Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 06, 2026
Application No. 18/633,134

USER INTERFACE DEVICE AND METHOD THEREOF FOR GAME MANAGEMENT

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Apr 11, 2024
Priority
Jan 20, 2023 — provisional 63/440,372 +2 more
Examiner
HENRY, THOMAS HAYNES
Art Unit
3715
Tech Center
3700 — Mechanical Engineering & Manufacturing
Assignee
Modern Football Inc.
OA Round
2 (Final)
51%
Grant Probability
Moderate
3-4
OA Rounds
1y 8m
Est. Remaining
87%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 51% of resolved cases
51%
Career Allowance Rate
275 granted / 535 resolved
-18.6% vs TC avg
Strong +36% interview lift
Without
With
+35.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 12m
Avg Prosecution
25 currently pending
Career history
561
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
15.7%
-24.3% vs TC avg
§103
44.1%
+4.1% vs TC avg
§102
21.8%
-18.2% vs TC avg
§112
14.9%
-25.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 535 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 § 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) 1, 3, 4, 6-8, 10, 11, 13, 15-17, 19, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over O’Leary (US 20210287565) in view of Arif (US 20160133152) In claims 1, 11, and 20, O’Leary discloses One or more processors, memory to store instructions, wherein the one or more processors execute instructions stored in memory to perform operations comprising: (paragraph 7) Implementing one or more pre-configurations to configure a user interface of the user interface device based on attributes of one or more data objects that are specific to a users team (fig. 13, paragraph 54, this allows for the user to pre configure the device by including relevant information of the users team such as their kicker and punter’s range and accuracy.) Generating, for a user managing the user’s team during a course of a game, the user interface, the user interface including a plurality of regions, the plurality of regions including one or more regions to enable to user to specify one of a play call or a scheme (figure 4 shows a plurality of regions, #234, 236 enables the user to specify one of a play call or scheme, such as “PAT”. Paragraph 47 describes “ a run PAT button 236 is also included and may measure game winning probability in view of attempting an extra point after a touchdown” . PAT is a play call) Wherein the user interface includes a dynamic panel that overlays one or more of the plurality of regions , the dynamic panel displaying team specific analytic information that is updated responsively to game events that effect the analytic information (figure 7, paragraph 49. “fig. 7 illustrates one example of a monitor 146, 147 wherein the media networking module 144 changes a video feed to illustrate a modified version of the fourth down conversion indicator 238 which may be overlaid over live game footages 240”, the live footage is shown as one of the panels in figure 5), wherein the dynamic panel is generated in response to occurrence of a condition during the course of the game (this fourth down conversion indicator is responsive to the condition of it being fourth down) O’Leary fails to disclose that the regions include a play call region having a plurality of selection features configured, by the one or more pre-configurations to enable the user to specify the play call by selection of multiple component identifiers, each component identifier identifying a respective configurable aspect of the play call, however Arif discloses the regions include a play call region having a plurality of selection features configured, by the one or more pre-configurations to enable the user to specify the play call by selection of multiple component identifiers, each component identifier identifying a respective configurable aspect of the play call (paragraph 75 discloses the coach having a plurality of components to a play call which may be individually chosen, and they are based on pre configurations of the coach’s playbook) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine O’Leary with Arif in order to allow for a coach to select a specific play on fourth down with specific customizations. In claims 3, 11, and 20, O’Leary further discloses generating recommendation output on the dynamic panel, the recommendation output identifying one or more of a candidate set of play calls or defensive schemes (figure 15, paragraph 56, this shows win probability based on the fourth down conversion chances. The highest win probability would be the recommendation output. As described above, the fourth down conversion indicator may be overlaid over live game footages 240) In claims 4 and 13, O’Leary discloses developing one or more models for selecting, from a library of play calls or defensive schemes, an optimal set of play calls or defensive schemes for the user’s team to run for one or more subsequent plays during a game, wherein the one or more models are developed based on historical information including historical information about play calls and/or defensive schemes that the user’s team used in prior games including outcomes of the play calls and/or defensive schemes and situational information when the play call and/or defensive schemes were used and wherein generating the recommendation output is based at least in part on deploying the one or more models during the game (paragraph 38 discloses the historical data being relied upon which includes historical data of the team. This historical data is used for the projections as shown in paragraphs 54-61, With respect to the “library of play calls”, the library may be taught from something as simple as “pass” “run” punt” “field goal” as per figure 15, paragraph 56) In claims 6 and 15, O’Leary discloses determining an outcome of a selected play call or defensive scheme and updating, during the game and in response to determining the outcome, at least one of the one or more models based on the determined outcome (the statistics and situation is tracked in real time and changes the probability, figure 5 for example shows that it is 1st and 10, and the score is 7-0 in Q4, with the odds being affected by the current situation in the game) In claims 7 and 16, O’Leary discloses executing one or more updated models to update the candidate set of play calls or defensive schemes, and dynamically changing the candidate set of play calls or defensive schemes on the dynamic panel (the 4th down conversion chances will be changed and different based on the current live situation in the game, see paragraph 47 which states “because of the advanced stage in the game and the fact that the offensive team is losing by 6 points, the game winning chance is only 27%”, this is also shown in figure 16) In claims 8 and 17, O’Leary discloses determining the outcome of the selected play includes determining whether the execution of the play call during the game resulted in an efficient outcome (all of the plays are considered, as the current situation is considered. The clearest example would be that when a field goal attempt was successful, it would result in 3 additional points) In claims 10 and 19, O’Leary discloses the one or more models include situational specific models, and wherein the operations further comprise selecting one or more models for a next or upcoming paly or series of plays based on a current situational information (figures 10 and 11, paragraph 52) In claims 2 and 12, O’Leary in view of Arif discloses the claimed invention except for the dynamic panel is moveable as an overlay of the user interface, however Official notice is taken that movement of display panels was notoriously well known in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine O’Leary with this well known technique in order to allow for the user to be able to see the display information or video which is behind the display panel. In claims 9 and 18, O’Leary discloses the claimed invention except the one or more models include stochastic machine learning models, however Official notice is taken that stochastic machine learning models were notoriously well known in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine O’Leary with this well known technique in order to allow for a model to be built faster Claim(s) 5 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over O’Leary in view of Arif in view of Han (US 11,452,926) In claims 5 and 14 O’Leary in view of Arif discloses the claimed invention except for developing one or more models for predicting a play call or defensive scheme for an opponent to run for one or more subsequent plays during a game, wherein the one or more models are developed based on historical information including historical information about paly calls and/or defensive schemes that the opponent’s team used in prior games, including a number of instances a play call or defensive scheme was used and situation information for when the opposing team used the play calls and/or defensive schemes, and wherein generating the recommendation output is based at least on part on predicting the opponent’s play call or defensive scheme for a next or upcoming play, however Han discloses developing one or more models for predicting a play call or defensive scheme for an opponent to run for one or more subsequent plays during a game, wherein the one or more models are developed based on historical information including historical information about paly calls and/or defensive schemes that the opponent’s team used in prior games, including a number of instances a play call or defensive scheme was used and situation information for when the opposing team used the play calls and/or defensive schemes, and wherein generating the recommendation output is based at least on part on predicting the opponent’s play call or defensive scheme for a next or upcoming play (figure 4B and 4C shows examples of predicted opponent plays. Column 6 lines 29-47 discloses analyzing offensive play calling tendencies of an opponent and relying upon an opponent’s past games for information about their tendencies. Column 8 lines 20-34 discloses that this information is associated with the situation of the play call such as down, field position, score, time, etc. figure 7 #560 shows a display of recommendations which are based upon the predicted opponent plays, as described in column 14 lines 54-63 “formulates recommendations to the user with regard to likely effective schemes”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine O’Leary in view of Arif with Han in order to allow for recommendations based upon a wider range of relevant data which affects the result of the play calls. Response to Arguments Applicant’s amended claim language overcomes the previous art rejection, however a new rejection is made in view of Arif as set forth above. Applicant’s amended claim language and arguments overcomes the 101 rejection. 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 THOMAS HAYNES HENRY whose telephone number is (571)270-3905. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Peter Vasat can be reached at 571-270-7625. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /THOMAS H HENRY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Apr 11, 2024
Application Filed
Jan 16, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
May 18, 2026
Response Filed
Jul 16, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12673254
GAME SYSTEMS AND METHODS
2y 3m to grant Granted Jul 07, 2026
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PROGRAM, INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICE, METHOD, AND SYSTEM
2y 10m to grant Granted Jun 23, 2026
Patent 12661589
GAME DATA PROCESSING METHOD AND APPARATUS, DEVICE, STORAGE MEDIUM, AND PROGRAM PRODUCT
2y 9m to grant Granted Jun 23, 2026
Patent 12661593
INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICE, AND METHOD AND PROGRAM FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME
2y 6m to grant Granted Jun 23, 2026
Patent 12654106
COMPUTER-READABLE NON-TRANSITORY STORAGE MEDIUM HAVING GAME PROGRAM STORED THEREIN, GAME SYSTEM, GAME APPARATUS, AND GAME PROCESSING METHOD
3y 5m to grant Granted Jun 16, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
51%
Grant Probability
87%
With Interview (+35.7%)
3y 12m (~1y 8m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 535 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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