Patent Publication Number: US-11660529-B2

Title: Increasing the number of advertising impressions in an interactive environment

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
     This application is a continuation of commonly-assigned co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/425,822 filed May 29, 2019, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/425,822 is a continuation of commonly-assigned co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/792,368, filed Oct. 24, 2017, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/792,368 is a continuation of commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/056,992, filed Feb. 29, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,795,875, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     Application Number is a continuation of commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/056,992, filed Feb. 29, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,795,875, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/056,992 is a continuation of commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/858,853, filed Apr. 8, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,272,203, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/858,853 is a continuation of commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/210,105 filed Sep. 12, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,416,247, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/210,105 claims the benefit of priority of commonly-assigned U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/978,689, filed Oct. 9, 2007, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention is related to advertising in an interactive environment and more particularly to increasing the number of advertising impressions in an interactive environment. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     An important criterion for advertisers in determining the effectiveness of an advertising campaign is the number of “impressions” a given advertisement makes with a user of interactive entertainment. Impressions refer to the exposure a user has had to an ad or ad campaign. Impressions are typically indexed in to the number of times a potential consumer views a particular advertisement. For example, a print advertisement located in a kiosk in a shopping center might be viewed by 1,000 shoppers over the course of an afternoon. It could be said that the particular advertisement enjoyed 1,000 impressions as each shopper walked past the kiosk and viewed the goods or services advertised therein. 
     The growth of the Internet and the popularity of interactive entertainment such as video games have led to opportunities for advertising within video games. Video games and other forms of interactive entertainment have been increasingly popular among members of demographic groups sought after by advertisers. Consequently, advertisers are willing to pay to have advertisements for their products and/or services within interactive entertainment, such as video games. 
     There have been—and continue to be—numerous cases wherein actual advertisements of advertisers are deployed and displayed within a video game environment. A classic example is in a driving game, wherein advertisements are pasted onto billboards around a driving course as illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,946,664 and 6,539,544, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. With such in-game advertising, the software publishing company that creates the video game identifies an advertiser, creates texture data based on ad copy provided by the advertiser and places this texture data representative of an advertisement in the video game environment (i.e., posting the advertisement on the billboard). 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,946,664 to Kan Ebisawa describes the general notion of using a network to replacing an asset within a game using a texture, e.g., billboard. Later schemes for calculating a magnitude of an advertising impressing based on a position of a frustum of a camera proximity and time exposure to a game asset. 
     Placement of advertisements in the virtual environments of computer video games may be enhanced by matching ads to demographic data of the game player, e.g. as described, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,601, which is incorporated herein by reference. An ad server coordinates the matching of ads to demographic data of the game player and properly accommodates ads in formats from game information provided by source of game software. Statistics related to ad impressions may be retrieved from the game player&#39;s computer or console to rate viewing effectiveness for ad placement confirmation and billing purposes. 
     There are numerous formulae for determining whether an impression has occurred. A typical formula takes into account factors such as (a) whether an advertisement was displayed to the user, e.g., on a video screen; (b) how long the ad was visible to the user; (c) where the ad appeared on the screen; (d) how large the ad was relative to the size of the screen. US Published patent application 20070079331, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes examples of possible systems and methods for determining advertising impressions in the context of a video game. Basic schemes for calculating a magnitude or quality of a viewer impression of a game asset may be based on, e.g., a frustum of the camera, proximity and exposure to the asset. 
     The number of advertising impressions generated by a user during interactive entertainment is somewhat dependent on the user&#39;s activity during an interactive entertainment session. Consequently, the number of impressions generated may vary from one user to another for the same interactive entertainment activity. Attempts have been made to enhance the number of user impressions of video game advertisements by directing the viewer&#39;s attention to the ads. For example, in 1997 in a game called RTIME Rocks a virtual vector compass pointed the user in the direction of the nearest advertising asset in the game. However, an individual user may still choose to ignore the compass and valuable advertising impressions may be missed as a result. 
     It is within this context that embodiments of the invention arise. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The teachings of the present invention can be readily understood by considering the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG.  1 A  illustrates an example of advertising within a simulated environment. 
         FIG.  1 B  is a schematic diagram of a simulated environment illustrate containing an advertisement. 
         FIG.  1 C  is a schematic diagram of a simulated environment containing an advertisement illustrating a situation in which an initial camera path misses an advertising impression. 
         FIG.  1 D  is a schematic diagram of a simulated environment containing an advertisement illustrating a situation in which in which the initial camera path of  FIG.  1 C  has been revised by shifting a camera location and orientation according to an embodiment of the invention in order to capture an advertising impression that would have been missed had the initial camera path in  FIG.  1 C  been followed. 
         FIG.  1 E  illustrates a schematic diagram of a simulated environment containing an advertisement illustrating a situation in which an initial camera path misses an advertising impression from an avatar point-of-view. 
         FIG.  1 F  is a schematic diagram of a simulated environment containing an advertisement illustrating a situation in which in which the initial camera path of  FIG.  1 E  has been revised by shifting a camera orientation according to an embodiment of the invention in order to capture an advertising impression that would have been missed had the initial camera path in  FIG.  1 E  been followed. 
         FIG.  2    is a flow diagram depicting an example of adding movement to the camera path that directs a camera point-of-view toward one or more advertising targets encountered along a camera path in a method for enhancing advertising impressions according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG.  3    is a vector diagram illustrating an example of a situation in which an attraction strength is associated with an advertising target according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG.  4    illustrates an example an advertising system for a simulated environment as may be utilized in an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  5    illustrates an example of communication flow between components of the advertising system depicted in  FIG.  4     
         FIG.  6    is a block diagram illustrating an example of a client device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS 
     Although the following detailed description contains many specific details for the purposes of illustration, anyone of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that many variations and alterations to the following details are within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments of the invention described below are set forth without any loss of generality to, and without imposing limitations upon, the claimed invention. 
     According to embodiments of the present invention, in addition to movement initiated by user commands and a state of interaction with a simulated environment, movement may also be added to a camera path that directs the camera point-of-view toward advertising targets along encountered along the camera path. These movements may be configured to place the advertising targets within a field-of-view, referred to herein as a camera frustum, thereby increasing the likelihood of advertising impressions for those targets. In some embodiments, these movements may be initiated independent of any user-initiated movement commands or interaction with the simulated environment based on simulated physics. Addition of such movement to the camera path may be particularly desirable in situations where a relatively slight and/or relatively brief deviation of the camera path or camera POV is sufficient to generate an impression of an advertising target that would not have been generated absent the deviation. 
     According to an embodiment, a computer-implemented method for increasing a number of advertising impressions in a system configured to facilitate user interaction with an interactive environment containing one or more advertising targets is provided.  FIG.  1 A  illustrates an example of a simulated environment containing advertising. Examples of suitable simulated environments include, but are not limited to, video games and interactive virtual worlds. Examples of virtual worlds are described in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/682,281, 11/682,284, 11/682,287, 11/682,292, 11/682,298, and 11/682,299, the contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     By way of example, the simulated environment may be generated using simulation software  172  running on a user client device  170 . Execution of the software  172  on the client device  170  causes images to be displayed on the video display  104 . The simulated environment may include one or more advertising targets  101 . Examples of advertising targets are described, e.g., in U.S. Patent Published Patent Application Number 20070079331, which has been incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes. A scene  106  displayed to the user U may be controlled, at least in part, by a camera management system  174  operable with the simulated environment. The camera management system  174  may be implemented on the client device  170  through suitable configured hardware or software. 
     The camera management system  174  determines a position within the simulated environment from which the simulated environment is viewed for the purpose of displaying a portion of the simulated environment. The displayed portion of the simulated environment is referred to herein as a “scene”  106 . The camera management system  174  may also determine an angle from which the scene is viewed. Furthermore, the camera management system  174  may also determine limits on the width, height and depth of a field-of-view of the portion of the scene. The scene  106  may be thought of as a display of a portion of the simulated environment from a particular point-of-view within the simulated environment. As shown in  FIG.  1 B , the scene  106  may be displayed from a point-of-view (camera POV)  105  on the video display  104 . The scene  106  may encompass that portion of the simulated environment that lies within a frustum  107  with a virtual camera  109  located at a narrow end thereof. The point-of-view  105  is analogous to a position and orientation of a camera photographing a real scene and the frustum  107  is analogous to the field-of-view of the camera as it photographs the scene. Because of the aptness of the analogy, the particular point of view is referred to herein as a camera point-of-view (camera POV) and the frustum  107  is referred to herein as the camera frustum. The camera POV  105  generally includes a location (e.g., x, y, z) of the virtual camera  109  and an orientation (e.g., pitch, roll and yaw angle) of the virtual camera  109 . Changing the location or orientation of the virtual camera  109  causes a shift in the scene  106  that is displayed on the video display  104 . The camera orientation may include a viewing direction V. The viewing direction V may be defined as a unit vector oriented perpendicular to a center of a narrow face of the camera frustum  107  and pointing into the camera frustum. The viewing direction V may change with a change in the pitch and/or yaw of the virtual camera  109 . The viewing direction V may define the “roll” axis of the virtual camera  109 . 
     There are a number of different possible configurations for the camera POV  105  and camera frustum  107 . By way of example, and without limitation, the user&#39; may control an avatar A through which the user U may interact with the virtual world. The camera POV  105  may be chosen to show the avatar A within the simulated environment from any suitable angle. Alternatively, the camera POV  105  may be chosen so that the video display  104  presents the scene from the avatar&#39;s point of view. 
     As shown schematically in  FIG.  1 B , the scene  106  shows that portion of the simulated environment that lies within the frustum  107 . The scene  106  may change as the camera POV  105  changes in response to movement of the camera POV  105  along a camera path  111  during the user&#39;s interaction with the simulated environment. The camera path  111  may be represented by a set of data values that represent the location (x, y, z) and orientation (yaw, pitch, roll) of the camera POV  105  at a plurality of different time increments during the user&#39;s interaction with the simulated environment. 
     According to embodiments of the present invention movement may be added to the camera path  111  to direct the camera POV  105  toward one or more advertising targets encountered along the camera path. The movement added to the camera path is configured to place the advertising targets  101  within the scene  106  displayed on the video display to increase a likelihood of advertising impressions associated with one or more of the advertising targets  101 . There are a number of factors that determine an advertising impression. These factors include, among other things, whether an advertising target  101  falls within the camera frustum  107 , how close the advertising target is to the camera POV  105 , how long the advertising target remains within the camera frustum  107 , whether the user&#39;s view of the advertising target is obscured by other objects within the camera frustum  107  and an angle between the view direction V and a vector that is normal (perpendicular) to a surface of the advertising target  101 . The software  172  may include an advertising impression calculation routine that takes these and other factors into account in determining whether an advertising impression has been generated as a result of the user&#39;s interaction with the simulated environment. 
     In some simulated environments (e.g., video games) a user may select and/or manipulate objects that are present in the scene. In embodiments of the present invention, when a user selects an object the camera POV  105  may engage in movement toward the selected object other than a straight line movement to the object of interest but may include tilts or pans to capture advertising impressions along the way. 
     The camera management system  174  may automatically generate a view of the scene  106  within the simulated environment based on the camera path  111 . The simulation software  172  may determine the camera path  111  partly in to a state of execution of instructions of the software  172  and partly in response to movement commands initiated by the user U. The user U may initiate such movement commands by way of an interface  114  coupled to the client device  170 . The displayed scene  106  may change as the camera POV  105  changes in response to movement of the camera POV  105  and camera frustum  107  along the camera path  111  during the user&#39;s interaction with the simulated environment. 
     In embodiments of the invention, a user&#39;s freedom to manipulate the camera point of view  105  may be constrained slightly to increase the likelihood of generating an advertising impression. For example, movement may be added to the camera path  111  independent of user-initiated movement commands or interaction with the simulated environment. Alternatively, movement may be added to the camera path  111  movement may be added to movement of the camera POV  105  resulting from a user-initiated movement commands or other interaction with the simulated environment. The device  170  may include impression enhancement instructions  176  that calculate an amount of movement to be added to the camera path  111  during some interval of time Δt. The impression enhancement instructions  176  may be implemented in hardware, software or some combination of hardware and software. 
     By way of example, and without limitation, the added movement to the camera path  111  may include a tilt (change in pitch angle) or pan (change in yaw angle) that directs the camera POV  105  toward the one or more advertising targets  101 . Furthermore, the movement added to the camera path  111  may include adding a displacement to a location (x, y, z) of the camera POV  105  to the camera path. In addition, a rate of movement of the camera POV  105  may be reduced for a sufficient period of time that an advertising target  101  stays visible to the user long enough to generate an impression. As used herein a “rate of movement” of the camera POV  105  includes an angular speed of tilt, pan or roll of the camera POV as well as a rate of change of position of the camera POV  105  within the simulated environment. 
       FIGS.  1 C- 1 D  illustrate an example of added camera movement when the camera POV  105  shows the avatar A in the scene  106 . In this example, the camera POV  105  is chosen to be slightly behind and to one side of the avatar A. The simulation software  172  and/or impression enhancement instructions  176  may calculate an initial camera path  111   i  for a time interval Δt prior to display of the resulting scene during the time interval Δt. The initial camera path  111   i  may be determined based on simulation state information including, but not limited to a known size and shape of the camera frustum  107 , a current location of the camera POV  105 , a current orientation of the camera POV  105 , a velocity of the camera POV  105 , a rate of change of orientation of the camera POV  105  a location of the avatar A, a velocity of the avatar A, a position and velocity of the advertising target  101 , etc. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the user U may be able to control the camera POV  105  through commands issued from the interface  114 . Such commands may be taken into account in calculating the initial path  111   i  for the time interval Δt. Based on this information, future values of the position and orientation of the camera POV, avatar A and advertising target  101  may be determined by known processes of forward projection. The impression enhancement instructions  176  may analyze these future values to determine if any advertising impressions would be missed during Δt if the initial camera path  111   i  were to be followed. 
     In the example illustrated in  FIGS.  1 C- 1 D , the initial camera path  111   i  for time interval Δt would place an advertising target  101  only partly within the camera frustum  107 . As seen in the inset  FIG.  1 C , this would result in a scene  106   i  that would only partially show the advertising target  101 . The impression enhancement instructions  176  may determine that an advertising impression would be missed if the initial camera path  111   i . The impression enhancement instructions  176  may add movement to the initial camera path  111   i  to produce a revised camera path  111   r  for the time interval Δt that places the advertising target  101  fully within the camera frustum  107  under conditions that would lead to an advertising impression. For example, the revised camera path  111   r  may place the advertising target  101  fully within the camera frustum  107 , at a viewing angle that is within a predetermined acceptable range, and not obscured by any other objects in the scene  106   r , including the avatar A. The simulation software  172  may then use the revised camera path  111   r  to generate a scene  106   r  that is displayed to the user. It is noted that in this example the revised camera path  111 , deviates from the initial camera path  111   i  in terms of both the location and orientation of the camera POV  105 . 
     In some embodiments, the camera POV  105  may be chosen such that the scene  106  is displayed to the user U from the point of view of the avatar A.  FIGS.  1 E- 1 F  illustrate an example of added camera movement when the camera POV  105  shows a scene displayed from an avatar&#39;s point of view. As seen in  FIG.  1 F , the location of the camera POV  105  coincides with a location of the avatar A. As may be seen from the inset in  FIG.  1 F , an initial scene  106   i  shows part of the simulated environment, but does not show the avatar A. It is noted that in this example, the location of the camera POV  105  along the initial path  111   r  follows changes in the location of the avatar A during the time interval Δt. 
     In this example, the initial path  111   i  would lead to a situation in which an advertising target  101  would not be fully within the camera frustum  107  and therefore would not be fully visible in the initial scene  106   i  during a time interval Δt. The impression enhancement instructions  176  may add movement to the initial camera path  111   i  to produce a revised camera path  111   r  for the time interval Δt that places the advertising target  101  fully within the camera frustum  107  under conditions that would lead to an advertising impression. For example, the revised camera path  111   r  may change the viewing direction V by an amount sufficient place the advertising target  101  fully within the camera frustum  107 , at a viewing angle that is within a predetermined acceptable range, and not obscured by any other objects in the resulting scene  106   r . The simulation software  172  may then use the revised camera path  111   r  to generate the scene  106   r  that is displayed to the user. It is noted that in this example the revised camera path  111   r  deviates from the initial camera path  111   i  in terms of the orientation of the camera POV  105  but not in terms of the location of the camera POV  105 . 
     It is noted that the impression enhancement instructions  176  may allow the location of the camera POV  105  may also deviate during the time interval Δt. However, this may result in either changing the path for the avatar A during time interval Δt or changing the location of the camera POV  105  relative to the avatar during the time interval Δt, or some combination of both of these. In some situations like that shown in  FIGS.  1 E- 1 F , transient movements may sometimes be added to the avatar A by the simulation software  172  to make the avatar look natural. In certain embodiments of the present invention such transient effects may be applied to the avatar A to move its head in the direction of an advertising target  101 . Such transient effects may be applied, e.g., when the avatar A is not moving or is just walking. These transient effects may be configured to add movement to the camera POV  105  in the direction of nearby advertising targets. 
     There are a number of different ways to determine the amount of movement to add to the camera path  111  in order to direct the camera POV  105  toward one or more advertising targets encountered along the camera path  111 . For example, as seen in  FIG.  2   , a computer implemented routine  200  for adding movement includes determining an initial camera path  111   i  for a time interval Δt based on user input and/or a state of the interactive environment, as indicated at  202  and  204 . As discussed above, such state information may include a location, orientation, velocity and rate of change of orientation of the camera POV  105  at various time instances t 1  . . . t N  within the time interval Δt. In addition, the state information may include positions and/or velocities and/or rates of change of orientation of objects within the simulated environment, such as an avatar A, advertising targets  101 , and other objects. 
     The initial camera path  111   i  may be analyzed at  206  to determine whether any advertising impressions would be missed for the time interval Δt. Preferably, the time interval Δt is longer than a minimum time necessary to generate an advertising impression. If no missed advertising impressions are identified at  208 , the initial camera path  111   i  may be used for displaying the scene during the time interval Δt as indicated at  210 . If missed advertising impressions were identified at  208 , then a deviation δ of the camera path from the initial camera path  111   i  may be calculated as indicated at  212 . The deviation δ may be configured to capture an impression that would have been missed if the initial camera path  111   i  were to be followed during the time interval Δt. For example, the deviation δ may be configured such that the revised camera path  111   r  places an advertising target  101  within a frame of the video display for a sufficient time and at a sufficient resolution and viewing angle to generate an advertising impression. 
     By way of example, the deviation δ may be represented by a set of vectors δ i  . . . δ N . Each vector δ 1  . . . δ N  may be associated with a corresponding one of the time instances t 1  . . . t N  within the time interval Δt. By way of example, a given vector δ j  within the set of vectors δ 1  . . . δ N  may include a plurality of components. Each component represents an amount of deviation of a component of the initial camera path  111   i  at the corresponding time instance t j . For example, the initial camera path  111   i  may be represented by a plurality of vectors P i1  . . . P iN  Each given vector P ij  may includes components that describe the location, orientation and rate of change of location and orientation of the camera POV  105  at a corresponding instance of time t j  in the time interval Δt. By way of example and without loss of generality, the components of the vector P ij  may include x ij , y ij , z ij , v ijx , v ijy , v ijz , θ ijyaw , θ ijpitch , θ ijroll , ω ijyaw , ω ijpitch , and ω ijroll , where: 
     x ij , y ij , z ij  are the x, y and z components of the position of the camera POV  105  in the initial camera path  111   i  at time instance t j ; 
     v ijx , v ijy , v ijz , are the x, y, and z components of the velocity of the camera POV  105  in the initial camera path  111   i  at time instance t j ; 
     θ ijyaw , θ ijpitch , θ ijroll  are the yaw, pitch and roll components of the orientation of the camera POV  105  in the initial camera path  111   i  at time instance t j ; and 
     ω ijyaw , ω ijpitch , ω ijroll  are the rates of change of the yaw, pitch and roll components of the orientation of the camera POV  105  at time instance t j . 
     The components of a given deviation vector δ j  may similarly include δx j , δy j , δz j , δv jx , δv jy , δv jy , δθ jyaw , δθ jpitch , δθ jroll , δω jyaw , δω jpitch , and δω jroll , where: 
     δx j , δy j , δz j  represent the amount of deviation added to x ij , y ij , z ij ; 
     δv jx , δv jy , δv jz  represent the amount of deviation added to v ijx , v ijy , v ijz ; 
     δθ iyaw , δθ jpitch , δθ jroll  represent the amount of deviation added to θ ijyaw , θ ijpitch , θ ijroll , and 
     δω jyaw , δω jpitch , and δω jroll  represent the amount of deviation added to ω ijyaw , ω ijpitch , and ω ijroll    
     The components of the deviations δ 1  . . . δ N  added to the corresponding initial camera path vectors P ij  to produce a revised camera path  111   r , e.g., made up of vectors P r1  . . . P rN . By way of example, for each time instance t j , the corresponding P rj =P ij +δ j . 
     Missed impressions may be identified, e.g., by analyzing the components of the initial camera path vectors P ij  and similar vectors for the advertising targets  101 , avatar A and obstacles and identifying a situation in which an advertising target  101  would be at least partly visible in the scene displayed on the video display  104  during the interval Δt but not sufficiently visible to generate an advertising impression. For example, an advertising impression may be missed if the advertising target is sufficiently obscured by another object in the displayed scene that an advertising impression would not be generated. Alternatively, an impression might not be generated if the advertising target is not visible in the scene displayed for a sufficient time to generate an advertising impression, Furthermore, an impression might not be generated if the advertising target is visible at too large a viewing angle to generate an advertising impression. As used herein, the term viewing angle refers to an angle between the viewing direction V of the camera POV  105  and a direction normal (i.e., perpendicular) to a surface of an advertising target  101 . If this viewing angle is too large, advertising material on the target  101  may not be sufficiently discernible to generate an advertising impression. In addition, an impression might not be generated if the advertising target is visible but with insufficient resolution to generate an advertising impression. This may occur, e.g., if the advertising target  101  is too far away from the camera POV  105 . As a result, the advertising target  101  will appear smaller on the video display and there may not be enough pixels in the image of the advertising target  101  for the user U to discern the advertising content. It is noted that an impression might not be generated for some combination of two or more of the foregoing reasons. 
     Identifying missed impressions may also include identifying a situation in which an advertising target  101  would be outside a frame of the scene  106  displayed on the video display during the time interval Δt, but is sufficiently close to the camera path that, with a relatively, small deviation of the camera path  114  the advertising target could be placed in the frame: (a) without being obscured by another object in the scene displayed on the video display to a degree that an advertising impression would not be generated, (b) for a sufficient time to generate an advertising impression, (c) at a viewing angle small enough to generate an advertising impression, and (d) with sufficient resolution to generate an advertising impression. It is noted that an example of a relatively small deviation of the camera path is one that would not cause the scene displayed on the video display to appear nausea-inducing, jarring or unnatural to the user as a result of the deviation. 
     Furthermore, the deviation δ from the initial camera path  111   i  calculated at  212  may include a shift in a location (x, y, z) of the camera POV  105  and/or a tilt and/or pan angle of the camera POV  105  that would place an advertising target  101  associated with a missed impression within a frame of the scene  106  displayed on the video display  104  ( a ) without being obscured by another object in the scene displayed on the video display to a degree that an advertising impression would not be generated, (b) for a sufficient time to generate an advertising impression, (c) at a viewing angle small enough to generate an advertising impression, and (d) with sufficient resolution to generate an advertising impression. 
     It is noted that while it is desirable for the revised camera path  111 , to generate an advertising impression, it is also desirable to avoid detrimentally affecting the user&#39;s experience of the simulated environment. For example, in a video game, deviations that take the viewer&#39;s attention away from the action taking place within the context of the game may annoy some users. Furthermore, certain deviations may alter the displayed scene in an unnatural manner, e.g., too rapidly or in unexpected directions. Such deviations may degrade the user&#39;s experience of the simulated environment. Users may find such deviations to be nausea-inducing, jarring or unnatural. 
     The components of the deviations δ 1  . . . δ N  may be limited in a manner calculated to avoid displaying the scene in way that would appear nausea-inducing, jarring or unnatural to the user. By way of example, limits may be placed on the total amount of deviation in the position (x, y, z) and/or orientation (θ yaw , θ pitch , θ roll ) that may take place over the course of the time interval Δt. In addition, limits may be placed on the values of the velocity (v x , v y , v z ) and rate of change of orientation (ω yaw , ω pitch , ω roll ) for any given time instance t j  within the time interval Δt. Such limits may be determined empirically through experimentation during development of a game title. Avoiding nausea-inducing, jarring, or unnatural camera movements may take on other forms. For example, in the case illustrated in  FIGS.  1 C- 1 D  the impression enhancement instructions  176  may take into account the fact that the avatar A should also be displayed in the scene  106   r  in order to avoid an unnatural movement in the scene  106   r  Thus, the position and movement of the avatar A may be taken into account in restricting the amount of movement that may be added to the initial camera path  111   i  so that the avatar A remains within the frame of the scene displayed. 
     The deviation δ may be analyzed at  214  to determine whether displaying the scene  106  according to the revised camera path  111   r  during the time interval Δt would cause the scene to appear nausea-inducing, jarring or unnatural to the user if displayed on the video display  104 . As indicated at  216 , the scene may be displayed according to the revised camera path  111   r  during the time interval Δt if it is determined at  214  that displaying the scene according to the revised camera path during the time interval Δt would not cause the scene displayed on the video display to appear nausea-inducing, jarring or unnatural to the user. The scene may be displayed according to the initial camera path  111   i  during the time interval Δt if it is determined that displaying the scene according to the revised camera path  111   r  during the time interval Δt would cause the scene to appear nausea-inducing, jarring or unnatural to the user U as displayed on the video display  104 . 
     After the camera path for the interval Δt has been established, the camera management system  174  may use the camera path to determine the scene  106  that is displayed on the video display  104 . During this time, the camera path for a subsequent time interval Δt may be determined as indicated at  218 . 
     The degree to which the camera path  111  deviates in response to the presence of advertising targets may be based on such factors as proximity of the camera frustum  107  to an advertising target  101 , the relative velocity between the camera frustum  107  and advertising target, the view direction V and the direction of the normal to the surface of the advertising target  101 . By way of example, a field of attraction may be associated with an advertising target  101 . The field of attraction may be used to determine the deviation δ applied to the initial path  111   i . In one embodiment the field of attraction may be configured to direct the camera POV  105  to point toward an advertising target  101  as the camera frustum  107  passes close to the advertising target. The field of attraction may be configured such that the resulting attraction of the camera frustum is non-uniform. For example, the field of attraction for an asset may be configured to more strongly attract the camera frustum in situations where the asset lies just outside the camera frustum and not attract at all if the camera frustum is heading away from the asset, or a deviation toward the asset would not produce an impression. For example, a deviation that would result in viewing the asset at highly oblique angle might not generate an impression. 
     The field of attraction of an asset may be customized to the angle of approach and speed of approach of the camera frustum. In some embodiments, the camera frustum may slow down slightly to generate an impression. For example, as seen in  FIG.  3    the field attraction of an advertising target  101  may be understood in terms of a relative displacement vector R between the camera POV  105  and the target  101 , the unit viewing direction vector V, a normal unit vector n associated with the target  101 , a velocity vector v of the camera POV  105 , and a relative velocity vector v rel . The relative displacement vector R has a magnitude determined from a distance R between the camera POV  105  and a center of the advertising target  101 . The direction of the relative displacement vector R is a unit vector r along a line through the camera POV  105  and the center of the advertising target  101  pointing from the camera POV  105  toward the advertising target  101 . The normal unit vector n is oriented perpendicular to a surface of the advertising target  101 . The relative velocity vector v rel  has a magnitude equal to a time rate of change of the distance R and a direction determined from the rate of change of the relative displacement vector R. Alternatively, the relative velocity may be determined from a vector difference between the camera velocity v c  and a velocity v A  of the advertising target  101 , e.g., v rel =v c −v A . It is noted that the direction of the normal unit vector n may be different for different points on the surface of the target  101  if the surface is not flat, e.g., as shown for the cylindrical advertising target  101 ′. 
     By way of example, an optimum situation for generating an advertising impression may be one in which, among other things, the view direction V the camera POV velocity vector v, the relative displacement vector R, and the relative velocity vector v rel  are all aligned with each other and are 180 degrees opposite the normal vector n. It is noted that in such a an ideal situation, the dot products of unit vectors representing the directions of V, R, v c  and v rel  with respect to each other are all equal to one and dot products of such unit vectors with the normal unity vector n are all equal to minus one. Thus, the strength of attraction of the target  101  for the camera frustum  107  may be based on the dot products of these unit vectors and an attraction strength S associated with each advertising target  101 . In particular, the deviation calculation  212  may iteratively attempt to determine values of the deviation vectors δ 1  . . . δ N  that make the dot products of the unit vectors representing the directions of V, R, v and v rel  with respect to each other as close to one as possible during the interval Δt. Furthermore the deviation calculation  212  may iteratively attempt to determine values of the deviation vectors δ 1  . . . δ N  that make the dot products of the unit vectors representing the directions of V, R, v c  and v rel  with respect to the unit normal vector n other as close to minus one as possible during the interval Δt. 
     The dot products may be used as part of the process of determining whether a calculated deviation δ would be acceptable at  214 . For example, if the dot product between the view direction V and the unit normal n is zero, the view direction is at right angles to the normal n. In such a situation, any deviation that would tend to point the camera POV  105  toward the advertising target to capture an impression might be so abrupt and so large as to be jarring, nausea-inducing or unnatural. Furthermore, if the dot product between the viewing direction V and the relative displacement vector R is negative and the dot product between the camera POV velocity v c  and the relative displacement vector R is negative it may be deduced that the camera POV is pointing away from and moving away from the target  101 . In such a situation, any deviation that would tend to point the camera POV  105  toward the advertising target to capture an impression might be so abrupt as to be jarring, nausea-inducting or unnatural. 
     In embodiments of the present invention, the value of the deviation vectors δ 1  . . . δ N  may be determined by applying weights to the dot products and attempting to optimize the resulting weighted dot products. The weights may be based on an attraction strength S associated with the advertising target  101 . The weights may take into account numerous factors associated with generating an advertising impression. For example, the weights may all be set to zero if the distance R is either too large or too small for an impression to be generated. The weights may be set closer to one if the distance R is in within some optimum range for which relatively small deviations can make a difference between generating an advertising impression or not. The values of the weights may also depend on the values of the dot product so that strength of deviation tends to weaken with large viewing direction V and the normal n and/or large angles between R and v rel  In certain embodiments, the strength of the field of attraction, e.g., the values of the weights, may be sold as part of the cost of placing the ad asset in the simulated environment. For example, in an extreme case, the weights may all be set to zero so that all δ 1  . . . δ N =0, if the weights are not paid for. 
     Advertising impressions associated with one or more of the advertising targets  101  during the user&#39;s interaction with the simulated environment may be recorded and a number of advertising impressions recorded during the user&#39;s interaction with the simulated environment may be reported to a reporting server as part of an advertising system associated with the simulated environment.  FIG.  4    illustrates an example of in-game advertising system  100  as may be utilized in association with embodiments of the present invention. The in-game advertising system  100  of  FIG.  4    comprises a network  110 . The Network  110  may be, for example, a cable television network, a broadband wireless network or on optical fiber network. Embodiments of the present invention do not impose any limitation with regard to the particular type of communication medium(s), whether the network is homogeneous (e.g., end-to-end wireless) or whether the network is proprietary, open or a combination of the two. The network  110  only need provide the means to communicate amongst the various servers and/or terminals coupled to the network  110  and make up the advertising system  100  of an embodiment of the present invention. The network  110  may be a communications network, a data network or a combination of the two. The network  110  may be a local area network or wide area network such as the Internet. The network  110  may be implemented, e.g., using an infrastructure, such as that used for CATV bi-directional networks, ISDN or xDSL high speed networks to enable network connections for implementing certain embodiments of the present invention. 
     As shown in  FIG.  4   , a content server  120  is communicatively coupled to the network  110 . The content server  120  may provide content for a simulated environment as offered by a content provider. An advertising server  130  as offered by an advertising agency is also communicatively coupled to the network  110 . The advertising server  130  may comprise or be coupled to an advertising database  140  containing advertisement information data. In the example illustrated in  FIG.  4   , the system  100  may further comprises content authors  150   1  . . .  150   N , advertisers  160   1  . . .  160   N , and end-user client devices  170   1  . . .  170   N . Some embodiments of the system  100  may further comprise a payment processing center  180  and an advertising content creator  190 . 
     The content server  120  may distribute digital content for a simulated environment. By way of example, and without loss of generality, content may be requested from networked devices operating in a gaming network. In one embodiment, the content may be requested by end-user client devices  170   1  . . .  170   N . The content distributed by content server  120  may comprise video game content (e.g., actual video games, or portions thereof, accessed by end-user client devices  170   1  . . .  170   N ) as well as other forms of digital media (e.g., music and video). The content server  120  may further provide for the storage of digital content. The content server  120  may store such content locally (e.g., as part of a storage area network) or at a location physically remote from the content server  120  but otherwise communicatively coupled to the server  120  thereby allowing for retrieval and transmission of the content to end-user client devices  170   1  . . .  170   N . Content served by the content server  120  may be served as the result of a push or pull operation. 
     The advertising server  130 , as previously noted, may be managed by an advertising agency providing for the distribution of advertising content to larger audiences (e.g., end-users). The advertising server  130  may serve audio, video, audio/video and still image content. Content served by the advertising server  130  may be served as the result of a push or pull transaction. The advertising database  140  is a repository for advertising content such as the aforementioned video and audio content. Such content may be stored in digital or analog form. While advertising images are the most prevalent type of advertising content, advertising content may further comprise element types such as programs, objects, state data, control data, textures, bitmap images, compressed images, sequencing data, authentication data, public key and private key. The advertising database  140  may be integrated with the advertising server  130  or may be physically remote from the advertising server  130  but is otherwise configured to provide communicative coupling that allows for the retrieval of content from the database  140  for subsequent transmission to end-user client devices  170   1  . . .  170   N , e.g., via the network  110 . 
     Content authors  150   1  . . .  150   N  are those entities that develop content for distribution to end-users, for example, video games. Content authors  150   1  . . .  150   N  may also develop audio, video and/or audio/video content. Content developed by content authors  150   1  . . .  150   N  may be generated in any form of media. For example, content may be developed in an optical disk format or in non-volatile memory such as a flash card. Content may also be provided in a pure data format to be transmitted and hosted by another party. For example, content author  150   1  . . .  150   N  may develop a video game but never commercially distribute the content in a physical form of media. Instead, the content may be FTP′d or otherwise transmitted to content server  120  and stored in an appropriate storage means for subsequent delivery to end-user client devices  170   1  . . .  170   N . 
     Advertisers  160   1  . . .  160   N  may be any entity seeking to place an advertisement in the digital content created by any of the content authors  150   1  . . .  150   N . An advertiser may be from any field of endeavor and need not necessarily be in the entertainment or video game industry. 
     The end-user client devices  170   1  . . .  170   N  are those devices allowing an end-user to access digital content. For example, in the case of a video game, the appropriate end-user client device  170   1  . . .  170   N  may include one or more home entertainment video game systems such as a PlayStation3 from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. In the instance of digital content being, for example, an on-demand movie or other video program, the end-user client devices  170   1  . . .  170   N  may include one or more set-top cable boxes. The end-user client devices  170   1  . . .  170   N  may include a portable device that may be temporarily coupled to a more permanent device (e.g., a desktop computer) to allow for the transfer or updating of digital content via a USB cable as would be the case in, for example, a portable music device such as an MP3 player. Each client device  170   1  . . .  170   N  may include simulation software  172  such as video games developed by one or more of the content authors  170   1  . . .  170   N . The simulation software may include an impression enhancement instructions  176  that calculate an amount of movement to be added to the camera path  111  during some interval of time Δt to enhance advertising impressions as described above. 
     The optional payment processing center  180  is configured to allow for the execution of various payment and/or monetary transfer transactions. These payments may be achieved, for example, through direct deposit, automatic funds or wire transfers as is appropriate and/or available. The payment processing center  180  may, for example, be associated with a bank offering these services. In another example, the payment processing center  180  may be associated with an on-line escrow agent communicatively coupled to a variety of banks wherein the escrow agent instructs and/or receives notice of various monetary transactions on behalf of various entities in the in-game advertising system  100  (e.g., advertisers  160   1  . . .  160   N  and content authors  150   1  . . .  150   N ). 
     The advertising content creator  190  is an entity that authors and/or develops advertisements on behalf of advertisers  160   1  . . .  160   N  for placement into digital content. In some instances, the advertising content creator  190  may only digitally author content. For example, certain advertising copy (be it audio, video, print or any combination of the three) may have already been created in a non-digital format. In those instances, advertising content creator  190  may manipulate (e.g., digitize) the advertising copy so that it may be placed into the greater context of digital content that is offered by the content server  120 . In other instances, advertising content creator may take a script for an advertisement and create the same (e.g., film video, record audio and then combine the two with various special effects). Advertising content creator  190  may also utilize program objects and program scripts including commands related to special effects, program elements, control signals, messaging and various protocols. In still other instances, advertising content creator may develop advertisement campaigns from scratch (e.g., the advertising concept for a campaign) and subsequently create the ad content to correspond to that campaign. 
       FIG.  5    illustrates an example of flow of communication  500  among the components of the advertising system  100 . For the purpose of example, a single content author  150 , advertiser  160  and end user  170  are shown in  FIG.  5   . Those of skill in the art will recognize that the communication flow  500  depicted in  FIG.  5    may be extended to situations having plural content authors, advertisers and end users. A content author  150  provides the advertising server  130  with advertisement structure information  152  in step  205 . The content and makeup of the advertisement structure information is discussed in the context of  FIG.  4    of US Patent Application Publication 20070079331, which has been incorporated herein by reference. The advertisement structure information may be registered in the advertising database  140  of the advertisement server  130 . The operator of the advertisement server  130  informs an advertiser  160  of advertisement information  132  such as title, contents, etc., of a newly-registered game title or other simulated environment asset in informing step  211 . Informing of the advertiser  160  may occur by traditional mail, electronic mail, listservs, SMS, instant messenger, chat or any other available communication medium. 
     At this stage, the ad server  130  may offer and the advertiser  160  may accept the option of an advertising impression enhancement feature as described above with respect to the impression enhancement instructions  176 . In particular, the advertisement information  132  may include information regarding whether, how, and how strongly a user&#39;s view of a simulated environment generated with the digital contents will be influenced by the presence of assets associated with advertisement content in that simulated environment. The advertisement information  132  may include a price structure for enabling the advertising impression enhancement instructions for advertising content that the advertiser  160  wishes to place within the simulated environment. 
     The advertiser  160  may access the advertisement server  130  and may view the advertisement information  132  in viewing step  215  and further apply for an advertisement buy from, for example, a web-browser screen in application step  220 . Once the advertiser  160  has been established, advertiser specified information  162  such as advertiser name, time slot, and time period of an advertisement are provided to an appropriate content author  150  from the advertisement server  130  in notification step  225 . Notification may occur by traditional mail, electronic mail, listservs, SMS, instant messenger, chat or any other available communication medium. 
     The advertiser specified information  162  and advertisement structure information  152  may also be supplied to the advertisement content creator  190  via the advertisement server  130  in ordering step  230 . The advertisement content creator  190  creates advertisement content  192  (e.g., the advertisement) based on the advertiser specified information and advertisement structure information. Completed advertisement content  192  such as bitmap data or other graphic, audio and/or video data may be delivered by the advertisement content creator  190  to the advertisement server  130  in delivery step  235 . 
     Notification of the receipt of the completed advertisement is communicated by the advertisement server  130  to the advertiser  160  in completion step  240  by traditional mail, electronic mail, listservs, SMS, instant messenger, chat or any other available communication medium. 
     The advertiser  160  may view the completed advertisement information  192  on the advertisement server  130  in viewing/approval step  245 . If the advertiser  160  approves of the completed advertisement content  192  corresponding to the completed advertisement information (e.g., by pressing an ‘OK’ button in a web-interface), the advertisement content is confirmed and an itinerary  134  may be sent by the advertisement server  130  to the content author  150  by traditional mail, electronic mail, listservs, SMS, instant messenger, chat or any other available communication medium in delivery detail confirmation step  250 . The itinerary  134  delivered in step  250  may comprise information related to the advertiser, time slot, period, advertising fees and so forth. In embodiments of the invention, the itinerary  134  may include information regarding whether, how, and how strongly a user&#39;s view of a simulated environment generated with the digital contents will be influenced by the presence of assets associated with the advertisement content  192  in that simulated environment. 
     In registration step  255 , the content provider  120  may correlate certain advertising information  136  and advertisement content  192  with digital content  122  to be delivered. That is, the content provider  120  recognizes that particular advertisements are to be delivered with particular portions of digital content and so forth. This correlation of information may comprise authoring new derivative files reflecting both advertisement information and digital content/advertising programs), the embedding of metadata  124  in the digital content  122  or the implementation of object oriented programming wherein certain data files (e.g., digital contents/advertising programs) call upon other distinct files (e.g., advertising information  136 ). 
     The metadata  124  may also comprise information as it pertains to advertising information  136  such as how long a game character must be present within an impression area defined within the video game. The metadata  124  may further provide information defining the parameters of the impression area and certain quality factors as are discussed herein. Tracking parameters and feedback information and/or instructions may further be imbedded in the metadata of an advertisement. Such information may also be contemporaneously downloaded with the advertising information  136  as a separate file whereby the advertising information calls upon certain information related to impressions, reporting and so forth. 
     A user accesses and/or requests digital content  122  for a simulated environment (e.g., a driving simulation video game) using an end-user client device  170  in content application step  260 . As a result of the application for content, the user may start to download the digital content  122  in download step  265 . Alternatively, if the user already has a particular portion of the digital content  122 , this step may involve presenting the user with an update as to that content. This step may also comprise unlocking digital content that is already in possession of the user. Step  265  may also involve authenticating removable media, accommodating registration with a game network or a game ‘lobby’ or ‘ waiting room’ and so forth 
     In some embodiments of the present invention, the user may access digital content using permanent physical media (e.g., an optical disc). The physical media may have embodied thereon instruction for accessing the present advertising system  100  as it pertains specifically to advertising content versus actual simulated environment data, e.g., video game data. In additional embodiments of the present invention, the user may access a combination of advertising content and actual simulated environment data via the system  100  (e.g., new advertising content and new game levels published after the initial release of the game on physical media). Such embodiments are discussed in further detail below. 
     During the download of content and/or advertisements in step  265 , the content provider  120  notifies the advertisement server  130  of the download request as it relates to particular advertising material in step  270 , such correlations between content and advertising having previously been made in registration step  255 . The advertisement server  130  then transmits the necessary advertisement data  196  corresponding to the user download to the content provider  120  in step  275 . If necessary, the advertising data  196  provided to content provider  120  can be updated over time relative the content being downloaded (e.g., new ad copy). In embodiments of the present invention, the advertising data  196  includes information pertaining to whether, in what manner, and how strongly a user&#39;s view of a simulated environment generated with the digital content  122  will be influenced by the presence of assets associated with the advertisement content  192  in that simulated environment. 
     After downloading the digital contents (including advertisement information or content in ad information delivery step  275 ), the user (through end-user client device  170 ) renders the advertisement content  192  within the simulated environment associated with the digital content  122 , the advertisement information having been provided via advertisement server  130 . As noted above, some embodiments of the present invention may access solely advertising information or a combination of new simulated environment content and advertising information rather than an entire game. 
     During the user&#39;s interaction with the simulated environment via the end-user client device  170 , the user&#39;s view of the simulated environment may be subtly influenced by the presence of advertisement content  192 . This subtle alteration is designed to slightly shift the user&#39;s view of the simulated environment so that advertising impressions are enhanced, e.g., as described above. 
     The state of the advertisement, such as the number of distributions or impressions made, may be provided to the advertisement server  130  and, if necessary or desired, to the advertiser  160  in advertisement status notification step  280  so that certain determinations made be made, for example, the success of an ad campaign with regard to the number of impressions made. 
     As a result of the notification in step  270 , the advertisement server  130  may track the advertisements that have been or are being downloaded to the end-user client device  170 . Utilizing certain advertising impression and tracking methodologies as discussed in US Published patent application 20070079331, the advertisement server  130  may receive feedback in connection with advertisement impressions. Information concerning impressions or other advertisement feedback may be generated at the end-user client device  170 , which may be configured with the necessary software to either directly or indirectly implement impression tracking. 
     Direct impression tracking may be based on software configured at the end-user client device  170  and that operates in conjunction with a simulated environment kernel and is further configured to participate in network communications such that textures and objects or indexes to textures and objects related to an advertising campaign may be received. The tracking software may directly monitor the angle and position of various advertising asserts with respect to changing camera perspectives presented to the user who controls the camera perspective utilizing a game controller. Indirect impression tracking may occur through a server or a session master client in a peer-to-peer network participating, facilitating, arbitrating or interrogating functions associated with the campaign program (e.g., extraction of data necessary to yield the determination of an ad impression). Hence, ad impression determinations may occur at, for example, ad server  130  or advertiser  160  in response to information generated or signals sent from the end-user client device  170 . 
     Ad impression data may be batched or transmitted over the network at periodic intervals. Transmission of impression data may occur in accordance with a schedule or in conjunction with other processes or transmissions used to facilitate game play or other interaction with the simulated environment. Impression data may also be streamed or pulled during an inquiry received over the network. Any network element of the advertising system  100  may facilitate or influence the transmission of impression data. 
     Advertisement impressions may be calculated in various ways. For example, an advertisement located in a virtual kiosk in a virtual shopping center might be viewed by 1,000 gamers over the course of an afternoon. It could be said that the particular advertisement enjoyed 1,000 impressions as each gamer walked their gaming character past the kiosk and viewed the goods or services advertised therein. Impressions may also be calculated through a time threshold index. For example, an impression may be earned, triggered, counted or computed after a user has been exposed to the advertisement for a particular period of time. For example, an impression may occur after 30 seconds of exposure by the user to an advertisement. The impression may also be tracked and computed based on one or more user&#39;s continuous or distributed exposures to the advertisement on the virtual kiosk or as part of an overall ad campaign. 
     The advertisement content receiving, impression tracking and impression data feedback transmission systems of the present invention may reside in a single software element or in multiple software elements. Software elements may be distributed in whole, or part, on one or more processors or across a local or wide area network. 
     Impression enhancing software and impression tracking software may be provided as a result of downloading a necessary software module during download step  265  or the software having been installed directly on physical media (e.g. an optical disk) read by the end-user client device  170  or, alternatively, installed directly in the end-user client device  170 . Impression enhancement or impression tracking software or various components of the software may also be installed in the various other components of the advertising system  100  dependent upon the particular configuration of an embodiment. 
     Similar or identical advertisement state information may be provided to content author  150 . This notification is made so that the advertiser  160  may be properly invoiced by the contents author  150  in accordance with any number of payment plans as are discussed herein. The advertisement server  130  may further provide this information to payment processing center  180  to allow for automatic billing and payment in step  285 . These payments may be achieved, for example, through direct deposit, automatic funds or wire transfers or any other money transfer methodology as is appropriate and/or available. 
     The advertising system  100  as described with respect to  FIG.  4    may be implemented over various communication and data networks. 
     It should be noted that in some embodiments of the present invention, certain elements of the in-game advertising system  100  may be combined or removed from the system  100  entirely without compromising the operations of the system  100 . For example, an embodiment of the in-game advertising system  100  as described herein may function without the need for a payment processing center  180  as proper remuneration of parties in the system  100  may have been established beforehand or subject to analysis of certain information after advertisement delivery. Similarly, the ad server  130  and related database  140  may be operated in conjunction with the advertisement content creator  190  or with content provider  120 . Various approval and notification steps may also be omitted in the course of  FIG.  4    so long as ad buys remain reserved, as is discussed in the context of tagging with respect to FIG. 3 of U.S. Patent Application publication 20070079331, which has been incorporated herein by reference, and the proper advertisements delivered relative those tagged assets. Additionally, exchanges of data or various notifications described above may be of a dual-direction or exchanged between various components of system  100 . For example, various notifications may be delivered to the ad server  130  in addition by the ad server  130 . In that regard, the present invention is not meant to be limited by the exemplary data flows as depicted in  FIG.  5   . 
     While  FIGS.  4  and  5    illustrate an in-game advertising system  100  wherein content and advertising were both provided to an end-user client device  170  over the network  110 , in some embodiments, a user may play a game as embodied on a physical media such as an optical disk as may be utilized in, for example, a PlayStation3 gaming console or for use in a desktop computer (e.g., to be inserted into a CD-ROM drive). In these instances, various libraries related to the game (e.g., character generation, user interfaces, recognition of user controls and so forth) may be authored and stamped directly onto the physical media instead of accessed or downloaded via content provider  120 . 
     In such an embodiment, advertising content may be embodied on the physical media as well. As has been previously noted, however, such advertising schemes may be ineffective if the popularity of a game turns out to be overrated (wherein an ad buy was likely overpriced) or underrated (wherein an ad buy was likely underpriced). Similarly, the relevance of certain advertisements may expire over the course of time (e.g., an advertised event occurs, the advertiser stops selling the product or goes out of business or the advertisements are mock advertisements pertaining to a fictitious product but remain relevant in the context of the game despite the passage of time). 
     In such physical media, a software client may be embodied in the physical media, the software client comprising operating routines, resources, instructions and so forth that allow an end-user client device  170  reading the optical media or other physical media to access the advertising system  100 . Although the user may not necessarily be receiving simulated environment content (e.g., if the user does not download or directly access code and other information related to the actual game), the user may still receive advertising content as the client pertains to the instructions and operations necessary to access the advertising system  100  and for advertising content to be provided to the system  100 . 
     Through the provision of such a software client on physical media, a variety of parties may develop games or other simulated environment content that operates on a particular end-user client device to interact with the advertising system  100 . Access to the advertising client code may be subject to a fee charged by an operator of the advertising system  100 , the costs of which may be recouped by the third-party game developer who passes those costs on to advertisers  160   1  . . .  160   N  that might wish to place content in a particular video game as the popularity and advertising value of that game is assessed. 
     By way of example, and without limitation, the end user client devices  170  may be game consoles. Examples of commercially game consoles include the Xbox® from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond Wash., the Wii® from Nintendo Company, Ltd of Kyoto, Japan and PlayStation® devices, such as the PlayStaion3 from Sony Computer Entertainment of Tokyo, Japan. Xbox® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. PlayStation® is a registered trademark of Kabushiki Kaisha Sony Computer Entertainment of Tokyo, Japan. Wii® is a registered trademark of Nintendo Company, Ltd of Kyoto, Japan. Such game consoles are commonly coupled to a television set or video monitor so that visual images of the virtual world may be presented to a user. Alternatively the client devices may be any other type of network capable device that can receive and use auxiliary content. Such devices include, but are not limited to cellular telephones, personal computers, laptop computers, television set-top boxes, portable internet access devices, portable email devices, portable video game devices; personal digital assistants, digital music players and the like. Furthermore, the client devices  170  may incorporate the functions of two or more of the devices in the examples previously listed. 
     By way of example, the client device  170  may be configured as shown in  FIG.  6   , which depicts a block diagram illustrating the components of a client device  300  according to an embodiment of the present invention. By way of example, and without loss of generality, the client device  300  may be implemented as a computer system, such as a personal computer, video game console, personal digital assistant, or other digital device, suitable for practicing an embodiment of the invention. The client device  300  may include a central processing unit (CPU)  305  configured to run software applications and optionally an operating system. The CPU  305  may include one or more processing cores. By way of example and without limitation, the CPU  305  may be a parallel processor module, such as a Cell Processor. An example of a Cell Processor architecture is described in detail, e.g., in  Cell Broadband Engine Architecture , copyright International Business Machines Corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated, Toshiba Corporation Aug. 8, 2005 a copy of which may be downloaded at http://cell.scei.co.jp/, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     A non-transitory computer readable medium such as a memory  306  is coupled to the CPU  305 . The memory  306  may store applications and data for use by the CPU  305 . The memory  306  may be in the form of an integrated circuit, e.g., RAM, DRAM, ROM, and the like). A computer program  301  may be stored in the memory  306  in the form of instructions that can be executed on the processor  305 . The instructions of the program  301  may be configured to implement, amongst other things, certain steps of a method for advertising impression enhancement, e.g., as described above with respect to  FIGS.  1 A- 1 D  and  FIG.  2   . By way of example, the impression enhancement program  301  may include instructions to add movement to a camera path that directs a camera point-of-view (POV) toward one or more advertising targets encountered along the camera path. The movement added to the camera path is configured to place the advertising targets within the scene displayed on the video display to increase a likelihood a number of advertising impressions associated with one or more of the advertising targets. The program  301  may operate in conjunction with one or more instructions configured to implement an interactive environment. By way of example, such instructions may be part of a main program  303 , such as a video game program. Alternatively, the main program  303  may be a program for interfacing with a virtual world. The main program  303  may be configured to display a scene of a portion of the simulated environment from the camera POV on a video display and change the scene as the camera POV changes in response to movement of the camera POV along a camera path during the user&#39;s interaction with the simulated environment. The main program may include instructions for physics simulation  304 , camera management  307  and reporting advertising impressions  309 . The main program  303  may call the impression enhancement program  301 , physics simulation instructions  304 , camera management instructions  307  and advertising impression reporting instructions  309 , e.g., as a functions or subroutines. 
     The client device  300  may also include well-known support functions  310 , such as input/output (I/O) elements  311 , power supplies (P/S)  312 , a clock (CLK)  313  and cache  314 . The client device  300  may further include a storage device  315  that provides non-volatile storage for applications and data. The storage device  315  may be used for temporary or long-term storage of auxiliary content assets  316  downloaded from a content server  120 . By way of example, the storage device  315  may be a fixed disk drive, removable disk drive, flash memory device, tape drive, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Blu-ray, UMD, or other optical storage devices. 
     One or more user input devices  320  may be used to communicate user inputs from one or more users to the computer client device  300 . By way of example, one or more of the user input devices  320  may be coupled to the client device  300  via the I/O elements  311 . Examples of suitable input device  320  include keyboards, mice, joysticks, touch pads, touch screens, light pens, still or video cameras, and/or microphones. The client device  300  may include a network interface  325  to facilitate communication via an electronic communications network  327 . The network interface  325  may be configured to implement wired or wireless communication over local area networks and wide area networks such as the Internet. The client device  300  may send and receive data and/or requests for files via one or more message packets  326  over the network  327 . 
     The client device  300  may further comprise a graphics subsystem  330 , which may include a graphics processing unit (GPU)  335  and graphics memory  340 . The graphics memory  340  may include a display memory (e.g., a frame buffer) used for storing pixel data for each pixel of an output image. The graphics memory  340  may be integrated in the same device as the GPU  335 , connected as a separate device with GPU  335 , and/or implemented within the memory  306 . Pixel data may be provided to the graphics memory  340  directly from the CPU  305 . Alternatively, the CPU  305  may provide the GPU  335  with data and/or instructions defining the desired output images, from which the GPU  335  may generate the pixel data of one or more output images. The data and/or instructions defining the desired output images may be stored in memory  310  and/or graphics memory  340 . In an embodiment, the GPU  335  may be configured (e.g., by suitable programming or hardware configuration) with  3 D rendering capabilities for generating pixel data for output images from instructions and data defining the geometry, lighting, shading, texturing, motion, and/or camera parameters for a scene. The GPU  335  may further include one or more programmable execution units capable of executing shader programs. 
     The graphics subsystem  330  may periodically output pixel data for an image from the graphics memory  340  to be displayed on a video display device  350 . The video display device  350  may be any device capable of displaying visual information in response to a signal from the client device  300 , including CRT, LCD, plasma, and OLED displays. The computer client device  300  may provide the display device  350  with an analog or digital signal. By way of example, the display  350  may include a cathode ray tube (CRT) or flat panel screen that displays text, numerals, graphical symbols or images. In addition, the display  350  may include one or more audio speakers that produce audible or otherwise detectable sounds. To facilitate generation of such sounds, the client device  300  may further include an audio processor  355  adapted to generate analog or digital audio output from instructions and/or data provided by the CPU  305 , memory  306 , and/or storage  315 . 
     The components of the client device  300 , including the CPU  305 , memory  306 , support functions  310 , data storage  315 , user input devices  320 , network interface  325 , and audio processor  355  may be operably connected to each other via one or more data buses  360 . These components may be implemented in hardware, software or firmware or some combination of two or more of these. 
     While the above is a complete description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to use various alternatives, modifications and equivalents. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be determined not with reference to the above description but should, instead, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with their full scope of equivalents. Any feature described herein, whether preferred or not, may be combined with any other feature described herein, whether preferred or not. In the claims that follow, the indefinite article “A”, or “An” refers to a quantity of one or more of the item following the article, except where expressly stated otherwise. The appended claims are not to be interpreted as including means-plus-function limitations, unless such a limitation is explicitly recited in a given claim using the phrase “means for.”