Appeal No. 2001-0258 Page 8
Application No. 08/821,978
whereby strategy in playing said first and second chance means
are either related or independent." This recitation appears to
require structure in the gaming machine for selecting between
linked and dissociated first and second chance means. In similar
fashion, claim 27 recites "said second chance means having a
changeable nature which either displays a characteristic related
to or unrelated to said first chance means, whereby if related,
influences player strategy regarding said first chance means and,
if unrelated, does not alter player strategy." This language
implies that the gaming machine is capable of selectively
displaying the second chance means so as to be either related or
unrelated to the first chance means.
No claim may be read apart from and independent of the
supporting disclosure on which it is based. See In re Cohn, 438
F.2d 989, 993, 169 USPQ 95, 98 (CCPA 1971). We are thus required
to read the claims in light of the supporting disclosure.
Appellants' specification discloses, in Figures 1-4, several
arrangements or variations for playing the game. In each of
these variations, the first chance means (primary game) is a
poker hand. In the first variation (Figure 1), the gaming
machine executes the second chance means (secondary game) after
the player has selected the cards to hold and discard (the step
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