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 1-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claims are directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Claims 1-21 recite “a program”. Using its broadest reasonable interpretation, a program (i.e. a software program or computer readable media) would include transitory data signals, which does not fall within a statutory category (see MPEP 2106.03, Section II. ELIGIBILITY STEP 1: WHETHER A CLAIM IS TO A STATUTORY CATEGORY, “For example, the BRI of machine readable media can encompass non-statutory transitory forms of signal transmission, such as a propagating electrical or electromagnetic signal per se. See In re Nuijten, 500 F.3d 1346, 84 USPQ2d 1495 (Fed. Cir. 2007). When the BRI encompasses transitory forms of signal transmission, a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 101 as failing to claim statutory subject matter would be appropriate. Thus, a claim to a computer readable medium that can be a compact disc or a carrier wave covers a non-statutory embodiment and therefore should be rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter. See, e.g., Mentor Graphics v. EVE-USA, Inc., 851 F.3d at 1294-95, 112 USPQ2d at 1134 (claims to a "machine-readable medium" were non-statutory, because their scope encompassed both statutory random-access memory and non-statutory carrier waves).). To overcome the rejection, Applicant can amend the claims so that it falls within one of the statutory categories of subject matter as defined by 35 USC 101, or alternatively, cancel the claims.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 22-24 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: None of the references, alone or in combination, teach or suggest wherein the virtual space includes a first virtual space and a second virtual space, the control unit executes a process for match-making the user with an opponent for a game on condition that the virtual character of the user is placed in the first virtual space, and performs a play preparation process on condition that the virtual character of the user is in the second virtual space, the game is a battle game which progresses through acquisition of information of a real space, and the play preparation process includes a process related to preparation of an information acquiring device which acquires information of the real space.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Playstation Home (NPL document “PlayStation Home”), Marr et al. (US 2016/0332074 A1), Borst et al. (US 8,458,602 B2), Tam et al. (US 2014/0128166 A1), Morel et al. (US 9,656,167 B2)
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/ALLEN CHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715 5/28/2026
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