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 .
Procedural Summary
This is responsive to the claims filed 06/06/2023.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Applicant’s IDS submission is acknowledged and provided herewith.
The Drawings filed on 06/06/2023 are noted.
AIA Notice
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.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 to 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication 2014/0024462 A1 to Qiang et al. (hereinafter Qiang).
Regarding Claim 1, and similarly recited Claims 11 and 20, Qiang discloses a system for selecting an individual to accomplish a player-created task within a three-dimensional environment, the system comprising a computing device configured to:
accept the creation of a task on behalf of a user within the three-dimensional environment from a client computing device, the task including a reward to be provided within the three-dimensional environment (paras. [0005]-[0007], [0022], [0033] discloses each player on the team is assigned from a queue of players who share one or more attributes. The collaborative game task is composed of a plurality of individual game tasks. Each player on a team is assigned an individual game task by the software. The software provides a game reward to a player after the player has satisfactorily completed less than all of the individual game task assigned to the player. The software determines that the team has satisfactorily completed the collaborative game task, according to the game mechanics associated with the collaborative game task. Then the software provides a game reward to each player on the team);
receive and store the task to a database of available tasks within the three-dimensional environment (paras. [0005]-[0007], [0024] discloses persistent storage 105 might be used to store algorithms and data related to an MMO game and its players, including data about the players received by website 103 from website 106);
transmit a listing of a plurality of potential task candidates to the client computing device, the listing of the plurality of potential task candidates who have offered to accomplish the task and at least one community score for each of the plurality of potential task candidates (paras. [0005]-[0007], [0038]-[0043]); and
receive a selection of the individual from the plurality of potential task candidates from the client computing device, the selection at least in part reliant upon the at least one community score (paras. [0005]-[0007], [0022]-[0024], [0038]-[0043]).
Regarding Claim 2, and similarly recited Claim 13, Qiang discloses the system of claim 1 wherein the computing device is further configured to: receive a search request within the listing of a plurality of potential task candidates; and transmit a subset of the plurality of potential task candidates to the client computing device in response to the search request, the subset matching search criteria within the search request (paras. [0005]-[0007], [0022]-[0024], [0038]-[0043] discloses the software creates a team. In an example embodiment, teams of a specified size might be created from queues of players (1) who have opted to play the MMO game (e.g., by clicking on a control in a game graphical user interface (GUI)), and (2) who share similar attributes, such as age, gender, language, geo-location (e.g., as determined by IP address, device GPS coordinates, etc.), player level (e.g., greater than 72, as measured in terms of experience points or in terms of points in a reputation system based on both experience and social activity with other players), and gaming activity (e.g., recently inactive, recently casual, recently active, recently hardcore, etc.)).
Regarding Claim 3, and similarly recited Claim 13, Qiang discloses the system of claim 1 wherein:
the creation of the task defines a plurality of steps within a user interface that enables a deterministic result regarding whether and when the task has been completed (paras. [0005]-[0007], [0022]-[0024], [0038]-[0043]);
the computing device is further configured to:
confirm completion of the task based upon the deterministic result regarding the plurality of steps and provide the reward to the individual that completed the task (paras. [0005]-[0007], [0022]-[0024], [0038]-[0043]).
Regarding Claim 4, Qiang discloses the system of claim 3 wherein the user must pledge the reward, placing it in the care of the computing device until the task is completed or a predetermined time has elapsed without completion of the task (paras. [0005]-[0007], [0022]-[0024], [0038]-[0043]).
Regarding Claim 5, and similarly recited Claim 14, Qiang discloses the system of claim 1 wherein, upon completion of the task, the computing device is further configured to: receive at least one score related to the task from the client computing device; and incorporate the at least one score into data making up the at least one community score (paras. [0005]-[0007], [0022]-[0024], [0038]-[0043]).
Regarding Claim 6, and similarly recited Claim 15, Qiang discloses the system of claim 1 wherein the at least one community score comprises at least two scores, namely: an overall score for a generally positive reputation within the three-dimensional environment (paras. [0005]-[0007], [0022]-[0024], [0038]-[0043]); and a task-specific score for a particular type of task, the task-specific score including an indication of a given one of the plurality of potential task candidates ability with respect to at least one specific task type (paras. [0005]-[0007], [0022]-[0024], [0038]-[0043]).
Regarding Claim 7, and similarly recited Claim 16, Qiang discloses the system of claim 6 wherein the overall score is generated in part based upon voluntary ratings of a given one of the plurality of potential task candidates by other players within the three-dimensional environment over time (paras. [0005]-[0007], [0022]-[0024], [0038]-[0043]).
Regarding Claim 8, and similarly recited Claim 17, Qiang discloses the system of claim 6 wherein the user may input a desire to exclude a selected one of: (a) all potential task candidates with no task-specific score related to the task, and (b) all potential task candidates wherein the task specific score related to the task falls below a selected threshold (paras. [0005]-[0007], [0022]-[0024], [0038]-[0043]).
Regarding Claim 9, and similarly recited Claim 18, Qiang discloses the system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of potential task candidates are required to have reviewed any requirements associated with the task prior to offering to accomplish the task (paras. [0005]-[0007], [0022]-[0024], [0038]-[0043]).
Regarding Claim 10, and similarly recited Claim 19, Qiang discloses the system of claim 1 wherein the task is a multi-step task and the computing device is further configured to accept the input of a plurality of ordered or non-ordered steps to accomplish the task, the plurality of ordered or non-ordered steps input by the user using the client computing device (paras. [0005]-[0007], [0022]-[0024], [0038]-[0043] discloses software running on one or more servers at website 103 (e.g., Zynga) creates a team (e.g., virtual cooking team) to perform a collaborative game task (e.g., virtual meal) in an MMO game (e.g., virtual cooking game), in operation 501. In an example embodiment, the collaborative game task is composed of set of individual game tasks (e.g., dishes). In operation 502, the software assigns an individual game task (e.g., dish) to each player on the team. It will be appreciated that operations 501 and 502 might be performed at the same time, in an example embodiment. In operation 503, the software provides a game reward (e.g., virtual currency, other virtual game resources, experience points, other measure of player level or game status, etc.) to a player after the player has satisfactorily completed less than all of individual game task (e.g., dish) assigned to the player. Then in operation 504, the software determines that the team has satisfactorily completed the collaborative game task (e.g., virtual meal), according to the game mechanics associated with the collaborative game task. And in operation 505, the software provides a game reward (e.g., virtual currency, other virtual game resource, experience points, other measure of player level or game status, etc.) to each player on the team.).
Conclusion
Claims 1-20 are examined above.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure and is provided in the Notice of References cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHAUNA-KAY HALL whose telephone number is (571)270-1419. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00AM-5:00PM.
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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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/S.N.H/Examiner, Art Unit 3715 /DAVID L LEWIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3715