Matching advertising to game play content

• US 9,373,125 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2011
• Issued: 06/21/2016
• 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:
  US13/244,739
• Publication Number:
  US 20120252573A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,730 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 computer-implemented method comprising:

determining a content of a first advertisement message and a second advertisement message that are candidates for inclusion within an online game;

receiving play information indicating use of an in-game play by a first subset of users in the online game, the in-game play comprising a user-selected combination of first letter elements from a set of letter elements and a second letter element associated with a previously played in-game play, the first letter elements being selected from the set of letter elements in a first sequence to form a partial word, the combination of first letter elements and the second letter element forming a word from the partial word by arrangement thereof in a second sequence, the word being user-selected to cause gameplay progress;

determining, by a computer, a meaning of the in-game play by comparing the in-game play to a net of stored plays;

associating, by the computer, the first advertisement message and the second advertisement message with the in-game play based on the content of the first advertisement message and of the second advertisement message matching the meaning of the in-game play;

transmitting, by the computer, a promotion of the play to a device of a second user in the online game, the promotion identifying the in-game play and including the first advertisement message, the second user not being a member of the first subset of users;

receiving an indication of the play having been played by the second user in the online game; and

in response to the receiving of the indication, transmitting the second advertisement message to the device of the second user.

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

in response to the determining the meaning of the in-game play, retrieving a frequency of use of the in-game play;

determining that the frequency of use of the in-game play satisfies a frequency condition;

offering a selected play to an advertiser as a candidate advertisement trigger when the frequency of use of the in-game play satisfies the frequency condition; and

from the advertiser, receiving a purchase indication associated with the in-game play.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the frequency condition is a frequency of use of the in-game play that is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold frequency value.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein associating the advertisement message with the play being carried out by one of an advertiser and a gaming provider.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising storing the play information in a storage device.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the content of the advertisement message includes at least one of a term, a phrase, a symbol, and a graphic depiction.

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

storing the play and an associated link into a data structure, wherein the link being operative to locate the advertisement message.

7. 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:

determining a content of a first advertisement message and a second advertisement message that are candidates for inclusion within an online game;

receiving play information indicating use of an in-game play by a first subset of users in the online game, the in-game play comprising a user-selected combination of first letter elements from a set of letter elements and a second letter element associated with a previously played in-game play, the first letter elements being selected from the set of letter elements in a first sequence to form a partial word, the combination of first letter elements and the second letter element forming a word from the partial word by arrangement thereof in a second sequence, the word being user-selected to cause gameplay progress;

determining, by a computer, a meaning of the in-game play by comparing the in-game play to a set of stored plays;

associating, by the computer, the first advertisement message and the second advertisement message with the in-game play based on the content of the first advertisement message and of the second advertisement message matching the meaning of the in-game play;

transmitting, by the computer, a promotion of the play to a device of a second user in the online game, the promotion identifying the in-game play and including the first advertisement message, the second user not being a member of the first subset of users;

receiving an indication of the play having been played by the second user in the online game; and

in response to the receiving of the indication, transmitting the second advertisement message to the device of the second user.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, the operations further comprising:

in response to the determining the meaning of the play, retrieving a frequency of use of the play;

determining that the frequency of use of the play satisfies a frequency condition;

offering a selected play to an advertiser as a candidate advertisement trigger when the frequency of use of the play satisfies the frequency condition; and

from the advertiser, receiving a purchase indication associated with the play.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the frequency condition is a frequency of use of the play that is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold frequency value.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein associating the advertisement message with the play being carried out by one of an advertiser and a gaming provider.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable method of claim 7, the operations further comprising storing the play information in a storage device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, the operations further comprising:

storing the play and an associated link into a data structure, wherein the link being operative to locate the advertisement message.

12. A system comprising:

a game play server configured to provide game play interaction through a network connection to at least one client machine;

a game data storage module configured to store game play data associated with an online game session with the at least one client machine, the game play data including play information indicating use of an in-game play by a first subset of users of the at least one client machine, the in-game play comprising a user-selected combination of first letter elements from a set of letter elements and a second letter element associated with a previously played in-game play, the first letter elements being selected from the set of letter elements in a first sequence to form a partial word, the combination of first letter elements and the second letter element forming a word from the partial word by arrangement thereof in a second sequence, the word being user-selected to cause gameplay progress;

a determination module configured to determine a content of a first advertisement message and a second advertisement message and a meaning of the plays by comparing the plays to a set of stored plays;

a promotion module configured to promote the play to a second user of an online game by transmitting a promotion to a device of the second user, the promotion identifying the in-game play and including the first advertisement message, the meaning of the play matching the content of the first advertisement message and of the second advertisement message, the second user not being a member of the first subset of users;

an association module configured to associate the first advertisement message and the second advertisement message with the play based on the determined content of the first advertisement message and the second advertisement message matching the determined meaning of the play; and

a communication module configured to transmit the second advertisement message in response to receiving an indication of the promoted play having been played.