Appeal No. 2003-1371 Page 19
Application No. 09/186,856
catch up with the first character, and the system will again revert to the cooperative
mode." Id. at ll. 39-42. Because players may select the cooperative mode wherein
their characters act jointly, viz., the first character leads the second character, and the
game requires use of the mode when one character falls far behind the other character,
we find that Naka allows or requires joint action during a game. Therefore, we affirm
the obviousness rejection of claim 2; of claims 3 and 5, which fall therewith; of claim 7;
and of claim 10.
"Referring to the illustrative drawings of FIG. 41, [Naka] show[s] a split screen
display with the top screen illustrating a first character in playfield region A and a
bottom screen region with a second character in playfield region B." Col. 23, ll. 6-10.
"Within the playfield there is an exchange object which we will refer to as a teleport box.
When one of the character sprites comes to within a prescribed proximity of the
exchange object, the positions of the two characters in the playfield and much
of their status information is exchanged. In this manner, a character that has
fallen behind can interchange playfield positions with another character." Id. at ll. 11-
18. We agree with the examiner's finding that "[j]oint action is required in that neither
player can refuse to swap, i.e., both players must participate. The triggers for the
swaps are located at separate locations in the split screen mode." (Examiner's Answer
at 8.)
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