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 .
Claim Status
After the amendments filed 03/09/2026, claims 1-20 remain pending, of which 1, 8 and 15 were amended.
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (U.S. 2016/0232713) in view of Superpowers Wiki – Telekinesis (Herein referred to as Superpowers Wiki) and Energin et al (U.S. 2018/0122043).
Regarding claims 1, 8 and 15, Lee discloses:
a prop control method in a virtual scene (¶106, using telekinesis scheme to move objects in a virtual world), performed by a computer device (¶29, system 100 which includes a user device 12), the method comprising:
displaying the virtual scene configured to present scene pictures, the virtual scene including a first scene picture (¶78, ¶106-107, Fig. 35, a virtual world 25 is displayed on output device 14 of the user device 12);
displaying the first scene picture of the virtual scene (¶78, ¶106-107, Figs. 34-35, a virtual world 25 is displayed on output device 14 of the user device 12), the first scene picture including a first virtual object (¶78, ¶106-107, Figs. 34-35, virtual arm 28) and a scene element (¶78, ¶106-107, Figs. 35, virtual object 32);
in response to (1) absence of an obstacle between the scene element and the first virtual object (¶115, Fig. 36, the user focuses a laser beam 34 from gun 30 on to the virtual object 32 which the user wishes to move (i.e., the guns laser must be free from obstacles to focus on the virtual object)) and (ii) the scene element being aimed by crosshairs (¶115, Fig. 36, the user focuses a laser beam 34 from gun 30 on to the virtual object 32 which the user wishes to move, the examiner interprets the laser beam 34 as a crosshair which allows the user to aim at an intended target), receiving target operation for the scene element by the first virtual object (¶115, Fig. 34-36, once the user focuses the laser beam 34 on the virtual object 32 the user may provide an input to a tracking device 20 which causes a telekinetic movement of the virtual object 32 within the virtual world 25); and
in response to receiving the target operation for the scene element, controlling the first virtual object to pull a target virtual prop corresponding to the scene element closer to the first virtual object (¶107-108, Fig. 34-35, the user’s movement of virtual gun 30 causes virtual object 32 to move in the virtual world 25 correspondingly, for example a movement towards the player would cause the virtual object 32 to move towards virtual gun 30 (i.e., pull towards)); and
displaying a second scene picture of the virtual scene, the second scene picture including the first virtual object and the scene element that is closer to the first virtual object (¶107-108, Fig. 34-35, the user’s movement of virtual gun 30 from position 30’ to 30’’ causes virtual object 32 to be displayed as moving from position 32’ to 32’’).
However, Lee does not specifically disclose that:
a distance between the first virtual object and the scene element in the virtual scene must meet a predefined condition.
Superpower Wiki teaches that:
telekinesis is a scheme used in video games (pg. 1, pg. 12, telekinesis is the power to move, manipulate or otherwise interact with objects/matter without physical means, wherein known users of telekinesis include video games), and wherein telekinesis only affects targets which can be physically perceived or are within a certain range and distance from the one performing the power (pg. 11, a known limitation to the use of telekinesis, which is utilized within video games, is that the user may only be able to affect targets that are within a certain range and dissonance from them).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to include the distance limitations, as taught by Superpower Wiki, into the telekinetic game, as taught by Lee, in order to yield the predictable result of providing a more realistic simulation.
Further, Lee and Superpower Wiki do no specifically disclose that:
in response to (i) presence of an obstacle between the scene element and the first virtual object and (ii) the scene element being within a field of view of the first virtual object, controlling the first virtual object to pull the target virtual prop corresponding to the scene element closer to the first virtual object until it stops at a position of collision with the obstacle.
Energin teaches:
a method for manipulating and moving virtual objects within a three-dimensional space wherein constraints are imposed by virtual obstacles (abstract), wherein when a user input attempts to move an object in violation of a displayed obstacle boundary, a collision is registered, and the device the translation by displaying a collision-responding indicator (¶12-13, ¶18, ¶20, an input indicator that tracks input without constraint is displayed along with a collision indicator that respects movement constraints), wherein the collision indicator is updated such that is moves dynamically based on user input but is restricted by the absolute limits of the boundary (¶23, ¶27, method 200 includes moving the collision indicator based on user inputs and the movement constraints imposed by the obstacle), wherein the moving object cannot pass through or share space with the boundary, thereby causing the objects path to halt and stop moving at the exact position of collision with the obstacle (¶27, ¶30, Fig. 4, movement constraints may prevent the object from occupying space within a threshold distance of the obstacle and permit the collision indicator to move past the obstacle to a minor degree, though not fully bypass the obstacle).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to incorporate the virtual object collision handling, as taught by Energin, into the telekinetic pulling architecture, as taught by Lee and Superpowers Wiki, in order to manage virtual environment spatial boundaries and simulation rendering properly during object manipulation within a three-dimensional virtual scene, thereby improving the geometric uniformity and realism of the interactive simulation (See Energin, ¶23).
Regarding claims 2, 9 and 16, Lee discloses that which is discussed above, and further discloses that:
the target virtual prop is the scene element (¶107-108, Fig. 34-35, the user’s movement of virtual gun 30 causes virtual object 32 to move in the virtual world 25 correspondingly).
Regarding claims 3, 10 and 17, Lee discloses that which is discussed above, and further discloses that:
the scene element is a second virtual object carrying or equipped with the target virtual prop (¶105, for example the user can manipulate a virtual vehicle, the examiner interprets the virtual vehicle as carrying objects (e.g., steering wheel, tires, etc.) which are thus pulled with the vehicle).
Regarding claims 4, 11 and 18, Lee discloses that which is discussed above, and further discloses that:
the displaying a second scene picture of the virtual scene comprises:
obtaining a state value of the second virtual object in response to a prop pull operation for the second virtual object (¶105, ¶115, a check is performed to determine if the laser beam 34 is focused on the virtual vehicle); and
displaying the second scene picture of the virtual scene in response to the state value satisfying a prop pull condition (¶105, ¶107-108, ¶115, Fig. 34-35, the user’s movement of virtual gun 30 from causes virtual vehicle to be displayed as moving from a first position to a second position).
Regarding claims 5, 12 and 19, Lee discloses that which is discussed above, and further discloses that:
the scene element is a virtual container storing the target virtual prop (¶105, for example the user can manipulate a virtual vehicle, the examiner interprets the virtual vehicle as a container which stores virtual objects (e.g., steering wheel, seats, etc..) which are thus pulled with the vehicle).
Regarding claims 6 and 13, Lee discloses that which is discussed above, and further discloses that:
the target virtual prop is a virtual prop randomly chosen from at least two virtual props corresponding to the scene element;
or, the target virtual prop is a virtual prop from at least two virtual props having a specific type corresponding to the scene element (¶105, for example the user can manipulate a virtual vehicle, the examiner interprets the virtual vehicle as a container which stores at least two virtual objects such as a steering wheel and seats which are thus pulled with the vehicle);
or, the target virtual prop is a virtual prop from at least two virtual props having a top priority corresponding to the scene element.
Regarding claims 7, 14 and 20, Lee discloses that which is discussed above, and further discloses that:
the displaying a second scene picture of the virtual scene comprises:
obtaining a target position within an interaction range based on a position of the first virtual object in the virtual scene, the interaction range being a maximum range allowing the first virtual object to interact with virtual props therein (¶107, based on the initial position of the object and the movement by the player a final position of the virtual object 32’’ is determined); and
pulling the target virtual prop to the target position, so as to display the second scene picture (¶107-108, Fig. 34-35, the user’s movement of virtual gun 30 from position 30’ to 30’’ causes virtual object 32 to be displayed as moving from position 32’ to 32’’).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments and amendments, see Remarks, filed 03/09/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-20 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration and necessitated by the newly added limitations, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of the newly found prior art references discussed above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASON PINHEIRO whose telephone number is (571)270-1350. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00A-4:30P ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dmitry Suhol can be reached at (571) 272-4430. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Jason Pinheiro/Examiner, Art Unit 3715
/DMITRY SUHOL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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