Matching advertising to game play content

• US 9,373,126 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2011
• Issued: 06/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zynga Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Zynga Incorporated
• Inventors: Chow, Michael, Rouse, Justin, Holme, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): D'AGOSTINO, PAUL ANTHONY
• Application Number:
  US13/244,858
• Publication Number:
  US 20120252574A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,730 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

An advertisement is associated with a particular user move in a gaming environment where playing of the user move by a user results in the advertisement being displayed at the user'"'"'s gaming device. With multiple users, each play of a unique user move results in a corresponding uniquely targeted advertisement being displayed at the respective gaming device of each user. User moves and associated advertisements are bound to one another based on a frequency of use of the user move in game play and the desirability of the advertiser to associate the advertisement with the user move.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving at a client device advertising information comprising a set of advertisements and a corresponding set of advertisement triggers associated with the set of advertisements;

responsive to the receipt of the advertising information, pre-caching the advertising information on the client device;

receiving a play including a selection criterion and a user move-during a game session of a computer-implemented game executed on the client device, the user move comprising a user-selected combination of first letter tiles from a set of letter tiles, the combination of first letter tiles indicating a partial word and being selected from the set of letter tiles in a first succession;

at the client device, identifying a word indicated by the selected combination of first letter tiles and a second letter tile associated with a previously played user move, the word identified based on a second succession and having a predefined meaning;

in an automated operation performed by the client device in response to the identifying of the word, retrieving a first advertisement and a second advertisement from the set of advertisements, the first advertisement and the second advertisement each relating to the word indicated by the combination of the first letter tiles and the second letter tile based on a correspondence between the word and a particular advertisement trigger of the set of advertisement triggers;

using at least one processor of the client device, evaluating, according to the selection criterion, the first advertisement and the second advertisement to produce a first valuation and a second valuation respectively; and

in response to the evaluating, causing display of the first advertisement at the client device when, according to the selection criterion, the first valuation exceeds the second valuation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection criterion is one of a set of instructions and a set of standards, the selection criterion being a rule of evaluation to differentiate one advertisement over another according to the evaluating.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection criterion includes one of a maximum advertisement purchase price, a maximum price paid to purchase an advertising campaign including the respective advertisement, and a maximum price per click associated with receipt of a selection indication corresponding to an advertisement.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection criterion includes one of a maximum relationship ranking of an advertiser corresponding to the advertisement and the frequency of use of the user move triggering the advertisement, the relationship ranking indicative of a relationship between a gaming provider and the advertiser.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first valuation and the second valuation include one of a monetary amount, a monetary amount per click, a frequency of use, a temporal measure of recency, and a relationship ranking.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first advertisement and the second advertisement include a respective advertisement property, wherein the respective advertisement property is at least one of a purchase price, a purchase price of an inclusive advertising campaign, a price per click associated with receipt of a selection indication, a relationship ranking of an associated advertiser, a frequency of use of a triggering user move, and a time since a most recent display.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of advertisement triggers include a set of stored plays, the method further comprising:

transmitting the plurality of advertisements and the set of stored plays to the client device during a pre-configuration of a game corresponding to the play and prior to initiating an instance of the game.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the play includes at least one of a further user move, a game type identifier, a corresponding user move frequency of use, and a game play location.

9. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including instructions, that when implemented by at least one processor perform operations comprising:

receiving at a client device advertising information comprising a set of advertisements and a corresponding set of advertisement triggers associated with the set of advertisements;

responsive to the receipt of the advertising information, pre-caching the advertising information on the client device;

receiving a play including a selection criterion and a user move-during a game session of a computer-implemented game executed on the client device, the user move comprising a user-selected combination of first letter tiles from a set of letter tiles, the combination of first letter tiles indicating a partial word and being selected from the set of letter tiles in a first succession;

at the client device, identifying a word indicated by the selected combination of first letter tiles and a second letter tile associated with a previously played user move,

the word identified based on a second succession and having a predefined meaning;

in an automated operation performed by the client device in response to the identifying of the word, retrieving a first advertisement and a second advertisement from the set of advertisements, the first advertisement and the second advertisement each relating to the word indicated by the combination of the first letter tiles and the second letter tile based on a correspondence between the word and a particular advertisement trigger of the set of advertisement triggers;

using at least one processor of the client device, evaluating, according to the selection criterion, the first advertisement and the second advertisement to produce a first valuation and a second valuation respectively; and

in response to the evaluating, causing display of the first advertisement at the client device when, according to the selection criterion, the first valuation exceeds the second valuation.

10. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the selection criterion is one of a set of instructions and a set of standards, the selection criterion being a rule of evaluation to differentiate one advertisement over another according to the evaluating.

11. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the selection criterion includes one of a maximum advertisement purchase price, a maximum price paid to purchase an advertising campaign including the respective advertisement, and a maximum price per click associated with receipt of a selection indication corresponding to an advertisement.

12. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the selection criterion includes one of a maximum relationship ranking of an advertiser corresponding to the advertisement and the frequency of use of the user move triggering the advertisement, the relationship ranking indicative of a relationship between a gaming provider and the advertiser.

13. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the first valuation and the second valuation include one of a monetary amount, a monetary amount per click, a frequency of use, a temporal measure of recency, and a relationship ranking.

14. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the first advertisement and the second advertisement include a respective advertisement property, wherein the respective advertisement property is at least one of a purchase price, a purchase price of an inclusive advertising campaign, a price per click associated with receipt of a selection indication, a relationship ranking of an associated advertiser, a frequency of use of a triggering user move, and a time since a most recent display.

15. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the set of advertisement triggers include a set of stored plays, the operations further comprising:

transmitting the plurality of advertisements and the set of stored plays to the client device during a pre-configuration of a game corresponding to the play and prior to initiating an instance of the game.

16. A system comprising:

a client device configured to provide game play to a user, the game play including a set of user moves, with each user move comprising a user-selected combination of first letter tiles from a set of letter tiles, the combination of the first letter tiles indicating a partial word and being selected from the set of letter tiles in a first succession;

a local storage module of the client device configured to store plays, user moves, selection criterion, and advertising information comprising advertisements and advertisement triggers, each stored user move including a combination of the first letter tiles and a second letter tile;

a determination module, comprising one or more processor of the client device, to determine the word indicated by the selected combination of the first letter tiles and the second letter tile, the word identified based on a second succession and having a predefined meaning; and

an evaluation module, comprising the one or more processor of the client device, configured to evaluate an advertisement and produce a valuation according to a selection criteria provided during the game play.