Recommending virtual reward offers and awarding virtual rewards

Abstract

In an embodiment, a method performed by one or more computing devices comprises storing, for one or more marketplace associated applications, interaction information that identifies, for each particular application of said one or more marketplace associated applications, a list of devices that interacted with an instance of the particular application; receiving, from a requesting device, a request for a list of offer eligible applications; determining, based on said interaction information, a set of applications associated with the requesting device; based on said determination of the set of applications associated with the requesting device, sending a list of one or more selected eligible applications to the requesting device.

1 . A method comprising:
 storing, for one or more marketplace associated applications, interaction information that identifies, for each particular application of said one or more marketplace associated applications, a list of devices that interacted with an instance of the particular application;   receiving, from a requesting device, a request for a list of offer eligible applications;   determining, based on said interaction information, a set of applications associated with the requesting device;   based on said determination of the set of applications associated with the requesting device, sending a list of one or more selected eligible applications to the requesting device;   wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining a set of applications associated with the requesting device comprises searching the interaction information for a device identifier identifying the requesting device. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining a set of applications associated with the requesting device comprises searching the interaction information for a device identifier identifying a device from a set of devices associated with an account of the requesting device. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving, by a marketplace application, the list of eligible applications; 
 displaying a list of eligible application descriptions, wherein each entry in the list of eligible application descriptions describes an application of the list of eligible applications. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising:
 receiving a selection of an eligible application of the list of eligible applications; 
 displaying a plurality of offer descriptions, each offer description of the plurality of offer descriptions describing a respective offer for the selected eligible application, wherein each respective offer offers a reward in exchange for a performance of an offer action; 
 receiving a selection of a particular offer from the plurality of respective offers; 
 determining that a user of the requesting device has performed the a particular offer action associated with the particular offer; 
 in response to determining that the user has performed the particular offer action, awarding the user the a reward associated with the particular offer. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the selected eligible application is not installed on the requesting device and is installed on a device associated with an account of the requesting device. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the offer descriptions are displayed in a particular order and the particular order is determined based on information associated with an account of the requesting device. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the offer action comprises executing a promoted application;
 wherein said selection of the particular offer was performed on an offer selection device;   wherein determining that the user has performed the particular offer action comprises:
 accessing interaction information for the promoted application that identifies a plurality of devices that executed the particular application; 
 based on the accessed interaction information, determining that the advertised promoted application was executed by the offer selection device. 
   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the reward associated with the particular offer is a particular amount of virtual reward for use with the selected eligible application;
 wherein awarding the user the offered reward comprises sending a message to a server associated with the selected eligible application indicating an amount to be awarded.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the reward is a particular amount of virtual reward for use with the selected eligible application;
 wherein awarding the user the offered reward comprises updating a value associated with the requesting device.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the offered reward is a particular amount of virtual reward for use with the selected eligible application;
 wherein awarding the user the reward comprises:   determining an amount of a universal reward to award based on the particular amount of virtual reward;   in response to said determination, updating a value associated with an account of the requesting device, the value representing an amount of universal reward.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more selected eligible applications are determined by selecting one or more applications from the set of applications associated with the requesting device that were executed within a particular time period. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the plurality of offer descriptions are displayed according to an order and an order value associated with an offer of said respective offers is determined, based in part, on how similar said offer is to one or more applications of the set of applications associated with the requesting device. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the requesting device is any of a smartphone, a tablet computer, a netbook computer, a laptop computer, or a desktop computer. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising one or more sequences of instructions which when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform:
 storing, for one or more marketplace associated applications, interaction information that identifies, for each particular application of said one or more marketplace associated applications, a list of devices that interacted with an instance of the particular application;   receiving, from a requesting device, a request for a list of offer eligible applications;   determining, based on said interaction information, a set of applications associated with the requesting device;   based on said determination of the set of applications associated with the requesting device, sending a list of one or more selected eligible applications to the requesting device;   applications to the requesting device.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions that cause determining a set of applications associated with the requesting device further comprise instructions that cause searching the interaction information for a device identifier identifying the requesting device. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein instructions that cause determining a set of applications associated with the requesting device further comprise instructions that cause searching the interaction information for a device identifier identifying a device from a set of devices associated with an account of the requesting device. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15  further comprising instructions which when executed cause:
 receiving, by a marketplace application, the list of eligible applications; 
 displaying a list of eligible application descriptions, wherein each entry in the list of eligible application descriptions describes an application of the list of eligible applications. 
 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 18  further comprising instructions which when executed cause:
 receiving a selection of an eligible application of the list of eligible applications; 
 displaying a plurality of offer descriptions, each offer description of the plurality of offer descriptions describing a respective offer for the selected eligible application, wherein each respective offer offers a reward in exchange for a performance of an offer action; 
 receiving a selection of a particular offer from the respective offers; 
 determining that a user of the requesting device has performed a particular offer action associated with the particular offer; 
 in response to determining that the user has performed the particular offer action, awarding the user the a reward associated with the particular offer. 
 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 19 , wherein the selected eligible application is not installed on the requesting device and is installed on a device associated with an account of the requesting device. 
     
     
         21 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 19 , wherein the offer descriptions are displayed in a particular order and the particular order is determined based on information associated with an account of the requesting device. 
     
     
         22 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 19 , wherein the offer action comprises executing a promoted application;
 wherein said selection of the particular offer was performed on an offer selection device;   wherein determining that the user has performed the action comprises:
 accessing interaction information for the promoted application that identifies a plurality of devices that executed the particular application; 
 based on the accessed interaction information, determining that the promoted application was executed by the offer selection device. 
   
     
     
         23 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 19 , wherein the reward associated with the particular offer is a particular amount of virtual reward for use with the selected eligible application;
 wherein awarding the user the reward comprises sending a message to a server associated with the selected eligible application indicating an amount to be awarded.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the reward is a particular amount of virtual reward for use with the selected eligible application;
 wherein awarding the user the offered reward comprises updating a value associated with the requesting device.   
     
     
         25 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 19 , wherein the reward is a particular amount of virtual reward for use with the selected eligible application;
 wherein awarding the user the reward comprises:   determining an amount of universal reward to award based on the particular amount of virtual reward;   in response to said determination, updating a value associated with an account of the requesting device, the value representing an amount of universal reward.   
     
     
         26 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , the one or more selected eligible applications are determined by selecting one or more applications from the set of applications associated with the requesting device that were executed within a particular time period. 
     
     
         27 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 19 , wherein the plurality of offer descriptions are displayed according to an order and an order value associated with an offer of said respective offers is determined, based in part, on how similar said offer is to one or more applications of the set of applications associated with the requesting device. 
     
     
         28 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the requesting device is any of a smartphone, a tablet computer, a netbook computer, a laptop computer, or a desktop computer.