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 .
Applicant’s Submission of a Response
Applicant’s submission of a response on 1/9/2026 has been received and considered. In the response, Applicant elected claims 1, 3 – 6 and 12 to be reviewed and claims 2 and 7 – 11 have been withdrawn from consideration. Therefore, claims 1, 3 – 6 and 12 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 6 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Summons et al. (US Pub. No. 2016/0158641 A1).
As per claim 1, Summons et al. discloses a method for controlling a virtual weapon, applied to a client device (a client device (electronic platform) for controlling the targeting display of a virtual weapon in a first-person shooter video game, see Fig. 5:500 and [0041] – [0044]), comprising: when the virtual weapon enters an aiming state, displaying a standard front sight state of a front sight of the virtual weapon on the client device, wherein a center point of the standard front sight state points to a target to be aimed at (a reticule is generally represented as a small cross or circle positioned on the television screen to the left of the weapon. The reticule represents where the weapon is pointed. The player can manipulate the location of the reticule with the handheld game controller, giving the player the illusion that he/she is aiming the weapon, see [0003], the reticule’s center point (see Fig. 3:18) thus points to the target being aimed at, which is considered as the “standard front sight state” displayed when the virtual weapon enters an aiming stage, see Fig. 2- 4 and [0035] – [0036]); and when an attribute of the virtual weapon changes in response to a firing operation, correspondingly changing a display state of the front sight on the client device (generally, when the reticule overlaps an enemy, the reticule will change color, indicating to the player that his/her weapon is pointed directly at an enemy, see [0003], further the gaming module generates “a data stream identifying various conditions (e.g., weapon choice, screen colors, number of lives, etc), see [0044] and [0045]), wherein the display state includes at least one of the followings: a shape of the front sight, a color of the front sight, and one or more dynamic changes of the display state (different types of center dots that may be selected or customized, including circle, square, and diamond shapes, see Fig. 16 and the center dot shape is changed to correspond to different enemy types or weapon states, a direct shape change of the front sight in response to weapon/game attribute changes, see [0003], [00028] and [0045]).
As per claim 6, Summons et al. discloses multiple attributes of the virtual weapon simultaneously change, multiple display states are simultaneously displayed on the client device (the application software built to have a real-time response time, wherein the user can select different weapons (rifle, pistol, shotgun) that would change the attributes of the weapon, the reticle of the weapon and change the displaying of one reticle design to another, see [0046] – [0055]).
As per claim 12, the instant claim is an apparatus in which corresponds to the method of claim 1. Therefore, it is rejected for the reasons set forth above.
Examiner’s Note
Claims 3 – 5 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.
Yokoi (3,960,380) teaches a light ray gun and target changing projectors, A rapid-firing game machine wherein a player with a light-emission gun fights a series of simulated fights with images of objects (e.g. gunmen) on a motion-picture screen.
Northrup (US Pub. No. 2020/0263957) teaches a method for marksmanship training with the use of an augmented reality display, wherein the marksman can train with different weapons to aim and hit their targets. Each weapon would consist of a different sight (iron, reflex, holographic) that is used to aim at the target.
Liu (US Pub. No. 2021/0387087) teaches a method for controlling virtual weapon in a virtual game. The virtual weapon includes a common firearm, a bow and arrow, a crossbow, a pike, a dagger, a sword, a knife, etc in a first-person shooter game (FPS). The sight is played at the center of the interface of an opened sight, is in an aiming state. If the user triggers the close control, the sight is closed and the interface of an opened sight is changed to the interface of preparing to open a sight.
However, Summons et al., Yokoi, Northrup and Liu does not expressly disclose the firing operation meets a heating condition of the virtual weapon, the display state of the front sight is changed to a second display state for indicating a degree of heating of the virtual weapon, and the second display state comprises: with an increase of the degree of heating, displaying a second circle whose radius gradually expands by using the center point of the standard front sight state as a center of the second circle, and when the degree of heating reaches a predetermined first threshold, fixing the radius of the second circle as a preset maximum radius.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and is listed on the Notice of References Cited.
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/ANKIT B DOSHI/Examiner, Art Unit 3715