U.S. patent application number 11/562091 was filed with the patent office on 2008-05-22 for common interests affiliation network architecture.
This patent application is currently assigned to Big Fish Games, Inc.. Invention is credited to Paul Thelen.
Application Number | 20080119277 11/562091 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39417569 |
Filed Date | 2008-05-22 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080119277 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Thelen; Paul |
May 22, 2008 |
Common Interests Affiliation Network Architecture
Abstract
A common interest affiliation network architecture is described.
The architecture may provide a collection of electronic content
(e.g., casual games). The architecture may also provide a module to
accept inputs from a user to create a profile describing the user's
interaction with one or more of the casual games and share the
profile with another said user.
Inventors: |
Thelen; Paul; (Seattle,
WA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
LEE & HAYES, PLLC
421 W. RIVERSIDE AVE, STE 500
SPOKANE
WA
99201
US
|
Assignee: |
Big Fish Games, Inc.
Seattle
WA
|
Family ID: |
39417569 |
Appl. No.: |
11/562091 |
Filed: |
November 21, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
463/42 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G07F 17/3223 20130101;
G07F 17/32 20130101; A63F 13/85 20140902; A63F 13/335 20140902;
A63F 13/795 20140902 |
Class at
Publication: |
463/42 |
International
Class: |
A63F 9/24 20060101
A63F009/24 |
Claims
1. A method comprising: providing a collection of casual games that
are playable or downloadable over a network; and providing a module
to accept inputs from a user to create a profile describing the
user's interaction with one or more of the casual games and share
the profile with another said user.
2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the collection and the
module are accessible via a web site.
3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the collection includes
between approximately fifty and approximately one thousand said
casual games.
4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one of the
games is available for trial or purchase via a web browser.
5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the profile includes a
rating for a respective said casual game.
6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the profile includes a
textual review for a respective said casual game.
7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the module is to
automatically update the profile as the user continues to interact
with the casual games.
8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the module is to provide
an invitation to be sent by the other said user to the user to
share the user's profile.
9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the profile references a
profile of at least one other said user, the profile of the at
least one other said user being accessible through the shared
profile of the user.
10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the module is to
recommend at least one of the casual games, with which, the user
has not interacted based on the profile.
11. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the module is to
recommend at least one of the casual games, with which, the other
said user has not interacted based on a profile of the other said
user and the shared profile.
12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the module is to output
a webpage having one or more statistics that describe the
interaction.
13. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the module is to make a
plurality of said profiles searchable.
14. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the module is to
determine whether the user has surpassed one or more thresholds,
each of which define a relative number of other said users that
share the profile.
15. A method as recited in claim 14, wherein the module is to
provide a incentive to the user for surpassing at least one said
threshold.
16. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the incentive is a
virtual incentive that modifies the user's interaction with the
casual game system.
17. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the incentive is a
monetary incentive that is redeemable, at least in part, toward
purchase of one or more said casual games.
18. One or more computer readable media comprising computer
executable instructions that, when executed, direct the computer to
output a user interface to: create a profile referencing a
plurality of users that having interacted with a collection having
between approximately fifty and approximately one thousand items of
electronic content, wherein each said referenced user has a
respective said profile that describes the referenced user's
interaction with the electronic content; and suggest one of more
items of the electronic content based on the profiles of the
referenced said users.
19. One or more computer readable media as described in claim 18,
wherein the suggestion of the one or more items includes at least
one said item, with which, a user that corresponds to the created
profile has not interacted.
20. One or more computer readable media as described in claim 18,
wherein the suggestion is based on at least one profile referenced
in the profile of a referenced said user.
21. One or more computer readable media as described in claim 18,
wherein at least one of the respective said profiles of the
referenced said users includes a rating for a respective said
item.
22. One or more computer readable media as described in claim 18,
wherein at least one said item of electronic content is a casual
game, a ring tone or a computer-readable medium having instructions
that are executable on a computer.
23. A casual game system comprising: one or more casual games that
are accessible via a website; and a module to associate a first
profile that describes a first user's interaction with the one or
more casual games with a second profile and provide one or more
incentives to the first user to create the first profile.
24. A casual game system as recited in claim 23, wherein the module
is to enable the first user to search a plurality of said
profiles.
25. A casual game system as recited in claim 23, wherein the module
is to enable the second user to search one or more profiles
referenced in the first profile of the first user.
26. A casual game system as recited in claim 23, wherein the module
is to form an invitation to invite the first user associated with
the first profile to associate the second user with the first
profile.
27. A casual game system as recited in claim 23, wherein the module
is to recommend at least one of the casual games to the second user
based at least in part on the first profile.
28. A casual game system as recited in claim 23, wherein the module
is to accept manually entered data from the first user to modify
the first profile.
29. A casual game system as recited in claim 23, further comprising
a plurality of servers, each having a processor and memory
configured to maintain instructions that are executable on the
respective processor to provide the one or more casual games and
the module.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] A variety of electronic content is continually made
available to users, such as ring tones, computer programs stored on
computer-readable media (e.g., a game for a game console), casual
computer games, and so on. Casual computer games (i.e., "casual
games"), for instance, are typically configured as relatively small
computer games (e.g., less than fifty megabytes) that may be played
or easily downloaded over the Internet. A consumer may employ a
browser to navigate to a website and play such casual games as
Mahjong, word games, card games, board games, action games, mystery
games, arcade games, puzzle games, and so on. Thus, casual games
may provide for a variety of different types of interaction, such
as pattern recognition games, timed games, word games,
dexterity-based games, and so on.
[0002] Because casual games (as well as other electronic content)
may assume such a wide variety of configurations, consumers may
also form widely varied opinions regarding the casual games. For
example, a first consumer may enjoy card games and therefore
consider solitaire and poker games relaxing but consider action
games stressful and therefore undesirable. A second consumer,
however, may enjoy action games but consider card games "too slow".
Consequently, when a new casual game is released, the opinions of
the first and second consumers may be quite different depending on
the type of game released (e.g., action versus card game) and
therefore the opinion of the first consumer may not be relevant to
the second consumer and vice versa.
SUMMARY
[0003] A common interest affiliation network architecture is
described. The architecture may be used to address the various
likes and dislikes of users that interact with electronic content.
For example, users may form a profile that includes ratings and
reviews. The profiles may then be affiliated, one with another, to
create a network of users having similar likes and dislikes
regarding the electronic content.
[0004] The affiliated profiles that form the common interest
affiliation network may be leveraged to provide a wide range of
functionality to the users. For instance, ratings and reviews that
are newly created by members of the network may be automatically
propagated to other members of the network such that members of the
network may share and express a common experience with electronic
content. Additionally, the ratings and reviews of the network as a
whole may be used to recommend other games to members of the
network. In another example, web pages regarding particular games
may be populated with reviews and rating based on ratings and
reviews of the network as a whole. Other implementations are also
contemplated without departing from the spirit and scope of the
architecture and methodologies discussed herein.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0005] The detailed description is described with reference to the
accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a
reference number identifies the figure in which the reference
number first appears. The use of the same reference numbers in
different figures indicates similar or identical items.
[0006] FIG. 1 is an illustration of an exemplary environment in
which techniques may be utilized to form a common interest
affiliation network regarding interaction with electronic content,
such as casual games.
[0007] FIG. 2 is an illustration of a network service system and
one of the client devices of FIG. 1 in greater detail.
[0008] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an
exemplary implementation in which an architecture is provided to
create profiles describing user interaction with casual games and
affiliate the profiles with other profiles to create a common
interest affiliation network.
[0009] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an
exemplary implementation in which at least one recommendation is
formed regarding an item of electronic content based at least in
part on a profile and profiles referenced in the profile.
[0010] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an
exemplary implementation in which a profiled webpage is output that
is customized based on a common interest affiliation network that
is formed from an affiliation of a profile with one or more other
profiles.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0011] Overview
[0012] A variety of electronic content is continually made
available to users, such as ring tones, computer programs stored on
computer-readable media (e.g., a game for a game console), casual
computer games, and so on. Further, each of these types of
electronic content may be configured in a variety of different
ways, such as casual card games versus casual action games, popular
music inspired ring tones versus classical ring tones, and so on.
Consequently, ratings and reviews of these different types of
electronic content may be inaccurate to particular users because
the tastes of prospective users may also vary. For example, ratings
may trend toward an average score that does not reflect specific
user's tastes while reviews may vary widely and thus become
unsuitable to a particular user to determine whether a particular
item of electronic content will be desirable.
[0013] For example, consider a newly released Mahjong game that is
widely considered to have desirable graphics, sound and production
qualities that produces scores based on the user's accuracy in an
allotted amount of time. Users that prefer dexterity based games
may not find this game desirable and therefore give it a relatively
undesirable rating and review. Other users that do like games that
rely on pattern recognition, however, may find this game desirable
and give it a corresponding favorable rating and review. Yet
further, still other users that like pattern recognition games may
not like timed games (e.g., may think of them as stressful) and
therefore give this game a relatively undesirable rating and review
whereas other consumers that do like pattern recognition games and
the "thrill" of timed games may give it a favorable rating and
review,
[0014] Consequently, rating systems tend to "trend to the middle"
such that an average score is typically given for each game that is
rated. For instance, an average score may be given of between three
and four on an overall scale of one to five. Additionally, the
reviews of the game may vary greatly from "loved it" to "hated it".
Therefore, the ratings and reviews may become "useless" because
users' tastes may vary as greatly as the electronic content
itself.
[0015] Accordingly, an architecture is described to provide a
common interest affiliation network that may address the various
likes and dislikes of users that interact with electronic content.
For example, users may form a profile that may include both
computer-generated information and manually-entered information
regarding ratings and reviews created by the respective users.
Computer-generated information in the profile, for instance, may
include casual games played by the user, which games were reviewed,
rated and summary information like games most often played, least
often played, and so on. Manually-entered information may include
favorite game played ever, favorite recent release, least favorite
game, demographic information, textual summary describing types of
games typically favored, and so on. Further, the casual games
listed in the profile may include links to detailed ratings and
reviews the user created for those games, when applicable.
[0016] The profiles may also be created to include affiliations to
other profiles. For example, a user may read reviews and play
casual games based on the reviews. If the user agrees with the
reviews, the user can add the other user that wrote the reviews to
their profile such that future reviews and ratings are also
provided to the user. Thus, the affiliated profiles may create a
common interest affiliation network that may be leveraged to
provide a wide range of functionality to the users. For instance,
ratings and reviews that are newly created by members of the
network may be automatically propagated to other members of the
network such that members of the network may share and express a
common experience with electronic content.
[0017] Additionally, the ratings and reviews of the network as a
whole may be used to recommend other games to members of the
network. For example, a recommendation may be made based on the
user's profile as well as other profiles referenced in the user's
profile. In this way, additional information provided by the other
profiles may be leveraged to increase a likelihood of making an
accurate recommendation, e.g., recommending a causal game that the
user will like. In another example, web pages regarding particular
games may be populated with reviews and rating based on ratings and
reviews of the network as a whole. For instance, the user may
navigate to a web page describing a particular game. Ratings and
reviews may be automatically fetched from users having similar
profiles and used within the web page such that the user is
provided with ratings and reviews that have an increased likelihood
of being relevant. A variety of other examples are also
contemplated, further discussion of which may be found in relation
to the following figures.
[0018] In the following discussion, an exemplary environment is
first described that is operable to perform techniques to form and
utilize profiles to provide a common interest affiliation network
architecture. Exemplary procedures are then described that may be
employed in the exemplary environment, as well as in other
environments.
[0019] Exemplary Environment
[0020] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary architecture 100 in which a common
interest affiliation network may be formed in relation to
electronic content such as casual computer games, ring tones, and
so on provided by an online service. The architecture 100 has a
network service system 102 (also referred to as a service system
102) communicatively coupled to a plurality of client devices
104(1), . . . , 104(N) via a network 106.
[0021] The client devices 104(1)-104(N) may be configured in a
variety of ways to access the network 106. For example, one or more
of the client devices 104(1)-104(N) may be configured as a
computing device, such as a desktop computer (e.g., as illustrated
by client device 104(1)), a mobile station, an entertainment
appliance, a set-top box communicatively coupled to a display
device, a wireless phone (e.g., as illustrated by client device
104(N)), a game console, and so forth.
[0022] The network 106 may assume a wide variety of configurations.
For example, the network 106 may include the Internet, a wide area
network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless network, a
public telephone network, an intranet, and so on. Further, although
a single network 106 is shown, the network 106 may be configured to
include multiple networks.
[0023] Each of the client devices 104(1)-104(N) is illustrated as
having a respective communication module 108(1)-108(N), which is
representative of functionality to communicate with the service
system 102 over the network 106. For example, the communication
modules 108(1)-108(N) may be configured as browsers that are used
to display and interact with resources over the network 106 (e.g.,
"surf the Internet"), such as to receive web pages and so on. In
another example, the communication modules 108(1)-108(N) are
representative of functionality incorporated within another module
(i.e., a smart module) to communicate over the network 106, such as
an application program having Internet access capabilities. A
variety of other examples are also contemplated.
[0024] The service system 102 may be implemented in any number of
ways, including as a mainframe computer system, as a standalone
server, or as a cluster or farm of servers. The service system 102
in the illustrated architecture 100 of FIG. 1 hosts electronic
content which may be made available to the client devices
104(1)-104(N) over the network 106. In one implementation, the
electronic content is accessible via a website hosted at the
network service system 102 or elsewhere.
[0025] The electronic content may be configured in a variety of
ways. For example, the electronic content may support an online
gaming service in which consumers can access one or more computer
games over the network 106 for a fee using the client devices
104(1)-104(N). In the illustrated implementation, the computer
games are casual games 110(g) (where "g" can be any integer from
one to "G"), which are commonly configured as relatively small
games (e.g., less than fifty megabytes) that may be played over the
Internet or easily downloaded to the client devices 104(1)-104(N).
The casual games 110(g) may be configured in a variety of ways to
provide a wide variety of different gaming themes or genres.
Example casual games 110(g) include Mahjong, word games, card
games, board games, action games, arcade games, puzzle games,
mystery games, and so on.
[0026] A manager module 112 manages access to and provision of the
casual games 110(g) to facilitate user interaction. For example,
the manager module 112 may receive a request from one client device
104(1) to interact with a particular one of the games 110(g). The
manager module 112 may collect or record a fee resulting from the
client device 104(1) interaction with the game 110(g). In this
example, the client device 104(1) uses the communication module
108(1) to access the website and download a stand-alone game 110(1)
for local execution. In another example, the other illustrated
client device 104(1N) accesses a browser-based game 110(N) that is
executed remotely by the network service system 102. Therefore,
although the user may interact with the communication module 108(N)
to play the game 110(N), execution of the game 110(N) is performed
by the service system 102 responsive to input from the client
device. A variety of other examples are also contemplated, such as
through execution of a game, at least in part, both locally on the
client device and remotely by the service system 102 over the
network 106.
[0027] The manager module 112 is further illustrated as
incorporating a profile module 114 that is representative of
functionality to generate one or more profiles 116(p) (where "p"
can be any integer from one to "P") that describe interaction of
the users with electronic content, such as the casual games 110(g)
of the architecture 100 of FIG. 1. For example, the profiles 116(p)
may include ratings 118 and reviews 120 of the casual games 110(g).
Ratings 118 may refer to numerical or symbol-based scoring of a
game that indicates whether the user liked or disliked the game,
such as using a scale of one to five, star ratings, letter grades
(e.g., "A", "C", "F"), and so on. Thus, the ratings 118 may be
objectively compared, one to another, to determine like or dislike
of the casual games 110(g). Reviews 120 may include written text
that is input by a user to describe the casual games 110(g), such
as what aspects of the game the user liked or disliked, overall
impression of the game, nuances of the game (e.g., regarding
graphics, production quality, and so on), commentary regarding
other reviews, and so on.
[0028] The profiles 116(p) may also include references to other
profiles to create affiliations 122 between the profiles. For
example, the user may agree with certain ratings and reviews
contained in other profiles and affiliate those profiles with the
user's profile. This affiliation may then be used to provide
recommendations to the user, both based on the rating and reviews
in their own profile as well as the ratings and reviews of the
affiliated profiles. Additionally, ratings and reviews that are
newly created in affiliated profiles may be automatically
propagated to other affiliated users. In another example, profiles
having common ratings may be automatically affiliated by the
profile module 114 to make recommendations, forward relevant
reviews, and so on. A variety of other examples are also
contemplated. Thus, the affiliated profiles may create a common
interest affiliation network that may be leveraged to provide a
wide range of functionality to the users, further discussion of
which may be found in relation to FIGS. 3-5.
[0029] Although this exemplary architecture 100 described casual
games as an example of electronic content, it should be readily
apparent that a wide variety of electronic content is contemplated,
such a electronic content delivered over a network (e.g., ring
tones), delivered via a computer-readable medium (e.g., a
computer-readable disc having a game), and so on. In an
implementation, the number of items of electronic content provided
varies between approximately fifty items to approximately one
thousand items.
[0030] Generally, any of the functions described herein can be
implemented using software, firmware, hardware (e.g., fixed logic
circuitry), manual processing, or a combination of these
implementations. The terms "module," "functionality," and "logic"
as used herein generally represent software, firmware, hardware or
a combination thereof. In the case of a software implementation,
the module, functionality, or logic represents program code that
performs specified tasks when executed on a processor (e.g., CPU or
CPUs). The program code can be stored in one or more
computer-readable memory devices, further discussion of which may
be found in relation to the following figure. The features of the
common interest affiliation network techniques described below are
platform-independent, meaning that the techniques may be
implemented on a variety of commercial computing platforms having a
variety of processors.
[0031] FIG. 2 illustrates a more detailed, but still exemplary,
implementation of the architecture 200 in which certain components
of the service system 102 and a representative client device 104(n)
are shown. The service system 102 is illustrated as being
implemented by a server 202(s). Additionally, the server 202(s) and
the client device 104(n) are implemented with respective processors
204(s), 204(n) and respective memories 206(s), 206(n).
[0032] Processors are not limited by the materials from which they
are formed or the processing mechanisms employed therein. For
example, processors may be comprised of semiconductor(s) and/or
transistors (e.g., electronic integrated circuits (ICs)). In such a
context, processor-executable instructions may be
electronically-executable instructions. Additionally, although a
single memory 206(s), 206(n) is shown, respectively, for the server
202(s) and the client device 104(n), a wide variety of types and
combinations of memory may be employed, such as random access
memory (RAM), hard disk memory, removable medium memory, and other
types of computer-readable media.
[0033] The client device 104(n) is illustrated as executing the
communication module 108(n) on the processor 204(n), which is also
storable in memory 206(n). The communication module 108(n) is
executable to provide a user interface 208(n) to interact with the
service system 102 over the network 106. For example, the user
interface 208(n) may display web pages to login to the service 102,
play browser-based games executed by the service system 102,
download games for execution on the client device 104(n), create a
profile 116(p) that corresponds to a user of the client device
104(n), and so on, further discussion of which may be found
below.
[0034] The service system is illustrated as executing the manager
module 112 and the profile module 114 on the processor 204(s) of
the server 202(s), although the manager and profile modules 112,
114 are physically stored in memory 206(s). As previously stated,
the profile module 114 is representative of functionality to
create, maintain and/or leverage profiles 116(p) that describe user
interaction with electronic content, such as the illustrated casual
games 110(g).
[0035] The profile module 114, for instance, may provide the user
interface 208(n) to the client device 104(n) to create a respective
profile 116(p). The user, for instance, may provide
manually-entered data 210 such as favorite game played, favorite
recent release, least favorite game, summary paragraph describing
types of games typically favored (erg., dexterity, action, timed,
card), and so on. The profile module 114 may also provide
computer-generated data 212, such as a list of all games played,
reviewed, rated, types of games most frequented, most recent game
frequented, types of games not typically played, types of games
typically rated, period of time the user has interacted with the
service system 102, amount of time in a given time period the user
spends interacting with the casual games 110(g), and so on.
[0036] The profile 116(p) may also include one or more affiliations
to other profiles as previously described, which may be manually
entered and/or generated by the profile module 114 automatically.
For example, a user may interact with the user interface 208(n) and
search existing profiles (e.g., ratings 118 and/or reviews 120 in
the profile 116(p)) for particular ones that seems to correspond to
the user's likes and/or dislikes. The user may then add a reference
to this profile, such as by clicking a button next to that rating
or review.
[0037] The profile module 114 may also support a feature to
automatically add affiliations 120 to similar profiles and thus the
affiliations 120 may also be generated without user intervention.
For example, the profile module 114 may examine ratings 118 in the
profile 116(p) and supply references to other profiles having
similar ratings. In an implementation, these supplied references
may be output via the user interface 208(n) for acceptance or
rejection by a user before the affiliation 120 is included in the
profile 116(p).
[0038] The profile module 115 may also support invitation
functionality to invite users that have had their profiles
affiliated with another user to also add that other user to their
profiles. For example, when an affiliation is made to add a first
profile (either automatically or manually) to a second profile, the
profile module 114 may send an invitation to a user of the first
profile to add a reference to the second profile. In other words,
the user having their profile added to another profile may also be
invited to add that other profile to their profile. The invitation
may be supplied in a variety of ways, such as via email, instant
message, an account information area of a webpage, and so on. The
invitation may also include a link to see the profile to be added,
a selectable portion (e.g., button) to add the other profile, and
so on. Thus, a common interest affiliation network having profiles
that are associated, one with another, may be created in a variety
of different ways. A variety of other examples are also
contemplated, further discussion of which may be found in relation
to the exemplary procedures.
[0039] The affiliated profiles, once created, may then be leveraged
in a variety of different ways. For example, the affiliated
profiles may be used to determine whether a particular game might
be of interest to a user with a common interest affiliation
network. A user, for instance, may receive a profiled webpage
214(n) that includes information based on the user's profile,
including profiles referenced in the user's profile. The profiled
webpage 214(n) may then be utilized by the user to determine
whether the particular game may be of interest, such as based on
how the referenced profiles rate the game, average rating of the
referenced profiles for that game, number of referenced profiles
that rate the game, links to reviews included in the referenced
profiles, and so on.
[0040] The profile webpage 214(n) may also include an area that
presents games that the user has not played, but are recommended
based on the user's profile, including the referenced profiles. For
example, the referenced profiles (e.g., profiles of members
included in a common interest affiliation network) may be
aggregated and a single set of recommendations may be generated
based on this aggregation. The recommended games may then be
reviewed by selecting them (e.g., "clicking on them") to read
reviews provided by referenced profiles, i.e., members of the
common interest affiliation network.
[0041] In an implementation, the profile module 114 may also
provide incentives to create profiles 116(p) and provide ratings
118 and reviews 120. The profile module 114, for example, may
provide incentives to a user for surpassing different thresholds,
in which, each threshold defines a number of other profiles that
have referenced the user's profile. The incentives, for instance,
may be a virtual incentive that modifies the user's interaction
with the casual game system, such as a badge that is displayed to
other users (e.g., "Top Ten Reviewer"), a monetary incentive that
is redeemable, at least in part, towards a purchase of one or more
of the casual games 110(g), and so on. A variety of other examples
are also contemplated.
[0042] Yet further, the profile module 114 may also provide
statistics relating to the profiles. For example, the profile
116(p) may include computer-generated data 212 that describes a
number of other profiles that reference the profile 116(p), how
many profiles are referenced by those profiles, and so on. In this
way, users may be kept up-to-date regarding use of their profiles
by other users and encouraged to continue to update their profiles
regarding interaction with electronic content.
[0043] Exemplary Procedures
[0044] The following discussion describes techniques to create and
leverage a common interest affiliation network that may be
implemented utilizing the previously described systems and devices.
Aspects of each of the procedures may be implemented in hardware,
firmware, or software, or a combination thereof. The procedures are
shown as a set of blocks that specify operations performed by one
or more devices and are not necessarily limited to the orders shown
for performing the operations by the respective blocks. In portions
of the following discussion, reference will be made to systems and
components shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
[0045] FIG. 3 depicts a procedure 300 in an exemplary
implementation in which an architecture is provided to create
profiles describing user interaction with casual games and
affiliate the profiles with other profiles to create a common
interest affiliation network. A collection of casual games are
provided that are playable or downloadable over a network (block
302). The casual games, for instance, may be configured as Mahjong,
word games, card games, board games, action games, mystery games,
arcade games, puzzle games, and so on.
[0046] A module is provided to accept inputs from a first user to
create a first profile describing the first user's interaction with
one or more of the casual games (block 304). The module, for
instance, may be configured to accept manually-entered data 210
such as ratings and reviews. The created profile may also be
configured to accept computer-generated data 212, such as number of
games played, frequency at which the games are played, number of
reviews, specific game genres that are played and not played, and
so on. The profile is then exposed to be shared with other users
(block 306), such as through inclusion in a website of the network
service system 102 that is also configured to provide the casual
games 110(g).
[0047] A search utility is provided to search the profiles of other
users (block 308). The manager module 122, for instance, may
include a utility to search ratings and/or reviews submitted to
describe interaction with the games. For example, the search
utility may search for profiles having ratings that approximate
ratings submitted by the users in their own profiles. The search
utility may also accept inputs by users to search for profiles of
interest, such as regarding specific rating/review given to
particular games, demographic information, and so on.
[0048] A second profile is associated with a first profile found
from the search (block 310). The user, for instance, may select a
portion of the user interface 208(n) (e.g., a button) to add a
reference to a profile found during the search. In this way, the
profile and the referenced profile create a common interest
affiliation network that may be leveraged in a variety of different
ways, further discussion of which may be found in relation to FIG.
4.
[0049] Upon association of the second profile, an invitation is
formed to invite a second user that corresponds to the second
profile to associate the first profile with the second profile
(block 312). Thus, the user that is having their profile affiliated
with another profile may be given an opportunity to also affiliate
that other profile with their profile.
[0050] The first user may also use affiliated profiles to locate
other profiles. For example, the first user may browse to the
second profile and locate a third profile to be affiliated with the
first profile (block 314). The second user, for instance, may have
located a third profile that contains a multitude of ratings and
reviews that are agreeable to the second user. Because the first
user already found the second profile agreeable, the first user has
an increased likelihood of finding the third profile agreeable and
therefore may browse profiles referenced in the second profile for
inclusion in the first profile. In another instance, the referenced
profiles are included automatically (and so on with profiles
included in the automatically referenced profiles) and a weighting
is applied based on "degrees of separation" of the profiles to
leverage the profiles. For example, a profile that was manually
affiliated by the user may be given greater weight than a profile
that was automatically affiliated based on that manual
affiliation.
[0051] One or more incentives may also be provided to update the
profiles (block 316). The profile module 114, for example, may
define a plurality of thresholds, in which each threshold defines a
number of other profiles that have referenced the user's profile.
The profile module 114 may then provide incentives to a user for
surpassing the different thresholds. The incentives, for instance,
may be virtual such that the user's interaction with the casual
game system is modified, such as a badge that is displayed to other
users (e.g., "Top Ten Reviewer", "Top Referenced Review", and so
on), a monetary incentive that is redeemable, at least in part,
towards a purchase of one or more of the casual games 110(g), and
so forth. A variety of other examples are also contemplated.
[0052] FIG. 4 depicts a procedure 400 in an exemplary
implementation in which at least one recommendation is formed
regarding an item of electronic content based at least in part on a
profile and profiles referenced in the profile. A profile is
received that describes interaction with one or more items of
electronic content (block 402). The profile, for instance, may
describe user interaction with casual games, ring tones, computer
programs stored on computer-readable media (e.g., a game for a game
console), and so on.
[0053] One or more profiles are located that are referenced in the
received profile (block 404). For example, the profile module 114
may examine links contained in the profile 116(p) to other profiles
and fetch the corresponding profiles.
[0054] A recommendation is formed regarding at least one item of
the electronic content based on the received profile and the
located one or more profiles (block 406). The profile module 114,
for example, may aggregate the received profile and the one or more
profiles and use this aggregation to recommend an item of
electronic content, with which, the user has not previously
interacted. The recommendation may then be output (block 408), such
as through the user interface 208(n) at the client. Thus, in this
example the user's profile, including profiles referenced in that
profile, is used to recommend electronic content. Thus, the
recommended content has an increased likelihood of being relevant
to the user. A variety of other examples are also contemplated.
[0055] FIG. 5 depicts a procedure 500 in an exemplary
implementation in which a profiled webpage is output that is
customized based on a common interest affiliation network that is
formed from an affiliation of a profile with one or more other
profiles. An input is received from a user to navigate to a webpage
related to a particular casual game (block 502). The user, for
instance, may interact with the communication module 108(1)
configured as a browser and request a webpage from the network
service system 102.
[0056] The network service system 102, through execution of the
manager module 112 (and more particularly the profile module 114),
may find a common interest affiliation network that corresponds to
the user (block 504). The profile module 114, for instance, may
determine an identity of the user (e.g., through logging on to the
network service system 102, through an indication included in the
request, and so on) and locate a profile 116(p) that corresponds to
the user. The profile module 114 may then examine the profile to
find other profiles that are affiliated with that profile to form
the common interest affiliation network.
[0057] A determination is made as to which rating, reviews and/or
recommendations to include in the webpage (block 506) based on the
corresponding common interest affiliation network. The profile
module 114, for example, may locate rating and reviews from the
referenced profiles and include them in the webpage. When a
sufficient number of rating and reviews are not included in the
referenced profiles, profiles referenced in the referenced profiled
(i.e., profiles that are children of the referenced profile) may
also be fetched and used. A variety of other examples are also
contemplated.
[0058] The webpage is then formed to include the determined
ratings, reviews and/or recommendations (block 508), such as to
include them in particular areas of the webpage along with a
description of the particular casual game that is related to the
webpage. The webpage may then be output to be communicated to the
user (block 510), such as transmitted over the network 106 to be
displayed in the user interface 208(n) of the client device 104(n).
A variety of other techniques to leverage profiles are also
contemplated.
[0059] Conclusion
[0060] Although the invention has been described in language
specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is
to be understood that the invention defined in the appended claims
is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts
described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as
exemplary forms of implementing the claimed invention.
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