runs the network. His main task is to ensure data consistency, resolve technical problems and ensure all server infrastructure is working as planned. Also Administrator users  4  can solve disputes between users and can take action against any person, user, organization, activity or event that violates company rules or user agreements. 
     Like any other network they are regulations that govern user types, the roles or the type of dependent the users  1 - 3  can have in the network such as:
         a) Users  1 - 3  can&#39;t have both Competitor  11  and Arbiter user roles in the same event, with the exception of Robot users  3 .   b) A Robot user  3  can&#39;t have living beings as dependent members such as: Humans  20 , Animals  21 , or Plants  22 .       

     Dependent members  20 - 26  are those means the users  1 - 3  use to compete along with or in their name, such as: Humans  20 , Animals  21 , Plants  22 , Robots  23 , Vehicles  24 , Teams  25 , or Tools  26 . There are cases when users  1 - 3  can become dependents of other users, e.g.: when a Human user  1  joins an Organization  2 , or when an Organization  2  builds a Robot  3 . In that sense another example of dependent members can be a baseball team where all players have their Human user account  1 , but also are dependents of an Organization  2  (the team) which is also dependent of a Coach who has another Human user account  1 . 
     Human dependent members  20  are human beings who could be an active user or not. This dependent member type is designed for young humans like babies, underage children, people who don&#39;t know how to use internet connected devices  FIG. 1   20 - 29  or those who don&#39;t want to be an active member in the network. This type of membership is also reserved for those humans that compete in the name of others humans or organizations. 
     Animal dependent members  21  are faunal living beings that are used to compete in the name of the users  1 - 3  or alongside them. 
     Plant dependent members  22  are floral living beings that are used to compete in the name of the users  1 - 3  or alongside them. 
     Robot dependent members  23  are artificial intelligences that are attached to physical devices or are deployed in computer environments. Those intelligences can compete in the name of the users  1 - 3  or alongside them. 
     Vehicle dependent members  24  are devices that can move themselves from one point to another. Those vehicles can be used by users  1 - 3  to compete along with them or in their name. 
     Team dependent members  25  are groups of Vehicles  24 , Robots  23 , Animals  21 , Humans  20  or any combination of them that can be used by users  1 - 3  to compete along with them or in their names. 
     Tool dependent members  26  are those gadgets that users  1 - 3  use to compete; a tool is a device that cannot compete by itself. 
     For the sake of comprehension from now on when describing a user using one user role to do an operation will be named by the Role followed by the word “user” or “users” e.g.: When a Human user FIG.  2 : 1  uses the Commissioner role FIG.  3 : 13  to do an operation, it will be named as “Commissioner user”. 
       FIG. 3  is a conceptual diagram showing the main database entities and the access rights users FIG.  2 : 1 - 3  can have according with their role FIG.  2 : 10 - 16 . There are three main type of access:
         a) Read only: users can only see data the way it was predefined by Commissioner  13  or Sponsor  14  Users.   b) Interaction: users can enter data and do some operations. Those operations are governed by formulas and rules previously defined by Commissioner  13  or Sponsor  14  users.   c) Read and write: users can change data, rules and formulas.       

     Database entities  20 - 26  are those logically separated spaces in the memory of one or more database servers FIG.  1 : 33  that are designed to store data, formulas, rules and other definitions for future retrieval, calculus or to be used as a guide for one or more processes. 
     The Activity database entity  20  contains the main information about those topics in which competitors can compete in the network. Specifying main activity data is the first step in the competition creation process. 
     The competition database entity  21  contains data types, validation rules, references to other data types and default values. This data definition entity controls what information can be stored in an activity and how is validated. 
     The formula database entity  22  contains instructions on how to calculate data stored in the Competition data entity  21 . Those instructions can be for data grouping, summarization, mathematical operations or comparison between elements of the Competition database entity  21 . 
     The Event database entity  23  is the repository for storing and retrieving data about Activity  20  occurrences. Each occurrence of an Activity  20  can have one or more Events  23  occurrences. Therefore for each occurrence of an Event  23  all Activity  20  definitions, Competition data  20  definitions and calculation Formulas  22  are applied. All Events  23  conserve all definitions and formulas for each occurrence for data consistency, in that sense a change of Competition data  21  or Formula  22  database entities won&#39;t affect past Events  23 . 
     The Statistics database entity  24  is the result of calculations of the data stored in the Event  23  database entity and the application of one or more formulas stored in the Formula  22  database entity. This entity stores the results of those calculations to serve as cache for the servers FIG.  1 : 30 - 32  reducing wait time for other calculation operations. 
     The Rank database entity  25  contains rules and formulas that are used to reward competitors with one or more distinctions when their statistics reaches some point or a rule is applied. Users FIG.  2 : 1 - 3  and dependent members FIG.  2 : 20 - 26  can have one or more ranks applied to their profile  FIG. 8 . Also the Ranks database entity  25  conserves each instance when a ranking rule is applied, in that manner previous ranks applied to users or dependent members can be preserved. 
     The Top Competitor database entity  26  contains rules to determine the best Competitors  11  of one or more Activities  20 . Top competitors can show awards as achievements in their generated profiles FIG.  4 : 10 . Rules can be arranged in one or more time cycles so top competitors can be determined in a periodic way. Each time a top competitor is determined by the rules a new instance is created so Competitors  11  can retain their past awards. 
     Based on de definition of the database entities  20 - 26  and the type of access operations users can perform in the network having an specific role  11 - 16  can be as follow: 
     The Follower user role  10  is designed for noncompetitive task. This role allows a user to subscribe to one or more elements in the network and receive up to date information about those elements of his interest. Operations that users can perform having the Follower role  10  include:
         a) Follow one or more Users FIG.  2 : 1 - 3  and view their statistics  24 , Ranks  25  and Top competitors  26  awards.   b) Follow one or more Activities  10  and view Statistics  24  of its Events  23 .   c) Follow one or more Events  23  by viewing Statistics  24  and other data as they&#39;re produced.   d) Vote on polls, surveys or contests to qualify any element of the network.       

     The Competitor role  11  is reserved for those users that compete in Events  23 . Competitor users  11  can have access to Events  23  by accepting “Challenge request”  FIG. 9  from Commissioner users or Sponsor users; or an special event can be created when a Competitor user accepts a Challenge Request from other Competitor user. Operations that user can perform having the Competitor  11  role include:
         a) View statistics  24  and Top competitors  26  of an Activity he is invited to or belongs to.   b) Send or accept challenge request.   c) Propose or Reject an Arbiter  12  on an Event  23  he is invited to.   d) View statistics  24  or Activities  20  and Events  20  he participated in.   e) Share any Rank  25 , Top Competitor  26  award or achievement he received.   f) Ask a Commissioner  13  or Arbiter user  12  to review, disqualify or cancel Events  23 , other Arbiters users  12  or Competitors  11 .   g) Send, accept or reject requests such as Team, Challenge or follow.   h) View ratings and reputation they have received by attending to Events  FIG. 13 ,  FIG. 15 ,  FIG. 17 . Competitors can receive votes from follower users such as Like/Dislike or 1 to 5 star rating. Reputation is calculated according to a formula that can be defined by a Commissioner user  13 .       

     The Arbiter user role  12  is designed for users that interact with the Event database entity  23  to enforce rules and certify its data. There is a restriction that prevents users from having both the Competitor  11  and Arbiter  12  role in the same Event instance, only Robot users FIG.  2 : 3  can have both Competitor  11  and Arbiter  12  user roles in the same event instance  23 . 
     The Arbiter user role  12  can be temporarily assigned to a user if he is chosen by Competitor users  11  that want to compete between them; in that case an Arbiter request  FIG. 11  is sent to the user. After accepting the Arbiter request  FIG. 12  to judge an Event  23  users having the Arbiter user role  12  can perform operations such as:
         a) Approve and certify the data captured in an Event  23  instance.   b) Disqualify Competitors  11  and specific data.   c) Reschedule, cancel or postpone an Event  23 .   d) View general information of the Activity  20  that the Event  23  belongs.   e) Review Competition data  21 , Formulas  22 , and other rules that govern the event  23 .   f) View Statistics  24  of all Competitors  11  attending to the Event  23 .   g) View profiles of all Competitors  11  attending to the Event  23  and the Dependent members FIG.  2 : 20 - 26  they will use if any.   g) View the qualifications he received by attending to Events  23  and his reputation  FIG. 16 . Arbiters can receive votes such as: likes, dislikes or 1 to 5 star qualifications.       

     The Commissioner user role  13  is the highest role; a Commissioner user can govern all aspect of an Activity  20 , and all instances of Competition data  21 , Formula  22 , Event  23 , Statistics  24 , Rank  25  and Top Competitors  26  database occurrences of the Activity that belongs to him. This role can be obtained when a User FIG.  2 : 1 - 3  creates an Activity  20 , or when a Sponsor user  14 , passes him full control of an Activity  20  he created. Operations that a user can perform having the Commissioner user role  13  include:
         a) Create or change competition Activities  20  with all related databases occurrences in the database instances  21 - 26 .   b) Accept “Commissioner requests” from one or more Sponsor users  14  to manage an Activity  20  they created.   c) Define or change Competition data  21 , Formulas  22 , Rank systems  25 , and Top Competitors  26  criteria at any time.   d) Deactivate or disqualify Event  23  instances, forcing statistics for all users attending to those events to be recalculated.   e) Send invitations to other users to subscribe to the Activity  20  he is in charge of.   f) Approve subscriptions to the Activity  20  he is in charge.   g) When attending to an Event  23 , a Commissioner  13  can have all functions of an Arbiter user  12  if he is not competing in the same event.   h) Disqualify one or more Arbiters users  12 , and solve disputes by responding to “Dispute request” from users subscribed to his Activity  20 .   i) Close his Activity  20 . When this operation is performed all data and achievements remain and the Statistics  24  and Ranks  25  of the Competitors users  11  remain in their profiles  FIG. 13 .   j) Transfer his role to other user in case he decides not to support his Activity  20  anymore.       

     The Sponsor user role  14  is designed for those users FIG.  2 : 1 - 3  who want to create and promote competition activities related to their brand or name. Sponsors users  14  can create Activities  20  with all related database entities and instances  21 - 26  and transfer the administration to other users later on. Sponsor users  14  can retain some rights over the Activities  20  they created and perform some operations such as invite to Events  23  or Managing Formulas  22  to view statistics the way they want. Operations a user can do having the Sponsor user role  14  include:
         a) Create a competition Activity  20  with all related database instances  21 - 26  to later transfer administrative functions to another user who then become the Commissioner  13  of the Activity  20 .   b) View all database instances he created  21 - 26  related to the activity  20  he created.   c) Define and Apply his own Formulas  22  to view Statistics  24  from the Activity  20  he created the way he wants.       

     d) Schedule, reschedule, postpone or cancel Events  23  of the Activity  20  he created. 
     e) View Ranks  25  and Top Competitors  26  awards of the Activity  20  he created. 
     f) Send Challenge request  FIG. 10  to other Users FIG.  2 : 1 - 3  asking them to participate on one or more Events  23  of the activity he created. 
     The Scout user role  15  is reserved for users who want to find talented Competitors  11 , Dependent Members FIG.  2 : 20 - 26  or other elements of the networks with special conditions of their interest. Scout users  15  must be accepted by Commissioner users to see the data of any given Activity  20 . After being accepted in an Activity  20  Scout users  15  can perform operations that include:
         a) Define or apply his own Formulas  22  to see the Statistics  24  of an Activity  20  the way he wants.   b) View Ranks  25  and Top Competitors  26  awards of an Activity  20 .       

     The Annotator user role  16  is designed for users that capture or enter data to Event instances  23 . Data entered by Annotator users can be marked as “unofficial” until is certified by an Arbiter or Commissioner user. Operations that users can do having the Annotator user role  16  include:
         a) Interact with the event  23  database instance to enter data. All data entered in the event instance is validated according to the Data definition FIG.  4 : 3 , and Data rules FIG.  4 : 4  database entities that the Commissioner user defined when created the Activity  20 .   b) View the statistics of the Event  10  he is annotating.       

     All database entities  20 - 26 , User roles  10 - 16  and any other operation can be monitored by one or more Administrator users  4  to enforce policies and solve disputes. 
       FIG. 4  is a block diagram showing a detailed description of database entities, entity relations and the information flow needed to generate a user profile to show all activities related to a given user. The diagram shows several database entities  1 - 10  connected by one to may relationships. A database entity can be allocated on one or more physical or virtual database servers FIG.  1 : 33  and can comprise of one or more tables managed by relational or non-relational database engines. 
     Therefore database entities with few changes over time like User  1  or Activity  2  can be normalized and managed by relational database engines. On the other hand Data definition  3 , Data Rules  4 , Raw Data  5 , Formulas  6 , Statistics  7 , Ranks  8  and Top Competitors  9  are more likely to be stored in narrative XML language because his semi structured schema. Those narrative database entities are more likely to me managed by one or more No-SQL database engines located in one or more Database servers FIG.  1 : 33 . 
     In the User database entity  1  only basic user data is kept such as email if the user is older than 13, an Internal ID or assigned User roles FIG.  2 : 10 - 16 . Other personal information can be entered when the user subscribe to an Activity FIG.  3 : 20  only if the information is marked as required to subscribe. Commissioner FIG.  3 : 13  or Sponsor FIG.  3 : 14  users can declare this information as required when defining the data types in the Competition Data database entity FIG.  3 : 21 . 
     When a user decides to leave the network only the email data entry if the user is older than 13 is physically deleted from the User Database Entity  1  leaving ID, user roles and other linking data fields intact for consistency purposes. Also when this situation occurs all personal data that the user entered in all activities is substituted by the words “Deleted user” or “Deactivated profile” 
     The Activity database entity  2  is the grand parent of all related data in the network and connects a user with all data generated on each entry or database instance  3 - 10 . General information about the activity can be specified here such as: Title, Subtitle, Activity Logo, Company Logo or Activity class. Contents of this entity can be created or modified in the Activity Definition Screen  FIG. 5  by Commissioner FIG.  3 : 13  or Sponsor FIG.  3 : 14  user. 
     The data definition database entity  3  contains general specifications about the data that can be stored such as: Data name or Data Type. This entity also contains general rules about the type of information that can be stored such as Number, Letters, or if a data entry is required to have a value. Contents on this entity can be created or modified in the Activity data definition screen  FIG. 6  by a Commissioner FIG.  3 : 13  or Sponsor FIG.  3 : 14  user. 
     The Data Rules database entity  4  contains one or more set of rules that must be validated when entering data in an Event FIG.  3 : 23 . This set of rules may vary from one event to another and can be applied to one or more data entries of the Raw Data database entity  5  to validate en ensure rules that the Commissioner FIG.  3 : 13  or Sponsor FIG.  3 : 14  have set. Contents on this entity can be created or modified in the Activity data definition screen  FIG. 6  by a Commissioner FIG.  3 : 13  or Sponsor FIG.  3 : 14  user. 
     The Raw Data database entity  5  is the primary source for all data calculations by containing special fields to link the data with Event Occurrences FIG.  3 : 23  ensuring data consistency. Each time a data is entered in an Event FIG.  3 : 23  an entry in the Raw Data database entity  5  is created, and then is validated using the rules defined on the Data Definition  3  and Data Rules  4  database entities. Contents of this database entity are created or updated when an Annotator user FIG.  3 : 16  enters the data in the name of the Competitor FIG.  3 : 11  that is attending to an Event FIG.  3 : 23 . 
     The formula database entity  6  contains the necessary calculation steps and connection specifications between data elements to produce one or more Statistics  7 . Contents on this entity can be created or modified in the Formula definition screen  FIG. 7  by a Commissioner FIG.  3 : 13  or Sponsor FIG.  3 : 14  user. 
     The Statistics database entity  7  contains the results of one or more Formulas  6  grouped by Activity  2 . Contents of this database entity are generated automatically in time periods regulated by Administrator users FIG. 3:4 to ensure the high availability of completion results. 
     The Ranks database entity  8  contains a set of awards that can be applied to the users and the rules they must meet to receive those distinctions. Awards definitions in this entity can contain letters, numbers, graphics or any combination of the three. Contents on this entity can be created or modified in the Rank definition screen  FIG. 8  by a Commissioner FIG.  3 : 13  or Sponsor FIG.  3 : 14  user. 
     The top Competitors database entity  9  contains rules for calculating and selecting the best competitors of an Activity  2 . Data for this calculation and selection criteria are taken from the Statistics database entity  7 . A time frame can be set by a Commissioner FIG.  3 : 13  or Sponsor user FIG. 3:14 to calculate the best competitors of the activity, in that manner the best Competitors of an Activity FIG.  3 : 20  can be shown by period of time such as: hourly, daily, weekly monthly or yearly. 
     The Activity Profile database entity  10  contains on demand results from the Statistics,  7 , Ranks  8  and Top Competitors  9  database entities. Results stored in this database entity may vary each time a user logs into the network and his profile is shown or when internal database calculations are made and his profile is refreshed. A User FIG.  2 : 1 - 3  can have multiple Statistics  7 , Ranks  8  or Top competitor  9  results from one or more activities  2 . In this manner the Activity profile database entity  10  provides a centralized way for Users FIG.  2 : 1 - 3  to see all results for one or more activities  2 .  FIG. 14 ,  FIG. 15 ,  FIG. 16 . 
     Other database entities are used for internal operations such as: Activity linking, user security, account restoration, chat sessions, sending and accepting request, COPPA rules or cache operations. Those database entities were not shown because they&#39;re not needed to comprehend the invention. 
     Exemplary dynamically generated user profiles are shown from FIG. 5 to  FIG. 27 , with the exception of  FIG. 13 . Those user profiles have common areas, icons and operation indicators the user can activate, those common elements include: 
     The User identification section  1  that can be conform of a picture, a nickname and a link that takes the user to modify his main profile data. 
     The Activities section  2  that can be conformed of icons and text hyperlinks that the user can use to go to other sections of his profile or to perform operations according to his user role FIG.  3 : 10 - 16 . 
     The Connection section  3  shows the subscription the user has to share his statistics or achievements on other networks. 
     The Outer frame  4  at the top line can be conformed of the site logo, a generated internal ID of the user at the top and the copyright information along with other text or graphics links managed by the company that runs the network at the bottom. 
     The Search bar section  5  can take the user to the search section  FIG. 27  to find topics of his interest or to Challenge other users  FIG. 10 . 
     Profile Settings section  6  takes the user to an administrative section where he can change his privacy settings, manage subscriptions or deactivate his account. 
     Advertisement sections  7  and  8  are shown based on operations the user is doing or where he is going on the network. Those advertisements are managed by the company that runs the network and are based on user age; no advertisement is shown below the age limit stated by COPPA (13 or younger by 2013). 
     Operation icons  9  are graphics representations of status or operations a user can do in his profile. Those operations icons can change when he is visiting another profile such as: another user FIG.  2 : 1 - 3 , or Dependent Member FIG.  2 : 20 - 26 . 
     When representing one or more status those icon can be:
         a) Chain: representing a link to other section of the network.   b) Film slate: representing a video link.   c) Padlock: indicating that the data shown is locked and cannot be changed.       

     When representing one or more operations those icons can be:
         a) Plus sign: indicating that when pressed a new element will be added.   b) Check mark: indicating that when pressed data will be saved.   c) X sign: indicating that when pressed all new edits will be discarded.   d) Padlock: indicating that when pressed all new edits will be disallowed.       

     Other examples of dynamically generated user profiles screens such as: Activity subscription, Dispute request, Contact management, Profile preferences or Login section where not included because they&#39;re not needed to comprehend the invention. 
       FIG. 5  shows the first step of the activity definition process: The main activity definition by a Commissioner FIG.  2 : 13  or Sponsor FIG.  2 : 14  user. The Key activity data definition table  10  contains the fields and definitions that will identify the activity in the network. This information is stored in the Activity database entity FIG.  4 : 2 . 
     One or more activity definition fields can be defined in the Key Activity data table  10  such as:
         a) Title: is the primary text line which is shown as the main identification of the activity in the network.   b) Subtitle: a second line which shows more information about the activity.   c) Activity logo  12 : is a graphical representation of the activity that the user can upload by pressing the Upload button  11 . The uploaded picture or graphic is shown along with the title of the activity in the network.   d) Competition type: defines the environment where the activity takes place: the user can choose from “live” if it takes place on a physical environment or “virtual” if the activity takes place in cyberspace or a computer generated environment.   e) Activity class: is an internal classification of the activities made by the company that runs the network, the user can create a new Activity class if he wants.   f) Activity group: is an internal sub classification of the activities made by the company that runs the network, the user can create a new Activity group if he wants.   g) Activity type: Defines if the activity is managed by an organization and if their results will be marked as “official” in Competitors user profiles  FIG. 15 .   h) Subscription type: governs which type of competitors can join an activity, in this case only members of the organization can join the activity.   i) Organization logo  13 : is the graphical representation of the organization to which the activity belongs.       

     The “NEXT” text hyperlink  14  when pressed takes the user to the next step of the activity definition process: the Activity data definition  FIG. 6 . 
       FIG. 6  shows the second step of the activity definition process: two tables on the screen are used for Activity data definition: the Data definition table  20  and de Default event rule table  21 . Entries in the Data definition table  20  are stored in the Data definition database entity FIG.  4 : 3  while the contents of the Default event rule table are stored in the Data Rules database entity FIG.  4 : 4 . Predefined attributes in conjunction with other fields that the user must fill can be used to create a data definition. 
     Definitions in the Data definitions table  20  can be made by filling the filling columns in the Data definition table  20  such as:
         a) Name  30 : A custom name for each data definition can be defining by the user by typing any name.   b) Type  31 : predefined data types can be used to define de behavior of each data definition such as:
           1) Number: Only numbers are allowed.   2) Competitor type: defines what kind of competitor or users can compete in the activity  FIG. 2 .   3) Event group: Defines a container for one or more events.   4) Event part: Defines a member event for an event container.   5) Event duration: defines a time period in which the event should take place and a top limit in which the event should end.   6) Counter: defines a numeric container to store the result of a sequence of addition or subtraction of numeric values.   7) Arbiter rule: Indicates a value, data or operation that one or more Arbiter users FIG.  3 : 12  must enforce when judging an Event FIG.  3 : 23 .   
           c) Containing  32 : are predefined containers that can be set to control the kind of information a data definition can store such as:
           1) Numbers: Only numbers are allowed.   2) Human Only: Only Human users FIG.  2 : 1  are allowed.   3) Double elimination: Indicate that attending Competitors FIG.  3 : 11  to an Event FIG.  3 : 23  must lose twice to be defeated.   4) Time: a numeric value representing time intervals.   5) Letters: only alphanumeric characters are allowed.   
           d) Required  33 : indicates if a data definition is required or can be omitted.   e) Referring to  34 : indicates if the current definition is applied as a rule to a previously defined element. The name of the Data definition element  30  can be specified on each row. Also predefined rules can be applied such as:
           1) User: rule is applied to the user FIG.  2 : 1 - 3 .   2) Event: rule is applied to the event FIG.  3 : 23 .   
           f) Default rules and values can be defined on each data definition entry in the Data definition table  20  by adding values to corresponding lines in the Default event Rule table  21 . Values on both Default rule  35  and Value  36  columns can be combined to enforce rules such as:
           1) More than: A value or quantity must be higher than a given amount or quantity.   2) Arbiter check: indicates that the Arbiter FIG.  2 : 12  must manually check or verify a rule.   3) Best of: evaluates several win/lost counts of a series of events to determine the winner, the amount of events are usually odd numbers.   4) Descending: indicates a descending order for a time data type.   5) Ascending: indicates a ascending order for a time data type.   6) Win: defines which reward, point or punishment the competitor will receive for winning   7) Lose: defines which reward, point or punishment the competitor will receive for losing.   8) Draw: defines which reward, point of punishment the competitor will receive for ending tied in an Event FIG.  2 : 23 .   
               

     Therefore by analyzing the Data definition  20  and the Default event rule  21  tables we can conclude that all Event instances FIG.  3 : 23  of this exemplary videogame activity will have the following behavior:
         a) Configuration: A double elimination tournament, judging the best of 3 matches of five rounds of 99 seconds. The event is divided into three parts: Qualification, Semifinals and Finals.   b) Restrictions: only humans  14  or older are accepted.   c) Points and rewards: win, lose and draw counts valued as 1 and are enforced by Arbiters FIG.  3 : 12 . Competitors can gain points for participating such as: 3 when winning, 2 when losing and 1 when tying.   d) Rules: All characters are allowed and Competitors FIG.  3 : 11  which are called “Players” in the event can use their own gamepads.       

       FIG. 7  shows the third step of the definition process: The Formula definition. Here the user can define formulas that will be used to calculate statistics FIG.  3 : 24 . Definitions on this screen are stored in the Formula Database entity FIG.  4 : 6 . 
     One or more formulas can be defined by adding a Primary definition comprising of a Title  10  plus a Short name  11 ,  12 . Then calculations steps and parts can be added on the corresponding operations table  20 ,  30  with specifications columns such as:
         a) Data field  21 : containing the data field that will be the source of the calculation. The fields that the user can choose in this column correspond to one of the fields he defined in the Key activity data screen  FIG. 6  and are taken from the Data definition database entity FIG.  4 : 3 .   b) Short name  22 : containing an abbreviation for the name.   c) Operation  23 : containing a name for the mathematical or logical operation that will be performed using the data stored in the Data field  21  such as: Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide or Power.   d) Value  24 : containing a value specified by the user.   e) Connector  25 : containing the name of a mathematical operation that will also serve as a connector to another line or group of operations  31 ,  32 .       

     At the bottom of each operation table  20 ,  30  a result formula field  34  is shown. Users can also specify the formula by typing onto this field; the Operations table  20 ,  30  are then filled with lines or groups after this field is validated. 
     Users can either add a line or a group by pressing the Plus icon  33 , then group indicators  31 ,  32  marks the beginning and end of each group. 
     All fields that can be chosen on Operation tables  20 ,  30  correspond to Data types and definitions of the Data Definition database entity FIG.  4 : 3  to make sure the user is applying formulas to previously defined data. Some validations rules can be applied to make sure the user is not applying wrong operations to previously defined data like multiplying an alphanumeric value. 
       FIG. 8  shows the fourth step of the Activity definition process: the Ranks definition. The rules to define ranks are stored in the Ranks database entity FIG.  4 : 8 . All database fields and specifications are taken from the data Definition database entity FIG. 4:3 to avoid users referring to invalid data. 
     Ranks definitions are made by adding Lines  20  or Groups 21 to the Ranks definition table  10  containing definition columns such as:
         a) Logo  11 : a graphical representation of the rank   b) Name  12 : a name that the user can specify by typing directly to the cell.   c) Short name  13 : an abbreviation of the name that the user can specify by typing directly to the cell.   d) Data  14 : A field from the Data definition database entity FIG.  4 : 3  that is used to calculate the rank or award.   e) Condition  15 : a rule or calculation used to determine the rank or award, such as:
           1) Default: applied if no other value exists.   2) More than: applied when the data passes a specified numeric value.   3) Between: applied when the data is in between two numeric values specified in Value 1  16  and Value 2  17  columns.   f) Value 1  16 : containing the first value used to evaluate the condition  15     g) Value 2  17 : containing the second value used to evaluate the condition  15 .   h) Prerequisite  18 : indicating if a rank from a previous line is also required.   
               

     Group definitions  21  can be added to apply a rank or award which requires more than one line of specification. Users can add a group by pressing the Add group link  26 . Group definitions are marked by highlighted lines  23  and can contain lines of definitions or links to previous definitions  24  to apply all of them as a whole. 
     Therefore by analyzing  FIG. 8  we can conclude that the following ranks will applied to the competitors called “Players” in an exemplary Paint ball activity:
         a) Recruit: when the player joins the activity and has no data.   b) Private: When the player has more than 5 kills.   c) Skill level 1: when the player experience is more than 100 points.   d) Skill level 2: when the player experience is more than 1,000 points.   e) Skill level 3: when the player experience is more than 10,000 points.   f) Commander: when the player experience is between 100 and 500 points having the Private Rank.   g) Sergeant: when the player has Private, Commander and Skill level 1 applied.   h) Captain: when the player has both Sergeant and Skill level 2 ranks applied.   i) Colonel: when the player have both Captain and Skill level 3 applied.       

     When participating on this exemplary activity, a player having 12 kills and 754 experience points is awarded with the following awards: Private, Skill Level 1, Commander and Sergeant. 
       FIG. 9  shows the last step in the activity creation process: the Top Competitors criteria definition. Top Competitors criteria definitions are stored in the Top Competitors database entity FIG.  4 : 9 . Commissioner FIG.  2 : 13  or Sponsor FIG.  2 : 14  users can specify Top competitor rules by specifying the Criteria  10  and the relevant Data fields  20  to be taken into account in the selection process. 
     The selection criteria  11  can have pre-defined selection rules such as:
         a) Top 100: only the best 100 competitors are awarded.   b) Top 10: only the best 10 competitors are awarded.   c) Top 5: only the best 5 competitors are awarded.   d) Top 3: only the best 3 competitors are awarded.   e) Ladder: When a competitor loses in an event, he changes position with the competitor who defeated him; if he wins he goes up one position.   f) Sequential ladder: When a competitor loses in an event, he goes down one position, if he wins goes up one position.       

     When defining data fields  20  that are used to choose the best competitors of an Activity FIG.  3 : 20 , the user can add them user the New field link  24 . All fields that can be specified  22  in the Specification fields table  21  correspond to those defined in the Data definition database entity FIG.  4 : 3  to ensure the user is referring to existing data. After a Field  22  is specified in the Data fields table  20  a rule  23  can be defined for that field such as:
         a) More: The competitor with the higher quantity is taken into account.   b) Less: The competitor with the lower quantity is taken into account.   c) Title: The competitor with a predefined alphanumeric value is taken into account.       

     Therefore by analyzing  FIG. 9  we can conclude that for an exemplary Paint ball activity the top competitors called “Players” will the 10 with most experience point and kills, but with less times being killed by other players. 
     When the user presses the FINISH link  30  the process of creating an activity is concluded and the activity is ready. At this point a Sponsor user FIG.  3 : 14  can pass the administration of the activity to a Commissioner user FIG.  3 : 13 . 
     In an internet competition network interpersonal relationships are established by the interaction of the users in relation to the activities they do or the organizations they belong. That way real live relationships are recreated such as:
         a) Teammate: designed for all members of the same team. Once a competitor joins a team, he and all other members are related with this relationship. Once the competitor leaves the team or is expelled this relationship is lost.   b) Mentor: designed for staff members that lead competitors, teams or organizations. Once a competitor joins a team or organization all mentors of the team or organization becomes his mentors. The relation is lost when a competitor leaves the team or organization or is expelled. The mentorship relation can also be automatically assigned when a user ask for assistance to another user sending a “Mentorship request” and is lost when the asking user declares his problem solved.   c) Colleague: Designed for mentors or staff members that support the same team or belong to the same organization. Once the user is accepted as mentor or staff all other mentors or staff members become his colleagues. The relationship is lost when the user leaves the organization or is expelled.   d) Opponent: A temporary relationship designed for competitors FIG.  3 : 11  that compete against each other for the duration of an event. FIG.  3 : 23 . This relationship is lost when the event ends.   e) Rival: Designed for Competitors that compete against each other on a regular basis.   f) Enemy: Designed for competitors who compete in one or more events to eliminate each other. This relationship is reserved for Robot users FIG.  2 : 3  or competitors belonging to Virtual world or computer generated environments.       

       FIG. 10  shows the process of sending challenges requests to competitors of an exemplary video game activity. Users to invite can be found using the Search bar  5 ; by choosing one or more users to challenge the Invite table  20  is populated. The invite table  20  can contain challenge specification columns such as:
         a) Name  21 : name of the user.   b) Country  22 : name of the country the user is from, also the country flag.   c) Rep.  23 : reputation of the competitor  FIG. 14 .   d) Won  24 : number of events won.   e) Lost  25 : number of events lost.   f) Awards  26 : awards and ranks received.   g) Dependents  27 : a link with the number of dependent member profiles  FIG. 19 ,  FIG. 20 .       

     Users can be added to the Added users table  30  using the Challenge icon  28 , this table can contain the following columns:
         a) Competitors  31 : contains one or more Mini profiles  FIG. 14  of the users that will be invited to the event.   b) Activity  32 : Contains a general description of the activity that will be seen by the invited users, this description is taken from in the Main activity data definition  FIG. 5 . The user can add another activity to make a multi activity event by pressing the Add another button.   c) Proposed Arbiter  33 : contains one or more Mini profiles  FIG. 14  of the users that will serve as Arbiters having the Arbiter user role FIG.  3 : 12  during the event. The user can add another arbiter by pressing the Add another button.   d) Event date  34 : contains one or more calendar control specifying the date or dates of the event. The user can click on one or more numbers representing days to set the date or dates of the event and then press the Set date button to save the changes.       

     Once finished selecting the Competitors FIG.  3 : 11  and the Arbiters FIG.  3 : 12  the user can press the check mark button on the Activity buttons bar  9  to set the event and send all Challenge  FIG. 11  and Arbiter request  FIG. 12  to the respective users. 
       FIG. 11  shows exemplary pending challenge invitations in a Competitor user profile. Pending challenges are displayed in the Challenges table  20  that containing specification columns such as:
         a) Challenge  21 : a brief description  30  of the activity that can be comprised of a title, a subtitle, and one or more logos as defined in the Main activity definition  FIG. 5 . The user can accept, reject or set it to respond later by pressing the Accept, Reject or Maybe buttons  31 .   b) From  22 : contains the mini profile  32 ,  FIG. 14  of the user who sends the challenge request or invitation. The user can report the activity or event as a fraud by pressing the Report sender button  33 . In case that the invitation is sent by an official organization or company  40  the user may not be able to report the event as a fraud or scam.   c) Arbiter  23 : contains one or more Mini profile  34 ,  FIG. 14  of one or more arbiters attending to the event. The user can accept, reject or suggest another arbiter by pressing either Accept, Reject or Propose another arbiter button  35 . When the challenge is sent by an official organization the user may not be able to reject or propose another arbiter.   d) Date  24 : contains a read only calendar control  36  showing the day or days of the event. The user can suggest or propose another date for the event by pressing the Propose another date button  37 . When the challenge is sent by an official organization the user may not be able to suggest another date for the event.   e) Competitors  25 : contains one or more Mini profiles  FIG. 14  of all competitors attending to the event. The user can report a fraudulent competitor by pressing the Reject one competitor button  39 .       

     The user can see more of his pending challenges by pressing the More link  80 . 
       FIG. 12  shows exemplary pending arbiter request on a user profile. The events are shown in the Arbiter request table  20  which contains definition columns such as:
         a) Challenge  21 : containing general information of the activity  31  that can comprise of a Title and one or more logos or pictures as defined in the Main activity profile  FIG. 5 . The user can accept, reject or set it to respond later by pressing either Accept, Reject or Maybe buttons  30 .   b) From  22 : containing the Mini profile  32 ,  FIG. 14  of the user who sent the request. The user can report the user and the activity as a fraud by pressing the Report sender button  33 . This column can also contain an image or logo  41  representing an official organization or company. In case that the request is sent by an official organization or company the user may not be able to report the activity as a fraud.   c) Date  23 : containing a calendar control  34  showing the day or days of the event. After accepting the request the user can propose other date or unilaterally change the date by clicking any numeric values in the calendar and pressing either Propose another date or Change date buttons  35 .   d) Competitors  24 : containing Mini profiles  36 ,  FIG. 14  of all competitors attending to the event. After accepting the invitation to the event the user can disqualify, reject or propose competitors by pressing either Disqualify, competitor, Reject one competitor or Propose competitor buttons  37 . In case that the request is sent by an official organization or company the user may not be able to reject competitors but the ability to disqualify or propose others competitors is retained by clicking either Disqualify competitor or Propose competitor buttons  43 .       

       FIG. 13  shows an exemplary list of activities and reputation as competitor on a user profile. The reputation table  20  can contain specification columns such as:
         a) Activity  21 : containing the Title and the logo of the activity  30  as defined by its creator  FIG. 5 .   b) Reputation  22 : containing a Percentage  31  or an alphabetic letter showing the qualification of the competitor on each activity.   c) Points  23 : containing points quantities earned by winning or losing events.   d) Events  24 : containing a counter showing the number of events that the user was invited to.   e) Won  25 : containing a counter of won events.   f) Lost  26 : containing a counter of lost events.   g) Rejected  27 : containing a counter of rejected events.   h) Disqualified  28 : containing a counter of event in which the user was disqualified.       

     A Summary line  32  containing a average of the reputation of all events and a total of each Points  23 , Events  24 , Won  25 , Lost  26 , Rejected  27  and Disqualified  28  columns is shown at the bottom. Also the Formula  33  used for the calculation is also shown below the Summary line  33 . 
       FIG. 14  shows various exemplary Mini profiles which are a quick way to identify the user and his general data. Information on Mini profiles is always up to date and reflects how well or bad a competitor is performing on the network. Mini profiles can be conformed of an outer frame that can be filled with color according with the reputation qualification; in that sense a Mini profile can have its background color as follows:
         a) Green  1 ,  5 : if the user reputation is A or above 80%.   b) Orange  2 ,  6 : if the user reputation is B or between 60% and 79%.   c) Yellow  3 ,  7 : if the user reputation is C or between 40% and 59%   d) Red  8 : if the reputation is D or below 40%   e) White  4 : if the user is new and has not participated in any event.       

     Mini profiles can have other indicators such as: a User picture  20 ,  27 , the Username or Nickname  21 , Win/Lost counter  22 , Reputation qualification  23 ,  28 , Country flag  24  and Country Name  25 . Information on Mini profiles is updated each time an Event FIG.  3 : 23  is closed and Statistics FIG.  3 : 24 , FIG.  4 : 7  are recalculated. 
       FIG. 15  shows and exemplary listing of activities along with rank awards and reputation. Activities are shown in the Activities table  20  having specification columns such as:
         a) Activity  21 : containing the title and logo of the Activity  FIG. 5 .   b) Reputation  22 : containing the reputation calculation.   c) Events  23 : containing a counter of event requests received.   d) Accepted  24 : containing a counter of the events attended.   e) Rejected  25 : containing a counter of the events rejected.   f) Points  26 : containing a total of points gained for winning or losing events.   g) Rank  27 : containing the title and logo of the Rank applied  FIG. 8 .       

     A summary line  28  is shown at the bottom containing and average of all reputations and a total for the other columns. 
       FIG. 16  shows an exemplary Arbiter reputation listing on a user profile. Activities are shown in the Activities table  20  with specification columns such as:
         a) Activity  21 : containing the title and logo of the Activity  FIG. 5 .   b) Reputation  22 : containing the reputation calculation.   c) Events  23 : containing a counter of event requests received.   d) Accepted  24 : containing a counter of the events attended.   e) Rejected  25 : containing a counter of the events rejected.   f) Dislikes  26 : containing a counter of dislikes votes received.   g) Points  27 : containing a total of points gained for attending to events.       

     A summary line  32  is shown at the bottom with an average of the reputation of all activities and a total for the other columns. The Reputation formula  33  used for calculation is also shown below the Summary line  32 . 
       FIG. 17  shows an exemplary summary of statistics and awards by activity on a user profile. The list of activities is grouped by activity type such as: Board games  20 , Video games  30  or Sports  40 . Each group table  20 ,  30 ,  40  can contain specification columns such as:
         a) Official  21 : containing a total of won and lost events that were managed by an organization or company.   b) Unofficial  22 : containing a total of won and lost events that were not managed by an organization or company.   c) Opposed 23: containing a total of won and lost event that are being verified by Arbiters FIG.  3 : 12  or Commissioner FIG.  3 : 13  users.   d) Total 24: containing a total of all won and lost events from previous columns.   e) Awards/Rank  25 : containing one or more links of Ranks and Awards received  FIG. 8 .   f) Online  31 : containing a total of won and lost online events.   g) Tournament  32 : containing a total of won and lost tournament type events  FIG. 25 .   h) Lan-Party  33 : containing a total of won and lost of Lan-Party videogame events.       

     All grouping definition and classification of statistics are managed by Administrator users FIG.  3 : 4  to maintain data consistency. Information presented in this screen is generated from the Statistics FIG.  4 : 7 , Ranks FIG.  4 : 8  and Top Competitors FIG.  4 : 9  database entities and are presented as hyperlinks that can take the user to see more details if pressed. 
       FIG. 18  shows an exemplary list of awards on a user profile. Awards shown in the Awards table  20  can contain a Picture  30  and a Hyperlink  31  that can take the user to see more details if pressed. If awards on consecutive years a Column with highlighted title  21  is shown and all related awards are arranged in the same column sorted by year. 
       FIG. 19  shows an exemplary list of dependent members FIG.  2 : 20 - 26  on a user profile. The dependent members are listed one for each cell in the Dependents table  20 , each cell has the name of the dependent as a highlighted title  21  each describing cell can contain a Picture  30 , along with one or more Hyperlinks  31  that can take the user to the dependent member profile  FIG. 20  or see awards the dependent has received. 
       FIG. 20  shows an exemplary dependent member profile FIG.  2 : 21  on a user profile. Data is presented to be reviewed or changed in the Profile data  10 , General information  20  and Additional info  30  sections. Those sections can have data types according to the Data types defined for each Activity  FIG. 6  and additional data that the user can add as complement. The section can also contain links to the awards the dependent member has received. The structure of the Describing sections  10 ,  20 ,  30  can be as follows:
         a) Main profile data  10 : comprising of a title cell, a data cell and the profile picture. This section shows the data types defined by the creator of the activity  FIG. 6  that apply to the dependent member and are data that the user must fill in order to participate in the Activity.   b) General information  20 : comprising of a title cell and a detail cell. This table is a combination of user added data and generated competition results. The user can also add Pictures  21  and Links  22  that can connect to other dependent member profiles.   c) Additional info  30 : comprising of a title cell and one or more detailing cells. This table is a combination of user added data and other data generated by the system. A list of past owners if any is also shown with cells containing the Picture  31  and a Link  32  with the name of the Past owners in case the dependent member has been sold or lent from other users. The link  32  can take the user to visit the profile of the past owner.       

       FIG. 21  shows an exemplary baseball annotation screen on a user profile. General data about the two competing teams  20 ,  50  are shown along with the reputation percentage  24 . The “VS”  40  indicator shows the connection of the performing Pitcher  23  and the current Batter  52 . Annotation tables are shown below each player description, those annotation tables have description columns such as:
         a) Annotations: contains the name of the data field.   b) Current: contains plus (+) or minus (−) buttons which the user can press to increase or decrease the counters.   c) Game: contains the statistics of the current game which is the result of pressing the (+) or (−) buttons.   d) Year: contains the grand total of each data field for the current year.       

     Connector indicators  41  show the user that the incrementing of any data in the Pitcher table  20  is connected to the Batter table  50 , therefore by incrementing the Triple [H3]  25  data field of the Pitcher table  20  is also incrementing the Triple [H3] field  53  in the Batter table  50 . 
     There are other buttons the user can use to perform other operations such as:
         a) Change  26 ,  55 : used to register a player change.   b) Disqualify  54 : used to disqualify a player.   c) Next  56 : used to change the next batter in the lineup.       

     Active roster tables  30 ,  60  are also shown to let the Annotator FIG.  3 : 16  or Arbiter FIG.  3 : 12  user select players to change or disqualify. The Roster tables  30 ,  60  can have description columns describing the Name  31  and Position  32  of the players. 
     The annotation screen can have other annotation cell such as:
         a) Run by team  22 ,  51 : contains the runs for each team, the cell also has (+) and (−) annotation buttons and a highlighted title indicating which team is losing or winning   b) Pitch  70 : containing the current pitch as a number and two arrow buttons that the user can use to increment or decrement the number.   c) Inning  71 : containing three cells one with the “INNING” title, other with the Current inning and other with the indicator if is the Top or Bottom of the inning Two arrow buttons are shown below the cell which can be used by the user to increase or decrease the inning       

       FIG. 22  shows an exemplary math tournament virtual event. In this event while a countdown timer  15  is still counting users can answer questions in the Discrete math  10  and the Simple math  20  tables. Both tables are filled questions set by Commissioners FIG.  3 : 13  or Sponsor FIG.  3 : 14  users. Both tables can comprise of columns such as:
         a) Problem  11 : containing the title of the problem.   b) Text  12 : containing the text of the problem.   c) Answer  13 : containing a field where the user can type the answer to the problem to be evaluated.   d) Result  14 : containing a text indicator showing if the answer is correct or incorrect.       

     Also a Top players ladder table  30  is shown at the bottom. This table corresponds to a previously defined Top Competitor evaluation method FIG.  3 : 26 , FIG.  4 : 9  for the Activity. The top players table is refreshed periodically and can have definition columns such as:
         a) Name  31 : containing the name of the player or Competitor   b) Points  32 : containing a total of points gained by the Player or Competitor and an arrow indicating if he is ascending, descending or staying in the ladder. Arrows are colored blue if staying, green if ascending or red if descending.       

       FIG. 23  shows the following of two distinct events on a user profile. In this example a user is following the results of a Baseball game  10 ,  FIG. 21 , and a Math tournament  2 ,  FIG. 22 . Each event has a Title  11  and a generated table  10 ,  20  with columns and cells containing data relevant to the each activity. 
     For the Baseball game the user can see the Runs by Inning table  10 , also the Pitcher  12  and the Batter  14  tables containing numeric information  13 ,  15  that is updated as they are entered by Annotator users  FIG. 21 , FIG.  3 : 16 . 
     For the Math tournament a Top players ladder table  20 , FIG.  22 : 30 , a Countdown timer  22  and a Top 3 competitors table  23  are shown. The top 3 competitors table  23  contains the Mini profiles  24 ,  FIG. 14  of the players with the highest scores and is constantly updated during the event. 
       FIG. 24  shows the results of an exemplary Single event competition: A sack race. Results of the race are shown in the results table  10  with the names of the top winners along with a highlighted circle indicating their position in the race; the seconds they took to complete the race are shown in another column. A video section  11  is also shown where the user can watch the video of the race if any. A chat section  21  is also shown with text messages of the users about the race. The text section can contain a picture  20  and the text  22  for each message posted. 
       FIG. 25  shows an exemplary result of a single elimination videogame tournament. Here profile pictures of players are shown in a single elimination bracket  20  showing the winner with a cup icon  21  above his profile picture  22 , the player who won second place is shown with his profile picture  23  and a highlighted circle with the number  2  above the profile picture  23 . A Video section  30  is also shown where the user can watch videos of the tournament if any. 
       FIG. 26  shows the result of an exemplary beauty contest event. Here a picture profile for each competitor is shown in the Participants  10 , Third finalist  20 , Second finalist  30 , First finalist  40  and Winners  50  tables. Winners table  50  have in a single colored cell  51  the profile picture shown in a bigger size than the competitors who won honor awards  52 . Competitors who won honor awards are shown with their Profile picture  53  below the Award title  54 . A Video section  60  is shown where the user can watch videos of the contest if any. 
       FIG. 27  shows the results of two exemplary round robin tournaments. Two tables show results for the Group A  10  and Group B  20  categories. The two tables show a Title  11  with the name of the group and the age range, a first column with Team names  12 , a first name with Team names and a Total column  13 ,  21  with a total of all games won by each team. Other cell contains a 1 if the team won the game or a 0 if the team lost the event. A blocked dark cell for each cross section of the same team is also shown on each table to prevent the user for entering data of a team playing against itself 
       FIG. 28  shows an exemplary global search on the network. Once the user types the topic is searching in the Search bar  5  Results tables  20 ,  30 ,  40  are populated with each search with description columns such as:
         a) Name  21 : containing the name of the competitor, organization, dependent member, or user. This column can contain just a hyperlink with the name or a combination of a hyperlink with the name and a picture  41 ,  42 ,  43 .   b) Country flag  22 : containing a small flag picture.   c) Country  23 : containing the country name.   d) Rep.  24 : containing the reputation qualification  FIG. 13  as a percentage number or an alphanumeric letter.   e) Won  25 : containing a total of events won.   f) Lost  26 : containing a total of events lost.   g) Awards  27 : containing hyperlinks of awards and ranks  FIG. 8 .   h) Dependents  28 : containing a total of dependent member profiles that the competitor has.  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 19 .   i) Owner  44 : containing the name of the Owner if the element listed is a dependent member.   j) ORG.  31 : containing a small logo  32  of the organization the competitor belongs.       

     Users can see more search results on each table by pressing one of the [More] hyperlink  33 . Also the user can click on any category of the Categories column  10  to filter resulting tables  20 ,  30   40 . More precision searches can be made by using the generated filters of the Filters column  12  such as: Gender  13  or City  14 . 
       FIG. 29  shows an exemplary comparison between two geographic regions: USA vs. Brazil. To select the regions the user wants to compare the user can click in the interactive map  40  region showing a zoom capable map which the user can user to identify the region he wants to compare. After the user clicks and selects the region he can use the Select button  42  to add the selected geographic region to the Selected regions list  44 . The user also has the option to search a specific region by typing directly in the Search field  43 . 
     Once any geographic region  44  is selected, system generated categories are shown in the Categories column  10  with activities  11  and sub activities  12  the user can then click on any of those to filter the comparison. For each geographic region a Master comparison table  50  is shown. Those tables can have a Topic column  51  with the name of the activity and one or more dependent columns  52 , one for each year of data. Cells on dependent columns  52  shows the rank of the geographic region representing by a number along with a colored arrow  54 . This arrow  54  shows the changes in the rank from previous years and can be colored green if the region is going up in the rank, red if is going down or blue if have no change. Data sources for the Master comparison table  50  of geographic regions can be taken from the network or from other official sources. 
     A Top activities table  60  is also shown for each geographic region. Those tables can have description columns such as:
         a) Top Activities  61 : containing the name of the Activity FIG.  3 : 20 .   b) Type  62 : containing a classification of the Activity FIG.  3 : 20 .   c) REP.  63 : containing the Reputation qualification represented by a percentage number or an alphabetical letter.  FIG. 13 ,  FIG. 15 .   d) Won  64 : containing a total of events won.   e) Lost  65 : containing a total of events lost.       

     Once the reputation is calculated from all the activities, a reputation qualification is shown on each Country cell  53 , those cell can be comprise of a Mini map of the region and the reputation qualification represented as a number or letter. 
       FIG. 30  shows three examples of comparisons that the user can do in the network: a Military aircraft  20 , Celebrities  30  and Vehicles  40 . The comparison engine can search and collect data from other sources on the internet to combine those with data produced in the network. The comparison engine can highlight automatically the topic where an element is better than the other based on predefined rules for each data. e.g.: for Speed of a vehicle the higher number is better. 
     Therefore for the first table  20  comparing the F-22  22  raptor vs. the PAK-FA  23  the comparison engine can highlight as green any specification obtained from official websites. The comparison columns also contain charts  24  or diagrams and the total of User votes  25  such as: Likes, Dislikes, Neutral and a Grand total of votes. 
     For the second table  30  comparing Celebrities  31 ,  32 , the comparison engine can look for data from web sources like Forbes and can combine them with user votes in the network, this combination can be shown as reputation  33 ,  34 . 
     The third table  40  comparing vehicles, the engine can look for official websites to receive technical data from the models,  41 ,  42  and combine with User votes to determine the reputation. 
     While the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred of the various Figs., it is to be understood that other similar embodiment may be used or modifications and additions may be made to the described embodiments for perform the same function of the present invention without deviating therefrom.