Detailed Action
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination (RCE) under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on December 23, 2025 has been entered.
Acknowledgements
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This action is in reply to the RCE filed on December 23, 2025.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claims 1-20 are examined.
This Office Action is given Paper No. 20260707 for references purposes only.
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 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Van Luchene (US 2010/0197382) in view of Van Luchene et al. (US 2008/0004120) (“Van Luchene 4120”)
Claims 1, 11, 20
Van Luchene discloses:
receiving, at a virtual experience platform (multi player online games, see [0157]), a subscription approval signal (deposit virtual cash or allocate an available credit line, see [0158]) from a digital distribution platform (credit card, see [0162]) that is in operative communication with the virtual experience platform, wherein the subscription approval signal is associated with a user account (player character account, see [0158]) of the virtual experience platform associated with a user ID (player ID, see [0173]) and comprises at least a monetary value (e.g. $15 per month, see [0157]) to be automatically transferred from the digital distribution platform to the virtual experience platform on a periodic basis (e.g. monthly, see [0157]) as periodic transactions, wherein the digital distribution platform (credit card, see [0163]) has restrictions on purchase transactions (e.g. purchase a fixed number or type of virtual assets, loan amount effected by age of character account, see [0163, 0192]) other than the periodic transactions, wherein a user associated with the user ID (player ID, see [0173]) utilizes the user ID to access services (e.g. charge credit card to cover a shortfall, see [0162]) provided by the virtual experience platform on a subscription basis corresponding to the subscription approval signal;
determining an amount of virtual currency (virtual cash, see [0158, 0186]) associated with the monetary value;
assigning a virtual credit (virtual cash, see [0158-0159, 0186]) of the amount of virtual currency to the user account (player account, see [0159]) using the user ID (player ID, see [0173]);
receiving a virtual experience subscription request associated with the user account and of a subscription amount (credit line amount, see [0240]) less than or equal to the virtual credit, wherein the virtual experience subscription request is for one or more virtual experiences (e.g. make purchase in the game, see [0212]) hosted on the virtual experience platform, each virtual experience of the one or more virtual experiences associated with a respective developer (e.g. player characters or non-playing third parties, see [0200, 0369, 0385]), and wherein the virtual experience subscription request includes an amount of virtual credit for each of the one or more virtual experiences during a first time period (virtual cash payment schedule, see [0240]),
determining that the user account is granted access (output a loan offer, see [0240-0241]) to the one or more virtual experiences during the first time period, wherein the access is based on subscription data (e.g. interest rate, see [0241]) and user data (e.g. player character credit score, see [0241]) received from the digital distribution platform allotted to the user ID, including a time of the virtual experience subscription request and the amount of virtual currency allotted (virtual cash loan amount, see [0241]) to the user ID;
determining that a second time period (maximum time period, see [0163]) has ended, wherein the second time period is greater than or equal to the first time period; and
after determining that the second time period has ended, transmitting an electronic payment (interest payments, see [0205]) in the virtual currency to a developer account (bank account of second character, see claim 1) of the respective developer at the virtual experience platform for each of the one or more virtual experiences, wherein the electronic payment is based on the respective developer payout for the first time period.
Van Luchene does not disclose:
Wherein the virtual… transactions;
Wherein the virtual… platform;
Calculating… access.
Van Luchene 4120 teaches:
wherein the virtual experience subscription request is to perform at least one of editing a subscription, adding new subscriptions (a contract for subscription services, see [0241]), or managing subscriptions directly from the virtual experience platform based on the virtual credit, based on a time (e.g. next month, see [0266]) of the virtual experience subscription request and an amount of virtual currency (virtual credit line, see [0266]) allotted to the user ID (player ID, see [0249]), to reduce a quantity of transactions (e.g. first and last month’s subscription payment held, see [0266]) through the digital distribution platform and to improve safety of the transactions, wherein a length of the first time period is fixed as a length matching that of a platform subscription time period (predetermined time period’s subscription payment, see [0266]) to provide a delayed window for virtual currency payouts to be calculated such that subscriptions are purchased directly from the virtual credit (virtual credit line, see [0266]) by allowing subscriptions to be made in virtual currency, thereby consolidating multiple financial purchase transactions;
wherein the virtual experience subscription request is approved automatically (subscription service may be automatic, see [0277]) by the virtual experience platform;
calculating, for the one or more virtual experiences, a respective developer payout (fee, see [0214, 0234]) in the virtual currency for the first time period based at least in part on the user account being granted access.
Van Luchene discloses receiving a subscription approval signal, determining an amount of virtual currency, assigning a virtual credit, receiving a virtual experience subscription request, determining that the user account is granted access, determining that a second period has ended, and transmitting a payment. Van Luchene does not disclose adding new subscriptions, automatically approving a subscription request, and calculating a developer payout, but Van Luchene 4120 does. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention to combine the methods facilitating the use of financial transactions in a virtual environment of Van Luchene with the adding new subscriptions, automatically approving a subscription request, and calculating a developer payout of Van Luchene 4120 because 1) a need exists for a virtual bank where players of a video game can deposit virtual cash or allocate an available credit line (see Van Luchene [0158]); and 2) a need exists for contributing to the stability, viability, evolution, and longevity of massive multi-player role-playing games (MMORPGs) to increase revenues generated (see Van Luchene 4120 [0130]). Adding new subscriptions, automatically approving a subscription request, and calculating a developer payout can help increase revenues in MMORPGs.
Claim 2
Furthermore, Van Luchene discloses:
a party that operates the digital distribution platform (e.g. Visa, Mastercard, see [0111]) is a party that is different from a party that operates the virtual experience platform (owner of the server upon which the game resides, see [0159]).
Claims 3, 12
Furthermore, Van Luchene discloses:
the restrictions comprise allowing some purchase transactions (locking credit cards lines in an amount that is greater than, or a percentage of, or equal to an amount of virtual cash, see [0167]), restricting some purchase transactions, allowing a particular number of purchase transactions per time period, or a combination thereof, while effectuating the periodic transactions (deposits, see [0167]) by allowing independent transfer of virtual currency (virtual cash, see [0167]) based on a platform subscription, associated with a virtual experience of the virtual experience platform, the platform subscription made as an initial purchase through the digital distribution platform for a fixed amount of virtual currency.
Claims 4, 14
Furthermore, Van Luchene 4120 teaches:
the virtual experience platform calculates one or more time periods, the one or more time periods being used for granting access to content subscriptions (subscription services to use copyrighted works, see [0227]) for the user ID (player ID, see [0240]) to transfer portions of the platform subscription on the digital distribution platform, thereby establishing content subscriptions for the user ID on the virtual experience platform as a unified transaction.
Claims 5, 15
Furthermore, Van Luchene discloses:
the platform subscription automatically refreshes based on the platform subscription time period (e.g. monthly fee for playing a game, see [0149, 0258]).
Claims 6, 16
Furthermore, Van Luchene discloses:
the virtual experience subscription request is approved automatically (investment payments are automatically debited, see claim 12) by the virtual experience platform independently from the digital distribution platform.
Claims 7, 17
Furthermore, Van Luchene discloses:
the transmitting the electronic payment includes sending a virtual currency payment to the developer account (bank account of second character, see claim 1).
Claims 8, 18
Furthermore, Van Luchene discloses:
receiving a second virtual experience subscription request (apply for virtual credit card, see [0383-0384]) associated with the user account, the second virtual experience subscription request being of a second amount (maximum credit line, see [0383]) less than or equal to the virtual credit reduced by the subscription amount, wherein the second virtual experience subscription request is associated with a second virtual experience (virtual credit card, see [0383-0384]) associated with a respective developer; and
adjusting the respective developer payout (taken from character’s bank account, see [0384]) for the first time period based at least in part on the user account being granted access to other virtual experiences during the first time period, wherein the electronic payment is based on the adjusted respective developer payout.
Claims 9, 19
Furthermore, Van Luchene discloses:
receiving a cancellation request (notice of cancellation, see [0222]) associated with the user account, the cancellation request being for cancellation to at least one virtual experience of the one or more virtual experiences during the first time period; and
in response to receiving the cancellation request, adjusting the respective developer payout (outstanding loans immediately due, see [0222]) for the first time period, wherein the electronic payment is based on the adjusted respective developer payout.
Claim 10
Furthermore, Van Luchene discloses:
the adjusted respective developer payout includes only non-cancelled virtual experience payouts (outstanding loans due, see [0222]).
Claim 13
Furthermore, Van Luchene discloses:
the determining that the user account is granted access includes accessing a log for a user session (player character log, see [0395]) of the user account that is a subscriber account in the virtual experience platform.
Response to Arguments
101 arguments
Under step 2A prong one, Applicant argues that the claims are not directed to an abstract idea of a mental process. Under step 2A prong two, Applicant argues that the claims integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they consolidate and improve the safety of transactions. Specifically, Applicant points to Example 40. Under step 2B, Applicant argues that the claims recite significantly more.
Examiner has withdrawn the 101 rejection (see RCE p 11-18).
103 arguments
Applicant argues that the prior art does not teach the current amendments.
Please see revised rejection.
Claim Interpretation
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure (see attached form PTO-892).
Sherinian (US 2008/0098064) discloses systems, methods, and apparatus for transmitting virtual world content from a server system to a client.
Conclusion
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or concerning this communication or earlier communications from Examiner should be directed to Chrystina Zelaskiewicz whose telephone number is 571-270-3940. Examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday, 9:30am-5:00pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Neha Patel can be reached at 571-270-1492.
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/CHRYSTINA E ZELASKIEWICZ/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3699
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