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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: ENCIRCLEMENT FOR SELECTING OBJECTS DISPLAYED ON A TOUCHSCREEN
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 7 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The antecedent basis for “a second control” (claim 7) and “the second virtual object” (claim 16) are lacking.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-12, 16-18, 20 & 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kando et al. (pub. no. 20060252540).
Regarding claim 1, Kando discloses an information processing method, comprising: responding, by a terminal, to a first touch operation on a graphical user interface and a sliding operation on the graphical user interface, and determining a sliding track of the sliding operation, wherein the graphical user interface is provided by the terminal, and the graphical user interface displays at least a part of a game scene and at least one first virtual object located in the game scene; and selecting a first virtual object associated with the sliding track of the sliding operation as a target virtual object (“On the other hand, when a plurality of player characters are designated, a group of the player characters to be designated is enclosed using the stick 16. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, a player moves the stick 16 on the touch panel 15. At this time, the player performs an operation for enclosing arbitral player characters 41 by a track obtained by moving the stick 16. The track indicates positions at which the player makes a series of inputs on the touch panel 15. Hereinafter, the track is referred to as an input track”, [0074]; placing stick on screen to start input track interpreted to be the first touch operation; the input track interpreted to be the sliding operation).
Regarding claim 2, Kando discloses the first touch operation and the sliding operation are continuous operations ([0074]; the stick on is the first position of the input track and consequently continuous with the sliding operation).
Regarding claim 3, Kando discloses displaying a graphical representation of the sliding track on the graphical user interface (“Further, an input track indication 51 (a thick line shown in FIG. 5) indicating an input track is displayed in the game image. The input track indication 51 is displayed at positions which are on the display screen and correspond to positions at which a series of inputs are made on the touch panel 15. That is, the input track indication 51 is displayed at positions to which a player actually moves the stick 16 on the touch panel 15. FIG. 5 shows that the input track is near-circular. When seeing the input track indication 51, the player can clearly and intuitively recognize the input track made by the player's input operation. Accordingly, the player can quickly recognize whether or not the player character 41 and the like are appropriately enclosed, and the like. The input track indication 51 is displayed in a certain time period and automatically erased”, [0075]).
Regarding claim 4, Kando discloses the first touch operation comprises at least one of following operations: a touch operation on a first control on the graphical user interface; a long-press operation on the game scene displayed on the graphical user interface; a re-press operation on the game scene displayed on the graphical user interface; or a double-click operation on the game scene displayed on the graphical user interface ([0074]; stick on interpreted to be a re-press operation on the game scene in the case where the player has previously touched the screen in a separate control operation).
Regarding claim 5, Kando discloses selecting the first virtual object located in an area surrounded by the sliding track as the target virtual object ([0074]).
Regarding claim 6, Kando discloses selecting the first virtual object whose distance from the sliding track is less than a preset distance threshold as the target virtual object (“ When a determination result of step S3 is a new input (Yes in step S3), it is determined in step S4 whether or not one or more player characters 41 displayed on the screen are designated. In step S4, whether or not the player characters 41 are designated is determined according to whether or not an input coordinate position is within a hit determination area for the player character 41. The hit determination area for the player character is defined in the initialization process. Further, when the array has already been formed, it is determined whether or not the input coordinate position is within a hit determination area for the array. The hit determination area for the array is defined in the touch-off process described later (step S12)”, [0093]).
Regarding claim 7, Kando discloses displaying a second control on the graphical user interface (red circle, Fig. 6, 61);
and in response to a second touch operation on the second control, locking and displaying the target virtual object on the graphical user interface (“When a player touches the array in the instruction enabled state, the instruction waiting circle 61 changes to a yellow circle 62 (hereinafter, referred to as an operation circle) so as to indicate the operation circle until the player removes the stick 16 from the touch panel 15. This operation circle indicates that the array is being moved and also indicates that the player is touching the touch panel 15. Hereinafter, a state of the operation circle 62 being indicated is referred to as an in-operation state. In the in-operation state, when the player moves the stick 16 touching the touch panel 15, the respective characters of the array start to move at respective speeds toward a position touched by the stick 16 (more specifically, a point which is in a game world and corresponds to the position touched by the stick 16) as a destination to move toward. Thus, the player can drag and move the array as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. The player can move the array to various positions on the screen and cause the player character group of the array to perform various actions (hereinafter, referred to as "task")”, [0074]).
Regarding claim 8, Kando discloses adjusting contents of the game scene displayed on the graphical user interface according to a position of the target virtual object in the game scene, so that the target virtual object is always located on the graphical user interface (“Hereinafter, a state of the operation circle 62 being indicated is referred to as an in-operation state. In the in-operation state, when the player moves the stick 16 touching the touch panel 15, the respective characters of the array start to move at respective speeds toward a position touched by the stick 16 (more specifically, a point which is in a game world and corresponds to the position touched by the stick 16) as a destination to move toward. Thus, the player can drag and move the array as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9”, [0074]).
Regarding claim 9, Kando discloses in response to a stopping operation, displaying the second control on the graphical user interface (Fig. 19, s3=yes implies that an input path has stopped which leads to Fig. 19, s5 and subsequently to Fig. 20, s23 which causes an instruction waiting circle to be displayed for all designated characters).
Regarding claim 10, Kando discloses stopping the first touch operation, or stopping the sliding operation on the graphical user interface (Fig. 19, s3=yes implies that an input path has stopped which leads to Fig. 19, s5 and subsequently to Fig. 20, s23 which causes an instruction waiting circle to be displayed for all designated characters).
Regarding claim 11, Kando discloses displaying a selection mark in an area associated with display of the target virtual object after selecting the target virtual object (“When the group of the arbitral player characters is enclosed, the enclosed player characters are preferably gathered into an array. At this time, as shown in FIG. 6, the player character group is enclosed by a red circle 61 (hereinafter, referred to as an instruction waiting circle) for display. Hereinafter, a state of the player character group being enclosed by the instruction waiting circle is referred to as an instruction enabled state. Also when a single player character 41 is designated, the single player character 41 is enclosed by the instruction waiting circle. That is, when the single player character 41 is designated, an array of the single player character 41 is formed as shown in FIG. 7, [0074]).
Regarding claim 12, Kando discloses displaying a determination control on the graphical user interface after selecting the target virtual object; and in response to a third touch operation on the determination control, determining the target virtual object as a to-be-operated object, and displaying a determination mark in an area associated with display of the to-be-operated object (“When a player touches the array in the instruction enabled state, the instruction waiting circle 61 changes to a yellow circle 62 (hereinafter, referred to as an operation circle) so as to indicate the operation circle until the player removes the stick 16 from the touch panel 15. This operation circle indicates that the array is being moved and also indicates that the player is touching the touch panel 15. Hereinafter, a state of the operation circle 62 being indicated is referred to as an in-operation state. In the in-operation state, when the player moves the stick 16 touching the touch panel 15, the respective characters of the array start to move at respective speeds toward a position touched by the stick 16 (more specifically, a point which is in a game world and corresponds to the position touched by the stick 16) as a destination to move toward. Thus, the player can drag and move the array as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9”, [0074]).
Regarding claim 16, Kando discloses at least a second virtual object located in the game scene is further displayed on the graphical user interface, and the first virtual object and the second virtual object are two opposing sides fighting in a same game; and the method further comprises: in response to a triggering operation on a to-be-attacked object, obtaining the to-be- attacked object in the second virtual object; and controlling the target virtual object to attack the to-be-attacked object (“The player can move the array to various positions on the screen and cause the player character group of the array to perform various actions (hereinafter, referred to as "task"). The "task" includes, for example, attacking the opponent character 43, carrying fallen food 42 to a base, or adding to the array a player character 41 which does not belong to the array. In this game, the operations as described above are repeated to have the player characters 41 live in the game world”, [0074];
“Further, in the present embodiment, when the player characters are caused to perform the "task", it is necessary to designate an object on which the "task" is performed, that is, a target on which the "task" is performed (hereinafter, referred to as a task target), among various objects on the screen. The method for designating the task target will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 to 14. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a state of the aforementioned array being moved. When in this state a predetermined object is enclosed using the stick 16 which is touching the touch panel 15, a predetermined "task" on the object is started. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an operation of enclosing the opponent character 43 with the stick 16 touching the touch panel. In this case, as shown in FIG. 12, attack on the opponent character 43 will be started. Further, when the player character 41 which does not belong to the array is enclosed as shown in FIG. 13, the enclosed player character 41 can be added to the array as shown in FIG. 14. Thus, in the present embodiment, when during the movement of the array an object is enclosed using the stick 16, the characters of the array and the enclosed object can be caused to perform actions according to what the enclosed object is”, [0076]).
Regarding claim 17, Kando discloses in response to a triggering operation on a target attacking manner, controlling the target virtual object to attack the to-be-attacked object in the target attacking manner ([0076]).
Regarding claim 18, Kando discloses responding to a triggering operation for determining a target location in the game scene; and controlling the target virtual object to move to the target location ([0074]).
Claim 20 is directed to a device that implements the method of claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons as claim 1.
Claim 21 is directed to an article of manufacture containing code that implements the method of claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons as claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13-15 are 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAWRENCE STEFAN GALKA whose telephone number is (571)270-1386. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6-9 & 12-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David Lewis can be reached at 571-272-7673. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LAWRENCE S GALKA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715