Advertising impression determination

• US 8,574,074 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2005
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: van Datta, Glen, Zalewski, Gary
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuff, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Kevin Y
• Application Number:
  US11/241,229
• Publication Number:
  US 20070079331A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,958 Days
• Field of Search: 463 31- 33
• US Class Current: 463/33
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/46 Computing the game score
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/50 Controlling the output signals based on the game progress
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/5258 by dynamically adapting the position of the virtual camera to keep a game object or game character in its viewing frustum, e.g. for tracking a character or a ball
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/61 using advertising information
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/803 Driving vehicles or craft, e.g. cars, airplanes, ships, robots or tanks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/535 for monitoring, e.g. of user parameters, terminal parameters, application parameters, network parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5506 using advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/61 Score computation
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8017 Driving on land or water; Flying
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0276 Advertisement creation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44012 involving rendering scenes according to scene graphs, e.g. MPEG-4 scene graphs
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 : involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47205 : for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4781 : Games
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47815 : Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4825 : using a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlists
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 : involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 : involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8453 : by locking or enabling a set of features, e.g. optional functionalities in an executable program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8583 : by creating hot-spots
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 : with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

Systems and methods for defining and tracking advertising campaigns across a channel video game network are disclosed. The system allows advertisements to be dynamically activated in video games. Advertisements are tracked to determine user impressions and user exposure to the advertisement. In the system, an impression area is defined relative an advertisements in the game. Methods for redefining the impression area or for accounting for the existence of obstructions that distort the view of the advertisement are also provided.

Claims

1. A method for verifying an advertising impression in a digital environment, the method comprising:

defining an impression area within the digital environment, the defined impression area being stored in memory as associated with an advertisement, wherein one or more bounds of the impression area are defined based on an angle relative to a vector normal to a surface of the advertisement and a distance from the surface of the advertisement;

executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor determines that a character is in the defined impression area associated with the advertisement, wherein a line-of-sight from the character in the defined impression area to the advertisement is determined to be at least partially unobstructed; and

updating advertising impression information stored in memory regarding the advertisement, the advertising impression based on the determination that the character is in the defined impression area associated with the advertisement and the determination that the line-of-sight of the character is at least partially unobstructed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the line-of-sight of the character in the digital environment is a first-person point of view.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the line-of-sight of the character in the digital environment is a third-person point of view.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating the amount of time the character is present in the impression area, the character having an unobstructed line-of-sight with the advertisement.

5. A system for verifying an advertising impression in a digital environment, comprising:

an advertising server configured to deliver advertising content to an end-user client device, the advertising content comprising metadata associated with an impression area defined within the digital environment, wherein one or more bounds of the impression area are defined based on an angle relative to a vector normal to a surface of an advertisement and a distance from the surface of the advertisement; and

an end-user client device configured to execute instructions stored in a memory of the end-user client device, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor of the end-user client device;

processes the metadata for rendering the advertisement in the digital environment,

determine that a character is present in the defined impression area as defined by the metadata,

determines that a line-of-sight from the character in the defined impression area to the advertisement is at least partially unobstructed, and

updates advertising impression information stored in memory regarding the advertisement, the advertising impression based on the determination that the character is in the defined impression area associated with the advertisement and the determination that the line-of-sight of the character is at least partially unobstructed.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the metadata further defines a time period the character must be present in the impression area to establish an advertising impression.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the end-user client device comprises an impression counter executable to determine the time period the character is present in the impression area.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the impression counter terminates determining the time period the character is present in the impression area when a line-of-sight of the character is obstructed by an object in the impression area.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the impression counter continues determining the time period the character is present in the impression area when the line-of-sight of the character is no longer obstructed by the object in the impression area.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the impression counter is reset when the line-of-sight of the character is no longer obstructed by the object in the impression area.

11. The system of claim 5, further comprising a payment processing center that processes a payment when the character is present in the impression area.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor to perform a method for verifying an advertising impression in a digital environment, the method comprising:

defining an impression area within the digital environment, the defined impression area being stored as associated with an advertisement, wherein one or more bounds of the impression area are defined based on an angle relative to a vector normal to a surface of the advertisement and a distance from the surface of the advertisement;

determining that a character is in the defined impression area associated with the advertisement, wherein a line-of-sight from the character in the defined impression area to the advertisement is determined to be at least partially unobstructed; and

updating advertising impression information regarding the advertisement, the advertising impression based on the determination that the character is in the defined impression area associated with the advertisement and the determination that the line-of-sight of the character is at least partially unobstructed.