Systems, devices, and methods employing the same for enhancing audience engagement in a competition or performance

A computer program product comprising a machine-readable medium storing machine instructions that, when executed by a server system comprising one or more programmable processors, cause the server system to perform functions comprising:

• receiving, over a communication network from a mobile device, a score for a participant in an activity being performed within a defined geographical area, a user identifier, and a mobile device identifier, the score having a time stamp associated therewith and being received at the mobile device via a user interface presented by an application that runs on the mobile device;
• authenticating the user based on the user identifier and the mobile device identifier to verify that the user is authorized to score the activity so as to produce an authorized user;
• accessing a database storing information pertaining to the activity, the accessing comprising identifying a plurality of participants in the activity, and one or more authorized users scoring the participants, the one or more authorized users having a physical location within the defined geographical area and being authorized to score the activity;
• retrieving, from the database, associated information for the participants and authorized users, the associated information comprising one or more of an identity of the authorized user, an identity of the participants, authorized user and/or participant online data, information regarding the physical location of the mobile device, and one or more inputted scores from the authorized user;
• evaluating the one or more scores for a bias of the authorized user, the bias being determined based on one or more of:
• the time stamp, location data, and the authorized user and/or participant online data;
• adjusting one or more of the scores when bias is determined to produce an adjusted score;
• aggregating the and/or adjusted scores so as to produce a final score;
• and
• transmitting, over the communication network for presentation to the user via the user interface on the mobile communication device, the final score.

A method for scoring a participant in a competitive activity, the method comprising:

• receiving, at a mobile device one or more user inputted preliminary scores of the participant in the competitive activity being performed within a defined geographical area, the one or more preliminary scores being inputted into a scoring matrix presented to the user on a display of the mobile device, the scoring matrix forming a template by which each participants' activities are to be scored by the user, and being received at the mobile device via a user interface presented by an application that runs on the mobile device;
• and
• generating, by the application running on the mobile device, user authentication data comprising:
• a user identifier and a mobile device identifier, and location data representing a location of the mobile device;
• transmitting, over a communications network by the mobile device to a server system, the user inputted preliminary scores and the user authentication data;
• verifying, by the server system, using the user authentication data:
• an identity of the user, an identity of the mobile device, and whether the mobile device is within the defined geographical area based on the location of the mobile device, the verifying resulting in authenticating one or more users;
• accessing, by the server system, a database storing the scoring matrix, the scoring matrix comprising an identity of the competitive activity, an identity of the participants in the competitive activity, an identity of each authenticated user scoring the competitive activity, a list of actions by which each participant's actions are to be scored, and the preliminary scores inputted to the scoring matrix by each authenticated user scoring the competitive activity;
• aggregating, by the server system, the preliminary scores inputted to the scoring matrix by each authenticated user to generate a mean score range and a final score;
• and
• transmitting, from the server system over the communication network for presentation to the user via the user interface on the mobile communication device, the final score.

An apparatus for an observer to score an activity of a participant of the activity in conjunction with one or more other observers, the apparatus being associated with a mobile electronic device having at least one processor, a transceiver to communicate over a communications network with a remote server, and a display, the apparatus comprising:

• an application program executed by the at least one processor, the application executing a process comprising:
• generating an authentication of the observer, the authentication based on a device identifier associated with the mobile electronic device, a user identifier associated with the observer, and a geolocation of the mobile electronic device as corresponding with a defined geographic area for the activity;
• generating, in the display of the mobile electronic device, a graphical representation of the participant of the activity, the graphical representation including a time-based component of a performance of the activity;
• generating, in the display of the mobile electronic device, a representation of the score that is entered by the observer at an input generated by the application program running on the mobile electronic device;
• transmitting, by the transceiver of the mobile electronic device, the score to the server for aggregation with other scores from other observers;
• and
• displaying, in the display of the mobile electronic device, an aggregated score for the activity based on the score received by the observer and the other scores from the other observers within the time based component.