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 .
Procedural Summary
This is responsive to the claims filed 10/24/2024.
The Examiner acknowledges the preliminary amendment filed on 10/24/2024 in which amendments were submitted.
Applicant’s IDS submission is acknowledged and provided herewith.
The Drawings filed on 06/26/2024 are noted.
Claims 9-22, 24-27, and 73-76 are pending.
AIA Notice
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 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.
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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 9-20, 24-27 and 73-76 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent 10,984,630 to Balmer et al. in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0069654 A1 to Beach et al.
Regarding Claim 9, and similarly recited Claim 73, (Currently Amended) Balmer discloses an apparatus for dispensing wager payouts, the apparatus comprising:
a body having a dispenser cavity and an opening (fig. 1, Col. 4:20-31 discloses The kiosk 100 may take on any shape and size desired. The kiosk 100 contains a bill validator 105 configured to read/identify notes and gaming vouchers … The kiosk 100 further includes a user interface 115 (e.g., touch screen) and input slot 120 for accepting notes and gaming vouchers and an output slot for dispensing notes. The input slot and output slot may comprise the same slot 120);
a dispenser disposed in at least a portion of the dispenser cavity, the dispenser having:
a cavity that stores a plurality of items to be dispensed (Col. 4:24-26 discloses a recycler cassette 110 modified to store gaming vouchers and notes), a dispensing portion aligned with the opening of the body, and an actuator that dispenses (Claim 1, Col. 5:62-67), at the dispensing portion, one or more of the plurality of items from the cavity through the opening (Col. 5:30-33 discloses once the one or more gaming vouchers are authorized, the notes are dispensed through the same slot component in which the one or more gaming vouchers were inserted);
a payout code scanner (Col. 4:24-27 discloses bill validator configured to read/identify notes and gaming vouchers … Col. 4:47-50);
a request processing circuit structured to interpret a payout request command initiated by a user, the payout request command corresponding to a payout for one or more wagers made by the user (Col. 5:49-51, Col. 4:42-44 discloses at 210, the gaming voucher redemption process begins. At 215, the system validates that the gaming voucher inserted is in fact a gaming voucher. The validation is accomplished utilizing a bill validator configured to read and identify both notes and gaming vouchers, Col. 1:20-27); and
a payout provisioning circuit structured to cause, in response to the payout command, the dispenser to dispense, via the actuator, an amount of the plurality of items corresponding to the payout (Col. 4:65-67…Col. 5:27-30 discloses the kiosk 100 is further configured to determine if there is enough cash before processing the one or more gaming vouchers).
Balmer, however, does not explicitly disclose:
a verification circuit comprising:
a code request circuit structured to, in response to the payout request command, generate and transmit a code prompt command structured to generate a prompt for a payout code to be provided for read-in via the payout code scanner;
a code processing circuit structured to, in response to the payout code scanner reading-in the payout code, interpret the payout code and generate first verification data based at least in part on the payout code;
a code communication circuit structured to:
transmit, via one or more secure electronic communication channels, the first verification data to one or more servers, and
in response to transmitting the first verification data, interpret second verification data transmitted from the one or more servers via the one or more secure electronic communication channels; and
a confirmation circuit structured to determine, based at least in part on the second verification data, that the user is authorized to receive the payout and, [[if]] in response to determining that the user is determined to be authorized to receive the payout, generate a payout command.
In a related invention, Beach discloses a system for voucher or token verification. Beach discloses a verification circuit comprising:
a code request circuit structured to, in response to the payout request command, generate and transmit a code prompt command structured to generate a prompt for a payout code to be provided for read-in via the payout code scanner (¶¶ [0026], [0034] discloses the controller 304 manages the operation of the scanner 300, display 308, … Status messages may be presented to the cashier and customer, e.g. by a display 308. The display 308 can be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) display, voice prompt or other method for conveying information; … Once the controller 304 determines the issuing kiosk 116 is outside wireless range, a message is presented on the display 308 instructing the cashier to contact the control center 124 in order to manually cross-verify the voucher or token in step 612);
a code processing circuit structured to, in response to the payout code scanner reading-in the payout code, interpret the payout code and generate first verification data based at least in part on the payout code (¶¶ [0026], [0031] discloses scanned bar codes are processed by the controller 304 and transmitted by the first transceiver 312 or first modem 316; … In step 516, the cashier scans the bar code to read the code. A scanning wand 300 is a compact and convenient device for reading the bar code. The controller 304 in the recognition subsystem 112 relays the code to the issuing kiosk 116 by way of the first wireless transceiver 312 in step 520);
a code communication circuit structured to:
transmit, via one or more secure electronic communication channels, the first verification data to one or more servers, and in response to transmitting the first verification data, interpret second verification data transmitted from the one or more servers via the one or more secure electronic communication channels (¶¶ [0026]- [0028] discloses preferably, the transmissions are on secure channels which include encryption and/or other security techniques … The voucher or token code is transmitted to the kiosk 116 for verification by either the first transceiver 312 or first modem 316….a query of the voucher or token database 408 is made and the results are relayed back to the second transceiver 400 or second modem 416); and
a confirmation circuit structured to determine, based at least in part on the second verification data, that the user is authorized to receive the payout and, [[if]] in response to determining that the user is determined to be authorized to receive the payout, generate a payout command (¶¶ [0032] discloses in step 528, the determination is made with regard to the validity of the voucher or token. If there is no credit available, the cashier is notified of the same in step 532. However, if the voucher or token is valid, the credit is applied against any merchandise purchased in step 536).
Both Balmer and Beach are in analogous art of verification and redemption of vouchers. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the voucher authentication kiosk system with Bear’s secure code verification system in order to reduce the risk of fraud and fraudulent alteration and duplication of redemption vouchers (See Balmer Col. 2:40-50).
Regarding Claim 10, (Original) Balmer in view of Beach discloses the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the payout code comprises a quick response code (Balmer, fig. 3, Col. 4:37-40).
Regarding Claim 11, (Original) Balmer in view of Beach discloses the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the payout code comprises at least one of:
a bar code (Beach, ¶ [0030]); or
alphanumeric characters.
Regarding Claim 12, (Original) Balmer in view of Beach discloses the apparatus of claim 9 further comprising:
an input device structured to receive the payout request command and transmit the payout request command to the request processing circuit (Balmer, Col. 4:32-44, Col. 5:47-52).
Regarding Claim 13, (Original) Balmer in view of Beach discloses the apparatus of claim 12, wherein the input device includes at least one of:
a network interface device (Beach, ¶¶ [0022], [0024], [0027]); or
a short-range wireless communication device.
Regarding Claim 14, (Original) Balmer in view of Beach discloses the apparatus of claim 13, wherein the input device includes the network interface device, and the network interface device is structured to communicate based at least in part on at least one of:
an ethernet-based protocol;
an Internet Protocol-based protocol (Beach, ¶¶ ]0027], [0040]; Balmer, Col. 3:39-46);
a cellular protocol;
a satellite communication-based protocol; or
a dial-up connection-based protocol.
Regarding Claim 15, (Original) Balmer in view of Beach discloses the apparatus of claim 13, wherein the input device includes the short-range wireless communication device, and the short-range wireless communication device is structured to communicate based at least in part on at least one of:
a WiFi-based protocol (Beach, ¶¶ [0022], [0027], [0040]);
a Bluetooth-based protocol;
a ZigBee-based protocol;
an IR-based protocol; or
a UWB-based protocol.
Regarding Claim 16, and similarly recited Claim 74, (Original) Balmer in view of Beach discloses the apparatus of claim 9 further comprising:
an input device structured to receive a user input and, in response to the user input, generate the payout request command (Balmer, fig. 4, Col. 4:27-29, 33-44, Col. 5:6-11).
Regarding Claim 17, and similarly recite Claim 75, (Original Balmer in view of Beach discloses the apparatus of claim 16, wherein the input device includes at least one of:
a physical button, or
an electronic display having a virtual button (Balmer, Col. 4:27-29; Beach, ¶¶ [0024], [0036]).
Regarding Claim 18, (Original) Balmer in view of Beach discloses the apparatus of claim 9 further comprising:
a physical token reading device structured to:
interpret token data from a physical token device (Beach, ¶¶ [0024], [0027]-[0029]), and
transmit the token data to the confirmation circuit (Beach, ¶¶ [0024], [0027]-[0029], [0032] discloses he voucher or token code is transmitted to the kiosk 116 for verification by either the first transceiver 312 or first modem 316);
wherein the confirmation circuit is further structured to determine that the user is authorized to receive the payout based at least in part on the token data (Beach, ¶¶ [0024], [0027]-[0029], [0032], [0036] discloses token verification payment to a user).
Regarding Claim 19, (Original) Balmer in view of Beach discloses the apparatus of claim 18, wherein the physical token reading device is at least one of:
a card reading device (Beach, ¶¶ [0024], [0027]-[0029], [0040] discloses a card reading device); or
an RFID scanning device.
Regarding Claim 20, and similarly recited Claim 76, (Original) Balmer in view of Beach discloses the apparatus of claim 9 further comprising:
a biometric device structured to:
generate biometric data corresponding to the user, and transmit the biometric data to the confirmation circuit (Beach, ¶¶ [0024], [0027]-[0029], [0040]);
wherein the confirmation circuit is further structured to determine that the user is authorized to receive the payout based at least in part on the biometric data (Beach, ¶¶ [0024], [0027]-[0029], [0040]).
Regarding Claim 24, (Original) Balmer in view of Beach discloses the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the apparatus further comprises an electronic display and the code prompt command is structured to display the prompt as a visual message via the electronic display (Beach, ¶¶ [0024], [0026]-[0029], [0034]).
Regarding Claim 25, (Original) Balmer in view of Beach discloses the apparatus of claim 9, wherein the apparatus further comprises an audio device and the code prompt command is structured to play the prompt as an audio message over the audio device (Beach, ¶¶ [0026] discloses the display 308 can be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) display, voice prompt or other method for conveying information).
Regarding Claim 26, (Original) Balmer in view of Beach discloses the apparatus of claim 9, wherein:
the code request circuit is further structured to transmit the code prompt command to a user device corresponding to the user (Beach, ¶¶ [0022], [0026]-[0028], [0034]); and
the code prompt command is structured to display the prompt as a visual message on an electronic display of the user device (Beach, ¶¶ [0022], [0026]-[0028], [0034]).
Regarding Claim 27, (Original) Balmer in view of Beach discloses the apparatus of claim 9, wherein:
the code request circuit is further structured to transmit the code prompt command to a user device corresponding to the user (Beach, ¶¶ [0022], [0026]-[0028], [0034]); and
the code prompt command is structured to play the prompt as an audio message over an audio device of the user device (Beach, ¶¶ [0022], [0026]-[0028], [0034]).
Conclusion
Claims 9-22, 24-27, and 73-76 are examined above.
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/S.N.H/Examiner, Art Unit 3715
/XUAN M THAI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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