Providing advertising in a virtual world

• US 8,606,634 B2
• Filed: 10/09/2007
• Issued: 12/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zhigu Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Porter, Erik, Titus, Tobin R., Carnahan, Jeffrey D, Booth, Ernest A
• Primary Examiner(s): Badii, Behrang
• Application Number:
  US11/868,967
• Publication Number:
  US 20090094106A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,254 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.64, 705/14.56, 705/1.1, 705/14.12, 705/14.49, 705/14.16, 705/14.4, 715/744, 715/706, 715/715, 715/733, 463/42
• US Class Current: 705/14.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions

Abstract

Technologies are described herein for providing advertising in a virtual world. An inventory list identifying a plurality of virtual objects is provided. A selection of one or more virtual objects from the inventory is received. An advertisement list identifying a plurality of advertisements is further provided. A selection of one or more advertisements from the advertisement list is further received. The selection of advertisements is placed on the selection of virtual objects in the virtual world.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing advertising in a virtual world, the computer-implemented method comprising computer-implemented operations for:

providing, by a computer having a processor and a memory, an inventory list identifying a plurality of empty virtual objects that exist in the virtual world of a massively multiplayer online (MMO) application;

receiving, by the computer, a selection of one or more empty virtual objects from the inventory list;

upon receiving the selection of the one or more empty virtual objects from the inventory list, providing, by the computer, an advertisement list identifying a plurality of advertisements, the plurality of advertisements in the advertisement list being conditioned upon the one or more empty virtual objects that are selected from the inventory list such that the advertisement list excludes advertisements that the one or more empty virtual objects are incapable of displaying;

receiving, by the computer, a selection of one or more advertisements from the advertisement list;

upon receiving the selection of the one or more advertisements from the advertisement list, placing, by the computer, the one or more advertisements on the one or more empty virtual objects in the virtual world thereby transforming, the one or more empty virtual objects on which the one or more advertisements are not placed into one or more virtual objects on which the one or more advertisements are placed, wherein participants view the one or more advertisements by interacting with the one or more virtual objects in the virtual world via avatars controlled by the participants;

wherein receiving a selection of one or more advertisements from the advertisement list comprises;

receiving, by the computer, a first selection of one or more advertisements from the advertisement list;

associating, by the computer, the first selection of one or more advertisements to a first set of participants;

receiving, by the computer, a second selection of one or more advertisements from the advertisement list;

associating, by the computer, the second selection of one or more advertisements to a second set of participants; and

,

wherein placing the selection of one or more advertisements on the selection of virtual objects in the virtual world comprises;

placing, by the computer, the first selection of one or more advertisements on the selection of virtual objects when the first set of participants interact with the selection of virtual objects in the virtual world via a first set of avatars controlled by the first set of participants; and

placing, by the computer, the second selection of one or more advertisements on the selection of virtual objects when the second set of participants interact with the selection of virtual objects in the virtual world via a second set of avatars controlled by the second set of participants.

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

providing, by the computer, an inventory search interface enabling an advertiser to enter or select an inventory search criterion,

receiving, by the computer, the inventory search criterion from the advertiser; and

generating, by the computer, the inventory list identifying empty virtual objects satisfying the inventory search criterion.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the inventory search criterion comprises a location in the virtual world.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving a selection of one or more virtual objects from the inventory list comprises receiving, by the computer, a category corresponding to a plurality of virtual objects from the inventory list.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising generating, by the computer, the advertisement list with uploaded advertisements uploaded by an advertiser.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving a selection of one or more advertisements from the advertisement list comprises receiving, by the computer, a category corresponding to a plurality of advertisements from the advertisement list.

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

upon receiving the selection of one or more advertisements from the advertisement list, providing, by the computer, a payment interface; and

receiving, by the computer, payment for the selection of one or more advertisements via the payment interface.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising computer-implemented operations for:

providing, by the computer, an advertisement upload interface enabling the advertiser to upload the uploaded advertisements;

receiving, by the computer, the uploaded advertisements via the advertisement upload interface; and

upon receiving the uploaded advertisements via the advertisement upload interface, populating, by the computer, the advertisement list with the uploaded advertisements.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein providing an advertisement list identifying a plurality of advertisements comprises:

receiving, by the computer, a request to view the advertisement list;

in response to receiving the request to view the advertisement list, providing, by the computer, an advertisement access interface requesting a login and a password;

receiving, by the computer, the login and the password via the advertisement access interface;

upon receiving the login and the password via the advertisement access interface, verifying, by the computer, whether the login and the password correspond to an authorized advertiser; and

in response to verifying that the login and the password correspond to the authorized advertiser, transmitting, by the computer, the advertisement list.

10. A computer-implemented method for providing advertising in a virtual world, the computer-implemented method comprising computer-implemented operations for:

providing, by a computer having a processor and a memory, an inventory search interface to enter or select an inventory search criterion;

receiving, by the computer, the inventory search criterion;

generating, by the computer, an inventory list identifying empty virtual objects satisfying the inventory search criterion, the empty virtual objects existing in the virtual world of a massively multiplayer online (MMO) application;

providing, by the computer, the inventory list identifying the empty virtual objects satisfying the inventory search criterion;

receiving, by the computer, a selection of one or more empty virtual objects from the inventory list;

upon receiving the selection of the one or more empty virtual objects from the inventory list, providing, by the computer, an advertisement list identifying a plurality of advertiser-uploaded advertisements, the plurality of advertiser-uploaded advertisements in the advertisement list being conditioned upon the one or more virtual objects that are selected from the inventory list such that the advertisement list excludes advertisements that the one or more empty virtual objects are incapable of displaying;

receiving, by the computer, a selection of one or more advertisements from the advertisement list;

upon receiving the selection of the one or more advertisements from the advertisement list, placing, by the computer, the one or more advertisements on the one or more virtual objects in the virtual world, thereby transforming the one or more empty virtual objects on which the one or more advertisements are not placed into one or more virtual objects on which the one or more advertisements are placed, wherein participants view the one or more advertisements by interacting with the one or more virtual objects in the virtual world via avatars controlled by the participants;

wherein receiving a selection of one or more advertisements from the advertisement list comprises;

receiving, by the computer, a first selection of one or more advertisements from the advertisement list;

associating, by the computer, the first selection of one or more advertisements to a first set of participants;

receiving, by the computer, a second selection of one or more advertisements from the advertisement list;

associating, by the computer, the second selection of one or more advertisements to a second set of participants; and

,

wherein placing the selection of one or more advertisements on the selection of virtual objects in the virtual world comprises;

placing, by the computer, the first selection of one or more advertisements on the selection of virtual objects when the first set of participants interact with the selection of virtual objects in the virtual world via a first set of avatars controlled by the first set of participants; and

placing, by the computer, the second selection of one or more advertisements on the selection of virtual objects when the second set of participants interact with the selection of virtual objects in the virtual world via a second set of avatars controlled by the second set of participants.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the one or more virtual objects comprise a virtual object;

wherein the one or more advertisements comprise a first advertisement and a second advertisement;

wherein the avatars comprise a first avatar and a second avatar;

wherein when the first avatar interacts with the virtual object, the first avatar views the first advertisement; and

wherein when the second avatar interacts with the virtual object, the second avatar views the second advertisement.