USER SPECIFIC ADVERTISING IN A VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Embodiments of the present provides methods and systems for presenting user-specific advertising material in a virtual environment in response to a digital trigger. A method includes presenting a virtual environment to a user, wherein the user has a presence in the virtual environment as an avatar capable of activating one or more digital triggers. An object is embedded in said virtual environment. The object is communicatively connected to a server and is capable of presenting the user-specific advertising material when one or more digital trigger is activated. If there is a digital trigger activated by the user in the virtual environment then at least one advertising material is displayed via the object in response to the digital trigger, wherein said advertising material is visible to the user when said digital trigger is activated.

Claims

1. A method of presenting user-specific advertising material in a virtual environment, comprising: presenting, by a presenting module, a virtual environment to a user, wherein the user has a presence in the virtual environment as an avatar; embedding, by an advertising module, an object in said virtual environment, the object is communicatively connected to a server, wherein the object is capable of presenting the user-specific advertising material when one or more digital trigger is activated; determining, by the advertising module, if there is a digital trigger activated in the virtual environment; and presenting, by the presenting module, at least one advertising material via the object based on the digital trigger, wherein said advertising material is visible to or heard by the user when said digital trigger is activated.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising enabling, by the presenting module, the user to trigger one or more digital triggers, wherein the one or more digital triggers is activated when the avatar is within an activation zone for the object, wherein both the object and the advertising material is presented when the digital trigger is activated, further wherein the object and the advertising material is live rendered in run-time, fully native to ensure no negative user experience, wherein the digital trigger comprises system generated triggers and triggers based on user inputs.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising quantifying, by a user engagement module, user engagement with the object, wherein the quantifying comprises quantifying the engagement of the avatar of the user with the object.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the quantification of the user engagement is based on based on at least one of: a duration of time the avatar remains in the activation zone of said object, wherein the object comprises at least one of an image, an audio, and a video; a position of the avatar with respect to the object during the time the avatar remains in the activation zone of said object; and a duration of time the avatar interacts with the object with respect to the duration of time the avatar remains in the activation zone of said object.

5. The method of any one of claims 4 further comprising charging, by a payment module, a fee from an advertiser of the advertising material, wherein the fee is proportional to the quantity and a quality of user engagement with the object in the activation zone, wherein the advertising material comprising at least one of an audio, a video, and an image.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the virtual environment exists with a computer game, further wherein the avatar of the user is a character in the computer game, wherein the computer game is a 3D computer game played with a first-person perspective.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising tracking and recording, by the advertising module, one or more interactions of the user with at least one of the displayed object and the displayed advertising material.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the activation zone is created by a collider embedded with the object in the virtual environment, wherein the virtual environment comprising at least one of a virtual reality environment, an augmented reality environment, a computer game, and a digital environment.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising enabling, by an uploading module, the user to upload personal content for appearing in the computer game, wherein the presenting module displays the personal content of the user as part of the computer game.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the user-specific advertising material is determined based on user information extracted from at least one of an IP address of the user, and user information extracted from a computer game user account of the user.

11. A system for presenting user-specific advertising material in a virtual environment, comprising: a presenting module configured to present a virtual environment to a user, wherein the user has a presence in the virtual environment as an avatar, wherein the presenting module enables the user to trigger one or more digital triggers; and an advertising module configured to: embed an object in said virtual environment, the object is communicatively connected to a server, wherein the object is capable of presenting the user-specific advertising material when one or more digital trigger is activated; and determine if there is a digital trigger in the virtual environment, wherein the presenting module presents at least one advertising material via the object based on the digital trigger, wherein said advertising material is visible to or heard by the user when said digital trigger is activated.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the digital trigger is activated when the avatar is within an activation zone for said object, wherein both the object and the advertising material is displayed only when the digital trigger is activated, further wherein the object and the advertising material is live rendered in run-time, fully native to ensure no negative user experience, wherein the digital trigger comprises system generated triggers and triggers based on user inputs.

13. The system of claim 12 further comprising a user engagement module configured to quantify user engagement with the object, wherein the user engagement module quantifies the engagement of the avatar of the user with the object, wherein the object comprises at least one of an image, an audio, and a video.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the user engagement module quantifies the user engagement based on at least one of: a duration of time the avatar remains in the activation zone of said object; a position of the avatar with respect to the object during the time the avatar remains in the activation zone of said object; and a duration of time the avatar interacts with the object with respect to the duration of time the avatar remains in the activation zone of said object.

15. The system of claim 14 further comprising a payment module configured to charge a fee from an advertiser of the advertising material, wherein the fee is proportional to the quantity and a quality of user engagement with the object in the activation zone, wherein the advertising material comprising at least one of an audio, a video, and an image, wherein user engagement comprises one or more interactions via user control input.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the virtual environment exists with a computer game, further wherein the avatar of the user is a character in the computer game, wherein the computer game is a 3D computer game played with a first-person perspective.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the advertising module is further configured to track one or more interactions of the user with at least one of the displayed object and the displayed advertising material.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the activation zone is created by a collider embedded within the object in the virtual environment, wherein the virtual environment comprising at least one of a virtual reality environment, an augmented reality environment, a computer game, and a digital environment.

19. The system of claim 18 further comprising an uploading module configured to enable the user to upload personal content for appearing in the computer game, wherein the presenting module displays the personal content of the user as part of the computer game.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the user-specific advertising material is determined based on user information extracted from at least one of an IP address of the user, and user information extracted from a computer game user account of the user.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0071] Preferred features, embodiments and variations of the invention may be discerned from the following detailed description which provides sufficient information for those skilled in the art to perform the invention. The detailed description is not to be regarded as limiting the scope of the preceding summary of the invention in any way.

[0072] Specific embodiments of the present invention are described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0073] FIG. 1 shows a flow chart of developing a computer game for use in the method of the present disclosure (A) and game when used for the method of the present disclosure (B);

[0074] FIG. 2 is a view of a computer game when (A) the digital trigger has not been activated and (B) when the digital trigger has been activated;

[0075] FIG. 3 shows the capture of user engagement data in relation to (A) size and closeness of the advertising material and (B) skew of the advertising material;

[0076] FIG. 4 shows the capture of user engagement data in relation to the percentage of the advertising material visible to the user;

[0077] FIG. 5 shows the capture of user engagement data in relation to the obstruction of the advertising material from the view of the user;

[0078] FIG. 6 shows the capture of user engagement data in relation to the ratio change of the advertising material from the view of the user;

[0079] FIG. 7 is a schematic of the components of the method of the present disclosure and the communicative connections; and

[0080] FIG. 8 illustrates use of pixel sampling by the system of the present disclosure to identify how much of the ad is being shown to the user or player in the virtual environment.

[0081] Referring to FIG. 1, the method of the present disclosure may be utilised to display user-specific advertising material in a virtual environment that is within a computer game, wherein the user is manifested as an avatar that is a player in the game. As per FIG. 1(A), the object is a plug-in that can be selected when the game developer is building the game using a game engine such as, for example, Unreal Engine or Unity. The object becomes part of the virtual environment of the end product computer game and can then be registered to participate in the method of the present disclosure (i.e., the object is registered to be in communication with one or more servers and activate the required functionality) prior to the game being completed and released for sale and use.

[0082] The method includes creating a means for game developers to create a stream of advertising revenue that is effectively built into the computer game (i.e., it is inherent to the product that is the computer game) such that the revenue is not dependent on sales of the game, but rather use of the game irrespective of whether the user of the game purchases the game or pays to use the game.

[0083] FIG. 1(B) shows the basic process of the method of the present disclosure once the computer game has been built with the embedded object that is capable of presenting the user-specific advertising material. In the embodiment described, the object cannot be seen in the virtual environment, and the digital trigger for presenting the advertising material is the avatar of the user moving into an activation zone within the virtual environment. Upon activation, the user information is collected and sent to a server for evaluation, wherein an appropriate advertisement is selected from a server. The advertising material is sent from said server to the computer game in real time to be displayed, wherein by “displayed” is meant that the object become visible as a canvas for the advertising material to be viewed by the user as long as the avatar of the user is in the activation zone. In real time, user engagement information with the advertising material is collected and sent back to a server to be quantified and presented to the owners of the advertising material to allow for the amount of advertising revenue owed to the game developer (or the game publisher) to be determined.

[0084] FIG. 2 exemplifies the process of FIG. 1(B) in a virtual environment 1 that is a computer game. The images shown are of an overview of the virtual environment as seen by the game developer, but the embodiments described in the following figures are based on the avatar of the user being a character in a game 30, which is played from a first-person perspective, wherein the user is essentially seeing the footage that would be filmed from a hypothetical camera on or near the head of the avatar (simulating eye level), or following just behind the avatar (the “in-game camera” 31).

[0085] FIG. 2(A) shows a schematic (i) and a game view (ii) of a virtual environment 1, wherein the object is a tile for advertising material 10 that has a 3D activation zone 20 in the shape of a sphere surrounding the tile, wherein the tile cannot be seen in the game by the in-game camera 31 because the avatar 30 is not within the activation zone. In the embodiment shown, the tile 10 is essentially a 2D billboard/poster/canvas type object, wherein the advertising material 11 is projected on the tile. In FIG. 2(B), the avatar 30 enters the activation zone 20 and the tile 10 becomes visible to display the advertising material 11, which is viewed from the perspective of the in-game camera 31. While the activation zone is shown in FIG. 2, the boundaries of the zone would generally not be seen within the virtual environment of the computer game. When the avatar leaves the activation zone, the tile 10 and the advertising material 11, would no longer be seen by the user.

[0086] FIGS. 3-6 show how the user engagement with the object may be quantified. There are various methods to capture the engagement metrics of the user, and these methods may relate to determinations of the quality of the view the user has of the advertising material, which may correlate to the amount of advertising revenue owed to the developer of the computer game, or may merely be informative. Ideally, the user would be able to view the advertising material as intended (i.e., a full view, front on, unobstructed), but this cannot be guaranteed in embodiments of the invention where the advertising material is displayed in a 3D environment and the view of the material can be determined by the movements of the avatar and the view of the in-game camera (i.e., even if the avatar is moving forward, the in-game camera may be able to view a different angle). As such, deviations from the user having a perfect view of the advertising material may be correlated to advertising revenue, and the capability to detect these deviations would be comprised within the plug-in for the tile inserted in the game during development. It would be understood that the more information in relation to user engagement that could be captured via the object embedded in the game, the more accurately advertisers may be charged for the advertising material displayed in the computer game.

[0087] In embodiments of the invention, information in relation to user engagement captured during game play may include recognition of when a user is looking at the advertising material (this may not be limited to the user seeing the advertising material on the screen, but may also include recognition of when the avatar/in-game camera is directly facing the advertising material), the duration of the user looking at the advertising material, how far from the advertising material the avatar is, at what angle the user is viewing the advertising material, how big the advertising material is on the screen being viewed by the user, and/or whether the user directly interacts with the advertising material in the virtual environment. In preferred embodiments of the invention wherein the virtual environment is a computer game and the avatar must enter an activation zone for the tile to display the advertising material, the user engagement is measured form the commencement of the display until such time as the avatar exits the activation zone and the advertising material is no longer displayed. Measurements continue after leaving the activation zone.

[0088] FIG. 3(A) shows the full screen of a game view (i) and a schematic view (ii) and of a virtual environment 1, wherein the object is a tile 10 for presenting advertising material 11, wherein the digital trigger has been activated. The view shown is from the in-game camera as a first-person perspective, and represents what the user would see on the screen. In the figure shown, the tile with the advertising material takes up 5% of the user's view of the screen when activated, though the viewing percentage may be between 1% and 100% of the screen. In other embodiments of the invention, the viewing percentage may be, for example, about 10%, about 15%, about 20%, about 30%, about 45%, about 50%, about 75%, about 90% or about 99%. It would be understood that in FIG. 3(A), if the avatar of the user were to move closer to the tile with the advertising material 10,11, the viewing percentage would increase, and vice versa. This may be correlated to an increase/decrease in advertising revenue.

[0089] FIG. 3(B) shows the full screen of a game view (i) and a schematic view (ii) and of a virtual environment 1, wherein the object is a tile 10 for presenting advertising material 11, wherein the digital trigger has been activated. The view shown is from the in-game camera, and represents what the user would see on the screen. Because the virtual environment of the computer is a 3D environment, and the view of tile with the advertising material 10,11 embedded in the game may be skewed depending on the position of the avatar and the perspective of the in-game camera. In FIG. 3(B), the angle c between the user view vertical axis (line a) and 2D projection vertical axis of the advertising material 11 on the tile 10 (line b) is shown. The user may direct their avatar move around the tile with the advertising material 10, 11 (but within the activation zone), resulting in an unskewed view of the advertising material, which could correlate to an increase in advertising revenue.

[0090] FIG. 4 shows the full screen of a game view (iii) and a schematic view (i) and ii) and of a virtual environment 1, wherein the object is a tile 10 for presenting advertising material 11, wherein the digital trigger has been activated and the avatar is close to tile. Because the virtual environment of the computer is a 3D environment and the avatar may activate the digital trigger for presenting the advertising material from various angles and may move around the tile presenting the advertising material once it is activated, and the view of tile with the advertising material 10,11 embedded in the game may be truncated depending on the position of the avatar and the perspective of the in-game camera. The view shown is from the in-game camera, and represents what the user would see on the screen. FIG. 4(i) shows the full tile with the advertising material 10, 11 and the space the tile would occupy if the avatar was further away from the tile in the virtual environment 1. As seen from FIG. 4(ii) and (iii), based on the perspective of the in-game camera, a portion 12 of the advertising material is visible to the user viewing the screen, while a portion 13 of the advertising material cannot be seen. The user may direct their avatar move within the virtual environment, which, provided the avatar remains in the activation zone, may result in a full view of the advertising material, which could correlate to an increase in advertising revenue.

[0091] Referring to FIG. 5, the user view of tile for presenting the advertising material may be obstructed or obscured by components 40 of the virtual environment 1 that are part of the computer game. In embodiments of the invention, ray-casts (or lines-traces) may be projected from the in-game camera to the tile presenting the advertising material to determine what the user can and cannot see on the screen they are viewing, and this can detect if the view of the advertising material is obstructed, and this functionality would be comprised within the plug-in for the tile inserted in the game during development. FIG. 5(i) shows an avatar 30 seen by the user of a screen with a first-person perspective view (based on an in-game camera behind the avatar) that has entered the activation zone for the tile presenting the advertising material 10,11, but there are other game components not linked to the tile in the virtual game environment that are blocking the view of the advertising material 40. In particular (as shown in FIG. 5(ii)) (which is a view of the game from outside of the in-game camera, as captured during game development), a section 41 of the obstacle 40 is blocking a portion 13 of the advertising material, wherein only the portion 12 is visible to user on the screen. The user may direct their avatar move within the virtual environment and around the obstacle 40, which, provided the avatar remains in the activation zone, may result in a full view of the advertising material, which could correlate to an increase in advertising revenue.

[0092] FIG. 6 shows the full screen of a game view (iii) and a schematic view (ii) and of a virtual environment 1, wherein the object is a tile 10 for presenting advertising material 11, wherein the digital trigger has been activated. FIG. 6 shows that the view the user has of the tile presenting the advertising material may be skewed (FIG. 6(iii)), and the change in the ratio of the advertising material as intended to be viewed (FIG. 6(i)), and the how the advertising material 10, 11 is viewed by the user from a first person perspective of an avatar in the virtual environment 1 (FIG. 6(ii) and (iii)), can be calculated.

[0093] FIG. 7 shows a high-level architecture diagram of the components of an embodiment of the method invention. In the embodiment shown, the backend comprises servers, databases and containers, and the reporting Dashboard provides metrics for the Advertiser, the Publisher (i.e. game developer) and any associated advertising Agency, preferably through an App. As seen from the diagram, when the user activates the digital trigger, an advertising material request (AdRequest) is made based on the user information (stored in a database), and the user-specific advertising material is selected from an advertiser database and displayed to the user (subject to information stored in a Publisher database). The user engagement data (AdMetrics) is then sent back to the database for analysis and reporting on the Dashboard after manipulation. The Advertiser database would include details of the advertiser, the advertising material and type (i.e. image or video), the aspect ratio and image resolution information of the advertisements, and/or advertiser approvals for the types of games that are appropriate for the advertising material (i.e., age restrictions). The Publisher database would include, for example, all details about the game wherein the tiles have been embedded, types of content allowed for the game and any exclusions.

[0094] In some embodiments, an advertising material may be shown in the virtual environment to the user for example, in response to a digital trigger. The system of the present disclosure is configured to identify how much of the advertising material to be shown to the user (i.e. player of the computer game in the virtual environment). In some embodiments, the system may use pixel sampling as shown in the FIG. 8 to identify how much of the ad is being shown to the player. In pixel sampling, the system grabs every frame of the rendered game and compares it to as many ads (i.e. advertising material) are potentially on screen. There may be a predefined limit e.g. 16 ads on number of advertising material that can be shown in the virtual environment (e.g. a computer game being played on a screen of the computer of the user). For each on-screen ad, the disclosed system may invert the camera's perspective to flatten the screen version of the ad and compare that to the original ad, at a 64×64 resolution. The comparison may involve de-lighting the screen version, to make it more similar to the original ad provided by the server, and a categorisation of 0 (ad visible) or 1 (ad blocked) for the hue, saturation and value components of each pixel. If any of the HSV components are blocked, we say the pixel is blocked. The black and white image is reduced to 1 grey pixel to get the average visibility of that ad for that frame.

[0095] In some embodiments, the disclosed system may allow developers of the virtual environment such as, computer game to choose what style of advertisement or advertising material is appropriate for the virtual environment or computer game. A broad stroke of limited top-level filters may provide enough scope to account for the majority of developer use cases. In some embodiments, the system may use metatags for matching game styles with advertising material for the virtual environment or the game.

[0096] The style of the advertising material creative, individual elements inside of a creative can be mixed however the overall look and feel of an advertisement may need to fit a defined category. The non-limiting examples of the category for the advertising material may include Logo and/or Text, Abstract, Stylised, and Realistic. The Logo and/or Text may include an ad creative which only contains text and/or logos and a plain background Other possible category names: Basic/Simple/Pure/Minimal. The Abstract may include an ad creative that contains elements that consist primarily of shape, form, colour and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. The Stylised may include an ad creative that contains image elements which are heavily stylised or exaggerated to the point of not being real. The Realistic may include an ad creative that contains photographic elements or imagery that may not be considered stylised.

[0097] Further, in some embodiments, the system (or the advertising module of the system) is configured to identify the player (i.e. the user) across computer games, platforms and engines without the existence of current methods using a browser cookie. The system may assign a unique identifier to the player (or the user) based on which the player may be identified across various computer games or virtual environments. The system may use a combination of information to identify unique devices. For example, the system may use an IP address recorded from the initial webrequest to the server. The IP address then may be enriched with other data that the system have about this IP such as previous sessions or behaviours and locations. On desktop platforms, the system may grab or capture a hash of the system hardware classes. For mobile devices the system may grab an Android or iOS hardware id as well as the devices Advertising Identifier.

[0098] Further, the disclosed system is configured to enable each Ad Space in the virtual environment to request a unique advertisement for presenting. This means if there are five Ad Spaces in the virtual environment then these five ad spaces can accommodate or display five different advertisements or advertising material. Further, the system is configured to present advertising material by matching the ad type with a background of the virtual environment or game type so that ads don't stuck out. This means the advertising material displayed may be based on the background or type of the virtual environment. In some embodiments, to ensure that the players experience (e.g. experience of playing games) is not affected because of large number of unique ads on screen, the system may allow Ad Spaces to share advertisements. This means the system may allow a large number of Ad Spaces to be on screen (or display of the computer of the user) all showing the same ad, the ads telemetry data can be aggregated and the players experience remains unaffected. This may also allow the system to cater for sports games with a large number of banner ads. The system may be configured to ‘link’ ad spaces together, so as to display the same ad on all the ‘linked’ ad spaces. This may help with performance, and allow the developer to easily mimic real world situations like ads around the side of a soccer stadium. The system may allow the developers (or the user) to create child or Synchronized Ad Spaces that inherit the parent Ad Space's functionality. This allows to show the same advertisement of a group of Ad Spaces, for example a repeated banner ad around the outside of a sports stadium. The system may download the advertisement texture at run time and load it onto a material) such as advertising material) that is shared between all synchronized Ad Spaces. Further, the system of the present disclosure is configured to collect data such as, but not limited to, telemetry data from each of Ad Space individually and send to the server for aggregated. The server may be in communication with the system.

[0099] The advertising material may be of one or more advertisers. The system may track and record of the user(s) with the advertising material of the advertiser(s) and may generate one or more metrics such as, impressions. The system may share these metrics with the advertisers and allow the advertisers to link the metrics to their current way of doing things for further tracking or marketing etc. with third parties such as, but not limited to, Google Campaign Manager. In some embodiments, the system may allow the advertisers to implement a way for integrating in game advertising with google campaign manager to show and verify the impressions.

[0100] For example, the advertisers may use the system to generate impression tag URL(s). the advertisers then may use the system or an interface of the system to configure an advertising campaign with impression tag URL(s). When a user or gamer plays a game that is connected to the system of the present disclosure, then the system may deliver advertising material comprising one or more ads to user/gamer, and telemetry is sent from the gamer to the system. The system may process the telemetry and uses a suitable method such as, but not limited to, an impression quality algorithm to determine if an impression occurred. When the impression has occurred, the system may trigger the impression tag URL, this in turn may send information to the advertisers or third-party tracking system (such as Google Campaign Manager).

[0101] The disclosed system and method are configured to display advertising material comprising ads in a game that is being played by a user, and track the interactions of the user with the ads without impacting the playability (i.e. fps, responsiveness, latency, lag, etc.) and experience of the user. The system is configured to determine and/or analyse one or more variables and the unknown relationship(s) between the variables associated with the display or tracking of ads. Examples of the variables may include: Activation—methods (single, multiple or all) and point of activation; Shape and size of activation radius; Tracking of views—quantity, time; Tracking of view—quality (angle, visibility); Load caused by one or more variables; delivery performance for players worldwide, and so forth. Further, the system may be used by a plurality of users simultaneously without degradation in performance. For example, the system may be used by 1,000,000 users or devices with no performance degradation even with increase of users or players or devices (to more than 1,000,000).

[0102] Further, the disclosed system is configured to create an object and load a static image (or advertising material) on the basis of a player's exact position. The player is a user or avatar of the user in a virtual environment or a computer game. The system is further configured to load an image, such as the static image, from an external database with respect to the system. In some embodiments, the system may load video (with or without sound) during gameplay i.e. the virtual environment. In some embodiments, the system may show video in the virtual environment, show a picture in the virtual environment (or game engine), and show a 3D object in game engine. The system is configured to load objects in variable quality such as, but not limited to, 720 p, 1080 p, 4 k, and so forth. The system is configured to determine through what non-intrusive (to gameplay) manner can an ad object be loaded when a player is near the defined ad space. Further, the system is configured to reliably activate ad objects when a player is near, but not in visible range of, an ad space (for example around a corner). Further, the system may enhance activation radius to be editable in shape; activate ad when player is far away; enhance activation radius to be editable in size; activate many ad spaces at once, such as in a court/field-based sports (i.e. soccer or basketball) game; enhance activation radius to be detached from ad space so it can be placed far away; enhance activation radius so it can be attached to multiple ad spaces.

[0103] In compliance with the statute, the invention has been described in language more or less specific to structural or methodical features. The term “comprises” and its variations, such as “comprising” and “comprised of” is used throughout in an inclusive sense and not to the exclusion of any additional features. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to specific features shown or described since the means herein described comprises preferred forms of putting the invention into effect. The invention is, therefore, claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the proper scope of the appended claims appropriately interpreted by those skilled in the art.

[0104] Throughout the specification and claims (if present), unless the context requires otherwise, the term “substantially” or “about” will be understood to not be limited to the value for the range qualified by the terms.

[0105] Any embodiment of the invention is meant to be illustrative only and is not meant to be limiting to the invention. Therefore, it should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications can be made to any embodiment described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.