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 .
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.
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) 1-3 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by Wang et al. (CN 113476849 A1, machine translated Chinese Patent “Wang”).
Regarding claim 19, Wang teaches, An apparatus (Fig. 7 “As shown in FIG. 7 description the information processing device in the game comprises: a processor 501, a storage medium 502 and a bus 503.”) comprising:
one or more processors; memory storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, (Page 5 translated doc 9th para, “In a third aspect, another embodiment of the present application provides an information processing device in a game, comprising: a processor, a storage medium and a bus; the storage medium stores the machine readable instructions executable by the processor; when the information processing device in the game is operated, the processor and the storage medium are in communication through the bus; the processor executes the machine readable instructions to perform the steps of the method according to any one of the first aspect of the method “) causes the apparatus to:
cause to be displayed a virtual scene, the virtual scene comprising a first virtual object located in a first region and wearing a first suit, the first suit comprising a plurality of components distributed at different positions on the first virtual object; (Page 12, Translated doc Description of Fig.5: “obtaining module 201, for obtaining the virtual game scene in the controlled virtual character in the preset range of the environment colour, and controlled virtual role worn by a plurality of virtual appearance object of the colour;”)
determine that a color of the first region does not match a color of a first component of the plurality of components of the first suit; (Page 12 Translated doc Description of Fig.5: “determining module 202, for according to the colour of the environment colour and each virtual appearance object, determining a target virtual appearance object from a plurality of virtual appearance objects; the deviation of the appearance colour of the target virtual appearance object and the environment colour is in the preset colour deviation range;”)and
replace, in response to the determining, the first component in the first suit with a second component, wherein the second component is selected based on a color of the second component matching the color of the first region, and a second wearing position of the second component being the same as a first wearing position of the first component.( Page 12: Translated doc Description of Fig.5: “ adjusting module 203, used for according to the target virtual appearance object, the controlled virtual character for appearance adjustment. “ “ wherein the current wearing of the controlled virtual role is replaced by a plurality of target appearance virtual objects in the target appearance combination, so as to finish the adjustment of the controlled virtual character appearance.”)
Claim 1 directed to a method and its steps are similar in scope and functions of the elements of the device claim 19 and therefore claim 1 is rejected with same rationales as specified in the rejection of claim 19.
Claim 20 is directed to A non-transitory computer-readable media , (Page 5 translated doc 9th para ,“In a third aspect, another embodiment of the present application provides an information processing device in a game, comprising: a processor, a storage medium and a bus; the storage medium stores the machine readable instructions executable by the processor; when the information processing device in the game is operated, the processor and the storage medium are in communication through the bus; the processor executes the machine readable instructions to perform the steps of the method according to any one of the first aspect of the method “) and its elements are similar in scope and functions of the elements of the device claim 19 and therefore claim 20 is rejected with same rationales as specified in eth rejection of claim 19.
Regarding claim 2, Wang teaches, wherein the virtual scene further comprises an automatic suit change control and the replacing comprises: displaying the automatic suit change control in an on-state in response to an enabling operation for the automatic suit change control; and automatically replacing the first component in the first suit with the second component in response to that the determining that the color of the first region does not match the color of the first component. (““ directly determining the target virtual appearance object through preset shortcut key, so that the operation of switching and adjusting virtual appearance object is more convenient, the switching efficiency is higher, realizing shortcut switching of virtual appearance object.” Preset control is the automatic control.)
Regarding claim 3, Wang teaches, displaying a manual suit change control in an available state in response to determining that a manual suit change condition is met based on one of: a time interval between a current moment and a suit change moment of a previous suit change being greater than or equal to an interval threshold or a quantity of suit changes of the first virtual object being less than a maximum quantity of suit changes; and replacing the first component with the second component further in response to receiving a trigger operation for the manual suit change control.(Fig. 3 description Page 9 ” for example, for example, after the current player clicks the appearance combination control, triggering the display appearance display interface, the left side of the appearance display interface may be displayed with three appearance combination respectively, appearance combination 1;,” that indicates there is a manual control which can be clicked by user.)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-18 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 4 is objected because Wang teaches , wherein the virtual scene further comprises a manual suit change control, (.(Fig. 3 description Page 9 ” for example, for example, after the current player clicks the appearance combination control, triggering the display appearance display interface, the left side of the appearance display interface may be displayed with three appearance combination respectively, appearance combination 1;” that indicates there is a manual control which can be clicked by user.) the method further comprising:
Quinn et al. ( US patent publication: 2009/0132135) teaches, displaying the manual suit change control in a disabled state by hiding the manual suit change control, displaying the manual suit change control in gray, or displaying a disabled sign on the manual suit change control. ([0042] The controller 108 can be coupled to the user interface 107 to receive or monitor inputs provided locally. The user interface 107 can include, for example, a gear shift controller, typically referred to as a gear shift lever. The user interface 107 may also include one or more manual mode selectors, which can be selectively activated to control an operational mode of the drive 100. The manual mode selectors can be, for example, one or more switches or programmable elements. In an particular example, the manual mode selectors can selectively indicate an economy mode, a performance mode, a luxury mode, and the like. The manual mode selectors need not be mutually exclusive, but may be activated or disable simultaneously or otherwise concurrently”)
However the combination doesn’t teach conditional disabling due to a condition, determining that a manual suit change condition is not met based on one of: a time interval between a current moment and a suit change moment of a previous suit change being less than an interval threshold, or a quantity of suit changes of the first virtual object reaching a maximum quantity of suit changes.
Claim 5 is objected because Wang teaches, wherein the second component is selected to replace the first component by: obtaining a plurality of candidate components configured for a same wearing position as the first component ( Wang, “S104: according to the environment colour and the colour of each virtual appearance object, determining a plurality of target virtual appearance objects from a plurality of virtual appearance objects.”). No prior art is available that performs so, using a candidate component meeting a screening condition among the plurality of candidate components as the second component, the plurality of candidate components being owned by the first virtual object, and the screening condition comprising one of the following: a function of the candidate component is the same as that of the first component, a wearing position for the first component is not obscured by a virtual environment, or a color similarity between the candidate component and the first region is greater than a color similarity threshold.
Dependent claims 6-15 are objected by virtue of dependency.
Claim 16 is objected because a combination of prior art fails to teach the limitation, wherein the replacing comprises: in response to determining that the first region is a preset suit change region for the first virtual object and that the wearing position corresponding to the first component is a preset wearing position in the preset suit change region, selecting a preset component associated with the preset wearing position as the second component, wherein a color of the preset component matches the color of the first region.
Claim 17 is objected because a combination of prior art fails to teach the limitation, wherein in response to determining that the first virtual object leaves the first region and enters a second region, the method further comprises: if a color difference between the second region and the first region is less than or equal to a color difference threshold, controlling the first virtual object to continue to wear the first suit in the second region; or if a color difference between the second region and the first region is greater than the color difference threshold, replacing the first suit with a second suit that matches a color of the second region, and controlling the first virtual object to continue to wear the second suit in the second region.
Claim 18 is objected because a combination of prior art fails to teach the limitation, wherein the replacing is further performed in response to determining that the color of the first region does not match the color of the first component in the first suit and the first component does not meet a color change condition, wherein the color change condition comprises at least one of the following: whether a color of each candidate component corresponding to the first component matches the color of the first region, the candidate component being owned by the first virtual object; whether the first component has a binding relationship with another component in the first suit; whether a function of the first component is stronger than that of each candidate component corresponding to the first component; or whether the function of the first component is associated with a task currently performed by the first virtual object.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yeung et al. ( US patent Publication 20160026926) teaches, selecting dresses/outfit for virtual character based on color classification of user (“[0107]…..The player experience can be significantly enhanced by having the character modelling engine interact with an outfit suggestion component according to embodiments. …… generate at least one, and preferably multiple, optimal or near-optimal outfit suggestions along the lines described above, for presentation to the player.”)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Tapas Mazumder whose telephone number is (571)270-7466. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 AM-5:00 PM PST.
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, Alicia Harrington can be reached at 571-272-2330. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/TAPAS MAZUMDER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2615