Determining appearances of objects in a virtual world based on sponsorship of object appearances
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
- providing, by a computing system, a plurality of objects in a virtual world generated for presentation to a user of an online system, each object having an organic appearance determined by the online system based on information associated with the user by the online system;
receiving, by the computing system, from one or more advertisers, a plurality of sponsorship requests for sponsoring appearances of objects in the virtual world, each sponsorship request including information describing a sponsored appearance of an object in the virtual world and a bid amount specifying an amount of compensation to the online system for displaying the object using the sponsored appearance;
identifying, by the computing system, an opportunity to present one or more objects in the virtual world to the user of the online system;
for one or more of the objects in the virtual world;
generating, by the computing system, a score for the organic appearance of the object based on an affinity of the user for the organic appearance,generating, by the computing system, a score for a sponsored appearance of the object included in a sponsorship request based on an affinity of the user for the sponsored appearance and the bid amount of the sponsorship request including the sponsored appearance of the object, andselecting, by the computing system, an appearance of the object from the organic appearance and the sponsored appearance for the object based on the generated scores; and
providing, by the computing system, the selected appearances of the one or more objects to a client device for display to the user, wherein the received sponsorship requests include targeting criteria and wherein generating the score for the sponsored appearance of the object included in the sponsorship request based on the affinity of the user for the sponsored appearance and the bid amount of the sponsorship request including the sponsored appearance of the object comprises;
identifying one or more candidate sponsored appearances for the user based on the targeting criteria, each candidate sponsored appearance included in a sponsorship request including at least a threshold number of targeting criteria satisfied by characteristics of the user;
generating scores for each of the candidate sponsored appearances based on affinities of the user for each of the candidate sponsored appearances and bid amounts included in the sponsorship requests including the candidate sponsored appearances; and
selecting a set of sponsored appearances for the object from the candidate sponsored appearances based at least in part on the generated scores for each of the candidate sponsored appearances.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An online system provides objects for presentation to a user via a virtual world, each object having an organic appearance for display. The online system receives sponsorship requests for sponsoring appearances of one or more objects in the virtual world. A sponsorship request includes information describing a sponsored appearance of an object and a bid amount identifying compensation to the online system for using the sponsored appearance. When presenting an object to a user via the virtual world, the online system selects an appearance for the object from the object'"'"'s organic appearance and one or more sponsored appearances based on characteristics of the user and bid amounts in the sponsorship requests including the sponsored appearances. The online system then presents the object to a user via the virtual world using the selected appearance.
11 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
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providing, by a computing system, a plurality of objects in a virtual world generated for presentation to a user of an online system, each object having an organic appearance determined by the online system based on information associated with the user by the online system; receiving, by the computing system, from one or more advertisers, a plurality of sponsorship requests for sponsoring appearances of objects in the virtual world, each sponsorship request including information describing a sponsored appearance of an object in the virtual world and a bid amount specifying an amount of compensation to the online system for displaying the object using the sponsored appearance; identifying, by the computing system, an opportunity to present one or more objects in the virtual world to the user of the online system; for one or more of the objects in the virtual world; generating, by the computing system, a score for the organic appearance of the object based on an affinity of the user for the organic appearance, generating, by the computing system, a score for a sponsored appearance of the object included in a sponsorship request based on an affinity of the user for the sponsored appearance and the bid amount of the sponsorship request including the sponsored appearance of the object, and selecting, by the computing system, an appearance of the object from the organic appearance and the sponsored appearance for the object based on the generated scores; and providing, by the computing system, the selected appearances of the one or more objects to a client device for display to the user, wherein the received sponsorship requests include targeting criteria and wherein generating the score for the sponsored appearance of the object included in the sponsorship request based on the affinity of the user for the sponsored appearance and the bid amount of the sponsorship request including the sponsored appearance of the object comprises; identifying one or more candidate sponsored appearances for the user based on the targeting criteria, each candidate sponsored appearance included in a sponsorship request including at least a threshold number of targeting criteria satisfied by characteristics of the user; generating scores for each of the candidate sponsored appearances based on affinities of the user for each of the candidate sponsored appearances and bid amounts included in the sponsorship requests including the candidate sponsored appearances; and selecting a set of sponsored appearances for the object from the candidate sponsored appearances based at least in part on the generated scores for each of the candidate sponsored appearances. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A computer-implemented method comprising:
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providing, by a computing system, a plurality of objects in a virtual world generated by an online system, each object having an organic appearance for display at a client device; receiving, by the computing system, a plurality of sponsorship requests for sponsoring appearances of objects in the virtual world, each sponsorship request including information describing a sponsored appearance of an object in the virtual world and a bid amount specifying an amount of compensation to the online system for displaying the object using the sponsored appearance; identifying, by the computing system, an opportunity to present an object in the virtual world to a user of the online system; generating, by the computing system, a score for the organic appearance of the object based on an affinity of the user for the organic appearance; generating, by the computing system, a score for a sponsored appearance of the object included in a sponsorship request based on an affinity of the user for the sponsored appearance and the bid amount of the sponsorship request including the sponsored appearance of the object; and selecting, by the computing system, an appearance of the object from the organic appearance and the sponsored appearance for the object based on the generated scores; and providing, by the computing system, the selected appearance of the object to a client device for display to the user, wherein the received sponsorship requests include targeting criteria and wherein generating the score for the sponsored appearance of the object included in the sponsorship request based on the affinity of the user for the sponsored appearance and the bid amount of the sponsorship request including the sponsored appearance of the object comprises; identifying one or more candidate sponsored appearances for the user based on the targeting criteria, each candidate sponsored appearance included in a sponsorship request including at least a threshold number of targeting criteria satisfied by characteristics of the user; generating scores for each of the candidate sponsored appearances based on affinities of the user for each of the candidate sponsored appearances and bid amounts included in the sponsorship requests including the candidate sponsored appearances; and selecting the sponsored appearance for the object from the candidate sponsored appearances based at least in part on the generated scores for each of the candidate appearances. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
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provide a plurality of objects in a virtual world generated by an online system, each object having an organic appearance for display at a client device; receive a plurality of sponsorship requests for sponsoring appearances of objects in the virtual world, each sponsorship request including information describing a sponsored appearance of an object in the virtual world and a bid amount specifying an amount of compensation to the online system for displaying the object using the sponsored appearance; identify an opportunity to present an object in the virtual world to a user of the online system; generate a score for the organic appearance of the object based on an affinity of the user for the organic appearance; generate a score for a sponsored appearance of the object included in a sponsorship request based on an affinity of the user for the sponsored appearance and the bid amount of the sponsorship request including the sponsored appearance of the object; and select an appearance of the object from the organic appearance and the sponsored appearance for the object based on the generated scores; and providing the selected appearance of the object to a client device for display to the user wherein the received sponsorship requests include targeting criteria and wherein the instructions causing the processor to generate the score for the sponsored appearance of the object included in the sponsorship request based on the affinity of the user for the sponsored appearance and the bid amount of the sponsorship request including the sponsored appearance of the object comprise instructions causing the processor to; identify one or more candidate sponsored appearances for the user based on the targeting criteria, each candidate sponsored appearance included in a sponsorship request including at least a threshold number of targeting criteria satisfied by characteristics of the user; generate scores for each of the candidate sponsored appearances based on affinities of the user for each of the candidate sponsored appearances and bid amounts included in the sponsorship requests including the candidate sponsored appearances; and select the sponsored appearance for the object from the candidate sponsored appearances based at least in part on the generated scores for each of the candidate appearances. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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Specification