Recommending virtual reward offers and awarding virtual rewards

• US 10,607,245 B2
• Filed: 07/11/2014
• Issued: 03/31/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Unity Technologies SF (Unity Software, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Tapjoy, Inc. (Unity Software, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tong, Linda, McCarthy, Stephen James, Johns, Ryan Allen, Pham, Hai-Van, Chan, Norman, Manji, Amir Bashir, Feng, Jia, Bourget, Marc, Pan, Joey, Choi, Hwan-Joon
• Primary Examiner(s): Sittner, Michael J
• Application Number:
  US14/329,796
• Publication Number:
  US 20140324562A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,090 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives

Abstract

In an embodiment, a method performed by one or more computing devices comprises storing, for one or more marketplace associated applications, interaction information that identifies, for each particular application of said one or more marketplace associated applications, a list of devices that interacted with an instance of the particular application; receiving, from a requesting device, a request for a list of offer eligible applications; determining, based on said interaction information, a set of applications associated with the requesting device; based on said determination of the set of applications associated with the requesting device, sending a list of one or more selected eligible applications to the requesting device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

using a marketplace server computer, storing, at the marketplace server computer, application marketplace account information that identifies one or more computing devices that are linked to one or more marketplace accounts;

wherein a first computing device and a second computing device are linked to a particular marketplace account;

using the marketplace server computer, storing at the marketplace server, for one or more marketplace associated applications, interaction information comprising a plurality of entries, wherein the marketplace server adds an entry each time a device interacts with an instance of an application of the one or more marketplace associated applications and wherein the entry identifies the application and the device that interacted with the instance of the particular application;

using the marketplace server computer, receiving at the marketplace server, from the first computing device, a request for a list of offer eligible applications;

using the marketplace server computer, identifying a set of two or more applications associated with the first computing device by identifying, in the interaction information of the one or more marketplace associated applications, data indicating that the first computing device executed an instance of each application of the set of two or more applications;

using the marketplace server computer, selecting a plurality of eligible applications including the set of two or more applications based, at least in part, on identifying the set of two or more applications associated with the first computing device;

using the marketplace server computer, sending a list of the plurality of eligible applications including the set of two or more applications to the first computing device;

using the marketplace server computer, receiving a selection of an eligible application of the list of selected eligible applications;

using the marketplace server computer, identifying a plurality of offers for the selected eligible application, based, at least in part, on user account information of the particular marketplace account identifying capabilities of the second computing device;

using the marketplace server computer, displaying a plurality of offer descriptions, each offer description of the plurality of offer descriptions describing a respective offer for the selected eligible application, wherein each respective offer offers a reward in exchange for a performance of an offer action.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the set of two or more applications associated with the first computing device comprises searching the interaction information for a device identifier identifying the first computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the set of two or more applications associated with the first computing device comprises searching the interaction information for a device identifier identifying a device from a set of devices associated with an account of the first computing device.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

using the marketplace server computer, causing displaying of a list of eligible application descriptions on the first computing device, wherein each entry in the list of eligible application descriptions describes an application of the list of one or more selected eligible applications.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

using the marketplace server computer, receiving a selection of an eligible application of the list of one or more selected eligible applications;

using the marketplace server computer, causing displaying of a plurality of offer descriptions on the first computing device, each offer description of the plurality of offer descriptions describing a respective offer for the selected eligible application, wherein each respective offer offers a reward in exchange for a performance of an offer action;

using the marketplace server computer, receiving a selection of a particular offer from the respective offers;

using the marketplace server computer, determining that a user of the first computing device has performed a particular offer action associated with the particular offer;

in response to determining that the user has performed the particular offer action, awarding the user a reward associated with the particular offer.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the selected eligible application is not installed on the first computing device and is installed on a device associated with an account of the first computing device.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the offer descriptions are displayed in a particular order and the particular order is determined based on information associated with an account of the first computing device.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the offer action comprises executing a promoted application;

wherein said selection of the particular offer was performed on an offer selection device;

wherein identifying, in the interaction information, data indicating that the user has performed the particular offer action comprises;

accessing interaction information for the promoted application that identifies a plurality of devices that executed the particular application;

based on the accessed interaction information, determining that the promoted application was executed by the offer selection device.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the reward associated with the particular offer is a particular amount of virtual reward for use with the selected eligible application;

wherein awarding the user the reward comprises sending a message to a server associated with the selected eligible application indicating an amount to be awarded.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the reward is a particular amount of virtual reward for use with the selected eligible application;

wherein awarding the user the offered reward comprises updating a value associated with the first computing device.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein the reward is a particular amount of a universal reward that is redeemable in a plurality of applications of the one or more marketplace associated applications.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more selected eligible applications are identified by selecting one or more applications from the set of two or more applications associated with the first computing device that were executed within a particular time period.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first computing device is any of a smartphone, a tablet computer, a netbook computer, a laptop computer, or a desktop computer.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising one or more sequences of instructions which when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform:

storing, at a marketplace server computer, application marketplace account information that identifies one or more portable computing devices that are linked to one or more marketplace accounts;

wherein a first computing device and a second computing device are linked to a particular marketplace account;

storing at a marketplace server, for one or more marketplace associated applications, interaction information comprising a plurality of entries, wherein the marketplace server adds an entry each time a device interacts with an instance of an application of the one or more marketplace associated applications and wherein the entry identifies the application and the device that interacted with the instance of the particular application;

receiving at the marketplace server, from the first computing device, a request for a list of offer eligible applications;

identifying a set of two or more applications associated with the first computing device by identifying, in the interaction information of the one or more marketplace associated applications, data indicating that the first computing device executed an instance of each application of the set of two or more applications;

selecting a plurality of eligible applications including the set of two or more applications based, at least in part, on identifying the set of two or more applications associated with the first computing device;

sending a list of the plurality of eligible applications including the set of two or more applications to the first computing device;

receiving a selection of an eligible application of the list of selected eligible applications;

identifying a plurality of offers for the selected eligible application, based, at least in part, on user account information of the particular marketplace account identifying capabilities of the second computing device;

displaying a plurality of offer descriptions, each offer description of the plurality of offer descriptions describing a respective offer for the selected eligible application, wherein each respective offer offers a reward in exchange for a performance of an offer action.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions that cause identifying the set of two or more applications associated with the first computing device further comprise instructions that cause searching the interaction information for a device identifier identifying the first computing device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein instructions that cause identifying the set of two or more applications associated with the first computing device further comprise instructions that cause searching the interaction information for a device identifier identifying a device from a set of devices associated with an account of the first computing device.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 further comprising instructions which when executed cause:

using the marketplace server computer, causing displaying of a list of eligible application descriptions on the first computing device, wherein each entry in the list of eligible application descriptions describes an application of the list of one or more selected eligible applications.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 further comprising instructions which when executed cause:

using the marketplace server computer, receiving a selection of an eligible application of the list of one or more selected eligible applications;

using the marketplace server computer, causing displaying of a plurality of offer descriptions on the first computing device, each offer description of the plurality of offer descriptions describing a respective offer for the selected eligible application, wherein each respective offer offers a reward in exchange for a performance of an offer action;

using the marketplace server computer, receiving a selection of a particular offer from the respective offers;

using the marketplace server computer, determining that a user of the first computing device has performed a particular offer action associated with the particular offer;

in response to determining that the user has performed the particular offer action, awarding the user a reward associated with the particular offer.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the selected eligible application is not installed on the first computing device and is installed on a device associated with an account of the first computing device.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the offer descriptions are displayed in a particular order and the particular order is determined based on information associated with an account of the first computing device.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the offer action comprises executing a promoted application;

wherein said selection of the particular offer was performed on an offer selection device;

wherein identifying, in the transaction information, data indicating that the user has performed the action comprises;

accessing interaction information for the promoted application that identifies a plurality of devices that executed the particular application;

based on the accessed interaction information, determining that the promoted application was executed by the offer selection device.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the reward associated with the particular offer is a particular amount of virtual reward for use with the selected eligible application;

wherein awarding the user the reward comprises sending a message to a server associated with the selected eligible application indicating an amount to be awarded.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein the reward is a particular amount of virtual reward for use with the selected eligible application;

wherein awarding the user the offered reward comprises updating a value associated with the first computing device.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the reward is a particular amount of a universal reward that is redeemable in a plurality of applications of the one or more marketplace associated applications.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, the one or more selected eligible applications are identified by selecting one or more applications from the set of two or more applications associated with the first computing device that were executed within a particular time period.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the first computing device is any of a smartphone, a tablet computer, a netbook computer, a laptop computer, or a desktop computer.