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 .
Response to Amendment
This action is in response to the amendments filed on 4/27/2026 wherein the examiner acknowledges that claims 1, 9 & 12 have been amended, no additional claims have been added and no claims have been canceled. Consequently, claims 1-20 are currently pending.
Claim Objections
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim recites “The gaming apparatus of 8, A gaming apparatus comprising”, in lines 1-2; which appears to be a typographical error. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-7, 9-11 & 13-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Amendments to claim 1 recites “a first command for backward movement of a character in a virtual environment to a computer via USB” and “a second command for forward movement of a character in a virtual environment to the computer via the USB”. However, the specification fails to provide support for the above limitations, in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that they had possession of the claimed invention.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-8, 10 & 13-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Feldman et al. (US Patent Pub. 20060211543; referred to hereinafter as Feldman), and further in view of Yamashita (US Patent Pub. 20030060248; referred to hereinafter as Yamashita).
Claim 1: Feldman disclose a gaming apparatus comprising, a left armrest, a right armrest (figure 1, elements 60 & 70), a left controller mounted on the left armrest, a right controller mounted on the right armrest (0049 & 0069), and a microcontroller communicatively coupled to the left controller and the right controller (0050-0053), wherein pulling the left controller generates a first force that is measured by a left sensor and sent to the microcontroller, the microcontroller processing the first force and sending a first command for backward movement to a computer and wherein pushing the right controller generated a second force that is measured by a right sensor and sent to the microcontroller, the microcontroller processing the second force and sending a second command for forward movement to the computer via the USB (0040-0046 disclose forward backward movement and 0061-0068 disclose connection to a computing device). Feldman, however, fails to explicitly disclose, a command for movements, is for a character in a virtual environment. In an analogues art, Yamashita, teaches a gaming apparatus for the player to sit, a display unit for displaying on the screen the game deployment scene in the virtual game space, an operation lever and a trigger switch to control virtual characters, including movement in a virtual game-space (0091-0093 Yamashita). It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art, at the time of applicant’s invention, to modify the gaming apparatus disclosed by Feldman, to allow controlling movement of a character in a virtual environment, as taught by Yamashita. Thereby creating an pleasing virtual game to be enjoyed by the players (0004 Yamashita).
Claim 2: The combination of Feldman and Yamashita teach a rotary head and a rotation sensor communicatively coupled to the rotary head (figures 4-5 Feldman).
Claim 3: The combination of Feldman and Yamashita teach wherein the rotation sensor generates a signal in response to left and right movement from the rotary head, the signal being processed by the microcontroller and sending a command for left-right turning to the computer via the USB (0052-0068, Feldman disclose sensors).
Claim 4: The combination of Feldman and Yamashita teach wherein the left controller and the right controller are independent of each other (inherent to multi-control device, which is taught by Feldman).
Claims 5-6: The combination of Feldman and Yamashita teach force is transferred over a set of rubber rings and measured by the sensors (0052-0068 Feldman).
Claims 7-8 & 10: The combination of Feldman and Yamashita teach a seat with a sitting position and a leaning position, thereby adjusting the seat (figures 9-10 Feldman).
Claim 13: The combination of Feldman and Yamashita teach wherein the left armrest and the right armrest each may be independently positioned in a forward position or a backward position (Feldman 0052, discloses feedback).
Claim 14: The combination of Feldman and Yamashita teach wherein the left controller and the right controller each include one or more buttons (0049 Feldman).
Claims 15-16: The combination of Feldman and Yamashita teach wherein the left and right controller comprises one or more buttons selected from the group consisting of left primary trigger, left secondary trigger, left tertiary trigger, D-pad up button, D-pad down button, D-pad left button, D-pad right button, start button, right secondary trigger, right tertiary trigger, button 1, button 2, button 3, button 4, and back button (Feldman 0049, wherein the buttons can be assigned any function as desired by the computing system).
Claim 17-18: The combination of Feldman and Yamashita teach further comprising left strife control and right strife control, which are independent of the left controller and the right controller (Feldman 0044-0048).
Claim 19: The combination of Feldman and Yamashita teach a position controller that interprets commands from one or more buttons to adjust the position of the gaming apparatus (Feldman 0049-0053).
Claim 20: The combination of Feldman and Yamashita teach wherein the microcontroller sends gamepad commands to a PC or a console (Feldman 0051-0054).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 12 is allowed.
Claim 9 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims have been considered. Furthermore, the rejection has been updated to reflect amendments to the independent claims.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUNIT PANDYA whose telephone number is (571)272-2823. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6:30PM.
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/SUNIT PANDYA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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