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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7, 8, and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Burnout Revenge (as shown by NPL document “Event Types – Burnout Revenge Guide – IGN”, hereinafter referred to as Burnout).
Regarding claims 1, 17, and 18, Burnout discloses a game service method using a time resource element, the game service method comprising:
allocating a time resource and a physical strength resource to each of user characters comprising a first user character and a second user character (see pg. 2, 2nd par., “You start off with a certain time on the clock that varies between the actual track”, also see pg. 8, 1st par., “your car carries over damage”, thus the vehicles/characters have a certain health/strength);
when a game stage starts, reducing the time resource held by each of the user characters as time elapses (see pg. 2, 2nd par., “You start off with a certain time on the clock that varies between the actual track”);
when at least one first event occurs, reducing the time resource held by the first user character (see pg. 3, 1st par., “Ramming heavy vehicles (such as semi trucks) will kill your speed and make you crash, which wastes about 4 to 7 seconds of time”, thus the vehicle/character loses time when they are damaged by opponent an opponent vehicle/character); and,
when at least one second event distinguished from the first event occurs, increasing the time resource held by the first user character (see pg. 2, 2nd par., “Once you drop under 20 seconds, hitting another car will add time to a maximum of 20”),
wherein the increasing the time resource comprises:
when the second event occurs where the physical strength resource of the second user character reaches a first threshold value due to an attack by the first user character, increasing the time resource held by the first user character (see pg. 7, 1st par., “Time is extended when you takedown a certain number of cars; also see pg. 7, 2nd par., “By far the easiest way to takedown a car is to grind against it and push it into a wall. Make sure you're going a little faster than your target is, or he'll be able to press you across the road. Just keep pressing against him until he grinds against a wall, and you'll get a cinematic shot of the takedown!”, a “takedown” in the Burnout game series is when an opponent vehicle is destroyed).
Regarding claims 2 and 19, Burnout discloses wherein the increasing the time resource of the first user character comprises: when the physical strength resource of the second user character reaches the first threshold value due to an attack by the first user character, determining an amount of increase in the time resource of the first user character based on the time resource held by the second user character; and increasing the time resource of the first user character by the determined amount of increase (see pg. 2, 2nd par., “Once you drop under 20 seconds, hitting another car will add time to a maximum of 20”; also see pg. 7, 2nd par., “By far the easiest way to takedown a car is to grind against it and push it into a wall. Make sure you're going a little faster than your target is, or he'll be able to press you across the road. Just keep pressing against him until he grinds against a wall, and you'll get a cinematic shot of the takedown!”, a “takedown” in the Burnout game series is when an opponent vehicle is destroyed; also see pg. 6, 1st par., “During Crash events, one car will be marked as a target car. Taking it out will result in a huge monetary bonus”; thus the player can earn varying awards for defeating different opponents).
Regarding claim 3, Burnout discloses wherein, as the time resource held by the second user character is greater, the amount of increase in the time resource of the first user character increases (see pg. 6, 1st par., “During Crash events, one car will be marked as a target car. Taking it out will result in a huge monetary bonus”; thus the player can earn varying awards for defeating different opponents).
Regarding claims 4 and 20, Burnout discloses wherein the reducing the time resource comprises: when the first event occurs where the physical strength resource of the first user character reaches the first threshold value due to an attack by the second user character, reducing the time resource held by the first user character by a preset amount of reduction (see pg. 9, 1st par., “Other drivers are aggressive, and they seek to completely to take you down”; also see pg. 3, 1st par., “Ramming heavy vehicles (such as semi trucks) will kill your speed and make you crash, which wastes about 4 to 7 seconds of time”, thus the vehicle/character loses time when they are damaged by opponent an opponent vehicle/character).
Regarding claim 7, Burnout discloses determining a target user character who wins a game based on the time resources held by the user characters, wherein the determining the target user character comprises: when the first user character of the user characters is the only user character with a remaining time resource, determining the first user character as the target user character (see pg. 7, 1st par., “You'll start with 60 seconds on the clock. Unlike Traffic Attack, you can add time from the beginning, and there's no limit. Time is extended when you takedown a certain number of cars; keep doing takedowns, and you'll be driving forever.”; also see pg. 9, 5th par., “Eliminator races are simple races with an added twist. Instead of being over after so many laps, the race has a clock. After 30 seconds, whoever is in last place gets eliminated. The clock then resets, and when it expires again, whoever is in last that time gets tossed. This repeats until only one racer remains”).
Regarding claim 8, Burnout discloses determining a target user character who wins a game based on the time resources held by the user characters, wherein the determining the target user character comprises: when a set time has elapsed, determining the user character with the greatest time resource of the time resources respectively held by the user characters as the target user character (see pg. 9, 5th par., “Eliminator races are simple races with an added twist. Instead of being over after so many laps, the race has a clock. After 30 seconds, whoever is in last place gets eliminated. The clock then resets, and when it expires again, whoever is in last that time gets tossed. This repeats until only one racer remains”; thus user characters are ranked according to the time/position of each character to eventually determine a winner).
Regarding claim 16, Burnout discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the game service method of claim 1 (see NPL document “Event Types – Burnout Revenge Guide – IGN” which describes a video game which would be embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Burnout Revenge (as shown by NPL document “Event Types – Burnout Revenge Guide – IGN”, hereinafter referred to as Burnout) in view of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (as shown by NPL document “Sand of Hours – Zelda Wiki”, hereinafter referred to as Zelda).
Regarding claim 10, Burnout discloses the method as discussed above. However, Zelda does not explicitly disclose wherein the increasing the time resource comprises: when the second event occurs where the first user character acquires a time resource replenishment item existing on a game map, increasing the time resource held by the first user character by a time resource corresponding to the acquired time resource replenishment item.
Zelda teaches a game wherein the increasing the time resource comprises: when the second event occurs where the first user character acquires a time resource replenishment item existing on a game map, increasing the time resource held by the first user character by a time resource corresponding to the acquired time resource replenishment item (see pg. 3, 1st par., “Additional temporary time upgrades can be found throughout the temple. These will not add to the total Sands of Hours and will just recover up to 30 seconds worth of sand.”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the method of Burnout with the time replenishment items of Zelda in order to give the player additional opportunities to earn time in the game.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 6, 9, and 11-15 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.
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 game stage comprises a plurality of game stages sequentially starting as time elapses, wherein the game stages comprise a first game stage starting at a first time and a second game stage starting at a second time that is later than the first time, and the reducing the time resource comprises: reducing the time resource in the first game stage based on a first time reduction rate; and reducing the time resource in the second game stage based on a second time reduction rate that is faster than the first time reduction rate; when the first user character is attacked by the second user character, reducing the physical strength resource held by the first user character; when the physical strength resource of the first user character reaches the first threshold value, determining whether the time resource of the first user character is greater than a second threshold value; and, when the time resource of the first user character is greater than the second threshold value, determining to respawn the first user character; wherein the reducing the time resource comprises: when the first event of receiving a purchase selection input for a skill usable by the first user character or an upgrade request input for a skill possessed by the first user character occurs in the game stage, reducing the time resource held by the first user character; and wherein the user characters further comprise a third user character and a fourth user character, wherein the first user character and the third user character belong to a first team, and the second user character and the fourth user character belong to a second team distinguished from the first team, and the game service method further comprises, when the first user character is positioned within a reference distance from the third user character on a game map, controlling to output a visual object representing that a distance between the first user character and the third user character is within the reference distance on a screen of a user terminal.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kataoka et al. (US 8,480,492 B2)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALLEN CHAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5529. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 11:00 AM EST to 7:00 PM EST.
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.
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.
/ALLEN CHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715 6/11/2026
Prosecution Insights