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 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to mental steps without significantly more. As per step 1 examiner recognizes that the claims 1-5, 8-9, and 12-17 are directed towards methods with the preamble including mention of the method being computer implemented. However the body of the claims do not include computer hardware to implement the claimed method steps and recognizing that a preamble is not always limiting examiner finds that the claims can be directed towards purely mental steps without computer hardware and therefore do not met step 1. Additionally language directed towards a prediction engine does not make clear the prediction engine is hardware and therefore it is unclear if a person can be considered the prediction engine in this case. As per claims 6-7, 10-11, and 18-19 the claims include computer hardware or specific computer elements, such as machine learning systems, that are not directed towards mental steps. As per step 2A the claim(s) recite(s) “accessing, the user achievement requirement denoting goals and/or milestones for the player to accomplish within the game, the user requirement comprising a plurality of associated factors defining measurement of meeting the user achievement requirement by the player; predicting a target set of configuration parameters that when used for configuring the gaining engine, result in the player meeting the user achievement requirement as measured by the associated factors, wherein the target set of configuration parameters comprises a combination of a first type of configuration parameters and a second type of configuration parameters, the first type of configuration parameters being associated with setting an effort level predicted to be tolerated by the player, and the second type of configuration parameters associated with setting a reward level predicted as an incentive by the player; and providing the target set of configuration parameters for configuring the gaming engine predicted to result in the player meeting the user achievement requirement as measured by the plurality of associated factors.” which is directed towards a method of determining achievements requirements for a game wherein two configuration values are predicted in the form of a prediction made based on an effort level predicted to be tolerated by the player and a reward level predicted as an incentive by the player to achieve the achievement in order to configure an achievement requirement in a game engine. Further dependent claims include play rates, machine learning models, and other associated features of the prediction system. As per the configuration and prediction this reads on the mental step of game development wherein a developer can determine the difficulty of a task and the reward provided and predict whether or not a player will want to achieve the task. For example it is known in gaming for developers to create challenges for players in order to encourage play of a game and to provide rewards to meeting these challenges. It is known that developers have to both balance difficulty so that the challenge is not too difficult to achieve and provide enough of a reward that a player will want to achieve the task. For example in online gaming players can be given the task of defeating a certain number of players in order to unlock a cosmetic reward in a first person shooter game. These are mentals steps performed by developers based on data observed from play which a developer then makes a determination. See Kelly et al. (US Pat. No. 6,015,344) "Besides the components of game processor 12, the control system can include operator-configurable controls to provide selectable game functions such as the amount the score is incremented for certain player actions or commands, the amount of prize credits awarded based on the score, the speed and/or difficulty of game play, the conditions required to add to the game score and/or receive universal or specific prize tickets, the conditions required for a player to win a progressive bonus award or enter a tournament, etc. These factors can affect the difficulty of the game and the amount of tickets/vouchers received by players." col. 14, line 56 to col. 15, line 1 as an example within the art for this process wherein configuration setting can be made for these features. As per the mental steps examiner recognizes that applicant cites development of the game using a machine-learning system without clarification on how the machine-learning functions beyond broad claims and which would therefore read on a mental process. Specifically examiner recognizes this is the use of a machine-learning algorithm to the perform the mental function of modifying or developing a game based on observation which is a step that can be performed by an individual. No steps are recited beyond generic automation steps that clarify the features away from the mental step or provide significantly more. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the mental step of developing games. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the judicial exception regarding game developer mental steps does not include an improvement beyond laying out the steps involved to be performed by the system and because the machine-learning portion is broadly recited as to not go beyond steps that can be performed by an individual which would include dependent claim features.
As per step 2B examiner recognizes that additional elements are directed to conventional activities or extra solution activity. See below.
Limitations directed towards computing elements are directed towards conventional and generic machine elements such as computer processors and hardware that are commonly found in the art. This includes the recitation of engines which narrowly reads on computer hardware elements performing functions and can broadly be read as an individual in the case of the prediction engine. Therefore step 2B is not overcome since the hardware elements are conventional in nature.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Troy et al. (US Pub. No. 2024/0416248 A1) teaches a gaming system comprising a third party platform for configuring in-game achievements with associated rewards for users wherein the achievements require certain amount of effort or skill.
Bucher et al. (US Pat. No. 10,105,603 B2) teaches a gaming system comprising automated tuning of computer games.
Ton-That et al. (US Pub. No. 2014/0180725 A1) "a number of points of other game reward that a user may earn for completing a task may be determined based on a determined or estimated benefit to an insurer for completion of the task, a determined or estimated cost to complete the task, and/or a determined difficulty of the task" paragraph [0177].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN L MYHR whose telephone number is (571)270-7847. The examiner can normally be reached 10AM-6PM.
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/JUSTIN L MYHR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715 10/5/2026
