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 § 102
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-5 and 7-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by US Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0314126 to Goldman.
With regard to claim 1, Goldman discloses an information processing system that assists proceeding of a game competition where a communication game is utilized, the information processing system comprising: a competition management system configured with at least one information processing apparatus, the competition management system managing the game competition (0023-0031); a host terminal operated by a host, the host terminal configured to communicate with the competition management system (0023 discussing peer to peer); a participant terminal operated by a participant in the game competition, the participant terminal configured to communicate with the competition management system (0023); and a participant game device operated by the participant in the game competition (0023), wherein the competition management system comprises one or more first processors, and one or more first memories storing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more first processors to perform operations comprising generating information for holding the game competition based on competition setting information inputted to the host terminal (0023), in response to a participation request for participation in the game competition accepted from the participant terminal, registering participant information of a participant who has made the participation request and the game competition in association with each other (0023; 0036-0041), generating from a plurality of registered participation requests, pairing information indicating pairing of participants who play the communication game together (0023; 0036-0041), generating a session for play of the communication game together by participants in pairing designated by the pairing information among participants who have made the participation request for participation in the game competition, in association with the participants in the designated pairing (0023-0031), and transmitting session information corresponding to the generated session to the participant game device of the participant associated with the session, the participant game device comprises (0023) one or more second processors, and one or more second memories storing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more second processors to perform operations comprising communicating with the participant game device of at least one other participant who participates in a session corresponding to the session information (0023-0031), executing the communication game together with the at least one other participant who participates in the session (0023-0031), and transmitting log data of the communication game to the competition management system (0023-0031), the operations performed by the one or more first processors comprise outputting the log data to at least one of the host terminal and the participant terminal, storing report data inputted to the participant terminal (0023-0031), the report data indicating a result of the communication game played by the participant (0023-0031), and upon a predetermined condition for the report data being satisfied, updating the pairing information based on the report data, with the result of the communication game being regarded as being finalized (0023-0031), and the generating a session in association with the participants in the designated pairing comprises generating a session for play of the communication game together by the participants in the pairing designated by the updated pairing information, in association with the participants in the designated pairing (0023-0031).
With regard to claim 2, Goldman discloses wherein the one or more first processors, responsive to executing the instructions, further perform transmitting generation information indicating generation of the session to the participant terminal corresponding to the session (0023-0031).
With regard to claim 3¸Goldman discloses wherein the one or more second processors, responsive to executing the instructions, further perform outputting session information on the session corresponding to the obtained session information, and the communicating with the participant game device of another participant comprises communicating, based on an input to the session information of the participant, with another game device that participates in the session corresponding to the session information (0023-0031)
With regard to claim 4, Goldman discloses wherein the executing the communication game played together with the another participant comprises executing the communication game, match-up condition setting of which is set in advance based on the competition setting information (0023-0031).
With regard to claim 5, Goldman discloses further comprising a host game device, wherein the host game device comprises one or more third processors, and one or more third memories storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more third processors, cause the one or more third processors to perform communicating with the participant game device who participates in a session designated by the host (0023-0031).
With regard to claim 7, Goldman discloses wherein the storing report data indicating a result of the communication game played by the participant comprises storing the report data obtained from a plurality of participants who participated in the session, and the updating the pairing information based on the report data comprises determining, when contents indicated by the report data obtained at least from a first participant match with contents indicated by the report data obtained from a second participant among the participants who participated in the session, the predetermined condition as having been satisfied and updating the pairing information (0023-0031).
With regard to claim 8, Goldman discloses wherein the one or more first processors, responsive to executing the instructions, further perform giving a notification to the host terminal based on an operation onto the participant terminal (0023-0031).
With regard to claim 9, Goldman discloses wherein the one or more first processors, responsive to executing the instructions, further perform editing the pairing information based on an operation onto the host terminal (0041).
With regard to claim 10, Goldman discloses wherein the updating the pairing information based on the report data comprises updating a result of the communication game based on an operation onto the host terminal regardless of whether the predetermined condition has been satisfied (0023-0031).
With regard to claim 11, Goldman discloses wherein the one or more first processors, responsive to executing the instructions, further perform discarding the session for playing the communication game after the result of the communication game is finalized (0023-0031).
With regard to claim 12, Goldman discloses wherein the communicating with the participant game device of another participant comprises establishing peer to peer (P2P) communication with another participant game device that participates in the session (0023).
With regard to claim 13, Goldman discloses wherein the participant terminal comprises one or more fourth processors, and one or more fourth memories storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more fourth processors, cause the one or more fourth processors to perform showing a guidance image showing an action to be taken by the participant in accordance with a status of progress of the game competition, or the one or more second processors, responsive to executing the instructions, to perform showing a guidance image showing an action to be taken by the participant in accordance with a status of progress of the game competition (0023-0031; 0040-0043).
With regard to claim 14, Goldman discloses wherein the host terminal comprises one or more fifth processors, and one or more fifth memories storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more fifth processors, cause the one or more fifth processors to perform showing a competition progress image showing progress of the game competition based at least on the report data obtained at least from the competition management system (0023-0035).
With regard to claim 15, Goldman discloses wherein the competition setting information comprises a participation condition for participation in the game competition, and the registering participant information of a participant and the game competition in association with each other comprises determining whether to make registration based on the participation condition (0035-0040).
With regard to claim 16, Goldman discloses wherein the competition setting information comprises a defined number of participants, and the updating the pairing information based on the report data comprises generating the pairing information when the participation request(s) as many as the defined number of participants is/are receive (0035-0040).
Claims 17 and 18 are mirrored claims to claim 1 and are rejected in like manner.
While claim 19 is slightly modified from claim 1 it is still all disclosed by Goldman with the citations provided above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Goldman in view of US Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0328543 to Lee.
With regard to claim 6, Goldman discloses wherein the one or more second processors, responsive to executing the instructions, further perform transmitting to the competition management system, replay data for reproduction of the communication game executed by execution of the communication game to be played together with the at least one other participant (0027).
Goldman does not appear to be explicitly clear about actually replaying the game. However, Lee teaches the one or more first processors, responsive to executing the instructions, further perform storing the replay data, and the one or more second processors, responsive to executing the instructions, further perform operations comprising obtaining the replay data from the competition management system, and reproducing the communication game based on the replay data (0015).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time of the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Lee with the disclosure of Goldman such that users would be able to see important replays of previous games and thus be able to relive a key moment in the competition.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure can be found on the Notice of References Cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jay Liddle whose telephone number is (571)270-1226. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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, Dmitry Suhol can be reached at 571-272-4430. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Jay Trent Liddle/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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