DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: claim 1 states, “at least one gaming device in electronic communication with the processor” in line 4. However, this should state, at least one gaming device in electronic communication with the processor;” wherein line 4 is missing a semicolon at the end of the limitation.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
The claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter because the claim(s) as a whole, considering all claim elements both individually and in combination, do not amount to significantly more than an abstract idea.
In Step 1, it must be determined whether the claims fall into one of the four statutory categories of invention. The instant invention claims a gaming system (i.e., a machine) in claim 1. As such, the claimed invention falls into the broad statutory categories of invention. However, claims that fall within one of the four statutory categories may nevertheless be ineligible if they encompass laws of nature, physical phenomena, or abstract ideas.
Under Step 2A, prong one, it must be determined whether the claimed invention recites an abstract idea, law of nature, or natural phenomenon. According to the specification, the invention is directed to “[t]he system may include an alerts feature operable to generate alert to users based on any or a combination of time information, location information, financial information, user profile information, and other types of information” (abstract). More particularly, representative claim 1 recites the following (with emphasis):
1. A gaming system, comprising:
at least one processor;
at least one data storage device electronically coupled to the processor; and
at least one gaming device in electronic communication with the processor;
the at least one data storage device storing alert information associated with a gaming activity;
the system operable to recognize an event; and
the at least one processor operable to generate an alert in response to the event, the alert comprising at least a portion of the alert information, and further operable to forward the alert to the at least one gaming device for presentation to a user of the at least one gaming device.
The underlined portions of claim 1 generally encompass the abstract idea. The abstract idea may be viewed, for example, as:
a method of organizing human activities (e.g., managing personal behavior) and/or;
a mental process (e.g., concepts performed in the human mind, including an observation, evaluation, judgment, and/or an opinion).
The claimed abstract idea reproduced above is effectively a process of rules/steps for alerting a user with information in response to an event. The limitations about storing, recognizing, generating, and presenting are, as drafted, processes that, under broadest reasonable interpretation, cover a method of organizing human activity and/or a mental process but for the recitation of generic computer components. That is, other than reciting “at least one processor,” “at least one data storage device,” and “at least one gaming device,” nothing in the claim elements precludes the steps from being a method of organizing human activity and/or a mental process. A person retaining alert information, recognizing an event, and generating/presenting an alert to a user could do so by mentally or by hand. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers managing personal behavior and/or a mental process but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity” and/or “Mental Processes” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
Under Step 2A, prong two, the judicial exception, as outlined above, is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claims recite the additional elements – at least one processor, at least one data storage device, and at least one gaming device to perform rules/steps for alerting a user with information in response to an event. The components in these steps are recited at a high-level of generality (e.g., as a generic processor, communications network, and display, can perform the generic computer functions of storing, recognizing, and displaying information) such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components. Accordingly, the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claim is directed to an abstract idea.
Step 2B requires that if the claim encompasses a judicially recognized exception, it must be determined whether the claimed invention recites additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Claim 1 encompasses the following additional element(s) or combination of elements in the claim(s) other than the abstract idea per se: at least one processor, at least one data storage device, and at least one gaming device. Viewed as a whole, these additional claim element(s) do not provide meaningful limitation(s) to transform the abstract idea into a patent eligible application of the abstract idea such that the claim(s) amounts to significantly more than the abstract idea itself.
Additionally, the specification makes it clear that the system can be implemented on generic computers.
[0026] As shown in FIG. 1, for example, gaming system 10 includes at least one user 12. The system may include additional users such that there is at least a first user 12 and a second user 14. Multiple users may access a first gaming system 10, while other multiple users access a second gaming system (not shown) in communication with first gaming system 10. Users 12 and 14 preferably access system 10 by way of a gaming communication device 13. Gaming communication device 13 may comprise any suitable device for transmitting and receiving electronic communications. Examples of such devices include, without limitation, mobile phones, personal data assistants (PDAs), computers, mini-computers, etc. Gaming communication devices 13 transmit and receive gaming information to and from communications network 16. Gaming information is also transmitted between network 16 and a computer 18, such as a server, which may reside within the domain of a gaming service provider 20. The location of computer 18 is not critical, however, and computer 18 may reside adjacent to or remote from the domain of gaming service provider 20. Moreover, in certain embodiments, a gaming service provider is not required. The computer 18 and/or gaming service provider 20 may reside within, adjacent to, or remote from a gaming provider (not shown in FIG. 1). The gaming provider may be an actual controller of games, such as a casino. As an example, a gaming service provider may be located on the grounds of a casino and the computer 18 may be physically within the geographic boundaries of the gaming service provider. As discussed, however, other possibilities exist for remote location of the computer 18 and the gaming service provider 20. Computer 18 may function as a gaming server. Additional computers (not expressly shown) may function as database management computers and redundant servers, for example.
As such, at least one processor, at least one data storage device, and at least one gaming device, for alerting a user with information in response to an event, may require no more than generic, conventional, and well-known computer devices such as a general purpose computer (as evidenced in Para. 26).
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements of at least one processor, at least one data storage device, and at least one gaming device to perform the alerting steps amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using well-known generic computer components. Mere instructions to apply an exception using the generic computer components cannot provide an inventive concept. The claim is not patent eligible.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of pre-AIA 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 –
(e) the invention was described in (1) an application for patent, published under section 122(b), by another filed in the United States before the invention by the applicant for patent or (2) a patent granted on an application for patent by another filed in the United States before the invention by the applicant for patent, except that an international application filed under the treaty defined in section 351(a) shall have the effects for purposes of this subsection of an application filed in the United States only if the international application designated the United States and was published under Article 21(2) of such treaty in the English language.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(e) as being anticipated by Walker et al. (US 2004/0127284 A1) (henceforth, “Walker”).
Regarding claim 1, Walker teaches a gaming system, comprising:
at least one processor (e.g., controller 102 having a processor 302 in Figs. 1 & 3 and Para. 106);
at least one data storage device electronically coupled to the processor (e.g., server program 306 coupled to processor 302 in Fig. 3 and Para. 107-108); and
at least one gaming device in electronic communication with the processor (e.g., gaming machine 104 coupled to controller 102 via communications port 336 in Figs 1 & 3 and Para. 91-93);
the at least one data storage device storing alert information associated with a gaming activity (e.g., message databases 310-332 in Fig. 3, Para. 108-109, and Para. 75);
the system operable to recognize an event (e.g., trigger condition for outputting a message in Para. 42); and
the at least one processor operable to generate an alert in response to the event (e.g., trigger condition provides a message output in Para. 42), the alert comprising at least a portion of the alert information (Para. 41-42 and Para. 164), and further operable to forward the alert to the at least one gaming device for presentation to a user of the at least one gaming device (e.g., outputting the message to a gaming machine in Para. 1191-1205).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure and is listed on the attached Notice of References Cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHASE E LEICHLITER whose telephone number is (571)270-7109. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday (10-6).
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/CHASE E LEICHLITER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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