R
Rösti
Unconfirmed Member
In December last year, I wrote about Nintendo filing a patent application for cloud gaming devices (Supplemental Computing Devices). In January this year the application was met with a non-final rejection. This application has caused many discussions, the following news should continue this.
Today, on April 18, 2016, following a few amendments, Nintendo's patent application 14/294,704 for "Supplemental Computing Devices for Game Consoles" was met with a Notice of Allowance from the USPTO.
*While no indication has been given that the non-final rejection has been cleared, I must assume it has considering the allowance
Source: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1303.html37 CFR 1.311 Notice of Allowance.
(a) If, on examination, it appears that the applicant is entitled to a patent under the law, a notice of allowance will be sent to the applicant at the correspondence address indicated in § 1.33. The notice of allowance shall specify a sum constituting the issue fee and any required publication fee (§ 1.211(e)) which issue fee and any required publication fee must both be paid within three months from the date of mailing of the notice of allowance to avoid abandonment of the application. This three-month period is not extendable.
(b) An authorization to charge the issue fee or other post-allowance fees set forth in § 1.18 to a deposit account may be filed in an individual application only after mailing of the notice of allowance. The submission of either of the following after the mailing of a notice of allowance will operate as a request to charge the correct issue fee or any publication fee due to any deposit account identified in a previously filed authorization to charge such fees:
(1) An incorrect issue fee or publication fee; or
(2) A fee transmittal form (or letter) for payment of issue fee or publication fee.
The person originally filing for the patent is not fully protected until he/she completes the rest of the patent process and pays the appropriate fees. An invention is still considered "patent pending" until the final patent has been issued. But the SCDs are quite close now to becoming a full patent.
Now, onto the documents. The following pages are from a document titled Notice of Allowance and Fees Due (PTOL-85), dated April 18, 2016:
Source: http://portal.uspto.gov/pair/view/BrowsePdfServlet?objectId=IN0EANXHPXXIFW4&lang=DINO
Next course of action I believe is Issue of Patent:
Source: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1309.html1309 Issue of Patent [R-07.2015]
Under the current publication process, electronic capture of most of the information to be printed in a patent will begin as soon as an electronic message concerning the allowed application is received in the Office of Data Management, immediately after the Notice of Allowance has been mailed. The application is then electronically exported to Initial Data Capture (IDC) for electronic capture of the patent filed. This process takes approximately 6 weeks. Upon IDC completion, an electronic message is then sent to the File Maintenance Facility to ensure that all post allowance correspondence, fees and drawings have been updated. The application may stay in FMF for 1-2 weeks or until all post-allowance requirements are met.
When the issue fee is paid and all other requirements have been met (e.g., drawings) for issuance as a patent, the application is then electronically exported to the Final Data Capture (FDC) stage. The FDC makes any updates necessary to the electronic file and places the allowed patent application in an issue. The average time that an allowed application is in the FDC process is 5 weeks (2 weeks of processing time for assignment of issue date). The "Issue Notification" is mailed approximately 3 weeks prior to the issue date of the patent.
A bond paper copy of the patent grant is ribboned, sealed, and mailed by the Office of Data Management.
All allowed applications ready for printing will be selected by chronological sequence based on the date the issue fee was paid. Special handling will be given to the following applications in these categories:
(A) Allowed cases which were made special by the Director.
(B) Allowed cases that have a U.S. effective filing date more than 5 years old.
(C) Allowed reissue applications.
(D) Allowed applications having an effective filing date earlier than that required for declaring an interference with a copending application claiming the same subject matter.
(E) Allowed application of a party involved in a terminated interference.
Congratulations to inventor Joe Bentdahl and Nintendo.