Incentive Offer Search System for Dynamic Game Rewards

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Solution Overview

Problem

Online multiplayer games and merchant systems face challenges in incentivizing users to complete transactions, as existing methods lack effective mechanisms to offer personalized and dynamic in-game rewards that align with user preferences and game progress.

Innovation Solution

An incentive offer search system that determines and presents in-game rewards based on user game state data, item details, and transaction dynamics, allowing for static, dynamic, or mystery rewards, and offering varying incentives to encourage timely purchases or gameplay engagement.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If in-game rewards are offered to incentivize online purchases, then transaction rates and user engagement increase, but the system complexity and difficulty of personalizing rewards increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetransaction rateVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces an incentive offer search system as an intermediary component that bridges the game platform and merchant systems. This mediator handles the complex tasks of selecting and personalizing rewards based on user profiles, game state, and purchase context, thereby resolving the contradiction by centralizing complexity in a dedicated subsystem rather than distributing it throughout the entire system

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The system dynamically changes reward parameters (type, value, timing) based on multiple factors including user preferences, game progress state, and purchase characteristics. By making reward parameters adaptive rather than fixed, the system achieves personalized incentivization without requiring complete system redesign, thus improving transaction rates while managing complexity through parameter optimization

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

2Adaptability or versatility

If personalized in-game rewards are provided based on user game state data, then user engagement and relevance of rewards improve, but the computational requirements and data processing complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvereward personalizationVSAvoiddata processing complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by pre-processing and storing user profile data, game state information, and reward catalog data in accessible formats. User preferences and game progress are maintained in updated states before purchase events occur, enabling rapid reward selection without real-time computational burden during the critical purchase moment

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements feedback mechanisms where user responses to offered rewards (acceptance, rejection, engagement patterns) are fed back into the user profile and preference data. This continuous feedback loop allows the system to learn and adapt to user preferences over time, improving personalization accuracy while reducing the computational complexity of real-time decision-making by relying on learned patterns

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

3Productivity

If dynamic reward offers are presented during the purchasing process, then transaction conversion increases, but the integration complexity between game system and merchant system increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetransaction conversionVSAvoidsystem integration complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The incentive offer search system is designed with universal interfaces that can interact with multiple different merchant systems and game platforms through standardized protocols. By creating a multi-functional intermediary layer with universal communication capabilities, the system enables dynamic reward integration across diverse systems without requiring complex custom integrations for each partnership

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent positions the incentive offer search system as a mediator between game platforms and merchant systems, handling all complex integration tasks centrally. This intermediary absorbs the integration complexity within its own architecture, allowing game systems and merchant systems to connect through simplified standardized interfaces, thereby improving transaction conversion while managing integration complexity in a centralized manner

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

4Productivity

If in-game rewards are used to incentivize purchases, then user participation and gameplay engagement increase, but the cost of providing rewards and managing reward systems increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveuser engagementVSAvoidreward cost
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The system dynamically adjusts reward parameters including type, quantity, and value based on multiple factors such as user preferences, purchase amount, game state, and business objectives. By optimizing reward parameters rather than providing fixed high-value rewards, the system achieves effective user engagement while controlling reward expenditure through data-driven parameter selection

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The system applies different reward strategies to different user segments, purchase types, and game contexts based on local characteristics. Rather than using a uniform high-cost reward approach, the system tailors reward quality and value to match the specific context, providing higher-value rewards only where they generate the most engagement and conversion, thereby controlling overall reward cost while maintaining user participation

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUS8818845B2Online game rewards for web-based purchases
Publication Date: 2014.08.26 ZYNGA INC
  • US8818845B2 patent drawing
  • US8818845B2 patent drawing
  • US8818845B2 patent drawing

AI summary

Example systems and methods related to providing rewards for an online game in response to web-based purchases are presented. In an example, an online catalog webpage including information describing a product available for purchase is generated. The online catalog webpage includes code instructing a device receiving the online catalog webpage to issue a request to an online gaming system to determine an in-game reward for a user based on the product. The online catalog webpage is transmitted to a client device of the user. An order for the product is received from the client device. The order indicates the in-game reward determined in the online gaming system. An order confirmation webpage is transmitted to the client device in response to the order, and the order confirmation webpage indicates the in-game reward.