DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
1. This office action is in response to amendment dated 11/18/2025.
2. Claims 1-20 are pending.
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 .
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
Claims 1-20 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.
Step 1: Claims 1-11 are directed to a system; claims 12-20 are directed to a method – each of which is one of the statutory categories of inventions.
Step 2A: A claim is eligible at revised Step 2A unless it recites a judicial exception and the exception is not integrated into a practical application of the application.
Prong 1: Prong One of Step 2A evaluates whether the claim recites a judicial exception (an abstract idea enumerated in the 2019 PEG, a law of nature, or a natural phenomenon).
Groupings of Abstract Ideas:
I. MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS
A. Mathematical Relationships
B. Mathematical Formulas or Equations
C. Mathematical Calculations
II. CERTAIN METHODS OF ORGANIZING HUMAN ACTIVITY
A. Fundamental Economic Practices or Principles (including hedging, insurance, mitigating risk)
B. Commercial or Legal Interactions (including agreements in the form of contracts; legal obligations; advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors; business relations)
C. Managing Personal Behavior or Relationships or Interactions between People (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions)
III. MENTAL PROCESSES.
Concepts performed in the human mind (including an observation, evaluation, judgment, opinion).
See MPEP 2106.04 (a) (2) Abstract Idea Groupings [R-10.2019]
Independent claims 1, 10 and 12 are directed to – track occurrences of an activity associated with a gaming establishment and issue a refund of the fee associated with the transfer of funds from financial institution to gaming establishment in response to tracked occurrences – that constitutes Fundamental Economic Practices and/or Commercial/Legal Interactions and thus fall under the abstract idea category Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity.
The dependent claims further limit the abstract idea to – portion of the fee as refund; funds transferred from financial institution account to gaming establishment account and a portion to the gamin device; increase balance of the gaming establishment account; transfer funds from financial institution to the gaming establishment device independent of any gaming establishment account; types of activity; first threshold quantity of occurrences associated with a first refund amount, and a second threshold quantity of occurrences associated with a second refund amount – that also constitute Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity.
Hence under Prong One of Step 2A, claims 1-20 recite a judicial exception.
Prong 2: Prong Two of Step 2A evaluates whether the claim recites additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application of the exception.
Limitations that are indicative of integration into a practical application include:
Improvements to the functioning of a computer or to any other technology or technical field – see MPEP 2106.05(a)
Applying the judicial exception with, or by use of, a particular machine – see MPEP 2106.05(b)
Effecting a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing – see MPEP 2106.05(c)
Applying or using the judicial exception in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception – see MPEP 2106.05(e)
Limitations that are not indicative of integration into a practical application include:
Adding the words “apply it” (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea – see MPEP 2106.05(f)
Adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception – see MPEP 2106.05(g)
Generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use – see MPEP 2106.05(h)
Additional elements recited by the claims, beyond the abstract idea, include: system comprising a processor, and memory device; gaming establishment device; electronic gaming machine; electronic funds transfer. Examiner finds that any additional element(s), beyond the judicial exception, has been recited at a high level of generality such that the claim limitations amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic components (see MPEP 2106.05(f)) or insignificant extra solution activities (see MPEP 2106.05 (g)).
The combination of additional elements does not purport to improve the functioning of a computer or effect an improvement in any other technology or technical field. Instead, the additional elements do no more than “use the computer as a tool” and/or “link the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use.” The focus of the claims is not on improvement in computers, but on certain independently abstract ideas – track occurrences of an activity associated with a gaming establishment and issue a refund of the fee associated with the transfer of funds from financial institution to gaming establishment in response to tracked occurrences – that merely use generic computers as tools. Steps that do no more than spell out what it means to “apply it on a computer” cannot confer patent eligibility. “Indeed, nothing in claim 1 improves the functioning of the computer, makes it operate more efficiently, or solves any technological problem.” See Trading Techs. Int’l, Inc. v. IBG LLC, 921 F.3d 1378, 1384-85 (Fed. Cir. 2019). Hence, under Prong Two of Step 2A, the additional elements, individually or in combination, do not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application.
Hence, the claims are ineligible under Step 2A.
Step 2B: In Step 2B, the evaluation consists of whether the claim recites additional elements that amount to an inventive concept (aka “significantly more”) than the recited judicial exception.
As discussed in Prong Two, the additional elements in the claims amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic components, which is insufficient to provide an inventive concept.
When considered individually or as an ordered combination, the additional elements fail to transform the abstract idea of – track occurrences of an activity associated with a gaming establishment and issue a refund of the fee associated with the transfer of funds from financial institution to gaming establishment in response to tracked occurrences – into significantly more.
See MPEP 2106.05(f) Mere Instructions To Apply An Exception [R-10.2019].
(2) Whether the claim invokes computers or other machinery merely as a tool to perform an existing process. Use of a computer or other machinery in its ordinary capacity for economic or other tasks (e.g., to receive, store, or transmit data) or simply adding a general purpose computer or computer components after the fact to an abstract idea (e.g., a fundamental economic practice or mathematical equation) does not integrate a judicial exception into a practical application or provide significantly more.
Hence, the claims are ineligible under Step 2B.
Therefore, the claim(s) are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to a judicial exception without significantly more.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-20
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Lutnick (US20240144775A1) in view of Azzam et al. (US20200234536).
Claim 1:
A system comprising:
a processor; and
a memory device that stores a plurality of instructions that, when executed by the processor following a transfer of an amount of funds from a financial institution account maintained in association with a financial institution to a gaming establishment device and following a fee amount being assessed in association with the transfer of the amount of funds from the financial institution account to the gaming establishment device, cause the processor to:
track a quantity of occurrences of an activity associated with the gaming establishment device, and
(See Lutnick: Para [0323] (“Then, when the player uses the player card at any gaming device, the system can track the player's activity.”)
responsive to the tracked quantity of occurrences of the activity at least reaching a threshold quantity of occurrences:
(See Azzam: Para
[0027] (“In one such embodiment, the system continuously monitors for an occurrence of an external account fee event. In another such embodiment, the system periodically monitors, such as at designated time intervals, for an occurrence of an external account fee event.”)
[0032] (“For example, if the system utilizes a threshold amount of funds to determine whether or not to offer the incentive to the user and the amount of funds to be transferred from the external account associated with the user is less than this threshold amount of funds, then the system does not offer any incentive to the user beyond the convenience of transferring the funds from the external account associated with the user to the gaming establishment fund management account associated with the user.”)
determine a refund amount of the fee amount assessed in association with the transfer of the amount of funds from the financial institution account to the gaming establishment device, and
(See Azzam: Para [0059] (“For example, if the determined incentive is a refund of a fee imposed by a banking network to transfer an amount of funds from a banking account to a gaming establishment fund management account, then upon the occurrence of the incentive realization event (such as a completion of the transfer and the assessment of the fee by the banking network), the refund of the fee (or a credit equal to the fee amount) is provided to the user.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the above noted disclosure of Lutnick as it relates to gaming access and authorization interface to include the above noted disclosure of Azzam as it relates to incentivizing transfer for funds to a gaming establishment. The motivation for combining the references would have been to incentivize players to transfer funds to casino loyalty account.
Claims 10, 12 are similar to claim 1 and hence rejected on similar grounds.
Claim 2:
wherein the determined refund amount comprises a portion of the fee amount assessed.
(See Azzam: Para [0059])
Claim 13 is similar to claim 2 and rejected on similar grounds.
Claim 3:
wherein the transfer of the amount of funds from the financial institution account to the gaming establishment device comprises the amount of funds being transferred from the financial institution account to a gaming establishment account and at least a portion of the amount of funds being transferred from the gaming establishment account to the gaming establishment device.
(See Lutnick: Para [0618])
Claim 14 is similar to claim 3 and rejected on similar grounds.
Claim 4:
wherein the determined refund amount is made available in association with an increase of a balance of the gaming establishment account.
(See Azzam: Para [0102])
Claim 15 is similar to claim 4 and rejected on similar grounds.
Claim 5:
wherein the transfer of the amount of funds from the financial institution account to the gaming establishment device occurs, independent of any gaming establishment account, in association with an electronic funds transfer.
(See Lutnick: Para [0312])
Claim 16 is similar to claim 5 and rejected on similar grounds.
Claim 6:
wherein the determined refund amount is made available in association with an increase of a balance of the gaming establishment device.
(See Azzam: Para [0109])
Claim 17 is similar to claim 6 and rejected on similar grounds.
Claim 7:
wherein the gaming establishment device comprises an electronic gaming machine.
(See Lutnick: Para [0433])
Claim 18 is similar to claim 7 and rejected on similar grounds.
Claim 8:
wherein the activity comprises at least one of an amount of games played, an amount wagered, an amount won, an amount lost, a game outcome obtained, and an amount of time spent playing a game.
(See Lutnick: Para [0724])
Claim 19 is similar to claim 8 and rejected on similar grounds.
Claim 9:
wherein a first threshold quantity of occurrences is associated with a first refund amount of the fee amount assessed and a second, different threshold quantity of occurrences is associated with a second, different refund amount of the fee amount assessed.
(See Azzam: Para [0032], [0059])
Claim 20 is similar to claim 9 and rejected on similar grounds.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/18/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
101
Applicant argues citing para [0013], [0015], [0016] of the specification, that claim 1 provides a solution to problems associated with the employment of cash within a gaming establishment. Examiner finds this unpersuasive because the purported advantages highlighted by the above sections – such as reduction or elimination of cash – relate to improving Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity as opposed to improving computers or technology. Tracking the occurrences of an activity associated with a gaming establishment and issuing a refund of the fee associated with the transfer of funds from financial institution to gaming establishment in response to tracked occurrences – may facilitate the functioning of a gaming session but it does not improve the performance of a computer or processor. See SAP Am., Inc. v. Investpic, LLC 898 F.3d 1161, 1163 (Fed. Cir. 2018) (“No matter how much of an advance in the … field the claims recite, the advance lies entirely in the realm of abstract ideas, with no plausibly alleged innovation in the non-abstract application realm.”); SAP Am., Inc. v. InvestPic, LLC, 898 F.3d 1161, 1170 (Fed. Cir. 2018) (“[P]atent law does not protect such claims[, i.e., claims to an asserted advance in the realm of abstract ideas], without more, no matter how groundbreaking the advance.”). Eliminating gaming establishment personnel from distributing cash may protect both the player as well as the gaming establishment from corruption and fraud but it does nothing to improve computers or technology. The claim limitations do not recite (i) an improvement to the functionality of a computer or other technology or technical field; (ii) a “particular machine” to apply or use the judicial exception; (iii) a particular transformation of an article to a different thing or state; or (iv) any other meaningful limitation. See MPEP 2106.05 (a)-(c), (e)-(h). Hence, the additional elements fail to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application.
103
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 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
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 ARUNAVA CHAKRAVARTI whose telephone number is (571)270-1646. The examiner can normally be reached 9 AM - 5 PM ET.
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/ARUNAVA CHAKRAVARTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3692