Method and system for providing a digital jigsaw puzzle and using the puzzle as an online advertising vehicle

A method of advertising using a digital jigsaw puzzle comprising:

• using a teaser advertisement on a webpage that invites a player to complete the digital jigsaw puzzle;
• opening a window with the digital jigsaw puzzle when the teaser advertisement is clicked;
• dividing an image containing an advertising message into a plurality of pieces;
• displaying the pieces scattered with random orientations in a puzzle window;
• receiving input from a player to shift and rotate the pieces in the puzzle window to assemble the image;
• and
• displaying movement of the pieces responsive to the player's input.

A method of advertising using a digital jigsaw puzzle comprising:

• offering a periodic digital jigsaw puzzle challenge online;
• creating a puzzle window for the periodic digital jigsaw puzzle;
• dividing an image containing an advertising message into a plurality of pieces;
• displaying the pieces scattered with random orientations in the puzzle window;
• receiving input from a player to shift and rotate the pieces in the puzzle window to assemble the image;
• displaying advertising near the puzzle window;
• displaying movement of the pieces responsive to the player's input,
• wherein the pieces exhibit physical characteristics comprising center of mass, angular momentum, friction, and inertia;
• the pieces mimic an appearance of real puzzle pieces with bevels and shadows;
• the player can shift and rotate the pieces simultaneously;
• and the player is offered a chance to enter a contest for completing the digital jigsaw puzzle;
• and
• granting the player a chance to win a prize for each completed digital jigsaw puzzle.

A method of advertising using a digital jigsaw puzzle comprising:

• offering embed code within one or more websites that allows users to put the digital jigsaw puzzle as a widget on one or more websites, wherein the widget:
• divides an image into a plurality of pieces,
• displays the pieces scattered with random orientations in a game area,
• receives input from a player to shift and rotate the pieces in the game area to assemble the image, and
• displays movement of the pieces responsive to the player's input,
• wherein the pieces exhibit physical characteristics comprising center of mass, angular momentum, friction, and inertia;
• the pieces mimic an appearance of real puzzle pieces with bevels and shadows;
• the player can shift and rotate the pieces simultaneously;
• and the player is offered a chance to enter a contest for completing the digital jigsaw puzzle;
• and
• displaying advertising within the jigsaw puzzle widget.

A digital jigsaw puzzle system, comprising:

• a puzzle image database configured to store puzzle images;
• a puzzle module configured to:
• divide a puzzle image containing an advertising message into a plurality of pieces;
• display the pieces scattered with random orientations in a puzzle window;
• receive input from a player to shift and rotate the pieces in the puzzle window to assemble the image;
• display movement of the pieces responsive to the player's input, wherein the pieces exhibit physical characteristics comprising center of mass, angular momentum, friction, and inertia;
• a communications module configured to receive input from a player to shift and rotate the pieces, wherein the player can shift and rotate the pieces simultaneously;
• and
• a display module configured to display the digital jigsaw puzzle and movements of the pieces, wherein the pieces exhibit physical characteristics comprising center of mass, angular momentum, friction, and inertia;
• the pieces mimic an appearance of real puzzle pieces with bevels and shadows;
• and the player is offered a chance to enter a contest for completing the digital jigsaw puzzle.

A method for providing a digital jigsaw puzzle, the method comprising:

• receiving from an advertising party, by a game server, an advertisement that the advertising party wishes to place in the form of a jigsaw puzzle by the game server;
• identifying, by the game server, an image representative of the advertisement to placed in the form of the jigsaw puzzle;
• accepting, by the game server, the identified image as an input for generating a jigsaw puzzle;
• dividing, by the game server, the identified image into a plurality of pieces;
• displaying, by the game server, the pieces scattered with random orientations in a game area associated with an end user, the end user being a recipient of the advertisement;
• receiving, by the game server, input from a player to shift and rotate the pieces in the game area to assemble the image;
• displaying, by the game server, movement of the pieces responsive to the player's input, wherein the pieces exhibit physical characteristics comprising center of mass, angular momentum, friction, and inertia;
• the pieces mimic an appearance of real puzzle pieces with bevels and shadows;
• the player can shift and rotate the pieces simultaneously;
• upon completion of the jigsaw puzzle by the end user, displaying, by the game server, a resulting representation of the identified image, the resulting representation serving as the advertisement the advertising party wishes to place.