Detailed Action
Applicant amended claims 1 and 11 and presented claims 1-20 for reconsideration on 11/14/2025.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No.: 11860676, App. No.: 18051297. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the claims in App. No.: 18051297 include all limitations in App. No.: 18521741 and some features not included in the claims of App. No.: 18521741 are rejected using references as shown below.
18521741
18051297 (11860676)
1. A system comprising:
1. A method comprising:
one or more processors coupled to memory, the one or more processors configured to:
determine that a subset of a plurality of private data objects identifies a
respective player profile included in a list of player profiles of a first player profile, each of the plurality of private data objects associated with a respective registration deadline; provide, to a first client device associated with the first player profile, the subset of the plurality of private data objects responsive to determining that the subset of the plurality of private data objects identifies the respective player profile included in the list of player profiles of the first player profile; receive, from the first client device associated with the first player profile, a first request to be included in a list of authorized players of a first private data object of the subset that identifies a second player profile of the list of player profiles of the first player profile; identify a second subset of the plurality of private data objects in which the second player profile is identified as an organizer and for which the respective registration deadline has not passed;
receiving, by one or more processors coupled to memory, from a client device associated with a first player profile, a request for private data objects;
identifying, by the one or more processors, based on an association between the first player profile and a second player profile, from a plurality of private data objects, a subset of private data objects that identifies the second player profile in a respective list of authorized players of each private data object of the subset of private data objects; providing, by the one or more processors, to the client device for presentation, a list of private data objects comprising a respective content item for each private data object of the subset of private data objects, the respective content item including an actionable object, which when actuated, causes the client device to transmit a request to include the first player profile in the list of authorized players of the private data object;
generate, responsive to the first request, a notification for presentation at a second client device associated with the second
player profile, the notification indicating the first request to be included in the list of authorized players, the notification comprising (i) a first actionable object corresponding to a first operation to include the first player profile in the list of authorized players of the first private data object, and (ii) a second actionable object
corresponding a second actionable object corresponding to a second operation
to include the first player profile in a respective list of authorized players of each private data object of the second subset of the plurality of private data objects in which the second player profile is identified as the organizer and for which the respective registration deadline has not passed; and
responsive to receiving a request from the client device upon an interaction with the actionable object corresponding to a private data object, transmitting, by the one or more processors, a notification to a second client device associated with an organizer profile of the private data object, the notification comprising a second actionable object that, when interacted with, causes the second client device to transmit an instruction to include the first player profile in the list of authorized players of the private data object; and
add the first player profile to the respective list of authorized players of
each private data object of the second subset responsive to receiving a second request from the second client device to perform the second operation in response to a first interaction with the second actionable object.
adding, by the one or more processors, responsive to the instruction, the first player profile to the list of authorized players of the private data object.
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Claims 11-20 are rejected similar to claims 1-10.
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 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 of this title, 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Horling et al., Patent No.: US 9,858,317 B1 (Horling), in view of Nguyen et al., Pub. No.: US 2007/0167225 A1 (Nguyen).
Claim 1. Horling teaches:
A system, comprising:
one or more processors coupled to memory, the one or more processors configured to:
determine that a subset of a plurality of private data objects identifies a respective player profile included in a list of player profiles of a first player profile; (12:42-52, 16:20-33, communities/private objects associated with social network friends of a user who is searching for communities to join are identified and provided to the user)
provide, to a first client device associated with the first player profile, the subset of the plurality of private data objects responsive to determining that the subset of the plurality of private data objects identifies the respective player profile included in the list of player profiles of the first player profile; (12:42-52, 16:20-33, communities/private objects associated with social network friends of a user are identified and provided to the user)
receive, from the first client device associated with the first player profile, a first request to be included in a list of authorized players of a first private data object of the subset [of the plurality of private data objects] that identifies a second player profile of the list of player profiles of the first player profile; (6:11-61, 7:36-41, 8:2-7, 26:41-65, a user requests to join a community associated with social network friends of the user; the request is sent to an owner/administrator of the community; the community members are authorized members; 25: 15-20, members of a community are able to play games)
identify a second subset of the plurality of private data objects in which the second player profile is identified as an organizer; (see above, a second subset is a community associated with the user social network for which an owner/administrator exists)
generate, responsive to the first request, a notification for presentation at a second client device associated with the second player profile, the notification indicating the first request to be included in the list of authorized players, the notification comprising (i) a first actionable object corresponding to a first operation to include the first player profile in the list of authorized players of the first private data object, and (6:47-61, 8:2-7, 26:41-65, in response to a user’s request, the owner/administrator of a community is notified to add the user to the community: “A membership to a community may be dependent on permission to join the community from the owner or administrator of the community… a user requests the owner or administrator to join a community. The owner or administrator checks a profile, e.g., a social network profile, of the user to decide whether to allow the user to join…the owner or administrator sends an invitation to the user via the community network 136 to become a member of the community. When the user accepts the invitation, the user becomes the member”; “a user can join the community after obtaining permission from an owner or administrator of the community…When a user selects a join button associated with the Sir high school community within the search results, one or more processors of the one or more servers provide data to display the web page 280 on a display device of a client device. A user selects a request to join button 282. Upon receiving an indication of the selection of the request to join button 282, one or more processors of the one or more servers send the request to an administrator or owner of the Sir high school community. Once permission is received from the owner or administrator of the Sir high school community, one or more processors of the one or more servers allow a user that selected the request to join button 282 to join the Sir high school community”)
add the first player profile to the respective list of authorized players of each private data object of the second subset responsive to receiving a second request from the second client device. (6:47-61, 8:2-7, 26:41-65, as noted above, after approval of the owner/administrator of a community a user can join the community)
Horling did not specifically disclose but Nguyen discloses …which the respective registration deadline has not passed…(ii) a second actionable object corresponding to a second operation to include the first player profile in a respective list of authorized players of each private data object of the second subset of the plurality of private data objects in which the second player profile is identified as the organizer and for which the respective registration deadline has not passed… to perform the second operation in response to a first interaction with the second actionable object. (Nguyen, ¶¶ 21, 28, 32, wherein “If the minimum number of players is not met after a given amount of time, the organizer may decide to either wait for a longer period of time for other members to join or the organizer may cancel the invitation for game play to all group members” and wherein “each game may have a different group of participants. The client application 5 may have tools so that the organizer can easily edit participants for a particular game, copy groups from one game to another, edit game and participant information, and so on” indicates that a registration deadline depends on the number of members to join during the wait time and wherein an organizer can add a user to any group organized by the organizer.
Horling provides for a user to get permission from an owner/administrator of a group for joining the group. The owner/administrator of the group further invite the user to join the group. Evidently, this disclosure suggests that an owner/administrator of a group is able to add a user to any other group owned/administrated by the same owner/administrator. Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the applied references for disclosing …which the respective registration deadline has not passed…(ii) a second actionable object corresponding to a second operation to include the first player profile in a respective list of authorized players of each private data object of the second subset of the plurality of private data objects in which the second player profile is identified as the organizer and for which the respective registration deadline has not passed… to perform the second operation in response to a first interaction with the second actionable object because doing so would explicitly provide for adding a requester to any available group administered by owner/administer of a group for achieving the same predictable result of joining a group after obtaining permission from the owner/administrator of the group.
Claim 11. Horling teaches:
A method, comprising:
determining, by one or more processors coupled to non-transitory memory, that a subset of a plurality of private data objects identifies a respective player profile included in a list of player profiles of a first player profile; (12:42-52, 16:20-33, communities/private objects associated with social network friends of a user who is searching for communities to join are identified and provided to the user)
providing, by one or more processors, to a first client device associated with the first player profile, the subset of the plurality of private data objects responsive to determining that the subset of the plurality of private data objects identifies the respective player profile included in the list of player profiles of the first player profile; (12:42-52, 16:20-33, communities/private objects associated with social network friends of a user are identified and provided to the user)
receiving, by the one or more processors, from the first client device associated with the first player profile, a first request to be included in a list of authorized players of a first private data object of the subset [of the plurality of private data objects] that identifies a second player profile of the list of player profiles of the first player profile; (6:11-61, 7:36-41, 8:2-7, 26:41-65, a user requests to join a community associated with social network friends of the user; the request is sent to an owner/administrator of the community; the community members are authorized members; 25: 15-20, members of a community are able to play games)
identifying, by the one or more processors, a second subset of the plurality of private data objects in which the second player profile is identified as an organizer; (see above, a second subset is a community associated with the user social network for which an owner/administrator exists)
generating, by the one or more processors, responsive to the first request, a notification for presentation at a second client device associated with the second player profile, the notification indicating the first request to be included in the list of authorized players, the notification comprising (i) a first actionable object corresponding to a first operation to include the first player profile in the list of authorized players of the first private data object, and (6:47-61, 8:2-7, 26:41-65, in response to a user’s request, the owner/administrator of a community is notified to add the user to the community: “A membership to a community may be dependent on permission to join the community from the owner or administrator of the community… a user requests the owner or administrator to join a community. The owner or administrator checks a profile, e.g., a social network profile, of the user to decide whether to allow the user to join…the owner or administrator sends an invitation to the user via the community network 136 to become a member of the community. When the user accepts the invitation, the user becomes the member”; “a user can join the community after obtaining permission from an owner or administrator of the community…When a user selects a join button associated with the Sir high school community within the search results, one or more processors of the one or more servers provide data to display the web page 280 on a display device of a client device. A user selects a request to join button 282. Upon receiving an indication of the selection of the request to join button 282, one or more processors of the one or more servers send the request to an administrator or owner of the Sir high school community. Once permission is received from the owner or administrator of the Sir high school community, one or more processors of the one or more servers allow a user that selected the request to join button 282 to join the Sir high school community”)
adding, by the one or more processors, the first player profile to the respective list of authorized players of each private data object of the second subset responsive to receiving a second request from the second client device. (6:47-61, 8:2-7, 26:41-65, as noted above, after approval of the owner/administrator of a community a user can join the community)
Horling did not specifically disclose but Nguyen discloses (ii) a second actionable object corresponding to a second operation to include the first player profile in a respective list of authorized players of each private data object of a second subset of the plurality of private data objects in which the second player profile is identified as an organizer. (Nguyen, ¶¶ 28, 32, wherein an organizer can add a user to any group organized by the organizer: “each game may have a different group of participants. The client application 5 may have tools so that the organizer can easily edit participants for a particular game, copy groups from one game to another, edit game and participant information, and so on”)
Horling did not specifically disclose but Nguyen discloses …which the respective registration deadline has not passed…(ii) a second actionable object corresponding to a second operation to include the first player profile in a respective list of authorized players of each private data object of the second subset of the plurality of private data objects in which the second player profile is identified as the organizer and for which the respective registration deadline has not passed… to perform the second operation in response to a first interaction with the second actionable object. (Nguyen, ¶¶ 21, 28, 32, wherein “If the minimum number of players is not met after a given amount of time, the organizer may decide to either wait for a longer period of time for other members to join or the organizer may cancel the invitation for game play to all group members” and wherein “each game may have a different group of participants. The client application 5 may have tools so that the organizer can easily edit participants for a particular game, copy groups from one game to another, edit game and participant information, and so on” indicates that a registration deadline depends on the number of members to join during the wait time and wherein an organizer can add a user to any group organized by the organizer.
Horling provides for a user to get permission from an owner/administrator of a group for joining the group. The owner/administrator of the group further invite the user to join the group. Evidently, this disclosure suggests that an owner/administrator of a group is able to add a user to any other group owned/administrated by the same owner/administrator. Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the applied references for disclosing …which the respective registration deadline has not passed…(ii) a second actionable object corresponding to a second operation to include the first player profile in a respective list of authorized players of each private data object of the second subset of the plurality of private data objects in which the second player profile is identified as the organizer and for which the respective registration deadline has not passed… to perform the second operation in response to a first interaction with the second actionable object because doing so would explicitly provide for adding a requester to any available group administered by owner/administer of a group for achieving the same predictable result of joining a group after obtaining permission from the owner/administrator of the group.
Claim 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
select the subset of the plurality of private data objects for presentation at the first client device; and provide a set of content items for display at the first client device, each of the set of content items indicating a respective one of the subset of the plurality of private data objects. (Horling, 17:33-43, a subset of communities is presented to the user based on the relevance of communities to the user joining a community)
Claim 12 is rejected under the same rationale.
Claim 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first request is received in response to an interaction with a first content item of the set of content items that corresponds to the first private data object. (Horling, 17:33-43, a subset of communities are presented to the user based on the relevance of communities to the user joining a community and a user interacts with the presented information related to a community for sending a request to join the community as in 6:11-61, 7:36-41, 8:2-7, 26:41-65)
Claim 13 is rejected under the same rationale.
Claim 4. The system of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
select the first private data object for inclusion in the subset responsive to determining that the second player profile is identified in the list of player profiles of the first player profile. (Horling, 2:56-3:5, 20:29-46, communities are selected based on an association, e.g., a friend of the user is a member of the community)
Claim 14 is rejected under the same rationale.
Claim 5. The system of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
rank the subset of the plurality of private data objects based on a number of player profiles listed in each private data object of the subset. (Horling, 2:56-3:5, communities are ranked based on various characteristics associated with the communities, e.g., “number of users that are the members of the communities”)
Claim 15 is rejected under the same rationale.
Claim 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
receive, from the first client device, a third request to remove the first player profile from the list of authorized players; and remove the first player profile from the list of authorized players responsive to the third request. (Horling, 14: 1-11, a member can simply indicate to a community that the member will leave the community)
Claim 16 is rejected under the same rationale.
Claim 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: determine that a threshold number of profiles are included in the list of authorized players; and initiate the first private data object responsive to determining that the threshold number of profiles are included in the list of authorized players. (Nguyen, ¶ 21, “the organizer of a game or application may set a minimum number of group members or participants needed to initiate game play. Once the minimum number of participants accept the invitation to play, the game is started”)
Claim 17 is rejected under the same rationale.
Claim 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
provide a second notification for presentation by the first client device that indicates the first player profile was added to the list of authorized players. (Horling, 6:47-61, 25: 62-65, 26: 52-65, allowing a user to join a community or providing “a symbol that allows a user to play games with other users” is a notification for being added to a community as a member)
Claim 18 is rejected under the same rationale.
Claim 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
generate the notification for presentation at the second client device further responsive to determining that the first private data object comprises a configuration setting that permits requests to be included in the list of authorized players. (Horling, 6:11-61, 7:36-41, 8:2-7, 26:41-65, wherein “When a community is private, a user can join the community after obtaining permission from an owner or administrator of the community” indicates that an owner/administrator of a community receives the request of the first user because of the configuration setting associated with the community)
Claim 19 is rejected under the same rationale.
Claim 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
determine that the list of authorized players of the first private data object does not satisfy a threshold number of player profiles at a time period associated with the first private data object; and (Horling, 7: 13-35, a community is initiated with at least one valid member/owner of the community; the owner can send and receive invitations/requests; Nguyen, ¶ 21, “if the minimum number of players is not met after a given amount of time, the organizer may decide to either wait for a longer period of time for other members to join or the organizer may cancel the invitation for game play to all group members”)
restrict the first private data object from initiation responsive to determining that the threshold number of player profiles is not satisfied. (Nguyen, ¶ 21, “if the minimum number of players is not met after a given amount of time, the organizer may decide to either wait for a longer period of time for other members to join or the organizer may cancel the invitation for game play to all group members”)
Claim 20 is rejected under the same rationale.
Response to Amendment and Arguments
Double patenting rejections are maintained as shown above.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to rejected claims have been fully considered but are not persuasive because it appears, after further considerations, that the combination of Horling and Nguyen disclose the amended features as shown above.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 extension fee 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 Mohsen Almani whose telephone number is (571)270-7722. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F, 9 AM-5 PM, ET.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ann J. Lo can be reached on 571-272-9767. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MOHSEN ALMANI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2159