DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 53-62 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 53-62 recite the limitation “the medium of claim 52” or similar. Parent claim 52 does not recite a medium. For the purposes of examination, it is presumed that “the medium” should have been “the method”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 41-63 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Claim 41 is directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium, which is eligible at step 1.
At step 2a, prong one, the following limitations are abstract: present a virtual environment, wherein the virtual environment comprises: an area in which activity by the three or more users in the virtual environment are represented; and three or more static inanimate avatars each disposed adjacent a perimeter of the area at fixed locations, each static inanimate avatar representing a different one of three or more users engaging in activity with different respective ones of the three or more client computing devices, wherein the virtual environment simulates a physical layout, expresses ongoing real-time interactions among the three or more users, and is constrained by simulated physics that govern interactions between virtual objects and the virtual environment, at least some of the virtual objects moving within the simulated physical layout responsive to inputs from one or more of the three or more users; and at least some of the virtual objects are determined with a pseudo-random number generator;present to a third user among the three or more users an updated view of the virtual environment in which a first notification and a second notification are displayed, wherein:the first notification is displayed in the updated view of the virtual environment concurrently with the second notification; while the first notification is displayed concurrently with the second notification, the updated view of the virtual environment does not indicate whether the first notification was received before or after the second notification; and at least part of the first notification is displayed in the updated view of the virtual environment superimposed on at least part of the area and the at least part of the area is visible through the first notification; the first notification is visually associated with a first static, inanimate avatar, among the three or more static, inanimate avatars, of the first user in the updated view of the virtual environment; and the second notification is visually associated with a second static, inanimate avatar, among the three or more static, inanimate avatars, of the second user in the updated view of the virtual environment; and the third client computing device to stop displaying the first notification after a duration of time has passed and continue to display the second notification after the duration of time has passed, wherein: the second client computing device displays the first notification for a different amount of time than the third client computing device.
The above limitations are abstract because they concern mental processes and/or certain methods of organizing human activity, specifically interactions between users of a game as set forth in the Patent Board decision of 2022/04/28.
The following are additional elements:A tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by one or more processors effectuate operations comprising: instructing, via a network, with one or more processors of a server, three or more client computing devices to each instructing, via the network, with one or more processors, a third client computing device among the three or more client computing devices to causing, with one or more processors,
The above limitations do not contribute significantly more as they are merely general-purpose computers, recited at a high level of generality used to apply the abstract idea.
In re-evaluating the claim at step 2b, the claim as a whole does not meet the requirements of §101 as the claim does not recite any additional elements beyond general computers used to apply the abstract idea.
Claims 42-46 further define the capabilities of the general-purpose computer in general limitations that the computer will do the processing for various game functions. These additional limitations fail to amount to significantly more because they do not implement the abstract idea and merely elaborate on the apply it step of the computer used to implement the abstract idea.
Claims 47-48 further define the context of the abstract idea and are therefore also abstract.
Claims 49-50 further define the abstract process by addition of a determination about what information to display and provide the additional, extra-solution limitation of displaying the determined information. These limitations fail to amount to significantly more as the first is not an additional element and the second merely applies the abstract idea on a general-purpose computer to display the outcome of the abstract determination.
Claim 51 merely provides field of use or technological environment information on how the “apply it” step will be shown on the general-purpose computer.
Claim 52 is directed to the same abstract method carried out in claim 41 and is rejected under the same rationale.
Claims 53-62 repeat the limitations of claims 42-51 and are rejected under the same rationale.
Claim 63 is directed to a combination of the claim elements of 52-57 and is rejected under the same rationale.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2024/11/13 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. First applicant argues that the method provides resource optimization. Examiner disagrees. The system as recited merely says the character images are static and the text is displayed. A high fidelity static image may use more resources than a low fidelity moving image. Just because the characters don’t move doesn’t mean that resources are more efficiently used. Showing a message on the screen also doesn’t inherently remove a chat log. Whether the messages are shown over the characters or in a field to the side, the message data is still retained in order to show it. The data storage “improvement” is incidental and depends entirely on the content of the messages sent by users. If users send long messages more storage will be consumed than if they send short ones. There is nothing about the claimed invention that reduces the data usage just by showing the messages in a different location on the screen.
Applicant argues that the claimed invention amounts to a concrete, practical application. For the reasons set forth above and previously by the Patent Board, examiner disagrees. The majority of applicant’s argument seems to be a bare bones system uses less resources than a more complex system. While this may superficially be true in some scenarios, that does not make it a “technological” improvement to just do less. A calculator is not an improvement over a computer because it does less with less.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The newly cited references on the attached PTO-892 concern other chat message management systems.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID DUFFY whose telephone number is (571)272-1574. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 0830-1700 +/- 15.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas Barrett can be reached at (571) 270-1935. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAVID DUFFY/Quality Assurance Specialist, TC 3700