JP3418620B2 - GAME ADVERTISEMENT BILLING SYSTEM, GAME ADVERTISEMENT CHARGE CONTROL METHOD AND PROGRAM FOR HOME USE GAME MACHINE - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a game advertisement charging system, a game advertisement charging control method and a program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A game machine system for displaying an advertisement on a game screen is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-10440. In this system, advertisements in the game (hereinafter referred to as "game advertisements") can be replaced as appropriate, and the effectiveness as a commercial advertisement can be improved. According to this system, it becomes possible to collect an advertisement fee for displaying a game advertisement and thereby reduce the selling price of the game software or make it free. A similar system is disclosed in International Publication WO98 / 29974 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-29.
No. 712 is also disclosed.

[0003]

By taking into account such a difference in advertising effect, it is possible to expect a more rational advertisement billing to be realized.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a game advertisement charging system, a game advertisement charging control method and a program capable of reflecting a difference in advertisement effect on advertisement charging. Especially.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, a game advertisement billing system according to the present invention is a game advertisement display means for displaying an advertisement on a game screen, and the number of people watching the game screen. And a billing amount calculation unit for calculating a billing amount for displaying the advertisement based on the number of persons obtained by the number of persons obtaining unit.

According to the present invention, the number of people looking at the game screen on which the advertisement is displayed is acquired, and the charge amount for the display of the advertisement is calculated based on the acquired number. The person watching the game screen is not only the player of the game but also an audience watching the player's play. For example, the number-of-people acquisition unit includes an imaging unit that projects the front of the game screen, and based on an image captured by the imaging unit,
The number of people watching the game screen may be acquired. According to the present invention, when a large number of people are watching the game screen and the advertising effect is high, it can be reflected in the billing amount.

Further, the game advertisement billing control method according to the present invention comprises a game advertisement display step of displaying an advertisement on a game screen, and a front of the game screen is photographed by an image pickup means, and an image acquired by the image pickup means is displayed. Based on the game machine for displaying the game screen, the number of people acquisition step for acquiring the number of people watching the game screen,
A billing amount calculation step of calculating a billing amount for displaying the advertisement based on the number of persons acquired in the person number obtaining step, and storing the calculated billing amount in a billing database in association with the advertisement. Characterize.

According to the present invention, when the number of people watching the game screen is large and the advertising effect is high, it can be reflected in the billing amount.

Further, the program according to the present invention is a game advertisement display means for displaying an advertisement on a game screen, a number acquisition means for acquiring the number of people watching the game screen, and
A program for causing a computer to function as calculation means for calculating basic information for calculating a charge amount for displaying the advertisement based on the number of people acquired by the number of people acquisition means.

According to the present invention, when the number of people watching the game screen is large and the advertising effect is high, it can be reflected in the billing amount.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a game advertisement charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The game advertisement charging system 10 shown in FIG.
It is configured to include a personal computer (PC) 16, a personal digital assistant (PDA) 18, and a mobile phone 20. The game device 14, the personal computer 16, the mobile information terminal 18, and the mobile phone 20 are connected to a communication network 12 including a public telephone network, the Internet, etc., and each functions as a game terminal. The game advertisement billing system 10 also includes an advertisement management server 22 and an advertisement management database (DB) 24. The advertisement management server 22 is connected to the communication network 12, and can transmit and receive, for example, game programs, game data, advertisement data, billing management data, etc., to and from each game terminal. The advertisement management database 24 is a database system accessed from the advertisement management server 22, and includes a billing database in which the advertisement ID and the billing points shown in FIG. 2 are associated with each other. Where advertisement ID
Is information for identifying each advertisement (advertisement image) displayed on the game screen, and the charging point is numerical data which is a basis for calculating a regular (for example, monthly) advertisement charge (advertisement fee).

The advertisement management server 22 is composed of, for example, a known server computer system. Further, the advertisement management database 24 includes, for example, a known hard disk storage device and a database management system (DBMS). In addition, the game device 1
Reference numeral 4 denotes a known computer game system, which is configured to include, for example, a known home game machine or arcade game machine. The personal computer 16 is, for example, a desktop type or portable computer system. The game device 14, the personal computer 16, the portable information terminal 18, and the mobile phone 20 install the game software via the communication network 12, or via a CD-ROM, a DVD (trademark), various memory cards, or the like. Is used as a game terminal. In addition, various communication systems using wired communication or wireless communication, such as cable television broadcast receiving terminals and satellite broadcast receiving terminals, can be used as game terminals.

In the game advertisement billing system 10, a game screen (display provided in each game terminal) before the game starts, during the game, or at the end of the game.
The advertisement is supposed to be displayed. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a game screen on which an advertisement is displayed. A horizontally long advertisement image 26 is displayed on this game screen. The advertisement image 26 is received from the advertisement management server 22 regularly or irregularly together with the advertisement ID. When each game terminal receives the advertisement image 26 and the advertisement ID, the advertisement image 26 is stored in an internal or external storage device. I remember. And
When displaying a game screen containing advertisements, this advertisement image 2
6 is read out and fitted into the game screen. Further, when an advertisement is displayed on the game screen, a billing point for the advertisement display is calculated and transmitted to the advertisement management server 22 together with the advertisement ID. The billing points serve as basic information when calculating the billing amount for the advertisement display, and the game advertisement billing system 10
Is calculated in consideration of how many people played the game together. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, a one-player play start button 30 and a two-player play start button 32 are displayed below a title character string 28 representing a game title on the game start screen, and which is pressed to start the game. By examining what has been played, one can determine how many people have played the game together.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining the processing of the game terminal. The process shown in the figure is performed by the computer constituting the game terminal executing the game program. First, in the game terminal, it is acquired whether the number of players who play the game together with the game screen is one or two (S1).
01). Then, the charging points are calculated depending on whether the number of the users is one or two (S102). For example, when there are two players who play the game together while looking at the game screen on which the advertisement image 26 is displayed, the billing points are calculated so that the advertisement fee is higher than when one player plays the game. in this case,
Billing points are an increasing function of the number of players who play the game together. After that, the billing points and the advertisement ID calculated in this way (the advertisement ID stored in advance with the advertisement image 26) are transmitted to the advertisement management server 22 via the communication network 12 (S103), and the game process (the game is provided to the player is provided. Processing) is executed (S10)
4).

FIG. 6 is a flow chart for explaining the processing of the advertisement management server 22. The process shown in the figure is performed by a computer constituting the advertisement management server 22 executing a program for advertisement management. First, the advertisement management server 22 receives the advertisement ID and the charging points transmitted from the game terminal in S103 of FIG. 5 (S201). Then, the advertisement management database 24 is accessed, and the charging point received in S201 is added to the charging point stored in the charging database (FIG. 2) corresponding to the advertisement ID received in S201 to obtain the charging point. Update (S20
2). For example, the advertisement management server 22 refers to the charge database on a fixed day every month, calculates the charge amount based on the charge points, and charges the advertiser corresponding to each advertisement ID for the advertisement charge. For example, a database in which each advertiser is associated with an advertisement ID requested by the advertiser is stored in the advertisement management database 24, and the charge amount for each advertiser is based on the database and the charge database. May be calculated and printed or displayed and output.

In the above processing, since the number of players who play the game together with the game screen on which the advertisement is displayed is acquired and the charge amount is calculated based on the number of the players, the game is played together. It is possible to reflect the difference in the advertising effect depending on the number of people (the number of players who play simultaneously) in the amount charged for the game advertisement.

The number of players who play the game together is not limited to the above method, and IDs (identification information) can be given to the players who will play the game together before or after the game starts, for example. To enter
The number of input IDs may be processed as the number of players who play the game together. That is,
As shown in FIG. 7, in the game terminal, each player who wants to play the game together is prompted to input an ID (S30
1) The number is counted (S302). Then, the charging points are calculated according to the number of IDs (S303),
It is transmitted to the advertisement management server 22 together with the advertisement ID (S304). The process executed by the advertisement management server 22 is similar to the process shown in FIG. Even in this case, it is possible to obtain the number of players who play the game together while watching the game screen on which the advertisement is displayed, and calculate the charge amount based on the number of players. The process shown in FIG. 7 is performed by the computer constituting the game terminal executing the game program.

The game screen on which the advertisement is displayed is not limited to the player, and for example, while watching the game screen played by a person who supports the player or another person, the player can learn how to play the game. There are also people who are reading.
So, get the number of people who are actually watching the game screen,
So as to calculate the billing amount accordingly. Specifically, an image pickup means such as a digital camera is arranged around a monitor showing a game screen, and the front of the game screen is shown by the image pickup means. By subjecting the captured image thus obtained to image processing, the number of persons in front of the game screen, that is, the number of persons who are considered to be looking at the game screen is counted. Then, the charging point is calculated so that the advertisement fee becomes higher as the number of people watching the game screen increases, and the charging point is transmitted to the advertisement management server 22 together with the advertisement ID. Even in this way, it is possible to realize rational billing that reflects the difference in advertising effect.

Further, the advertising effect is different when the same player continues to watch the same advertisement and when different players watch the same advertisement. Therefore, it is preferable that each game terminal monitors the change of the player so that the charging points are different depending on the presence or absence of the change of the player. Even if the same player is watching the same advertisement, it is considered that the advertising effect will be restored after a certain time has passed since the last time the user saw the advertisement (played the game). Is preferably calculated as usual (as in the case where the player is replaced).

FIG. 8 is a flow chart for explaining the processing of the game terminal in this case. The process shown in the figure is performed by the computer constituting the game terminal executing the game program. As shown in the figure, in this process, the player first inputs his own ID (identification information) (S401). The ID of the player who played the previous game, which is already stored in the game terminal
It is determined whether or not the same (S402). If they are different, the ID is stored in the game terminal (S40
3) The charging points are calculated (S404). In this case, it is determined that the player has been changed, and accordingly, the charging point is calculated so that the advertisement fee is higher than that when the player is not changed. Then, the calculated billing points are transmitted to the advertisement billing server 22 together with the advertisement ID (S405). Further, the time at that time is acquired from the clocking means (clock) provided in the game terminal and stored in the game terminal (S406). After that, game processing is executed (S407).

On the other hand, when it is determined in S402 that the ID of the player who played the previous time is the same as the ID of the player who plays this time, the time that has already been stored (S4
(The one stored in 06) is read (S408). Further, the current time is read from the time measuring means, and it is determined whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed from the time read in S408 (S409). And if the predetermined time has passed,
The charging point is calculated by the same formula as when the player is changed (S404), and it is transmitted to the advertisement management server 22 together with the advertisement ID. In addition, the time at that time is acquired from the clocking means (clock) provided in the game terminal,
It is stored in the game terminal (S406). After that, game processing is executed (S407).

If it is determined in S409 that the predetermined time has not elapsed, the charging points are calculated by a calculation formula different from the calculation formula used in S404 (S410).
That is, in this case, it is determined that the player has not been changed, and the charging point is calculated so that the charging amount is lower than the charging point calculated in S404. It should be noted that the billing point may be set to zero so that the billing amount becomes zero and the transmission to the advertisement management server 22 is not performed. S
If you calculated the billing points in 410, the
It is transmitted to the advertisement management server 22 together with D (S411), and game processing is executed (S407). The process executed by the advertisement management server 22 is similar to the process shown in FIG.

[0024] In this way, it is possible to reflect in the billing amount whether or not the player has been changed, and whether or not a certain time has passed since the time when the advertisement was viewed last time without the player being changed, and a reasonable advertisement charge can be made. Can be realized.

Further, the method of judging whether or not the player has changed is not limited to the method based on the identification information described above, and other methods can be adopted. For example, it is possible to make a determination based on the game result (final result or intermediate result) calculated for each play on the game terminal.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart for explaining the processing of the game terminal in this case. The process shown in the figure is performed by the computer constituting the game terminal executing the game program. As shown in the figure, in this process, the game terminal first executes a game process (S501). Then, the game result calculated in this game process (for example, total score in a game for score competition, achievement time in a game for time to reach a goal, etc.) is stored in the game terminal (S50).
2). That is, in the game terminal, the game results calculated in the past 2N times (N is a natural number) are stored in order, and in S502, the oldest game result is erased, and instead, the game result is deleted. Remembers the latest game results. Then, out of the 2N game results stored in the game terminal, the average of the oldest first game result to the Nth game result is calculated, and the N + 1th game result to the 2Nth game result are calculated. Calculate the average game score. Then, it is determined whether or not the difference is a predetermined value or more (S503). Then, if it is equal to or more than the predetermined value, it is determined that the player has changed, the charging point is calculated (S504), and the advertisement point I is calculated.
It is transmitted to the advertisement management server 22 together with D. The process executed by the advertisement management server 22 is similar to the process shown in FIG. On the other hand, if it is determined in S503 that the difference between the average values is less than the predetermined value, the calculation and transmission of the charging points (S504, S505) are skipped, and the process ends.

Even in the above manner, whether or not the player is changed can be reflected in the charge amount. Note that the calculation method for determining whether or not the player has changed based on the game score is not limited to the one described above, and various calculation methods can be adopted.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment.

For example, the identification information input by the player to the game terminal is not limited to the above-mentioned ID, but other information (password, name, etc.) can be adopted. Further, the input of the identification information is not limited to before the game starts, but may be during the game or after the game ends.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Get the number of people watching the game screen where advertisements are displayed,
Since the charge amount for displaying an advertisement on the game screen is calculated based on the number of people, the difference in the advertising effect depending on the number of people who view the game screen can be reflected in the advertisement charge, which is rational. Billing can be realized.

[0031]

[Appendix] The following invention is disclosed by the above description.

The game advertisement billing system according to the first aspect of the present invention is a game advertisement display means for displaying an advertisement on a game screen, and a play number acquisition means for obtaining the number of players who play the game together while watching the game screen. And a billing amount calculation unit for calculating a billing amount for displaying the advertisement based on the number of persons acquired by the number-of-plays obtaining unit.

In the game advertisement charging control method according to the second aspect of the present invention, the game advertisement display step of displaying an advertisement on the game screen and the number of players who play the game together while watching the game screen are determined by the game A step of acquiring the number of players to be acquired from the game machine for displaying the screen,
A billing amount calculation step of calculating a billing amount for displaying the advertisement based on the number of persons acquired in the play number obtaining step, and storing the calculated billing amount in a billing database in association with the advertisement. Is characterized by.

Further, the program according to the third invention is
Based on the number of players acquired by the game advertisement display means for displaying an advertisement on the game screen, the number-of-players acquisition means for acquiring the number of players who play the game together by watching the game screen, and the number of players acquired by the number-of-players acquisition means. It is a program for operating a computer as basic information calculating means for calculating basic information for calculating a charge for displaying the advertisement.

In the above invention, the advertisement is displayed on the game screen. Then, looking at the game screen where this advertisement is displayed, the number of players who play the game together is acquired,
Based on the number of people, the charge amount (advertising fee) for displaying the advertisement on the game screen is calculated. The billing amount thus calculated is stored in, for example, a billing database, or is printed out or displayed for each advertiser. It is considered that the more the number of players who play the game together while watching the game screen on which the advertisement is displayed, the higher the effect of the advertisement. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is necessary to reflect such a difference in the advertisement effect in the advertisement billing. It is possible to realize reasonable billing. The billing amount calculation means calculates the billing amount for the display of the advertisement by increasing the billing amount as the number of persons acquired by the playing person number obtaining means increases.

In one aspect of the invention described above, the game player further includes play number setting input means for setting and inputting the number of players who play the game together before the game starts, and the play number acquiring means sets the play number setting. The number of people set by the input means is acquired as the number of players who play the game together.

According to this aspect, it is possible to obtain the accurate number of players who play the game together by looking at the game screen on which the advertisement is displayed. The play number setting input means may include means for providing a screen for selecting, for example, a mode in which the game is played by one person and a mode in which the game is played by two persons.

[0038] In one aspect of the present invention, the game player further includes identification information input means for inputting identification information of each player who plays the game together while looking at the game screen, and the number-of-players obtaining means is the identification information. The number of players who play the game together is acquired based on the number of identification information input by the input means.

Also according to this aspect, it is possible to obtain the accurate number of players who play the game together by looking at the game screen on which the advertisement is displayed. The identification information is information for identifying the player and is, for example, a name, an ID number, a password, or the like. The identification information may be input by selecting the identification information of each player who plays the game together from the list of the identification information of the players input in advance.

Further, the game advertisement billing system according to the fourth aspect of the present invention determines whether or not the game advertisement display means for displaying an advertisement on the game screen and the player who plays the game by looking at the game screen have changed. It is characterized by including a player change judging means and a charge amount calculating means for calculating a charge amount for displaying the advertisement according to whether or not a player playing the game has been changed.

Further, the game advertisement charging control method according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the game advertisement display step of displaying an advertisement on the game screen, and whether or not a player who plays the game by looking at the game screen has changed Calculating a billing amount for the display of the advertisement so that the amount is different depending on whether the player who plays the game has changed or not, and the player substitution determining step that causes the game machine to display the game screen; A billing amount calculation step of storing the billing amount calculated in association with the advertisement in a billing database.

Further, the program according to the sixth invention is
A game advertisement display means for displaying an advertisement on the game screen, a player change judging means for judging whether or not the player playing the game is changed by looking at the game screen, and whether or not the player playing the game is changed. It is a program for operating a computer as basic information calculating means for calculating basic information for calculating a charge amount for displaying the advertisement so that the amount of money is different depending on whether or not.

In the above invention, the advertisement is displayed on the game screen. Then, it is determined whether or not the player who plays the game has changed by looking at the game screen on which the advertisement is displayed. Then, a charge amount (advertisement fee) for displaying an advertisement on the game screen is calculated according to whether or not the player has changed. The billing amount thus calculated is stored in, for example, a billing database, or is printed out or displayed for each advertiser. While the same player continues to play the game by looking at the game screen on which the advertisement is displayed, it is considered that the advertising effect is higher when the player takes turns and another player plays the game. According to the present invention, such a difference in advertising effect can be reflected in advertisement billing, and rational billing can be realized. The billing amount calculation means sets the billing amount to be higher when the player who plays the game by looking at the game screen is replaced, for example, by making the billing amount higher than when the player is not replaced. Calculate the billing amount.

In the above aspect of the invention, the player replacement determination may further include identification information input means for inputting identification information of a player who plays the game while looking at the game screen, at least when each player starts playing. The means determines, based on the identification information input by the identification information input means, whether or not the player playing the game has changed. According to this aspect, when each player starts playing, the identification information of that player is input. Then, based on this identification information, it is determined whether or not the player who plays the game has changed. Therefore, it is possible to reliably determine whether or not the player has changed. The identification information is information for identifying the player and is, for example, a name, an ID number, a password, or the like. The identification information may be input by selecting the identification information of the player when starting the play from the list of the identification information of the player input in advance.

Further, in the above aspect of the invention, the player substitution judging means judges whether or not the player who plays the game has changed, based on the game result calculated in the game. Even if you play the same game,
Different players often have significantly different game results. According to this aspect, it is possible to determine that the player has changed, for example, when the calculated game result has changed significantly, and it is possible to easily determine the change of player.

In this aspect, the player change judging means includes a history storing means for storing a history of game results calculated in the game, and the player playing the game is changed based on the history of the game results. It may be determined whether or not. This way, for example,
The game score calculated in the game is 100 in order.
Points, 100 points, 110 points, 130 points, 10 points, 20 points,
It can be determined that the player has once changed when the number of points changes as 20 points. The player change determination means refers to, for example, the history of game results, and when a certain play is started, the average value of the game results over a predetermined number of times before and after the start is separated by a predetermined value or more. If so, it may be determined from the play that the player has changed.

Further, according to one aspect of the present invention, it further includes time judgment means for judging whether or not a time period during which the advertisement is not displayed on the game screen without changing the player who plays the game has exceeded a predetermined time. The billing amount calculation means, according to the judgment result by the time judgment means,
A charge for displaying the advertisement is calculated.

According to this aspect, it is possible to realize advertisement billing according to the advertisement effect. That is, when the same advertisement is not displayed on the game screen for a predetermined time or longer without the player being replaced, when the same player sees the advertisement again, it is considered that the advertisement effect is restored. According to this aspect, it is possible to realize billing taking such circumstances into consideration.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a game advertisement charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing storage contents of an advertisement management database.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an advertisement displayed on a game screen.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a game start screen.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a charging process of a game terminal.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a billing process of the advertisement management server.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing another charging process of the game terminal.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing still another billing process of the game terminal.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing still another billing process of the game terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 game advertisement billing system, 12 communication network, 14 game device, 16 personal computer, 18 personal digital assistant, 20 mobile phone, 22 advertisement management server, 24 advertisement management database, 26 advertisement image, 28 title character string, 30 1 person play Start button, 32 2-player play start button.

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Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A game advertisement for displaying an advertisement on a game screen.
Display means, The game screenIn front ofGet the number of people
Means and Based on the number of people acquired by the number-of-people acquisition means,
Charge amount calculation means for calculating the charge amount for displaying advertisements
When,Including, The number-of-people acquisition means projects the front of the game screen.
Image pickup means, and based on an image picked up by the image pickup means.
The number of people in front of the game screen.
The A game advertisement billing system characterized by the above. 2. A game advertisement displaying step of displaying an advertisement on a game screen, and a step of displaying the game screen based on an image captured by the image capturing means in front of the game screen and captured by the image capturing means. A number-of-people acquisition step for causing the game machine to acquire the number of people in front of the game screen , and a charge amount for displaying the advertisement is calculated based on the number of people acquired in the number-of-people acquisition step. A billing amount calculation step of storing the billing amount associated with the advertisement in a billing database, and a game advertisement billing control method. 3. A game advertisement display means for displaying an advertisement on a game screen, and an image pickup means for displaying the front of the game screen.
Based on the image displayed, the number of people acquisition means for acquiring the number of people in front of the game screen, and the basis for calculating the charge amount for the display of the advertisement based on the number of people acquired by the number acquisition means A program that causes a computer to function as a calculation unit that calculates information.