Rating virtual world merchandise by avatar visits

• US 8,171,407 B2
• Filed: 02/21/2008
• Issued: 05/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Activision Publishing Incorporated (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Huang, Yunwu, Mahmud, Jalal Uddin, Pollak, Roger Alan, Ponzo, John J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Plucinski, Jami A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kira
• Application Number:
  US12/035,255
• Publication Number:
  US 20090216546A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,531 Days
• Field of Search: 715/706, 715/705, 705/347
• US Class Current: 715/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products

Abstract

Generating popularity ratings for virtual world artifacts based on how often and in what manner avatars access the artifacts is provided. The popularity ratings for virtual world artifacts may be used to determine what virtual world artifacts are selected to have a prominent presence in a virtual world. When an event caused by an avatar accessing a virtual world artifact in a virtual world is detected, the illustrative embodiments receive information about the event, such as the event type, the avatar identifier (ID), and the time the event occurred. The illustrative embodiments generate a rating score for the virtual world artifact based on the information received about the event. The illustrative embodiments update a rendering of the virtual world artifact in the virtual world based on the rating score.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for rating virtual world artifacts, the computer implemented method comprising the steps of:

responsive to a computer detecting an event caused by an avatar accessing a virtual world artifact in a virtual world, receiving, by the computer, information about the event;

generating, by the computer, a rating score value for the virtual world artifact based on the information received about the event;

increasing, by the computer, the generated rating score value based on a number of times the virtual world artifact is accessed by the avatar within a predetermined period of time; and

updating, by the computer, a rendering of the virtual world artifact in the virtual world based on the generated rating score value by increasing a size of the virtual world artifact in relation to other artifacts present in a display of the virtual world if the generated rating score value is a high rating score value and decreasing the size of the virtual world artifact in relation to the other artifacts present in the display if the generated rating score value is a low rating score value.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information about the event includes an access type of the event.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the information about the event includes an identifier of the virtual world artifact and a time when the event occurred.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the access type of the event is movement of the avatar within a predefined distance of the virtual world artifact.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the access type of the event is a reference to the virtual world artifact in a monitored conversation of the avatar.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the access type of the event is touching of the virtual world artifact by the avatar.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the access type of the event is a purchase transaction of a virtual world artifact by the avatar.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 2, further comprising the step of:

generating, by the computer, a different rating score value for each different access type of the event by generating a first rating score value for a near event associated with the virtual world artifact, a second rating score value for a chat event associated with the virtual world artifact that is greater than the first rating score value, a third rating score value for a touch event associated with the virtual world artifact that is greater than the second rating score value, and a fourth rating score value for a purchase event associated with the virtual world artifact that is greater than the third rating score value.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising the step of:

sending, by the computer, at least one of the first rating score value, the second rating score value, the third rating score value, and the fourth rating score value along with identity information about the virtual world artifact to a remote server to generate a new rating score value for the virtual world artifact.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating, by the computer, the rating score value for the virtual world artifact comprises the computer combining a rating score value resulting from the event and a historical rating score value of the virtual world artifact.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the generated rating score value is used to determine a display prominence of the virtual world artifact in the virtual world.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

displaying, by the computer, a pop-up window that includes detailed information about the virtual world artifact and a hyperlink that references a Web page associated with the virtual world artifact when the avatar touches the virtual world artifact.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the virtual world artifact accessed by the avatar in the virtual world is one of a plurality of virtual world artifacts, and wherein each virtual world artifact in the plurality of virtual world artifacts is associated with its own virtual world artifact handler that monitors access events of an associated virtual world artifact, and wherein the virtual world artifact handler is an artifact in the virtual world that does not have a visual representation in the virtual world.

12. A data processing system for rating virtual world artifacts, the data processing system comprising:

a bus;

a storage device connected to the bus, wherein the storage device stores computer usable code;

at least one managed device connected to the bus;

a communications unit connected to the bus; and

a processing unit connected to the bus, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable code to receive, in response to detecting an event caused by an avatar accessing a virtual world artifact in a virtual world, information about the event;

generate a rating score value for the virtual world artifact based on the information received about the event;

increase the generated rating score value based on a number of times the virtual world artifact is accessed by the avatar within a predetermined period of time; and

update a rendering of the virtual world artifact in the virtual world based on the generated rating score value by increasing a size of the virtual world artifact in relation to other artifacts present in a display of the virtual world if the generated rating score value is a high rating score value and decreasing the size of the virtual world artifact in relation to the other artifacts present in the display if the generated rating score value is a low rating score value.

13. A computer program product stored on a computer readable storage device having computer usable program code embodied thereon that is executable by a computer for rating virtual world artifacts, the computer program product comprising:

computer usable program code for receiving, by a computer, in response to the computer detecting an event caused by an avatar accessing a virtual world artifact in a virtual world, information about the event;

computer usable program code for generating, by the computer, a rating score value for the virtual world artifact based on the information received about the event;

computer usable program code for increasing, by the computer, the generated rating score value based on a number of times the virtual world artifact is accessed by the avatar within a predetermined period of time; and

computer usable program code for updating, by the computer, a rendering of the virtual world artifact in the virtual world based on the generated rating score value by increasing a size of the virtual world artifact in relation to other artifacts present in a display of the virtual world if the generated rating score value is a high rating score value and decreasing the size of the virtual world artifact in relation to the other artifacts present in the display if the generated rating score value is a low rating score value.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the information about the event includes an access type of the event.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the access type of the event is at least one of movement of the avatar within a predefined distance of the virtual world artifact, a reference to the virtual world artifact in a monitored conversation of the avatar, touching of the virtual world artifact by the avatar, or a purchase transaction of a virtual world artifact by the avatar.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer usable program code for generating, by the computer, the rating score value for the virtual world artifact comprises computer usable program code for combining, by the computer, a rating score value resulting from the event and a historical rating score value of the virtual world artifact.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the generated rating score value is used to determine a display prominence of the virtual world artifact in the virtual world.