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 .
Response to Amendments
Applicant’s submission of a response was received on 07/01/2026. Presently, claims 1-4, 6-11, 13-20 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-4, 6-11, 13-20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement.
The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claims 1, 10, and 14 recite the limitation enhancement display “wheel” in the claims. There is no support for the enhancement display wheel in the instant application’s Specification.
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 1-4, 6-11, 13-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Claim 1 is directed to “a gaming system” (i.e. a machine); claim 10 is directed to “a gaming system” (i.e. a machine); and claim 14 is directed to “a gaming system” (i.e. a machine), hence the claims are directed to one of the four statutory categories (i.e. process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter).
Step 1 of the subject-matter eligibility analysis: Yes.
The instant application is broadly directed to with emphasis on the bolded portions:
“[0001] Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide independently randomly determined enhancement sets respectively associated with sets of symbol display positions for plays of a game.
[0002] Gaming machines may provide players awards in primary games. Gaming machines generally require the player to place or make a wager to activate the primary or base game. The award may be based on the player obtaining a winning symbol or symbol combination and on the amount of the wager.”
The claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more either in the form of “certain methods of organizing human activity,” in terms of managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people (including social activities, teaching and following rules or instructions), or reasonably in the form of “mental processes,” in terms of processes that can be performed in the human mind (including an observation, evaluation, judgement or opinion) which are “performed on a computer” (per MPEP 2106(III)(C) “A Claim That Requires a Computer May Still Recite a Mental Process”).
The claims are reasonably understood as either “certain methods of organizing human activity” or “mental process.” Independent claim 1, analyzed as the representative of the claimed subject matter, is reproduced below. The limitations determined to be abstract ideas are in italics relate to two abstract idea categories, (1) a mental process and (2) certain methods of organizing human activity particularly a fundamental economic practice (See MPEP2106.04(a)(2)(A)(ii)). The additional elements recited at a high level of generality are shown in bold. The limitation(s) determined to be extra-solution activity are underlined.
Independent Claim 1: A gaming system comprising:
a housing comprising an access door;
a security monitoring circuit supported by the housing and configured to monitor the access door;
a power distribution component supported by the housing and configured to supply power to components of the gaming system;
a plurality of output devices comprising a display device supported by the housing, a player tracking display supported by the housing, and a speaker supported by the housing;
a sound card supported by the housing and operable with the speaker;
a plurality of input devices comprising a payment device supported by the housing, a touch screen input device supported by the housing and operable with the display device, a game play input device supported by the housing, and a cashout device supported by the housing;
a processor supported by the housing; and
a trusted memory device supported by the housing and that stores data, code for a random number generator, and a plurality of instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
cause the display device to display a plurality of symbol displays associated with a plurality of symbol display position sets;
cause the display device to display an enhancement display wheel directly adjacent to the symbol displays, the enhancement display wheel comprising different enhancements and cause the enhancement display wheel to rotate and stop to display a randomly determined, via the random number generator, first enhancement set of the different enhancements of the enhancement display wheel, wherein the randomly determined first enhancement set comprises a first plurality of the different enhancements respectively individually associated with the plurality of symbol display position sets, wherein the first plurality of the different enhancements are randomly determined, via the random number generator, independently from any of the symbols displayed on the symbol displays at the plurality of symbol display position sets, wherein the first plurality of the different enhancements of the first enhancement set are arranged and displayed in a first static order on the enhancement display wheel; and
cause the display device to display an occurrence of a triggering event for a play of a game, and thereafter:
cause the display device to display a plurality of randomly determined, via the random number generator, symbols of the symbol displays at the plurality of symbol display position sets,
cause the display device to display an occurrence of a first enhancement indicator associated with a first one of the symbol display position sets, cause the display device to display an occurrence of a second enhancement indicator associated with a second one of the symbol display position sets,
thereafter cause the display device to display the enhancement display wheel rotating and stopping to display a randomly determined, via the random number generator, second enhancement set of the different enhancements of the enhancement display wheel,
wherein the randomly determined second enhancement set comprises a second plurality of the different enhancements respectively individually associated with the plurality of symbol display position sets, and such that one of the randomly determined second plurality of the different enhancements of the randomly determined second enhancement set that is displayed on the enhancement display wheel is indicated by the first enhancement indicator,
wherein the second plurality of the different enhancements are randomly determined, via the random number generator, independently from any of the symbols displayed on the symbol displays at the plurality of symbol display positioned position sets, and
wherein the randomly determined second plurality of the different enhancements of the randomly determined second enhancement set are arranged and displayed in a second static order on the enhancement display wheel, and
cause the display device to display the second enhancement indicator moved to be a third one of the symbol display position sets, and
thereafter:
cause the display device to display the enhancement of the randomly determined second enhancement set that is indicated by the movable first enhancement indicator being employed for the play of the game by changing a plurality of the randomly determined symbols displayed by the symbol displays at the plurality of symbol display position sets to symbols indicated by the movable first enhancement indicator, and
cause the display device to display the enhancement of the randomly determined second enhancement set that is indicated by the second enhancement indicator being employed for the play of the game.
These limitations simply describe a mental process which relates to concepts performed in the human mind (including an observation, evaluation, judgment, opinion) (see MPEP § 2106.04(a)(2), subsection III) and/or certain methods of organizing human activity which relates to fundamental economic principles or practices (including hedging, insurance, mitigating risk); commercial or legal interactions (including agreements in the form of contracts; legal obligations; advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors; business relations); managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions) (see MPEP § 2106.04(a)(2), subsection II). Hence, these limitations are akin to an abstract idea which has been identified among non-limiting examples to be an abstract idea.
Furthermore, the claimed abstract idea is similar to abstract ideas identified by the courts such as:
a method of exchanging financial obligations (e.g., a wagering game, which is effectively a method of exchanging and resolving financial obligations based on probabilities created during the game) as discussed in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank, Bilski v. Kappos, In re Smith (Fed. Cir. 2016), and In re Marco Guldenaar (Fed. Cir. 2018);
a fundamental economic practice (e.g., rules for conducting a wagering game) as discussed in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank, In re Smith, and In re Marco Guldenaar;
a method of managing a game (e.g., a symbol-based game) similar to that of managing a game of bingo in Planet Bingo, LLC v. VKGS LLC (Fed. Cir. 2014); and/or
a method of organizing human activities (e.g., accepting bets from a human player and allowing the human player to play the game according to rules of the game method) as discussed in Bilski v. Kappos and Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank.
Step 2A, Prong 1 of the subject-matter eligibility analysis: Yes.
The claims also do not include additional elements that either alone or in combination are sufficient to claim a practical application because to the extent that, e.g., “a housing,” “an access door,” “a security monitoring circuit,” “a power distribution,” “a plurality of output devices, “a display device,” “a speaker,” “a sound card,” “a plurality of input devices,” “a payment device,” “a gameplay input device” “a cashout input device” “a processor” and “a trusted memory device” are claimed, as these are merely claimed to add insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception (e.g., data gathering) and/or do no more than generally link the use of a judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use. In other words, the claimed wagering device does not provide a practical application.
Step 2A, Prong 2 of the subject-matter eligibility analysis: No.
Likewise, the claims do not include additional elements that either alone or in combination are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because to the extent that, e.g. “a housing,” “an access door,” “a security monitoring circuit,” “a power distribution,” “a plurality of output devices, “a display device,” “a speaker,” “a sound card,” “a plurality of input devices,” “a payment device,” “a gameplay input device” “a cashout input device” “a processor” and “a trusted memory device” are claimed these are all generic, well-known, and conventional computing elements. As evidence that these are generic, well-known, and conventional computing elements, Applicant’s specification discloses them in a manner that indicates that the additional elements are sufficiently well-known that the specification does not need to describe the particulars of such additional elements to satisfy 35 U.S.C. § 112(a), per MPEP § 2106.07(a) III (a), which satisfies the Examiner’s evidentiary burden requirement per the Berkheimer memo.
Specifically, the Applicant’s claimed “a housing,” “an access door,” “a security monitoring circuit,” “a power distribution,” “a plurality of output devices, “a display device,” “a speaker,” “a sound card,” “a plurality of input devices,” “a payment device,” “a gameplay input device” “a cashout input device” “a processor” and “a trusted memory device” are described in the following paragraphs:
“[0167] Security monitoring circuits detect intrusion into an EGM by monitoring security switches attached to access doors in the EGM cabinet. Access violations result in suspension of game play and can trigger additional security operations to preserve the current state of game play. These circuits also function when power is off by use of a battery backup. In power-off operation, these circuits continue to monitor the access doors of the EGM. When power is restored, the EGM can determine whether any security violations occurred while power was off, e.g., via software for reading status registers. This can trigger event log entries and further data authentication operations by the EGM software.”
“[0108] The at least one wired/wireless power distribution component 1058 includes components or devices that are configured to provide power to other devices. For example, in one embodiment, the at least one power distribution component 1058 includes a magnetic induction system that is configured to provide wireless power to one or more user input devices near the EGM. In one embodiment, a user input device docking region is provided, and includes a power distribution component that is configured to recharge a user input device without requiring metal-to-metal contact. In one embodiment, the at least one power distribution component 1058 is configured to distribute power to one or more internal components of the EGM, such as one or more rechargeable power sources (e.g., rechargeable batteries) located at the EGM.”
“[0117] As generally described above, in certain embodiments, such as the example EGMs 2000a and 2000b illustrated in Figures 4A and 4B, the EGM has a support structure, housing, or cabinet that provides support for a plurality of the input devices and the output devices of the EGM. Further, the EGM is configured such that a player may operate it while standing or sitting. In various embodiments, the EGM is positioned on a base or stand, or is configured as a pub-style tabletop game (not shown) that a player may operate typically while sitting. As illustrated by the different example EGMs 2000a and 2000b shown in Figures 4A and 4B, EGMs may have varying housing and display configurations.”
“[0091] The at least one output device 1020 includes at least one display device 1035 configured to display any game(s) displayed by the EGM and any suitable information associated with such game(s). In certain embodiments, the display devices are connected to or mounted on a housing of the EGM (described below). In various embodiments, the display devices serve as digital glass configured to advertise certain games or other aspects of the gaming establishment in which the EGM is located. In various embodiments, the EGM includes one or more of the following display devices: (a) a central display device; (b) a player tracking display configured to display various information regarding a player’s player tracking status (as described below); (c) a secondary or upper display device in addition to the central display device and the player tracking display”
“[0097] In certain embodiments, the at least one output device 1020 is a sound generating device controlled by one or more sound cards. In one such embodiment, the sound generating device includes one or more speakers or other sound generating hardware and/or software configured to generate sounds, such as by playing music for any games or by playing music for other modes of the EGM, such as an attract mode.”
“[0138] n these embodiments, the personal gaming device receives inputs via one or more input devices (such as a touch screen and/or physical buttons)”
“[0099]…the payment device includes one or more of: (a) a bill acceptor into which paper money is inserted to fund the EGM; (b) a ticket acceptor into which a ticket or a voucher is inserted to fund the EGM; (c) a coin slot into which coins or tokens are inserted to fund the EGM; (d) a reader or a validator for credit cards, debit cards, or credit slips into which a credit card, debit card, or credit slip is inserted to fund the EGM; (e) a player identification card reader into which a player identification card is inserted to fund the EGM; or (f) any suitable combination thereof. The example EGMs 2000a and 2000b illustrated in Figures 4A and 4B each include a combined bill and ticket acceptor 2128 and a coin slot 2126.”
“[0084] These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable instruction execution apparatus, create a mechanism for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.”
“[0168] Trusted memory devices and/or trusted memory sources are included in an EGM to ensure the authenticity of the software that may be stored on less secure memory subsystems, such as mass storage devices. Trusted memory devices and controlling circuitry are typically designed to not enable modification of the code and data stored in the memory device while the memory device is installed in the EGM. The code and data stored in these devices may include authentication algorithms, random number generators, authentication keys, operating system kernels, etc. The purpose of these trusted memory devices is to provide gaming regulatory authorities a root trusted authority within the computing environment of the EGM that can be tracked and verified as original. This may be accomplished via removal of the trusted memory device from the EGM computer and verification of the secure memory device contents is a separate third-party verification device. Once the trusted memory device is verified as authentic and based on the approval of the verification algorithms included in the trusted device, the EGM is enabled to verify the authenticity of additional code and data that may be located in the gaming computer assembly, such as code and data stored on hard disk drives.”
“[0094] …the at least one output device 1020 includes a payout device. In these embodiments, after the EGM receives an actuation of a cashout device (described below), the EGM causes the payout device to provide a payment to the player. In one embodiment, the payout device is one or more of: (a) a ticket printer and dispenser configured to print and dispense a ticket or credit slip associated with a monetary value, wherein the ticket or credit slip may be redeemed for its monetary value via a cashier, a kiosk, or other suitable redemption system; (b) a bill dispenser configured to dispense paper currency; (c) a coin dispenser configured to dispense coins or tokens (such as into a coin payout tray); and (d) any suitable combination thereof.”
These element(s) are reasonably interpreted as a generic computer which provides no details of anything beyond ubiquitous standard equipment. As such, the claimed limitation of “a housing,” “an access door,” “a security monitoring circuit,” “a power distribution,” “a plurality of output devices”, “a display device,” “a speaker,” “a sound card,” “a plurality of input devices,” “a payment device,” “a gameplay input device” “a cashout input device” “a processor” and “a trusted memory device” are reasonably understood as not providing anything significantly more.
Step 2B, of the subject-matter eligibility analysis: No.
In addition, dependent claims 2, 4-9, 11, 13, and 15-20 do not provide a practical application and are insufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As such, dependent claims 2, 4-9, 11, 13, and 15-20 are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101, based on their respective dependencies to independent claims 1, 10, and 14.
Therefore, claims 1-4, 6-11, 13-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Response to Arguments
35 U.S.C. § 112(b):
Applicant’s amendments made to the claims overcome the rejection made under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) in the office action mailed on 04/03/3036.
35 U.S.C. § 101:
Applicant states on page 2 of the remarks that random determinations made via a random number generator “cannot be physically or practically performed in a human mind.” The Examiner respectfully disagrees, as a random number generator performs exactly as it is stated, it generates outputs randomly, and humans have been able to randomly output numbers, thoughts, patterns or ideas for decades. Without explaining how the random number generator processes an output differently than the way a human would, it is unclear how the use of a random number generator to determine if a person won on their wager would be a technological improvement. Furthermore, the Applicant states on page 2 of the remarks that the use of an enhancement display wheel with different enhancements. It is unclear what that means as a look into the instant applications Specification does not explain what an “enhancement display wheel” is and how that is considered a technological improvement. Without proper descriptions for the display wheel, it is unclear if the display wheel operates the same as the ones recited in the cases found on page 2-3 of the remarks.
35 U.S.C. § 103:
The prior art used in the Non-Final Action mailed out on 04/03/2026 does not teach “an enhancement display wheel.”
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SELWA A ALSOMAIRY whose telephone number is (703)756-5323. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30AM to 5PM EST.
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/SELWA A ALSOMAIRY/ Examiner, Art Unit 3715
/Jay Trent Liddle/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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