DETAILED ACTION
It would be of great assistance to the Office if all incoming papers pertaining to a filed application carried the following items:
1. Application number (checked for accuracy, including series code and serial no.).
2. Group art unit number (copied from most recent Office communication).
3. Filing date.
4. Name of the examiner who prepared the most recent Office action.
5. Title of invention.
6. Confirmation number (See MPEP § 503).
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 – 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. Since a computer program is merely a set of instructions capable of being executed by a computer, the computer program itself is not a process, therefore without a non-transitory computer-readable medium needed to realize the computer program's functionality, a claim for a computer program is treated as nonstatutory functional descriptive material.
"Functional descriptive material” is nonstatutory when claimed as descriptive material per se, 33 F.3d at 1360, 31 USPQ2d at 1759. When functional descriptive material is recorded on some [non-transitory] computer-readable medium, it becomes structurally and functionally interrelated to the medium and will be statutory in most cases since use of technology permits the function of the descriptive material to be realized. Compare In re Lowry, 32 F.3d 1579, 1583-84, 32 USPQ2d 1031, 1035 (Fed. Cir. 1994)(discussing patentable weight of data structure limitations in the context of a statutory claim to a data structure stored on a computer readable medium that increases computer efficiency) and >In re< Warmerdam, 33 F.3d *>1354,< 1360-61, 31 USPQ2d *>1754,< 1759 (claim to computer having a specific data structure stored in memory held statutory product-by-process claim) with Warmerdam, 33 F.3d at 1361, 31 USPQ2d at 1760 (claim to a data structure per seheld nonstatutory).
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, 2, 3, 5, and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Reiche et al. (US 2014/0162785).
As to claim 1, Reiche discloses a program for a game in which a plurality of types of characters appear,
the program causing a computer to function as an illustrated-reference-book-function provision portion that registers the characters that have satisfied a registration condition in an illustrated reference book (server 420 stores character information [0054] wherein character information comprises an image [0069]), wherein
the illustrated-reference-book-function provision portion
manages the presence/absence of a registration status in the illustrated reference book in association with the types of characters and sets advantageous effects for the progression of the game in accordance with the types of characters registered in the illustrated reference book (storing information of encountered or defeated character [0054] wherein the information of the encountered or defeated character comprises the identity of the encountered or defeated character and characteristics of the encountered or defeated character [0054]).
As to claim 2 (dependent on 1), Reiche discloses a program, wherein
the illustrated-reference-book-function provision portion
enables the registration of the characters in the illustrated reference book in an event held for a period set in advance and the advantageous effects are set in correspondence with the period in which said event is held (abilities of the second user’s character are stored temporarily [0056]).
As to claim 3 (dependent on 1), Reiche discloses a program, wherein:
the characters to be used by a player can be selected from the plurality of types of characters (selecting a specific user’s character [0056]); and
the advantageous effects set in accordance with the types of characters selected as the registration targets for the illustrated reference book are applied to the game progression regardless of the types of characters selected as the use targets (characteristics and powers of second user’s character are applied to the first user’s character [0056]).
As to claim 5, Reiche discloses an information processing system for a game in which a plurality of types of characters appear,
the system comprising an illustrated-reference-book-function provision portion that registers the characters that have satisfied a registration condition in an illustrated reference book (server 420 stores character information [0054] wherein character information comprises an image [0069]), wherein
the illustrated-reference-book-function provision portion
manages the presence/absence of a registration status in the illustrated reference book in association with the types of characters and sets advantageous effects for the progression of the game in accordance with the types of characters registered in the illustrated reference book (storing information of encountered or defeated character [0054] wherein the information of the encountered or defeated character comprises the identity of the encountered or defeated character and characteristics of the encountered or defeated character [0054]).
As to claim 6, Reiche discloses an information processing method for a game in which a plurality of types of characters appear, the method comprising:
an illustrated-reference-book registering step of registering the characters that have satisfied a registration condition in an illustrated reference book (storing information of encountered or defeated character [0054] wherein the information of the encountered or defeated character comprises the identity of the encountered or defeated character and characteristics of the encountered or defeated character [0054]) and managing the presence/absence of a registration status in the illustrated reference book in association with the types of characters (abilities of the second user’s character are stored temporarily [0056]); and
an effect setting step of setting advantageous effects for the progression of the game in accordance with the types of characters registered in the illustrated reference book (utilizing abilities of registered characters [0054]).
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.
Claim(s) 3 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Reiche in view of Hiroshige et al. (US 2008/0207323).
As to claim 4 (dependent on 1), Reiche discloses a program, but does not explicitly disclose that: a team can be organized by the player selecting the characters from the plurality of types of characters; and the illustrated-reference-book-function provision portion registers the characters in the illustrated reference book on the basis of organization information of the team.
In the same foiled of endeavor, Hiroshige discloses a game apparatus (TITLE), wherein a team can be organized by the player selecting the characters from the plurality of types of characters (forming a plyer team [0064]); and
the provision portion registers the characters in the reference book on the basis of organization information of the team (a sum of the degrees of stamina of all characters which the player has caused to participate in the game becomes the degree of stamina of the player team [0064]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Reiche and the teachings of Hiroshige, such that the user was capable of organizing a team of characters and a collective attribute was registered as disclosed by Hiroshige, with motivation to provide a simple design choice alternative gameplay well known before the effective filing date of the claimed invention and which would have only required a routine skill.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DMITRIY BOLOTIN whose telephone number is (571)270-5873. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM - 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, Chanh Nguyen can be reached at (571)272-7772. 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.
/DMITRIY BOLOTIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2623
Prosecution Insights