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 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1 (What is the statutory category?):
Claims 1-12 are drawn to at least one of the four statutory categories of invention (ie: process, machine, manufacture, or composition).
Step 2A; Prong I (Does the claim recite an abstract idea?):
Claim 1 recites:
A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program for a game, the program causing a computer to function as:
a first game executor configured to execute a first game included in the game in exchange for a first item or predetermined currency based on an operation on a first input reception portion configured to allow execution of the first game;
a purchase executor configured to associate a player who purchases a game purchase content including at least the first item with the game purchase content in exchange for the predetermined currency;
a determiner configured to determine, based on purchasability/unpurchasability information associated with the player of the game purchase content, whether the game purchase content is purchasable by the player; and
a display controller configured to present, when it is determined that the game purchase content is purchasable, a purchasability display in a game screen including the first input reception portion, the purchasability display indicating that the game purchase content is purchasable.
Claim 10 recites:
An information processing apparatus for executing a game, the information processing apparatus comprising:
a first game executor configured to execute a first game included in the game in exchange for a first item or predetermined currency based on an operation on a first input reception portion configured to allow execution of the first game;
a purchase executor configured to associate a player who purchases a game purchase content including at least the first item with the game purchase content in exchange for the predetermined currency;
a determiner configured to determine, based on purchasability/unpurchasability information associated with the player of the game purchase content, whether the game purchase content is purchasable by the player; and
a display controller configured to present, when it is determined that the game purchase content is purchasable, a purchasability display in a game screen including the first input reception portion, the purchasability display indicating that the game purchase content is purchasable.Claim 11 recites:
A method for a game, the method comprising:
a first game execution step of executing a first game included in the game in exchange for a first item or predetermined currency based on an operation on a first input reception portion configured to allow execution of the first game;
a purchase execution step of associating a player who purchases a game purchase content including at least the first item with the game purchase content in exchange for the predetermined currency;
a determination step of determining, based on purchasability/unpurchasability information associated with the player of the game purchase content, whether the game purchase content is purchasable by the player; and
a display control step of presenting, when it is determined that the game purchase content is purchasable, a purchasability display in a game screen including the first input reception portion, the purchasability display indicating that the game purchase content is purchasable.
Claim 12 recites
A system for executing a game, the system comprising:
a plurality of information processing apparatuses, wherein at least any of the plurality of information processing apparatuses functions as a first game executor configured to execute a first game included in the game in exchange for a first item or predetermined currency based on an operation on a first input reception portion configured to allow execution of the first game;
at least any of the plurality of information processing apparatuses functions as a purchase executor configured to associate a player who purchases a game purchase content including at least the first item with the game purchase content in exchange for the predetermined currency;
at least any of the plurality of information processing apparatuses functions as a determiner configured to determine, based on purchasability/unpurchasability information associated with the player of the game purchase content, whether the game purchase content is purchasable by the player; and
at least any of the plurality of information processing apparatuses functions as a display controller configured to present, when it is determined that the game purchase content is purchasable, a purchasability display in a game screen including the first input reception portion, the purchasability display indicating that the game purchase content is purchasable.
[the Examiner submits that the foregoing underlined elements recite certain method of organizing human activity because they describe “fundamental economic principles or practices (including hedging, insurance, mitigating risk)” and/or “commercial or legal interactions (including agreements in the form of contracts, legal obligations, advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors, and business relations) and/or “managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions)”]
According to the 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Guidelines, Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity, Managing Personal Behavior or Relationships or Interactions Between People (e.g. social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions) "encompasses both activity of a single person (for example a person following a set of instructions) and activity that involves multiple people (such as a commercial or legal interaction). Thus, some interactions between a person and a computer (for example a method of anonymous loan shopping that a person conducts using a mobile phone) may fall within this grouping." (Emphasis added)
To further elaborate on the Examiner’s interpretation regarding the claimed invention being directed towards certain methods of organizing human activity, the Examiner believes the invention describe managing interactions between people and machine (ie: information processing apparatus) in which rules or instructions for the gaming machine is being implemented (ie: a execute a first game included in the game in exchange for a first item or predetermined currency based on an operation on a first input reception portion configured to allow execution of the first game; associate a player who purchases a game purchase content including at least the first item with the game purchase content in exchange for the predetermined currency; determine, based on purchasability/unpurchasability information associated with the player of the game purchase content, whether the game purchase content is purchasable by the player; and
present, when it is determined that the game purchase content is purchasable, a purchasability display in a game screen including the first input reception portion, the purchasability display indicating that the game purchase content is purchasable.)
Step 2A; Prong II (Does the claim recite a practical application?):
The Examiner submits that the additional elements do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea for the same reasons discussed above with respect to the conclusion that the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application.
The dependent claims merely include limitations that either further define the abstract idea (and thus don’t make the abstract idea any less abstract) or amount to no more than instructions to implement the abstract idea on a computer, or use a computer as tool to perform the abstract idea.
Taken alone, the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Looking at the limitations as an ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements taken individually. For example, there is no indication that the combination of elements improves the functioning of a computer or improves any other technology.
The abstract idea is not integrated into a practical application for the following reasons. The claim elements of claims 1, 10-12 above that are not underlined constitute additional limitations.
The Examiner submits that the following additional limitation merely uses a computer as a tool to perform the abstract idea: non-transitory computer readable medium, information processing apparatus..
The Examiner finds that there are concepts regarding the application that simply appends well-understood, routine, conventional activities previously known to the industry, specified at a high level of generality. For example:
Maa, US 20170197144 discloses that gaming display devices in which a user can make an input for controlling game objects are well-known to one of ordinary skill in the art (paragraph 4);
Kojo, US 20130225259, discloses that gacha games are well-known to one of ordinary skill in the art (paragraph 61);
Tanaka et al., US 20220387889, discloses that there are conventionally well-known games employing a so-called “gacha”, in which items, etc. can be earned by lottery by consuming in-game currency (paragraph 3).
The above helps to suggest that the claimed components are no more than generic well-known components.
Thus, taken alone, the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Looking at the limitations as an ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements taken individually.
For example, there is no indication that the combination of elements improves the functioning of a computer or improves any other technology; there is no additional element that applies or uses the judicial exception in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception; the additional elements merely recite the words ‘‘apply it’’ (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely includes instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea; the additional elements do no more than generally link the use of a judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use.
Step 2B (Are there additional elements that are “something more” than an abstract idea?):
Dependent Claims 2-9 do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the abstract idea for the same reasons discussed above with respect to the conclusion that the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Looking at the limitations as an ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements taken individually. There is no indication that the combination of elements improves the functioning of a computer or improves any other technology.
In addition, with regards to dependent claims, the courts have recognized the computer functions as well-understood, routine, and conventional activities when they are claimed in a merely generic manner (ie: at a high level of generality) or as insignificant extra-solution activity because each claim describes physical or software elements that provide a generic environment in which to carry out the abstract idea, which is similar to the conventional activity or as insignificant extra-solution activity of selecting information, based on types of information, for collection, analysis and display in EPG, gathering, receiving and transmitting data in Symantec, TLI, OIP Techs., buySAFE, and performing repetitive calculation in Flook, Bancorp.
Therefore, the dependent claims are not drawn to eligible subject matter as they are directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
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.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yeo, US 20210035139 (Yeo).
Regarding [Claim 1] (And similarly [Claims 10-12]) Yeo discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program/information processing apparatus/ method/ system for a executing a game, the program causing a computer to function as:
a first game executor configured to execute a first game included in the game in exchange for a first item or predetermined currency based on an operation on a first input reception portion configured to allow execution of the first game (para 25, 37, 80, 90-91, 120. Gacha is interpreted as a first game including in the game.);
a purchase executor configured to associate a player who purchases a game purchase content including at least the first item with the game purchase content in exchange for the predetermined currency (para 25, 37, 51, 80, 90-91, 120. Game goods can be purchased via game currency);
a determiner configured to determine, based on purchasability/unpurchasability information associated with the player of the game purchase content, whether the game purchase content is purchasable by the player (para 25, 37, 51, 55, 57, 80, 90-91, 120. A determination is made on whether or not a player can purchase a game item using game currency or acquire the item via gacha play.); and
a display controller configured to present, when it is determined that the game purchase content is purchasable, a purchasability display in a game screen including the first input reception portion, the purchasability display indicating that the game purchase content is purchasable (Fig 2, para 25, 37, 51, 80, 90-91, 120).
Regarding [Claim 2] Yeo discloses the non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 1, wherein the game purchase content includes the first item and another game content that is different from the first item and that is usable in the game (para 47, 57, 78. There are multiple items that can be purchased.)
Regarding [Claim 3] Yeo discloses the non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 1, wherein the display controller directly transitions, based on a predetermined operation by the player, the game screen to a purchase screen configured to allow purchase of the game purchase content (para 25, 37, 51, 55, 57, 90-91, 120. Players are presented with a screen in which they can purchase items.).
Regarding [Claim 4] Yeo discloses the non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 1, wherein the display controller displays, based on a predetermined operation by the player, a selection screen including a second input reception portion and a third input reception portion, the second input reception portion being configured to allow execution of the first game in exchange for the first item (para 25, 37, 80, 90-91, 120. Gacha is interpreted as the first game in exchange for the first item), the third input reception portion being configured to allow execution of the first game in exchange for the predetermined currency (para 25, 37, 51, 80, 90-91, 120. Players can purchase items to play gacha.), and the first game executor executes the first game based on selection of the second input reception portion or the third input reception portion by the player (para 25, 37, 51, 80, 90-91, 120).
Regarding [Claim 5] Yeo discloses the non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 4, wherein the selection screen further includes a fourth input reception portion configured to allow purchase of the game purchase content (para 25, 37, 51, 80, 90-91, 120. Players make an input that would allow the player purchase game content.).
Regarding [Claim 6] Yeo discloses the non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 1, wherein the first input reception portion includes a second input reception portion and a third input reception portion, the second input reception portion being configured to allow execution of the first game in exchange for the first item (para 25, 37, 80, 90-91, 120), the third input reception portion being configured to allow execution of the first game in exchange for the predetermined currency (para 25, 37, 51, 80, 90-91, 120), the display controller displays the second input reception portion and the third input reception portion such that the second input reception portion and the third input reception portion are included in the game screen (para 25, 37, 51, 55, 57, 90-91, 120), and the first game executor executes the first game based on selection of the second input reception portion or the third input reception portion by the player (para 25, 37, 80, 90-91, 120).
Regarding [Claim 7] Yeo discloses the non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 1, wherein the first game executor determines whether the player possesses the first item based on an operation by the player on the first input reception portion, executes the first game in exchange for the first item when the player possesses the first item (para 25, 37, 80, 90-91, 120. Players can play gacha using an item.), and executes the first game in exchange for the predetermined currency when the player does not possess the first item (para 25, 37, 51, 55, 57, 80, 90-91, 120. Players can purchase a game item to play gacha.).
Regarding [Claim 8] Yeo discloses the non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 1, wherein when the player possesses the first item, the display controller presents, in the game screen, a possession display indicating that the player possesses the first item (Fig 1. Players can have item in their possession which can be used to play gacha.).
Regarding [Claim 9] Yeo discloses the non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 1, comprising at least one or more of the following configurations [2] to [8]:
[2] the game purchase content includes the first item and another game content that is different from the first item and that is usable in the game (please refer to Claim 2);
[3] the display controller directly transitions, based on a predetermined operation by the player, the game screen to a purchase screen configured to allow purchase of the game purchase content (please refer to Claim 3)
[4] the display controller displays, based on a predetermined operation by the player, a selection screen including a second input reception portion and a third input reception portion, the second input reception portion being configured to allow execution of the first game in exchange for the first item, the third input reception portion being configured to allow execution of the first game in exchange for the predetermined currency, and the first game executor executes the first game based on selection of the second input reception portion or the third input reception portion by the player (Please refer to Claim 4);
[5] in the configuration [4], the selection screen further includes a fourth input reception portion configured to allow purchase of the game purchase content (Please refer to Claim 5);
[6] the first input reception portion includes a second input reception portion and a third input reception portion, the second input reception portion being configured to allow execution of the first game in exchange for the first item, the third input reception portion being configured to allow execution of the first game in exchange for the predetermined currency, the display controller displays the second input reception portion and the third input reception portion such that the second input reception portion and the third input reception portion are included in the game screen, and the first game executor executes the first game based on selection of the second input reception portion or the third input reception portion by the player (Please refer to Claim 6);
[7] the first game executor determines whether the player possesses the first item based on an operation by the player on the first input reception portion, executes the first game in exchange for the first item when the player possesses the first item, and executes the first game in exchange for the predetermined currency when the player does not possess the first item (Please refer to Claim 7); and
[8] when the player possesses the first item, the display controller presents, in the game screen, a possession display indicating that the player possesses the first item (Please refer to Claim 8).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JEFFREY WONG whose telephone number is (571)270-3003. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9-5pm.
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 (571) 270-1344. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JEFFREY K WONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
