DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to applicant's communication filed on 03/03/2026.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/02/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The Applicant's remarks and amendments, in response to the last Office Action, have been considered with the results that follow:
Claims 1, 6-7, 12, 21, 24-25, and 28-29 have been amended.
Claims 1-12 and 21-29 are pending in this application.
The previously raised 112(f) interpretation of claims 21-22 are withdrawn, in view of applicant’s amendment of claims.
The previously raised double patenting rejection of claims are held in abeyance in view of Applicant's prior request.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 02/02/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With respect to arguments on pages 8-9, “…Thus, while Zolnieryk describes a subscription model that is based on an "area of interest" and subscribing to sub-spaces that are at least partially included in the area of interest, Zolnieryk fails to
disclose or suggest a query subscription that indicates "a target entity different from the first entity" and "a referential interest value that is expressed relative to the target entity," as present claim 1 recites.……”:
The Examiner respectfully disagrees with the applicant’s arguments. While the amended language/limitations in the independent claims appeared to change the scope of the claim (as indicated in advisory action filed 03/02/2026), after further consideration of the claims and the prior arts, the examiner notes that the previously cited art Zolnieryk teaches the claim elements in the amended language as well. For instance, see Zolnieryk:cols2-4(“…requestor, such as a client or other component, may be focused on a particular area of interest within the virtual space…client may be responsible for controlling a particular character within a video game [target entity different from first entity]…client's area of interest may sometimes correspond to a particular area that surrounds the character's location within the virtual space [referential interest value that is expressed relative to target entity]. In some examples, the area of interest may move throughout the virtual space and/or otherwise be adjusted, such as in shape, size, and/or location. For example, as a character moves throughout a virtual space, the area of interest may sometimes move to follow and continue to surround the character. A requestor may …provide information indicating its area of interest within the virtual space… requestor may then be subscribed to each sub-space that is at least partially included within the area of interest [entity comprising component having query subscription… target entity different from first entity]. When subscribed to a sub-space, object registration information indicating one or more objects that are registered to the sub-space may be received from one or more sub-space components that are associated with the sub-space [referential interest value expressed relative to target entity…qualifies second entity for inclusion]… indications of objects that are registered to the sub-space at the initiation of the subscription as well as indications of objects that register to and/or de-register from the sub-space during the course of the subscription. The object registration information received through the subscription may then be used to communicate with object components associated with registered objects…object components may be asked to provide object data associated with an object, such as its size…direction …and other data corresponding to an associated object [qualifies second entity for inclusion in query result]. This object data may then be used, for example, by the requestor to render and display the object [simulating based on query subscription…entity]. The requestor may also receive updates and changes to the object data at various desired intervals [frequency for receiving…updates on query result] and/or in response to various events…FIG. 1…system 100 for area of interest subscription… ”), Also see cols5-7 and other related paragraphs.
The examiner notes that the applicant has not described (in arguments/ remarks filed 02/02/2026) as to why or how the various claim elements within the newly added language/amended limitations in the independent claims differ from various elements within previously cited sections in the prior arts. For further consideration and review, the examiner requests applicant to describe in particular how the various claim elements are different from the elements they are mapped to in the prior art sections summarized above and further discussed in U.S.C 103 section below.
As such, the rejection of the claim is maintained.
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 21-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because:
As per claim 21, the claim limitation recites ‘computer-readable storage medium’. However, the usage of the phrase ‘computer-readable storage medium’ is broad enough to include both “non-transitory" and “transitory” media.
The specification does not limit the utilization of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Paras[45,51-52] of the specification’s description of storage media is open-ended and does not exclude transmission media. Also, extrinsic evidence suggests that computer-readable storage medium covers a signal per se. When the broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim covers a signal per se, the claim must be rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as covering non-statutory subject matter. See In re Nuijten, 500 F.3d 1346, 1356-57 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (transitory embodiments are not directed to statutory subject matter).
Therefore, claim 21 and its dependent claims 22-24 are non-statutory. A suggestion is made to the Applicant to amend claim 21 to recite non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.
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, 4-5, 7, 10-11, 25-27, and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zolnieryk (US 10,146,877 B1) in view of Castelli (US 2010/0333031 A1).
Regarding claim 1,
Zolnieryk teaches A method comprising: generating, via one or more processors, a first entity comprising a component having a query subscription to …, wherein the query subscription indicates: a target entity different from the first entity; a referential interest value that is expressed relative to the target entity and qualifies a second entity for inclusion in a query result; and a frequency for receiving, from …, updates on the query result; and simulating, via the one or more processors and based on the query subscription, the first entity. *see cols2-4(“area of interest subscription and other associated techniques may be employed using an actor-based framework. The actors…computational units that may be capable of maintaining state…receive and respond to various messages and may also send messages to other actors various entities associated with a virtual space, such as sub-spaces, objects, and other entities may have associated actors [entity…component having a query subscription]…virtual space may be defined for use in an electronically presented content item, such as a video game… Each sub-space may have one or more associated sub-space components, such as an associated actor, that… maintain state associated with the sub-space…objects within the virtual space may have one or more associated object components, such as an associated actor, that may…maintain state associated with the objects [target entity different from first entity]…sub-space components may receive object registration information indicating registration of objects to associated sub-spaces...object components may be responsible for providing object registration information for their associated objects…a requestor, such as a client or other component, may be focused on a particular area of interest within the virtual space… For example, in some cases, a client may be responsible for controlling a particular character within a video game [target entity different from first entity]. In these cases, the client's area of interest may sometimes correspond to a particular area that surrounds the character's location within the virtual space [referential interest value that is expressed relative to target entity]. In some examples, the area of interest may move throughout the virtual space and/or otherwise be adjusted, such as in shape, size, and/or location. For example, as a character moves throughout a virtual space, the area of interest may sometimes move to follow and continue to surround the character. A requestor may …provide information indicating its area of interest within the virtual space…requestor may then be subscribed to each sub-space that is at least partially included within the area of interest [entity comprising component having query subscription… target entity different from first entity]. When subscribed to a sub-space, object registration information indicating one or more objects that are registered to the sub-space may be received from one or more sub-space components that are associated with the sub-space [referential interest value expressed relative to target entity…qualifies second entity for inclusion]…indications of objects that are registered to the sub-space at the initiation of the subscription as well as indications of objects that register to and/or de-register from the sub-space during the course of the subscription. The object registration information received through the subscription may then be used to communicate with object components associated with registered objects…object components may be asked to provide object data associated with an object, such as its size…direction …and other data corresponding to an associated object [qualifies second entity for inclusion in query result]. This object data may then be used, for example, by the requestor to render and display the object [simulating based on query subscription…entity]. The requestor may also receive updates and changes to the object data at various desired intervals [frequency for receiving…updates on query result] and/or in response to various events…FIG. 1…system 100 for area of interest subscription… includes a virtual space manager 120, which may be an actor and may be generally responsible for managing a virtual space defined for use in an electronically presented content item, such as a video game…Each sub-space may have one or more associated sub-space components 13…associated actor…maintain state associated with the sub-space…virtual space may include a number of objects, such as humans…vehicles… objects within the virtual space may have…associated object components 135, such as an associated actor…135 may provide, to the sub-space components 130, object registration information indicating objects that are registered to an associated sub-space…when an object registers to a sub-space, an object component 135 associated with the object may notify a sub-space component 130 associated with the sub-space of the registration of the object with the sub-space…”), cols5-7(“… virtual space manager 120 may then inform subscription components 150 of the sub-spaces are at least partially included in the area of interest…subscription components 150 may then use this information to subscribe, on behalf of the requestor, to the sub-spaces of the virtual space are at least partially included in the area of interest…registration information received through the subscription…objects that are registered to the sub-space…FIG. 1, subscription components 150 include first query components 151 and active query components 152…151 may be employed to issue a first query to sub-space components 130 associated with sub-spaces to which the requestor is subscribed…first query may request… indications of objects that are registered to the sub-space at the initiation of the subscription… query components 152 may be employed to issue an active query to sub-space components 130 associated with sub-spaces to which the requestor is subscribed. The active query may request… indications of objects that register or de-register from the sub-space during the course of the subscription [query subscription]… object registration information received through the subscription, such as through the first query and the active query, may then be used to communicate with object components 135 associated with objects registered to subscribed sub-spaces [target entity different from first entity…referential interest value expressed relative…qualifies a second entity]…135 may be asked to provide object data associated with an object, such as its size, shape… direction…and other data corresponding to an associated object…150 may contact the object components 135 and ask them to provide certain object data to the requestor [referential interest value]… object data may then be used, for example, by the requestor to render and display the object [simulating…based on query subscription…entity]… object registration information provided to sub-space components 130 and/or to subscription components 150 may include additional information such as an object type ,…direction…other object characteristics [referential interest value…]…In addition to object type and color, requestor filters may be generated over any object characteristic for which information is available, such as size,…direction…In addition to filters, the requestor may also indicate, for example to subscription components 150, a rate at which the requestor would like to receive object data updates…requestor may request different update rates for different objects [frequency…updates]…requestor may be subscribed to sub-spaces 216, 217, 220 and 221…FIG. 2 portrays the state of the virtual space 210 when the subscription is initiated and the first query is issued…subscription components may issue a first query to sub-space components associated with sub-spaces 216,…to receive indications of objects registered to sub-spaces 216,…at the initiation of the subscription…”), cols10-11(“…At operation 618 …In some other examples, object data may only be requested from one or more objects that meet certain filter criteria, such as may be provided by the requestor…filter criteria may indicate an object type, size, shape,… position, speed, direction of movement, and other characteristics about objects for which object data is to be requested and provided…object data may be requested and/or provided from each object that is registered to at least one subscribed sub-space and that has at least one of the one or more object characteristics indicated in the filter criteria...”), cols15-16 (“processors, data 26”)
Zolnieryk teaches data storage/database servers (cols12-13, 15-16,19), however, it does not explicitly teach ‘…an entity database, wherein the query … is associated with: …receiving, from the entity database, updates on the query result;’
Castelli teaches …an entity database, wherein the query … is associated with: …receiving, from the entity database, updates on the query result; *see paras26-33(“…virtual world instance 114 and virtual world instance 122 access inventory database 118…126...each include inventories of one or more items associated with virtual world accounts. Inventory items…may be associated with a user virtual world account…stored in one or more types of data storage structures in one or more computing systems…FIG. 3…inventory items may include, but are not limited to, graphics files, sound files, animations, electronic documents, video files, avatar…locations, geographical information…items shared by multiple users within a virtual world and items placed within landscapes or other...FIG. 1 is depicted with a virtual world instance 114 invoked by a virtual world provider for a virtual world account identified as “user A1” within account authentication database 116 and with a virtual world instance 122 invoked by a virtual world provider for a virtual world account identified as “user A2” within account authentication database 124…”), paras40-52(“…Inventory directory index 142 may include item records for each of the virtual world inventory items from across multiple virtual world accounts...Once a user enters lobby GUI 104, lobby management engine 106 may automatically access the user's multiple virtual world account credentials in account credentials index 140 and request virtual world query engine 110 log into each of the virtual world accounts across multiple virtual world instances. Virtual world interface 112… 121 each send login requests to virtual world providers which trigger virtual world sessions hosted by virtual world interface 114…122,…and request to retrieve the inventory items associated with the logged into virtual world accounts…Virtual world interface 112 and virtual world interface 121 return retrieved inventory items from inventory database 118 and inventory database 126 [142, 144, 118, 126 teach ‘entity database’]…to virtual world query engine …management engine 106 may store the accessed inventory items in lobby database 108 and direct lobby visualization engine 102 to refresh lobby GUI 104 with the accessible inventory items…upon user entry to lobby GUI 104, lobby management engine 106 may access previously stored inventory directory index 142 and inventory copies 144 from lobby database 108 and direct lobby visualization engine 102 to refresh lobby GUI 104 with the accessible inventory items [it’s understood that this involves query/subscription to ‘entity database’]…”), paras80-85, paras91-103(“…FIG. 6…lobby GUI…an avatar 612 represents a user's movements within lobby world interface 614 and a position of a pointer 622 represents a user's movements within inventory item interface 624 …engine 106 automatically accesses account credentials index 140 and invokes instructions to virtual world query engine 110 to trigger virtual world interfaces for each virtual world account in account credentials index 140 and to log into each of the virtual world accounts through the respective triggered virtual world interfaces [teaches ‘query subscription…receiving, from the entity database, updates…’]. Lobby management engine 106 also automatically retrieves inventory directories and copies of inventory items, when available, through virtual world query engine 110, for each of the logged into virtual world accounts and may update inventory directory index 142 and inventory copies 144 with the results returned from each virtual world provider of each of the accessed virtual world accounts…[0103] Of the inventory items retrieved from the multiple virtual world accounts, a user may select to view the retrieved inventory directories cumulatively within inventory item interface 624 or lobby management engine 106 may automatically instruct display of accessed inventory directories in inventory item interface 624…614 may include a graphical trigger for inventory items, such as inventory trigger 610, which when selected by avatar 612, triggers a display of inventory items in inventory item interface 624…engine 106 may also respond to a selection by avatar 612 of inventory trigger 610 by placing a viewable list of inventory items within lobby world interface 614...” teaches ‘receiving, from the entity database, updates…’)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Zolnieryk to incorporate the teachings of Castelli and enable Zolnieryk to query an entity database, and receive updates on the query result from the entity database, as doing so would enable providing a single virtual lobby interface for accessing/controlling user entry into different virtual world inventories and automatically interfacing with multiple virtual world instances (Castelli, paras02,08).
Regarding claim 4,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of independent claim 1.
Zolnieryk further teaches The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, while simulating the first entity, a request to update the query subscription; and updating, based on the received request, the component to indicate the updated query subscription. *see cols3-4(“...area of interest may sometimes be adjusted, such as by adjusting its size, shape and/or location, for example to follow a moving character or for other reasons. When an area of interest is adjusted, updated information associated with the changed area of interest may be provided and, if necessary, the requestor may be subscribed to one or more different sub-spaces [‘request to update the query subscription…’] and/or may be de-subscribed from one or more sub-spaces. The above described techniques for receiving object registration information for a subscribed sub-space and for receiving object data corresponding to subscribed objects may then performed for the adjusted area of interest [‘updating, based on the received request…’]…In some examples, the area of interest may move throughout the virtual space and/or otherwise be adjusted, such as in shape, size, and/or location. For example, as a character moves throughout a virtual space, the area of interest may sometimes move to follow and continue to surround the character…”), col7(“…requestor 110 may adjust its area of interest, such as by adjusting its size, shape and/or location, for example to follow a moving character or for other reasons. In these cases, requestor 110 may provide, for example to virtual space manager 120 and/or subscription components 150, updated area of interest information that indicates a change in size, shape and/or location or that otherwise indicates the new area of interest…subscription components 150 may then determine, for example based on their own comparison to layout information or based on information from virtual space manager 120, sub-spaces that are at least partially included within the new area of interest…”), FIGS.5-6, cols9-12
Regarding claim 5,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of independent claim 1.
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli further teaches The method of claim 1, wherein the query subscription comprises: a first query having a first frequency for receiving, from the entity database, updates for the first query, and a second query having a second frequency, which is different from the first frequency, for receiving, from the entity database, updates for the second query. *see cols2-4 (“...requestor may, for example, provide information indicating its area of interest within the virtual space…requestor may then be subscribed to each sub-space that is at least partially included within the area of interest…object components may be asked to provide object data associated with an object…object data may then be used, for example, by the requestor to render and display the object. The requestor may also receive updates and changes to the object data at various desired intervals [‘query…first frequency for receiving…updates’]…”), cols5-7(“…virtual space manager 120 may then inform subscription components 150 of the sub-spaces are at least partially included in the area of interest…subscription components 150 include first query components 151 and active query components 152…151 may be employed to issue a first query to sub-space components 130 associated with sub-spaces to which the requestor is subscribed…first query may request…indications of objects that are registered to the sub-space at the initiation of the subscription…active query components 152 may be employed to issue an active query to sub-space components 130 associated with sub-spaces to which the requestor is subscribed. The active query may request…indications of objects that register or de-register from the sub-space during the course of the subscription… object registration information received through the subscription, such as through the first query and the active query, may then be used to communicate with object components 135 associated with objects registered to subscribed sub-spaces…150 may contact the object components 135 and ask them to provide certain object data to the requestor…In addition to filters, the requestor may also indicate, for example to subscription components 150, a rate at which the requestor would like to receive object data updates. More frequent updates may allow the requestor to represent objects with greater fidelity, but may also require a greater amount of data to be received and processed by the requestor. By contrast, less frequent updates may reduce the amount of data to be received and processed by the requestor, but may also sometimes reduce the fidelity with which the requestor is able to represent objects…a requestor may request different update rates for different objects [‘first/second query…first/second frequency…receiving…updates’]… requestor may be subscribed to sub-spaces 216, 217, 220 and 221…FIG. 2 portrays the state of the virtual space 210 when the subscription is initiated and the first query is issued…subscription components may issue a first query to sub-space components associated with sub-spaces 216, 217, 220 and 221 to receive indications of objects registered to sub-spaces 216, 217, 220 and 221 at the initiation of the subscription …”); Castelli: paras26-33, paras40-52(“…Inventory directory index 142 may include item records for each of the virtual world inventory items from across multiple virtual world accounts...Virtual world interface 112 and virtual world interface 121 return retrieved inventory items from inventory database 118 and inventory database 126…” teach ‘entity database’), paras80-85, paras91-103
Regarding claim 7,
Independent claim 7 recites substantially the same claim limitations as independent claim 1, and is rejected for the same reasons. Claim 7 is unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli.
Regarding claim 10,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of independent claim 7.
Claim 10 recites substantially the same claim limitations as claim 4, and is rejected for the same reasons. Claim 10 is unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli.
Regarding claim 11,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of independent claim 7.
Claim 11 recites substantially the same claim limitations as claim 5, and is rejected for the same reasons. Claim 11 is unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli.
Regarding claim 25,
Independent claim 25 recites substantially the same claim limitations as independent claim 1, and is rejected for the same reasons. Claim 25 is unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli.
Regarding claim 26,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of independent claim 25.
Claim 26 recites substantially the same claim limitations as claim 4, and is rejected for the same reasons. Claim 26 is unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli.
Regarding claim 27,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of independent claim 25.
Claim 27 recites substantially the same claim limitations as claim 5, and is rejected for the same reasons. Claim 27 is unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli.
Regarding claim 29,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of independent claim 1.
Zolnieryk further teaches The method of claim 1, wherein the query subscription further indicates a component type that is requested by the first entity and selected from a plurality of component types, and wherein the plurality of component types comprise at least two of: a player control component type, a player information component type, an appearance component type, a position component type, a physics component type, a weather component type. *see cols2-4(“…object components may be asked to provide object data associated with an object, such as its size…direction…and other data corresponding to an associated object [component types]. This object data may then be used, for example, by the requestor to render and display the object…virtual space may include a number of objects, such as humans…vehicles …”), cols5-7(“…object registration information received through the subscription, such as through the first query and the active query, may then be used to communicate with object components 135 associated with objects registered to subscribed sub-spaces [query subscription indicates component type]…135 may be asked to provide object data associated with an object, such as its size, shape,…direction… and other data corresponding to an associated object [component types/value] …150 may contact the object components 135 and ask them to provide certain object data to the requestor… object data may then be used, for example, by the requestor to render and display the object…object registration information provided to sub-space components 130 and/or to subscription components 150 may include additional information such as an object type, size, shape, color, opacity, texture, position, speed, direction of movement, rotation and other object characteristics [component types comprise at least two of: a player control component type, a player information component type, an appearance component type, a position component type, a physics component type…]…In addition to object type and color, requestor filters may be generated over any object characteristic for which information is available, such as size,…direction…In addition to filters, the requestor may also indicate, for example to subscription components 150, a rate at which the requestor would like to receive object data updates…”), cols10-11(“…At operation 618 …In some other examples, object data may only be requested from one or more objects that meet certain filter criteria, such as may be provided by the requestor…filter criteria may indicate an object type, size, shape,… position, speed, direction of movement, and other characteristics about objects for which object data is to be requested and provided [component types comprise at least two of…]…”)
Claims 2-3, 8-9, and 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli and Sharif-Ahmadi (US 10,080,044 B2).
Regarding claim 2,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of independent claim 1.
Zolnieryk further teaches The method of claim 1, wherein the simulating the first entity comprises simulating the first entity on one or more workers, and wherein the method further comprises: … *see FIG.7, col3(“… Each sub-space group has one or more associated sub-space group components 125, such as an associated actor [‘workers’], that may perform operations associated with management of the sub-spaces assigned to the associated sub-space group…components for each sub-space group and its associated sub-spaces may be located on one or more common servers or other compute nodes that may be separate and/or distinct from servers or other compute nodes that include components for other sub-space groups...”), col6(“...object data may then be used… by the requestor to render and display the object, such as by using one or more graphics processing units (GPU's)”), cols12-13(“...Data center 85 may be configured to provide computing resources for executing applications on a permanent or an as-needed basis…such as gateway resources, load balancing resources, routing resources, networking resources, computing resources…data processing …storage…data communication resources [‘bridges’]…data processing resources may be available as virtual machine instances that may be configured to provide various web services…configured as available infrastructure for one or more clients and can include one or more applications configured as a platform or as software for one or more clients….web services may be made available via one or more communications protocols…HTTP…non-HTTP protocols….Data storage resources may include file storage devices, block storage devices…Customers may choose to allocate a number of small processing resources as web servers and/or one large processing resource as a database server…Data center 85 may include servers 76 a and 76 b…bare metal resources or as virtual machine instances 78 a-d…Virtual machine instances 78 c and 78 d are area of interest virtual machine (“AOIVM”) instances…AOIVM virtual machine instances 78 c and 78 d may be configured to perform all, or any portion, of the techniques for area of interest subscription [‘simulating…entity …one or more workers’]…”)
However, Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli does not explicitly teach ‘…running a plurality of bridges configured to facilitate data communications between the one or more workers and the entity database; and assigning each worker of the one or more workers to a different bridge of the plurality of bridges.’
Sharif-Ahmadi teaches running a plurality of bridges configured to facilitate data communications between the one or more workers and the entity database; and assigning each worker of the one or more workers to a different bridge of the plurality of bridges. *see col12(“…FIG. 6, Proxies act as a protocol and connectivity bridge between a user and a data source [‘database’] or destination. These bridges work with various software modules and engines to assist in performing certain tasks. Within proxy module 185, are the following bridges for performing the following tasks. Transport Layer Protocol Bridge (TLP-B) 205 handling: where multiple network nodes are communicating through different native transport protocols, the TLP-B is responsible for converting signals sent to or from nodes (…) into the proper protocol in order to support communication between nodes [‘bridges…facilitate data communications…workers’]…If Node 1 communicates using UDP, while Node 2 communicates through TCP and Node-n communicates through RAWIP [‘assigning…node/worker…to a different bridge’], then TLP-B 205 within ASN 150 converts and sends data from one protocol format to another protocol format. Application Layer Protocol Bridge (ALP-B) 210 handling: where multiple nodes are communicating through different native application protocols, ALP-B 210 is responsible for converting signals sent between nodes into the proper protocol in order to support communication between nodes…Content Transforming Bridge (CT-B) 215…Access Continuity Bridge...”),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Zolnieryk and Castelli to incorporate the teachings of Sharif-Ahmadi and enable Zolnieryk to run bridges to facilitate data communications between workers and database, assigning each worker to a different bridge, as doing so would enable communication between nodes without making any change to the substance of the nodes' native request (Sharif-Ahmadi, col12).
Regarding claim 3,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli and Sharif-Ahmadi teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 2 above.
Zolnieryk and Castelli further teaches The method of claim 2, wherein the simulating the first entity comprises: causing a worker of the one or more workers to be authoritative over the component of the first entity. *see Zolnieryk, col5(“...subscription components 150 include first query components 151 and active query components 152. Any or all of components 150, 151, and 152 may include one or more actors [‘worker’]. First query components 151 may be employed to issue a first query to sub-space components 130 associated with sub-spaces to which the requestor is subscribed [‘authoritative…component/ entity’]. The first query may request, for example, indications of objects that are registered to the sub-space at the initiation of the subscription. The first query may also request address information or other information for communicating with object components that are associated with registered objects. Active query components 152 may be employed to issue an active query to sub-space components 130 associated with sub-spaces to which the requestor is subscribed. The active query may request, for example, indications of objects that register or de-register from the sub-space during the course of the subscription. The active query may also request address information or other information for communicating with object components that are associated with registered objects...”), col8(“...based on the example of FIG. 3, the active query will trigger a sub-space component associated with sub-space 220 to indicate that object Z has been newly registered with sub-space 220 during the course of the subscription. This information may then be used to communicate with object components associated with object Z and to request object data associated with object Z…” teaches active query/worker being authoritative over sub-space/component)
Regarding claim 8,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of independent claim 7.
Further, claim 8 recites substantially the same claim limitations as claim 2, and is rejected for the same reasons. Claim 8 is unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli and Sharif-Ahmadi.
Regarding claim 9,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli and Sharif-Ahmadi teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of dependent claim 8.
Further, claim 9 recites substantially the same claim limitations as claim 3, and is rejected for the same reasons. Claim 9 is unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli and Sharif-Ahmadi.
Regarding claim 21,
Independent claim 21 recites substantially the same combination of claim limitations as independent claim 1 and dependent claim 2, and therefore is rejected for the same reasons, i.e., it is unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli.
Claim 21 additionally recites ‘a data store configured to store data associated with a plurality of entities of a simulation; at least one virtual server comprising a worker process… a simulation runtime configured to instantiate and manage the at least one worker process’.
Zolnieryk and Castelli further teach ‘a data store configured to store data associated with a plurality of entities of a simulation; at least one virtual server comprising a worker process… a simulation runtime configured to instantiate and manage the at least one worker process. *see Zolnieryk-cols12-14(“...The computing resources provided by datacenter 85 may include various types of resources, such as gateway resources,… computing resources, …content delivery resources, data processing resources, data storage resources, data communication resources and the like…Data storage resources may include file storage devices, block storage devices and the like…Data center 85 may include servers 76 a and 76 b (…) that provide computing resources. These resources may be available as bare metal resources or as virtual machine instances 78 a-d (…). Virtual machine instances 78 c and 78 d are area of interest virtual machine (“AOIVM”) instances. The AOIVM virtual machine instances 78 c and 78 d [‘worker process’] may be configured to perform all, or any portion, of the techniques for area of interest subscription…A server may include more than one AOIVM virtual machine or may not include any AOIVM virtual machines [servers 76 a and 76 b teach ‘virtual server comprising a worker process’]…Servers 76 shown in FIG. 7 may be standard servers configured appropriately for providing the computing resources described above and may provide computing resources for executing one or more web services and/or applications…computing resources may be virtual machine instances 78. In the example of virtual machine instances, each of the servers 76 may be configured to execute an instance manager 80 a or 80 b (…) capable of executing the virtual machine instances 78. The instance managers 80 may be a virtual machine monitor (VMM) or another type of program configured to enable the execution of virtual machine instances 78 on server 76 [‘simulation runtime configured to instantiate/manage…worker process’]...”); Castelli: paras26-33, paras40-52(“…Inventory directory index 142 may include item records for each of the virtual world inventory items from across multiple virtual world accounts...Virtual world interface 112 and virtual world interface 121 return retrieved inventory items from inventory database 118 and inventory database 126…” teach ‘data store configured to store data associated with…entities…’ and ‘entity database’. Examiner notes that the claim does not specify if/how entity database is different from the data store, so the claim elements are given their broadest reasonable interpretation for examination purposes), paras80-85, paras91-103
Claim 21 is unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli.
Regarding claim 22,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli and Sharif-Ahmadi teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of independent claim 21.
Further, claim 22 recites substantially the same claim limitations as claim 4, and is rejected for the same reasons. Claim 22 is unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli and Sharif-Ahmadi.
Regarding claim 23,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli and Sharif-Ahmadi teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of independent claim 21.
Further, claim 23 recites substantially the same claim limitations as claim 5, and is rejected for the same reasons. Claim 23 is unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli and Sharif-Ahmadi.
Claims 6, 12, and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli and Levine (US 2003/0177187 A1).
Regarding claim 6,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 1 above.
However, Zolnieryk and Castelli do not explicitly teach ‘The method of claim 1, wherein the referential interest value comprises a distance between the target entity and the second entity.’
Levine teaches …wherein the referential interest value comprises a distance between the target entity and the second entity. *see paras488-489(“... sentinels (i.e., message sinks) can be extended to end-clients, and are herein described as “Embodiments of Interest.” A user has a communication port into the Game Server 405 that is controlling the portion of the environment that includes the representation of the user…as a user moves within a virtual environment, he approaches the sentries of servers that control adjacent regions…Game Servers 405 will create an Embodiment of Interest for the user on themselves, and these embodiment will be utilized to send object state from the Game Server 405 in question to the client device or user…For performance and partitioning reasons… distance metric should be available or constructed”), paras527-531(“... needs for state update between participants in an environment vary based of logical, geographical…a human participant in a shared environment may need frequent state updates on objects in his or her immediate environment, but could get less frequent updates on objects that are more distant [‘referential interest value comprises distance between target/second entity’]… considerations could be…based on different distance metrics...employs a state aggregation subsystem to alleviate bandwidth and other performance considerations. Rules are applied based upon logical and distance metrics, and object states are aggregated for transmission when they meet these rules”), paras238(“f) Range—how far this object can “see” or the extent of its region of interest” also teaches distance between entities), para568-569(“...each object on the Game Server 405 can have a range of vision (of block data subtype RANGE) within which other objects are visible, and a presence (of subtype PRESENCE) with which other objects can collide. These complementary range/presence values form the basis for area-of-interest management (as shown in FIG. 45…area-of-interest of the “sniper” Server Thing is the region centered about the POSITION of the embodiment-of-record of that Avatar on its Server-of-Record in its Locale. The range of this area of this area-of-interest is defined by its RANGE and the type of region of the area-of-interest by its REGION_TYPE...”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Zolnieryk and Castelli to incorporate the teachings of Levine and enable referential interest value comprising distance between two entities, as doing so would enable better performance and alleviate bandwidth requirements (Levine, paras489,530-531).
Regarding claim 12,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of independent claim 7.
Further, claim 12 recites substantially the same claim limitations as claim 6, and is rejected for the same reasons, i.e., claim 12 is unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli and Levine.
Regarding claim 28,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of independent claim 25.
Further, claim 28 recites substantially the same claim limitations as claim 6, and is rejected for the same reasons, i.e., claim 28 is unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli and Levine.
Claim 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli, Sharif-Ahmadi and Levine.
Regarding claim 24,
Zolnieryk as modified by Castelli and Sharif-Ahmadi teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of independent claim 21.
Further, claim 24 recites substantially the same claim limitations as claim 6, and is rejected for the same reasons, i.e., claim 24 is unpatentable over Zolnieryk in view of Castelli, Sharif-Ahmadi and Levine.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record in PTO-892 and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANUGEETHA KUNJITHAPATHAM whose telephone number is (408)918-7510. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5 PT.
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, Aleksandr Kerzhner can be reached at (571) 270-1760. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/A.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2165
/ALEKSANDR KERZHNER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2165
Prosecution Insights