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 .
35 USC § 101
The claims are in statutory classes.
The claims do not recite and abstract idea, law of nature, or natural phenomenon.
Per Pathway B, the claims qualify as eligible subject matter under 35 USC 101.
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)(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 1-3, 5-6, 11-13 and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Herbrich et al. (US PG pub 2004/0266506).
Herbrich et al. shows,
In regards to claims 1 and 11,
A method for nonplayer character (NPC) personalization and electronic game control, the method comprising:
receiving, by a device, a user input to personalize at least one nonplayer character (NPC) of an electronic game; (Paragraph [0019], “The remaining friend can then choose to play an avatar that is personalized by that training data to emulate his or her departed friend. Likewise, training data may be generated and/or obtained for more famous participants (e.g., Mario Andretti) and then stored in a persistent storage medium accessible by the gaming system.” and paragraph [0042], “In addition, a human player's behavior during the current race may be used to dynamically supplement the training data during the race (e.g., to allow the human player to compete against a continually changing avatar of himself or herself).” The user input is considered to be the choosing of an avatar or NPC of the friend, the famous participant or himself or herself.
From the abstract, “Such computer controlled opponents may be enhanced by including a sampling of actual game behavior of a human subject into the opponent's artificial intelligence control system. Such a sampling can allow the game system to personalize the behavior of the computer control opponent to emulate the human subject.” This is the personalizing of the avatar.)
generating, by the device, at least one NPC seed element for the at least one NPC character; and (figure 2, the personalized training data 206 is considered to be seed elements. From paragraph [0022], “Using this personalized training data, the system controls the AI controlled avatar to emulate the human subject's performance.” Thus the training data 206 is for the avatar or NPC.)
controlling, by the device, output of the electronic game, wherein the at least one NPC character is presented including the at least one NPC seed element. (As cited above, paragraph [0019], “The remaining friend can then choose to play an avatar that is personalized by that training data to emulate his or her departed friend.” In regards to part of claims 9 and 19, emulating the gameplay of the friend includes an NPC game instruction message.)
In regards to claims 2 and 12,
wherein receiving the user input includes receiving an identification of a NPC seed element source. (From the examples discussed above, a friend, a famous participant or himself or herself can be identified as training data sources.)
In regards to claims 3 and 13,
wherein generating the at least one NPC seed includes detecting at least one of audio, text, and image data on a user device. (Paragraph [0026], “In one implementation, personalized training samples 15 are generated by monitoring performance of a human subject during game play.” The game play is considered to be image data.)
In regards to claims 5 and 15,
wherein generating the at least one NPC seed includes filtering personal data of an NPC seed source. (Figure 2)
In regards to claims 6 and 16,
wherein controlling output of the electronic game includes controlling at least one of an NPC action and an NPC appearance in the electronic game. (As cited above, paragraph [0019], “The remaining friend can then choose to play an avatar that is personalized by that training data to emulate his or her departed friend.”)
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 4, 7-10, 14 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Herbrich et al. (US PG pub 2004/0266506) in view of Jorasch et al. (US PG pub 2021/0400142).
Herbrich et al. shows all of the limitations of the claims except for specifying that the NPC seed includes identifying voice communication content and message communication content of an NPC seed source; and the output of the electronic game includes a detected humorous communication phrase of an NPC seed source, which is also a modified communication style of the NPC character.
Jorasch et al. teaches a communication invention for virtual meetings.
Jorasch et al. teaches, in the Avatar Management section, that, “[3103] Avatars could be licensed characters, and could include catch phrases or motions that are associated with that character. [3104] Users might have one avatar for use in business calls, one for game playing, another avatar for use in school online lessons, and another avatar for video calls with friends and family.” In the Jorasch et al. teaching, the user is replaced by an avatar in a virtual environment. This is similar to Herbrich et al. Traits of the licensed characters, such as communication style, are incorporated into the communication style of the avatar including the verbal sense of humor found in a catch phrase of the licensed character.
Based on the teaching of Jorasch et al., it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the Herbrich et al. to incorporate more details of the famous participants including the NPC seed includes identifying voice communication content and message communication content of an NPC seed source; and the output of the electronic game includes a detected humorous communication phrase of an NPC seed source, which is also a modified communication style of the NPC character in order to make the game more exciting by using more famous participant details.
A “catch phrase” is considered to be humorous. For example, a catch phrase of Mario Andretti is “If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough”, which is humorous.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL A CUFF whose telephone number is (571)272-6778. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9-5.
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/MICHAEL A CUFF/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715