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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 5/18/26 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This is in response to the amendments filed on 4/16/26. Claims 1, 3, 4, and 8 – 12 have been amended. Claims 1 – 12 are pending in the current application.
35 USC § 101
With respect to 101, the Examiner acknowledges that a practical application has been disclosed in paragraphs 0006 and 0018, regarding the modification of arranging on game characters in a game character screen in order depending on the usage status of said game characters, wherein a user can easily recognize the frequently used game characters, which reduces complexity. Therefore, the arranging of game characters recited in the current claims, overcome step 2a by reciting a practical application.
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 – 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hansen et al. (U.S. 2008/0161113) in view of Caswell et al. (U.S. 2009/0291748) and in further view of Apex Legends, hereinafter Apex.
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Hansen discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium and device, (fig. 5), storing instructions executable by an information processing device, (“One embodiment of the invention is related to a video game program product in the form of instructions on a storage medium”, par. 0059), that communicates with a terminal device comprising a display, (“a display”, par. 0148), via a network, (“a connection to a network including the internet”, par. 0089), the instructions causing the information processing device to function as a storage device, (“The memory can also store parameters associated with real-life attributes”, par. 0147), that stores a usage status of each player’s possessed game characters, (“ the information stored may be information that affects a real-life athlete's performance or team's performance, injuries”, par. 0169 and fig. 1, Status), wherein the Examiner views the stored information including player injuries and the fantasy team page, (“ referring to FIG. 1 a fantasy team page is illustrated for a fantasy team”, par. 0111), showing active statuses shown in fig. 1 as being equivalent to storing a usage status of game characters. Hansen further discloses a control device that causes the terminal device to execute a game in which a player challenges a quest, (“referring to FIG. 1 a fantasy team page is illustrated for a fantasy team named Gabriel, which competes in a fantasy league”, par. 0111), using the possessed game characters, (“The roster of FIG. 1 can be downloaded to a video game machine and a video game team can be set up that includes at length video game characters”, par. 0112), wherein the Examiner views competing in a fantasy league to win an award, (“where a user wins a fantasy league competition, or a video game competition, the user can be awarded a virtual award”, par. 0137), as being equivalent to challenging a quest and the roster video game characters being equivalent to possessed game characters. Hansen further discloses that virtual assets can be sold to obtain a virtual game coin, (“The methods can further include selling virtual land in the virtual world for the virtual currency”, par. 0180), wherein Examiner views selling virtual land as being equivalent to selling a virtual character, wherein both are viewed as virtual assets. Hansen further discloses extracting, from the possessed game characters, an unused game character group having the usage status that does not satisfy a specific usage condition, (“the fantasy team owners can participate in a fantasy league draft, trade fantasy team members, modify a team roster, and/or select the active or non-active status of team members from within the virtual world”, par. 0070), wherein the Examiner views selecting a non-active status team members as being equivalent to extracting an unused game character group having a usage status that does not satisfy a specific usage condition. Hansen further discloses receiving, from a player via the display of the terminal device, a first request to browse the possessed game characters, wherein the first request is a request for organizing game characters used in the quest, (“The fantasy team owner can set the line-up by selecting active fantasy team members and placing other fantasy team members on a bench, or as reserved”, par. 0165), in response to the first request, causes the display of the terminal device to display a character screen indicating, as the organized game characters, the possessed characters except the unused character group, (fig. 1).
Hansen, however, is silent on the issue of selecting a game character to be sold or discarded. In a related art, Caswell discloses a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing instructions that cause a terminal device comprising a display to execute a game, (“The invention relates to online games. In particular, some aspects of the invention provide systems for managing pieces with which players may play online games”, par. 0002), wherein Caswell further teaches selling game characters, (“a player may increase the level, power, experience, etc. of their character in a game world through skilled and/or determined play, and then sell the character to another player”, par. 0006), however, both Hansen and Bentz are silent on arranging game characters in order at the rate they are used. In a related art, Apex discloses a video game that comprises game characters, wherein Apex further discloses displaying, on a terminal device, arranging game characters in a character screen in order starting with a most frequently used possessed game character, shown in the figure below.
Fig. 1
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to combine the selling of game characters of Bentz and the arranging of frequently used game characters of Apex into the art disclosed by Clans in order to save time by putting your most used characters at the front, which speeds up team management, (Apex), and to meet the need for systems and methods which permit skilled video game players to generate revenue based on their skill, which is done by selling game characters to another player who does not wish to invest the time or effort required to build up their own character, as disclosed by Caswell, (par. 0006 and par. 0007).
Regarding claim 2, Hansen discloses wherein the usage status includes a number of uses during a period from a specific prior time up to a present time, (“the video game team can include a list of active video game characters and non-active video game characters”, par. 0106), wherein the Examiner views the game characters being active or non-active as being equivalent to usage status including a number of uses.
Regarding claim 3, Hansen discloses wherein the number of uses is a number of uses by the player in the game, and the specific usage condition is that the number of uses is equal to or greater than a first specific number of times, (“the video game team can include a list of active video game characters and non-active video game characters”, par. 0106), wherein the Examiner views the game characters being active or non-active as being equivalent to usage status including a number of uses.
Regarding claim 4, Hansen discloses wherein the number of uses is a number of uses by a plurality of players in the game, and the specific usage condition is that the number of uses is equal to or greater than a second specific number of times, (“the video game team can include a list of active video game characters and non-active video game characters”, par. 0106), wherein the Examiner views the game characters being active or non-active as being equivalent to a specific usage condition equal to or greater than a specific of times.
Regarding claim 5, Hansen discloses wherein the number of uses is a number of uses in a quest, (“The fantasy team owner can set the line-up by selecting active fantasy team members and placing other fantasy team members on a bench, or as reserved”, par. 0165), wherein the Examiner views a team owner managing the team in the fantasy competition as being equivalent to the number of uses in a quest.
Regarding claim 6, Hansen discloses wherein the number of uses is a number of uses in clearing a quest, (“where a user wins a fantasy league competition, or a video game competition, the user can be awarded a virtual award”, par. 0137), wherein the Examiner views a user winning the competition with their respective and being awarded an award as being equivalent to the number of uses clearing a quest.
Regarding claim 7, Hansen discloses wherein the number of uses is a number of times a breeding game has been played, (“the character in the video game can evolve over time”, par. 0093), wherein the Examiner views a character in the video game evolving over time as being equivalent to breeding being played.
Regarding claim 8, Hansen wherein the control device further: receives, from the player via the terminal device, a second request to browse the unused character group after receiving the first request, and in response to the second request, causes the display of the terminal device to display the unused character group on the character screen, (“The fantasy team owner can set the line-up by selecting active fantasy team members and placing other fantasy team members on a bench, or as reserved”, par. 0165), wherein the Examiner views the team owner choosing the place team members on the bench as being equivalent to displaying and browsing an unused character group.
Regarding claim 9, Hansen discloses wherein the control device extracts, as a used character group, any character having the usage status that does not satisfy the specific usage condition but to which an evolved character has been added via a game update during a period from a specific prior time up to a present time, (“the character in the video game can evolve over time as the associated real-life athlete evolves in real-life. Any real-life athlete attribute, which may be represented as a performance statistic, can be manually, automatically or semi-automatically included in a video game as a video game character performance parameter”, par. 0092).
Regarding claim 10, Hansen discloses wherein the control device extracts, as a used character group, any character having the usage status that does not satisfy the specific usage condition but having been acquired by the player during a period from a specific prior time up to a present time, (“a fantasy draft can be conducted in the virtual world. The fantasy draft can more closely resemble a real-world sports draft where in the fantasy draft virtual athletes drafted can be shown representing the real-life athlete as such virtual athletes are drafted”, par. 0138), wherein the Examiner views the drafting of virtual athletes in a fantasy draft as being equivalent to extracting a character having any usage status having been acquired by the player during a specific time.
Regarding claim 12, Hansen discloses wherein the second request is received upon a switch button of a tab associated with the unused character group is being pressed on the character screen, (“The fantasy team owner can set the line-up by selecting active fantasy team members and placing other fantasy team members on a bench, or as reserved”, par. 0165), wherein views the team owner setting a line-up of players as being equivalent a request being received from a button being pressed that is associated with the unused character group.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, with respect to the 101 rejection of claims 1 - 12 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 101 rejection of claims 1 - 12 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the 103 rejection of claims 1 - 12 have been considered but are moot based on new grounds of rejection.
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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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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/E.M.T/ Examiner, Art Unit 3715
/JUSTIN L MYHR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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