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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 2, 3, 8-11, 13, 14, and 19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 10/20/2025. On balance, claims 1, 4-7, 12, 15-18, and 20 are presented for action on the merits.
Applicant's election with traverse of Group II and subgroup (a) in the reply filed on 10/20/2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that searching for the withdrawn claims allegedly “would not place a serious burden on the Examiner since the claims recite related subject matter.” Remarks, 1. This is not persuasive. The restriction requirement mailed 8/19/2025 presents a detailed analysis showing the reasons that the groups and species can have a materially different design, mode of operation, function and/or effect, which would require searching different areas. Applicant has not presented any analysis or evidence to the contrary.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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, 4, 12, 15, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2020/0368622 to Kando et al. (hereinafter Kando).
Regarding claims 1, 12, and 20, Kando teaches a device control method, performed by at least one processor (e.g., processor 81 in Fig. 6), along with a system (e.g., Fig. 1) and computer readable medium (e.g., flash memory 84 in Fig. 6) therefor, the method comprising:
updating the game screen for the first game scene displayed in the display device responsive to control via the target virtual controller in the first style (e.g., playing a one-player game as shown in Fig. 9);
displaying, in the target control interface, responsive to the game screen displayed by the display device switching from the first game scene to a second game scene of the target game, the target virtual controller in a second style fitting the second game scene (e.g., Figs. 12-14 showing a display of various types of controllers to be used in a game); and
updating a game screen for the second game scene displayed in the display device responsive to control via the target virtual controller in the second style (e.g., changing to a two-player mode in Fig. 15).
Further regarding claims 1, 12, and 20, Kando teaches the invention substantially as described above, but lacks in explicitly teaching displaying, in a target control interface of a target control device, responsive to a display device displaying a game screen for a first game scene of a target game, a target virtual controller in a first style fitting the first game scene. In essence, while Kando teaches this feature with respect to switching from a first game type to a second game type, Kando does not expressly describe the initial setup of the first game type (or similarly, changing from the second game type to a subsequent game type). Regardless, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date to modify Kando to include the controller setup process for a first (or subsequent) game type, in a manner similar to the disclosed second game type setup, in order to allow players to more quickly choose a controller setup that is appropriate to the first (or subsequent) game type.
Regarding claims 4 and 15, Kando teaches wherein the display device displays game screens of each of a plurality of games through a target client, the plurality of games comprising the target game, and wherein the target control device, after accessing the target game, displays the target virtual controller in styles fitting game scenes of the target game (e.g., displaying controller styles in Figs. 13-15), the method further comprising displaying, in the display device, in response to the target game being one of the plurality of games that is first started, a target graphic code image for accessing the target game after the target game is started, to enable the target control device to access the target game by scanning the target graphic code image (e.g., displaying the chosen game, such as a two-player game in Figs. 15-17).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-7 and 16-18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter. At the outset, the claims are considered patent eligible because they are analogous to the fact pattern in Core Wireless Licensing S.A.R.L. v. LG Elecs., Inc., 880 F.3d 1356, 1362 (Fed. Cir. 2018), as well as USPTO Examples 23 and 37, because the claims at issue provide an improvement in changing graphical user interfaces of input devices to maintain compatibility with each of a plurality of chosen games. A thorough search of the prior art fails to disclose any reference or references, which, taken alone or in combination, teach or suggest, in combination with the other limitations: identifying historical control devices that have accessed the target client in response to the target game being one of the plurality of games that is not first started, a game accessed by the historical control devices being any one of the plurality of games that is started before the target game, each of the historical control devices continuing to access the target client after the accessed game is closed, until the target client ends operation, a quantity of identified historical control devices being a target quantity H; determining a quantity threshold T of control devices that are allowed to access the target game; selecting T historical control devices from the identified historical control devices, responsive to H being greater than T; and notifying the selected historical control devices to access the target game, the target control device being one of the selected historical control devices (claim 5, with substantially similar limitations in claim 16).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and is listed on the attached Notice of References Cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM H MCCULLOCH whose telephone number is (571)272-2818. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-5:30.
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, David Lewis can be reached at 571-272-7673. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WILLIAM H MCCULLOCH JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715