Patent decision

BL number

O/0599/25

Hearing Officer

S Vinall

Decision date

1 July 2025

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Nvidia Corporation

Provisions discussed

Patents Act 1977 Sections 1(1)(b), 1(1)(d) and (2)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused), Inventive step

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The invention relates to the use of neural networks to generate recommendations for a player of a video game. Feature vectors are encoded into a latent space representing data for feature vectors determined over a time window of gameplay representative of the accumulated state changes to provide recommendations relevant to the context of the game and the individual player.

The prior art demonstrated the use of changes of state in a game processed using neural networks to generate improved recommendations for in-game tutorials, but failed to demonstrate the use of a latent space or feature vectors determined over a time window in generating the recommendations. The Hearing Officer found that it would not have been obvious to include these features in the prior art without hindsight.

The Hearing Officer considered the caselaw around online game mechanics and game rules at the EPO and found that there is not a general principle that game mechanics are allowable whereas game rules are excluded, but the question to be asked is whether the invention provides a technical effect. Considering this question the Hearing Officer determined that the invention does not provide a technical effect beyond a computer program and a rule, scheme or method of playing a game as such and therefore refused the application under Section 18(3) of the Act.

Full decision O/0599/25 479Kb