Appeal No. 03-2051 Page 3
Application No. 09/127,183
respective positions articulated by the appellant and the examiner. As a consequence
of our review, we make the determinations which follow.
The appellant characterizes his invention as a gaming machine improvement
that automates the technique of providing an enhanced payout to players for a limited
period of time. According to the appellant, the promise of these enhanced awards
operates as an incentive to gaming patrons to continue and to speed up play during the
enhanced payout interval. See specification, pages 1-5.
Claim 23 sets forth the invention in the following manner:
In a gaming machine that makes a payout to a player in response to
completion of a play cycle of the machine resulting in a payout event, the
improvement comprising:
means for generating an enhanced payout signal at the end of an activity
interval during which a frequency of play cycles of the machine is greater than a
pre-selected minimum;
means for causing the machine to provide an enhanced payout to the
player in concurrent response to said enhanced payout signal and completion of
the play cycle of the machine resulting in said payout event; and
indicating means for indicating the existence of an enhanced payout
interval to the player in response to said enhanced payout signal.
Independent claims 24 and 25 recite further embodiments of the invention which
include constituent parts employed to prevent commencement of an enhanced payout
interval based on machine idle time.
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