DETAILED ACTION
Information Disclosure Statement
Applicant’s submission of an Information Disclosure Statement on 10/31/2025 has been received and considered.
Claim Objections
Claim 10 is objected to because of the following informalities: in claim 10, line 9, “set set” is redundant. The Examiner recommends deleting the second occurrence of “set”. Appropriate correction is required.
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 abstract idea without significantly more.
2019 PEG Analysis
Step 1: Are the claims directed to a statutory category (e.g., a process, machine, etc.)
Claims 1-11 are directed to a process. Claims 12-17 are directed to an apparatus. Claims 18-20 are directed to computer-readable storage medium.
Claims 18-20 are not patent eligible because they may be transient signals or waves. The Examiner recommends amending claims 18-20 to be non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.
Step 2A (Prong 1): Does the claim recite an abstract idea, law of nature or natural phenomenon?
Yes, the claims recite an abstract idea. The following specific limitations in the claims under examination recite an abstract idea:
Playing a game audio and other game rules (e.g., claim 1, 7, 12)
Determining an element attribute of a target scene element (e.g., claims 2, 9, 10. 14)
Game scene timing and form (e.g., claims 3, 4, 7, 11, 15, 16)
Generating game target operation identification (e.g., claim 5, 7, 17)
Determining a total score and score threshold (e.g., claim 6, 8
The above listed identified limitations fall within at least one of the groupings of abstract ideas enumerated in the 2019 PEG:
Mental Processes: concepts preformed in the human mind (including on observation, evaluation, judgement, opinion).
Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity: managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions or relationships of interaction between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions.
The claims are primarily directed to rules for playing a game, wherein the game rules align with a method of organizing human activity.
Step 2A (Prong 2): Does the claim recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application?
Overall, the following additional claim limitations appear to merely implement the abstract idea, add insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception, or generally link the judicial exception to a particular environment or field of use, as outlined below:
Displaying game information (e.g., see at least claims 1-6, 9, 10, 12-17, insignificant extra-solution activity);
Receiving user input/trigger operations (e.g., see claims 1, 13, insignificant extra-solution activity),
Step 2B: Does the claim recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception?
With regard to claims 1-20 the claims as a whole do not amount to significantly more than the exception itself. The above listed additional claim limitations display and process game data in a well-understood, routine, and conventional way. Further, the computer hardware of claim 1 (unnamed components to display game scenes and generate game audio), claim 12 (e.g., a screen displaying unit), and claim 13 (e.g., processor, memory are well-understood, routine, and conventional in the art.
In order to satisfy the Berkheimer factual determination of conventional elements in the art, U.S. Patent No. 7,819,742 to Chamberlain is cited for disclosing the conventional features of game machines including processors (e.g., see at least column 11, lines 14-16) and displays (e.g., see column 7, lines 12-25). Therefore, claims 1-20 are not patent eligible under 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by the video game Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) by Konami and first released on November 18, 1998 as evidenced by wiki article (online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_Dance_Revolution) (referenced herein as DDR Wiki) and YouTube video by Weiss Network TV and published on August 25, 2022 (online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2IammLWeNE) (referenced herein as DDR Weiss). For convenience, two DDR Weiss screen shots are provided below (left screen shot is at approximately 4:00 and the right screen shot is at approximately 4:42).
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As an initial matter, this rejection is based on the actual video game of DDR. DDR Wiki and DDR Weiss are cited as supporting evidence of DDR game features. Further, DDR Weiss (see DDR Weiss at 0:10+) discloses in the video that DDR was played on a Sony Playstation console that includes a processor and memory.
With regard to claim 1, DDR discloses a game interaction method comprising: displaying a game screen (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 4:00+ for display of a game screen) at corresponding to a target game and playing a game audio (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 3:14 for selection of “Boom Boom Dollar” audio track) corresponding to the target game, the game screen comprising a main game scene; receiving a trigger operation of a user based on a target operation identification corresponding to the game audio (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 3:34+ for start of user trigger operations including Left, Right, Left, Right, Right….); and if the trigger operation is a valid operation corresponding to the target operation identification, displaying a target scene element (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 4:00+, shown above in screen shot, that shows a valid operation color enhancement and “Perfect!!” and “40 COMBO!” indicia in the scene) at a target position of the main game scene, the target position being a preset display position of the target scene element on the main game scene (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 4:00+, shown above in screen shot, the color enhancement overlays the left, down, up, right target arrows when valid, additionally, the “PERFECT!!” indicia is positioned at the shown preset display position below the left, down, up, right target arrows);
[claim 2] wherein if the trigger operation is a valid operation corresponding to the target operation identification, the method further comprises: determining an element attribute of the target scene element according to an operation score of the trigger operation (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 4:00+, shown above in screen shot, that shows a valid operation color enhancement and “Perfect!!” and “40 COMBO!” indicia in the scene); wherein the displaying a target scene element at a target position of the main game scene comprises: displaying the target scene element on the target position according to the element attribute (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 4:00+, shown above in screen shot, the color enhancement overlays the left, down, up, right target arrows when valid, additionally, the “PERFECT!!” indicia are element attributes);
[claim 3] wherein in a process of the displaying a game screen corresponding to a target game and playing a game audio corresponding to the target game, the method further comprises: in response to starting playing a target audio segment of the game audio (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 3:30+, which shows the game play start including a countdown animation and then the game screen with left, down, up, right target arrows before the trigger operations are required); displaying the target operation identification in the game screen in a first display state, wherein a time moment to start the target audio segment is a time moment to start display of the target operation identification, and the time moment to start display of the target operation identification is determined according to a target beat time moment of a target beat point corresponding to the target operation identification in the game audio (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 4:35+, which shows timing the user input to match the timing of the audio); controlling the target operation identification to change from the first display state to a second display state at a constant speed (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 3:35+, appears to show a constant speed of the trigger operation indicators moving up to the left, down, up, right arrow target arrows); to cause the target operation identification to be in the second display state at the target beat time moment; wherein the trigger operation is a touch operation on the target operation identification (e.g., see at least DDR Wiki under the heading, “Hardware”, DDR includes various input options including a step pad);
[claim 4] wherein before the playing a game audio corresponding to the target game, the method further comprises: displaying a countdown animation corresponding to the target game (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 3:23+, which shows a two countdown screens including “READY!” and “HereWeGo!” indicia to alert the player that the game is starting); aligning an audio timeline corresponding to the game audio and an event timeline corresponding to an identification insertion event set (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 3:34+ for start of user trigger operations including Left, Right, Left, Right, Right….), in a process of the displaying a countdown animation, wherein the identification insertion event set is generated according to a beat point set of the game audio, and the event timeline comprises an initial display time moment of the target operation identification; wherein, the method further comprises: determining to start playing the target audio segment if the event timeline runs to the initial display time moment of the target operation identification (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 3:23+, which shows a two countdown screens including “READY!” and “HereWeGo!” indicia to alert the player that the game is starting);
[claim 5] wherein before displaying the target operation identification in the game screen in the first display state, the method further comprises: calling a target beat identification type corresponding to the target beat point; and generating the target operation identification according to the target beat identification type (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 3:30+, shows right, left, right, left, right, right upcoming trigger operations before requiring user input);
[claim 6] characterized by further comprising: when the running of the target game ends, acquiring a user operation total score (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 4:45+, which shows “STAGE RESULT” with a score); and if the user operation total score is greater than or equal to a score threshold corresponding to the target game, displaying preset multimedia content (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 4:39+, which shows “CLEARED” as a result of the score);
[claim 7] wherein before the displaying a game screen corresponding to a target game and playing a game audio corresponding to the target game, the method further comprises: in response to a game setting operation of a user, determining basic content set by the game setting operation, the basic content comprising a game audio (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 3:14+, which shows a “SELECT MUSIC” to set up the music selection and difficulty, “NORMAL”); in response to an element setting operation of the user, determining a plurality of element display conditions set by the element setting operation and scene elements corresponding to the element display conditions (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 3:14+, which shows a “SELECT MUSIC” to set up the music selection and difficulty, “NORMAL”, wherein the music content and the difficult are the two conditions); and generating the target game based on the basic content, the plurality of element display conditions, and the scene elements corresponding to the element display conditions (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 3:30+, which shows the game screen with scene elements);
[claim 8] wherein the basic content further comprises a score threshold and preset multimedia content (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 4:39+, which shows “CLEARED” as a result of the score, wherein the “CLEARED” animation is multimedia content);
[claim 9] wherein the basic content further comprises a topic type corresponding to the target game (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 0:49+, which shows “GAME MODE” for user selection of topic type, “GAME MODE”, “WORKOUT MODE”, “LESSON MODE”, and “TRAINING MODE”); wherein after the determining basic content set by the game setting operation, the method further comprises: screening out candidate scene elements corresponding to the topic type from a plurality of preset scene elements; displaying the candidate scene elements; wherein the element setting operation is an operation based on the candidate scene elements (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 3:30+, which shows the game screen with scene elements);
[claim 10] wherein before the generating the target game based on the basic content, the plurality of element display conditions, and the scene elements corresponding to the element display conditions, the method further comprises: displaying a beat point set corresponding to the game audio; in response to an instruction setting operation of the user (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 3:34+ for start of user trigger operations including Left, Right, Left, Right, Right…. are the beat points), determining a beat identification type corresponding to each beat point in the beat point set by the instruction setting operation (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 3:34+ for start of user trigger operations including Left, Right, Left, Right, Right…. are the beat identification types); wherein, the generating the target game based on the basic content, the plurality of element display conditions, and the scene elements corresponding to the element display conditions comprises: generating the target game based on the basic content, the plurality of element display conditions, the scene elements corresponding to the element display conditions and the beat identification type corresponding to each beat point (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 3:14+, which shows a “SELECT MUSIC” to set up the music selection and difficulty, “NORMAL”); and
[claim 11] wherein after the displaying a beat point set corresponding to the game audio, the method further comprises: in response to a beat point adjustment operation of the user, adjusting each beat point in the beat point set according to a beat point adjustment mode corresponding to the beat point adjustment operation (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 3:14+, which shows a “SELECT MUSIC” to set up the music selection and difficulty, “NORMAL”, wherein selecting a specific song also selects the beat points for that song).
With regard to claim 12, DDR discloses a game interaction apparatus as set forth above in detail for claims 11, which are similar in scope. Additionally, DDR includes a screen displaying unit, a operating receiving unit, and a first displaying unit because DDR is played on a Sony Playstation game console (e.g., see DDR Weiss video at 0:10+, which shows use on a Sony Playstation).
With regard to claim 13, DDR discloses an electronic device including a processor and memory to perform the method set forth above in detail above for claim 1, which is similar in scope. As an initial matter, DDR Weiss (see DDR Weiss at 0:10+) discloses in the video that DDR was played on a Sony Playstation console that includes a processor and memory.
Claims 14-17 are anticipated by DDR as set forth above for claims 2-5, which are similar in claim scope.
Claims 18-20 are anticipated by DDR as set for above for claim 1, which is similar in claim scope since DDR is software stored on a game console for playing the game.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure, includes:
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0324195 to Enokido discuses a music game with input timing and accolade indicia (e.g., see at least Fig. 3, #27).
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0092254 to Lopiccolo discuses a rhythm-action game with graphical feedback (e.g., see at least Fig. 1).
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0036897 to Parks discusses an instrument game system and method including a performance meter with color changes for performance (e.g., see at least paragraph 39).
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0028214 to Bright discusses a music-based video game with user physical performance and “Rock” meter (e.g., see at least Figs. 1-2).
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0255914 to McHale discusses an in-game music interface with performance feedback (e.g., see at least Fig. 1).
U.S. Patent No. 6,450,888 to Takase discusses a music game system and method with directional input arrows and input touch pads (e.g., see at least Figs. 2 and 7)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES S MCCLELLAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7167. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday (8:30AM-5:00PM).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kang Hu can be reached at 571-270-1344. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/James S. McClellan/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715