DETAILED ACTION
Applicant's Submission of a Response
Applicant’s submission of a response on 1/8/22 has been received and fully considered. In the response, claims 1-9 and 11-21 have been amended. Therefore, claims 1-9 and 11-21 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-11 and 13-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to abstract idea without significantly more.
2019 PEG Analysis
Step 1: Are the claims directed to a statutory category (e.g., a process, machine, etc.)
Claims 1-9 are directed to a process. Claims 11, 13-20 are directed to an apparatus.
Claims 12 and 21 are directed to a computer-readable storage medium that could be a signal per se. Therefore, claims 12 and 21 are not directed to statutory category. The Examiner recommends amending claims 12 and 21 to be directed to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium to overcome this issue.
Step 2A (Prong 1): Does the claim recite an abstract idea, law of nature or natural phenomenon?
Yes, the claims recite an abstract idea. The following specific limitations in the claims under examination recite an abstract idea:
Generating a second value corresponding to each virtual object, in response to a second trigger operation (e.g., claims 1, 4, 7)
Determining a number of second values that meet a condition, based on the first value and the second value (e.g., claims 1, 3)
The above listed identified limitations fall within at least one of the groupings of abstract ideas enumerated in the 2019 PEG:
Mathematical Concepts: mathematical relationships, mathematical formulas or equations, and mathematical calculations.
Mental Processes: concepts preformed in the human mind (including on observation, evaluation, judgement, opinion).
Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity: managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions or relationships of interaction between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions.
Generating and determining values fall within each of the above underlined abstract groups and more specifically in the bolded subgroups. The method is directed to rules for playing a game that requires more than one player to match/exceed a value (e.g., using dice) in order to obtain a positive outcome.
The analysis applied above for Step 2A, prong 1 with regard to claims 1-9 also applies to claims 11-21, which are similar in claim scope.
Step 2A (Prong 2): Does the claim recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application?
Overall, the following additional claim limitations appear to merely implement the abstract idea, add insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception, or generally link the judicial exception to a particular environment or field of use, as outlined below:
Displaying an interactive interface (e.g., claims 1 and 10, insignificant extra-solution activity);
Displaying information about success of a virtual event (claims 1 and 10, insignificant extra-solution activity);
Other displaying steps (claims 2, 5-9, insignificant extra-solution activity);
The analysis applied above for Step 2A, prong 2 with regard to claims 1-9 also applies to claims 11-21, which are similar in claim scope.
Step 2B: Does the claim recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception?
With regard to claims 1-9 and 11-21, the claims as a whole do not amount to significantly more than the exception itself. The above listed additional claim limitations display, receive (gather), and notify in a well-understood, routine, and conventional way. Further, the computer hardware of claims 11 and 12 (e.g., a processor and a computer-readable storage medium) are well-understood, routine, and conventional in the art. Therefore, claims 1-9 and 11-12 are not patent eligible under 101.
In order to satisfy the Berkheimer factual determination requirement, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0009278 to Vancura is cited for disclosing that a processor and memory are conventional in the gaming art (e.g., see at least paragraph 94).
The Examiner recognizes that the previous rejection under section 101 was withdraw in the Final Rejection dated 10/8/2025 but has reconsidered the claims and now reasserts that claims 1-9 and 11-21 are not eligible under section 101. The Arguments on 9/30/2025 note that the claimed features include “displaying” and “applied in a game applications”. Upon further consideration, the Examiner asserts that displaying is merely insignificant extra-solution activity. Additionally, the term “applied in a game applications” appears to be mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely use a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea- MPEP 2106.05(f). For at least these reasons (combined with the above analysis), claims 1-9 and 11-21 are not patent eligible.
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 1-9 and 11-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dicey Elementalist video game published May 2021 as evidenced by YouTube video titled Dicey Elementalist – Yahtzee Meets Deckbuilder by Modee on June 7, 2021 and available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwo165RQfWU (hereinafter Dicey) (Screenshot provided below for convenience) in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0160827 to Slomiany.
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With regard to claim 1, Dicey discloses an interactive control method, applied in game applications, comprising: displaying an interactive interface corresponding to a virtual event (e.g., see Dicey video at 2:35 where the user interacts with the game to move the game character), in response to a first trigger operation of a user on the virtual event in a virtual scene, wherein the interactive interface displays a first value (e.g., see Dicey video at 2:50, where Modee explains how the game is played using dice and move cards that require predetermined dice values to implement a move, wherein one of the three displayed game cards represents a first value, for example the right most purple card) corresponding to the virtual event and virtual object components (e.g., the object components are the faces of the dice, which includes a purple item, a yellow item, a green item, and a red item at the 2:51 point in Dicey) corresponding to a plurality of virtual objects (e.g., the virtual objects include the different player characters the Dicey video), and the virtual object refers to a virtual character that executes an action and generates an action result (e.g., the character at 2:51 in Dicey is in a first person view an executes different attacks that generate an action result of reducing the enemy character’s health, the attacks are generated when a dice roll matches the attack card); generating, by the virtual object components, a second value (e.g., see Dicey video at 2:50, where three game cards are shown, wherein the middle green game card equates to a second value) corresponding to each virtual object, in response to a second trigger operation of the user on the interactive interface; determining a number of second values that meet a condition (e.g., see Dicey video at 2:58-3:30 where the wing power green card’s value was rolled by the dice), based on the value and the second value; and displaying information about success of the target virtual event (e.g., see Dicey video at 2:50-3:30 wherein success is shown by the red health bar decreasing in value with each attack), in response to the number of second values that meet the condition reaching a threshold (e.g., see Dicey video at 2:50-3:30 wherein success is shown by the red health bar decreasing in value with each attack);
[claim 2] wherein, the condition is being not less than the first value (e.g., see Dicey video at 2:58-3:30 where the wing power green card’s value was rolled by the dice); wherein the interactive interface further displays event indication information, and the event indication information is used to indicate the threshold and/or the number of second values that meet the condition (e.g., see Dicey video at 2:50-3:30 wherein success is shown by the red health bar decreasing in value with each attack);
[claim 3] wherein, the first value is determined based on at least one of: the virtual event, attributes of a virtual team, and attributes of the virtual scene, wherein the virtual team is composed of the plurality of virtual objects (e.g., see Dicey video at 2:50, where Modee explains how the game is played using dice and move cards that require predetermined dice values to implement a move, wherein one of the three displayed game cards represents a first value, for example the right most purple card); and the attributes of the virtual team comprise attributes of virtual objects, a quantity of the virtual objects, as well as association relationships between the virtual objects (e.g., the virtual objects include the game objects, NPCs, game cards, dice seen throughout the Dicey video);
[claim 4] wherein, the generating, by the virtual object components, the second value corresponding to each virtual object (e.g., see Dicey video at 2:50, where three game cards are shown, wherein the middle green game card equates to a second value), comprises: generating, by the virtual object components, a third value corresponding to each virtual object based on probability; and generating a second value corresponding to each virtual object based on an attribute of the virtual object and the third value (e.g., see at least Dicey video from 2:45 to 3:05, wherein the third value could be the left most blue card or the value of the NPC’s health bar);
[claim 5] wherein, the generating, by the virtual object components, the second value corresponding to each virtual object, further comprises: displaying a visual effect corresponding to an action of generating the second value on the interactive interface (e.g., see Dicey video at 2:59-3:01 that shows visual effect of the wing power attack), wherein the visual effect corresponding to the action of generating the second value comprising one of: on the interactive interface, the virtual object components simultaneously start and stop the action; or, on the interactive interface, the virtual object components successively start and stop the action in an order (e.g., see Dicey video at 2:59-3:01 that shows visual effect of the wing power attack);
[claim 6] wherein, the visual effect comprises at least one of: brightness change, shape change, size change, position change, action change, and new special effects (e.g., see Dicey video at 2:59-3:01 that shows visual effect of the wing power attack);
[claim 7] wherein, the interactive interface displaying the first value corresponding to the virtual event and virtual object components corresponding to the plurality of virtual objects comprises: further displaying, by the interactive interface, prompt information and description information, wherein the prompt information comprises information used for prompting information related to the second trigger operation (e.g., see Dicey video at 2:50 to 3:05 that shows prompt information being the displayed colored attack cards), and the description information is used for describing a scene or a plot related to the virtual event (e.g., see Dicey video at 2:50 to 3:05 that shows description information being the displayed text and dice image shape, for example, the green wing symbol); and wherein the generating the second value corresponding to each virtual object, in response to the second trigger operation of the user on the interactive interface further comprises: not displaying the prompt information and the description information in the interactive interface (e.g., see Dicey video at 3:01, the green card is removed and no longer displayed);
[claim 8] wherein, the displaying information about success of the virtual event, in response to the number of second values that meet the condition reaching the threshold further comprises: displaying at least one type of information below: subsequent description information related to describing subsequent scene or plot of the virtual event; operation information related to closing the interactive interface; and operation information of a subsequent executable operation related to the virtual event (e.g., see Dicey video at approximately 3:08 where the player’s attack cards and dice are removed and the player’s opponents cards are displayed);
[claim 9] further comprising: displaying information about failure of the virtual event, in response to the number of second values that meet the condition not reaching the threshold (e.g., see Dicey video at approximately 3:01-3:05 where the user had to reroll the dice to get the blue attack card because the original dice roll failed to trigger the blue attack card).
With regard to claim 1, Dicey fails to disclose a plurality of characters/players and generating a result for each of the players and a condition is not less than a first value.
Slomiany teaches a game that includes a plurality of characters/players generating a result for each of the players and a condition is not less than a first value (e.g., sea at least paragraph 60 that discusses group play and matching a value called a “current point”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the current invention to modify Dicey with a plurality of players and a condition being no less than value as taught by Slomiany in order to use a known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way. In this case, allowing multiple characters/players to group play increases enjoyment from the benefits of socializing.
Claims 11 and 12 are similar in scope to claim 1, wherein Dicey also discloses the use of a processor and memory, wherein the Dicey video mentions during the beginning of the video that the game is played on an iPad game which has a processor and memory (e.g., see Dicey video at approximately 0:08-0:15 for discussion on being played on an iPad). Claims 11 and 12-21 are made obvious by Dicey in view of Slomiany based on the same analysis set forth above for claims 1-9, which are similar in claim scope.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 9/30/2025 have been fully considered but they moot in view of the new grounds of rejection. The Examiner welcomes a discussion to expedite prosecution.
The claim objections have bene withdrawn in response to the current amendments.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES S MCCLELLAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7167. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday (8:30AM-5:00PM).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kang Hu can be reached at 571-270-1344. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/James S. McClellan/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715