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 1/6/2026 has been received and considered. In the response, Applicant amended claims 1, 3, 9 – 11, 13, 19 and 20. Therefore, claims 1 – 20 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1- 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
With regards to claims 1 – 20, Applicant has amended the claims to include “a game performance”. The original specification does not have limitations anywhere to be found. Additionally, Applicant has provided no paragraph to where they believe support can be found.
The specification users “user performance”, “performance level”, “performance rating” interchangeably, but does not mention or define what is “a game performance”.
All dependent claims inherit the deficiencies of the claim(s) from which they depend and are similarly rejected for the same reason.
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 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Greff et al. (US Pub. No. 2023/0066209 A1).
As per claim 1, Greff et al. discloses a method for electronic gaming control and performance based sound generation (see [0006]), the method comprising: receiving, by a device, a game data stream for an electronic game, wherein the game data stream includes game data for at least one user of the electronic game (see [0035], [0163], [1064]); analyzing, by the device, a game performance of the at least one user using the game data stream and determining, by the device, at least one sound cue for the at least one user of the electronic game, wherein the at least one sound cue is determined based on the game performance of the at least one user (the Accessory Management Software (AMS) application can be configured to track the performance of a gamer and adapt a threshold as the game improves or declines in performance, [0253], individual sounds within the game audio may be analyzed and identified, such as by a neural network, and enhanced to give the gamer an improved audio experience and a competitive advantage in playing the video game, see [0035]); and updating, by the device, the game data stream for the at least one user of the electronic game to include the at least one sound cue (See [0035], [0163] and [1064]) and controlling, by the device, output of the game data stream and the at least one sound cue (see [0035], [0163], [0164]).
As per claim 2, Greff et al. discloses receiving the game data stream includes identifying at least one sound asset of the game data stream for the at least one user, and wherein updating the game data stream includes replacing the at least one sound asset with the at least one sound cue (see [0120] and [0124]).
As per claim 3, Greff et al. discloses analyzing performance of the at least one user includes tracking user performance for the electronic game a for a period of time and determining a performance rating for the user for a period of time associated with a received game data stream (see [0253]).
As per claim 4, Greff et al. discloses the at least one sound cue includes at least one sound effect added to audio data of the game data stream to indicate user performance level (see [0044] and [0254]).
As per claim 5, Greff et al. discloses the at least one sound cue is a control setting for control of at least one of game sound effect volume and game chat volume (see [0225]).
As per claim 6, Greff et al. discloses the at least one sound cue is generated to include a sound effect for at least one of excited approval and a disapproval sound (see [0225]).
As per claim 7, Greff et al. discloses the at least one sound cue is generated to indicate user performance relative to multiplayer users of a gaming session (see [0225]).
As per claim 8, Greff et al. discloses updating the game data stream for the at least one user of the electronic game includes reducing volume of the game data stream for a period of time associated with poor user performance (see [0184], [0225] and [0253]).
As per claim 9, Greff et al. discloses updating a game data stream includes at least one of embedding and adding a sound component of a sound cue to a game data stream for output (see [0127] and [0146]).
As per claim 10, Greff et al. discloses detecting a user reaction to the sound cue and controlling a game data stream based on the user reaction (see [0280] – [0282]).
As per claims 11 – 20, the instant claims are a device in which corresponds to the method of claims 1 – 10. Therefore, it is rejected for the reason set forth above.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 1/6/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues “without commenting on the merits of the rejection and to move prosecution forward, claim 1 has been amended to recite “analyzing, by the device, a game performance of the at least one user using the game data stream” and further states an agreement was made during the examiner interview that the amendments would moot the pending rejections. The Examiner respectfully disagrees. In the interview, additional amendments were discussed for each of the limitations in the independent claims, however no such amendment was made. Additionally, as stated above in the 35 USC 112 rejection, support for the new amendment “a game performance” was not provided or found in the specification.
Further, Greff et al. discloses the Accessory Management Software (AMS) application, that is executed by a computing device, can be configured to track the performance of a gamer and adapt a threshold as the game improves or declines in performance and individual sounds within the game audio may be analyzed and identified, such as by a neural network, and enhanced to give the gamer an improved audio experience and a competitive advantage in playing the video game. Therefore, the claimed rejection is maintained.
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Taylor et al. (US Patent No. 10,888,783) discloses dynamic modification of audio playback in games, wherein dynamically modifying the game music data while the user is playing the video game by replacing at least one of the plurality of game soundtracks with the one or more replacement soundtracks to obtain modified game music data. The modified game music data may be provided to the user while the user is playing the video game.
Bracken et al. (US Patent No. 9,352,219) discloses incorporating player-generated audio in an electronic game, wherein incorporation may include receiving an audio clip from an electronic game player, applying a modification to the audio clip to generate a chant, associating the chant to the execution of an event in the electronic game, retrieving the chant when the event in the electronic game is executed, and initiating the play of the chant upon execution of the event in the electronic game.
Estanislao (US Patent No. 11,344,808) discloses a system for dynamically generating and modulating music based on gaming events, player profiles and player reactions.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANKIT B DOSHI whose telephone number is (571)270-7863. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri. ~8:30 - ~5:30.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
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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/ANKIT B DOSHI/Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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