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 .
Status of Claims
In response to the Amendment filed on April 21st, 2025, claims 1-56 have been cancelled. Claims 57-76 are newly added. Claims 57-76 are currently pending.
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) 57-65 and 67-75 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Long et al. (US 2017/0157512 A1).
Regarding claims 57 and 67, Long discloses a method comprising:
detecting a stream transmitted to a user device, the stream depicting gameplay of a first video game instance (see par. [0084], In some embodiments, one or more of user devices 110, 120, 130, 140 and 150 may have locally installed game client programs that communicate with game server 196 to facilitate a source game play of a source computer game running on game server 196);
identifying, based on an analysis of the stream, game state information of the first video game instance depicted in the stream (see par. [0085], In some embodiments, game metadata or game stream metadata of a source game play may be used by a game connector component of SLIVER Servers 197 to configure a local game play within the server to replicate the source game play for game play recording and highlight video generation within SLIVER server 197);
configuring a second video game instance based on the game state information identified for the first video game instance (see par. [0088], A local game play is a game play configured and/or replicated from game metadata or game recordings of a source game play; also see par. [0090], In some embodiments, highlight videos or other game media produced by SLIVER server 197 may be spherical. Monoscopic or stereoscopic spherical media thus produced may be downloaded to any of the above-mentioned user devices 110, 120, 130, 140, and 150, for live viewing or on-demand replay through a view client application installed therein); and
causing the user device to become configured to interact with the second video game instance (see par. [0059], In other words, a spherical video is an immersive video where the view in every direction is available at the same time. A spherical video may be viewed in full VR mode with a VR headset, or in slidable panorama-360 mode on a conventional 2D or 3D viewing device. Playback of spherical videos in a VR environment is interactive, with the viewer having control over the viewing directions; also see par. [0064], Interactive user control of the viewing angle is facilitated through head and body movements, and 3D audio is often provided concurrently).
Regarding claims 58 and 68, Long discloses wherein the identifying the game state information comprises:
determining a fingerprint for the first video game instance based on the analysis of the stream (see par. [0096], SLIVER server 240 may further examine game metadata to extract metadata cues for critical game moment identification);
the fingerprint comprises a plurality of characteristics (see par. [0096], visual, audio, and metadata); and the plurality of characteristics comprises at least one of:
a dimensional space of one or more frames of the stream; an object identified within the one or more frames of the stream; a location of the object identified within the one or more frames of the stream; or one or more audio segments of the stream (see par. [0096], Exemplary visual cues include sudden, successive changes in color that indicates the occurrence of explosions, placement of multiple players within very close proximity which may indicate an intense battle scene, and the like. Exemplary audio cues include explosion sounds, changes in tone in player commentaries, and the like).
Regarding claims 59 and 69, Long discloses wherein the configuring the second video game instance is based on receiving, from the user device, a request to modify one or more characteristics of the gameplay depicted in the stream (see par. [0140], In some embodiments, the utilized virtual camera trajectory may be manually configured or controlled by a viewer such as a broadcaster, a player, or a spectator; changing the viewing angle can be considered modifying a characteristic of gameplay).
Regarding claims 60 and 70, Long discloses wherein configuring the second video game instance comprises accessing a remote video game server to retrieve first video game instance information (see par. [0084], Game data such as visual and non-visual recordings of the source game play, rendered game scenes or textures, metadata, and the like, may be sent by game server 196); and
configuring the second video game instance further based on the first video game instance information (see par. [0088], A local game play is a game play configured and/or replicated from game metadata or game recordings of a source game play).
Regarding claims 61 and 71, Long discloses wherein accessing the remote video game server to retrieve the first video game instance information comprises determining a match between a plurality of characteristics of a fingerprint for the first video game instance and a plurality of game elements of the first video game instance information on the remote video game server (see par. [0096], SLIVER server 240 may further examine game metadata to extract metadata cues for critical game moment identification. For example, death of a player is often considered an important or critical event, and the killing moment is subsequently highlighted or replayed. In some embodiments, such visual, audio, and metadata cues may be combined, correlated or cross-compared to generate highlight metadata, which may provide more accurate gaming moment identification results than using individual cues).
Regarding claims 62 and 72, Long discloses wherein the first video game instance information comprises one or more video game inputs associated with the gameplay depicted in the stream; and the method further comprises executing the one or more video game inputs in the second video game instance (see par. [0123], Such a game play may be a local game play or local “gaming moment” play, where the gaming moment of interest is configured and replicated according to received game play data, but with new virtual cameras inserted accordingly to the computed virtual camera trajectories; thus actions or inputs performed in the game stream are replicated on the local device).
Regarding claims 63 and 73, Long discloses wherein the second video game instance is configured using one of: a game engine or emulator executing on the user device; or a game engine or emulator executing on a remote server (see par. [0130], In some other embodiments, a view client is a plug-in, add-on, or extension to an application such as a web browser or a video game emulator, a gaming platform such as PlayStation or Xbox, a content-sharing platform such as Twitch or Facebook, or any other similar software or portals that may be used to distribute and view spherical media served by SLIVER server 540).
Regarding claims 64 and 74, Long discloses wherein the second video game instance is configured using the game engine executing on the user device; and configuring the second video game instance is based on determining that the user device has access to the game engine (see par. [0130], In some other embodiments, a view client is a plug-in, add-on, or extension to an application such as a web browser or a video game emulator, a gaming platform such as PlayStation or Xbox, a content-sharing platform such as Twitch or Facebook, or any other similar software or portals that may be used to distribute and view spherical media served by SLIVER server 540).
Regarding claims 65 and 75, Long discloses wherein the user device becomes configured to interact with the second video game instance by modifying at least one of: a virtual viewing position of the second video game instance; a virtual viewing angle of the second video game instance; an object of the second video game instance; a position of the object of the second video game instance; a virtual game space of the second video game instance; or a game setting of the second video game instance (see par. [0064], Interactive user control of the viewing angle is facilitated through head and body movements).
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) 66 and 76 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Long et al. (US 2017/0157512 A1) in view of Osman et al. (US 2018/0001206 A1).
Regarding claims 66 and 76, Long discloses the method as discussed above including wherein the gameplay depicted in the stream comprises a first action (see par. [0096], For example, death of a player is often considered an important or critical event, and the killing moment is subsequently highlighted or replayed).
However, Long does not explicitly disclose the method further comprises: determining that the first action is not ideal; causing the user device to display, via the second video game instance, an indication that the first action is not ideal; determining a second action that is ideal; and executing the second action on the second video game instance.
Osman teaches a method for assisting game play including determining that the first action is not ideal; causing the user device to display, via the second video game instance, an indication that the first action is not ideal; determining a second action that is ideal; and executing the second action on the second video game instance (see par. [0097], At 450, the method includes determining a recommendation for the user based on the user predictive rate of success. Again, following the example above of a user having poor proficiency that is presented with a difficult task, then a recommendation may be presented to the user. The recommendation may include suggestions on how the user should respond in addressing the task, sub-task, or action. For example, the recommendation may include a recommended response to set of commands or actions that facilitate accomplishing the task). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the method of Long with the game assistance of Osman in order to provide for a better gaming experience for users participating in a gaming application because instead of struggling through hard sections of the gaming application, or quitting the gaming application, recommendations are provided in the form of gaming assistance to help guide the user (see Osman, par. [0021]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Bruzzo et al. (US 10,226,708 B2)- teaches an interactive gameplay playback system
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/ALLEN CHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715 9/29/2026
