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 .
Priority
The current application claims priority as a CON to PCT/CN2023/095032 (filed 5/18/2023), which claims foreign priority to CN202210911610.1 (filed 7/25/2022). The priority documents have been electronically retrieved in the file as of 7/8/2024.
Claim Objection – Minor Informalities
Claims 2, and 18 are objected to because each recites “the at least one table control” in the final line of the claim, and should recite “tab” control. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 7 and claim 15 are objected to because each recites “when before” and should only recite “before”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 3, 11 and 19 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.
Regarding claim 3 and parallel claims 11 and 19, claim 3 recites the following:
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the displaying an information pushing control associated with at least one tab control comprises:
displaying an information pushing control associated with at least one tab control satisfying a push condition, the push condition comprising at least one of the following:
obtaining, in the information summary dimension corresponding to the tab control, new summary information pushed by a server;
obtaining, in the information summary dimension corresponding to the tab control, summary information of which a similarity parameter is greater than or equal to a similarity threshold, the similarity parameter representing a degree of similarity between the summary
information in the information summary dimension and the first virtual object; or
obtaining, in the information summary dimension corresponding to the tab control, summary information comprising interaction data greater than or equal to an interaction data threshold.
The phrasing satisfying a condition renders the claim indefinite because it is ambiguous whether satisfying a condition refers to the push control or to the tab control, or potentially to some other condition of the virtual scene itself. Furthermore, the claim defines push conditions as actions, such as “obtaining new summary information”. A “condition” is understood as something upon which the carrying out of an operation depends, not the operation performed as a result of the condition. It is unclear how the claimed operations refine what is required of the recited “condition” because they merely define the resulting operations (i.e., not what the condition includes).
Claim Interpretation – Claim terms
The terms listed below have been given the following interpretation:
Pushing control: a separate element such as an overlay, graphic, pop-up window or the like that is configured to display at least one piece of summary information (see: claim 2, Fig. 5A (503, 504), Fig. 5B (507, 508), 0093-0094).
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, 9 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by PTO form 892 reference U (herein Age of Empires).
Examiner Content – Gameplay Video
The Examiner has relied on a public video demonstrating gameplay of ‘Age of Empires 4’, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by_C-wf7kaE and published December 3, 2021. The Examiner incorporates, in its entirety, the contents of this video. Applicant is encouraged to review the full contents of the video. The provided screenshots serve as exemplary of the entirety of these contents. The Examiner reserves the right to refer to other portions of the video (if necessary) in the future.
Regarding claim 1, Empires teaches a virtual scene information processing method performed by an electronic device, the method comprising:
displaying a virtual scene, the virtual scene comprising a first virtual object (see: p. 1-7);
in response to an interaction process comprising the first virtual object ending (see: p. 8 (“Victory” indicates end of gameplay), displaying an information summary interface configured to summarize the interaction process (see: p. 9-17), and
displaying a plurality of tab controls in the information summary interface, each tab control corresponding to one information summary dimension (see: p. 9, p. 11);
Note: p. 9 depicts tab controls for ‘Progression’, ‘Overview’, ‘Timeline’ and ‘Statistics’. Alternatively, p. 11 depicts tab controls ‘Total Score’, ‘Military’, ‘Economy’, ‘Technology’ and ‘Society’.
in response to a selection of a first page tab control among the plurality of tab controls, displaying at least one piece of summary information corresponding to the first tab control in an information display region of the information summary interface other than the plurality of tab controls (see: p. 9-17).
Note: Responsive to a particular tab control being selected, Empires displays respective summary information in a summary display region. For example, when ‘Overview’ is selected, summary information corresponding to the overview is presented (e.g., p. 11, 13). Alternatively, when the tab for ‘Military’ is selected, summary information corresponding to ‘Military’ is presented (p. 15). This is performed for each of the tab controls provided on p. 9-17.
Examiner Comment: A method “performed by an electronic device”
Although Empires does not explicitly disclose an electronic device this is an inherent feature necessary to operate the game and perform the gameplay depicted within the video. As supporting evidence, the Examiner has provided PTO Form 892-V and PTO form 892-W, which disclose the minimum device requirements for proper execution of the game. These include minimum processor, memory, graphics card, etc. requirements of devices such as PCs or the like.
Regarding claim 9 (device) and claim 17 (non-transitory medium), claim 9 and claim 17 recite substantially similar limitations and scope as recited in claim 1. Claim 9 and 17 are rejected under at least similar grounds as discussed above.
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) 2-4, 6-7, 10-12, 14-15 and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Empires in view of Haire (US 2010/0205567).
Regarding claim 2, Empires discloses all of the above including displaying an information control associated with at least one tab control which enables selection of at least one piece of summary information to be displayed (see: p. 9-10 and p. 14 (labeled box 1). Empires, however, does not teach an information pushing control (note interpretation above), the information pushing control being configured to display at least one piece of summary information corresponding to the at least one tab control.
In the field of graphical user interfaces, Haire teaches a region panel having a plurality of tab controls (e.g., Fig. 2 (204-212), Fig. 3, 0049), the controls associated to corresponding information push control or “summary regions” (e.g., Fig. 2 (228-234, 0037-0038, 0046, 0061). Thus, Haire expressly disclose an interface which provides an information pushing control, the information pushing control being configured to display at least one piece of summary information corresponding to the at least one tab control.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the invention of Empires to have utilized the known technique of information pushing controls as taught by Haire in order to have simultaneously displayed multiple related objects and pertinent pieces of information while advantageously presenting users with regions that provide highly summarized information (see: Haire: 0023-0024).
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the displaying an information pushing control associated with at least one tab control comprises:
displaying an information pushing control associated with at least one tab control satisfying a push condition, the push condition comprising at least one of the following:
obtaining, in the information summary dimension corresponding to the tab control, new summary information pushed by a server (see: Empires: p. 9-10, p. 14-17; Haire: Fig. 2-3);
Note: the summary information received in Empires is new (i.e., received from teh game server for the newly completed game session)
obtaining, in the information summary dimension corresponding to the tab control, summary information of which a similarity parameter is greater than or equal to a similarity threshold, the similarity parameter representing a degree of similarity between the summary
information in the information summary dimension and the first virtual object; or
obtaining, in the information summary dimension corresponding to the tab control, summary information comprising interaction data greater than or equal to an interaction data threshold.
4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the displaying an information pushing control associated with at least one tab control comprises:
performing one of the following processes for each of the at least one of the tab controls:
displaying an information pushing control associated with the tab control at a position connected to the tab control in the information summary interface (see: Empires: p. 9-10 and p. 14 (labeled box 1)).;
displaying, based on a display parameter used in the tab control, an information pushing control associated with the tab control at any position of the information summary interface, the information pushing control using a same display parameter as the tab control; or
displaying an information pushing control associated with the tab control at any position of the information summary interface, a connection line existing between the tab control and the information pushing control (see: Haire: 0074-0075, Fig. 10).
Note: even presuming arguendo that Empires in view of Haire did not teach the above, the position of the information pushing control does not impart a functional difference to the claim and represents the mere rearrangement of parts. See also: MPEP 2144.04(VI)(C).
6. The method according to claim 2, before the displaying an information pushing control associated with at least one tab control, the method further comprising:
determining, for the information pushing control associated with each tab control, summary information satisfying one of the following conditions as at least one piece of summary information in the information pushing control:
at least one piece of summary information selected randomly in the information summary dimension corresponding to the tab control;
at least one piece of new summary information transmitted by the server in the information summary dimension corresponding to the tab control (see: (see: Empires: p. 9-10, p. 14-17; Haire: Fig. 2-3);
Note: the summary information received in Empires is new (i.e., received from teh game server for the newly completed game session)
at least one piece of summary information of which the similarity parameter is greater than or equal to the similarity threshold in the information summary dimension corresponding to the tab control, the at least one piece of summary information of which the similarity parameter is greater than or equal to the similarity threshold being determined by the following manners:
calling, based on each piece of summary information in the information summary dimension corresponding to the tab control and a feature of a first account logged in to the information summary interface, a machine learning model to perform prediction to obtain a click/tap probability corresponding to the piece of summary information; and
sorting a plurality of pieces of summary information in descending order based on the click/tap probability, and determining at least one piece of summary information from the top of a descending order result as the at least one piece of summary information of which the similarity parameter is greater than or equal to the similarity threshold, the first account being associated with the first virtual object.
7. The method according to claim 2, when before the displaying an information pushing control associated with at least one tab control, the method further comprising:
performing one of the following processes:
displaying, in the summary information and for at least one piece of summary information displayed in a first target information pushing control, at least one interaction control corresponding to the summary information, the first target information pushing control being the information pushing control associated with the selected tab control (see: Empires: p. 910, p. 14 (box 1); or
displaying, in the summary information and for at least one piece of summary information displayed in a second target information pushing control, at least one interaction control corresponding to the summary information, the second target information pushing control being the information pushing control associated with the tab control satisfying the push condition.
Regarding claims 10-12 and 14-15, these claims recite substantially similar limitations and scope as recited in claims 2-4 and 6-7. Claims 10-12 and 14-15 are rejected under at least similar grounds as discussed above.
Regarding claims 18-20, these claims recite substantially similar limitations and scope as recited in claims 2-4. Claims 18-20 are rejected under at least similar grounds as discussed above.
Claim(s) 5 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Empires in view of Haire as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Wu (US 2013/0117110).
Regarding claim 5 and parallel claim 13, Empires in view of Haire teaches all of the above as noted but does not teach wherein
a quantity of presentation positions comprised in the information pushing control is correspondingly increased or decreased depending on an amount of summary information; or
a quantity of presentation positions comprised in the information pushing control is fixed, and the at least one piece of summary information is displayed at the presentation position of the information pushing control in a first-in first-out order.
To this accord, Wu teaches the known technique for increasing or decreasing a quantity of presentation positions based on an amount of information that can be displayed (see: 0034-0035, Fig. 3 (306)), and expressly teaches reducing the number of slots for an unpopular query (i.e., for less summary information) (see: 0051, Fig. 5 (510)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the invention of Empires in view of Haire to have utilized the known technique for adjusting the number of display positions/slots as taught by Wu in order to have ensured an appropriate amount of information can be made visible in the interface of the user by correlating the number of slots to the visible area (see: Wu: 0035).
Claim(s) 8 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Empires in view of Boni Ang Gaw Go (US 2011/0191611).
Regarding claim 8, Empires discloses al of the above as noted but does not disclose wherein the displaying a plurality of tab controls in the information summary interface comprises:
displaying the plurality of tab controls in the information summary interface in a specific sorting manner, the sorting manner comprising at least one of the following:
sorting historical interaction frequencies respectively corresponding to the plurality of tab controls in descending order;
sorting an amount of information in the information summary dimensions respectively corresponding to the plurality of tab controls in descending order;
sorting timeliness parameters of the information summary dimensions respectively corresponding to the plurality of tab controls in descending order; or
sorting importance indicators of the information summary dimensions respectively corresponding to the plurality of tab controls in descending order.
To this accord, Boni Ang teaches displaying a plurality of controls in an interface interface in a specific sorting manner, the sorting manner comprising at least one of the following:
sorting historical interaction frequencies respectively corresponding to the plurality of graphical elements in descending order (see: 0020, 0046, 0085, Fig. 11-12, claims 5-6);
sorting an amount of information in the information summary dimensions respectively corresponding to the plurality of tab controls in descending order;
sorting timeliness parameters of the information summary dimensions respectively corresponding to the plurality of tab controls in descending order; or
sorting importance indicators of the information summary dimensions respectively corresponding to the plurality of tab controls in descending order.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the invention of Empires to have utilized the known technique for sorting graphical elements as taught by Boni Ang in order to have are displayed information in an order according to a user's history of use instead of an ordinary order (see: Boni Ang: 0046), thereby improving the convenience for the user.
Examiner Comment – Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 recites subject matter in the alternative that that would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. More specifically, amending claim 1 to include intervening claim 2 and positively recite the following language from claim 6 would be allowable over the prior art:
at least one piece of summary information of which the similarity parameter is greater than or equal to the similarity threshold in the information summary dimension corresponding to the tab control, the at least one piece of summary information of which the similarity parameter is greater than or equal to the similarity threshold being determined by the following manners:
calling, based on each piece of summary information in the information summary dimension corresponding to the tab control and a feature of a first account logged in to the information summary interface, a machine learning model to perform prediction to obtain a click/tap probability corresponding to the piece of summary information; and
sorting a plurality of pieces of summary information in descending order based on the click/tap probability, and determining at least one piece of summary information from the top of a descending order result as the at least one piece of summary information of which the similarity parameter is greater than or equal to the similarity threshold, the first account being associated with the first virtual object.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Herring (US 2017/0337776) discloses a game scene processing scene information processing method performed by an electronic device, the method comprising:
displaying a virtual scene, the virtual scene comprising a first virtual object (see: 0040-0041, 0215, Fig. 13);
in response to an interaction process comprising the first virtual object ending, displaying an information summary interface configured to summarize the interaction process (see: 0204 (post battle results, achievements screen), Fig. 16 (1610-1612), Fig. 17-18), and
displaying a plurality of page controls in the information summary interface, each page control corresponding to one information summary dimension (see: Fig. 17 (1704), 0216 (series of selectable pages 1704)); and
in response to a selection of a first page tab control among the plurality of page controls, displaying at least one piece of summary information corresponding to the first page control in an information display region of the information summary interface other than the plurality of page controls (see: Fig. 17 (1705), 0216 (page 1705 is selected, which presents a summary including achievement icons and a progress meter).
Ohtani (US 20210031113) discloses a gaming method that, responsive to game processing ending (e.g., completion of a battle/turn), the gaming method displays an information summary interface configured to summarize the interaction process including a plurality of tab controls in the information summary interface (see: Fig. 6 (252a-d), 0101, Fig. 8 (302a-302d)),
Notably, each tab control corresponds to one information summary dimension for the selected turn such that in response to a selection of a first tab control (e.g., Fig. 6 (252d), Fig. 8 (302b)) among the plurality of tab controls, Ohtani displays at least one piece of summary information corresponding to the first tab control in an information display region of the information summary interface other than the plurality of tab controls (see: Fig. 6 (254, 256), 0103 (for the selected turn: enemy and residual quantity of hit points), Fig. 11 (404, 406), 0135).
Gilmore (US 2017/000112) discloses a tab-based interface for gaming (see: Fig. 6A-6B)
Higo (US 2016/0271499) discloses a tab-based menu interface for gaming (see: Fig. 6, Fig. 7, 0086
PTO form 892-X discloses gameplay for Age of Empires 3 (published October 24, 2020). 892-X teaches similar tab-based functionality as 892-U, and is accessible at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXNuXnChgTk
PTO form 892-UU discloses the minimum system requirements for Age of Empires 3.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM J ALLEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1443. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:00-4:00.
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, Anita Coupe can be reached at 571-270-3614. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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WILLIAM J. ALLEN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3625
/WILLIAM J ALLEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3619