System, method and computer program product for dynamically measuring properties of objects rendered and/or referenced by an application executing on a computing device

• US 7,596,536 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2006
• Issued: 09/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Exent Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Exent Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Nave, Itay, Tzruya, Yoav
• Primary Examiner(s): Vincent; David R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fernandez Rivas; Omar F
• Application Number:
  US11/472,454
• Publication Number:
  US 20070129146A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,195 Days
• Field of Search: 706 45- 47, 715/200, 715/201, 715/205, 715/700, 715/716, 715/738, 715744-747, 715/823, 345/619, 345/661
• US Class Current: 706/45
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

A system, method and computer program product for dynamically enhancing and measuring a software application, such as a video game, executing on a computing device, without having to change and recompile the original application code. The system includes a staging environment that monitors the execution of the application and indexes items of graphical and/or audio information generated by the application into a first database. A system administrator or other entity then populates a second database by manual or automated means with one or more business rules, wherein each business rule is associated with one or more of the objects indexed in the first database. The system further includes a run-time environment that identifies items of graphics and/or audio information as they are generated by the application during run-time, uses the second database to determine if an identified item is associated with a business rule, and, responsive to a determination that an identified item is associated with a business rule, applies the business rule, measures the object and its related attributes and optionally report the data back to a 3^rd database. Also described herein is a system, method and computer program product for dynamically measuring attributes of objects rendered and/or referenced by software applications, without the need to revise the source code of such applications.

Claims

1. A method of determining the impact of objects referenced or rendered by an application executing on a computing device, comprising:

(a) intercepting a function call to a graphics or audio application programming interface (API) issued by the application, wherein said interception is performed by an interception component installed on the computing device that is not part of the application or said graphics or audio API;

(b) determining if an object referenced or rendered by said intercepted function call is an object to be tracked, wherein said determining is performed by an object measurement component installed on the computing device that is not part of the application or said graphics or audio API; and

(c) collecting attribute information relating to display or playback of said object on the computing device if said object is determined to be an object to be tracked, wherein said collecting is performed by said object measurement component.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises:

determining whether said object is adhering to certain criteria or rules.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

accessing said certain criteria or rules.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises:

(i) determining whether said object is tagged.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein step (i) comprises:

determining whether an entry in a database corresponding to said object comprises information that indicates that said object is to be tracked.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises:

at least one of determining and measuring said attribute information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said attribute information comprises one or more of object existence, object size, object orientation, collision with other objects, hiding or partial hiding between objects, whether an object is in view or partially in view, object distance from viewport, distance between objects, and object display time.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(d) transferring said collected attribute information to a server.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(d) processing said collected attribute information; and

(e) transferring said processed collected attribute information to a server.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein step (c) further comprises:

determining whether said object satisfies measurement criteria;

wherein said determining and measuring step is performed for said object only if it is determined that said object satisfies said measurement criteria.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said measurement criteria pertains to one or more object properties or attributes.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said object properties or attributes include one or more of object existence, object size, object orientation, collision with other objects, hiding or partial hiding between objects, whether an object is in view or partially in view, object distance from viewport, distance between objects, and object display time.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises:

accessing one or more measurement business rules associated with said object; and

processing said measurement business rules to collect said attribute information relating to said display or playback of said object on the computing device.

14. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for enabling a computing device to determine the impact of objects referenced or rendered by an instantiation of an application executing in said computing device, said computer program logic comprising:

first means for enabling said computing device to intercept a function call to a graphics or audio application programming interface (API) issued by said application instantiation;

second means for enabling said computing device to determine if an object referenced or rendered by said intercepted function call is an object to be tracked; and

third means for enabling said computing device to collect attribute information relating to display or playback of said object on said computing device if said object is determined to be an object to be tracked;

wherein said first means, said second means and said third means do not comprise a part of said application instantiation or said graphics or audio API.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein said second means comprises:

means for enabling said computing device to determine whether said object is adhering to certain criteria or rules.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said second means further comprises:

means for enabling said computing device to access said certain criteria or rules.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein said second means comprises:

determining means for enabling said computing device to determine whether said object is tagged.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein said determining means comprises:

means for enabling said computing device to determine whether an entry in a database corresponding to said object comprises information that indicates that said object is to be tracked.

19. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein said third means comprises:

determine/measure means for enabling said computing device to determine and/or measure said attribute information.

20. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein said attribute information comprises one or more of object existence, object size, object orientation, collision with other objects, hiding or partial hiding between objects, whether an object is in view or partially in view, object distance from viewport, distance between objects, and object display time.

21. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein said computer program logic further comprises:

means for enabling said computing device to transfer said collected attribute information to a server.

22. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein said computer program logic further comprises:

means for enabling said computing device to process said collected attribute information; and

means for enabling said computing device to transfer said processed collected attribute information to a server.

23. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein said third means further comprises:

means for enabling said computing device to determine whether said object satisfies measurement criteria;

wherein said determine/measure means operates only if it is determined that said object satisfies said measurement criteria.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein said measurement criteria pertains to one or more object properties or attributes.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein said object properties or attributes include one or more of object existence, object size, object orientation, collision with other objects, hiding or partial hiding between objects, whether an object is in view or partially in view, object distance from viewport, distance between objects, and object display time.

26. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein said third means comprises:

means for enabling said computing device to access one or more measurement business rules associated with said object; and

means for enabling said computing device to process said measurement business rules to collect said attribute information relating to said display or playback of said object on said computing device.

27. A system, comprising:

a staging environment comprising a first computing device configured to execute a first instantiation of an application and an object tagging component said object tagging component comprising;

means for intercepting function calls issued to a graphics or audio application programming interface (API) by said first instantiation of said application,

means for tagging objects referenced by said intercepted function calls as objects to be tracked, and

means for outputting said tagged object to a database; and

a run-time environment comprising a second computing device configured to execute a second instantiation of said application and an object measurement component configured to track objects referenced by said second instantiation of said application if said objects referenced by said second instantiation of said application match tagged objects stored in said database.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein said means for tagging objects referenced by said intercepted function calls as objects to be tracked comprises:

means for determining if a particular object referenced by an intercepted function call satisfies tagging criteria; and

means for tagging said particular object as an object to be tracked responsive to a determination that said particular object satisfies said tagging criteria.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein said object measurement component comprises:

means for intercepting a function call issued to a graphics or audio API by said second instantiation of said application;

means for determining if an object referenced by said intercepted function call matches a tagged object in said database; and

means for collecting attribute information relating to display or playback of said object on said second computing device responsive to a determination that said object matches a tagged object in said database.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein said means for collecting attribute information comprises:

means for determining and/or measuring said attribute information.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein said attribute information comprises one or more of object existence, object size, object orientation, collision with other objects, hiding or partial hiding between objects, whether an object is in view or partially in view, object distance from viewport, distance between objects, and object display time.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein said object measurement component further comprises:

means for transferring said collected attribute information to a server.

33. The system of claim 29, wherein said object measurement component further comprises:

means for processing said collected attribute information; and

means for transferring said processed collected attribute information to a server.

34. The system of claim 27, wherein said means for tagging objects referenced by said intercepted function calls as objects to be tracked comprises:

means for enabling manual tagging of an object referenced by an intercepted function call.

35. A method, comprising:

(1) intercepting a function call issued to a graphics or audio application programming interface (API) by an application executing in a computing device, wherein said interception is performed by an interception component installed on said computing device that is not part of said application or said graphics or audio API;

(2) determining if an object referenced by said intercepted function call satisfies criteria;

(3) tagging said object as an object to be tracked during execution of another instance of said application, responsive to a determination that said object satisfies said criteria; and

(4) storing said tagged object in a database for access by said other instance of said application;

wherein steps (2), (3) and (4) are performed by an object tagging component installed on said computing device that is not part of said application or said graphics or audio API.