Methods and Systems of Presenting Advertisements in Consumer-Defined Environments

• US 20080306817A1
• Filed: 06/07/2007
• Published: 12/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ZAMA Innovations LLC
• Original Assignee: Qurio Holdings Incorporated
• Inventors: Amidon, Christopher, Evans, Gregory M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,600,808 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

Targeted or other advertising may comprise one or more advertisements presented in a virtual world environment constructed according to consumer parameters, with the advertisements presented according to rules, scripts, or other parameters defined by the advertiser(s). For instance, one or more consumer computing device(s) can access data defining a brand name, logo, and/or message and can access data defining consumer preferences for the context in which advertisements are to be presented. For example, the context may vary according to viewer identity, programming content, time of day, and the like. Then, the consumer computing device(s) can render a virtual world based on the consumer preferences with the virtual world also comprising the advertisement(s) generated based on advertiser definitions.

Claims

1. An advertising system comprising at least one computing device adapted to:

determine an advertisement presentation opportunity;

access ad definition data comprising content for a virtual world advertisement;

access data comprising at least one consumer preference for virtual world advertisement presentation; and

present a virtual world advertisement;

wherein presenting comprises rendering a virtual world based at least on the consumer preference data and generating an advertisement in conjunction with the virtual world based on the ad definition data.

2. The system as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the at least one computing device is further adapted to select a virtual world from a plurality of virtual worlds based on the at least one consumer preference;

and

wherein rendering a virtual world comprises rendering the selected virtual world.

3. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the ad definition data comprises an ad script;

and wherein generating an advertisement in the virtual world comprises executing the ad script.

4. The system as set forth in claim 3, wherein the computing device is further adapted to continue rendering the virtual world after the ad script has been executed.

5. The system as set forth in claim 1,

wherein determining an advertisement presentation opportunity comprises selecting an ad time slot having a predetermined length, the ad time slot associated with a programming event;

and

wherein the at least one computing device is further adapted to record the programming event if the virtual world continues to be rendered after the end of the ad time slot.

6. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the at least one computing device is further adapted to personalize a virtual world advertisement based on the ad definition data, including selecting from a plurality of content options included in the ad definition data.

7. The system as set forth in claim 6, wherein personalizing comprises accessing consumer profiling data in response to a query provided in the ad definition data.

8. The system as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the at least one computing device comprises at least a first computing device and at least a second computing device;

wherein the first computing device is adapted to render the virtual world, generate the advertisement in the virtual world, and provide the virtual world advertisement to the second computing device; and

wherein the second computing device is adapted to present the virtual world advertisement to a consumer.

9. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the at least one computing device is further adapted to:

negotiate with at least one advertising entity, including establishing at least one contract regarding display of a virtual world advertisement to a consumer;

download a data package comprising ad definition data for the virtual world advertisement; and

provide an invoice to the at least one advertising entity if the virtual world advertisement is displayed in accordance with the at least one contract.

10. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the at least one computing device is further adapted to:

access ad definition data comprising content for a second virtual world advertisement; and

present the second virtual world advertisement in the virtual world environment.

11. The system as set forth in claim 10,

wherein the at least one computing device comprises an ad queue defining an order of presenting ads;

and

wherein the first and second virtual world advertisements are adjacent to one another in the order defined by the queue.

12. A method of providing an advertisement, the method comprising:

determining an advertisement presentation opportunity;

accessing ad definition data comprising content for a virtual world advertisement;

accessing consumer preference data comprising at least one consumer preference for the presentation of virtual world advertisements; and

presenting a virtual world advertisement;

wherein presenting comprises rendering a virtual world based at least on the consumer preference data and generating an advertisement in conjunction with the virtual world based at least on the ad definition data.

13. The method as set forth in claim 12, further comprising selecting a virtual world from a plurality of virtual worlds based on the consumer preference data;

wherein the virtual world that is rendered is the selected virtual world.

14. The method as set forth in claim 12, wherein generating an advertisement in the virtual world comprises executing at least one ad script included in the ad definition data.

15. The method as set forth in claim 14, further comprising:

continuing to render the virtual world after the ad script has been executed.

16. The method as set forth in claim 12, wherein determining an advertisement presentation opportunity comprises selecting an ad slot associated with a programming event and having a predetermined length;

and

wherein the method further comprises recording the programming event if the virtual world is rendered after the end of the ad slot.

17. The method as set forth in claim 12, further comprising personalizing the virtual world advertisement based on the ad definition data, wherein personalizing comprises selecting at least one option from a plurality of optional content items included in the ad definition data.

18. The method as set forth in claim 17, wherein personalizing comprises accessing consumer profiling data in response to a query provided in the ad definition data.

19. The method as set forth in claim 12, wherein presenting comprises:

rendering the virtual world and generating the virtual world advertisement using at least a first computing device;

transmitting the rendered virtual world and generated advertisement to a second computing device;

and providing the rendered virtual world and generated advertisement to a consumer by using the second computing device to insert the rendered virtual world and generated advertisement at ad presentation point in a content presentation.

20. The method as set forth in claim 12, further comprising:

negotiating with at least one advertising entity, including establishing at least one contract regarding display of a virtual world advertisement to a consumer;

downloading a data package comprising ad definition data for the virtual world advertisement; and

providing an invoice to the at least one advertising entity if the virtual world advertisement is displayed in accordance with the contract.

21. The method as set forth in claim 12, further comprising:

accessing ad definition data comprising content for a second virtual world advertisement; and

presenting the second virtual world advertisement in the virtual world environment.