Systems and methods of providing collaborative consumer-controlled advertising environments

• US 8,560,387 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2007
• Issued: 10/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ZAMA Innovations LLC
• Original Assignee: Qurio Holdings Incorporated
• Inventors: Amidon, Christopher, Evans, Gregory M., Walsh, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Bekerman, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): IOSIF, MARIO CINCINAT
• Application Number:
  US11/768,600
• Publication Number:
  US 20080307066A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,303 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/14.4, 709/217, 725/37
• US Class Current: 705/14.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements

Abstract

Targeted or other advertising may comprise one or more advertisements presented to multiple users in a virtual world environment such that participating users can interact with one another and/or with executed advertisements. Groups of users may be invited to participate in collaborative virtual world environments based on consumer contact lists or profiles establishing matching preferences for such groups. Synchronized data may be narrowcasted or broadcasted to invited users. Such data may define one or more virtual world environments as well as traditional and/or virtual world advertisements for execution in the shared environment(s). Advertisements may be selected based on one or more consumer preferences associated with one or more of the users participating in the shared virtual world environment.

Claims

1. An advertising device comprising:

memory; and

a processor associated with the memory, the processor adapted to;

determine which devices associated with a plurality of users are capable of joining a virtual world environment;

invite a user of the plurality of users having a device capable of joining the virtual world environment to participate in a collaborative virtual world environment;

render and distribute the collaborative virtual environment to an invited user;

synchronize an advertisement with the collaborative virtual world environment; and

execute the advertisement within the collaborative virtual world environment as the invited user interacts with a media stream, wherein the advertisement is played to the invited user within the collaborative virtual world environment and the media stream is separate from the collaborative virtual world environment.

2. The advertising device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said processor is further adapted to invite at least one other user to participate in the collaborative virtual world environment.

3. The advertising device as set forth in claim 2, wherein determining which devices associated with a plurality of users are capable of joining the virtual world environment further comprises determining if time slots within the media stream associated with the devices associated with the plurality of users are capable of being synchronized.

4. The advertising device as set forth in claim 2, wherein the processor is further adapted to invite users specified on a predetermined list of users established by a given user.

5. The advertising device as set forth in claim 2, wherein the processor is further adapted to invite a user based on one parameter matched to a profile associated with a given user.

6. The advertising device as set forth in claim 2, wherein said processor is further adapted to receive a response from the invited user, wherein said response designates an acceptance or rejection of the invitation to participate in the collaborative virtual world environment.

7. The advertising device as set forth in claim 6, wherein the executed advertisement comprises an advertisement that is broadcast to all users who have accepted the invitation to participate in the collaborative virtual world environment.

8. The advertising device as set forth in claim 6, wherein said processor is further adapted to receive rescission requests from one or more invited users who previously accepted the invitation to participate.

9. The advertising device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said processor is further adapted to select at least one virtual world advertisement for execution, and wherein said selecting comprises choosing an advertisement that is matched to at least one parameter associated with one or more users.

10. The advertising device as set forth in claim 1, wherein the collaborative virtual world environment is configured in part on at least one preference associated with the user.

11. The advertising device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said processor is further adapted to execute the advertisement with the collaborative virtual world environment by executing an ad script.

12. The advertising device as set forth in claim 1, wherein the processor is further adapted to select an advertisement time slot having a predetermined length, wherein the advertising time slot is associated with a programming event.

13. The advertising device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said processor is further adapted to:

provide the advertisement to a second computing device,

wherein said second computing device is adapted to present the advertisement to the user.

14. The advertising device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said processor is further adapted to:

negotiate with at least one advertising entity, including establishing at least one contract regarding display of the advertisement to the user; and

download a data package comprising ad definition data for the advertisement.

15. The advertising device as set forth in claim 14, wherein said processor is further adapted to provide an invoice to the at least one advertising entity if the advertisement is displayed in accordance with the at least one contract.

16. The advertising device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said advertising device further comprises:

an advertisement queue defining an order of presenting ads, wherein said processor is further adapted to execute at least a first and second virtual world advertisement that are adjacent to one another in the order defined by the advertisement queue.

17. The advertising device as set forth in claim 1, wherein the processor is further adapted to synchronize the execution of the advertisement by coordinating execution at substantially the same time at the advertising device and at a device associated with the invited user during the execution of the advertisement.

18. The advertising device as set forth in claim 1, wherein the processor is further adapted to coordinate execution of the advertisement within the collaborative virtual world environment whereby execution results in at least some time overlap of executed advertisements during synchronization of the execution of the advertisement.

19. The advertising device of claim 1, wherein the advertising device is further configured to switch between multiple virtual world environments.

20. The advertising device of claim 1, wherein the processor includes a collaborative advertisement application.

21. A method of configuring a collaborative advertising environment, comprising:

determining which devices associated with a plurality of users are capable of joining a virtual world environment;

inviting a user of the plurality of users having a device capable of joining the virtual world environment to participate in a collaborative virtual world environment;

rendering and distributing by a computing device the collaborative virtual world environment to an invited user;

synchronizing by the computing device an advertisement with the collaborative virtual world environment; and

executing by the computing device the advertisement within the collaborative virtual world environment as the invited user interacts with a media stream, wherein the advertisement is played to the invited user within the collaborative virtual world environment and the media stream is separate from the collaborative virtual world environment.

22. The method as set forth in claim 21, wherein said determining which devices associated with a plurality of users are capable of joining the virtual world environment further comprises determining if time slots within the media stream associated with the devices associated with the plurality of users are capable of being synchronized.

23. The method as set forth in claim 21, wherein the plurality of users is identified from a predetermined list of users established by a given user.

24. The method as set forth in claim 21, wherein the plurality of users is characterized by at least one parameter matched to a profile associated with a given user.

25. The method as set forth in claim 21, wherein executing the advertisement within the collaborative virtual world environment comprises executing an ad script.

26. The method as set forth in claim 21, the method further comprising selecting an advertisement time slot having a predetermined length, the advertisement time slot associated with a programming event.

27. The method as set forth in claim 26, further comprising accessing consumer preference data for the plurality of users such that the advertisement and the collaborative virtual world environment are configured in accordance with a consumer preference associated with one or more of the plurality of users.

28. The method as set forth in claim 26, further comprising continuing to render the collaborative virtual world environment after completing execution of the advertisement.