Appeal No. 97-4173
Application 08/575,963
DECISION ON APPEAL
This is an appeal from the final rejection of claims
1, 3 and 5, all the claims remaining in the application.
The subject matter in issue concerns an apparatus
for receiving and crushing used beverage cans. In order to
encourage use of the machine, each time a “valid” (e.g.,
empty, nonmagnetic) can is deposited, a game similar to a slot
machine is activated, and the machine prints out a coupon for
purchasing a product, the value of the coupon depending on the
outcome of the game. The claims on appeal are reproduced in
appellant’s brief, except that, as pointed out by the exam-
iner, claim 3 is dependent on claim 1, not on cancelled claim
2.
The references applied in the final rejection are:
Wilhelm 5,346,048 Sept. 13,
1994
Japanese Kokai 2 04-370,896 Dec. 24, 1992
(Fukuda)
2Our understanding of this reference is derived from a
translation prepared for the PTO, a copy of which is enclosed.
References herein to pages and lines of the reference are to
pages and lines of the translation.
2
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