Matching advertising to game play content

• US 9,256,888 B2
• Filed: 04/04/2011
• Issued: 02/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zynga Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Zynga Incorporated
• Inventors: Chow, Michael, Rouse, Justin, Holme, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): D'AGOSTINO, PAUL ANTHONY
• Application Number:
  US13/079,148
• Publication Number:
  US 20120252557A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,772 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

An advertisement is associated with a particular user move in a gaming environment where playing of the user move by a user results in the advertisement being displayed at the user'"'"'s gaming device. With multiple users, each play of a unique user move results in a corresponding uniquely targeted advertisement being displayed at the respective gaming device of each user. User moves and associated advertisements are bound to one another based on a frequency of use of the user move in game play and the desirability of the advertiser to associate the advertisement with the user move.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a user move from a device engaged in a game session, the user move comprising a user-selected combination of first game elements from a set of game elements, the combination of first game elements indicating a partial word and being selected from the set of game elements in a first sequence;

generating, by a game play server, a play comprising a second sequence of game elements formed by a combination of the partial word and one or more second game elements associated with a previously played user move;

in an automated process performed by one or more processors of a computer, based on the second sequence of game elements of the play, identifying;

a first word indicated by at least a part of the second sequence of game elements, the first word associated with a first set of advertisements, and

a second word indicated by at least a part of the second sequence of game elements, the second word being different from the first word and being associated with a second set of advertisements;

receiving game play data including a selection criterion during the game session;

in response to the play, triggering a plurality of advertisements including a first advertisement, for the first word from the first set of advertisements, and a second advertisement, for the second word from the second set of advertisements, the plurality of advertisements determined by searching, based at least on the received play, a database including stored plays and associated advertisements;

prioritizing the first advertisement ahead of the second advertisement according to the selection criterion;

in response to the prioritizing, retrieving, by at least one processor, the first advertisement triggered by the play as a prioritized advertisement from the database including stored plays and associated advertisements; and

causing presentation of the prioritized advertisement at the device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating a plurality of plays with a plurality of advertisements; and

storing the plurality of plays and the associated plurality of advertisements in the database to produce the database including stored plays and associated advertisements.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the receiving the user move, comparing the first word and the second word identified by the play with the stored plays in the database; and

based on the comparing, determining the play is a stored play,

wherein the retrieving the first advertisement and the second advertisement is based on the determining the play is a stored play.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second user move from a second device engaged in the game session as part of a second play;

retrieving a further advertisement and a game play location associated with the second play from the database; and

transmitting the further advertisement for display to the second device according to the game play location.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the game session corresponds to a word game, the method further comprising:

receiving further game play data comprising a further user move as part of a further play and at least one of a game type identifier, a frequency of use of the further play, and a game play location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection criterion determining the prioritized advertisement is at least one of a maximum price per click of a corresponding advertisement trigger, a maximum advertisement purchase price, a maximum price paid to purchase a corresponding advertising campaign, an optimal relationship ranking of a corresponding advertiser, threshold frequency of use of the play, the advertisement to be selected not having been displayed within a threshold number of days, and a random selection between the first advertisement and the second advertisement.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a reward element;

completing a featured play from a list of at least one featured play, the featured play comprising a user-selected combination of game elements from a set of game elements and a previously played game element, and the completion accomplished using at least one reward element selected from the received reward element and previously stored reward elements; and

receiving a further reward upon the completion of the featured play.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising

receiving the reward element from the device and transmitting the reward element to a second device;

and

receiving an indication from the device to execute one of gifting and trading of the reward element,

wherein the gifting comprises receiving the reward element from the device and transmitting the reward element to a second device, and

wherein the trading comprises exchanging the reward element from the device with a second reward element from the second device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

tracking, for a predetermined period of time, use of the play by a plurality of devices each engaged in a further game session;

calculating a frequency of use of the play within the further game sessions;

presenting the play along with the play frequency as an advertisement trigger to an advertiser; and

selling the advertisement trigger to the advertiser.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising storing the play and the play frequency of use as a candidate advertisement trigger when the play frequency of use exceeds a predetermined threshold of usage.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing at least one of a definition, a grammatical fact, and an etymological fact to be displayed by the device when one or more of the first word and the second word are determined to be the stored play.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising one of charging an advertiser each time the advertisement is transmitted to the device for display and charging an advertiser to sponsor the advertisement.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium embodying a set of instructions, that when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a user move from a device engaged in a game session, the user move comprising a user-selected combination of first game elements from a set of game elements, the combination of first game elements indicating a partial word and being selected from the set of game elements in a first sequence;

generating, by a game play server, a play comprising a second sequence of game elements formed by a combination of the partial word and one or more second game elements associated with a previously played user move;

in an automated process performed by one or more processors of a computer, based on the second sequence of game elements of the play, identifying;

a first word indicated by at least a part of the second sequence of game elements, the first word associated with a first set of advertisements, and

a second word indicated by at least a part of the second sequence of game elements, the second word being different from the first word and being associated with a second set of advertisements;

receiving game play data including a selection criterion during the game session;

in response to the play, triggering a plurality of advertisements including a first advertisement, for the first word from the first set of advertisements, and a second advertisement, for the second word from the second set of advertisements, the plurality of advertisements determined by searching, based at least on the received play, a database including stored plays and associated advertisements;

prioritizing the first advertisement ahead of the second advertisement according to the selection criterion;

in response to the prioritizing, retrieving, by at least one processor, the first advertisement triggered by the play as a prioritized advertisement from the database including stored plays and associated advertisements; and

causing presentation of the prioritized advertisement at the device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to the receiving the user move, comparing the first word and the second word identified by the play with the stored plays in the database; and

based on the comparing, determining the play is a stored play,

wherein the retrieving the first advertisement and the second advertisement is based on the determining the play is a stored play.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

initiating a further game session including a plurality of users;

transmitting a promotional advertisement for display, the promotional advertisement advocating a use of the stored play by the plurality of users; and

offering a reward to the plurality of users to play the stored play during an advertising campaign.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

associating at least one stored play with the promotional advertisement and the advertising campaign; and

providing the reward to a first portion of the plurality of users, the first portion of the plurality of users being less than or equal to a predefined threshold of users.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise providing a further advertisement corresponding to the stored play when the stored play is used in game play.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the offering of the reward is conditioned upon a use of the stored play in game play within a predefined period of time of the display of the advertisement.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise binding the stored play to an advertisement.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise receiving an advertising proposal from a prospective advertiser, the advertising proposal including at least one proposed play to be considered as a candidate stored play.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving at least one candidate play provided by a prospective advertiser;

determining the at least one candidate play is a stored play stored in the

database with a corresponding frequency of use; and

proposing an advertising campaign when the frequency of use of the stored play exceeds a predefined amount.

22. A system comprising:

a game play server configured to provide game play interaction through a network connection to at least one client machine, receive game play data including a selection criterion during a game session and a user move comprising a user-selected combination of first game elements from a set of game elements, the combination of first game elements indicating a partial word and being selected from the set of game elements in a first sequence, generate a play comprising a second sequence of game elements formed by a combination of the partial word and one or more second game elements associated with a previously played user move, and, based on the second sequence of game elements of the play, identify a first word indicated by at least a part of the second sequence of game elements and a second word indicated by at least a part of the second sequence of game elements, the first word associated with a first set of advertisements and the second word being different from the first word and being associated with a second set of advertisements;

a game data storage module configured as a non-transitory storage medium to store the game play data associated with the game session with the at least one client machine;

an ad server configured to provide a selected advertisement to the at least one client machine and retain a stored play corresponding to a predefined game play move; and

a priority module configured to prioritize a first advertisement, for the first word from the first set of advertisements, ahead of a second advertisement, for the second word from the second set of advertisements, according to the selection criterion and to cause presentation of the prioritized advertisement at the at least one client machine, the first advertisement and the second advertisement determined by searching, based at least on a received user move, a database including stored plays and associated advertisements.