CTNF 18/909,108 CTNF 101832 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 07-04-01 AIA 07-04 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. Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea. [STEP 1] The claim recites at least one step or structure . Thus, the claim is to a method and apparatus which is/are one of the statutory categories of invention. [STEP2A PRONG 1] The claims recite limitations which have been constructed as certain methods of organizing human activity. Claim 1 recite a method, claim 13 and 17 recite an apparatus to perform the method. The claims recite steps of controlling participation in an auction based on player rankings and awarding virtual items based on bidding activity. These steps including, determining player ranking based on battle points, permitting only certain players to participate in an auction, awarding an item to highest bidder, and allocating resources based on eligibility criteria are longstanding human activities, including fundamental economic practices and following rules or instructions ( see MPEP 2106.04(a)(2) ). The limitations described above, indicate limitations that are found to recite an abstract idea such as certain methods of organizing human activity because they recite steps and/or instructions of managing an auction for a virtual game. Additionally, certain limitations are found to recite mental processes because they recite judgement, and/or evaluation that is capable of being performed in the human mind (e.g., “ranking players”). For at least these reasons, the claims, as exemplified by independent claims 1, 13 and 17, are found to recite an abstract idea. [STEP2A PRONG II] The judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the claims do not recite additional elements that are significantly more than the judicial exception or meaningfully limit the practice of the judicial exception. The additional elements including the “processor,” “computer device,” and “non-transitory computer-readable medium,” under their broadest reasonable interpretation, are generic computer components performing conventional functions of receiving, processing, and storing data or instructions. The additional limitations merely implement the abstract idea on a computer and do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. Furthermore, the claimed limitations generally link the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment, namely a gaming environment, which is insufficient to integrate the exception into a practical application ( see MPEP 2106.05(h) ). [STEP2B] The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because, as discussed above, the additional elements are generic computer components that are known to one of ordinary skill in the art. The recitation of these additional elements do not amount to significantly more than the judicial exception, but rather adds mere instructions to implement the abstract idea on a computer as a tool to perform the abstract idea. Therefore, claims 1-20 are found to be directed to a grouping of abstract ideas without significantly more. Claim(s) 2-12, 14-16, and 18-20 is/are dependent on supra claim(s) 1, 13, and 17 respectively, and include all the limitations of the claim(s). Therefore, the dependent claim(s) recite(s) the same abstract idea. The claim(s) recite no additional limitations. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-20-aia AIA 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. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 1-4, and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon (KR 20220081894 A) in view if Pieron et al, (US 9561433 B1) hereinafter Pieron . In regards to claim 1 , Moon teaches a method for issuing a virtual item, performed by a computer device (Pg. 3, par. [8]; the fighting game support system 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be further embodied through the description of the fighting game support method to be described below.), the method comprising: determining, by the computer device, whether a target round of an electronic game battle has ended in a case that the target round in the electronic game battle has ended (Pg. 5, par. [6]; “when the battle game is over, all items purchased in the auction process are initialized”), configuring and generating, by the computer device, an item auction interface, the item auction interface comprising a plurality of accounts participating in the electronic game battle and a virtual item that can be used in a subsequent round of the electronic game battle (Pg. 4, par. [1]; the interface processing unit 132 provides an auction screen to each user, and processes the first item among the items extracted by the item management unit 131 to be displayed on the screen <S220>), the plurality of accounts comprising a first account; in a case that the auction behavior is unlocked for the first account, activating, by the computer device, an auction process of the virtual item for the first account based on an auction operation on the virtual item (Pg. 4, par. [5]; “When participating in a bid by pressing the bid participation button on the user terminal 200 of a specific user on the auction screen, the bid management unit 133 counts the remaining time after receiving the bid and checks whether additional bids are received within a set time< S225>. At this time, the interface processing unit 132 processes the bid price and the remaining time to be displayed on the screen.”); and electronically indicating, in a case that it is determined, based on the auction process, that the first account succeeds in the auction, issuance of the virtual item to the first account (Pg. 4, par. [9]; “the item management unit 131 matches and stores the successful bid item to the successful bid user <S235>, and the interface processing unit 132 displays the successful bid item on the screen in response to the user.”). Moon does not teach determining, by the computer device, whether an auction behavior is unlocked for the first account based on determining whether a battle point ranking of the first account is less than or equal to battle point rankings of a first target quantity of accounts when the plurality of accounts are sorted in an ascending order of battle points, wherein the first target quantity of accounts is a quantity of accounts allowed to participate in an auction. However, Pieron teaches ranking players based on in-game performance parameters at the end of a game event and then conditions access to game features on such rankings (Pieron; Col 9, lines 23-34; “The one or more player accounts may contain player parameters associated with the individual players. The set of parameters may include parameters reflecting the individual players progression in the online game”) and ( Col. 11, lines 42-44; “determine rewards for the players participating in the events run by the event module 118 based on the ranks achieved by the players”) and (Col. 2, lines 33-41; “ The secondary game facilitated by the secondary game module may be exclusive such that it is not accessible to general public of the online game, and is accessible only to the players invited, e.g., via the reward module.”). Both Moon and Pieron are directed to online gaming systems in which game events are conditioned on player performance. Moon tracks user participation and points. Pieron teaches providing access to game features based on player rankings. One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to apply Pieron’s rank-based access method to Moon’s auction system to increase player engagement and improve competitive balance by limiting auction privileges based on a player’s performance metrics. In regards to claim(s) 2 , Moon further teaches the method according to claim 1, the method further comprises: generating a display, in a preset region corresponding to the virtual item in descending order or ascending order of auction prices, accounts that bid for the virtual item and corresponding auction bid prices, wherein each of the auction prices represents a respective quantity of virtual resources configured for bidding for the virtual item. (Pg. 4, par. [5]; “At this time, the interface processing unit 132 processes the bid price and the remaining time to be displayed on the screen.”) and (Pg. 4, par. [2]; FIG. 3; “As shown in (a) of Figure 3, the user's information is displayed at the bottom of the screen, the information of other users is displayed at the top of the screen, and in the middle of the screen, the item of the fighting game you want to participate in, and the bidding Items in this ongoing auction are displayed.” ). In regards to claim(s) 3 , Moon teaches activating the auction process of the virtual item for the first account based on the auction operation on the virtual item comprises: in a case that the auction behavior is unlocked for the first account and an auction condition is satisfied, activating the auction process based on the auction operation (Pg. 4, par. [10]; “the item management unit 131 checks whether there is a remaining item to be put up for auction… item management unit 131 matches and stores the successful bid item to the successful bid user”). Moon’s system explicitly tracks whether an item has been purchased (matched to a user), as sold items are removed from the auction pool. Claim 3 recites that the auction condition “comprises at least one of the following,” enforcing that disclosure of a single condition is sufficient. Moon teaches a virtual item that has not been bought by any account (Pg. 4, par. [10]; “the item management unit 131 checks whether there is a remaining item to be put up for auction<S240>”). Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, a “remaining item” is a virtual item that has not been bought by anyone. Moon further teaches an auction countdown has not ended (Pg. 4, par. [5]; “bid management unit 133 counts the remaining time after receiving the bid and checks whether additional bids are received within a set time”) and (Pg. 4, par. [7]; “bid management unit 133 counts the remaining time and checks whether additional bids are received within the predetermined time”). In regards to claim(s) 4 , Moon teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the auction includes a plurality of virtual items, and wherein the method further comprises, after the indicating of the issuance of the virtual item to the first account: in a case that all of the plurality of virtual items are bid for, determining that the auction of the plurality of virtual items ends (Pg. 4, par. [11]; “the bid management unit 133 checks whether there are any remaining items <S240>, but it is confirmed <S245> that there are no remaining items after completing the auction up to the last item, the bid management unit 133 will check all items currently participating in the fighting game. The user's remaining points are destroyed and the auction is terminated <S255>.”). Moon teaches checking whether all items have been auctioned, and terminating the auction when no remaining items exist. In regards to claim(s) 12 , Moon teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises, before generating the item auction interface, the method further comprises: in a case that the first account has completed the target round, but another account has not completed the target round, displaying auction prompt information, wherein the auction prompt information is configured to prompt that the auction of the virtual item is about to start (Pg. 3, par. [12]; “when a plurality of users input a command to participate in a fighting game through the user terminal 200 in order to participate in the fighting game, the auction operation unit 130 of the fighting game support system 100 cooperates with the communication processing unit 110 The application for participation in the battle game is received <S205>.”) and (Pg. 3, par. [5]; “The interface processing unit 132 is provided to organize the screen configuration required in the auction process and provide it to the user terminal 200, and to display a button for participating in the auction, the bid amount, the remaining time, and the like.”). Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, Moon’s system waits at “S205” for all users to submit their participation commands before advancing to “S210” and “S220” which discloses a waiting period between when the first user submits their application and when the last user does is the state where one account has completed the target round but another has not . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 5-6, 8, and 10-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon (KR 20220081894 A) in view of Hu (CN 111589160 A) . In regards to claim(s) 5 , Moon teaches an auction where the system processes one item at a time through successive rounds (Pg. 4, par. [10]; “the item management unit 131 checks whether there is a remaining item to be put up for auction <S240>, and if there is a remaining item <S245>, the interface processing unit 132 processes the next item to be displayed on the screen <S225> Perform the subsequent process again.”). Moon does not explicitly teach the auction includes a plurality of virtual items, the plurality of virtual items corresponding to at least one auction round, and wherein the method further comprises, after electronic issuance of the virtual item to the first account: in a case that a current quantity of auction rounds of the plurality of virtual items is not less than a second target quantity, determining that the auction of the plurality of virtual items ends, wherein the second target quantity is a maximum quantity of auction rounds of the plurality of virtual items. However, Hu teaches an auction session including a plurality of target props within a single auction session(Pg. 13, par. [6]; “the game copy has a plurality of target props falling off; the auction page comprises multiple target props”). One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that modifying Moon’s iterative auction system to incorporate Hu’s multi-item auction session to include a configurable maximum number of auction rounds would result in controlled session duration/s and maintain system efficiency. In regards to claim(s) 6 , as discussed above with respect to claim 5, Moon teaches continuing the auction processing when remaining items exist (Pg. 4, par. [10]; “if there is a remaining item <S245>, the interface processing unit 132 processes the next item to be displayed on the screen <S225> Perform the subsequent process again.”), wherein the system repeats the auction process for unsold or unbid items. Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, Moon therefore teaches after the issuance of the virtual item to the first account: in a case that at least one of the virtual items has not been bid on and a current quantity of auction rounds is less than a second target quantity, activating a next auction round. The modification of Moon in view of Hu as discussed above with respect to claim 5 is applicable to claim 6. In regards to claim(s) 8 , Moon teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: generating prompt information on the item auction interface, wherein the prompt information is configured to prompt a first virtual item and a second virtual item (Pg. 4, par. [2]; “3A shows an example of an auction process displayed on the screen of the user terminal 200 … the item of the fighting game you want to participate in, and the bidding Items in this ongoing auction are displayed.”). Moon does not explicitly teach the first virtual item is a virtual item on which the first account is allowed to currently bid, and the second virtual item is a virtual item on which the first account is not allowed currently bid. However, Hu explicitly teaches an auction page displaying a plurality of target props simultaneously, including props for which a player is currently allowed to bid (Pg. 9, par. [10]; “updating the auction price of the first player in the auction page”) and props where bidding is triggered an abandonment instruction (“in response to the first player triggers the abandoning instruction, stopping the first player auction target property, updating the auction target of the target property in the auction page and/or displaying information of the first player giving up the auction target property in the auction page.”). Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, Hu’s auction page simultaneously displaying props with active bidding status along with props with abandonment/stopped status discloses prompt information configured to indicate both a virtual item which the account is allowed to bid on and an item the account is not allowed to bid on. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to apply Hu’s multi-item state display indicating interface to Moon’s auction system to improve user awareness of available and unavailable bidding options and enhance auction usability and player interaction. In regards to claim(s) 10 , Moon does not teach the method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: in response to determining that an auction countdown has ended, and in a case that the virtual item is bid for by one or more of the plurality of accounts, activating an overtime countdown for bidding on the virtual item, wherein the auction countdown is a time period between a current time point and the time point at which the auction ends, wherein within the overtime countdown of the virtual item, any account that bid for the virtual item is allowed to change a bid price for the virtual item. However, Hu teaches, (Pg. 12, par. [8]; “sending the delay application to the second player of the plurality of players; in response to the second player [agrees] to delay application instruction, prolonging the preset specified time; in the extended specified duration, responding to the auction instruction triggered by the first player”). One of ordinary skill in the art would have incorporated Hu’s overtime extension mechanism into Moon’s auction process to prevent last second bidding from unfairly terminating the auction and to improve fairness and increase player engagement. In regards to claim(s) 11 , Moon teaches the method according to claim 10, wherein the method further comprises: within the overtime countdown of the virtual item, and in a case that any account changes the bid price for the virtual item, resetting the overtime countdown of the virtual item (Pg. 4, par. [7]; “the bid management unit 133 counts the remaining time and checks whether additional bids are received within the predetermined time <S225>. If additional bids are received from the user terminal 200 of another user <S230>, the bid management unit 133 performs the process of <S225> again”). Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, re-executing the full countdown process from “S225” upon receipt of any new bids discloses “resetting the overtime countdown” when the countdown is restarted . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon (KR 20220081894 A) in view of Xu (CN 112274937 B), and further in view of Pieron et al, (US 9561433 B1) hereinafter Pieron . In regards to claim(s) 7, Moon teaches the base auction system but does not explicitly teach the method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: determining a total quantity of virtual resources after the auction of the virtual item ends, wherein the virtual resources are virtual resources corresponding to a total auction price, and the total auction price is an auction price at which the virtual item is successfully purchased. However, Xu discloses determining a total auction bidding proceeds after auction settlement and distributing those resources to participating players (Pg. 7, par. 15; “auction settlement is carried out to obtain total virtual bidding resources generated by the target auction interaction… the red scoring resources are distributed according to the effective number of the players participating in the target activities.”) Moon teaches a post auction result screen (Pg. 4, par. [12]; “FIG. 3B is an example of a result screen after an auction for a predetermined number of items has been completed.”) but does not explicitly teach generating and displaying a audio or visual effect of the virtual resources, wherein the audio or visual effect of the virtual resources represents that the virtual resources of the total quantity are being issued to the plurality of accounts based on rankings of the battle points of the plurality of accounts. Moon and Xu are both silent to distributing resources based on rankings of the battle points. However, Pieron teaches distributing rewards to players based on their rankings achieved in a game event (Col. 11, lines 42-45; “The reward module 120 may be configured to determine rewards for the players participating in the events run by the event module 118 based on the ranks achieved by the players as determined by the event module.”). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate Xu’s total auction resource distribution mechanism into Moon’s post auction result system, and further apply Pieron’s rank-based reward distribution technique to provide differentiated rewards based on player performance and increase player engagement. In regards to claim(s) 13-16 , the claims recite the same limitations as claims 1-4 respectively. Therefore, claims 13-16 are rejected for the same reasons as claims 1-4, respectively. The cited references disclose the same functional limitations implemented as processor-executed instructions within a computing system. For instance, Hu discloses (Pg. 4, par. [2]; “the present invention provides a server, the server comprises a processor and a memory, the memory is stored with a machine executable instructions executable by the processor, the processor executes machine executable instructions to realize the auction method of the game property according to any one of the preceding embodiments.”). In regards to claim(s) 17-20 , the claims recite the same limitations as claims 1-4 respectively. Therefore, claims 17-20 are rejected for the same reasons as claims 1-4, respectively. The non-transitory computer-readable medium format recites the same functional operations disclosed by Hu (Pg. 4, par. [3]; “the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium is stored with computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions when being invoked and executed by the processor, The computer-executable instructions cause the processor to realize the auction method of the game property according to any one of the preceding embodiments.”) and is well known to one of ordinary skill in the art . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim 9 is 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. 13-03-01 AIA The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claim 9 would be allowable for disclosing wherein the auction includes a plurality of virtual items, and the method further comprises: after the auction of the plurality of virtual items ends, in a case that a virtual item is not bid on and the first account does not successfully purchase any of the virtual items, issuing the not-bid-on virtual item to the first account . The claim(s) is/are therefore considered to be patentably distinguished from the prior art of record. The prior art of record, whether taken alone or in combination, does not disclose nor render obvious the cumulative limitations of claim 9. Conclusion Accordingly, claims 1-8, 10-20 are rejected and claim 9 is objected to. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BUSHIRA MUSA whose telephone number is (571)272-9156. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:30am-5pm. 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, Kang Hu can be reached at 5712701344. 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. /B.M./Examiner, Art Unit 3715 /KANG HU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3715 Application/Control Number: 18/909,108 Page 2 Art Unit: 3715 Application/Control Number: 18/909,108 Page 3 Art Unit: 3715 Application/Control Number: 18/909,108 Page 4 Art Unit: 3715 Application/Control Number: 18/909,108 Page 5 Art Unit: 3715 Application/Control Number: 18/909,108 Page 6 Art Unit: 3715 Application/Control Number: 18/909,108 Page 7 Art Unit: 3715 Application/Control Number: 18/909,108 Page 8 Art Unit: 3715 Application/Control Number: 18/909,108 Page 9 Art Unit: 3715 Application/Control Number: 18/909,108 Page 10 Art Unit: 3715 Application/Control Number: 18/909,108 Page 11 Art Unit: 3715 Application/Control Number: 18/909,108 Page 12 Art Unit: 3715 Application/Control Number: 18/909,108 Page 13 Art Unit: 3715 Application/Control Number: 18/909,108 Page 14 Art Unit: 3715 Application/Control Number: 18/909,108 Page 15 Art Unit: 3715
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