Appeal No. 2002-1022
Application 09/326,934
game/machine formats in either Barrie or Marnell II or Falciglia,
to convert the physical reel slot machines as seen in either
Andersen or Yamamoto or Howard to a virtual format so that they
could be played on a video monitor wherein the reels as disclosed
in any of Andersen or Yamamoto or Howard would appear as virtual
reels displayed on a monitor. Appellants argument (brief, pages
19-21) again focuses on the physical nature of the structures in
the primary references to Andersen, Yamamoto and Howard, and
urges that there would be absolutely no functional benefits for
creating an image in a video game of a physical reel element that
served a functional purpose on a physical reel. We do not agree.
Assuming it is the desire of an artisan to faithfully
recreate the slot reel game of Andersen or Howard in a virtual
reel format, we are convinced that it would have been obvious to
such artisan to recreate the entire visual impression of the
physical reel arrangement as seen in Andersen (Figs. 4-5) or
Howard (Figs. 3 and 7), and thus provide the reels, the symbols,
characters or alphanumerics, and the borders seen in such patents
all as images produced on a video screen. Thereby, in our
opinion, providing a virtual reel format wherein the total reel
format image includes “borders as images on the reels.” While a
physical structure may well have a functional purpose in a
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