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 .
Applicant’s Submission of a Response
Applicant’s submission of a response was received on 08/19/2026. Presently, claims 1-20 are pending.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim(s) recite(s) A method of operating a gaming machine, the gaming machine comprising a gaming cabinet housing game-logic circuitry securely housed within a locked box inside the gaming cabinet, the game-logic circuitry comprising a central processing unit connected to a main memory, and a presentation assembly, the method comprising the operations of: prior to conducting a game on the gaming machine, executing, by the game-logic circuitry, an authentication program stored in the main memory, the executing including generating a live authentication code from contents of the main memory, comparing the live authentication code to a trusted code stored in the main memory, and permitting execution of random number generator programming and game-outcome logic stored in the main memory only upon a match between the live authentication code and the trusted code; accepting, via a value input device, a physical item associated with a monetary value to establish a monetary balance; conducting, by the game-logic circuitry, a game including: presenting, by the presentation assembly, a plurality of symbol-bearing reels, and an array, and at least one persistent element, the at least one persistent element having an associated accumulation symbol; spinning and stopping the plurality of reels to land symbols from the reels in the array to produce an outcome; and in response to the landed symbols of the outcome including the accumulation symbol, animating an addition of the accumulation symbol to the at least one persistent element and randomly determining whether or not to award a bonus game; and in response to the landed symbols of the outcome not including the accumulation symbol, foregoing the random determination of whether or not to award the bonus game; and in response to awarding the bonus game: displaying, via the presentation assembly, a first menu comprising choices of a first type associated with a first game parameter and choices of a second type associated with a second game parameter; accepting a first selection from the first menu, designating the first type as selected and the second type as unselected if a selected choice of the first selection is made from the choices of the first type and designating the first type as unselected and the second type as selected if the selected choice of the first selection is made from the choices of the second type; displaying, via the presentation assembly, a second menu comprising choices of the unselected type from the first menu and choices of a third type associated with a third game parameter; accepting a second selection from the second menu, designating the unselected type from the first menu as selected and the third type as unselected if a selected choice of the second selection is made from the choices of the unselected type from the first menu and designating the third type as selected if the selected choice of the second selection is made from the choices of the third type; setting the game parameter associated with the type of the first selection according to the selected choice of the first selection; setting the game parameter associated with the type of the second selection according to the selected choice of the second selection; randomly determining a choice from a weighted set of choices based on the selected choices of the first selection and the second selection, the weight set of choices being weighted to maintain an average return to player of the bonus game, and setting the game parameter associated with the unselected type of choices to the randomly determined choice; accessing, by the game-logic circuitry from the main memory, game assets corresponding to the set game parameters, and causing the presentation assembly to present the bonus game according to the game parameters; and receiving, via at least one of one or more electronic input devices, a cash out input that initiates a payout from the monetary balance via a value output device. The underlined portions above are all parts of an abstract idea of certain methods of organizing human activity in that they are parts of managing a wagering game. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the claims are merely directed towards applying the abstract idea onto well-known electronic gaming machine structure and thus are not enough to bring the claims into patent eligibility (See MPEP 2106.04(d) “The courts have also identified limitations that did not integrate a judicial exception into a practical application:…Generally linking the use of a judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use”). The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional elements beyond the abstract idea are well-known parts of an electronic gaming machine (See US Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0335835 paragraphs 0023-0031; and US Patent Application Publication No. 2010/00293871 0038).
All dependent claims have been analyzed but do not cure the deficiencies of the independent claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s argument with regard to the rejection based upon 35 USC 101 is best summed up by Applicant’s argument that “Whether the game-logic circuity invokes its random number generator during a given wagering game cycle, or instead foregoes that invocation, is a determination that the machine makes about its own operation on the basis of the contents of the array it has just populated,” (Arguments, page 11). Or in other words, we only use an random number generator when necessary, but not at other times. However, this is not found to be convincing because it is still related to rules for how the wagering game is managed.
Applicant continues similar arguments with relation to practical application and significantly more. But they again rest on whether or not a random number generator is employed or not at a particular instance. Applicant’s various court cases have been considered but are not found convincing. Rather they seem more akin to some of the claims at issue in Alice wherein instructions “to credit and/or debit in accordance with said adjustments” (US Patent No. 6,912,510). That is function was only performed when particular factors were met, similar to here, the instruction to use the random number generator is only done when particular factors have been met.
Applicant additionally argues that “The Office Action does not identify which recited limitations it treats as the additional elements,” (Arguments, page 17). This is factually untrue. The claims have been marked up in the previous action and in the current action with underlines showing what parts are considered to be part of the abstract idea. That inherently means that anything that is NOT underlined is an additional element because additional elements means elements that are not part of the abstract idea. In the present case, the additional elements are considered to be the fundamental parts of an electronic gaming machine which Applicant has already stated, “Applicant does not contend that a gaming cabinet, a locked box, a central processing unit connected to a main memory, a presentation assembly, value input and output devices or program authentication are individually unusual in the gaming-machine art. Nor does the eligibility of the amended claims rest on the authentication recitation that the Office Action addressed in earlier rounds,” (Arguments, page 9).
Thus, for these reasons the rejection based upon 35 USC 101 has been maintained.
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.
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/Jay Trent Liddle/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
