Patent Application
20060224695
The invention relates to network communications and more specifically to auditable data reporting data.
In order to provide exposure of the products and services of their clients, advertisers are turning from traditional methods of advertising such as television, radio and signage to advertising using computing platforms. One such approach involves displaying advertisements to a person playing a video game, a gamer. In the art, providing an advertisement to a target individual is referred to as an impression and can include audio impressions, video impressions, images, etc. One complication in providing such impressions is that it is often difficult to determine exactly what a person playing a game has seen over the course of an extended period of time. Additionally, as video games increase in popularity and the use of advertising in video games increases, it is apparent that a substantial amount of data is necessary to provide reports associated with impressions provided to a group of users as well as some relative measure of the quality of the impressions.
A further complication is that data associated with advertising impressions is valuable. Specifically, unscrupulous persons might be inclined to provide reports falsely indicating that impressions that have not occurred have occurred. This benefits these persons by supporting a fictitious invoice for advertising impressions that were not impressed upon gamers. For example, Internet banner advertising was subject to significant problems when software robots were used to revisit a page including the banner repeatedly and automatically in order to artificially inflate impression counts. Advertisers who paid for advertising based on impression counts were thereby overpaying, paying based on less than honest statistical data. Clearly, advertisers do not want to overpay.
It would be beneficial to provide a system for effectively and accurately providing data associated with advertising in video games. Additionally, it would be beneficial if such a system provides data that is difficult to counterfeit or inflate.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention there is provided a non volatile storage medium having instruction data stored therein, the data for, when executed resulting in: generating a log file, the log file comprising: a public portion indicative of an identity of the log file; and, a private portion for storing data associated with an advertisement provided to a user during execution of the instructions by the processor, identifying a data connection to an external server, the instructions for establishing a threshold and upon overcoming the threshold, providing a copy of the log file to the external server; and, impressing advertisements upon a gamer.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention there is provided a method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device, comprising: providing media to user of the computing device, the media comprising an advertisement; generating a public portion of a log file in a memory of the computing device; generating a private portion of the log file, the private portion comprising data associated with the advertisement; storing the log file in a memory of the computing device; determining a threshold; upon overcoming the threshold, determining a presence of a data connection to an external server and providing a copy of the log file to the external server.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention there is provided a method of recording data associated with a presentation of an advertisement on a computing device, comprising: providing media to user of the computing device, the media comprising an advertisement; storing data within a public portion of a log file in a memory of the computing device; storing data within a private portion of the log file, the private portion comprising data associated with the advertisement; storing the log file in a memory of the computing device; determining a threshold; upon overcoming the threshold, determining a presence of a data connection to an external server and providing a copy of the log file to the external server.
The invention is now described with reference to the figures in which:
Referring to
The log file supports efficient modification to permit reception of new data associated with impressions provided to the user. As these impressions are optionally provided to the video game after the programming of the video game is completed and distributed, it is desirable to know which advertisements and product placements are provided with a known video game and who has received the impressions and associated therewith. Additionally, the log file supports encryption of data stored therein. Thus, an unauthorized user reviewing the log file would have a difficult time correctly interpreting or altering the contents of the log file; however the log file remains relatively simple to update by an authorised software program. The log file is generated according to software instructions that prevent a malicious user from simply copying the log file for the purpose of deceiving an advertising server into acknowledging that an impression has occurred more often than it has. Thus, each log file supports unique keying to reduce a likelihood that any two log files are identical. Further, entries within a log file are keyed to prevent record playback attacks on impression data reliability. A person of skill in the art will understand and appreciate how uniquely keyed files are generated and used.
In order to facilitate updating of the log file, an application program interface (API) residing within a video game software program present on the first gaming device 104 is able to update log files that it generates. Additionally, a program provided on a master server is capable of correctly interpreting data stored in log files from a variety of predetermined supported sources. This type of encryption scheme is often referred to as “write once encryption.” A person of skill in the art will appreciate that there are a variety of write once encryption methodologies that support such encryption and updating functionality.
Optionally, different games provided on a given video game device support distinct log files. Ideally, log files are stored in a non-volatile memory of the video game device however this need not be the case. In an alternative embodiment, the log file is automatically uploaded to a non-volatile memory external to the video game device when other data is uploaded from the video game device. Thus, in a video game console that does not support non-volatile memory but does support Internet connectivity, when data associated with a game session is uploaded to a game server the log file is provided to the server, for example the game server, as well. Alternatively, the log file is provided to another server when the game establishes a connection with the Internet. Clearly, in order to maintain integrity of the log file, when the log file is uploaded to an external servers it is either erased or initialized on the video gaming device.
The log files mitigate a variety of problems associated with the accurate reporting of the delivery of advertising content on a computing device. Since the log files have a private portion, creating counterfeit log files is difficult. Similarly, when the log files are generated with a unique identifier copied log files are easily identified thereby complicating the production of illegitimate log files. Additionally, since the log files are optionally updated with new data prior to being sent to an external server, the number of files being sent to the external server is more easily managed.
Referring to
A person of skill in the art will appreciate that the log files described with reference to embodiments of the invention are also suitable in other applications. For example, log files are optionally used to track product placements in suitably programmed media decoders, such as an application that provides a movie from an optical disc such as a digital versatile disc (DVD) in a personal computer. Assuming that the movie is properly encoded and designed to receive suitable product placements, the log file is useful in providing feedback associated with those advertisements that have been properly provided. Optionally, a suitably encoded media stream comprises identifiers that associate the presentation of a portion of the media stream with a predetermined set of advertisements. These advertisements are part of the original media stream and are not subject to deletion or overwriting by dynamic product placements. Such advertising content is referred to as static content. Data associated with the media stream provides information suitable for generating a corresponding log file. Thus, for example, when a scene with a predetermined static advertisement is shown in the normal viewing of the media stream, the data associated with that portion of the media stream contains information associated with advertisements that are presented. This data is then used in generating a corresponding log file.
Alternatively, instead of maintaining a single log file for a single game, a log file is maintained for numerous games, for example, for all games by a same publisher. In such an example, log file maintenance is potentially complicated due to the consistency of the log file access software, but transmission of small log files is obviated thereby improving communication efficiency and server efficiency. Within a log file of this type, game related data such as a game identifier is stored for each log entry to identify not only the advertisement, but the game within which the advertisement is displayed. Alternatively, all advertising data is recorded within the log file by a process that is industry standard allowing for a single log file to be maintained for numerous games and even for numerous publishers. Optionally, for each impression a unique impression location identifier is stored indicating the exact game and location within the game where the impression was made.
Numerous other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to one of skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60668081 | Apr 2005 | US |
