Advertising impression determination

• US 8,795,076 B2
• Filed: 07/10/2013
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• 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, Zalewski, Gary
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Kevin Y
• Application Number:
  US13/939,178
• Publication Number:
  US 20130297411A1
• Time in Patent Office: 391 Days
• Field of Search: 463 31- 34
• 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 a portion of the digital environment as an impression area as associated with an advertisement, the defined impression area being bounded by a predetermined distance from a surface of the advertisement;

executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor determines that a character is located in the defined impression area associated with the advertisement and that a line-of-sight of the character is oriented toward the advertisement; 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 oriented toward the advertisement.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the line-of-sight between the character and the advertisement is at least partially unobstructed.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the advertising impression is further based on a degree of partial obstruction and a degree of fame associated with the advertisement.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating the amount of time the character is present in the defined impression area and oriented toward the advertisement.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the advertising impression is further based on the amount of time the character is present in the defined impression area and is oriented toward the advertisement.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying a quality level of the advertisement impression, the identified quality level based on a location of the character within the defined impression area.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising dividing the defined impression area into one or more quality impression areas, wherein each quality impressions area is based on an identified quality level of an advertising impression when the character is located therein.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein a pricing scheme associated with the advertising impression is based on the identified quality level.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement is movable within the digital environment and wherein the impression area is redefined based on a change in location of the advertisement.

10. 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 a portion of the digital environment defined as an impression area associated with an advertisement, the defined impression area being bounded by a predetermined distance from a 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;

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

determines that a line-of-sight of the character is oriented toward the advertisement, 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 oriented toward the advertisement.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the end-user client device executes further instructions to determine that the line-of-sight between the character and the advertisement is at least partially unobstructed.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the advertising impression is further based on a degree of partial obstruction and a degree of fame associated with the advertisement.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the end-user client device comprises an impression counter executable to determine an amount of time the character is present in the defined impression area and oriented toward the advertisement.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the advertising impression is further based on the amount of time the character is present in the defined impression area and is oriented toward the advertisement and metadata defining a time period the character must be present in the defined impression area to establish an advertising impression.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the end-user client device executes further instructions to identify a quality level of the advertisement impression, the identified quality level based on a location of the character within the defined impression area.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the end-user client device executes further instructions to divide the defined impression area into one or more quality impression areas, wherein each quality impressions area is based on an identified quality level of an advertising impression when the character is located therein.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein a pricing scheme associated with the advertising impression is based on the identified quality level.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the advertisement is movable within the digital environment and wherein the impression area is redefined based on a change in location of the advertisement.

19. 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 a portion of the digital environment as an impression area as associated with an advertisement, the defined impression area being bounded by a predetermined distance from a surface of the advertisement;

determining that a character is located in the defined impression area associated with the advertisement and that a line-of-sight of the character is oriented toward the advertisement; 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 oriented toward the advertisement.