Configuring a virtual store based on information associated with a user by an online system

• US 10,339,592 B2
• Filed: 06/17/2015
• Issued: 07/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Crow, Dwight Ewing
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn, Abby J
• Application Number:
  US14/742,631
• Publication Number:
  US 20160371768A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,476 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers

Abstract

An online system generates a virtual world including objects, representations of users, and locations for presentation to online system users. The virtual world includes a virtual store including a plurality of objects for presentation to a user. To generate the virtual store, the online system retrieves information associated with the user and selects objects for inclusion in the virtual store based on the retrieved information. For example, the online system selects objects in which the user has expressed an interest or objects in which other users connected to the user have expressed an interest. The information associated with the user may also be used to determine positions of the selected object relative to each other or relative to a position of the user in the virtual store. After selecting and positioning the objects, the online system communicates the virtual store to a client device for presentation to the user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating a virtual store for presentation to a user of an online system via a virtual world generated by the online system, the virtual store rendered using graphics imitating appearance of a physical store;

generating an avatar rendered in the virtual world and representing the user;

identifying an opportunity to present an object to the user via the virtual store, the object associated with an organic appearance of the object designated by the online system;

retrieving information associated with the user by the online system;

identifying an additional user connected to the user via the online system from the information associated with the user;

determining, from an edge store, a first affinity between the user and the additional user;

determining, from the edge store, a second affinity between the additional user and the object;

determining an object score for the object based on the first and second affinities;

selecting the object for inclusion in the virtual store in response to the object score exceeding a threshold score;

ranking the object in a list of objects based on the object score;

obtaining a ranking of positions within the virtual store in accordance with relative levels of prominence within a layout of the virtual store;

determining a placement of the object at a position within the layout of the virtual store relative to other objects and relative to a position of the avatar representing the user in the virtual store based at least in part on the information associated with the user and the ranking of the object relative to the ranking of the position, the determined placement corresponding to an eye level of the avatar representing the user; and

receiving a sponsorship request to sponsor an object and a bid value associated with the sponsorship request, the sponsorship request including a sponsored appearance for the object;

determining a first appearance score for the organic appearance based on a third affinity between the user and the organic appearance of the object;

determining a second appearance score for the sponsored appearance of the object based on the bid value and a fourth affinity between the user and the sponsored appearance of the object;

selecting between the organic appearance and the sponsored appearance based on the first and second appearance scores to determine a selected appearance for the object; and

providing a graphical rendering of the virtual store including a rendering of the avatar and a rendering of the selected object according to the selected appearance in the determined placement at the eye level of the avatar representing the user to a client device for presentation to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the object comprises:

selecting the object in response to the user having previously expressed an interest in the object based at least in part on the information associated with the user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a representation of the additional user within the virtual store.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein displaying the representation of the additional user within the virtual store comprises:

displaying a representation of the additional user interacting with the object.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying one or more additional objects related to the object; and

displaying representations of the one or more additional objects in the virtual store.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying the one or more additional objects comprises:

identifying objects in which additional users of the online system have expressed an interest based on information associated with the additional users by the online system;

generating one or more clusters of objects, each cluster including two or more objects in which the additional users have expressed an interest;

identifying a cluster including the object; and

selecting one or more other objects from the identified cluster.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the object comprises:

generating scores for candidate objects eligible for presentation to the user based at least in part on characteristics of the candidate objects eligible for presentation to the user and the information associated with the user; and

selecting the object from the candidate objects based at least in part on the generated scores.

8. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

generate a virtual store for presentation to a user of an online system via a virtual world generated by the online system, the virtual store rendered using graphics imitating appearance of a physical store;

generate an avatar rendered in the virtual world and representing the user;

identify an opportunity to present an object to the user via the virtual store, the object associated with an organic appearance of the object designated by the online system;

retrieve information associated with the user by the online system;

identify an additional user connected to the user via the online system from the information associated with the user;

determine, from an edge store, a first affinity between the user and the additional user;

determine, from the edge store, a second affinity between the additional user and the object;

determine an object score for the object based on the first and second affinities;

select the object for inclusion in the virtual store in response to the object score exceeding a threshold score;

rank the object in a list of objects based on the object score;

obtain a ranking of positions within the virtual store in accordance with relative levels of prominence within a layout of the virtual store;

determine a placement of the object at a position within the layout of the virtual store relative to other objects and relative to a position of the avatar representing the user in the virtual store based at least in part on the information associated with the user and the ranking of the object relative to the ranking of the position, the determined placement corresponding to an eye level of the avatar representing the user; and

receive a sponsorship request to sponsor an object and a bid value associated with the sponsorship request, the sponsorship request including a sponsored appearance for the object;

determine a first appearance score for the organic appearance based on a third affinity between the user and the organic appearance of the object;

determine a second appearance score for the sponsored appearance of the object based on the bid value and a fourth affinity between the user and the sponsored appearance of the object;

select between the organic appearance and the sponsored appearance based on the first and second appearance scores to determine a selected appearance for the object; and

provide a graphical rendering of the virtual store including a rendering of the avatar and a rendering of the selected object according to the selected appearance in the determined placement at the eye level of the avatar representing the user to a client device for presentation to the user.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the instructions to select the object comprise instructions that cause the processor to:

select the object in response to the user having previously expressed an interest in the object based at least in part on the information associated with the user.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium further has instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

display a representation of the additional user within the virtual store.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the instructions to display the representation of the additional user within the virtual store comprise instructions that cause the processor to:

display a representation of the additional user interacting with the object.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the instructions to select the object for inclusion in the virtual store comprise instructions that cause the processor to:

identify one or more additional objects related to the object; and

displaying representations of the one or more additional objects in the virtual store.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the instructions to identify one or more additional objects comprise instructions that cause the processor to:

identify objects in which additional users of the online system have expressed an interest based on information associated with the additional users by the online system;

generate one or more clusters of objects, each cluster including two or more objects in which the additional users have expressed an interest;

identify a cluster including the object; and

select one or more other objects from the identified cluster.

14. A computer system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to;

generate a virtual store for presentation to a user of an online system via a virtual world generated by the online system, the virtual store rendered using graphics imitating appearance of a physical store;

generate an avatar rendered in the virtual world and representing the user;

identify an opportunity to present an object to the user via the virtual store, the object associated with an organic appearance of the object designated by the online system;

retrieve information associated with the user by the online system;

identify an additional user connected to the user via the online system from the information associated with the user;

determine, from an edge store, a first affinity between the user and the additional user;

determine, from the edge store, a second affinity between the additional user and the object;

determine an object score for the object based on the first and second affinities;

select the object for inclusion in the virtual store in response to the object score exceeding a threshold score;

rank the object in a list of objects based on the object score;

obtain a ranking of positions within the virtual store in accordance with relative levels of prominence within a layout of the virtual store;

determine a placement of the object at a position within the layout of the virtual store relative to other objects and relative to a position of the avatar representing the user in the virtual store based at least in part on the information associated with the user and the ranking of the object relative to the ranking of the position, the determined placement corresponding to an eye level of the avatar representing the user; and

receive a sponsorship request to sponsor an object and a bid value associated with the sponsorship request, the sponsorship request including a sponsored appearance for the object;

determine a first appearance score for the organic appearance based on a third affinity between the user and the organic appearance of the object;

determine a second appearance score for the sponsored appearance of the object based on the bid value and a fourth affinity between the user and the sponsored appearance of the object;

select between the organic appearance and the sponsored appearance based on the first and second appearance scores to determine a selected appearance for the object; and

provide a graphical rendering of the virtual store including a rendering of the avatar and a rendering of the selected object according to the selected appearance in the determined placement at the eye level of the avatar representing the user to a client device for presentation to the user.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the instructions to select the object comprise instructions that cause the processor to:

select the object in response to the user having previously expressed an interest in the object based at least in part on the information associated with the user.

16. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium further has instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

display a representation of the additional user within the virtual store.