Shared advertising with virtual worlds

• US 10,304,063 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2007
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Kreitzer, Stuart S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Donlon, Ryan D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kang, Irene S
• Application Number:
  US11/954,997
• Publication Number:
  US 20090157493A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,185 Days
• Field of Search: 705 14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising

Abstract

A method (400, 500) of advertising. The method can include communicating to a client (106) a hyperlink corresponding to a virtual world (300) and associating with the hyperlink an identifier corresponding to an advertisement (302) to be presented to a user (108) in the virtual world during a user session. The method also can include identifying an identifier (114) corresponding to an advertisement to be displayed in a virtual world during a user session in response to receiving a request (116) from a client identifying a uniform resource identifier corresponding to the virtual world, and presenting the advertisement within the virtual world during the user session. A method (600) of providing financial incentives for advertising can include receiving an advertising activity indicator (120, 122) and processing the advertising activity indicator to determine financial incentives to be provided to an entity associated with the website.

Claims

1. A method of integrating advertising that was previously presented to a user on a webpage into a virtual world with which the user is interacting, comprising:

via a first server, communicating, to a client, an advertisement that is presented on a web page that includes a hyperlink to a virtual world (i) that is a computer-simulated environment, (ii) that is hosted on a second server operated by a different entity than an entity that operates the first server, and (ii) that enables multiple different users to simultaneously interact within the virtual world via avatars;

receiving data indicating that the first user selected the hyperlink to the virtual world;

in response to receiving the data indicating that the first user selected the hyperlink to the virtual world, presenting, within the virtual world while the first user is interacting with the virtual world, the advertisement based on (i) the first user selecting the hyperlink to the virtual world and (ii) the hyperlink to the virtual world being included in the webpage that presented the advertisement, wherein the advertisement is not presented to a second user that is interacting with the virtual world at a same time as the first user, wherein the second user did not select an additional hyperlink to the virtual world while an additional webpage presented the advertisement and the additional hyperlink to the virtual world; and

responsive to the advertisement being presented in the virtual world, providing a financial incentive to the different entity that operates the second server that hosts the virtual world.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the particular advertisement comprises communicating to the client a uniform resource identifier (URI) parameter that identifies the advertisement.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the advertisement comprises communicating to the client a parcel of text that identifies the advertisement.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to a user selection of the hyperlink to the virtual word, communicating an advertisement activity indicator to an advertisement activity monitor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement is presented to the user at a particular location within the virtual world.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement is presented to the user at a plurality of locations in the virtual world.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement is continuously presented to the user in the virtual world.

8. The method of claim 2, comprising:

providing, for display on an additional web page that is accessed by the second user, the advertisement and a hyperlink to the virtual world;

determining that the second user did not select the hyperlink to the virtual world; and

based on determining that the second user did not select the hyperlink to the virtual world and based on the web page including the advertisement, generating data that relates an additional hyperlink with an additional identifier corresponding to an additional advertisement that is not related to the first advertisement, that is provided by an additional advertiser, and that is to be presented to the second user in the virtual world during a user session.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the advertisement to continue to be visible to the first user within the virtual world as the first user moves about the virtual world, while not causing the advertisement to be visible to other users in the virtual world who did not select an additional hyperlink to the virtual world, wherein the additional hyperlink to the virtual world is included in an additional webpage that presented the advertisement.

10. A method of advertising, comprising:

responsive to receiving a request from a client identifying a uniform resource identifier corresponding to a virtual world that is a computer-simulated environment, that is operated by an entity, and that enables multiple different users to simultaneously interact within the virtual world via avatars, via a server that hosts the virtual world, identifying an identifier corresponding to an advertisement that is provided by an advertiser and that is to be displayed in the virtual world during a user session of a first user, wherein the advertisement corresponds to the request from the client;

presenting, within the virtual world while the first user is interacting with the virtual world, the advertisement based on (i) the first user selecting a hyperlink to the virtual world and (ii) the hyperlink to the virtual world being included in a webpage that presented the first advertisement, wherein the advertisement is not presented to a second user that is interacting with the virtual world at a same time as the first user, wherein the second user did not select an additional hyperlink to the virtual world while an additional webpage presented the first advertisement and the additional hyperlink to the virtual world; and

in response to a user selection of the advertisement during the user session of the first user, communicating an advertisement activity indicator to an advertisement activity monitor, the advertisement activity indicator comprising data that indicates (i) that a user linked to the virtual world from a website that included the advertisement and (ii) that indicates a financial incentive is to be provided to the entity that operates the virtual world.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein identifying the identifier comprises identifying a uniform resource identifier (URI) parameter communicated in the request, the URI parameter identifying the advertisement.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein identifying the identifier comprises identifying a parcel of text communicated in the request, the parcel of text identifying the advertisement.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein presenting the advertisement within the virtual world comprises communicating to the client a hyperlink comprising a URI.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

during the user session, associating a hyperlink with the advertisement and communicating the hyperlink to a client, the hyperlink comprising a URI parameter associated with a website or another virtual world.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

during the user session, associating a hyperlink with an additional advertisement and communicating the hyperlink to a client, the hyperlink comprising a URI parameter associated with a website or another virtual world.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein presenting the advertisement within the virtual world comprises presenting the advertisement at a particular location within the virtual world.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein presenting the advertisement within the virtual world comprises presenting the advertisement at a plurality of locations in the virtual world.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein presenting the advertisement within the virtual world comprises continuously presenting the advertisement.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software comprising instructions executable by one or more computers which, upon such execution, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

via a first server, communicating, to a client, an advertisement that is presented on a web page that includes a hyperlink to a virtual world (i) that is a computer-simulated environment, (ii) that is hosted on a second server operated by a different entity than an entity that operates the first server, and (ii) that enables multiple different users to simultaneously interact within the virtual world via avatars;

receiving data indicating that the first user selected the hyperlink to the virtual world;

in response to receiving the data indicating that the first user selected the hyperlink to the virtual world, presenting, within the virtual world while the first user is interacting with the virtual world, the advertisement based on (i) the first user selecting the hyperlink to the virtual world and (ii) the hyperlink to the virtual world being included in the webpage that presented the advertisement, wherein the advertisement is not presented to a second user that is interacting with the virtual world at a same time as the first user, wherein the second user did not select an additional hyperlink to the virtual world while an additional webpage presented the advertisement and the additional hyperlink to the virtual world; and

responsive to the advertisement being presented in the virtual world, providing a financial incentive to the different entity that operates the second server that hosts the virtual world.