Appeal 2006-2836
Application 09/923,673
devices communicate with each other over the network. The slave game
devices receive from the master game device commands and random data,
such as bingo patterns and bingo and keno numbers called by the game
operator. Each slave game device sends to the master game device the local
game status and accounting information. The slave game devices execute in
real time (play) concurrently a number of menu-selectable card and chance
games, such as bingo, keno, poker, blackjack, and the like” (col. 1, ll. 43-
53). A slave game device can play simultaneously a number of independent
and distinct games of the same type (col. 5, ll. 37-38). The disclosed games
include slots (col. 6, ll. 21-26).
There is no dispute as to whether Piechowiak would have fairly
suggested, to one of ordinary skill in the art, using multiple paylines in
Gatley’s slot machine (Br. 8-9).
The Appellants argue that Itkis displays common event games such as
bingo and keno on the screen of a dumb terminal, and does not disclose
displaying on the screen two independent slot machine games (Br. 9). The
dumb terminal referred to by the Appellants is what Itkis calls “an intelligent
(smart) game terminal” comprising a microprocessor, a local data input and
output device, and a transceiver (col. 2, ll. 57-62). Itkis’ disclosures that the
games are independent and distinct, the games include slots, and the slave
game device can play simultaneously a number of games of the same type
(col. 5, ll. 37-38; col. 6, ll. 21-26) would have fairly suggested, to one of
ordinary skill in the art, playing at least two independent and distinct slot
games simultaneously on the same slave game device. As with all of Itkis’
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