Appeal No. 2005-1664
Application 09/878,111
is noted that claim 49 recites "monitoring the level of play of a
player on multiple gaming machines; ... determining a bonus based
on the monitored level; and paying the bonus to the player via
the selected machine." It is argued (Br5) that Olsen bases
eligibility on the status of the machine (whether a game has been
started within a predetermined time before the start of a bonus
mode, even where eligibility depends on other conditions such as
the insertion of a player-tracking card) rather than the status
of the player, and does not teach "monitoring the level of play
of a player on multiple gaming machines." It is argued that
claim 57 further recites "generating a computer message based on
the monitored level; issuing the message from the host computer;
and changing a configuration parameter of the selected machine
responsive to the message" and because Olsen does not teach
"monitoring the level of play of a tracked player on multiple
gaming machines," it cannot teach generating a message based on
the monitored level or changing the configuration parameter of
the selected machine responsive to the message (Br5-6).
In response, the examiner provides claim charts showing the
correspondence between claim limitations and Olsen (EA4-7). The
examiner finds that monitoring the level of play as maximum bet
at column 12, lines 35-40, of Olsen corresponds to "monitoring
the level of play of a player." The examiner finds that Olsen
discloses the use of a player tracking card and that "[i]t is an
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