Population of an advertisement reference list

• US 8,626,584 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2006
• Issued: 01/07/2014
• 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, Wagner, Steven, Zalewski, Gary M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Myhre, James W
• Assistant Examiner(s): MITTAL, KRISHAN K
• Application Number:
  US11/535,370
• Publication Number:
  US 20070078989A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,660 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/14.4
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/61 using advertising information
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/69 by enabling or updating specific game elements, e.g. unlocking hidden features, items, levels or versions
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/71 using secure communication between game devices and game servers, e.g. by encrypting game data or authenticating players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/792 for payment purposes, e.g. monthly subscriptions
• 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 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3227 Configuring a gaming machine, e.g. downloading personal settings, selecting working parameters
• 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 21/812 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

A list of advertisements, products, or services for which an impression is generated during the course of a digital environment session (e.g., a video game) may be imported to a list that may be viewed at the conclusion of the digital session. The user may then visit advertiser web sites and/or view/purchase products at their leisure instead of while immersed in the digital experience. Similarly, a list of all advertisements through which an interaction occurred during the course of a video game experience (e.g., physical encounter, purchase of an in-game product, utilizing a sponsored product) may be imported to a list that may be viewed at the conclusion of a game session. The user may then visit the advertiser web sites and/or view/purchase products at their leisure instead of while immersed in the digital environment.

Claims

1. A method for generating an advertisement reference list based on user impressions of an advertisement, the method comprising:

displaying an advertisement in a digital environment;

executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor;

identifies a location of a point of view associated with the user, the location being identified within a defined impression area in the digital environment,

evaluates a line-of-sight from the location within the defined impression area to the displayed advertisement to determine a level of obstruction, and

confirms an existence of an advertisement impression of the displayed advertisement, the confirmation based on the determined obstruction level of the line-of-sight to the displayed advertisement; and

adding at least one advertisement identifier associated with the advertisement to a reference list stored in memory, the addition of information occurring in response to the confirmation of the advertisement impression.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the reference list, the reference list including the at least one advertisement identifier.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one advertisement identifier is linked to data about the advertisement.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a user is granted access to restricted content in the digital environment based on the user accessing the data about the advertisement.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the restricted content is accessed through entry of a password, the password having been provided by a sponsor of the data about the advertisement.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the restricted content is accessed by identifying a cookie at a device associated with the display of the data about the advertisement, the cookie having been provided by a sponsor of the data about the advertisement.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the restricted content is accessible by the user only after encountering a predefined number of advertisement impressions in the digital environment.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the restricted content is additional video game content.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the restricted content is additional advertisement content.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the additional advertisement content is associated with a new advertisement identifier added to the reference list.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising informing the user of the addition of the new advertisement identifier to the reference list.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein informing the user of the addition of the new advertisement identifier to the reference list excludes identifying a sponsor of the new advertisement identifier, whereby the user is required to search the advertisement list for the new advertisement identifier and search activity of the user is tracked with regard to generation of impressions of other advertisement identifiers on the reference list.

13. The method of claim 4, wherein the restricted content is bonus content associated with program content.

14. The method of claim 4, wherein the grant of access to restricted content based on user access to the data about the advertisement is subject to a time of exposure to the data about the advertisement.

15. The method of claim 4, wherein the grant of access to restricted content based on user access to the data about the advertisement is subject to a specific user interaction with the data about the advertisement.

16. The method of claim 3, wherein the data about the advertisement is accessed directly from the manufacturer or provider of a product or service referenced in the advertisement.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising providing additional information about the product or service in another communications medium.

18. The method of claim 3, wherein the data about a product or service referenced in the advertisement is accessed from a third-party.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising commencing a commercial transaction with the third-party to obtain the product or service referenced in the advertisement.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the data about the product or service referenced in the advertisement is consumer feedback about the product or service.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein a user is granted access to a product bundle based on the user completing the commercial transaction.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the product bundle is associated with a new advertisement identifier in the reference list.

23. A method for generating an advertisement reference list based on user interactions with an advertisement, the method comprising:

displaying an advertisement in a digital environment;

executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor;

identifies a location of a point of view associated with the user, the location being identified within a defined impression area in the digital environment,

evaluates a line-of-sight from the location within the defined impression area to the displayed advertisement to determine a level of obstruction, and

confirms a user interaction with the advertisement, the confirmation based on the determined obstruction level of the line-of-sight when the user interacts with the displayed advertisement; and

adding at least one advertisement identifier associated with the advertisement to a reference list stored in memory, the addition of information occurring in response to the confirmation of the advertisement interaction between the user and the displayed advertisement.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising displaying the reference list, the reference list including the at least one advertisement identifier.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the at least one advertisement identifier is linked to data about the advertisement.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein a user is granted access to restricted content in the digital environment based on the user accessing the data about the advertisement.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the restricted content is accessed through entry of a password, the password having been provided by a sponsor of the data about the advertisement.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the restricted content is accessed by identifying a cookie at a device associated with the display of the data about the advertisement, the cookie having been provided by a sponsor of the data about the advertisement.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the restricted content is accessible by the user only after encountering a predefined number of advertisement impressions in the digital environment.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the restricted content is additional video game content.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein the restricted content is additional advertisement content.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the additional advertisement content is associated with a new advertisement identifier added to the reference list.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising informing the user of the addition of the new advertisement identifier to the reference list.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein informing the user of the addition of the new advertisement identifier to the reference list excludes identifying a sponsor of the new advertisement identifier, whereby the user is required to search the advertisement list for the new advertisement identifier and search activity of the user is tracked with regard to generation of impressions of other advertisement identifiers on the reference list.

35. The method of claim 26, wherein the restricted content is bonus content associated with program content.

36. The method of claim 26, wherein the grant of access to restricted content based on user access to the data about the advertisement is subject to a time of exposure to the data about the advertisement.

37. The method of claim 26, wherein the grant of access to restricted content based on user access to the data about the advertisement is subject to a specific user interaction with the data about the advertisement.

38. The method of claim 25, wherein the data about the advertisement is accessed directly from the manufacturer or provider of the product or service referenced in the advertisement.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising providing additional information about the product or service in another communications medium.

40. The method of claim 25, wherein the data about the product or service referenced in the advertisement is accessed from a third-party.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising commencing a commercial transaction with the third-party to obtain the product or service referenced in the advertisement.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein the data about the product or service referenced in the advertisement is consumer feedback about the product or service.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein a user is granted access to a product bundle based on the user completing the commercial transaction.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the product bundle is associated with a new advertisement identifier in the reference list.

45. The method of claim 23, wherein the interaction is direct.

46. The method of claim 23, wherein the interaction is indirect.

47. A system for generating an advertisement reference list, the system comprising:

an advertisement source; and

a computing device configured to;

receive advertisement data from the advertisement source;

render the advertisement data in a digital environment;

identify a location of a point of view associated with the user, the location being identified within a defined impression area in the digital environment,

evaluate a line-of-sight from the location within the defined impression area to the displayed advertisement to determine a level of obstruction, and

confirm a communication of the advertisement data to an observer of the digital environment, the confirmation based on the determined obstruction level of the line-of-sight to the rendered advertisement; and

generate a list of advertisement data communicated to the observer of the digital environment.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein the list of advertisement data communicated to the observer of the digital environment is linked to an additional information source, the additional information source associated with the advertisement data.

49. The system of claim 47, wherein the communication of the advertisement data occurs through an advertisement impression.

50. The system of claim 47, wherein the communication of the advertisement data occurs through an interaction with the advertisement data.

51. The system of claim 50, wherein the interaction is direct.

52. The system of claim 50, wherein the interaction is indirect.

53. The system of claim 47, wherein the digital environment is a video game.

54. A computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon instructions executable by a processor to perform a method for generating an advertisement reference list based on user impressions of an advertisement, the method comprising:

displaying an advertisement in a digital environment;

identifying a location of a point of view associated with a user, the location being identified within a defined impression area in the digital environment;

evaluating a line-of-sight from the location within the defined impression area to the displayed advertisement to determine a level of obstruction;

confirming the existence of an advertisement impression; and

adding at least one advertisement identifier associated with the advertisement to a reference list, the addition of information occurring in response to the confirmation of an advertisement impression, the confirmation based on the determined obstruction level of the line-of-sight to the displayed advertisement.

55. A computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon instructions executable by a processor to perform a method for generating an advertisement reference list based on user interactions with an advertisement, the method comprising:

displaying an advertisement in a digital environment;

identifying a location of a point of view associated with a user, the location being identified within a defined impression area in the digital environment;

evaluating a line-of-sight from the location within the defined impression area to the displayed advertisement to determine a level of obstruction;

confirming a user interaction with the advertisement; and

adding at least one advertisement identifier associated with the advertisement to a reference list, the addition of information occurring in response to the confirmation of the advertisement interaction, the confirmation based on the determined obstruction level of the line-of-sight to the displayed advertisement.