METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC OPTIMAL ADVERTISING DETERMINATION WITHIN A VIRTUAL UNIVERSE

• US 20100036718A1
• Filed: 08/05/2008
• Published: 02/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: O'Connell, Brian M., Pickover, Clifford A., Sand, Anne R., Walker, Keith R., HAMILTON, Rick A. II
• Granted Patent: US 10,699,282 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.400
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements

Abstract

A method implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code includes receiving advertising criteria, collecting advertisement cost data, and detecting virtual universe (VU) data. Additionally, the method includes determining optimal advertisement parameters based on the advertising criteria, the advertisement cost data and the VU data, and at least one of displaying the optimal advertisement parameters and invoking an advertisement in the VU in accordance with the optimal advertisement parameters.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code comprising:

receiving advertising criteria;

collecting advertisement cost data;

detecting virtual universe (VU) data;

determining optimal advertisement parameters based on the advertising criteria, the advertisement cost data and the VU data; and

at least one of displaying the optimal advertisement parameters and invoking an advertisement in a VU in accordance with the optimal advertisement parameters.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising criteria comprises:

an entity identifier;

an advertising objective; and

at least one of;

one or more advertisement types;

a minimum spending limit;

a maximum spending limit;

one or more product/service descriptors; and

one or more advertisement restrictions.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the advertising objective is one of:

indicated as one of;

most impact;

lowest cost; and

impact/cost balance; and

quantified on a numeric scale.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing a sensitivity analysis.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the collecting the advertisement cost data comprises:

scanning the VU to determine available advertising locations, advertising times and advertising types;

determining a cost for each combination of the available advertising locations, the advertising times and the advertising types; and

creating a list of the combinations of the available advertisement locations, the advertisement times and the advertisement types with associated determined costs.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determining the cost for each combination of the available advertising locations, the advertising times and the advertising types comprises at least one of:

determining an amount charged for the combination of the advertising location, the advertising time and the advertising type; and

determining an amount of central processing unit (CPU) power consumed by the combination of the advertising location, the advertising time and the advertising type.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the determining an amount charged by an owner comprises using at least one of:

a web crawler;

a script;

instant messaging;

accessing a database; and

electronic mail.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the VU data comprises at least one of:

historical VU data, which includes at least one of;

population statistics for a region of the VU;

demographic customer profile data;

previous advertisement placements;

previous advertisement successes; and

customer interests; and

real-time VU data, which includes at least one of;

scheduled VU events;

currently occurring VU events;

an amount of customers in the region of the VU;

profiles of customers in the region of the VU; and

an amount of customers in the region of the VU currently viewing a VU advertisement space.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimal advertisement parameters comprise a combination of at least two of:

an advertising location;

an advertising time; and

an advertising type.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the optimal advertisement parameters comprises:

determining available advertisement spaces capable of supporting advertising types in the VU that match the advertising criteria;

eliminating from consideration advertisement spaces subject to one or more advertising restrictions;

gathering the advertisement cost data for each remaining advertising space;

eliminating from consideration the advertisement spaces whose cost is not within spending limits; and

for each remaining advertisement space, determining an advertisement impact factor.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining the advertisement impact factor comprises determining at least one of:

an advertisement location factor;

an advertisement time factor; and

an advertisement type factor.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the determining the advertisement impact factor further comprises determining a product of at least two of:

the advertisement location factor;

the advertisement time factor; and

the advertisement type factor.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the determining the advertisement location factor comprises accounting for at least one of:

historical population data for a VU area;

historical data quantifying a number of views of advertising space;

real-time population data for the VU area;

real-time data quantifying a number of current views of the advertising space;

a matching between product/service descriptors and historic VU population interests; and

a matching between product/service descriptors and current VU population interests.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the determining the advertisement time factor comprises accounting for at least one of:

a time of day in the VU;

one or more high activity times in the VU; and

a matching between the one or more advertising restrictions and the time of day in the VU.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the advertisement type factor is based on an advertisement type, and wherein the advertisement type comprises one of:

a billboard advertisement;

a two-dimensional advertisement;

a “

click on”

advertisement;

a three-dimensional advertisement;

a product placement advertisement;

an animated advertisement;

an immersive advertisement; and

combinations thereof.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

creating a cost ranking, wherein each remaining advertising space is ranked by cost;

creating an impact ranking, wherein each remaining advertising space is ranked by the advertisement impact factor; and

creating a cost/impact ranking, wherein each remaining advertising space is ranked by a quotient of the advertisement impact factor divided by the cost.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one of displaying the optimal advertisement parameters and invoking the advertisement in accordance with the optimal advertisement parameters further comprises utilizing one of the cost ranking, the impact ranking and the cost/impact ranking in accordance with the advertising criteria.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein:

if the advertising criteria indicates an advertising objective as lowest cost, then utilizing the cost ranking;

if the advertising criteria indicates the advertising objective as highest impact, then utilizing the impact ranking; and

if the advertising criteria indicates the advertising objective as cost/impact balance, then utilizing the cost/impact ranking.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports the computer infrastructure that performs the steps of claim 1.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein steps of claim 1 are provided by a service provider on a subscription, advertising, and/or fee basis.

21. A system, comprising:

a criteria collection tool configured to receive advertising criteria;

a cost determination tool configured to determine costs for one or more combinations of advertising locations, advertising times and advertising types;

a VU data collection tool configured to detect virtual universe (VU) data;

an advertisement analysis tool configured to determine optimal advertisement parameters based on the advertising criteria, the costs and the VU data; and

an advertisement launch tool configured to at least one of display the optimal advertisement parameters and invoke an advertisement in the VU in accordance with the optimal advertisement parameters.

22. The system of claim 21, comprising a computer infrastructure operable to implement the criteria collection tool, the cost determination tool, the VU data collection tool, the advertisement analysis tool and the advertisement launch tool.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports the computer infrastructure.

24. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer program product includes at least one component to:

receive advertising criteria;

determine cost data;

detect virtual universe (VU) data;

determine an optimal combination of advertising location, advertising time and advertising method based on the advertising criteria, the cost data and the VU data; and

at least one of displaying the optimal combination of advertising location, time and method and invoking an advertisement in the VU in accordance with the optimal combination of advertising location, advertising time and advertising method.

25. A method comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure operable to;

receive advertising criteria;

determine cost data;

detect virtual universe (VU) data;

determine optimal advertisement parameters based on the advertising criteria, the cost data and the VU data; and

at least one of display the optimal advertisement parameters and invoke an advertisement in the VU in accordance with the optimal advertisement parameters.