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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
1. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Under Step 1 of the analysis, it is noted that the claims are directed towards eligible categories of subject matter
3. Step 2A:
4. Under Step 2A, the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea). The claims are directed to the abstract ideas of a mental process.
5. The claims here represent a method of identifying players on a virtual map, according to where the players have been located within a virtual world. However, such can be done with paper and pencil as a user can keep track of both their position and the position of other players. The best examples of this are board games, such as battleship, wherein according to an “input” by a player, a boat, i.e. a character can be organized on the game. The boat is then located when it is hit by a user verbal strike, and strikes revealing the location of the boat(s) are noted on a user map, along with their own boat(s). Even outside of this example, in virtual worlds, users can create their own maps and keep track of various location where they have found the other player(s)’ characters. The claims do not require a continuous tracking of character movement, but only where the character has been located. Additional steps of displaying one player’s data in one mode versus another mode for a secondary player, and utilizing masks to present the information, is merely, organizing and displaying the collected information. Similar to the claimed invention of Example 37, the claims here present an abstract idea.
The second prong of Step 2A, ask whether the claims recite additional elements that would integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Here, no such practical application exists as locating players on a map, is not a problem rooted in computer technology. Additionally, there is no practical application as there is no particular machine that is used to implement the claim language, but instead and as will be discussed below only generic computers are used to perform the invention. Also, there is no transformation of the machine used in the application into a different state or thing. Lastly, the claims do not attempt to apply the abstract idea in a meaningful way beyond simply using the claimed machine.
7. Step 2B asks whether a claimed invention which fails Step 2A contains an inventive concepts, i.e. significantly more. Here the invention does not recite significantly more than a generic computer with generic computer components including a controller, display, and memory that are well-known and understood within the art. The claim is directed to an abstract idea that lacks significantly more and thus is not patent eligible.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 12, 14, 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sato (U.S. PGPUB 2015/0328548).
Re claims 1, 12, 14, and 19: Sato discloses with a non-transitory storage medium having stored therein an information processing program executed by a computer of a first terminal capable of executing a game in which a game status is synchronized with a second terminal participating in a same session (see paragraph [0061, 0062]: a simultaneous cooperating game played over the Internet), causing the computer to function as:
a controller configured to control a location of a first character in a virtual space in the game based on a first operation input by a first user of the first terminal (see paragraph [0008, 0012, 0043, 0048-0050, 0077]: the controller is configured to move a first character around a virtual space depending on user operation input);
a location history information storing section configured to store in a memory unit location history information indicating where each of a second character whose location in the virtual space is controlled based on an operation input by a second user of the second terminal and the first character has been located in the virtual space in the game (see paragraph [0008, 0012, 0043, 0048-0050, 0077]: the system records locations of a first and second player as their players move throughout the game environment using their roller, wherein pixels reflective of the user’s location is painted in the environment. A second user who battles the first opponent, has their location history also displayed on the map using a different pixelated color);
and a presentation section configured to present a map image corresponding to the virtual space when there is a second operation input from the first user, wherein the map image is distinguishable between a first area corresponding to a location in the virtual space where the first character has been located and a second area corresponding to a location in the virtual space where the second character has been located, based on the location history information (see paragraph [0058], Fig. 5-11B: the game includes an elevated camera angle that can be initiated through user input where the elevated camera angle shows a map of the environment that includes history information in the form of painted area that represents both a user and an enemy player’s past locations on the game map).
Claim(s) 1, 4, 12, 14, 17, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Battleship (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of7NH-STqmY)
Re claims 1, 12, 14, and 19: BattleShip discloses with a non-transitory storage medium having stored therein an information processing program executed by a computer of a first terminal capable of executing a game in which a game status is synchronized with a second terminal participating in a same session (see 0:45: the game allows for playing the game online against other opponents at a secondary device), causing the computer to function as:
a controller configured to control a location of a first character in a virtual space in the game based on a first operation input by a first user of the first terminal (02:10-2:38: the computer processor is configured to control the location of user character(s), i.e. boats, according to user input);
a location history information storing section configured to store in a memory unit location history information indicating where each of a second character whose location in the virtual space is controlled based on an operation input by a second user of the second terminal and the first character has been located in the virtual space in the game (09:06:: the game map reveals on the left side, boats or characters, of the second player that has been located, and the right hand reveals side boats, i.e characters, of the first player that were located) ;
and a presentation section configured to present a map image corresponding to the virtual space when there is a second operation input from the first user, wherein the map image is distinguishable between a first area corresponding to a location in the virtual space where the first character has been located and a second area corresponding to a location in the virtual space where the second character has been located, based on the location history information (09:06: the computer system displays the game map, which reveals on the left side, boats or characters, of the second player that has been located, and the right hand reveals side boats, i.e characters, of the first player that were located).
Re claim 4 and 17: Battleship discloses with respect to the non-transitory storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the presentation section is configured to mask areas in the virtual space where the first character has not been located, and to reveal areas in the virtual space where the first character has been located by removing masks in areas in the virtual space where the first character has been located (09:06: water masks the locations of where a first player hasn’t been location, and the water is removed for pictures of red pegs or boats when the first player boats have been located).
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.
Claim(s) 3 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sato in view of Splatoon 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSs6Lf6FsJs).
Re claims 3 and 16: Sato fails to disclose with respect to the non-transitory storage medium according to claim 1, further causing the computer to function as:
a notification presenting section configured to present a notification to a first user of the first character and a second user of the second character, when a parameter indicating a size of an area in the virtual space in which the first character and the second character have been located in the virtual space meets a predetermined condition.
However, Splatoon 2 teaches the game of Sato however Splatoon 2 further teaches the players are notified when they have acquired a larger size of the map, wherein such is covered in the player’s unique color. The game does this by telling the user “We’re in Control” as identified in 01:44 and 2:10 of the video. At 2:19 of the video, the game notifies the player that the other player is in control of the map. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made, to modify the game of Sato with the notification messages of Splatoon 2, for the purpose of informing the player who’s winning in the game.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 5-11, 13, 15, 18, 20 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 REGINALD A RENWICK whose telephone number is (571)270-1913. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 11am-7pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kang Hu can be reached at (571)270-1344. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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REGINALD A. RENWICK
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3714
/REGINALD A RENWICK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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