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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 06/16/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-20 under 102(a)(2) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Takamasa (JP2004195166).
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) 1-3, 9, 10, 15 and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Takamasa (JP 2004195166, computer translation is provided).
Regarding claims 1, 19 and 20, Takamasa teaches an apparatus (video game apparatus, Fig. 1; [0017]; [0018]; [0021]) (with method and non-transitory computer-readable medium) for controlling a companion object, the apparatus comprising:
processing circuitry ([0021]) configured to:
display a virtual scene, the virtual scene including a first virtual object and a companion object of the first virtual object, the companion object being configured to switch between a first state and a second state ([0028]-[0030]); and
control the companion object to switch between the first state and the second state, wherein when the companion object is in the first state ([0030]-[0032]), the companion object is in a first form that is attached to the first virtual object ([0029]), and when the companion object is in the second state, the companion object is (i) in a second form that is not attached to the first virtual object and (ii) configured to move separately from the first virtual object, the first form of the companion object being different from the second form of the companion object ([0028]-[0032]).
Regarding claim 2, Takamasa teaches wherein the companion object in the first form is configured to perform a first function and the companion object in the second form is configured to perform a second function that is different from the first function ([0029]; [0030]; [0033]).
Regarding claim 3, Takamasa teaches further comprising:
displaying a second virtual object in the virtual scene; and controlling the first virtual object to convert the second virtual object to the companion object ([0034]).
Regarding claim 9, Takamasa teaches wherein a type of the companion object includes at least one of a shield type, a scouting type, and an attack type ([0029]),
when the companion object is the shield type, the companion object is configured to reduce an effect of an attack performed by another virtual object in the virtual scene on the first virtual object;
when the companion object is the scouting type, the companion object is configured to detect whether the other virtual object is in a scouting region; and
when the companion object is the attactype, the companion object is configured to assist the first virtual object in attacking the other virtual object ([0029]).
Regarding claims 10 and 15, Takamasa teaches wherein the controlling the companion object comprises:
controlling the companion object to switch from the first state to the second state in response to a first user input; and controlling the companion object to switch from the second state to the first state in response to a second user input ([0031]-[0033]).
Regarding claim 18, Takamasa teaches further comprising:
controlling the companion object in the first state to enhance the first virtual object (in the first state, the dragon allows aerial fighting, [0028]-[0032]); and controlling the companion object in the second state to assist the first virtual object (dragon is near the main character to potentially assist if aerial combat is needed, [0028]-[0032]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-8, 11-14, 16 and 17 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yamamoto et al. (Patent No. 6,878,065).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMAR S PARRA whose telephone number is (571)270-1449. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: Mostly 10-6PM.
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/OMAR S PARRA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2421
