DETAILED ACTION
Information Disclosure Statement
Applicant’s submission of an Information Disclosure Statement on 5/29/2024 has been received and considered.
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 abstract idea without significantly more.
2019 PEG Analysis
Step 1: Are the claims directed to a statutory category (e.g., a process, machine, etc.)
Claims 1-19 are directed to an apparatus. Claim 20 is directed to a process.
Step 2A (Prong 1): Does the claim recite an abstract idea, law of nature or natural phenomenon?
Yes, the claims recite an abstract idea. The following specific limitations in the claims under examination recite an abstract idea:
Determine a monetary transaction at a casino (e.g., claims 1, 2, 6. 13, 14, and 18)
Determine a user account (e.g., claims 1, 13, and 20)
Offer to purchase wagering game entry or cashout (e.g., claims 1, 3, 4, 7, 15, 16, and 19)
Determine a wagering game result and provide an award (e.g., claims 1, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 17)
The above listed identified limitations fall within at least one of the groupings of abstract ideas enumerated in the 2019 PEG:
Mental Processes: concepts preformed in the human mind (including on observation, evaluation, judgement, opinion).
Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity:
Commercial or legal interactions (including agreements in the form contracts; legal obligations; advertising, marketing, or sales activities or behaviors; business relations).
managing personal behavior or relationships or interactions or relationships of interaction between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions.
The claims are primarily directed to rules for playing a wagering game, wherein the game rules align with a method of organizing human activity that include agreements, business relations, and following rules or instructions. Each of the above listed abstract ideas could be performed by mental steps, including determining a transaction, determining a user account, offering a game entry, and determining a result.
Step 2A (Prong 2): Does the claim recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application?
Overall, the following additional claim limitations appear to merely implement the abstract idea, add insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception, or generally link the judicial exception to a particular environment or field of use, as outlined below:
Displaying game information (e.g., see at least claims 1,13, and 20, insignificant extra-solution activity);
Notifying a user (e.g., claims 10-12, insignificant extra-solution activity),
Step 2B: Does the claim recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception?
With regard to claims 1-20 the claims as a whole do not amount to significantly more than the exception itself. The above listed additional claim limitations display and process game data in a well-understood, routine, and conventional way. Further, the computer hardware of claim 1 (e.g., a processor and memory), claim 13 (e.g., display, input, processor, and memory), and claim 20 (e.g., processor) are well-understood, routine, and conventional in the art.
In order to satisfy the Berkheimer factual determination of conventional elements in the art, U.S. Patent No. 7,819,742 to Chamberlain is cited for disclosing the conventional features of slot machines including processors (e.g., see at least column 11, lines 14-16) and displays (e.g., see column 7, lines 12-25). Therefore, claims 1-20 are not patent eligible under 101.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 6-8, 10-14, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0153348 to Charest.
With regard to claim 1, Charest discloses system (e.g., see Fig. 1 that shows POS System 100 with a POS System Server 105 in network communication with a Lottery Central System 150) comprising: a processor circuit (e.g., see Fig. 1, POS System Server 105 includes a processor); and a memory circuit (e.g., see Fig. 1, POS System Server 105 includes a processor) comprising machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor circuit, cause the processor circuit to:
determine a monetary transaction at a casino device associated with a first monetary amount (e.g., see Fig. 2A, wherein the first monetary amount is $100 at Joe’s Bar);
determine a user account associated with the monetary transaction (e.g., see at least Fig. 2B, “Your credit card will be charged”, wherein the credit card represents the user account);
display, at a display device, an offer to purchase a wagering game entry for a second monetary amount less than the first monetary amount (e.g., see at least Fig. 2A, that offers “Play Lottery Game For Potential Full Amount or Half Amount of Your Bill- The Lottery Ticket Wager is $5.00”);
in response to acceptance of the offer, associate the wagering game entry with the user account (e.g., see at least Fig. 2B that notes that a lottery ticket was purchased for $5.00);
determine a wagering game result for the wagering game entry (e.g., see at least Fig. 2C that states “Congrats you win!! You have won $100!! Yor winnings cover your entire bill. What a great day! You will receive a $100 voucher for this lottery ticket”); and
in response to the wagering game result being a winning result, award a wagering game award to the user associated with the user account (e.g., see at least Fig. 2C that states “Congrats you win!! You have won $100!! Yor winnings cover your entire bill. What a great day! You will receive a $100 voucher for this lottery ticket”);
[claim 2] wherein the second monetary amount is deducted from the first monetary amount (e.g., see at least Figs. 2C and 2D that says that you have reduced your first amount, $100, by either the full $100 or half);
[claim 6] wherein the first monetary amount comprises a purchase amount for a purchase at a point-of-sale device (e.g., see Fig. 1 that shows POS System 100 with a POS System Server 105 in network communication with a Lottery Central System 150);
[claim 7] wherein the wagering game entry comprises a game ticket for a wagering game drawing (e.g., see at least Figs. 2B that states “$5.00 for purchasing this lottery ticket and taking this chance”);
[claim 8] wherein the determination of the wagering game result for the wagering game entry occurs on a predetermined schedule (e.g., the predetermined schedule is immediately, since there is no discussion of a delay following the user’s decision to purchase the ticket; see also paragraph 3 that describes the lottery ticket as “an instant win lottery ticket”);
[claim 10] wherein the instructions further cause the processor circuit to: notify the user associated with the winning result of the winning result (e.g., see at least Fig. 2C that states “Congrats you win!! You have won $100!! Yor winnings cover your entire bill. What a great day! You will receive a $100 voucher for this lottery ticket”);
[claim 11] wherein the notification of the user comprises transmission of a notification message to a mobile computing device associated with the user for display by the mobile computing device (e.g., see at least paragraph 20 that discusses the use of mobile device); and
[claim 12] wherein the notification of the user comprises display of a notification message by the display device of the casino device (e.g., see at least Fig. 2C that states “Congrats you win!! You have won $100!! Yor winnings cover your entire bill. What a great day! You will receive a $100 voucher for this lottery ticket”).
Claims 13, 14, 18, and 19 are anticipated by Charest based on the same analysis set forth above for claims 1, 3, 6, and 7, which are similar in claim scope.
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 3 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Charest in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0051371 to Nelson.
With regard to claims 3 and 15, Charest discloses all of the recited elements but is silent regarding the transaction being a base game wager.
In the same field of endeavor, Nelson teaches the first monetary amount comprises a base game wager for a base wagering game at a casino gaming device (e.g., see at least Fig. 9, that discusses that following a base game wager, a secondary wager may be offered, “double or nothing”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the current invention to modify Charest with the base transaction being a game wager transaction as taught by Nelson in order to use a known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way. In this case, extending the base transaction from POS to game play wager allows additional opportunities for the casino to seek additional side wagers from the user to likely generate greater revenue for the casino.
Claims 4, 5, 16, 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Charest in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/ 0151957 to Falciglia.
With regard to claims 4 and 16, Charest discloses all of the recited elements but is silent regarding the first monetary amount being a cashout amount.
In the same field of endeavor, Falciglia teaches the first monetary amount comprises a a cashout amount (e.g., see at least Fig. 4C that offer a $1 additional spin at cashout, that discusses that following a base game wager, a secondary wager may be offered, “double or nothing”). It the Examiner’s position that features of claims 5 and 17 equate a wagering game award equates to a cashout amount if the user’s cashout is the same as the current wagering game award.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the current invention to modify Charest with the base transaction being a cashout as taught by Falciglia in order to use a known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way. In this case, extending the base transaction from POS to cashout transactions allows additional opportunities for the casino to seek additional side wagers from the user to likely generate greater revenue for the casino.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Charest in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0093146 to Kitamura.
With regard to claims 4 and 16, Charest discloses all of the recited elements but is silent regarding the first monetary amount being a cashout amount.
In the same field of endeavor, Kitamura teaches random lottery draws (e.g., see at least paragraph 366 that discusses the lottery draws are randomly timed).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the current invention to modify Charest with random draws (as opposed to instant) as taught by Kitamura in order to use a known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way. In this case, random draws can create additional excitement for the user to receive an outcome when it is unexpected.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0355175 to Russ discusses a special offer during a wagering game transaction (e.g., see at least Fig. 3A)
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0284169 to Racho discusses an online gaming with additional offers (e.g., see at least Fig. 6)
U.S. Patent No. 9,087,438 to Aponte discusses a primary game transaction with a side bet secondary transaction (e.g., se at least Fig. 5)
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0122556 to Schrotter discusses a lottery at a POS terminal (e.g., see at least Figs. 4 and 5)
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0132329 to Jorasch discusses activating an automatic rebet of 10% of previous game winnings (e.g., see Fig. 4)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES S MCCLELLAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7167. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday (8:30AM-5:00PM).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kang Hu can be reached at 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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/James S. McClellan/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715