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 § 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) 1-5 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Varadhan et al (US 2009/0256840) in view of Kawamura (US 2004/0110561).
Re claim 1, Varadhan discloses a method comprising: displaying a game image at a first space location in a game scene of a target gaming application (fig. 1A and par. [0025], the system renders an image from the perspective of a virtual camera), a target associated with a second space location being generated in the game scene (fig. 1A, 108, 110); and displaying first orientation prompt information of the target ([0026], the user selects points, therefore is considered being prompted for information of a target) according to a three-dimensional virtual sphere in the game image ([0027], panning sphere 104), the first orientation prompt information comprising a first marker, a second marker, and a first connecting line between the first and second marker (fig. 1A, O and P0, with connecting line 118), the first marker being located at a first location of the three-dimensional virtual sphere (fig. 1A, 112 is located in the center of the sphere), the second marker being located at a second location of the three-dimensional virtual sphere (again fig. 1A), the second location being associated with the second space location of the target in the game scene (point P0 is at a second space in the sphere), and the first connecting line indicating a first orientation of the second space location relative to the first space location ([0026], ray 118 indicates an orientation between O and P-0).
However, while Varadhan discloses multiple points in a three-dimensional sphere with connecting lines, Varadhan does not explicitly disclose the first location being associated with a first virtual character in a game scene and a target sound being associated with the second space location and instead only discloses the points being locations in a virtual environment. Kawamura teaches a game system with a three-dimensional space similar to Varadhan (see fig. 7) wherein objects in the space are defined as a player object (fig. 7, 82) and sound objects which produce sound from any point on straight lines connecting coordinates indicated by coordinate data (fig. 7, 84 and fig. 12, [0100]), allowing for the distance between a point and sound to be calculated and therefore adjust the volume of sound emitted by the sound object.
It would have been obvious to implement sound objects as taught by Kawamura with the three-dimensional system of Varadhan in order to enable for accurate and realistic portrayal of sounds in the game space relative to a game character exploring said space, increasing immersion and realism of the game.
Re claim 2, Varadhan discloses the first orientation prompt information further comprises lines of latitude and longitude of the second marker on the three-dimensional virtual sphere ([0036]).
Re claim 3, Varadhan discloses the first location is a center of the three-dimensional virtual sphere (fig. 1A, O).
Re claim 4, Varadhan discloses the second location is a surface location on a surface of the three-dimensional virtual sphere (fig. 1A, P0 is located on the surface/exterior of the sphere). Kawamura has been discussed regarding projection of sound in a three-dimensional space. As such, it would be obvious that objects at locations P0, P, and any other on that are defined as sound objects would be able to project lines regarding sound data.
Re claim 5, Varadhan discloses displaying the second marker according to a first display parameter with a first value that is determined according to a distance between the second and first space locations ([0028], objects are rendered based on their relation between each other and the user control of the virtual camera, therefore the distance of objects will be rendered based on the distances between each object, see also [0034], [0039], and [0049]).
Re claim 8, Kawamura teaches displaying a second marker according to a second display parameter with a second value that is determined according to an intensity of the target sound (see fig. 7, where torches that are closer to the camera are simultaneously larger and louder, therefore the closer the sound object, the louder).
Re claims 18-20, see the above rejections.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Varadhan in view of Kawamura as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Itai (US 2002/0004421).
Re claim 6, Varadhan does not teach displaying the second marker according to a transparency parameter with a transparency value determined according to the distance between the space locations. Itai teaches a method for displaying objects in a game space wherein objects have a transparency corresponding to the distance from the position of a light source ([0011] and [0017]). As such, Itai teaches the knowledge of adjusting the transparency of objects based on distances between objects.
It would have been obvious to implement the transparency settings of Itai with the method of Varadhan in order to accurately and realistically portray objects with varying degrees of transparency that changes with distance.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Varadhan in view of Kawamura as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Mifune et al (US 2003/0032483).
Re claim 7, Varadhan is silent on displaying the second marker according to a color parameter with a color value determined according to the distance between the second and first space locations. Mifune teaches a method of adjusting the color of displayed objects in accordance with the distance between the object and a viewpoint ([0066]).
It would have been obvious to implement the transparency settings of Mifune with the method of Varadhan in order to accurately and realistically portray objects with varying degrees of color that changes with distance.
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Varadhan in view of Kawamura as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Fan (US 2020/0338449).
Re claim 16, Varadhan is silent on a third orientation prompt information on a thumbnail map displaying planar map information of the game scene by a target plane including the first space location, the third orientation prompt information comprising an orientation of a planer projection location of the second space location on the target plane relative to the first space location on the target plane, and a target direction marker to indicate that the second space location is above or below the target plane.
Fan teaches a game display with a thumbnail map (fig. 12) with UI elements directed to the orientation of a target location (1202) indicating that the target is below the current location ([0119]). It would have been obvious to implement the thumbnail map and orientation arrows of Fan with the methods of Varadhan in order to clearly indicate to players the locations of selected objects and locations on their UI while also providing a convenient mini-map, enabling players to assess their current location without needing to open a full-screen map.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-15 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kevin Y Kim whose telephone number is (571)270-3215. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Xuan Thai can be reached at (571) 272-7147. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KEVIN Y KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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