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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 7/16/2024, 7/31/2025, and 4/2/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the Examiner.
Claim Status
Claims 1-20 are pending in this Office Action.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 8, 14, and 18 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.
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)(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 1-3, 6, 10-13, 16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Li (US 2024/0269556) (Of Record).
Regarding claims 1, 11, and 20, Li teaches: An inter-account interaction method performed by a computer device [(abstract)], the method comprising:
displaying a battle preparation interface of a virtual battle [displaying a game interface includes a UI interface and a game screen for players to interact with each other and including a game setting control (e.g., system setting, store, golden coin, etc). The game including attacking and fighting (par. 30, 32-33, and 37)],
the battle preparation interface comprising a first icon and at least one second icon, the first icon representing a first account associated with the computer device, the second icon representing an account other than the first account [Fig. 2 depicts icons of virtual objects corresponding to each player of an online multiplayer game accessed through the Internet (par. 3 and 48, Fig. 2)]
in response to a trigger operation on one of the at least one second icon as a target icon, displaying a prop selection area on the battle preparation interface and at least one interactive prop owned by the first account in the prop selection area [each player can click on icons of other virtual objects other than the first virtual object corresponding to himself. After the target virtual object is determined in response to the selection operation, at least one interaction icon can be set in a circle and displayed above the target virtual object (par. 48-51, Fig. 2). The icon may be a virtual object, such as a heart or tomato, that can be given to another player (par. 55 and 65, Fig. 4-6)] and
in response to a selection of one of the at least one interactive prop as a target interactive prop, playing a target special effect animation of transmitting a special effect resource of the target interactive prop pointing from the first icon to the target icon [in response to a trigger operation in at least one interaction icon, the first virtual object model is controlled to perform an animation corresponding to the interaction icon along a preset path between the first virtual object model and the target virtual object model. For example, a heart animation may be sent along the path from the first player’s icon to the second player’s icon (par. 55-56, 61, and 65, Fig. 3-6)].
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Li teaches the inter-account interaction method of claim 1; Li further teaches: the playing a target special effect animation of transmitting a special effect resource of the target interactive prop pointing from the first icon to the target icon comprises: obtaining a special effect identifier of the target interactive prop indicating the special effect resource of the target interactive prop; obtaining the special effect resource of the target interactive prop based on the special effect identifier [determining an identification of the interaction icon corresponding to an animation to be displayed (par. 69)]
determining a special effect track of the special effect resource between a location of the first icon and a location of the target icon based on a type of the special effect resource; and playing the target special effect animation based on the special effect resource and the special effect track [determining a path between a position of the first virtual object and a position of the target virtual object based on a type of animation. Perform the animation corresponding to the interaction icon corresponding to the trigger operation along the path between the first virtual object and the target virtual object (par. 61-62, 64, Fig. 4-6)].
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Li teaches the inter-account interaction method of claim 2; Li further teaches: the obtaining a special effect identifier of the target interactive prop comprises: transmitting a prop use request to a server, the prop use request carrying the first account, a second account corresponding to the target icon, and a prop identifier of the target interactive prop; and receiving a special effect identifier that corresponds to the prop identifier returned by the server [sending a request to a server including an identification of the interaction icon corresponding to the trigger operation, an identification of the first virtual object, and an identification of the target virtual object, and the server can control a display of the animation (par. 69)].
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Li teaches the inter-account interaction method of claim 1; Li further teaches: the special effect resource comprises a first special effect at a location of the first icon, a second special effect during movement of the target interactive prop, and a third special effect at a location of the target icon [the position of the first virtual object displays a heart, followed by a display of a heart moving towards the target virtual object, and then a final heart animation of the target virtual object receiving the heart (par. 65, Fig. 4-6)].
Regarding claim 10, Li teaches the inter-account interaction method of claim 1; Li further teaches: the displaying a prop selection area on the battle preparation interface comprises: displaying a prop selection control configured to select an interactive prop to be used on a second account corresponding to the target icon; and displaying the prop selection area on the battle preparation interface [After the target virtual object is determined in response to the selection operation, at least one interaction icon can be set in a circle and displayed above the target virtual object for the player to select from (par. 48-51, Fig. 2). The icon may be a virtual object, such as a heart or tomato, that can be given to another player (par. 55 and 65, Fig. 4-6)].
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.
Claims 5 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (US 2024/0269556) in view of Wang et al. (CN 110111401).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Li teaches the inter-account interaction method of claim 1; Li further teaches: the playing a target special effect animation of transmitting a special effect resource of the target interactive prop pointing from the first icon to the target icon comprises: transmitting a prop use request to a server, the prop use request carrying the first account, a second account corresponding to the target icon, and a prop identifier of the target interactive prop [sending a request to a server including an identification of the interaction icon corresponding to the trigger operation, an identification of the first virtual object, and an identification of the target virtual object, and the server can control a display of the animation (par. 69)]
receiving the target special effect animation returned by the server, the target special effect animation being generated by the server based on the special effect resource of the target interactive prop, and the special effect resource of the target interactive prop being determined by the server based on a special effect identifier corresponding to the prop identifier; and playing the target special effect animation [the server can control a display of the animation on the display based on the animation corresponding to the interaction icon of the trigger operation (par. 69)].
Li does not explicitly disclose: the prop use request carrying a location of the first icon and a location of the target icon; and the target special effect animation being generated by the server based on the location of the first icon and the location of the target icon.
Wang teaches: the prop use request carrying a location of the first icon and a location of the target icon; and the target special effect animation being generated by the server based on the location of the first icon and the location of the target icon [receiving a request for animation and according to the starting position and the ending position generating the animation (abstract)].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Li and Wang before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the inter-account interaction method of Li by incorporating the teaching of Wang such that the prop use request carrying a location of the first icon and a location of the target icon; and the target special effect animation being generated by the server based on the location of the first icon and the location of the target icon. The motivation for doing so would have been to inform the server of the position of each icon, so the animation can be played along the path (Wang – abstract). Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine the teachings of Li and Wang to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim.
Claims 7 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (US 2024/0269556) in view of Rosenblatt et al. (US 2010/0081375).
Regarding claims 7 and 17, Li teaches the inter-account interaction method of claim 1; Li does not explicitly disclose: the displaying a prop selection area on the battle preparation interface comprises: obtaining a consumption frequency of the at least one interactive prop; and
displaying the prop selection area on the battle preparation interface based on the consumption frequency of the at least one interactive prop, the at least one interactive prop being displayed in the prop selection area in descending order of the consumption frequency.
Rosenblatt teaches: the displaying a prop selection area on the battle preparation interface comprises: obtaining a consumption frequency of the at least one interactive prop; and
displaying the prop selection area on the battle preparation interface based on the consumption frequency of the at least one interactive prop, the at least one interactive prop being displayed in the prop selection area in descending order of the consumption frequency [display the list items 882 in a particular order (e.g., by most used, manual preferences, alphabetical order (par. 301)].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Li and Rosenblatt before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the inter-account interaction method of Li by incorporating the teaching of Rosenblatt such that obtaining a consumption frequency of the at least one interactive prop; and displaying the prop selection area on the battle preparation interface based on the consumption frequency of the at least one interactive prop, the at least one interactive prop being displayed in the prop selection area in descending order of the consumption frequency. The motivation for doing so would have been to help the user easily find the most frequently used item (Rosenblatt – par. 301). Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine the teachings of Li and Rosenblatt to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim.
Claims 9 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (US 2024/0269556) in view of Chu (US 2021/0006866).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, Li teaches the inter-account interaction method of claim 1; Li does not explicitly disclose: the displaying a prop selection area on the battle preparation interface comprises: obtaining an account relationship between the first account and a second account corresponding to the target icon; and displaying at least one interactive prop corresponding to the account relationship in the prop selection area of the battle preparation interface.
Chu teaches: the displaying a prop selection area on the battle preparation interface comprises: obtaining an account relationship between the first account and a second account corresponding to the target icon; and displaying at least one interactive prop corresponding to the account relationship in the prop selection area of the battle preparation interface [taking user’s relationships to other users into account when displaying an item for selection on the interface (par. 55, 115-117, 126, 131)].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Li and Chu before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the inter-account interaction method of Li by incorporating the teaching of Chu such that obtaining an account relationship between the first account and a second account corresponding to the target icon; and displaying at least one interactive prop corresponding to the account relationship in the prop selection area of the battle preparation interface. The motivation for doing so would have been to take into account the interests of the user and other user when displaying the item list (Chu – 131). Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine the teachings of Li and Chu to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim.
Conclusion
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/ALEXANDER BOYD/ Examiner, Art Unit 2424
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