US 8,527,334 B2Granted

Advertising revenue sharing

AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation

InventorsErik Porter, Tobin R. Titus, Ernest A. Booth, Mario Esposito, Vincent Edward Bannister

Life of this patent

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Abstract

Technologies are described herein for sharing advertisement revenue. An advertiser-generated avatar is provided to a first participant. The advertiser-generated avatar may be associated with an advertisement. Further, the first participant may be associated with a current avatar. The current avatar is replaced with the advertiser-generated avatar. While the first participant is associated with the advertiser-generated avatar, a level of interaction between the first participant and other participants is monitored. An amount of compensation to provide the first participant is determined based on the level of interaction between the first participant and the other participants. The compensation is provided to the first participant.

Claims8

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method for providing advertising through an avatar, the computer-implemented method comprising computer-implemented operations for:

providing, by a computer having a processor and a memory, an advertiser-generated avatar to a first participant, the advertiser-generated avatar associated with an advertisement, the first participant having control of a current avatar, the current avatar comprising a first animated character representation associated the first participant, the advertiser-generated avatar comprising a second animated character representation associated with the advertisement, the current avatar and the advertiser-generated avatar are adapted to traverse a virtual world and interact with other avatars controlled by other participants;
replacing, by the computer, the current avatar with the advertiser-generated avatar such that the first participant gains control of the advertiser-generated avatar and loses control of the current avatar, the advertiser-generated avatar traverses the virtual world as controlled by the first participant;
while the first participant has control of the advertiser-generated avatar, monitoring, by the computer, a level of interaction between the first participant and other participants via the advertiser-generated avatar controlled by the first participant and the other avatars controlled by the other participants by monitoring an effectiveness of the interaction between the first participant and the other participants, the effectiveness based on an amount of times spent by the other participants discussing the advertiser-generated avatar and the advertisement associated with the advertiser-generated avatar, and an amount of purchases that are made by the other participants as a result of interacting with the advertiser-generated avatar;
determining, by the computer, an amount of compensation to provide the first participant based on the level of interaction between the first participant and the other participants;
and
providing, by the computer, the compensation to the first participant relative to the determined level of interaction.

3 more elements

A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

provide an advertiser-generated avatar to a first participant of a virtual world, the advertiser-generated avatar associated with an advertisement, the first participant controlling a current avatar, the current avatar comprising a first animated character representation associated the first participant, the advertiser-generated avatar comprising a second animated character representation associated with the advertisement, the current avatar and the advertiser-generated avatar are adapted to traverse a virtual world and interact with other avatars controlled by other participants;
replace the current avatar with the advertiser-generated avatar such that the first participant gains control of the advertiser-generated avatar and loses control of the current avatar, the advertiser-generated avatar traverses the virtual world as controlled by the first participant;
receive a request from a second avatar controlled by a second participant of the virtual world to interact with the advertiser-generated avatar while the first participant has control of the advertiser-generated avatar;
monitor an effectiveness of the interaction between the advertiser-generated avatar and the second avatar controlled by the second participant, the effectiveness based on an amount of time spent discussing the advertiser-generated avatar and the advertisement associated with the advertiser-generated avatar, and an amount of purchases that are made by the second participant as a result of the interacting with the advertiser-generated avatar;
upon receiving the request from the second avatar to interact with the advertiser-generated avatar while the first participant has control of the advertiser-generated avatar, provide a question regarding a product or service brand associated with the advertisement from the advertiser-generated avatar to the second avatar, and provide a first compensation to the first participant in response to the request;
receive from the second avatar an answer to the provided question;
determine whether the answer is correct;
upon determining that the answer is correct, provide a second compensation to the second participant in response to the answer being correct;
and
upon determining that the answer is incorrect, providing a brand-accurate message regarding the product or service brand to second participant.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 11/965,732Filed 27 Dec 2007
Published: US 2009/0167766 A12 Jul 2009
Granted: 3 Sep 2013
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

G06Q 30/02
Commerce: marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
G06Q 30/0203
Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data: market surveys; Market polls
G06Q 30/0209
Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates: incentive being awarded or redeemed in connection with the playing of a video game
G06Q 30/0222
Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates: during e-commerce, i.e. online transactions