DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
In their Remarks dated 02/27/2026, Applicants elected group I, claims 1-8 and 13-15 for examination. Applicants did not state whether the election is with or without the traverse. However, since no substantiative arguments have been presented, the election is treated as “without traverse”. Claims 1-18 and 13-15 are examined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
As to claim 1, use of the word “network” does not inherently mean that the claim is directed to a machine. Only if at least one of the clamed elements of the network is a physical part of a device can the network as claimed constitute part of a device or a combination of devices to be a machine within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. 101.
In the instant case, the claimed network comprises the following elements: a remote render system manager having an interface, a plurality of remote rendering subsystems instantiated by the RRS manager, an edge routing application service subsystem, and a game database. The specification fails to provide a specific definition for these units as necessarily including hardware. The specification mentions in para. [0076] (as Published) that the functionalities of the various subsystems, components, modules, databases, etc. may be performed by different functional/logical blocks and there is no structural or functional limitation that each of the described components must exist separately (e.g., in software or hardware) and perform exactly the steps, acts and functions attributed to it. Therefore, the specification allows, in at least one embodiment, for the claims to be broad enough to be implemented completely in software (including a database that is not inherently a storage device such as memory), which renders claim 1 non-statutory under 35 U.S.C. 101.
Claims 2-8 fail to correct the deficiency of claim 1 and thus are rejected for analogous reasons.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-8 and 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dharmapurikar et al. (US 2021/0245047 A1) in view of Norton (US 2020/0289925 A1).
As to claim 1, Dharmapurikar teaches an edge network configured to support multisession remote game rendering (Figs 15, 18), the network comprising:
a remote render system (RRS) manager having an interface [game server 1504 that has an interface to the client and the cloud network] (Fig. 18, par. [0218]) to a remote gaming back office disposed in an external network [game server stack 1524] (Fig. 18, par. [0218]), the RRS manager operative to instantiate and manage a plurality of gaming sessions responsive to game session setup requests [a game can be selected and launched via the web browser application 1522] (par. [0218]).
Dharmapurikar fails to expressly teach a plurality of remote rendering subsystems instantiated by the RRS manager, each remote rendering subsystem coupled to a corresponding game engine operative to support a particular respective gaming session of the plurality of gaming sessions; an edge routing application service subsystem configured to provide edge network location information of the game engines to the remote game back office; and a game database containing a plurality of games provisioned from the external network.
Norton is directed to provisioning resources for games executed by a cloud gaming system (abstract). In particular, Norton teaches a plurality of remote rendering subsystems instantiated by a RRS manager, each remote rendering subsystem coupled to a corresponding game engine operative to support a particular respective gaming session of the plurality of gaming sessions [game session manager 285 that instantiates a game session for the user] (par. [0089]-[0090], [0093]);
an edge routing application service subsystem configured to provide edge network location information of the game engines to the remote game back office [determining specific geo locations where a number of instances of usage of a particular game are anticipated] (par. [0035], [0037]);
and a game database containing a plurality of games provisioned from the external network [game store 262] (par. [0094]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method and system of Dharmapurikar by having a plurality of remote rendering subsystems instantiated by the RRS manager, each remote rendering subsystem coupled to a corresponding game engine operative to support a particular respective gaming session of the plurality of gaming sessions; an edge routing application service subsystem configured to provide edge network location information of the game engines to the remote game back office; and a game database containing a plurality of games provisioned from the external network, in order to provide an acceptable quality of service to the users of the online games (par. [0003] in Norton).
As to claim 2, Dharmapurikar in view of Norton teaches that the game session setup requests are received from the remote gaming back office on behalf of a corresponding plurality of client devices (par. [0205] in Dharmapurikar; par. [0040] in Norton).
As to claim 3, Dharmapurikar in view of Norton teaches that the corresponding game engines are selected by the edge routing application service subsystem based on respective locations of the plurality of client devices (par. [0049], [0055] in Norton).
As to claim 4, Dharmapurikar in view of Norton teaches a multisession game slice (MGS) bandwidth manager operative to allocate a respective bandwidth to each of the plurality of gaming sessions from a dedicated bandwidth of a network slice serving the plurality of gaming sessions (par. [0050] in Norton).
As to claim 5, Dharmapurikar in view of Norton teaches that each remote rendering subsystem includes a respective game service manager for managing the particular respective gaming session, the respective game service manager operative to communicate with a session handler executing at a corresponding client device with respect to at least one of establishing and terminating the particular respective gaming session involving a selected game title [game session manager 285 performing these functions for each client] (par. [0093]-[0095] in Norton).
As to claim 6, Dharmapurikar in view of Norton teaches that each respective game service manager is further operative to receive capability information of the corresponding client device in a session setup request for the selected game title (par. [0020] in Dharmapurikar; par. [0037]-[0038] in Norton).
As to claim 7, Dharmapurikar in view of Norton teaches that each respective game service manager is further operative to filter a quality profile of the selected game title to match the capability information of the corresponding client device (par. [0220] in Dharmapurikar; par. [0088] in Norton).
As to claim 8, Dharmapurikar in view of Norton teaches that each respective game service manager is further operative to launch a delivery manager, an adaptive projection mapping module, a low latency adaptive video/audio (V/A) encoder with haptics and mesh delivery module, and a gaze and controller data handler module, and wherein at least one of the delivery manager, the adaptive projection mapping module, the low latency adaptive V/A encoder with haptics and mesh delivery module, and the gaze and controller data handler module are configured based on the filtered quality profile of the selected game title [game session manager is in communication with game server 205 to execute a plurality of actions] (par. [0093] in Norton). The claim does not require a delivery manager, an adaptive projection mapping module, a low latency adaptive video/audio (V/A) encoder with haptics and mesh delivery module, and a gaze and controller data handler module to be part of the claimed edge network so their functionalities are not part of the claimed scope.
As to claim 13, Dharmapurikar teaches a remote game render management method, comprising:
receiving a game session setup request from a remote gaming back office (RGBO) subsystem [a game can be selected and launched via the web browser application 1522] (par. [0218]), the session setup request including a quality profile with respect to a game title requested from a game client [based on receiving selection of a game, determine whether a locally available client is capable of local execution based on user profile] (par. [0222]).
Dharmapurikar fails to expressly teach instantiating a game service instance including a game service manager for starting a game session for the requested game title; sending a session startup request to the game service manager, the session startup request including a remote render session identifier (ID); sending a game session setup response to the RGBO subsystem with the remote render session ID and connection information of the game service manager; and receiving a session startup response from the game service manager and commencing delivery of gaming content to the game client with respect to the requested game title.
Norton is directed to provisioning resources for games executed by a cloud gaming system (abstract). In particular, Norton teaches instantiating a game service instance including a game service manager for starting a game session for the requested game title [game session manager 285 that instantiates a game session for the user] (par. [0089]-[0090], [0093]);
sending a session startup request to the game service manager, the session startup request including a remote render session identifier (ID) [after the player chooses an available game title to play, a game session for the chosen game title may be initiated by the player through game session manager 285] (par. [0093]);
sending a game session setup response to the RGBO subsystem with the remote render session ID and connection information of the game service manager [game session manager 285 first accesses game state store in data store 260 to retrieve the saved game state of the last session played by the player (for the selected game), if any, so that the player can restart game play from a previous game play stop point. Once the resume or start point is identified, the game session manager 285 may inform game execution engine in game server 205 to execute the game code of the chosen game title from game code store 261] (par. [0093]); and
receiving a session startup response from the game service manager and commencing delivery of gaming content to the game client with respect to the requested game title [after a game session is initiated, game session manager 285 may pass the game video frames 135 (i.e., streaming video data), via network interface 290 to a client device, e.g., client device 100] (par. [0093]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method and system of Dharmapurikar by instantiating a game service instance including a game service manager for starting a game session for the requested game title; sending a session startup request to the game service manager, the session startup request including a remote render session identifier (ID); sending a game session setup response to the RGBO subsystem with the remote render session ID and connection information of the game service manager; and receiving a session startup response from the game service manager and commencing delivery of gaming content to the game client with respect to the requested game title, in order to provide an acceptable quality of service to the users of the online games (par. [0003] in Norton).
As to claim 14, Dharmapurikar in view of Norton teaches responsive to determining that a termination message is received from the game service manager with respect to the game session, transmitting a session termination message including the session ID of the game session to the RGBO subsystem; and stopping the game session with the game client and terminating the game service instance [receive control signals to launch and terminate game applications] (par. [0205] in Dharmapurikar].
As to claim 15, Dharmapurikar in view of Norton teaches that the session termination message includes a reason code identifying a cause for terminating the game session with the game client [remote execution session is terminated once a sufficient amount of game logic and/or assets are downloaded to the game server stack 1524 for local execution] (par. [0219] in Dharmapurikar).
Related Prior Art
Colenbrander (US 2017/0312626 A1) is directed to cloud gaming device handover (abstract). In particular, Colenbrander teaches establishing a session of game play at a primary client device and providing an option to handover the streaming of video frames of the game play on the second client device (Fig. 7 and corresponding description). Therefore, teachings of Colenbrander are deemed relevant to the claimed subject matter.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLEG SURVILLO whose telephone number is (571)272-9691. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00am - 5:00pm.
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/OLEG SURVILLO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2457
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