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 Amendment
This is in response to the amendments filed on 10/1/25. Claims 1, 8, and 15 have been amended and claims 7, 14, and 21 have been cancelled. Claims 1 – 6, 8 – 13, and 15 – 20 are now pending in the current application.
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 – 6, 8 – 13, and 15 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Step 1:
I. The claims are drawn to apparatus, process and CRM categories.
II. Thus, initially, under Step 1 of the analysis, it is noted that the claims are directed towards eligible categories of subject matter.
Step 2a:
III. Prong 1: Does the claim recite an abstract idea, law of nature, or natural phenomenon?
Representative claim 1 is analyzed below, with italicized limitations indicating recitations of an abstract idea.
1. (Currently Amended) A method for displaying real-time battle information performed by a terminal, the method comprising: displaying a user interface of a battle; displaying, within the user interface of the battle, identifiers of user accounts participating in the battle, the identifier of each user account having a display region and the display region comprising a plurality of sub-regions, different sub-regions corresponding to different information categories; in response to a slide operation on a target sub-region in a display region of a target identifier, obtaining a slide trajectory of the slide operation; determine, according to a sub-region through which the slide trajectory passes, an information category corresponding to the sub-region; and displaying real-time battle information of the target information category of a target user account corresponding to the target sub-region
The underlined limitations fall within at least three of the groupings of abstract ideas enumerated in the 2019 PEG:
Commercial or legal interactions
Managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people
The claims are directed towards incentivizing the behavior of users playing a game via agreements or contract. This is viewed by the Examiner as a commercial interaction and managing personal behavior or relationships between people, which are all considered to be abstract ideas according to the 2019 guidelines.
Prong 2: Does the Claim recite additional elements that integrate the exception in to a practical application of the exception?
iii. Although the claims recite additional limitations, such as one or more processors and at least one server, the said additional limitations do not integrate the exception into a practical application of the exception. For example, the claims require
additional limitations such as a processor, memory, and display components.
iv. These additional limitations do not represent an improvement to the functioning of a computer, or to any other technology or technical field, (MPEP 2106.05(a)). Nor do they apply the exception using a particular machine, (MPEP 2106.05(b)). Furthermore, they do not effect a transformation. (MPEP 2106.05(c)). Rather, these additional limitations amount to an instruction to “apply” the judicial exception using a computer as a tool to perform the abstract idea.
Step 2b:
Under Step 2B, the claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because they amount to conventional and routine computer implementation and mere instructions for implementing the abstract idea on generic computing devices.
For example, the claim language does recite additional elements such as a terminal and a display, however, these viewed as a whole, are indistinguishable from conventional computing elements known in the art. Therefore, the additional elements fail to supply additional elements that yield significantly more than the underlying abstract idea. Viewing the limitations as an ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements taken individually. There is no indication that the combination of elements improves the functioning of a computer or improves any other technology.
For these reasons, it appears that the claims are not patent-eligible under 35 USC §101.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 – 6, 8 – 13, and 15 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Benedetto et al. (U.S. 2020/0269143) in view of Chaudhri (U.S. 9,489,106).
Regarding claim 1, Benedetto discloses a method for displaying real-time battle information by a terminal, (“player can participate in a real-time mobile social experience by connecting to other players playing the same game who are at a similar point in the video game”, par. 0006 and “because player P2 (Landon) is included in the social community built for player P3, both players are probably in the same battle”, par. 0125), displaying a user interface of a battle, (fig. 8), displaying, with the user interface of the battle, identifiers of user accounts participating in the battle, (fig. 5b), the identifier of each user account having a display region and the display region comprising a plurality of sub-regions, (fig. 7b), different sub-regions corresponding to different information categories, (“FIG. 7B provides an illustration of a FOV of player P3 and a FOV of another player that is similar to the FOV of player P3, wherein the other player is selected for inclusion in the emergent community”, par. 0075), and in response to an operation on a target sub-region in a display region of a target identifier, displaying real-time battle information of a target information category of a target user account corresponding to the target identifier, (“That player can participate in a real-time mobile social experience by connecting to other players playing the same game who are at a similar point in the video game”, par. 0006).
Benedetto discloses that the gaming device may comprise a display device that can be configured as a touch-screen display, (“Client device 100 includes a display 12 that acts as an interface for player 5 to send input commands 236 and display data and/or information 235 received from GCS 201 and social media providers 240. Display 12 can be configured as a touch-screen”, par. 0060), but Benedetto is silent on the issue of disclosing a slide operation that determines an information category. In a related art, however, Chaudhry discloses an electronic device that includes a touch screen display, (“the portable electronic device 21 includes a touch screen display 23 that senses objects sliding across its surface”, col. 10, lines 33 – 35), wherein Chaudhry further discloses obtaining a slide trajectory of a slide operation, (fig. 23b), that determines, according to a sub-region through which the slide trajectory passes, an information category corresponding to the sub-region, (“The touch screen display 23 is capable of detecting various actions including rotational motions associated with rotation user inputs 25 and/or swipes or slides associated with linear user inputs 27 to interact with menus, lists, browsers, etc. being displayed on the touch screen display”, col. 10, lines 36 – 41), wherein the Examiner views Chaudhri’s teaching of a user’s swipes and/or slides interacting with menus or lists, as being equivalent to the claimed information category.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the slide operation of Chaudhry into the art disclosed by Benedetto in order to meet the need to improve methods for browsing through content, as disclosed by Chaudhry, (col. 1, lines 44 – 45).
Regarding claims 2, 9, and 16, Benedetto discloses wherein the displaying real-time battle information of a target information category of a target user account corresponding to the target identifier comprises: determining, from a plurality of sub-regions comprised in the display region of the target identifier, the target sub-region on which the operation is performed; determining, from a plurality of information categories of the real-time battle information, an information category corresponding to the target sub-region as the target information category; and displaying the real-time battle information of the target information category of the target user account, (fig. 7b).
Regarding claims 3, 10, and 17, Bennedetto discloses wherein the different information categories comprise a first information category, a second information category, and a third information category, real-time battle information of the first information category displaying virtual characters controlled by the target user account in the battle and arrangement position information of the virtual characters; real-time battle information of the second information category displaying an association relationship between the virtual objects controlled by the target user account in the battle; and real-time battle information of the third information category displaying a virtual resource owned by the targe user account in the battle, (“Players in the list may be further categorized, such as by friends, by favorites, by recently met, or by all players. Players in the list may be associated with corresponding symbols indicating progress of a corresponding game play of the corresponding player with respect to progress of the game play”, par. 0104).
Regarding claims 4, 11, and 18, Bennedetto discloses wherein the method further comprises: displaying options respectively corresponding to a plurality of information categories in response to the operation on the target identifier; and performing an operation of displaying the real-time battle information of the target information category of the target user account in response to an operation on an option corresponding to the target information category among the plurality of information categories, (“That player can participate in a real-time mobile social experience by connecting to other players playing the same game who are at a similar point in the video game”, par. 0006).
Regarding claims 5, 12, and 19, Bennedetto discloses wherein the method further comprises: determining a display position of the real-time battle information based on a display position of the target identifier; and displaying the real-time battle information of the target information category of the target account at the display position of the real-time battle information, (fig. 5).
Regarding claims 6, 13, and 20, Bennedetto discloses wherein the displaying, within the user interface of the battle, identifiers of user accounts participating in the battle comprises: determining candidate user accounts participating in the battle; selecting, from the candidate user accounts, the user accounts satisfying a predefined condition; and displaying the identifiers of the user accounts that satisfying the predefined condition, (“account manager 274 enables authentication and access by player 5 to GCS 201. Account manager 274 stores information about member users/players. For instance, a user profile for each member user may be managed by account manager 274. In that manner, member information can be used by the account manager 274 for authentication purposes”, par. 0058).
Regarding claim 8, Benedetto discloses a terminal comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing a computer program, the computer program being loaded and executed by the processor, (“the computer system includes a processor and memory coupled to the processor and having stored therein instructions that, if executed by the computer system, cause the computer system to execute a method for gaming”, par. 0011), and causing the terminal to perform a method for displaying real-time battle information by a terminal, (“player can participate in a real-time mobile social experience by connecting to other players playing the same game who are at a similar point in the video game”, par. 0006 and “because player P2 (Landon) is included in the social community built for player P3, both players are probably in the same battle”, par. 0125), displaying a user interface of a battle, (fig. 8), displaying, with the user interface of the battle, identifiers of user accounts participating in the battle, (fig. 5b), the identifier of each user account having a display region and the display region comprising a plurality of sub-regions, (fig. 7b), different sub-regions corresponding to different information categories, (“FIG. 7B provides an illustration of a FOV of player P3 and a FOV of another player that is similar to the FOV of player P3, wherein the other player is selected for inclusion in the emergent community”, par. 0075), and in response to an operation on a target sub-region in a display region of a target identifier, displaying real-time battle information of a target information category of a target user account corresponding to the target identifier, (“That player can participate in a real-time mobile social experience by connecting to other players playing the same game who are at a similar point in the video game”, par. 0006).
As stated above, Benedetto is silent on disclosing a slide operation, however, this is overcome by Chaudhry cited above.
Regarding claim 15, Benedetto discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing a computer program, the computer program being loaded and executed by a processor of a terminal, (“the computer system includes a processor and memory coupled to the processor and having stored therein instructions that, if executed by the computer system, cause the computer system to execute a method for gaming”, par. 0011), and causing the terminal to perform a method for displaying real-time battle information by a terminal, (“player can participate in a real-time mobile social experience by connecting to other players playing the same game who are at a similar point in the video game”, par. 0006 and “because player P2 (Landon) is included in the social community built for player P3, both players are probably in the same battle”, par. 0125), displaying a user interface of a battle, (fig. 8), displaying, with the user interface of the battle, identifiers of user accounts participating in the battle, (fig. 5b), the identifier of each user account having a display region and the display region comprising a plurality of sub-regions, (fig. 7b), different sub-regions corresponding to different information categories, (“FIG. 7B provides an illustration of a FOV of player P3 and a FOV of another player that is similar to the FOV of player P3, wherein the other player is selected for inclusion in the emergent community”, par. 0075), and in response to an operation on a target sub-region in a display region of a target identifier, displaying real-time battle information of a target information category of a target user account corresponding to the target identifier, (“That player can participate in a real-time mobile social experience by connecting to other players playing the same game who are at a similar point in the video game”, par. 0006).
As stated above, Benedetto is silent on disclosing a slide operation, however, this is overcome by Chaudhry cited above.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 – 6, 8 – 13, and 15 – 20 have been considered but are moot based on new grounds of rejection.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIC M THOMAS whose telephone number is (571)272-1699. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00am - 5:00pm.
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/E.M.T/Examiner, Art Unit 3715 /DAVID L LEWIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3715