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 .
This communication is responsive to application No. 18/587,827 filed on 02/26/2024.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending and has been examined.
Information Disclosure Statement
IDS filed on 02/26/2024 is considered.
The drawings filed on 02/26/2024 are noted.
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.
7. Claims 1, 17, 19, and all dependent claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claims recite the limitation of: “deducting a non-monetary wager amount from a non-monetary credit balance amount”.
The limitation of deducting a non-monetary wager amount from a non-monetary credit balance amount, as drafted, is a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind. That is, nothing in the claims preclude the steps from practically being performed in the mind. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind, then it falls within the “Mental Processes” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, claims 1-20 recite an abstract idea.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claims only recite one additional element – using a processor to determine a result for the wagering game; and based on the result a winning result and the non-monetary wager amount, adding a non-monetary award amount to the non-monetary credit balance amount; after executing the plurality of games, receiving an instruction from a player of the wagering game to redeem a cryptographic token to award a portion of the non-monetary credit balance amount to the player as a monetary award amount to perform both determining and receiving steps. The processor in both steps is recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., as a generic computer executing a plurality of games of a wagering game) such that it amounts no more than mere instructions. Accordingly, this additional element does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claims are directed to an abstract idea.
In the instant case, the claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional element of determining, by the processor circuit, the monetary award amount based on the non-monetary credit balance amount and the cryptographic token; and based on redeeming the cryptographic token, awarding, by the gaming device, the monetary award amount to the player. Thus, taken alone, the additional element fails to ensure the claims as a whole amount to significantly more than the judicial exception itself. Accordingly, claims 1-20 are ineligible under 35 U.S.C. 101.
Conclusion
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to PIERRE E ELISCA whose telephone number is (571) 272-6706. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday -Thursday; 6:30AM- 5:30PM. Hoteler.
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If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Hu Kang can be reached on 571 270 1344. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PIERRE E ELISCA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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