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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 6/12/26 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This is in response to the amendments filed on 6/12/26. Claims 1, 10, and 19 have been amended. Claims 1 – 20 are pending in the current application.
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 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Step 1: It must be determined whether the invention falls in one of the four statutory categories of invention. Claims 1 – 9 are directed towards a method, (process), and claims 11 - 20 are directed towards a device and medium, (machine), which are statutory categories of invention.
Step 2a:
Prong 1: It must be determined whether the invention is directed to judicially recognized exception. Claim 1 is analyzed below with limitations indicating recitations of an abstract idea.
A method for obtaining a virtual reward resource performed by an electronic device, the method comprising: displaying a progress prompt window of a virtual reward resource matching a target user account in a battle mode selection interface of a game application, the progress prompt window comprising a current resource growth level and a resource obtaining status of the target user account; receiving a trigger operation performed on the progress prompt window; in response to the trigger operation on the progress prompt window, displaying a growth track of the virtual reward resource matching the target user account at a current resource growth stage in the progress prompt window, the growth track comprising growth nodes respectively corresponding to different resource growth levels, each growth node prompting a virtual reward resource and a resource obtaining status that correspond to the resource growth level; marking an account identifier of the target user account at a location corresponding to the current resource growth level on the growth track; when the account identifier of the target user account is marked at the location corresponding to a last growth node at the current resource growth stage in the progress prompt window: replacing the growth track with a next growth track, wherein the next growth track corresponds to a next resource growth stage following the current resource growth stage; displaying a virtual treasure box at a last growth node of the next growth track, wherein the virtual treasure box includes a plurality of to-be-obtained virtual reward resources in the next resource growth stage, and at least one of the plurality of to-be-obtained virtual reward resources in the virtual treasure box was associated with a growth node in the growth track that was not obtained by the target user account before the current resource growth stage is completed and then transferred to the virtual treasure box in the next resource growth stage; receiving a selection operation performed on the virtual treasure box; in response to the selection operation performed on the virtual treasure box: identifying a subset of the plurality of to-be-obtained virtual reward resources in the virtual treasure box that was not obtained by the target user account yet; and moving the subset of the plurality of the to-be-obtained virtual reward resources from the virtual treasure box to the target user account according to the current resource growth level of the target user account.
The abstract idea is defined by the underlined portions exemplary claim 1, with substantially similar features found in claims 10 and 19. Dependent claims 2 – 9, 11 – 18, and 20 further define the abstract idea or relate to the implementation of the abstract idea. The abstract idea is defined in at least the following grouping below:
Mental processes (observation, evaluation, judgment)
The claims are directed towards a series of steps which can practically be performed by one or more human, which fall into the category of mental processes, (See MPEP 2106.04(a)(2)(III)). More specifically, the claimed invention is drawn towards a user obtaining a virtual reward resource in a battle mode of a game application. The claims further disclose displaying a virtual reward resource progress, a virtual reward resource growth level on a growth track, a growth track of the virtual reward resource, marking an account identifier of the user account that corresponds to the growth level, a growth track stage, a virtual treasure box at a last growth node of the growth track stage, receiving a selection corresponding to the virtual treasure box, identifying and then moving virtual reward resources from the virtual treasure box to the user account. The claims recite instructions for controlling a game with these features. Here, a human can observe a virtual reward resource, the state of the virtual reward resource, the growth level of the virtual reward resource along a growth track, and a virtual treasure box at the end growth track that includes the virtual reward resource after the growth stage is completed. A human can determine that the state of the virtual reward resource at the end of growth stage is favorable to the player or not, wherein a human can make a game determination to whether to select the virtual treasure box to obtain the virtual reward resource. For example, in the event that a user is playing a battle game and wants an upgraded weapon, such as a sword, (virtual reward resource), a user can observe the attributes of the sword, such as attack level, grow through a plurality of growth stages during gameplay, wherein at the end of swords growth stage, a user then determine that the final growth stage of the sword is favorable to the player, and then determine whether to obtain the sword. Therefore, since the claimed invention can practically be performed in the human mind, it represents an ineligible abstract mental process. (Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Symantec Corp., 838 F. 3d 1307).
Prong 2: Does the Claim recite additional elements that integrate the exception in to a practical application of the exception?
The claims recite a generic electronic device along with instructions that generate and present a game application to a user, wherein a user may obtain a virtual reward resource, which is viewed as no more than instructions to implement a judicial exception.
These additional limitations do not represent an improvement to the functioning of a computer, or to any other technology or technical field, (MPEP 2106.05(a)). Nor do they apply the exception using a particular machine, (MPEP 2106.05(b)). Furthermore, they do not effect a transformation. (MPEP 2106.05(c)). Rather, these additional limitations amount to an instruction to “apply” the judicial exception using a computer as a tool to perform the abstract idea.
Step 2b: It must be determined whether the claimed invention recites additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
The claim language does recite an electronic device, memory, a processor, (claim 9), and an account that is associated with a user, however, viewed as a whole, these additional elements are indistinguishable from conventional computing elements known in the art, (See Hyams 2004/0053655 par. 0066 regarding a gaming system comprising processor, memory, and user accounts being known in the art). Therefore, the additional elements fail to supply additional elements that yield significantly more than the underlying abstract idea. Viewing the limitations as an ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements taken individually. There is no indication that the combination of elements improves the functioning of a computer or improves any other technology.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Claims 1 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tucker et al. (U.S. 2016/0256782).
Regarding claims 1, 10, and 19, Tucker discloses a method, device, and medium for obtaining a virtual reward resource, (“The present disclosure addresses the above-identified need in the art by providing new and innovative ways to provide rewards to users”, par. 0005), performed by an electronic device, (“a computing device 102 is used by a video game to subject the user to one or more challenges in an action format”, par. 0045), displaying a progress prompt window of a virtual reward resource matching a target user account, (“When the user selects to upgrade an item (e.g., weapon) through toggle 606, a menu such as that illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 are illustrated. FIG. 7 illustrates the weapon characteristics upgrades 702 that are possible for one selected weapon , wherein the Examiner views fig. 7 showing the upgrades for the weapon as being equivalent to displaying a progress window of a virtual reward resource, and the user selecting an upgrade item as being equivalent to the virtual reward resource matching a target user account), in a battle mode selection interface of a game application, (fig. 10 which depicts a battle scene), the progress prompt window comprising a current resource growth level and (“As illustrated in FIG. 7, the user's level 704 is presently “tier 1”, par. 0083, wherein the Examiner the user’s current tier 1 level as being equivalent to a current resource growth level), a resource obtaining status of the target user account, (“In panel 702, icon 706-1 represents damage—the amount of damage a weapon will inflict when it hits a target”, par. 0083, and fig. 7, part 706-1, wherein the Examiner views the window displaying icon 706-1 which represents weapon damage as being equivalent to a resource obtaining status of the target user account), receiving a trigger operation performed on the progress prompt window, (“When the user selects to upgrade an item (e.g., weapon) through toggle 606, a menu such as that illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, wherein the Examiner views the user selecting to upgrade an item as being equivalent to a trigger operation), in response to the trigger operation on the progress window, displaying a growth track of the virtual reward resource matching the target user account at a current resource growth stage in the progress prompt window, (“Continuing to refer to panel 702 of FIG. 7, other characteristics of an item that are numerically ranked and individually stored as item characteristics 68 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure include recoil power 706-2, range 706-3, accuracy 706-4, critical hit chance 706-5, reload time 706-6, ammunition clip size 706-7”, par. 0084 and fig. 7, wherein the Examiner views the displaying of the numerically ranked items as being equivalent displaying a growth track of the virtual reward resource), the growth track comprising growth nodes respectively corresponding to different resource growth levels, (“Continuing to refer to panel 702 of FIG. 7, other characteristics of an item that are numerically ranked and individually stored as item characteristics 68 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure include recoil power 706-2, range 706-3, accuracy 706-4, critical hit chance 706-5, reload time 706-6, ammunition clip size 706-7”, par. 0084 and fig. 7, wherein the Examiner views the ranked items progressing from 706-2 to 706-3 to 706-4, etc., as being equivalent to a growth track comprising growth nodes corresponding to different resource growth levels), each growth node prompting a virtual reward resource (“As illustrated in FIG. 7, the user's level 704 is presently “tier 1”, par. 0083, wherein the Examiner the user’s current tier 1 level as being equivalent to a current resource growth level), and a resource obtaining status that correspond to the resource growth level, (“As illustrated in FIG. 7, the user's level 704 is presently “tier 1”, par. 0083, wherein the Examiner the user’s current tier 1 level as being equivalent to a current resource growth level), marking an account identifier of the target user account at a location corresponding to the current resource growth level on the growth track, (“As illustrated in FIG. 7, the user's level 704 is presently “tier 1”, par. 0083, wherein the Examiner views Tucker’s teaching of disclosing that the user’s level is tier 1 as being equivalent to marking an account identifier of the target user account corresponding to the current growth level), when the account identifier of the target user account is marked at the location corresponding to a last growth node at the current resource growth stage in progress prompt window, replacing the growth track with a next growth track, wherein the next growth track corresponds to a next resource growth stage following the current resource growth stage, (“in some embodiments, the accuracy of a weapon may be upgraded to a certain point, the point being determined by the user's tier level”, par. 0056, wherein the Examiner views the accuracy of a weapon being upgraded to a certain point depending on a user’s tier as being equivalent to a user’s account being marked at a last growth node of an initial growth track, and wherein once the user’s tier has increased and the user is allowed to further upgrade the weapon as being equivalent to replacing the initial growth track to a next growth track), displaying a virtual treasure box, wherein the virtual treasure box includes a plurality of to-be-obtained virtual reward resources, (“the user is presented with a panel 1102 presenting an opportunity to win items 1104-1 (Intimidator), 1104-2 (Hyper Boiler), etc. in a mystery box setting”, par. 0096 and fig. 11, parts 1104-1 and 1104-2, wherein the Examiner views the mystery box comprising parts 1104-1 and 1104-2 as being equivalent to a treasure box including to-be-obtained virtual reward resources), receiving a selection operation performed on the treasure box in response to the selection operation performed on the virtual treasure box: identifying a subset of the plurality of to-be-obtained virtual reward resources in the virtual treasure box that was not obtained by the target user account yet; and moving the subset of the plurality of the to-be-obtained virtual reward resources from the virtual treasure box to the target user account, (“Responsive to the user selecting an affordance 1106 that commits the user to paying the cost, the user is awarded with a single item from among the plurality of items”, par. 0097 and fig. 11, part 1106).
As cited above, Tucker, discloses a virtual reward resource, growth nodes, a growth track, and a virtual treasure box, however, Tucker is silent on disclosing transferring the virtual reward resource to the virtual treasure box after the resource growth stage is completed. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to move the virtual resource into another location at the end of it’s growth stage, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
Regarding claims 2, 11, and 20, Tucker discloses displaying a level identifier of the current resource growth level corresponding to the target user account(“As illustrated in FIG. 7, the user's level 704 is presently “tier 1”, par. 0083, in a current battle period in the progress prompt window,(“In the exemplary video game, the user's avatar 602 is challenged to infiltrate a base and compromise a base target”, par. 0083 and fig. 10), and displaying information about a countdown of the target user account to the resource growth stage next to the current resource growth stage in the progress prompt window, (“upon satisfactory completion of the one or more challenges, the gaming level of the user is advanced from the first gaming level to a second gaming level in the plurality of discrete gaming levels”, par. 0013 and “the clock 1010 reports the amount of time left for the user to complete the challenge. For instance, in the example illustrated in FIG. 10, this represents a deadline before which the avatar 602 must neutralize the base target in order to receive game credit”, wherein the Examiner views the player completing a challenge to advance to a next level as being equivalent to a target user account progressing from a growth stage to a next growth and the clock represent the amount of time left to complete the challenge as being equivalent to displaying information about a countdown clock corresponding to a next growth stage).
Regarding claims 3 and 12, Tucker discloses displaying resource obtaining prompt information in the progress prompt window, wherein the resource obtaining prompt information is for prompting a resource identifier of a current to-be-obtained target virtual reward resource of the target user account, (“Continuing to refer to panel 702 of FIG. 7, other characteristics of an item that are numerically ranked and individually stored as item characteristics 68 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure include recoil power 706-2, range 706-3, accuracy 706-4, critical hit chance 706-5, reload time 706-6, ammunition clip size 706-7”, par. 0084 and fig. 7).
Regarding claims 4 and 13, Tucker discloses when a quantity of target virtual reward resources is greater than 1, prompting a resource quantity of target virtual reward resources that are not taken in the progress prompt window, and/or displaying the resource obtaining prompt information in the progress prompt window according to a prompt priority of the target virtual reward resource, (“Continuing to refer to panel 702 of FIG. 7, other characteristics of an item that are numerically ranked and individually stored as item characteristics 68 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure include recoil power 706-2, range 706-3, accuracy 706-4, critical hit chance 706-5, reload time 706-6, ammunition clip size 706-7”, par. 0084 and fig. 7, wherein the Examiner views parts 706-2, 706-3, etc. as being equivalent to the virtual resources being greater than 1).
Regarding claims 5 and 14, Tucker discloses displaying comparison prompt information in the progress prompt window when the current resource growth level of the target user account is higher than a resource growth level of an associated user account, wherein the comparison prompt information is for prompting that the target user account has surpassed the associated user account, (“Continuing to refer to panel 702 of FIG. 7, other characteristics of an item that are numerically ranked and individually stored as item characteristics 68 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure include recoil power 706-2, range 706-3, accuracy 706-4, critical hit chance 706-5, reload time 706-6, ammunition clip size 706-7”, par. 0084 and fig. 7, wherein the Examiner views the range, accuracy, etc., as being equivalent to comparison of resource growth levels).
Regarding claims 6 and 15, Tucker discloses displaying a corresponding resource prompt icon at each growth node of the growth track, wherein a resource prompt icon corresponding to a growth node at which a virtual reward resource has been obtained is a resource identifier of the obtained virtual reward resource, and a resource prompt icon corresponding to a growth node at which a virtual reward resource has not been obtained is a locked identifier; and displaying a quantity of exchanged resources currently held by the target user account, wherein the exchanged resource is a reward resource obtained based on the growth track, (“In panel 702, icon 706-1 represents damage—the amount of damage a weapon will inflict when it hits a target. In some embodiments, damage is rated on a numeric scale, such as 1 to 24, with higher numbers representing more significant damage, and the user is able to exchange game credit, illustrated as icons 708-1 and 708-2 of panel 702 of FIG. 7, for a larger number on this scale”, par. 0083 and fig. 7, parts 706-2 to 706-7).
Regarding claims 7 and 16, Tucker discloses adjusting a first growth node sequence in the currently displayed growth track to a second growth node sequence corresponding to a sliding progress of a slide operation in response to the slide operation on the growth track; and restoring the second growth node sequence in the currently displayed growth track to a third growth node sequence in response to a click/tap operation, wherein the third growth node sequence comprises a growth node corresponding to the current resource growth level, (“In panel 702 of FIG. 7, there are connections 708 between the icons 706 for various item characteristics. In some embodiments, connections 708 highlight the sequential order by which characteristics must be selected in order to acquire a specific item characteristic. For instance, in order to select the first instance of characteristic 706-2 or the characteristic 706-4 or the characteristic 706-6, the user must pay for the characteristic 706-1”, par. 0085, wherein the Examiner views a player highlighting a sequential order as being equivalent to adjusting a growth node sequence).
Regarding claims 8 and 17, Tucker discloses wherein the displaying a growth track of the virtual reward resource matching the target user account comprises: marking a location of an account identifier of a reference user account having a binding relationship with the target user account on the growth track, (“As illustrated in FIG. 7, the user's level 704 is presently “tier 1”, par. 0083, and fig. 7, part 704).
Regarding claims 9 and 18, Tucker discloses obtaining an operation presentation parameter corresponding to an operation performed by a virtual character controlled by the target user account in a target game task; obtaining a growth coefficient based on statistics on the operation presentation parameter; and updating the current resource growth level of the target user account based on the growth coefficient, (“selection of challenge 948-1 on panel 902 leads directly to the starting point of the challenge illustrated in FIG. 10. As such, the starting point of the challenge is considered a node in a graph in some embodiments”, par. 0089, and “ this represents a deadline before which the avatar 602 must neutralize the base target in order to receive game credit”, par. 0090, wherein the Examiner views the selection of a challenge as being equivalent to the game system obtaining a presentation parameter corresponding to an operation performed by a virtual character controlled by the target user account, the starting point of the challenge being on a node graph as being equivalent to the current resource growth level, and in the event that a player completes and receiving game credit as being equivalent to updating the current growth level of the target user account based on statistics).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 6/12/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Regarding claims 1 – 20, Applicants argue that “the amended claims have integrated the abstract idea into a practical application and the rejection of the pending claims under 35 USC 101 should be withdrawn”. More specifically it is argued that the growth track progresses, the disappearing of the virtual reward resource along a growth node, and the virtual reward resource being added to the treasure box, all depicted in figs. 4 and 5, is very similar to example 37, which corresponds to the relocation of icons on a graphical user interface. The Examiner respectfully disagrees. Example 37 discloses that the automatic moving of the most used icons to a position on an interface that is closest to the start icon of computer represents an improved user interface and is determined to be a practical application. The current claim language of present invention discloses displaying a virtual resource in a display window, and then placing the virtual resource into a treasure box after the growth of the resource has been completed, wherein the virtual resource may then be selected by a user. Removing a virtual resource from a display window to then be placed in a treasure box is not viewed by the Examiner as being similar to example 37, as the current claim is silent on reciting any steps disclosing how placing virtual resources into a treasure box represents an improved user interface.
Applicants further argue that, with respect to figs. 4 and 5, that “in the present example, the GUI automatically rearranges the locations of the unclaimed virtual rewards by putting them into the virtual treasure box located at the last growth node of the next growth track. This fixed location of the virtual treasure box makes it extremely easy for the user to collect those reward resources by clicking on the virtual treasure box, which is always located at the same location in the GUI. As such, "a manner for obtaining a virtual reward resource is more intuitively displayed, to resolve a technical problem of great difficulty in operation in the manner for obtaining the [unclaimed] virtual reward resource in the related technology, thereby improving man-machine interaction efficiency" ([0058]) and the improvement of the man-machine interaction efficiency therefore improves the computer functionality by reducing the time and resources it takes for the computer for performing the same operations.” While the Examiner agrees that par. 0058 discloses improvements and may disclose a practical application, however, the current claim language does not recite steps that represent the improvements disclosed in paragraph 0058. For example, as stated above, the current claim language discloses displaying a virtual resource in a display window, and then placing the virtual resource into a treasure box after the growth of the resource has been completed, wherein the virtual resource may then be selected by a user, however, the claim language is silent on reciting how removing a virtual resource from a display window to then be placed into a treasure box makes it easy for a user collect reward resources, improves man-machine interaction efficiency, and improves computer functionality by reducing the time and resources it takes to perform computer operations.
Furthermore, reciting generic processing devices, (electronic device, processor, and memory), to obtain or receive gaming operations are well-understood, routine, and conventional (WURC) computer functions. See Alice (generic computer). There is no indication that the combination of elements improves the functioning of a computer or improves any other technology. Therefore, the current claim language does not recite how the additional components, including the language model, disclose improvements such as reducing processing resources, reducing network bandwidth, or lowering processing time. For these reasons, the Examiner maintains that the claims are not patent-eligible under 35 USC 101.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIC M THOMAS whose telephone number is (571)272-1699. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00am - 5:00pm.
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/E.M.T/ Examiner, Art Unit 3715
/JUSTIN L MYHR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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