Patent Application
20060135231
The instant invention relates generally to in-game advertising, and more particularly to a system and a method of local content cache manipulation for in-game advertising.
The World Wide Web (WWW) has provided a very effective system for sharing information between computing devices. New applications that take advantage of the functionality of the WWW help to improve the popularity of the WWW. Increases in the number of users of the WWW serves to provide further incentive to develop new applications.
Computer gaming is an area has received major advances from WWW related developments. Since its origins, dating back to the early seventies of the last century, computer gaming has undergone a period of substantial growth. In addition, computer games that make use of the WWW have broadened their role to support social interactions and interpersonal relationships. Specifically, such games support what is called “on-line computer gaming.” The seemingly ubiquitous nature of the Internet allows numerous games from all over the world the opportunity to interact together via on-line computer gaming.
Recently, computer gaming with on-line enabled platforms has gained tremendous popularity, and today thousands of gamers all around the world are playing relying on on-line connectivity. While some people stereotype such gamers as children most of whom are male, this is not accurate. Specifically gamers cover a wide range of ages. In addition, both females and males play computer games on-line. Predictably, the increasing computing power available to computing devices along with interactive on-line computer gaming are gradually providing convergence of games and entertainment media. Such convergence is believed to also provide numerous opportunities for new businesses.
Thus, due to their dynamic nature as well as due to their specific appeal to certain audiences, computer games and especially games played on Internet enabled platforms provide the ideal vehicle for dynamic advertising. Not only is it possible for an advertiser to directly target a specific group of customers, but advertisements directly incorporated into the computer games are also supported thereby providing product placement within the virtual environment of a video game. When presenting advertising data to a gamer during a video game session, it is important to provide the advertising data in an available fashion that does not compromise the quality of the advertisement or the quality of the game execution.
A method of providing advertising content when needed is to cache the advertising data within the gaming platform in anticipation of its being required. Then, when new advertising content is necessary, it merely replaces the existing advertising content. Unfortunately, this system supports advertisements displayed for long periods but is ill suited to rotating advertisements or to advertisements that change frequently.
It would be advantageous to provide a system and method that overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.
In accordance with the invention there is provided a method comprising: executing a first video game session on a first computing device; allocating a portion of read-write memory of the first computing device for caching of advertising data therein; downloading advertising data from a remote server via a communications network; storing the advertising data in the portion of read-write memory; and, storing within memory a directory of contents of the portion of read-write memory.
In accordance with embodiments of the invention there is provided a method comprising: providing a read-write memory storage providing a video game; providing advertising spots within the game for impressing of advertising data therefrom; determining impressions of content within the advertising spots upon a gamer playing the video game; storing within the read-write memory storage first data relating to a plurality of impressions; and, at intervals, communicating an impression report in dependence upon the stored first data.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a storage medium having instruction data stored therein, the instruction data for when executed resulting in performance of: executing a first video game session on a first computing device; allocating a portion of read-write memory of the first computing device for caching of advertising data therein; downloading advertising data from a remote server via a communications network; storing the advertising data in the portion of read-write memory; and, storing within memory a directory of contents of the portion of read-write memory.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention there is provided a storage medium having instruction data stored therein, the instruction data for when executed resulting in performance of: providing a read-write memory storage providing a video game; providing advertising spots within the game for impressing of advertising data therefrom; determining impressions of content within the advertising spots upon a gamer playing the video game; storing within the read-write memory storage first data relating to a plurality of impressions; and, at intervals, communicating an impression report in dependence upon the stored first data.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a system comprising: a first computing device comprising a read-write memory and a processor for: executing a first video game session on a first computing device; allocating a portion of read-write memory of the first computing device for caching of advertising data therein; downloading advertising data from a remote server via a communications network; storing the advertising data in the portion of read-write memory; and, storing within memory a directory of contents of the portion of read-write memory.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention there is provided a system comprising: read-write memory; a processor for: providing a read-write memory storage; providing a video game; providing advertising spots within the game for impressing of advertising data therefrom; determining impressions of content within the advertising spots upon a gamer playing the video game; storing within the read-write memory storage first data relating to a plurality of impressions; and, at intervals, communicating an impression report in dependence upon the stored first data.
The invention is now described with reference to the drawings in which:
As the computing capability of personal computers and gaming console systems improve there is a strong motivation to provide increasingly realistic, and hence, more computationally intensive video games. Similarly, the cost of development of modern video games is very high and as more effort is placed in making the games more realistic their development costs increase. Impressing advertising from within video games is one way of mitigating the costs of developing a video game.
Referring to
The prior art of Ebisawa teaches playing a video game and receiving a new advertisement that is integrated into the video game each new day the game is played. Using the teachings of Ebisawa, it is clear that a game developer is able to integrate downloaded advertisements into a video game. While this is very beneficial, it is also somewhat crude. For example, if one were to play a video game in which a realistic urban environment is mimicked by a virtual environment of a video game it is clear that a wide variety of advertisements would be downloaded to make the environment realistic. For example, in the downtown section of most cities there are billboards and signs lining the streets. In addition, the make and model of an automobile also provides an advertising impression and large cargo trucks often have advertisements on their cargo boxes. Further still, people often wear clothing that promotes specific clothing manufacturers, professional sports teams, tourist destinations and other trademarked brands. Thus, using the teachings of Ebisawa it is not apparent how the advertisements would be stored, presented and managed to provide a realistic environment. Specifically, using the teachings of Ebisawa one might produce a video game that downloads data associated with an automobile. In a downtown scene it is not unlikely that twenty different automobiles would be visible. Clearly, if all of the automobiles appear generic then the sense of realism that the game developer would like to provide suffers. Conversely, if all the automobiles are the same make and model according to a same advertisement then the virtual environment is presented in a very unrealistic fashion. Finally, if all the automobiles are different, then storage required on the video game storage medium—DVD—is large and therefore might impinge on the game content, which would make the video game experience less enjoyable. The teaching of Ebisawa does not suggest how to manage the advertising data used to present advertisements.
Referring to
Data relating the ad spots is provided to the broker server 203 via the public network 202. The broker server 203 directs the computing device 201 to an authorized advertising server 205. The advertising server 205 determines a set of advertisements that are consistent with the various ad spots. The advertising server 205 determines if there is sufficient memory available in the memory cache to receive the advertising data. When the size of the cache is insufficient, optionally additional memory is allocated to the memory cache. Alternatively, the memory cache size remains same and only a subset of advertising data is downloaded. This advertising data is then transferred to the computing device 201 and stored in the memory 201a. In addition to providing the advertising data, the advertising server 205 additionally provides campaign data to the computing device 201 regarding choosing advertising data for the ad spots. Thus, to use a simplified example, in the event that it is desired to simulate a highway with cars on it, the presence of a car is a type of ad spot. As the virtual environment of the video game is carefully mimicking a realistic environment it is important to provide a wide variety of different automobile data to support different instances of the same type of advertising spot. In this case, the ad spot is a virtual car. As it is desired to show a wide variety of different cars, it is desirable to have a variety of different advertising data relating to different cars. When a variety of different car producers choose to advertise this way, the mix of car brands is realistic and the type and frequency of cars shown is specified in the campaign data.
Using the data relating to the ad spots, the advertising server 205 provides guidelines for which automobiles are to be presented in the various instances of the ad spots. Thus, a relatively common model of automobile is more frequently presented than an exotic car in accordance with the guidelines. In this way, the highway environment is realistically portrayed. Alternatively, an advertiser that pays more is more represented on the highway than an advertiser that pays less. Clearly, other media, such as images on billboard signs and a song that plays on a car stereo of a virtual car are also treated in an analogous fashion. Specifically, for a given ad spot multiple advertisements, in the form of advertising data, are supported. Thus, in the case of the car stereo clearly once a song finishes, it is desirable to provide a new song. In this way, the providing of an environment that is not overly repetitive results. Using the car stereo example, the gamer optionally provides an input signal to the virtual car stereo when the music provided in the video game is not to their liking. The video game then simulates changing radio stations by prematurely ending a current music track and providing a different music track.
A person of skill in the art will appreciate that a wide variety of guidelines are optionally supported. For example, one simple guideline is to provide the advertisements for a given ad spot in a predetermined order. Thus, when it is specified to have more of one type of advertisement than another, it is a simple matter to make additional copies of the advertising data that is to be provided more frequently. Clearly, other options are supported, for example, the advertising server 205 optionally specifies that advertising data associated with a specific advertisement is only to be presented a fixed number of times and counter is maintained to record the number of times the advertisement is presented. Once the counter reaches the predetermined value the computing device attempts to make contact with the advertising server 205 to initiate a cache management event. In this case, the computing device established data communications with the broker server and reports that the advertisement has been presented the predetermined number of times. Alternatively, a relative frequency of a present set of advertising data is dependent on providing other advertising data. For example, as it is desirable to only show an exotic car on occasion one might choose to specify that an exotic car is only presented after showing one hundred advertisements corresponding to other cars that are more conventional. A person of skill in the art will appreciate that a computing device is capable of providing advertisements in accordance with guidelines consistent with a variety rules. As previously mentioned the advertising server 205 specifies the guidelines by providing data in association with the advertising data. Thus, the advertising data present within the memory 201a of the computing device 201 is “managed” by a remote computing device. Optionally, advertising data is only provided to and removed from the memory 201a when the computing device 201 is in data communications with the advertising server 205.
It is apparent that in many cases it is not practical to download all of the advertising data each time a video game session is initiated. Thus, in a second embodiment, prior to providing data relating the ad spots to the advertising server 205, the computing device 201 reviews the memory 201a for existing advertising data. When advertising data is identified, advertisement identity data sufficient for identifying the advertising data is reported when the advertising server 205 is contacted. The advertising server 205 uses the advertisement identity data to determine a set of advertising data currently present within the memory 201b of the computing device 201. The advertising server 205 then determines a set of desired advertising data. Clearly, when the advertising server 205 specifies that advertising data currently present in the memory 201a is desired there is no rational for downloading it to the memory 201a. Thus, the advertising server 205 acts to provide only that advertising data that is not currently present within the memory 201a. This serves to reduce the length of time used to download advertising data to the computing device 201. Clearly, this is particularly useful when a large non-volatile memory suitable for storing advertising data is available to the computing device.
Preferably, the reported advertising data includes information sufficient for identifying the advertising data uniquely. Typically, this includes an identifier, a version number, and potentially some of the campaign data associated therewith.
A memory cache is used for storing the advertising data. Each video game that supports dynamic advertising with a similar cache management process via the same computing device reserves a different portion of the memory as an advertising data cache. Alternatively, each video game relies on a same cache and stores advertising data within a same portion of a same cache. Referring to
The gamer stops playing the first video game and begins playing a second, other video game using the computing device 304. The first and second video games support a common set of rules for providing advertisements in video games. When the second video game is executed by the computing device, the computing device establishes data communications with the broker server 305. The broker server directs the computing device to communicate with an advertising server. The computing device provides data detailing what advertising data it currently has available in the memory cache. The advertising server determines a set of advertisements. Advertising data for providing advertisements specified by the advertising server that is not already present with the memory cache is downloaded to the computing device via the public network and stored in the memory cache 306. Clearly, it is beneficial to reduce a likelihood of storing redundant advertising data. In this way, the memory cache supports a wide variety of different advertisements each relating to one or more video games. Clearly, updating the memory cache and purging old advertising data is carried out according to a common set of rules specified by the broker server and the advertising server. Thus, in a first mode of operation, each advertisement is provided with a counter and when the counter reaches a predetermined value the advertisement is flagged as being old. Alternatively in a second mode of operation each advertisement is provided with a counter for different games supported by the computing device. Thus, if a same advertisement is provided in driving game and a flying game there is a first counter associated with providing the advertisement in the driving game and a second counter associated with providing the advertisement in the flying game. In addition, other video games executed by the computing device also support the same copy of the advertisement by incrementing other counters. Additional information regarding acquiring and providing metrics data for advertising in video games is provided in U.S. patent application 60/636,543, filed 17 Dec. 2004.
Alternatively, the advertisement is provided with a temporal indicator indicating when the advertisement is stale. An advertisement is stale when it is no longer current and is therefore unnecessary. When stale, an advcertisement is available to be purged from the cache.
In order to provide a solid business case to support advertising in video games, it is desirable to be able to provide data indicative of impression metrics for advertisements impressed thereby. In U.S. Pat. No. 6.036,601 by Heckel, issued 14 Mar. 2000 (Heckel) a system for reporting the presentation of an advertisement within a video game is provided. The method of Heckel relies upon providing video game software with a plug-in that supports the presentation and recording of the presentation of advertisements. As the data is transferred by a plug-in associated with a specific game, it is apparent that the plug-in only reports the presentation of advertisements associated with the video game that has the plug-in. Clearly, the prior art of Heckel is highly beneficial when the gamer plays their video game while their computing device supports a network data connection with an external server, as would be the case when one plays against other gamers via an Internet connection. In the event that the gamer registers their software but does not play the video game while supporting an Internet data connection then the advertisements are shown but not reported according to the teaching of Heckel. In contrast, a video game advertising system that supports a memory cache need not be limited to providing advertisement reporting data—impression data—when the gamer is playing the video game while supporting an Internet connection. Specifically when the memory cache is provided at a predetermined memory location, another program is optionally used to transfer the reporting data. Referring to
Using the present embodiment, the reporting data associated with the aforementioned four video games is optionally reported to the broker when the gamer plays the fifth video game while supporting a network connection. Specifically, the gamer plays video games absent an active Internet connection 401. During the course of gameplay, advertisements within the video games are presented to the gamer 402. The video games support a common standard for recording and reporting the presentation of advertising content. The presentation of the advertisements is recorded for later uploading to a broker 403. The gamer then initiates a video game session while supporting a network connection. During the video game session, a computing device supporting the video game session establishes a data connection to a broker server 404. The broker server queries the computing device to determine if the computing device supports other video games that also support the same broker server and if these video games have reporting data 405. The computing device identifies such video games and identifies reporting data associated with each of the video games 406. The computing device then uploads the advertising reporting data—impression metrics data—for each of the video games 407. Once the record data is provided to the broker the records are reset to a default condition indicating that all presentation of the advertisement have been reported. Alternatively, history data is maintained for use by the video game software. Clearly, a gamer may play a game frequently but with most of their gaming sessions played alone, while another is frequently played in competition with other gamers via an Internet connection. When an Internet connection is not always available, the gamer often chooses not to enable the Internet connection unless necessary. It is clear that in the present embodiment all of the reporting data is provided to the broker unless none of the games are played while the computing device is in communication with the broker server.
Referring to
Optionally, the reporting records are uploaded to the broker server and new advertising data is optionally provided to the memory cache each time a video game is registered. In this way, gamers who register their games but do not play video games online still provided their reporting records and are able to receive new advertisements.
Numerous other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to one skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
This application claims benefit from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/636,544 filed on Dec. 17, 2004, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60636544 | Dec 2004 | US |
