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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Colovic et al (US 2024/0144770) in view of Polena (US 2024/0428654).
Re claim 1, Colovic discloses an electronic gaming system comprising: memory and a game controller in communication with the memory including a processor (fig. 2) configured to: cause to be displayed on a display device a base reel game including a plurality of reels (fig. 4); determine that an outcome of the base reel game triggers a bonus event (fig. 1, 102); and control the display device to display the bonus event including: cause to be displayed on the display device a bonus game in a first instance of the bonus event, the bonus game including a plurality of bonus game reels (fig. 2A); control the plurality of bonus game reels of the bonus game to randomly display one bonus game symbol of a plurality of bonus game symbols in each row for each of the plurality of bonus game reels during a first bonus spin of a predetermined number of bonus spins, the bonus game symbols including a cumulative cash-on-reel (COR) symbol depicting a cumulative COR credit value corresponding to a cumulative credit value defined during the base reel game, prior to the triggering of the bonus event (figs. 2B-2H, pars. [0014] and [0041] describing symbols 206 indicate an amount of credits and are rendered moving across all of the reels, with [0050]-[0051] discussing the various ways symbols can be valuated, and [0042] describing the various ways symbols, reels, and bonuses are customizable by the casino); in response to at least one row of at least one of the bonus game reels displaying the cumulative COR symbol of the bonus game symbols, continue to cause to be displayed the cumulative COR symbol in the at least one row of the at least one of the bonus game reels during a subsequent bonus spin of the predetermined number of bonus spins ([0041], the symbols remain on the reels in the field, moving towards an accumulation position via the current row, as visible in figs. 2B-2F); and cause to redisplay the bonus game on the display device at a second instance of the bonus event, subsequent to the first instance (see above).
However, while the symbols of Colovic have been discussed to persist on the reels during the bonus event, there is no explicit disclosure that cumulative symbols persist as displayed during the first instance of the bonus event when the bonus game is redisplayed. Polena teaches a bonus game with cumulative symbols much like Colovic (see fig. 4-7, the symbol QH on the reels are tied to jackpot triggers as taught in [0046]). These QH symbols may be held or locked in place in a “hold-and-respin” embodiment which allows the cumulative symbols to remain in its position during subsequent plays of the bonus game (again see [0046], where the bonus game comprises several rounds of spins, each spin being considered another instance of the bonus event).
It would have been obvious to implement the hold and respin bonus game of Polena with the game of Colovic in order to allow players to hold onto valuable symbols in a bonus game, improving their chances at winning a jackpot and therefore enhancing the excitement and likelihood of participation in the game.
Re claim 2, Colovic discloses determining a first bonus game outcome including a first total credit value for each bonus game symbol displayed during the first instance of the bonus event, and again for a second bonus game outcome, the second total credit value being equal to or greater than the first total credit value (figs. 2A-2H, over the course of the bonus game, the player collects the 1000 credit symbol while the remaining cumulative symbols remain available for collection, therefore the total credit value for subsequent outcomes are equal to or greater than the collected value).
Re claim 3, Colovic discloses determining if each of the rows of the plurality of bonus game reels display the cumulative COR symbol or a bonus COR symbol for the bonus game during the first or second instance of the bonus event, the bonus COR symbol depicting a bonus COR credit value (fig. 2E, multiple COR symbols are shown with varying credit values, therefore higher COR symbols are considered bonus COR credit values over the lowest value shown of 300); and in response to each of the rows displaying the cumulative or bonus COR symbol for both instances of the bonus event, award the credit values (fig. 2H, as the player plays the game, all collected COR symbols are added to the player’s award).
Re claim 5, Polena teaches displaying a first bonus feature including a credit value equal to the cumulative credit value defined during the base reel game prior to the triggering of the bonus event (fig. 4, 200); cause to be displayed on the display device at least one second bonus feature including a random credit value (fig. 4, 5-10QH); and cause to award either the cumulative credit value or the random credit value (fig. 3, 118, 120, and 122).
Re claim 6, Colovic discloses redisplaying the bonus game at a third instance of the bonus event subsequent to the second instance persisting to display the cumulative COR symbol as displayed during the first and second instance (figs. 2B-2H, over several rounds of play of the bonus event, the plurality of cumulative symbols persist with the same values as when they first appeared).
Re claim 7, Colovic discloses in response to at least one row of at least one of the bonus game reels displaying the cumulative COR symbol, continue to cause to be displayed the cumulative COR symbol in the at least one row of the at least one of the bonus game reels during a subsequent bonus spin of the predetermined number of bonus spins during the first instance of the bonus game (see the above rejections, the cumulative symbol has been taught to persist throughout the bonus game along the row it appears, again see figs. 2B-2H).
Re claims 8-10, 12-17, and 19-20, see the above rejections.
Claim(s) 4, 11, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Colovic in view of Polena as applied to claims 3, 10, and 17 above, and further in view of Slomiany et al (US 2002/0160827).
Re claims 4, 11, and 18, Colovic discloses causing to reset the bonus event credit value to a minimum bonus event credit value, the minimum bonus event credit value less than the bonus event credit value ([0132], the progressive award is reset to an initial amount, therefore lower than any built-up value); cause to be awarded the second total credit value subsequent to the redisplaying of the bonus game during the second instance of the bonus event, the second total credit value equal to the first credit value (see the above rejections, all accumulated awards from the collected cumulative symbols are maintained until the bonus event ends).
While Colovic fails to explicitly disclose awarding the minimum bonus event credit value subsequent to the redisplaying of the bonus game during the second instance of the bonus event, Slomiany teaches a similar gaming system with a consolation prize that ensures players win a minimum prize value during the bonus event (see [0117] and [0138], a consolation prize worth five credits). It would have been obvious to implement a consolation prize as taught by Slomiany with the game of Colovic in order to guarantee that even unlucky players are able to obtain at least a minimum prize from the bonus event, preventing overly negative emotions from obtaining nothing from a rare event.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kevin Y Kim whose telephone number is (571)270-3215. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Xuan Thai can be reached at (571) 272-7147. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KEVIN Y KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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