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 was received on 03/11/2026. Presently, claims 1-17 and 19-21 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 1-17 and 19-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0306640 to Kolen.
With regard to claim 1, Kolen discloses a method comprising: receiving data from one or more user accounts indicative of interest of a player (0023-0024; 0059; 0063); training, based at least in part on the data, a nonplayer character associated with interactive content to generate a trained non-player character such that an intended behavior of the nonplayer character is modified to a customized behavior of the trained non-player character, wherein the data is received prior to the training and is unrelated to the interactive content (0022-0025; 0041-0042; 0046; 0051; 0070; 0094-0101); determining an event associated with the interactive content has occurred (0094-0101); controlling, based at least in part on the event and the customized behavior, the trained nonplayer character to execute an interaction in accordance with the customized behavior (0094-0101).
With regard to claim 2, Kolen discloses that the one or more user accounts include a gaming account of the player and a social network account of the player (0051; 0059-0063).
With regard to claim 3, Kolen discloses determining whether access to the data is permitted from the one or more user accounts, wherein said receiving the data occurs after determining that access to the data is permitted (0063).
With regard to claim 4, Kolen discloses wherein the data is indicative of a level of interest of the player in a feature of the interactive content, wherein said controlling the trained nonplayer character includes accessing a protocol of the interactive content not accessed before training the nonplayer character (0023-0024; 0059; 0063; 0070).
With regard to claim 5, Kolen discloses that communication from the trained nonplayer character includes one or more motions by the trained nonplayer character performed during the interactive content or a comment made by the trained nonplayer character during the interactive content or a combination thereof (0094-0101).
With regard to claim 6, Kolen discloses that the one or more motions are not be performed by the nonplayer character and the comment cannot be made by the nonplayer character before said training the nonplayer character (0094-0101).
With regard to claim 7, Kolen discloses parsing the data to identify information regarding a feature of the interactive content from the data, wherein the information is identified to output identified information; classifying the identified information to determined the player has interest in the feature, and wherein the identifying information is classified to output classified information; and providing the classified information to an artificial intelligence (AI) model to train the AI model (0008; 0042; 0094-0101).
With regard to claim 8, Kolen discloses wherein the feature includes at least one of a virtual item in the interactive content, an environment in the interactive content, or a quest in the interactive content (0022).
Claims 9-17 and 19-20 are mirrored to claims 1-8 and are rejected in like manner.
With regard to claim 21, Kolen discloses wherein the data includes social media data associated with one or more social media accounts of the player (0059-0063).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 4, 7, 8, 12, 15, 16, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kolen in view of US Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0381664 to Desgarennes.
With regard to claims 4, 7, 8, 12, 15, 16, 19, and 20, if it is found that Kolen is not clear enough in a level of interest of the player in a feature of the interactive content, then Desgarennes teaches such claim limitations (0025-0026; 0029-0030; 0035-0036; 0040). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to combine the teachings of Desgarennes with Kolen so that the game content is even more customizable to player preferences by noting what the player is liking while the game content is running.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered, but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection which has been presented above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 Jay Liddle whose telephone number is (571)270-1226. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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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/Jay Trent Liddle/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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