MATCHING ADVERTISING TO GAME PLAY CONTENT

• US 20120252559A1
• Filed: 09/26/2011
• Published: 10/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zynga Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Zynga Incorporated
• Inventors: Chow, Michael, Rouse, Justin, Holme, Kevin
• Granted Patent: US 9,373,127 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/25
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

An advertisement is associated with a particular user move in a gaming environment where playing of the user move by a user results in the advertisement being displayed at the user'"'"'s gaming device. With multiple users, each play of a unique user move results in a corresponding uniquely targeted advertisement being displayed at the respective gaming device of each user. User moves and associated advertisements are bound to one another based on a frequency of use of the user move in game play and the desirability of the advertiser to associate the advertisement with the user move.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving an indication of a first advertisement message and a second advertisement message being triggered by a play in a game session on a client device;

retrieving a first selection criterion of a first criteria type and of a second criteria type corresponding to the first advertisement message and a second selection criterion of the first criteria type and of the second criteria type corresponding to the second advertisement message;

determining a priority ordering for the first criteria type and the second criteria type;

determining an advertisement selection of the first advertisement message or the second advertisement message based on the priority ordering and a comparison of the first selection criterion and the second selection criterion; and

transmitting, to the client device, the advertisement selection based on the arbitrating.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, to the client device, the first advertisement message instead of the second advertisement message,

wherein;

the first selection criterion includes a purchase price of the first advertisement message;

the second selection criterion includes a purchase price of the second advertisement message; and

the purchase price of the first advertisement message is greater than the purchase price of the second advertisement message.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a selection criterion corresponding to an advertisement message is one of a purchase price of a corresponding advertising campaign, a purchase price paid for the associated advertisement message, and a price per click paid by an advertiser.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a selection criterion corresponding to an advertisement message is one of a frequency of use of the play triggering the advertisement message, a relationship ranking, a length of time an advertiser associated with the selection criterion has been a customer, the advertisement message not being recently displayed, and a random selection.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting characteristics of advertisement triggers associated with the first advertisement message during the game session; and

updating a first selection criterion indication during the game session.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first selection criterion includes a total number of times the play has triggered the first advertisement message as a first trigger count, the method further comprising:

collecting a further number of times the play has been initiated in the game and incrementing the first trigger count;

determining that the first trigger count is greater than a second trigger count, the second trigger count corresponding to the second advertisement message, the second selection criterion, and a further play; and

transmitting, to the client device, the first advertisement message over the second advertisement message.

3. (canceled)

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising:

transmitting, to the client device, the first advertisement message,

wherein;

the first selection criterion includes a purchase price of the first advertisement message and a relationship ranking of a first advertiser;

the second selection criterion includes a purchase price of the second advertisement message and a relationship ranking of a second advertiser;

the purchase price of the second advertisement message is greater than the purchase price of the first advertisement message; and

the relationship ranking of a first advertiser is greater than the relationship ranking of the second advertiser and the relationship ranking of a first advertiser has a greater importance than the purchase price of the second advertisement message.

5. (canceled)

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium embodying a set of instructions, that when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving an indication of a first advertisement message and a second advertisement message being triggered by a play in a game session on a client device;

retrieving a first selection criterion of a first criteria type and of a second criteria type corresponding to the first advertisement message and a second selection criterion of the first criteria type and of the second criteria type corresponding to the second advertisement message;

determining a priority ordering for the first criteria type and the second criteria type;

determining an advertisement selection of the first advertisement message or the second advertisement message based on the priority ordering and a comparison of the first selection criterion and the second selection criterion; and

transmitting, to the client device, the advertisement selection based on the arbitrating.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

transmitting, to the client device, the first advertisement message over the second advertisement message,

wherein;

the first selection criterion includes a purchase price of the first advertisement message;

the second selection criterion includes a purchase price of the second advertisement message; and

the purchase price of the first advertisement message is greater than the purchase price of the second advertisement message.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein a selection criterion corresponding to an advertisement message is one of a purchase price of a corresponding advertising campaign, a purchase price paid for the associated advertisement message, and a price per click paid by an advertiser.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein a selection criterion corresponding to an advertisement message is one of a frequency of use of the play triggering the advertisement message, a relationship ranking, a length of time an advertiser associated with the selection criterion has been a customer, the advertisement message not being recently displayed, and a random selection.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

collecting characteristics of advertisement triggers associated with the first advertisement message during the game session; and

updating a first selection criterion indication during the game session.

18. The non-transitory computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the first selection criterion includes a total number of times the play has triggered the first advertisement message as a first trigger count, the operations further comprising:

collecting a further number of times the play has been initiated in the game and incrementing the first trigger count;

determining that the first trigger count is greater than a second trigger count, the second trigger count corresponding to the second advertisement message, the second selection criterion, and a further play; and

transmitting, to the client device, the first advertisement message over the second advertisement message.

12. (canceled)

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, the operations further comprising:

transmitting, to the client device, the first advertisement message,

wherein;

the first selection criterion includes a purchase price of the first advertisement message and a relationship ranking of a first advertiser;

the second selection criterion includes a purchase price of the second advertisement message and a relationship ranking of a second advertiser;

the purchase price of the second advertisement message is greater than the purchase price of the first advertisement message; and

the relationship ranking of a first advertiser is greater than the relationship ranking of the second advertiser and considered to be of greater importance than the purchase price of the second advertisement message.

14. (canceled)

19. A system comprising:

a game play server configured to provide game play interaction through a network connection to at least one client machine;

an arbitration module configured to arbitrate a selection advertisement messages having respective selection criterion, each selection criterion having more than one selection criteria type;

a game data storage module configured to store game play data associated with an online game session with the at least one client machine; and

an ranking module configured to rank indicators corresponding to a selection criterion associated with an advertisement message.