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 .
Drawings
New corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in this application because multiple pages of the drawing appear to be in greyscale and appear to be photocopies of drawings and figures. Due to the greyscale nature the details of the claims cannot be accurately determined. Please review the figures of found in the file wrapper and correct drawings that depict details that are ineligible (See figs 2, 4, 5 6). Applicant is advised to employ the services of a competent patent draftsperson outside the Office, as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office no longer prepares new drawings. The corrected drawings are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The requirement for corrected drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 13, 16 – 20, 23, 26-30 and 32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kelly et al (US 2018/0218571).
As per claim 13, Kelly discloses:
(a) storing in a memory a plurality of video fragments associated with the game of chance, the video fragments including a first set of video fragments that are associated with the betting stage, and a second set of video fragments that are associated with the game play stage, wherein at least some of the video fragments have a plurality of different video takes that represent the same video fragment, the second set of video fragments including a game outcome video fragment, the game outcome video fragment including a plurality of different video takes that represent different game outcomes; (Kelly discloses a memory that comprises multiple stages of a betting game wherein the memory comprises multiple different versions (i.e. takes) of a segment, (Kelly 0024 – 31) and wherein the segments are associated with a betting stage, game play stage, and game outcome stage) (Kelly,0035, 0042, 0054 – 0058)
(b) creating, by a controller, a first seamless, ordered string of stitched video fragments using the first set of video fragments for presentation to players during the betting stage, wherein the first set of video fragments are selected using a Random Number Generator (RNG), the RNG being used to select one of the video takes for each of the first set of video fragments that have a plurality of different video takes that represent the same video fragment; (Kelly discloses the use of a random number generator to select various segments and stitching them together to make generate a wagering game for the player to bet upon) (Kelly 0021, 0035 – 0042)
(c) upon conclusion of the betting stage, using the RNG to select the outcome of the game, the outcome of the game thereby not being known during the betting stage; (Kelly discloses the random selection of a betting outcome of the game) (Kelly 0041)
(d) creating, by the controller, a second seamless, ordered string of stitched video fragments using the second set of video fragments for presentation to players during the game play stage, wherein the second set of video fragments are also selected using the RNG being used to select one of the video takes for each of the second set of video fragments that have a plurality of different video takes that represent the same video fragment, such that the selected second set of video fragments reveal the outcome of the game that was selected by the RNG in step (c); and (Kelly 0021, 0035 – 0042)
(e) combining, by the controller, the first and second seamless, ordered string of stitched video fragments to provide the video presentation that simulates the broadcasted game of chance, (Kelly 0021)
wherein the first set of video fragments and the second set of video fragments are distinct from one another.(Kelly 0021, 0035 – 42)
As per claim 16, wherein at least some of the video takes are real-world recorded video. (Kelly 0101)
As per claim 17, wherein the video fragments for the betting stage are dynamically assembled as a multimedia playlist file (m3u8 file), wherein the video fragments associated with the game play stage are appended to the multimedia playlist file after being selected in step (d). (Kelly discloses the stitching or appending of the video segments to create a file or format that synthesize and streamed to the client) (Kelly 0054)
As per claim 18, wherein the multimedia playlist file (m3u8 file) varies in length with different simulated broadcasted games of chance. (Kelly discloses some of the alternate takes can have different time lengths, so the stitched together video can have varying lengths)
As per claim 19, wherein the broadcasted game of chance is a live broadcasted game of chance. (Kelly discloses the game is a simulated live broadcasted game of chance) (Kelly 0059).
As per claim 20, wherein one or more of the stored video fragments are partially rendered, and the one or more stored video fragments are fully rendered when the respective video fragment is selected for the first or second seamless, ordered string of stitched video fragments. (Kelly discloses the selecting and rendering the various video segments in real time to be presented and rendered to the player) (Kelly 0021, 0054 – 0058).
As per claim 22, wherein the video fragments selected for the betting and game play stages are associated with the same croupier. (Kelly 0101).
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.
Claim(s) 14, 15, 24 and 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kelly et al (US 2018/0218571) in view of Matonis, “BitZino And The Dawn Of 'Provably Fair' Casino Gaming”
As per claim 14 and 15, Kelly fails to disclose:
wherein the RNG is a pRNG or wherein the pRNG is a Mersenne Twister MT 19937.
However, in a similar field of endeavor wherein a wagering game utilized RNG, Bitcointalk teaches the use of a RNG that is pRNG utilizing Mersenne Twister (Matonis, page 1 – 2)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of filing, to modify Kelly in view of Bitcointalk to use a known technique to modify a similar devices in the same way by utilizing a pRNG that is Mersenne Twister. This would be beneficial as it would ensure that neither the server nor client could possibly know the final deck before the game starts. (Matonis page 3).
Dependent claim(s) 24 and 25 is/are made obvious by the combination of Kelly and Matonis based on the same analysis set forth for claim(s) 14 and 15, which are similar in claim scope.
Claim(s) 21 and 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kelly et al (US 2018/0218571) in view of Kothari (US 2009/0098941)
As per claim 21, wherein a Croupier Scheduling Service configured by a rostering system allocates croupiers to virtual casino game tables on an availability basis.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Kothari discloses a personnel managing system that allocates dealers/croupiers to tables based upon availability (Kothari claim 11).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of filing, to modify Kelly in view of Kothari to allocate virtual croupiers to virtual game tables based upon their availability. This would be advantageous as it would enhance the realism of the virtual game system amongst real world players as multiple player would not be served segments containing the same dealer or croupier.
Dependent claim(s) 31 is/are made obvious by the combination of Kelly and Kothari based on the same analysis set forth for claim(s) 21, which are similar in claim scope.
Conclusion
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/RAW/Examiner, Art Unit 3715 9/5/2026
/KANG HU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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