Online game advertising system

• US 20040148221A1
• Filed: 01/24/2003
• Published: 07/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Massive, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Chu, Viva
• Granted Patent: US 7,729,946 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/61 using advertising information
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/209 characterized by low level software layer, relating to hardware management, e.g. Operating System, Application Programming Interface
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5506 using advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6009 for importing or creating game content, e.g. authoring tools during game development, adapting content to different platforms, use of a scripting language to create content
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0209 Incentive being awarded or redeemed in connection with the playing of a video game
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0252 based on events or environment, e.g. weather or festivals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3227 Configuring a gaming machine, e.g. downloading personal settings, selecting working parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3255 Incentive, loyalty and/or promotion schemes, e.g. comps, gaming associated with a purchase, gaming funded by advertisements

Abstract

In one embodiment an online game advertising system provides an architecture for enabling the definition, sales, distribution, and management of interactive advertisements, sponsorships, and placements that appear within an online video game as part of the game experience or during idle load, wait, and pause screens. For example, in a race car game, when a driver pulls in for a pit stop, the engine oil brand that the game player may choose may be defined as locations for advertisements or product placements for real life engine oils and game publishers and advertisers may manage what specific advertisements to place in these locations.

Claims

1. A game, comprising:

a game playing program wherein at least one part of the game playing program is configured to be populated with an add-on component.

2. The game according to claim 1, wherein said add-on component is populated from a remote source.

3. The gaming system according to claim 2, wherein said add-on component is an advertising component.

4. The gaming system according to claim 2, wherein said add-on component is an on-line billboard.

5. The gaming system according to claim 2, wherein said add-on component is a scavenger hunt area.

6. The gaming system according to claim 2, wherein the on-line billboard is dressed in a motif similar to a motif of the game playing program.

7. The gaming system according to claim 5, wherein the on-line scavenger hunt is dressed in a motif similar to a motif of the game playing program.

8. The gaming system according to claim 4, wherein the virtual billboard links to an on-line store that utilizes at least one of points accumulated during game play, and currency for payment of advertised items selected for purchase in the on-line store.

9. The gaming system according to claim 5, wherein:

the game playing program includes a character that represents a player utilizing the game playing program;

said add-on component comprises a gaming style program that implements a scavenger hunt paradigm;

the game playing program is configured to allow the player to direct the player'"'"'s representative character into the scavenger hunt area;

the add-on component is configured to allow the character to select and collect items in the scavenger hunt area; and

the add-on component is configured to allow the character to redeem the items collected in the scavenger hunt for advertised products and services.

10. A system, comprising:

a game playing program wherein at least one part of the game playing program is configured to be populated with an add-on component;

a remote server configured to store and serve at least one add-on component compatible with the game playing program; and

an interface coupled to the game playing program, the interface configured to interact with the remote server and facilitate importation of an add-on component from the remote server into said at least one part of the game playing program.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein said interface is a game service API.

12. The system according to claim 10, wherein said importation of the add-on component comprises a dynamic update of contents of at least one of an area and location within the game playing program.

13. The system according to claim 10, wherein said add-on component comprises an advertisement utilized by the game playing program.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein said advertisement comprises at least one of a promotion, placement, gift certificate, sponsorship, animation, video, graphic, text, audio, or game object or character.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein said remote server is further configured to transmit binary application code of the add-on component, and generate and transmit a license key that controls use of the add-on component.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein said remote server is further configured to register users of the system.

17. The system according to claim 15, wherein said registration includes information utilized by the system to determine eligibility of a user to download a particular game component or advertisement.

18. The system according to claim 10 further comprising:

management facilities configured to,

register advertising materials to be forwarded by the remote server to add-on components installed in game playing programs, and

manage the advertising materials according to rules associated with the advertising materials;

wherein the advertising materials appear within an on-line game as part of the game experience or during idle load, wait, and pause screens.

19. A server configured to manage an area within a program hosted on a user computer, wherein the server is remotely located from the user computer.

20. The server according to claim 19, wherein:

the program is a game program; and

the managed area implements at least part of a play space output of the game program.

21. The server according to claim 19, wherein the managed area is configured to output any of advertisement sponsorships, certificates, placements, promotions, audio, text, graphics, video, and objects used by the program.

22. The server according to claim 19, wherein the server dynamically updates the managed area by uploading programming to an API of the program, wherein the API is configured to add the uploaded programming into the program, and the uploaded programming is configured to update the managed area.

23. The server according to claim 19, wherein the server is further configured for at least one of defining, selling, distributing, and managing advertisement campaigns comprising any of advertisement sponsorships, certificates, placements, promotions, audio, text, graphics, video, and objects that are compatible with the program.

24. The server according to claim 19, wherein the server is further configured to define a virtual marketplace from which an advertisement may link to at least one of trade, collect, buy, and sell items through any of online advertisements and virtual marketplaces that have been dynamically updated into the program.

25. The server according to claim 19, wherein:

the program is a game program; and

the server is further configured to facilitate fulfillment of purchase transactions incurred by a game player from selection of an advertisement of the managed area, and bill the game player'"'"'s purchases via interaction with a third party billing system to charge the game player and credit a selling party.

26. The server according to claim 19, wherein the program is an on-line game.

27. The server according to claim 19, wherein said server is further configured to identify areas within the program that are capable of being dynamically updated from a remote source and then dynamically update the content of at least one of the identified areas.

28. The server according to claim 27, wherein the identified areas comprise at least one of a two dimensional and three dimensional space within an output of the game program.

29. A method of on-line advertising, comprising the steps of:

registering a user of a gaming system;

uploading an add-on component to a game program of the registered user, wherein the game program is configured to accept and install the add-on component; and

managing activities of the user during interactions of the user with the uploaded add-on component.

30. The method according to claim 29, wherein said add-on component comprises at least one of an advertisement, advertisement campaign, billboard, and promotional area.

31. The method according to claim 29, further comprising the steps of:

defining advertisement locations and objects by specifying at least one of spatial areas and game objects within a game in which advertisements may display; and

restricting the types of advertisements that may be displayed based on rules associated with at least one of the special areas or game objects, and advertisements.

32. The method according to claim 29, further comprising the step of:

registering advertisement locations and objects with a game advertising server by specifying advertisement locations and objects that have been defined within a game by a game developer.

33. The method according to claim 29, further comprising the steps of:

registering advertisement assets within an online game advertising server;

identifying metadata associated with the advertisement assets;

grouping a collection of the advertisement assets into campaigns; and

specifying a set of guidelines governing use of a campaign'"'"'s advertisement assets.

34. The method according to claim 33, wherein said step of specifying comprises specifying guidelines governing at least one of timing, sequence, and location of use of the campaign'"'"'s advertisement assets.

35. The method according to claim 34 wherein said guidelines are specified according to specific game environment variables and criteria that indicate if the advertisement assets can be displayed at a specified location.

36. The method according to claim 29, wherein specifying and transferring advertisement assets that have been registered with an online game advertising server comprises identifying the advertisement asset located within one system and copying or moving the advertisement asset onto the system of a multimedia server.

37. The method according to claim 33, further comprising the step of persisting advertising metadata comprising any of a description of property or a feature of an advertisement, campaign, location, display rule, or game objects and actions representing an ad, and relationships between objects into a centralized storage device.

38. The method according to claim 29, further comprising the steps of passing game play specific environment variables to the add-on component and executing calls to a server to determine what advertisements are to be displayed in specified locations within an online game according to specific display rules and environment specific variables.

39. The method according to claim 29, further comprising the steps of:

passing in to the add-on component specific variables that relate to at least one of an appearance and characteristic of an advertisement; and

requesting and transferring advertising assets that represent the advertisement.

40. The method according to claim 39, wherein said step of requesting and transferring advertising assets comprises executing calls to a multimedia server to allow for the dynamic retrieval, and any of resizing, sampling, composting, and generation of any of images, video, and audio files;

wherein said advertising assets comprise any of an image, audio, video, or other multimedia asset associated with an advertisement.

41. The method according to claim 29, further comprising the step of transferring dynamically any of resized, sampled, composted, and generated images, video, or audio files from a multimedia server to an online advertising system.

42. The method according to claim 29, further comprising the step of persisting advertising impressions, click-throughs, and game actions taken on an advertisement by saving statistical information regarding a number of views, selections, and actions performed on advertisements within an online game into a centralized storage device such as a relational database or networked file system.

43. The method according to claim 29, further comprising the step of viewing advertising reports and statistics comprised of reports that illustrate at least one of advertising impressions, click-throughs, game action histories, summaries, and other details related to advertisements implemented through the add-on component.

44. A gaming component comprising:

a software module configured to be imported into a commercially available gaming program;

wherein said software module is configured to implement an additional feature of the gaming program, the additional feature comprising at least one of an advertisement promotion, placement, certificate, sponsorship, audio, text, graphics, video, and objects used by the game program.

45. The gaming component according to claim 44, wherein

said software module implements an advertisement in the gaming program;

and

said advertisement comprises a motif that matches a motif of the gaming program.

46. The gaming component according to claim 45, wherein the advertisement comprises an entrance to a game area that implements an electronic shopping paradigm in which at least one character of the gaming program interacts.

47. The gaming component according to claim 44, wherein said software module is configured to allow a character of the gaming program to interact with the additional feature.

48. The gaming component according to claim 44, wherein said software module is configured to allow a player of the gaming program to request additional information regarding a selected advertisement.

49. The gaming component according to claim 48, wherein said request mechanism is at least one of an end of e-mail, fax, instant message, telephone call, direct mailing, and other communication.

50. The gaming component according to claim 48, wherein said software program is further configured to utilize a character to notify the player of additional information regarding an advertised product or service.

51. The gaming component according to claim 50, wherein the event is related to an advertisement activity facilitated by the software program.

52. The gaming component according to claim 44, wherein the software module is configured to receive at least one of graphics, text, audio, and video from a remote source to be used in at least one part of the additional feature.

53. The gaming component according to claim 52, wherein said at least one of graphics, text, audio, and video is advertising material.