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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-6, 9-16, and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Don’t Starve Together (with reliance on with reliance on https://nodecraft.com/support/games/dont-starve-together/creating-custom-world-generation-settings-for-your-dont-starve-together and World Customization/Don't Starve Together | Don't Starve game Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia), hereinafter DST and World Customization. Multiple reference 102 rejections is proper as World Customization is used to prove that DST contains an enabled disclosure, describing further details of the same game, see MPEP § 2131.01.
Re claims 1 and 11, DST discloses a method comprising: receiving, during a video game session, an input associated with a video game scene (see below image:
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wherein the image includes a “Generate World” button, and the site stating “When you're finished changing the settings for your world, click the "Generate World" button in the lower right corner. It will now create a new world, which may take a few minutes,” and wherein the settings are changed during the gaming session due to DST being required to be launched before reaching the settings screen); determining at least one element to generate in the video game scene based on the input, wherein the determination is based on a parameter associated with the video game scene (see the above image, with various settings affecting the world generation settings, with several settings illustrating a “Default” setting indicating a game world standard); and
generating, during runtime of the video game session, the at least one element in accordance with the parameter, wherein the video game session is updated to display the at least one element (“It will now create a new world, which may take a few minutes”), and wherein the at least one element is interactable during the video game session, see World Customization which describes the various ways that the parameters affect the game world during runtime of the game session, including interactable elements during the game session as shown at least in the example below:
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DST being a game running on Windows, inherently is implemented on a device with an interface, memory, and controller (e.g. a PC).
Re claims 2 and 12, DST discloses a game engine, design, server, or player command to populate at least one element of a game session (see above, the player creates a server with world generation settings, therefore considered a game design, server, and player command).
Re claims 3 and 13, DST discloses the parameter associated with the video game scene defines at least one parameter for generating at least one of a game level, map, storyline, design style for objects, and game elements (see above image, the settings affecting the game level, map, and elements, since biomes, spawn area, size, branches, events, and seasons are considered such).
Re claims 4 and 14, DST discloses detection of a game element tag in the video game scene including a description of a game element for configuration (see the image that includes descriptions of settings, e.g. “The standard Don’t Starve experience,” and other descriptions, as illustrated:
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).
Re claims 5 and 15, DST discloses generating content for a new game area of the video game session (“When you're finished changing the settings for your world, click the "Generate World" button in the lower right corner. It will now create a new world, which may take a few minutes”). As discussed in the rejection to claim 1, DST additionally discloses the elements and game areas generated during runtime of the video game session.
Re claims 6 and 16, DST discloses generating at least one game element and a game area based on a design theme during runtime of the video game session (see image:
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wherein a server playstyle is considered a design theme as it designates the style of play for the server).
Re claims 9 and 19, DST discloses generating display elements during runtime for the at least one element in a newly generated game area, wherein a template generated for the video game session is used to determine display attributes and game function of the at least one element (see the above rejections, DST disclosing various display attributes and game functions for the game world that is generated).
Re claims 10 and 20, DST discloses displaying the at least one element during runtime the video game session (“Once your character appears in the game world” is considered a disclosure that game elements are generated and displayed as the player character in the game world).
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.
Claim(s) 7 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DST in view of Don’t Start Wiki (with reliance on https://web.archive.org/web/20240111053410/https://dontstarve.fandom.com/wiki/World_Customization/Don%27t_Starve_Together), hereinafter Wiki.
Re claims 7 and 17, while DST has disclosed several settings for generating a game world, there are no explicit disclosures of display characteristics and generating elements for a template of the game area. Wiki teaches the same world generation of DST in greater depth and detail, with teachings of settings related to display characteristics and elements in the game area (see Day Type: “Determines the length and/or presence/absence of Day, Dusk, and Night” and World options including game elements such as the existence and frequency of Hound Attacks, Lightning, Rain, and Wildfires). While both DST and Wiki are directed to teachings from the same game, Don’t Starve Together, for the purposes of clarity and examination, they are treated as individual references. It would have been obvious to implement the settings of Wiki with DST in order to allow players to fully customize their gaming server experience, increasing the enjoyment of players by tailoring the experience to their preferences.
Claim(s) 8 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DST in view of Petrovas et al (https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/2/772).
Re claims 8 and 18, DST has been discussed and discloses identifying one or more game standards associated with the video game scene, the new game area comprises the at least one element conforming to the one or more game standards (see World Customization describing various standards to which the world will be generated), but while DST discloses generating a game world, DST does not disclose a game world generation model trained to generate the new game area based on the parameter associated with the video game scene.
Petrovas teaches procedural video game scene generation wherein procedural generation is utilized in combination with machine learning to generate content for games (“We are approaching our problem with a combination of procedural generation and machine learning methods”). It would have been obvious to combine machine learning as taught by Petrovas with procedural generation as disclosed by DST in order to increase unique and not repetitive amounts of levels with several runs of the same algorithm.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kevin Y Kim whose telephone number is (571)270-3215. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Xuan Thai can be reached at (571) 272-7147. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KEVIN Y KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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