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 Amendment
The examiner acknowledges applicant’s arguments in the Response dated December 8, 2025 directed to the Non-Final Office Action dated September 8, 2025. Claims 1-2, 4-18, and 20-21 are pending in the application and subject to examination as part of this office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2, 4, 11, and 13-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Meadows et al., US 11,335,169 B1 (hereinafter Meadows), in view of Chun, US 2015/0339884 A1 (hereinafter Chun) in view of QUIGLEY et al., US 2023/0130594 A1 (hereinafter Quigley).
Regarding Claim 1 (Currently Amended): Meadows discloses a system comprising:
a processor circuit (Meadows, one or more processing unit(s) (e.g., one or more processors, cores of processors, or other processing units) [C19:54-67]); and
a memory coupled to the processor circuit, the memory comprising machine-readable instructions (Meadows, software processes that are specified as a set of instructions recorded on a computer readable storage medium (also referred to as computer readable medium or machine readable medium) [C19:54-67]) that, when executed by the processor circuit, cause the processor circuit to:
capture gameplay of a first wagering game by a first player (Meadows, the main table video camera 140 captures a video of the entire live table 120 and live dealer 110 during the game [C10:46-C11:10]),
generate a gameplay video stream comprising the gameplay of the first wagering game (Meadows, the main table video camera 140 captures a video of the entire live table 120 and live dealer 110 during the game [C10:46-C11:10]);
transmit the gameplay video stream to a network device for provision to a plurality of viewers (Meadows, the captured video is live streamed to the player computing device 150 for viewing by the player 160 during the game; also, the player 150 shown in this figure is only one player; however, there are typically multiple players who participate in the game at the live table 120 at any given time; thus, the player computing device 150 corresponds to only the player 160, while other players in the game at the live table 120 would be using their own computing device to connect to and interact with the game by view of the live table 120 and live dealer 110 in the live stream video [C10:46-C11:10]).
Meadows fails to explicitly disclose
wherein the gameplay comprises a player audio stream of the first player captured by an audio device;
associate the gameplay video stream with a first cryptographic token, the first cryptographic token comprising:
a common identifier indicative of the first cryptographic token being part of a plurality of cryptographic tokens
a player identifier indicative of the player associated with the first cryptographic token.
Chun teaches
wherein the gameplay comprises a player audio stream of the first player captured by an audio device (Chun, the speakers 1412 may be used to provide audio information to the player or person 1402 interacting with the EGT; examples of different types of audio information may include, for example, audio instructions and/or other audio/verbal communications from one or more remote players and/or from a remote live game table dealer/attendant, computer-generated audio instructions/content, sound effects, and/or other types of audio content [0185]; microphone 1418 may be used to capture, record, and/or stream audio or vocal information from the electronic gaming table region, which, for example, may include verbal communications from the player 1402 [0186]).
Meadows discloses a novel secure and authentic online player and live dealer video streamed virtual poker system that provides a secure blockchain and live video stream-based virtual poker platform configured to promote integrity of play and authenticity of dealers and players and a novel secure and authentic online player and live dealer video streamed virtual poker process for promoting integrity of play in a virtual poker environment by way of blockchain and live streaming of a real live dealer at a real live poker table dealing real live cards to virtual players who are virtually positioned around the real live poker table are disclosed (Meadows [C1:50-60]).
Chun teaches enabling a first remote player to remotely participate in the first wager-based game (Chun [0017]). In one embodiment, Chun teaches wherein a microphone may be used to capture, record, and/or stream audio or vocal information from the electronic gaming table region, which, for example, may include verbal communications from a player (Chun [0186]). Chun further teaches wherein speakers may be used to provide audio information to a player or person interacting with ab EGT (Chun [0185). Examples of different types of audio information may include, for example, audio instructions and/or other audio/verbal communications from one or more remote players and/or from a remote live game table dealer/attendant, computer-generated audio instructions/content, sound effects, and/or other types of audio content (Chun [0185).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the live dealer video streamed virtual poker system that provides live video stream-based virtual poker platform as disclosed by Meadows with a microphone to capture verbal communication from a player as taught by Chun in order to provide a more immersive game stream.
Quigley teaches
associate the gameplay video stream with a first cryptographic token (Quigley, the method includes providing, by a streaming platform, a live video stream to a plurality of user devices; the method further includes accessing, by the streaming platform, an application programming interface (API) of an integration system of a tokenization platform, wherein the tokenization platform is configured to generate digital tokens that are cryptographically linked with respective virtual representations of respective real-world items, each respective virtual representation having a set of digital attributes that correspond to a respective set of real-world item attributes of the respective real-world item to which the respective virtual representation corresponds, wherein each digital token is stored on a cryptographic ledger and is redeemable by a respective owner of the digital token to initiate fulfillment of the respective real-world item represented by the digital token [0167]), the first cryptographic token comprising:
a common identifier indicative of the first cryptographic token being part of a plurality of cryptographic tokens (Quigley, immutable attributes of a collectible NFT may include a token identifier, a schema identifier, a template identifier, a name of the NFT, a name of the NFT, a collection of the NFT, and/or the like [0763]); and
a player identifier indicative of the player associated with the first cryptographic token (Quigley, immutable attributes of a collectible NFT may include a token identifier, a schema identifier, a template identifier, a name of the NFT, a name of the NFT, a collection of the NFT, and/or the like [0763]); and
Meadows discloses a novel secure and authentic online player and live dealer video streamed virtual poker system that provides a secure blockchain and live video stream-based virtual poker platform configured to promote integrity of play and authenticity of dealers and players and a novel secure and authentic online player and live dealer video streamed virtual poker process for promoting integrity of play in a virtual poker environment by way of blockchain and live streaming of a real live dealer at a real live poker table dealing real live cards to virtual players who are virtually positioned around the real live poker table are disclosed (Meadows [C1:50-60]).
Meadows discloses integrated technology that converts live cards, as dealt by a live dealer, to virtual cards for (only) a player to view (Meadows [C7:6-32]). Other players at the same table can view the virtual cards, as converted by the integrated technology, corresponding only to the real cards they were dealt by the live dealer (Meadows [C7:6-32]). The integrated technology (e.g., video imaging, RFID, NFC, etc.) is needed to convert live poker hands into virtual hands for player access (online), which enables the user to make choices and virtually select actions (such as betting, raising, checking, etc., which are hereinafter referred to individually and collectively as “bet actions” or “betting actions”) in order to play their poker hand (Meadows [C7:6-32]). All such actions and interactions are recorded to blockchain (Meadows [C7:6-32]). The software, which each player uses to access and interact with the secure blockchain and live video stream-based virtual poker platform, is configured to operate as a validating node for each blockchain (distributed ledger) being used for the player-selected table (Meadows [C7:6-32]). Thus, blockchain transactions are automatically validated by comparison to the distributed ledger copies stored in memory space of the software running on the client device for each player (Meadows [C7:6-32]). In this way, the poker events and other items (balances, tokens, chips, etc.) are immutable and, therefore, secure (Meadows [C7:6-32]). Also, all such data is needed for the secure blockchain and live video stream-based virtual poker platform to declare a winner and reward players accordingly (e.g., with virtual chips, tokens, points, etc.) (Meadows [C7:6-32]).
Quigley teaches a method for managing a digital token that represents a real-world item is disclosed (Quigley [0167]). The method includes providing, by a streaming platform, a live video stream to a plurality of user devices (Quigley [0167]). The method further includes accessing, by the streaming platform, an application programming interface (API) of an integration system of a tokenization platform, wherein the tokenization platform is configured to generate digital tokens that are cryptographically linked with respective virtual representations of respective real-world items, each respective virtual representation having a set of digital attributes that correspond to a respective set of real-world item attributes of the respective real-world item to which the respective virtual representation corresponds, wherein each digital token is stored on a cryptographic ledger and is redeemable by a respective owner of the digital token to initiate fulfillment of the respective real-world item represented by the digital token (Quigley [0167]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the live dealer video streamed virtual poker system that provides a secure blockchain and live video stream-based virtual poker platform as disclosed by Meadows with the method for managing a digital token that represents a real-world item as taught by Quigley in order to accurately record transactions in a game, thereby promoting the integrity of play.
Regarding Claim 2 (Original): Meadows further discloses a camera device to capture a player video stream of the first player during the gameplay, wherein the gameplay video stream further comprises the player video stream (Meadows, each particular player is also entitled to view digital, virtual face cards of the particular hand in which the particular player is dealt; in some embodiments, this is accomplished by individual player cameras; in some embodiments, the real poker table is equipped with a plurality of individual player cameras that are positioned at locations around the table at which players are designated to be present (virtually present in this case, but in conventional poker, actually present); each individual camera is oriented with a field of view to capture the faces of the cards as dealt; thus, the individual cameras in some embodiments are positioned under the surface of the table and the table itself includes a transparent surface for the card bay in which the cards re dealt [C9:16-41]).
Regarding Claim 4 (Original): Quigley further teaches wherein the instructions further cause the processor circuit to generate a second cryptographic token based on the gameplay and provide the second cryptographic token to the first player (Quigley, the method includes providing, by a streaming platform, a live video stream to a plurality of user devices; the method further includes accessing, by the streaming platform, an application programming interface (API) of an integration system of a tokenization platform, wherein the tokenization platform is configured to generate digital tokens that are cryptographically linked with respective virtual representations of respective real-world items, each respective virtual representation having a set of digital attributes that correspond to a respective set of real-world item attributes of the respective real-world item to which the respective virtual representation corresponds, wherein each digital token is stored on a cryptographic ledger and is redeemable by a respective owner of the digital token to initiate fulfillment of the respective real-world item represented by the digital token [0167]).
Regarding Claim 11 (Original): Meadows further discloses wherein the first player is associated with a group of players (Meadows, the UI of the dedicated virtual poker interface and blockchain client software application 200 includes an individual player view 205 associated with a particular individual player, a live stream video feed display 210 as captured by the main table camera 140 at the live table 120 with the live dealer 110 and streamed in realtime, several opponent players 215 positioned around the live table 120 [C11:25-42]).
Quigley further teaches wherein the first cryptographic token is associated with a plurality of cryptographic tokens associated with the group of players (Quigley, the system further includes a set of workflows configured to produce event data relating to the set of digital tokens and transaction data for a set of transactions involving the set of digital tokens [0073]).
Regarding Claim 13 (Original): Quigley further teaches wherein the first cryptographic token comprises a cryptographic hash associated with a common blockchain (Quigley, the selectable media content includes the digital token/an identifier of the digital token (e.g., a hash value that uniquely identifies the digital token) [0598]).
Regarding Claim 14 (Original): Quigley further teaches wherein the first cryptographic token comprises a unique transaction identifier associated with a unique transaction on the blockchain (Quigley, the transaction of the item includes validating the specific token based on the digital-token identifier and the first chain of blocks [0609]), the unique transaction identifier comprising:
a sending address associated with a provider of the first cryptographic token (Quigley, the token transfer system 402 may receive the transfer request and may determine whether the token is a valid token, and whether the public address of the owner and/or the recipient are valid [0506]); and
a receiving address associated with the player identifier (Quigley, the system includes an item management system that is configured to: receive a set of item attributes corresponding to items in a plurality of items, the item attributes including a unique identifier that identifies one or more of the items in the plurality of items; the system further includes a ledger update system configured to: ... to store a plurality of addresses that respectively correspond to respective accounts of respective users of a digital token marketplace system; and update ownership data of the digital token on the cryptographic ledger by writing ownership data of the digital token in a respective account of an owner of the digital token; the system further includes a digital token marketplace system that facilitates transactions involving the digital token by initiating transfer of the ownership of the digital token to an owner of the plurality of items in response to the transactions involving the digital token by instructing the ledger update system to transfer the ownership [0250]).
Regarding Claim 15 (Original): Quigley further teaches wherein the instructions further cause the processor circuit to:
receive a transaction indication of a new transaction for the first cryptographic token comprising a sending address associated with the first player and a receiving address associated with a second player (Quigley, the token transfer system 402 may receive the transfer request and may determine whether the token is a valid token, and whether the public address of the owner and/or the recipient are valid [0506]); and
based on the transaction indication, modify the player identifier of the first cryptographic token to be indicative of the second player (Quigley, the system further includes a ledger update system configured to: ... to store a plurality of addresses that respectively correspond to respective accounts of respective users of a digital token marketplace system; and update ownership data of the digital token on the cryptographic ledger by writing ownership data of the digital token in a respective account of an owner of the digital token; the system further includes a digital token marketplace system that facilitates transactions involving the digital token by initiating transfer of the ownership of the digital token to an owner of the plurality of items in response to the transactions involving the digital token by instructing the ledger update system to transfer the ownership [0250]).
Regarding Claim 16 (Original): Quigley further teaches wherein the first cryptographic token further comprises a benefit identifier associated with a game benefit being provided to the first player associated with the first cryptographic token (Quigley, an NFT-based ticket may uniquely identify and/or uniquely associate with a particular seat for a particular event; the NFT ticket may include associated digital artwork that may be unique to the event (or a set of events, such as a season or a tour) and may have a unique differentiating attribute (e.g., mint number) that makes the NFT ticket collectible and tradeable even after the event [0925]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-10 and 12 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 17-18 and 20-21 are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-2, 4, 11, and 13-16 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WERNER G GARNER whose telephone number is (571)270-7147. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-15:30 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, DAVID LEWIS can be reached at (571) 272-7673. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WERNER G GARNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715