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 is in response to the amendments filed on 1/27/26. Claims 1, 7, and 9 have been amended and claim 8 has been cancelled. Claims 1 – 7 and 9 – 21 are now pending in the current application.
35 USC § 101
With respect to 101, the Examiner acknowledges that a practical application has been disclosed in paragraph 0070, regarding the touch operations that determines the interface focus of the game visual screen of the virtual objects that displays at least a first set of options, wherein the user can select an option without inputting text. Therefore, the control of touch operations 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 – 7 and 9 – 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kane & Lynch, hereinafter Kane, in view of Benedetto et al. (U.S. 2017/0354884).
Regarding claims 1, 7, and 9, Kane discloses an information sending method and computer-readable storage medium applied to a multi-player game, (pg. 10 of Kane, Game Mode, “two-player cooperative”), wherein a graphical user interface is provided through a terminal device, the graphical user interface comprises a game visual screen, and the game visual screen field screen comprises at least part of a game scene and at least part of a first virtual object located in the game scene, (pg. 11 of Kane, figure showing virtual game characters in a game scene), the method comprises, in response to an input operation, determining, by the terminal device, that an interface focus of the game visual field screen corresponds to a second virtual object of the game scene, and displaying a first set of options corresponding to the second virtual object, (pg. 13 of Kane, figure showing player character and an inventory of weapons displayed in the center), wherein the Examiner views the inventory of weapons displayed in the center as being equivalent to an interface focus of displaying a set of options corresponding to at least one second virtual object. Kane further discloses wherein the second virtual object is any virtual object in a virtual object set belonging to a same game side as the first virtual object, (pg. 13 of Kane, figure showing player character and an inventory of weapons displayed in the center), wherein the Examiner views the inventory of weapons as being equivalent any virtual object in a virtual object set belonging to the first virtual object. Kane further discloses, in response to a second input operation acting on a first target option in the first set of options, determining by the terminal device, prompt information corresponding to the first target option, wherein the first target option is one of the at least one option in the first set of options, (pg. 13 of Kane, Check Inventory, “Use the left stick to highlight an item”), wherein the Examiner views highlighting an item in the inventory as being equivalent to prompt information corresponding to a first target option. Kane further discloses directionally sending, by the terminal device, the prompt information corresponding to the first target option to a user terminal corresponding to the second virtual object, (pg. 13 of Kane, Check Inventory, “release the R3 button to select it”), wherein the Examiner views selection a weapon from the inventory as being equivalent to sending prompt information to a terminal device corresponding to the second virtual object.
Kane discloses an input operation and a terminal device, but is silent on disclosing a touch operation, a terminal device, and a user terminal, wherein the terminal device and user terminal are different devices. In a related art, however, Bennedetto discloses a multi-player game, (“game plays by multiple users of a video game”, par. 0010), wherein Bennedetto further discloses a first touch operation, (“Display 232 can be configured as a touch-screen”, par. 0088), a terminal device, (“The local gaming system associated with user 1 includes client device 2015”, par. 0267 and fig. 21a part 2015), and a user terminal, (“A second device (e.g., tablet) 2011 provides a companion interface”, par. 0267 and fig. 21a part 2011), wherein views the client device as being equivalent to a terminal device and the companion device as being equivalent to a user terminal that is different from the terminal device wherein gaming information is shared between the two devices, wherein it is taught the companion device includes a companion application that supports the game play of a user wherein the companion application provides information relating to the game plays of the user.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to combine the touch operations and companion device of Bennedetto into the art disclosed by Kane in order to provide direct interaction with gaming characters or objects which enables faster navigation while playing the game, (touch screen), and to provide coaching to help the first user achieve a goal, (par. 0241 of Bennedetto).
Regarding claims 2 and 17, Kane discloses wherein the method further comprises: in response to a visual field adjustment instruction, controlling the game visual field screen to be adjusted from a first game visual field screen to a second game visual field screen according to the visual field adjustment instruction, (pg. 13 of Kane, figure showing player character and an inventory of weapons displayed in the center), wherein the Examiner views the inventory of weapons displayed in the center as being equivalent to an interface focus. Kane further discloses in response to a third operation acting on the preset control, determining that the interface focus of the game visual field screen corresponds to a target object of the game scene, (pg. 13 of Kane, Check Inventory, “Use the left stick to highlight an item”), and displaying a second set of options corresponding to the target object, wherein the second set of options comprises at least one option, (pg. 13 of Kane, Check Inventory, “release the R3 button to select it”), wherein the target object comprises at least one of a virtual resource or a virtual scene, (pg. 13 of Kane, figure showing an inventory of weapons displayed in the center), in response to a fourth operation acting on a second target option in the second set of options, determining prompt information corresponding to the second target option, wherein the second target option is one of the at least one option in the second set of options; and directionally sending the prompt information corresponding to the second target option to a user terminal corresponding to the target object, (pg. 13 of Kane, Checking Inventory, “Open your inventory by pressing and holding the N button. The Inventory appears as a large format graphic in the center of the screen, where you to select whatever you require”), wherein the Examiner views the option of selecting other weapons within the inventory for use during play of the game as being equivalent multiple operations acting on multiple target options and being sent to a user terminal. As stated above, Kane is silent on disclosing touch inputs, however, this is met by Bennedetto as cited above.
Regarding claims 3 and 18, Kane discloses wherein in a case that the target object is the virtual scene, displaying the second set of options corresponding to the target object comprises: displaying a set of content options in the second set of options corresponding to the target object, wherein the set of content options is a combination of different information that needs to be conveyed to a target second virtual object; in response to the fourth touch operation acting on the second target option in the second set of options, determining the prompt information corresponding to the second target option comprises: in response to a first sub-operation of the fourth touch operation, determining a target content option from the set of content options; in response to determining the target content option, displaying a set of second virtual object identifiers in the second set of options; in response to a second sub-operation of the fourth touch operation, determining a target object identifier from the set of second virtual object identifiers; determining corresponding prompt information according to the target object identifier and the target content option, (pg. 13 of Kane, Checking Inventory, “Open your inventory by pressing and holding the N button. The Inventory appears as a large format graphic in the center of the screen, where you to select whatever you require” and figure showing player character and an inventory of weapons displayed in the center).
Regarding claims 4 and 19, Kane discloses wherein in a case that the target object is the virtual resource, displaying the second set of options corresponding to the target object comprises: displaying a set of virtual object identifiers; and wherein in response to the fourth touch operation acting on the second target option in the second set of options, determining the prompt information corresponding to the second target option comprises: in response to the fourth touch operation, determining a target object identifier from the set of virtual object identifiers; determining corresponding prompt information according to the target object identifier and the target object, (pg. 13 of Kane, figure an inventory of weapons displayed in the center).
Regarding claims 5 and 20, Kane discloses wherein the second set of options comprises a set of virtual object identifiers, and wherein in response to the fourth touch operation acting on the second target option in the second set of options comprises: in response to the fourth touch operation acting on the second target option in the second set of options, determining a target object identifier from the set of virtual object identifiers according to a position of the fourth touch operation; and wherein directionally sending the prompt information corresponding to the second target option to the user terminal corresponding to the target object comprises: directionally sending the prompt information corresponding to the second target option to a second terminal device corresponding to the target object identifier, (pg. 13 of Kane, and an inventory of weapons displayed in the center).
Regarding claims 6 and 21, Kane discloses wherein the second set of options and the first set of options comprise icons arranged in a circular shape with a specific center position, (pg. 13 of Kane, and an inventory of weapons displayed in the center).
Regarding claim 10, Kane discloses wherein a graphical user interface is provided through a terminal device, the graphical user interface comprises a game visual field screen, and the game visual field screen comprises at least part of a game scene and at least part of a first virtual object located in the game scene, (pg. 11 of Kane, figure showing virtual game characters in a game scene), the electronic device comprising: one or more processors; and a storage apparatus, configured to store one or more programs, wherein when the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, (pg. 2 of Kane, PS3 game console).
Regarding claim 11, Kane discloses wherein determining, by the terminal device, that the interface focus of the game visual field screen corresponds to the second virtual object of the game scene comprises: determining a trigger time of the preset control, obtaining a game frame corresponding to the trigger time, determining a crosshair position in the game frame as the interface focus, and then determining that the interface focus of the game visual field screen corresponds to the second virtual object of the game scene, (pg. 13 of Kane, “Open your inventory by pressing and holding the N button. The Inventory appears as a large format graphic in the center of the screen, where you to select whatever you require”. “Use the left stick to highlight an item, and release the N button to select it. The Inventory graphic minimizes and drops to the lower right of the screen”, and figure an inventory of weapons displayed in the center), wherein the Examiner views the inventory graphic minimizing after a selection has been made as being equivalent to determining trigger time of a preset control.
Regarding claim 12, Kane discloses, as cited above, sending prompt information to a terminal device, but is silent on disclosing sending information to a server, however, Bennedetto discloses a multi-player gaming system that communicates gaming information to a server, (“The game cloud system includes a game server configured to manage a plurality of virtual gaming engines configured to execute a plurality of instances of a video game in association with a plurality of users playing the video game”, par. 0013).
Regarding claim 13, Kane, as stated above, is silent on disclosing sending information to a server, however, Bennedetto discloses wherein the server forwards the prompt information to the user terminal corresponding to the second virtual object comprises: the server reading a to-be-sent object in the prompt information, and forwarding the prompt information to the user terminal corresponding to the to-be-sent object according to the to-be-sent object, (“The game cloud system includes a game server configured to manage a plurality of virtual gaming engines configured to execute a plurality of instances of a video game in association with a plurality of users playing the video game”, par. 0013).
Regarding claim 14, Kane is silent on disclosing a custom input option. In a related art, Bennedetto discloses receiving a custom option input by a user, determining a set of options selected by the user, and adding the custom option to the set of options, (“the input parameter configuration can define a mapping from inputs which can be generated by the user's available controller device (in this case, a keyboard and mouse) to inputs which are acceptable for the execution of the video game”, par. 0305), wherein the Examiner views the mapping of inputs generated by the user as being equivalent to custom option inputs.
Regarding claim 15, Kane discloses wherein the fourth touch operation and the third touch operation are continuous operations, (pg. 13 of Kane, “Use the left stick to highlight an item, and release the N button to select it”), wherein the Examiner views the highlighting and the releasing of a button to select a weapon as being equivalent to continuous operations.
Regarding claim 16, Kane, as stated above, is silent on disclosing touch operation inputs. Bennedetto discloses at least a gesture operation, (“Gestures such as swipes in particular directions or specific touch motions may also be detected as game inputs”, par. 0306).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 – 7 and 9 – 21 have been considered but are moot based on new grounds of rejection.
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.
Conclusion
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/E.M.T/Examiner, Art Unit 3715
/JUSTIN L MYHR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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