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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 11 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In line 6, “detector” should be “detect”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1, 6-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the corresponding chess move area" in lines 5-6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Further, it is unclear to which chess move area of the number of chess move areas Applicant is referring, rendering the claim indefinite. For examination purposes, as best understood by the Examiner in view of the specification, the limitation will be interpreted as “a corresponding chess move area”. Examiner suggests amending the phrase as such to overcome the antecedent basis and indefiniteness issues.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "different colors in each row" in line 13 and “a row number” in line 15. It is unclear what Applicant is trying to claim as the color identification assembly “comprises N color identification members” and “N” is associated with “columns” as previously recited in the claim, not rows as recited in lines 13 and 15. For examination purposes, as best understood by the Examiner in view of the specification, the limitations will be interpreted as “different colors in each column” and “a column number”. Examiner suggests amending the phrase as such to overcome the indefiniteness issues.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the color identification member” in line 15. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Further, it is unclear to which color identification member of the row of color identification members Applicant is referring, rendering the claim indefinite. For examination purposes, as best understood by the Examiner in view of the specification, the limitation will be interpreted as “the corresponding color identification member”. Examiner suggests amending the phrase as such to overcome the antecedent basis and indefiniteness issues.
Claims 6-10 are also indefinite by virtue of their dependency on Claim 1.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the number of chess moves” in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For examination purposes, as best understood by the Examiner in view of the specification, the limitation will be interpreted as “a number of chess moves”. Examiner suggests amending the phrase as such to overcome the antecedent basis issues.
Claim 9 is also indefinite by virtue of their dependency on Claim 6.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "A three-dimensional connect four” in line 1. It is unclear what Applicant is trying to claim since the boundaries of the claim scope are unclear. The preamble, as written does not anchor the claim to an apparatus or method, therein it is unclear what is being claimed. For examination purposes, as best understood by the Examiner in view of the specification, the limitation will be interpreted as “A three-dimensional connect four game device”. Examiner suggests amending the phrase as such to overcome the antecedent basis issues.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "the position display lamps have the same array arrangement mode” in line 13. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Further, it is unclear to which position display lamps of the plurality of position display lamps Applicant is referring, rendering the claim indefinite. For examination purposes, as best understood by the Examiner in view of the specification, the limitation will be interpreted as “the plurality of position display lamps have the same array arrangement”. Examiner suggests amending the phrase as such to overcome the antecedent basis and indefiniteness issues.
Claims 12-16 are also indefinite by virtue of their dependency on Claim 11.
Claim 12 recites the limitation "the number of chess moves” in line 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For examination purposes, as best understood by the Examiner in view of the specification, the limitation will be interpreted as “a number of chess moves”. Examiner suggests amending the phrase as such to overcome the antecedent basis issues.
Claim 15 is also indefinite by virtue of their dependency on Claim 12.
Claim 16 recites the limitation "A three-dimensional connect four” in line 1. It is unclear what Applicant is trying to claim since the boundaries of the claim scope are unclear. The preamble, as written does not anchor the claim to an apparatus or method, therein it is unclear what is being claimed. For examination purposes, as best understood by the Examiner in view of the specification, the limitation will be interpreted as “A three-dimensional connect four game device”. Examiner suggests amending the phrase as such to overcome the antecedent basis issues.
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 10 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because as written, the claims as a whole leaves it unclear which statutory category of invention it belongs to. The claimed preamble fails to explicitly recite a device, machine, apparatus or a method or process.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1 and 6-16 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph and 35 U.S.C. 101, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding Claim 1, the prior art of record fails to fairly teach or suggest, in combination with the other limitations claimed, a three-dimensional connect four chessboard comprising “wherein the chess move position prompt module comprises a color identification assembly and a position identification assembly, the color identification assembly comprises N color identification members with different colors in each row, each color identification member is provided to correspond to one of the chess move areas, and the position identification assembly is configured to identify a row number and a color of the color identification member;
the position identification assembly comprises M row number identification lamps each of which is provided on a side of each row of color identification members, the row number identification lamp is configured to emit color light of N different colors, and the position identification assembly is configured to control a specific row number identification lamp to emit light; or the position identification assembly comprises a row number display lamp configured to display a number to identify a row number of the color identification member, emit color light of N different colors, and display a number of a specific color”
Regarding Claim 11, the prior art of record fails to fairly teach or suggest, in combination with the other limitations claimed, a three-dimensional connect four chessboard comprising “wherein the chess move position prompt module comprises a position display screen provided on the upper panel, the position display screen comprises a plurality of position display lamps arranged in an array, the position display lamps have the same array arrangement mode as the chess move areas, and the position display screen is configured to control the position display lamps to glow or flicker”.
Su et al. (US 20230338822) appears to be the closest prior art of record. Regarding Claims 1 and 11 Su teaches:
A three-dimensional connect four chessboard(200; Fig 1-3; P[0031]) , comprising:
an upper panel(210) provided with a number of chess move areas(211), the chess move areas being configured to stack chess pieces (Fig 1), the chess move areas being arranged in an array of M rows (5) and N columns (5), and both M and N being natural numbers greater than or equal to 5(P[0033]);
a detection module(“monitor”; P[0034],P[0035]) comprising a plurality of detectors(232) each of which is provided in the corresponding chess move area(each of 211 comprises a monitor having 221,222,223,232) and is configured to detector a chess move position(via 101) of a chess piece(P[0034], P[0035]);
a processor(221) connected to the detection module; and
a chess move position prompt module(223) connected to the processor and configured to indicate a position of the corresponding chess move area(P[0035]);
wherein the chess move position prompt module comprises a color identification assembly(231) and a position identification assembly(P[0035]).
However, Su fails to fairly teach or suggest the above cited limitations of Claims 1 and 11.
It is the Examiner’s opinion that one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would not have arrived at invention of claims 1 and 11 without the benefit of Applicant’s disclosure.
Conclusion
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 20230338822 A1
SU; Ziming et al.
US 11893900 B2
Wigh; Jeffrey Bowman et al.
US 12318701 B2
Gehlot; Dhiraj Kaluram et al.
CN 215609263 U
WANG, Pei-pei
CN 119971467 A
SU, Zhen-hong et al.
CN 105833518 A
HOU, Jing-kun
CN 109529311 A
HOU, Jing-kun
CN 101332357 A
ZHOU, Si-hong
CN 218871232 U
SU, Zi-ming et al.
CN 101721804 A
ZHOU, Si-hong
CN 218774276 U
SU, Zi-ming et al.
WO 9858714 A1
CARMICHAEL CRAIG GARLIN et al.
CN 217697877 U
SU, Zi-ming et al.
CN 201257286 Y
ZHUO, Yu-fu
The above references are cited for teach gameboards with features similar to that of the instant invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN P WOLCOTT whose telephone number is (571)272-9837. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00am-4:30pm.
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, Nicholas Weiss can be reached at 571-270-1775. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRIAN P WOLCOTT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3711
