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.
Claims 1 - 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Step 1: It must be determined whether the invention falls in one of the four statutory categories of invention. Claims 1 – 12 are directed towards a method, (process), and claims 13 – 20 are directed towards a device and medium, (machine), which are statutory categories of invention.
Step 2a:
Prong 1: It must be determined whether the invention is directed to judicially recognized exception. Claim 1 is analyzed below with limitations indicating recitations of an abstract idea.
A virtual object control method performed by a computer device, the method comprising: displaying a first virtual object and a second virtual object in a virtual scene, the second virtual object and the first virtual object belonging to different camps; in response to a first trigger operation on a mirror interaction control associated with the first virtual object, controlling the first virtual object to move in a first direction, and displaying a mirror virtual object of the first virtual object at a first location in the virtual scene based on, but different from, a contact location at which the first virtual object comes into contact with the second virtual object; during the movement of the first virtual object in the first direction, controlling the first virtual object to move to the first location in response to a second trigger operation on the mirror interaction control; controlling the first virtual object and the second virtual object to jointly move to the first location after the first virtual object comes into contact with the second virtual object; and controlling the first virtual object to perform interaction with the second virtual object after the first virtual object and the mirror virtual object overlap.
The abstract idea is defined by the underlined portions exemplary claim 1, with substantially similar features found in claims 13 and 20. Dependent claims 2 – 12, and 14 - 10 further define the abstract idea or relate to the implementation of the abstract idea. The abstract idea is defined in at least the following grouping below:
Certain methods of organizing human activity (rules for playing a game)
The claims are directed towards an abstract idea of rules for playing a game and interactions between people, (players of the game), which fall into the category of organizing human activity, managing personal behavior or relationships between people, (See MPEP 2106.04(a)(2)(II)(C)).
Prong 2: Does the Claim recite additional elements that integrate the exception in to a practical application of the exception?
The claims recite a generic computer device along with instructions that display and allow a player to control virtual objects and characters, which is viewed as no more than instructions to implement a judicial exception.
The additional limitations do not represent an improvement to the functioning of a computer, or to any other technology or technical field, (MPEP 2106.05(a)). Nor do they apply the exception using a particular machine, (MPEP 2106.05(b)). Furthermore, they do not effect a transformation. (MPEP 2106.05(c)). Rather, these additional limitations amount to an instruction to “apply” the judicial exception using a computer as a tool to perform the abstract idea.
Step 2b: It must be determined whether the claimed invention recites additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
The claim language does recite a computer device, however, viewed as a whole, this additional element is indistinguishable from conventional computing elements known in the art. Therefore, the additional elements fail to supply additional elements that yield significantly more than the underlying abstract idea. Viewing the limitations as an ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements taken individually. There is no indication that the combination of elements improves the functioning of a computer or improves any other technology.
For these reasons, it appears that the claims are not patent-eligible under 35 USC §101 as the claims do not integrate the exceptions into a practical application or add an “inventive concept” beyond well-understood, routine, and conventional computer components and functions.
Conclusion
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/E.M.T/Examiner, Art Unit 3715
/DMITRY SUHOL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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