Determining Appearances of Objects in a Virtual World Based on Sponsorship of Object Appearances
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- providing a plurality of objects in a virtual world generated for presentation to a user of an online system, each object having an organic appearance determined by the online system based on information associated with the user by the online system;
receiving from one or more advertisers, a plurality of sponsorship requests for sponsoring appearances of objects in the virtual world, each sponsorship request including information describing a sponsored appearance of an object in the virtual world and a bid amount specifying an amount of compensation to the online system for displaying the object using the sponsored appearance;
identifying an opportunity to present one or more objects in the virtual world to the user of the online system;
for one or more of the objects in the virtual world;
generating a score for the organic appearance of the object based on an affinity of the user for the organic appearance,generating a score for a sponsored appearance of the object included in a sponsorship request based on an affinity of the user for the sponsored appearance and the bid amount of the sponsorship request including the sponsored appearance of the object, andselecting an appearance of the object from the organic appearance and the sponsored appearance for the object based on the generated scores; and
providing the selected appearances of the one or more objects to a client device for display to the user.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An online system provides objects for presentation to a user via a virtual world, each object having an organic appearance for display. The online system receives sponsorship requests for sponsoring appearances of one or more objects in the virtual world. A sponsorship request includes information describing a sponsored appearance of an object and a bid amount identifying compensation to the online system for using the sponsored appearance. When presenting an object to a user via the virtual world, the online system selects an appearance for the object from the object'"'"'s organic appearance and one or more sponsored appearances based on characteristics of the user and bid amounts in the sponsorship requests including the sponsored appearances. The online system then presents the object to a user via the virtual world using the selected appearance.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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providing a plurality of objects in a virtual world generated for presentation to a user of an online system, each object having an organic appearance determined by the online system based on information associated with the user by the online system; receiving from one or more advertisers, a plurality of sponsorship requests for sponsoring appearances of objects in the virtual world, each sponsorship request including information describing a sponsored appearance of an object in the virtual world and a bid amount specifying an amount of compensation to the online system for displaying the object using the sponsored appearance; identifying an opportunity to present one or more objects in the virtual world to the user of the online system; for one or more of the objects in the virtual world; generating a score for the organic appearance of the object based on an affinity of the user for the organic appearance, generating a score for a sponsored appearance of the object included in a sponsorship request based on an affinity of the user for the sponsored appearance and the bid amount of the sponsorship request including the sponsored appearance of the object, and selecting an appearance of the object from the organic appearance and the sponsored appearance for the object based on the generated scores; and providing the selected appearances of the one or more objects to a client device for display to the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method comprising:
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providing a plurality of objects in a virtual world generated by an online system, each object having an organic appearance for display at a client device; receiving a plurality of sponsorship requests for sponsoring appearances of objects in the virtual world, each sponsorship request including information describing a sponsored appearance of an object in the virtual world and a bid amount specifying an amount of compensation to the online system for displaying the object using the sponsored appearance; identifying an opportunity to present an object in the virtual world to a user of the online system; generating a score for the organic appearance of the object based on an affinity of the user for the organic appearance; generating a score for a sponsored appearance of the object included in a sponsorship request based on an affinity of the user for the sponsored appearance and the bid amount of the sponsorship request including the sponsored appearance of the object; and selecting an appearance of the object from the organic appearance and the sponsored appearance for the object based on the generated scores; and providing the selected appearance of the object to a client device for display to the user. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. 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:
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provide a plurality of objects in a virtual world generated by an online system, each object having an organic appearance for display at a client device; receive a plurality of sponsorship requests for sponsoring appearances of objects in the virtual world, each sponsorship request including information describing a sponsored appearance of an object in the virtual world and a bid amount specifying an amount of compensation to the online system for displaying the object using the sponsored appearance; identify an opportunity to present an object in the virtual world to a user of the online system; generate a score for the organic appearance of the object based on an affinity of the user for the organic appearance; generate a score for a sponsored appearance of the object included in a sponsorship request based on an affinity of the user for the sponsored appearance and the bid amount of the sponsorship request including the sponsored appearance of the object; and select an appearance of the object from the organic appearance and the sponsored appearance for the object based on the generated scores; and providing the selected appearance of the object to a client device for display to the user. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification