DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This is a Final Office Action in response to application 16/559,396 entitled "AUTOMATED ENTERPRISE TRANSACTION DATA AGGREGATION AND ACCOUNTING" with claims 1, 4-15 and 18-22 pending.
Status of Claims
Claims 1, 20, and 22 have been amended and are hereby entered.
Claims 1, 4-15 and 18-22 are pending and have been examined.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed December 15, 2025, has been entered. Claims 1-15 and 17-22 remain pending in the application. Applicant’s amendments to the Specification, Drawings, and/or Claims have been noted in response to the Final Office Action mailed on June 16, 2023 and the Patent Board Decision dated July 14, 2025.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on December 3, 2019, August 24, 2021, and November 25, 2022 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Interpretation- 35 USC § 112(f)
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
In the interest of compact prosecution, Applicant should be aware that there is claim language that does not serve to differentiate the claims from the prior art and/or provide an additional element that can be a consideration for eligibility. See MPEP 2103(c).
Claim 22 as the limitation reads:
“means for automatically accessing and aggregating a plurality of financial transactions”
“means for creating metadata records”
“means for automatically determining an accounting category”
“means for selecting an offer for a financial product”
“means for displaying the offer for the financial product”
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
It is required that Applicant sufficiently disclose both the hardware, e.g. general purpose computer, and associated algorithms for all specialized functions (see MPEP 2181(I]D)(B) and “Examining Computer-Implemented Functional Claim Limitations for Compliance with 35 U.S.C. 112” PowerPoint slides 18-19, published 02/20/2019, available http://ptoweb.uspto.gov/patents/exTrain/112.html).
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof, which is described in at least:
Applicant’s disclosure:
[0067] a metadata module 202 may cleanse a string describing a financial transaction (e.g., an electronic record) by removing one or more alphanumeric and/or other symbols or characters, identified by the metadata module 202 as extraneous, nonsensical, or the like from the string, which may comprise a clustered description of a specific merchant or other party to a transaction.
[0069] a metadata module 202 may match indexable strings based on patterns and allow lookup of matches…. use one or more Bloom filters to determine presence of a match in the dataset
[0070] a Bloom filter may indicate to a metadata module 202 whether a string to be matched is present in the database to be searched
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-ATA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
For example, Examiner suggests Applicant follow the USPTO policy on http://www.uspto.gov/patent/laws-and-regulations/examination-policy/examination-guidance- and-training-materials and http://ptoweb.uspto.gov/patents/exTrain/112.html including “112(f): Identifying Limitations That Invoke 112(f) Power Point,” posted August 2, 2013, and recite that the “system” comprises a computer and/or processor executing instructions to perform the recited method steps.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1, 4-15 and 18-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
The phrase “pattern-matching algorithm normalizes the transaction description prior to insertion into the Bloom filter” in Claims 1, 20, and 22 contains no clear description in the Specification.
The Specification makes no mention of “normalize” OR “normalization”.
Though the Specification is replete with the term “standardize(d)”.
However, normalization and standardization are not synonyms. Shaibu (“Normalization vs. Standardization: How to Know the Difference”, Oct 15, 2024) teaches, “Normalization vs. Standardization: Key Differences…Sometimes, it’s difficult to distinguish between normalization and standardization. For one thing, normalization is sometimes used as a more general term, while standardization has a meaning that is a little more specific or specifically technical.” and Bobbitt (“Standardization vs. Normalization: What’s the Difference?”, June 9, 2021) teaches, “Standardization vs. Normalization: When to Use Each…Typically we normalize data when performing some type of analysis in which we have multiple variables that are measured on different scales and we want each of the variables to have the same range….This prevents one variable from being overly influential, especially if it’s measured in different units (i.e. if one variable is measured in inches and another is measured in yards)…..On the other hand, we typically standardize data when we’d like to know how many standard deviations each value in a dataset lies from the mean…For example, we might have a list of exam scores for 500 students at a particular school and we’d like to know how many standard deviations each exam score lies from the mean score.”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1, 4-15 and 18-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Claims 1, 4-15 and 18-22 are directed to a system, method, or product program, which are/is one of the statutory categories of invention. (Step 1: YES).
The claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Independent Claim 1 recites:
“…for a financial institution, …comprising a private interface between …comprises at least one backend enterprise transaction module and wherein the private interface is configured to:
receive, …electronic credentials for one or more financial accounts of a business entity, the electronic credentials received … in a format compatible…;
…and securely store the receive electronic credentials …that is configured to output decrypted data …and to store cryptographic keys …wherein access to the securely stored electronic credentials is restricted such that the dedicated …authorizes use of the credentials before the at least one backend enterprise transaction module initiates an aggregation operation;
automatically access and aggregate, via the at least one backend enterprise transaction module, a plurality of financial transactions for one or more financial accounts of a business entity using the securely stored electronic credentials, the one or more financial accounts including at least one financial account held for the business entity by the financial institution and at least one financial account held for the business entity by at least one third-party service provider;
create, via the at least one backend enterprise transaction module, metadata records for each of the plurality of financial transactions, the metadata records comprising a transaction amount, transaction date, and a transformed transaction description derived using a standardized pattern-matching algorithm and …to eliminate extraneous character strings, wherein the pattern-matching algorithm normalizes the transaction description prior to insertion …
automatically determine, via the at least one backend enterprise transaction module, an accounting category for each of the plurality of financial transactions based on the metadata records, the accounting category comprising a class of financial transactions based on a shared characteristic and comprising general accounting ledger codes for the business entity, the accounting categories duplicated according to different divisions within an organization according to a hierarchical organizational chart for the business entity wherein the accounting categories are duplicated according to different divisions within an organization according to a hierarchical organizational chart for the business entity, and wherein the hierarchical organizational chart is used to maintain division-specific category assignments and to resolve inconsistencies between inherited and division-specific accounting categories;
provide an interface for the user to override the determined accounting category for one of more of the financial transactions;
monitor financial transactions and accounting categories of the business entity;
apply the override for one or more subsequent monitored financial transactions that have metadata records that match at least a predefined portion of the metadata records for the one or more of the financial transactions with the overridden accounting category, wherein matching is determined …stored …and the override is enforced after manual confirmation…;
automatically predict a future event for the business entity based on the monitored financial transactions, the accounting categories, and the created metadata records of the business entity;
select an offer for a financial product of the financial institution based on the predicted event;
automatically determine a ruleset for categorizing financial transactions based on the determined accounting categories and to determine an accounting category for subsequent financial transactions using the determined ruleset, the ruleset comprising instructions for mapping elements of the metadata records to the accounting categories, wherein the ruleset is dynamically generated based on historical override activity and differences in category- assignment patterns across divisions determined using the hierarchical organization chart for the business entity;
and allow a user to customize mappings from dynamically selectable combinations of the elements to dynamically selectable accounting categories;
and computer executable program code …the executable program code comprising operations configured to:
receive the offer for the financial product of the financial institution from the private interface;
and display, …the offer to the user”
These limitations clearly relate to managing transactions/interactions between a user and a financial institution. These limitations, under their broadest reasonable interpretation, cover performance of the limitation as certain methods of organizing human activity. For example, instructing to select/receive/display an offer for a financial product or determine an accounting category recites a commercial or financial action, principle, or practice and managing interactions between people. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation as a commercial or financial action, principle, or practice then it falls within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea. (Step 2A-Prong 1: YES. The claims recite an abstract idea).
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claims recite the additional elements of:
[a remote hardware computer server] [the remote hardware computer server] [the remote hardware computer server and a user device, wherein the remote hardware computer server] [from the user device,] [on the remote hardware computer server via dedicated security hardware, the dedicated security hardware comprising a cryptoprocessor] [to a secure bus] [on a secure storage device][security hardware] [via an application programming interface][with the remote hardware server] [on the remote hardware computer server via dedicated security hardware][in volatile memory] [by the user device] [installed on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium of the user device, the user device comprising an electronic display][on the electronic display]:
merely applying computer processing, storage, display, user interface, and networking technology as tools to perform an abstract idea
[encrypt] :
merely applying computer encryption technology as a tool to perform an abstract idea
[Bloom filter] [by a Bloom filter] [into the Bloom filter]:
merely applying computer data structures as a tool to perform an abstract idea
are recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., as a generic processor performing a generic computer function) such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer components and/or electronic processes. For example, the Specification reads”
[0020] a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom VLSI circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips…
[0026] source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages….
[0028] These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer.
[0020] “a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit…module may also be implemented in programmable hardware devices”
[0021] “Modules may also be implemented in software”
[0022] “Indeed, a module of program code may be a single instruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across several memory devices”
[0071] A Bloom filter is a space-efficient probabilistic data structure that a metadata module 202 may use to test whether an element (e.g., a string describing a financial transaction) is a member of a set (e.g., a set of previous matches, a set of known merchants/vendors, or the like).
Wikipedia (Bloom filter, 19 December 2018) teaches, “A Bloom filter is a space-efficient probabilistic data structure, conceived by Burton Howard Bloom in 1970, that is used to test whether an element is a member of a set.”
Accordingly, these additional elements, when considered separately and as an ordered combination, do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea and are at a high level of generality. Therefore, Claim 1 is directed to an abstract idea without a practical application. (Step 2A-Prong 2: NO. The additional claimed elements are not integrated into a practical application)
Dependent Claims recite additional elements.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the recited additional elements of
Claim 4:
“hardware computer server”: merely applying computer processing, networking, and display technologies as a tool to perform an abstract idea
Claim 5: (none found: does not include additional elements and merely narrows the abstract idea)
Claim 6:
“hardware computer server”: merely applying computer processing, networking, and display technologies as a tool to perform an abstract idea
Claim 7:
“hardware computer server”, “electronic display” : merely applying computer processing, networking, and display technologies as a tool to perform an abstract idea
Claim 8:
“hardware computer server” : merely applying computer processing, and networking technologies as a tool to perform an abstract idea
Claim 9:
“hardware computer server” , “network interface”, and “hardware computer device” : merely applying computer processing, networking, and display technologies as a tool to perform an abstract idea
“electronically submit”, “Application Programming Interface (API)”: generally linking to software intercommunication technologies as a means to perform an abstract idea
Claim 10:
“operations of the computer executable program code”, “electronic display”, “hardware computer server”, and “hardware device” : merely applying computer processing, networking, and display technologies as a tool to perform an abstract idea
Claim 11:
“third-party hardware server”, “hardware computer server” : merely applying computer processing and networking technologies as a tool to perform an abstract idea
Claim 12:
“hardware computer server”: merely applying computer processing and networking technologies as a tool to perform an abstract idea
“electronic credentials”: generally linking to credentialing technologies as a means to perform an abstract idea
Claim 13:
“third-party hardware server”: merely applying computer processing and networking technologies as a tool to perform an abstract idea
“webpages”: generally linking to Internet technologies as a means to perform an abstract idea
Claim 14:
“hardware computer server”: merely applying computer processing and networking technologies as a tool to perform an abstract idea
Claim 15:
“hardware computer server”: merely applying computer processing and networking technologies as a tool to perform an abstract idea
Claim 18:
“electronic display of the hardware device”: merely applying computer processing, networking, and display technologies as a tool to perform an abstract idea
Claim 19: (none found: does not include additional elements and merely narrows the abstract idea)
are recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., as a generic processor performing a generic computer function) such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer components and/or electronic processes. . For example, the Specification reads[0020] a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom VLSI circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips…[0026] source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages…. [0028] These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer. [0020] “a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit…module may also be implemented in programmable hardware devices” [0021] “Modules may also be implemented in software” [0022] “Indeed, a module of program code may be a single instruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across several memory devices”Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. Accordingly, these additional elements, when considered separately and as an ordered combination, do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea and are at a high level of generality. Therefore, these dependent claims are directed to an abstract idea without a practical application. (Step 2A-Prong 2: NO. The additional claimed elements are not integrated into a practical application)
Independent Claim 20 recites:
“A … program product…, the operations comprising:
…for a financial institution, …comprising a private interface between …comprises at least one backend enterprise transaction module and wherein the private interface is configured to:
receiving, …electronic credentials for one or more financial accounts of a business entity, the electronic credentials received … in a format compatible…;
…and securely store the receive electronic credentials … that is configured to output decrypted data … and to store cryptographic keys … wherein access to the securely stored electronic credentials is restricted such that the dedicated … authorizes use of the credentials before the at least one backend enterprise transaction module initiates an aggregation operation;
automatically access and aggregate, via the at least one backend enterprise transaction module, a plurality of financial transactions for one or more financial accounts of a business entity using the securely stored electronic credentials, the one or more financial accounts including at least one financial account held for the business entity by the financial institution and at least one financial account held for the business entity by at least one third-party service provider;
creating, via the at least one backend enterprise transaction module, metadata records for each of the plurality of financial transactions, the metadata records comprising a transaction amount, transaction date, and a transformed transaction description derived using a standardized pattern-matching algorithm and …to eliminate extraneous character strings, wherein the pattern-matching algorithm normalizes the transaction description prior to insertion…;
automatically determining, via the at least one backend enterprise transaction module, an accounting category for each of the plurality of financial transactions based on the metadata records, the accounting category comprising a class of financial transactions based on a shared characteristic and comprising general accounting ledger codes for the business entity, the accounting categories duplicated according to different divisions within an organization according to a hierarchical organizational chart for the business entity, wherein the accounting categories are duplicated according to different divisions within an organization according to a hierarchical organizational chart for the business entity, and wherein the hierarchical organizational chart is used to maintain division-specific category assignments and to resolve inconsistencies between inherited and division-specific accounting categories;
providing an interface for the user to override the determined accounting category for one of more of the financial transactions;
monitoring financial transactions and accounting categories of the business entity;
applying the override for one or more subsequent monitored financial transactions that have metadata records that match at least a predefined portion of the metadata records for the one or more of the financial transactions with the overridden accounting category, wherein matching is determined …stored …and the override is enforced after manual confirmation…;
automatically predicting a future event for the business entity based on the monitored financial transactions, the accounting categories, and the created metadata records of the business entity;
selecting an offer for a financial product of the financial institution based on the predicted event;
automatically determining a ruleset for categorizing financial transactions based on the determined accounting categories and to determine an accounting category for subsequent financial transactions using the determined ruleset, the ruleset comprising instructions for mapping elements of the metadata records to the accounting categories, wherein the ruleset is dynamically generated based on historical override activity and differences in category-assignment patterns across divisions determined using the hierarchical organization chart for the business entity;
and presenting a user interface for allowing a user to customize mappings from dynamically selectable combinations of the elements to dynamically selectable accounting categories.”
These limitations clearly relate to managing transactions/interactions between a user and a financial institution. These limitations, under their broadest reasonable interpretation, cover performance of the limitation as certain methods of organizing human activity. For example, instructing to select/receive/display an offer for a financial product or determine an accounting category recites a commercial or financial action, principle, or practice and managing interactions between people. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation as a commercial or financial action, principle, or practice then it falls within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea. (Step 2A-Prong 1: YES. The claims recite an abstract idea).
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claims recite the additional elements of:
computer] [comprising executable code stored by a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, the executable code comprising operations executable by a processor] [from a user device,] [on the remote hardware computer server via dedicated security hardware, the dedicated security hardware comprising a cryptoprocessor] [to a secure bus] [on a secure storage device][security hardware] [via an application programming interface][with the remote hardware server] [on the remote hardware computer server via dedicated security hardware][in volatile memory] [by the user device] [installed on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium of the user device, the user device comprising an electronic display][on the electronic display]:
merely applying computer processing, storage, display, user interface, and networking technology as tools to perform an abstract idea
[encrypting] :
merely applying computer encryption technology as a tool to perform an abstract idea
[Bloom filter] [by a Bloom filter][into the Bloom filter:
merely applying computer data structures as a tool to perform an abstract idea
are recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., as a generic processor performing a generic computer function) such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer components and/or electronic processes For example, the Specification reads”
[0020] a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom VLSI circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips…
[0026] source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages….
[0028] These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer.
[0020] “a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit…module may also be implemented in programmable hardware devices”
[0021] “Modules may also be implemented in software”
[0022] “Indeed, a module of program code may be a single instruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across several memory devices”
[0071] A Bloom filter is a space-efficient probabilistic data structure that a metadata module 202 may use to test whether an element (e.g., a string describing a financial transaction) is a member of a set (e.g., a set of previous matches, a set of known merchants/vendors, or the like).
Wikipedia (Bloom filter, 19 December 2018) teaches, “A Bloom filter is a space-efficient probabilistic data structure, conceived by Burton Howard Bloom in 1970, that is used to test whether an element is a member of a set.”
Accordingly, these additional elements, when considered separately and as an ordered combination, do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea and are at a high level of generality. Therefore, Claim 20 is directed to an abstract idea without a practical application. (Step 2A-Prong 2: NO. The additional claimed elements are not integrated into a practical application)
Dependent Claim 21 recites additional elements.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claim recites the additional elements of:
“computer program product”: merely applying computer processing, storage, and networking technology as tools to perform an abstract idea
are recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., as a generic processor performing a generic computer function) such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer components and/or electronic processes. For example, the Specification reads [0020] a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom VLSI circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips…[0026] source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages…. [0028] These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer. [0020] “a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit…module may also be implemented in programmable hardware devices” [0021] “Modules may also be implemented in software” [0022] “Indeed, a module of program code may be a single instruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across several memory devices” Accordingly, these additional elements, when considered separately and as an ordered combination, do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea and are at a high level of generality. Therefore, Claim 21 is directed to an abstract idea without a practical application. (Step 2A-Prong 2: NO. The additional claimed elements are not integrated into a practical application)
Independent Claim 22 recites:
“receiving…electronic credentials…”
“…and securely storing the received electronic credentials …that is configured to output decrypted data … and to store cryptographic keys …wherein access to the securely stored electronic credentials is restricted such that …authorizes use of the credentials before the at least one backend enterprise transaction module initiates an aggregation operation;”
“for automatically accessing and aggregating a plurality of financial transactions for the one or more financial accounts using the securely stored electronic credentials, the one or more financial accounts including at least one financial account held for the business entity by the financial institution and at least one financial account held for the business entity by at least one third-party service provider”
“creating metadata records for each of the plurality of financial transactions, the metadata records comprising a transaction amount, transaction date, and a transformed transaction description derived using a standardized pattern-matching algorithm … to eliminate extraneous character strings, wherein the pattern-matching algorithm normalizes the transaction description prior to insertion …“
“determining an accounting category for each of the plurality of financial transactions based on the metadata records, the accounting category comprising a class of financial transactions based on a shared characteristic and comprising general accounting ledger codes for the business entity, the accounting categories duplicated according to different divisions within an organization according to a hierarchical organizational chart for the business entity, wherein the accounting categories are duplicated according to different divisions within an organization according to a hierarchical organizational chart for the business entity, and wherein the hierarchical organizational chart is used to maintain division- specific category assignments and to resolve inconsistencies between inherited and division-specific accounting categories”
“override the determined accounting category for one of more of the financial transactions”
“monitoring financial transactions and accounting categories…”
“applying the override for one or more subsequent monitored financial transactions that have metadata records that match at least a predefined portion of the metadata records for the one or more of the financial transactions with the overridden accounting category, wherein matching is determined … stored in volatile memory and the override is enforced after manual confirmation”
“predicting a future event for the business entity based on the monitored financial transactions, the accounting categories, and the created metadata records of the business entity ”
“selecting an offer for a financial product…”
“determining a ruleset for categorizing financial transactions based on the determined accounting categories and to determine the accounting category for subsequent financial transactions using the determined ruleset, the ruleset comprising instructions for mapping elements of the metadata records to the accounting categories, wherein the ruleset is dynamically generated based on historical override activity and differences in category-assignment patterns across divisions determined using the hierarchical organization chart for the business entity; and
means for presenting a user interface for allowing the user to customize mappings from dynamically selectable combinations of the elements to dynamically selectable accounting categories ”
These limitations clearly relate to managing transactions/interactions between a user and a financial institution. These limitations, under their broadest reasonable interpretation, cover performance of the limitation as certain methods of organizing human activity. For example, instructing to selecting/displaying an offer for a financial product or determine an accounting category recites a commercial or financial action, principle, or practice and managing interactions between people. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation as a commercial or financial action, principle, or practice then it falls within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea. (Step 2A-Prong 1: YES. The claims recite an abstract idea).
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claims recite the additional elements of:
[on the remote server via dedicated security hardware, the dedicated security hardware comprising a cryptoprocessor] [to a secure bus][on a secure storage device][the dedicated security hardware] [from a user device] [via an application programming interface][with the remote hardware server] [in volatile memory] [by the user device]:
merely applying computer processing, storage, display, user interface, and networking technology as tools to perform an abstract idea
[encrypting] :
merely applying computer encryption technology as a tool to perform an abstract idea
[Bloom filter] [by a Bloom filter] [into the Bloom filter]:
merely applying computer data structures as a tool to perform an abstract idea
are recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., as a generic processor performing a generic computer function) such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer components and/or electronic processes. For example, the Specification reads”
[0020] a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom VLSI circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips…
[0026] source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages….
[0028] These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer.
[0020] “a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit…module may also be implemented in programmable hardware devices”
[0021] “Modules may also be implemented in software”
[0022] “Indeed, a module of program code may be a single instruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across several memory devices”
[0071] A Bloom filter is a space-efficient probabilistic data structure that a metadata module 202 may use to test whether an element (e.g., a string describing a financial transaction) is a member of a set (e.g., a set of previous matches, a set of known merchants/vendors, or the like).
Wikipedia (Bloom filter, 19 December 2018) teaches, “A Bloom filter is a space-efficient probabilistic data structure, conceived by Burton Howard Bloom in 1970, that is used to test whether an element is a member of a set.”
Accordingly, these additional elements, when considered separately and as an ordered combination, do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea and are at a high level of generality. Therefore, Claim 22 is directed to an abstract idea without a practical application. (Step 2A-Prong 2: NO. The additional claimed elements are not integrated into a practical application)
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because, when considered separately and as an ordered combination, they do not add significantly more (also known as an “inventive concept”) to the exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional element of using a computer hardware amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. For example, the Specification reads”
[0020] a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom VLSI circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips…
[0026] source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages….
[0028] These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer.
[0020] “a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit…module may also be implemented in programmable hardware devices”
[0021] “Modules may also be implemented in software”
[0022] “Indeed, a module of program code may be a single instruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across several memory devices”
[0071] A Bloom filter is a space-efficient probabilistic data structure that a metadata module 202 may use to test whether an element (e.g., a string describing a financial transaction) is a member of a set (e.g., a set of previous matches, a set of known merchants/vendors, or the like).
Wikipedia (Bloom filter, 19 December 2018) teaches, “A Bloom filter is a space-efficient probabilistic data structure, conceived by Burton Howard Bloom in 1970, that is used to test whether an element is a member of a set.”
Accordingly, these additional elements, do not change the outcome of the analysis, when considered separately and as an ordered combination. Thus, Claims 1, 4-15 and 18-22 are not patent eligible. (Step 2B: NO. The claims do not provide significantly more)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 4-15 and 18-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Flowers (“USING COGNITIVE COMPUTING TO PROVIDE TARGETED OFFERS FOR PREFERRED PRODUCTS TO A USER VIA A MOBILE DEVICE”, U.S. Publication Number: 2017/0323345 A1), in view of Dintenfass (“SYSTEM FOR MONITORING RESOURCE ACTIVITY AND ALERT GENERATION”, U.S. Publication Number: 2018/0041595 A1),in view of Seubert (“CONSISTENT SET OF INTERFACES DERIVED FROM A BUSINESS OBJECT MODEL”, U.S. Publication Number: 2008/0120129 A1),in view of Han (“PROCESSING TRANSACTIONS IN OFFLINE MODE”, U.S. Patent Number: US 10366378 B1)
Regarding Claim 1,
Flowers teaches,
An apparatus comprising: a …hardware computer server for a financial institution, the ….hardware computer server comprising a … interface and configured
(Flowers [0055] such as servers, databases, database servers, web servers, etc. The present aspects include personalized banking engine 120 working in conjunction with any suitable number and/or type of back-end components to facilitate the appropriate functions of the aspects as described herein.
Flowers [0030] communication network 116 may be implemented as a local area network (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), or any suitable combination of local and/or external network connections.)
receive ….electronic credentials for one or more financial accounts of a …. entity; securely store ….the received electronic credentials;
(Flowers [0050] This registration process may ....include, for example, obtaining the user's affirmative consent or permission ... to track and/or receive the user's financial account data .... to provide authorization (e.g., online login credentials) to access the user's accounts held at one or more financial institutions 150, etc.
Flowers [0056] configured to access data from one or more additional data sources and/or store data to one or more storage devices.
Flowers [0062] one or more financial institutions 150 may provide access to one or more users' financial account data via any suitable authentication technique, such as via a secure connection, password authentication, public and/or private key exchanges)
encrypt and securely store the receive electronic credentials, on the remote hardware computer server via dedicated security hardware,
(Flowers [0062] access to one or more users' financial account data via any suitable authentication technique, such as via a secure connection, password authentication, public and/or private key exchanges, biometric identification, etc.
Flowers [0059] financial data profiles 180 may store a username that is used by one or more users
Flowers [0073] each user's username and/or other suitable identifying information may be stored as part of a financial profile
Flowers [0119] a personalized banking engine may access the user's account information via a secure connection, using the user's provided password and logon information.
Flowers [0053] may be accessible via a secure connection to communication network
Flowers [0055] communicate with one or more external computing devices, such as servers, databases, database servers, web servers)
access and aggregate a plurality of financial transactions for one or more financial accounts of a … entity using the securely stored electronic credentials …., the one or more financial accounts including at least one financial account held for the business entity by the financial institution and at least one financial account held for the …. entity from at least one third-party service provider;
(Flowers [0082] actively monitor user activity
Flowers [0102] constitute an account balance of one or more user accounts that is accessed, monitored, or otherwise tracked, which may be stored as part of financial data profiles... the user's financial data, including the account balances, may be updated in accordance with any suitable schedule (e.g., once per day, once every hour, once every 30 minutes, etc.).
Flowers [0073] data aggregation module 129 may facilitate personalized banking engine 120 to aggregate received data and to organize this data into one or more financial profiles.
Flowers [0024] to automatically transfer funds between accounts to optimize accrued interest. To accomplish this, data may be collected by one or more back-end computing devices, which may include a user's financial transactions associated with various financial accounts and/or the balances of those accounts.
Flowers [0050] This registration process may ....include, for example, obtaining the user's affirmative consent or permission ... to track and/or receive the user's financial account data including financial transactions and/or account balances associated with the user's financial accounts at one or more financial institutions 150, .... to provide authorization (e.g., online login credentials) to access the user's accounts held at one or more financial institutions 150, etc.
Flowers [0056] data that is made available to personalized banking engine 120, such as third-party data providers)
create…. metadata records for each of the plurality of financial transactions
(Flowers [0053] financial accounts held at one or more financial institutions 150 may be accessible ... one or more financial institutions 150 may provide online banking services that allow a user to access his accounts ...Examples of the financial data transmitted by one or more financial institutions 150 may include financial transaction data indicating previous credits and debits to a user's accounts)
the metadata records comprising a transaction amount, transaction date
(Flowers [0023] a predicted transaction amount that the user is statistically most likely to spend at that particular retailer.
Flowers [0110] a date associated with a regularly recurring deposit.
Flowers [0034] the account's current balance, a calculated transaction amount that is predicted to be spent at retailer 160, a calculated overdraft amount, etc.
Flowers [0052] checking accounts, savings accounts, credit accounts, charge accounts, money market accounts, brokerage accounts
Flowers [0053] credits and debits ...spending data such as the time, amount, and specific merchant for which previous account debits and/or charges )
predict a future event for the … entity based on the monitored financial transactions,
(Flowers [0102] user accounts that is accessed, monitored, or otherwise tracked, which may be stored as part of financial data profiles
Flowers [0023] cognitive computing and/or predictive modeling to perform various actions when a financial account.....to calculate a predicted transaction amount that the user is statistically most likely to spend at that particular retailer.
Flowers [0051] to predict account overdrafts and perform various actions accordingly)
and select an offer for a financial product of the financial institution based on the predicted event metadata records;
(Flowers [0149] the shopping profile of the user (block 702) includes inputting, via the one or more processors, financial transaction data associated with the user into a machine learning program that is trained to generate the shopping profile for the user based upon the financial transaction data.
Flowers [0006] determine which commercial communications are preferred offers for the customer based upon information within their shopping profile;
Flowers [0158] The cognitive computing predictive modeling application 127 may determine which products are relevant to the user based upon the user's financial transactions)
and computer executable program code installed on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium of the user device, the user device comprising an electronic display, the executable program code comprising operations configured to: receive the offer for the financial product of the financial institution from the … interface
(Flowers [Claim 11] A computer system configured to present targeted offers to users via their mobile device
Flowers [0045] For example, one or more processors 104 may be configured to communicate with memory unit 114 to store data to and/or to read data from memory unit 114. In accordance with various embodiments, memory unit 114 may be a computer-readable non-transitory storage device, and may include any combination of volatile memory (e.g., a random access memory (RAM)) and/or non-volatile memory (e.g., battery-backed RAM, FLASH, etc.). ...In one embodiment, memory unit 114 may be configured to store instructions executable by one or more processors 104. These instructions may include machine-readable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors 104, cause one or more processors 104 to perform various acts.
Flowers [0029] Communication network 116 may be configured to facilitate communications between one or more client devices)
and display, on the electronic display, the offer to the user.
(Flowers [0035] personalized banking engine 120 may transmit notifications, messages, etc., to client device 102, which may in turn be displayed via client device 102.
Flowers [0046] receiving information from one or more financial institutions 150 and/or personalized banking engine 120, displaying notifications and/or other information using data received via one or more financial institutions 150 and/or personalized banking engine 120, etc.
Flowers [0037] a display)
Flowers does not teach of a business entity; remote hardware computer server; private interface between the remote hardware computer server and a user device, wherein the remote hardware computer server comprises at least one backend enterprise transaction module and wherein the private interface is and configured to: receive, from the user device....the electronic credentials received via an application programming interface in a format compatible with the remote hardware server; dedicated security hardware comprising a cryptoprocessor that is configured to output decrypted data to a secure bus and to store cryptographic keys on a secure storage device, wherein access to the securely stored electronic credentials is restricted such that the dedicated security hardware authorizes use of the credentials before the at least one backend enterprise transaction module initiates an aggregation operation; automatically access and aggregate, via the at least one backend enterprise transaction module; via the at least one backend enterprise transaction module; automatically ...via the at least one backend enterprise transaction module; derived using a standardized pattern-matching algorithm and Bloom filter to eliminate extraneous character strings, wherein the pattern-matching algorithm normalizes the transaction description prior to insertion into the Bloom filter; wherein the accounting categories are duplicated according to different divisions within an organization according to a hierarchical organizational chart for the business entity, and wherein the hierarchical organizational chart is used to maintain division-specific category assignments and to resolve inconsistencies between inherited and division-specific accounting categories; determine an accounting category for each of the financial transactions based on the metadata records; the accounting category comprising a class of financial transactions based on a shared characteristic of the financial transactions and comprising general accounting ledger codes for a business entity; the accounting categories duplicated according to different divisions within an organization according to a hierarchical organizational chart for the business entity; provide an interface for the user to override the determined accounting category for one of more of the financial transactions; monitor financial transactions and accounting categories of the business entity; apply the override for one or more subsequent monitored financial transactions that have metadata records that match at least a predefined portion of the metadata records for the one or more of the financial transactions with the overridden accounting category; the accounting categories, and the created metadata records of the business entity; determine a ruleset for categorizing financial transactions based on the determined accounting categories and to determine an accounting category for subsequent financial transactions using the determined ruleset, the ruleset comprising instructions for mapping elements of the metadata records to the accounting categories; and allow a user to customize mappings from dynamically selectable combinations of different elements to dynamically selectable accounting categories; derived using a standardized pattern-matching algorithm and Bloom filter to eliminate extraneous character strings; wherein matching is determined by a Bloom filter stored in volatile memory and the override is enforced after manual confirmation by the user device; wherein the ruleset is dynamically generated based on historical override activity and differences in category- assignment patterns across divisions determined using the hierarchical organization chart for the business entity;
Dintenfass teaches,
of a business entity;
(Dintenfass [0015] A user of the system may be a person, but may also be a business or any other entity.)
determine an accounting category for each of the financial transactions based on the metadata records
(Dintenfass [0038] based on the user's self-selected customized preferences and/or based on rules of the financial institution system 400, particular types, categories or classes of user resource activity and related conditions
Dintenfass [0045] define the alerts by transaction type, class of transaction, account, type of account or the like. )
the accounting category comprising a class of financial transactions based on a shared characteristic of the financial transactions
(Dintenfass [0045] The user may define the alerts by transaction type, class of transaction, account, type of account or the like.)
monitor financial transactions and accounting categories of the business entity
(Dintenfass [0038] The resource activity monitoring and alert application 500 also maintains or accesses the user's .... particular types, categories or classes of user resource activity and related conditions for which an alert is to be sent to that user)
It is prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the targeted commercial communications teachings of Flowers to incorporate the resource activity monitoring and alert teachings of Dintenfass to “monitor a user resource activity of a user and determine if a condition applies to the user resource activity; and, upon a determination that the condition applies to the monitored user resource activity, to transmit an alert to the user” (Dintenfass [Abstract]). The modification would have been obvious, because it is merely applying a known technique (i.e. resource activity monitoring and alert system) to a known concept (i.e. targeted commercial communications) ready for improvement to yield predictable result (i.e. “monitoring a user resource activity of a user related to that entity and determining if a condition applies to the user resource activity” Dintenfass [0004])
Dintenfass does not teach remote hardware computer server; private interface between the remote hardware computer server and a user device, wherein the remote hardware computer server comprises at least one backend enterprise transaction module and wherein the private interface is and configured to: receive, from the user device....the electronic credentials received via an application programming interface in a format compatible with the remote hardware server; computer server via dedicated security hardware, the received electronic credentials dedicated security hardware comprising a cryptoprocessor that is configured to output decrypted data to a secure bus and to store cryptographic keys on a secure storage device, wherein access to the securely stored electronic credentials is restricted such that the dedicated security hardware authorizes use of the credentials before the at least one backend enterprise transaction module initiates an aggregation operation; automatically access and aggregate, via the at least one backend enterprise transaction module; via the at least one backend enterprise transaction module; wherein the accounting categories are duplicated according to different divisions within an organization according to a hierarchical organizational chart for the business entity, and wherein the hierarchical organizational chart is used to maintain division-specific category assignments and to resolve inconsistencies between inherited and division-specific accounting categories; derived using a standardized pattern-matching algorithm and Bloom filter to eliminate extraneous character strings, wherein the pattern-matching algorithm normalizes the transaction description prior to insertion into the Bloom filter; automatically ...via the at least one backend enterprise transaction module; comprising general accounting ledger codes for at least one of a business entity and a user; the accounting categories duplicated according to different divisions within an organization according to a hierarchical organizational chart for the business entity; provide an interface for the user to override the determined accounting category for one of more of the financial transactions; apply the override for one or more subsequent monitored financial transactions that have metadata records that match at least a predefined portion of the metadata records for the one or more of the financial transactions with the overridden accounting category; the accounting categories, and the created metadata records of the business entity; determine a ruleset for categorizing financial transactions based on the determined accounting categories and to determine an accounting category for subsequent financial transactions using the determined ruleset, the ruleset comprising instructions for mapping elements of the metadata records to the accounting categories; allow a user to customize mappings from dynamically selectable combinations of different elements to dynamically selectable accounting categories; derived using a standardized pattern-matching algorithm and Bloom filter to eliminate extraneous character strings; wherein matching is determined by a Bloom filter stored in volatile memory and the override is enforced after manual confirmation by the user device; wherein the ruleset is dynamically generated based on historical override act activity and differences in category- assignment patterns across divisions determined using the hierarchical organization chart for the business entity;
Seubert teaches,
remote hardware computer server; private interface between the remote hardware computer server and a user device, wherein the remote hardware computer server comprises at least one backend enterprise transaction module and wherein the private interface is and configured to: receive, from the user device
(Seubert [21437] Service Interfaces
Seubert [21436] Process that runs the payroll for a group of employees
Seubert [21439] Service Interface Payroll Process
Seubert [16988] The person assigned or the person logged on at the end-user device assigned may be responsible for processing the tasks or monitors the processing of the tasks stored in the logistics task folder.
Seubert [0508] environment 300 includes or is communicably coupled (such as via a one-, bi- or multi-directional link or network) with server
Seubert [0509] communicably coupled with a relatively remote repository
Seubert [0517] Network 312 facilitates wireless or wireline communication between computer server 302 and any other local or remote computer)
the electronic credentials received via an application programming interface in a format compatible with the remote hardware server;
(Seubert [0520] local APIs or service interfaces.
Seubert [0521] remote function calls (RFCs), APIs
Seubert [0073] identity specifies the person's or subject's credentials for accessing systems in a system landscape, the granted authorizations and the system settings which are valid for the person or subject.
Seubert [2092] DataTypeFormatCode can be the specification of the representation for the format of a property data type.)
automatically access and aggregate, via the at least one backend enterprise transaction module;
(Seubert [21437] Service Interfaces
Seubert [0073] identity specifies the person's or subject's credentials for accessing systems in a system landscape
Seubert [21436] Process that runs the payroll for a group of employees
Seubert [21439] Service Interface Payroll Process
Seubert [16988] The person assigned or the person logged on at the end-user device assigned may be responsible for processing the tasks or monitors the processing of the tasks stored in the logistics task folder.
Seubert [0493] Services may be planned ....automatically
Seubert [0514] enterprise service may be a series of web services combined with business logic that can be accessed and used repeatedly to support a particular business process. Aggregating web services into business-level enterprise services helps provide a more meaningful foundation for the task of automating enterprise-scale business scenarios)
via the at least one backend enterprise transaction module; automatically ...via the at least one backend enterprise transaction module
(Seubert [21437] Service Interfaces
Seubert [0073] identity specifies the person's or subject's credentials for accessing systems in a system landscape
Seubert [21436] Process that runs the payroll for a group of employees
Seubert [21439] Service Interface Payroll Process
Seubert [16988] The person assigned or the person logged on )
comprising general accounting ledger codes for a business entity
(Seubert [1373] The data type GDT BusinessObjectTypeCode may use the following code: 001 (i.e., purchase order), 6 (i.e., accounting document), 7 (i.e., accounting entry), .... 9 (i.e., accounts receivable payable ledger account discounting run), 10 (i.e., accounts receivable payable ledger account foreign currency remeasurement run), 11 (i.e., accounts receivable payable ledger account regrouping run), ...16 (i.e., bill of exchange payable), 17 (i.e., bill of exchange receivable), 18 (i.e., bill of exchange submission), 19 (i.e., cash ledger account foreign currency remeasurement run), 20 (i.e., cash payment),....28 (i.e., customer invoice)....54 (i.e., general ledger account distribution run)....266 (i.e., supplier)
Seubert [3438] list agency ID is "310." If a user creates his code list during configuration, list agency ID is the ID of the code user (e.g., ID from DE 3055, if listed there))
Seubert [0641] The InvoiceRequest message (as defined) transfers invoices in the broader sense. This includes the specific invoice (request to settle a liability), the debit memo, and the credit memo.
Seubert [0750] an AccountDebitIndicator specifies whether an account has been debited during an account movement.
Seubert [1972] The DebitCreditCode is the coded representation of the credit or debit side of an account.)
the accounting categories duplicated according to different divisions within an organization according to a hierarchical organizational chart for the business entity
(Seubert [13517] There may be multiple enterprise service infrastructure actions, such as, for example, Copy,
Seubert [13518] Copy creates a duplicate of an existing production segment. A precondition of Copy may be that the original production segment be available. The original production segment remains unchanged. A complete new object will be created which may differ from the original object by the ID.
Seubert [3461] An OrganisationalCentreHierarchyTypeCode is the coded representation of the nature of an organizational hierarchy.
Seubert [9894] All elements may be part of the organizational hierarchy)
wherein the accounting categories are duplicated according to different divisions within an organization
(Seubert [13518] Copy creates a duplicate of an existing production segment...The original production segment remains unchanged. A complete new object will be created which may differ from the original object by the ID.
Seubert [Abstract] for use across industries, across businesses, and across different departments within a business)
according to a hierarchical organizational chart for the business entity, and wherein the hierarchical organizational chart is used to maintain division-specific category assignments and to resolve inconsistencies between inherited and division-specific accounting categories;
(Seubert [3461] An OrganisationalCentreHierarchyTypeCode is the coded representation of the nature of an organizational hierarchy.
Seubert [9894] All elements may be part of the organizational hierarchy
Seubert [Abstract] for use across industries, across businesses, and across different departments within a business
Seubert [1119] The GDT AccountingCodingBlock can be used to perform account assignments.... to a set of accounting objects.... in accordance with accounting rules.
Seubert [2731] enables the production- or sales-controlled combination of various products or the same products with inconsistent pack sizes ...enables an improved logistical check, which can be necessary for effective processing)
provide an interface for the user to override the determined accounting category for one of more of the financial transactions;
(Seubert [0012] a user or a business application.... that utilize consistent interfaces that... create/change/delete/cancel business objects
Seubert [15397] The MaterialQuotaArrangement and ServiceProductQuotaArrangement override the settings
Seubert [1080] the value-based representation of business transactions in accounting can use different accounts. An example of GDT AccountDeterminationExpenseGroupCode)
apply the override for one or more subsequent monitored financial transactions that have metadata records that match at least a predefined portion of the metadata records for the one or more of the financial transactions with the overridden accounting category;
(Seubert [3878] The structure of the GDT PriceSpecificationElementPropertyValue can describe the meta information of property values
Seubert [14822] These SalesPriceLists are meta data for configuring a user interface
Seubert [1440] Systems can have these rules coded into the application. As a result, different rules can correspond to different coding passages used for message processing.
Seubert [12315] All entries in the change group object reference nodes, which match the given engineering change processing object
Seubert [9147] can check whether postings for the affected sets of books are required, can adjust the affected accounts in Accounting for the relevant sets of books
Seubert [10057] When a business transaction causing a quantity/value change to a MaterialLedgerAccount is updated, a set of rules can determine which GeneralLedgerAccounts are concerned.
Seubert [1633] An update method for a catalog can be a set of rules that can control how objects (e.g., products) are cataloged in a catalog and how to update the catalog when cataloged objects are changed. A catalog can be a structured directory of catalog items, where each catalog item can represent an object and provides information about it.
Seubert [5529] Change CustomerTransactionDocumentTemplate based on Product Customer Requirement)
and the override is enforced after manual confirmation by the user device;
(Seubert [12137] The defaults will be overruled by parameters retrieved from the parameter service that were adjusted by the user.
Seubert [0766] A ManuallyConfirmedIndicator specifies whether something was confirmed manually.)
the accounting categories, and the created metadata records of the business entity,
(Seubert [1231] An assessment and distribution rule (AssessmentAndDistributionRule) is a rule for assessing or distributing costs and balances from income statement accounts and balance sheet accounts in Accounting. It can define which amounts are allocated
Seubert [7974] SystemAdministrativeData Administrative is data recorded by the system)
determine a ruleset for categorizing financial transactions based on the determined accounting categories and to determine an accounting category for subsequent financial transactions using the determined ruleset, the ruleset comprising instructions for mapping elements of the metadata records to the accounting categories;
(Seubert [0055] Accounting Coding Block Distribution is ...A Coding Block is a set of accounting objects to which an enterprise resource change is assigned. The resource change is ultimately valued in Accounting.
Seubert [0186] A GDT AccountDeterminationHouseBankGroupCode is the coded representation of a group of house banks based on the viewpoint of a similar determination of accounts in accounting.
Seubert [1434] Business process variant types can be used to transfer information about an executed process step in messages to subsequent process components.
Seubert [1465] The GDT BusinessTransactionDocumentItemGroupID can be used to indicate the items of a business document that belong together to guarantee a identification of this item grouping in subsequent steps.
Seubert [0533] mapping rules may be provided for mapping model representations
Seubert [0173] FIG. 5B depicts a simplified process for mapping a model representation to a runtime representation
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Seubert [0526] mapping rules may be provided for mapping the model representation to the XGL representation 506. Different mapping rules may be provided for mapping a model representation to an XGL representation.
Seubert [0532] XGL representation may be used to generate machine executable instructions)
wherein the ruleset is dynamically generated based on historical override activity
(Seubert [0012] a user or a business application.... that utilize consistent interfaces that... create/change/delete/cancel business objects
Seubert [1440] Systems can have these rules coded into the application.
Seubert [15397] The MaterialQuotaArrangement and ServiceProductQuotaArrangement override the settings
Seubert [12667] ESI Actions include: GenerateTimeInformationCalendarItems, which can generate the TimeInformationCalendarItems for a specified time frame ... Preconditions, which can be None; Changes to the object, where TimeInformationCalendarItems for the specified time-frame may be generated;...Parameters where the action elements may be defined ...and may be based on GDT: DAY_Duration and Qualifier: InPast.)
differences in category- assignment patterns across divisions determined
(Seubert [0589] Structural Patterns
Seubert [0591] An item is an entity type which groups together features of another entity type....a chart of accounts item is a category of values or value flows that can be recorded or represented in amounts of money in accounting, while a chart of accounts is a superordinate list of categories of values or value flows that is defined in accounting.
Seubert [Abstract] for use across industries, across businesses, and across different departments within a business)
and the hierarchical organization chart for the business entity
(Seubert [3461] An OrganisationalCentreHierarchyTypeCode is the coded representation of the nature of an organizational hierarchy.
Seubert [9894] All elements may be part of the organizational hierarchy)
allow a user to customize mappings from dynamically selectable combinations of different elements to dynamically selectable accounting categories;
(Seubert [0519] GUI 336 may comprise a plurality of customizable frames or views having interactive fields, pull-down lists, and buttons operated by the user. For example, GUI 336 is operable to display data involving business objects and interfaces
Seubert [0533] design tools may automatically generate an abstract representation for the model representation using XGL and then use the XGL abstract representation to generate GUIs that are customized for specific runtime environments
Seubert [8937] AccountingBusinessTransactionTypeCode, is a coded representation of the type of business transaction stated in the SubledgerAccount LineItem, and classifies the business transaction according to Accounting criteria
Seubert [3915] PricingSubtotalTypeCode is the coded representation of the type of a subtotal... according to a selectable calculation method.
Seubert [3916] A customer-specific code list is assigned to the Code. A customer can define the codes in the code list.
Seubert [0530] These mapping rules may be dependent on the type of runtime tool, characteristics of the target device to be used for displaying the GUI... mapping rules may be provided for transforming the abstract representation 506 to any number of target runtime representations directed to one or more target GUI runtime platforms.
Seubert [0533] generate an abstract representation for the model representation.. to generate GUIs that are customized for specific runtime environments and devices.)
It is prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the targeted commercial communications teachings of Flowers to incorporate the unique identifier teachings of Seubert “which reflects data that is used during a given business transaction.” (Seubert [Abstract]). The modification would have been obvious, because it is merely applying a known technique (i.e. the unique identifier) to a known concept (i.e. targeted commercial communications) ready for improvement to yield predictable result (i.e. “ID is a identifier for the referenced business document. UUID is a global identifier of the referenced business document.” Seubert [1524])
Seubert does not teach dedicated security hardware comprising a cryptoprocessor that is configured to output decrypted data to a secure bus and to store cryptographic keys on a secure storage device, wherein access to the securely stored electronic credentials is restricted such that the dedicated security hardware authorizes use of the credentials before the at least one backend enterprise transaction module initiates an aggregation operation; derived using a standardized pattern-matching algorithm and Bloom filter to eliminate extraneous character strings, wherein the pattern-matching algorithm normalizes the transaction description prior to insertion into the Bloom filter; wherein matching is determined by a Bloom filter stored in volatile memory
Han teaches,
dedicated security hardware comprising a cryptoprocessor that is configured to output decrypted data to a secure bus and to store cryptographic keys on a secure storage device, wherein access to the securely stored electronic credentials is restricted such that the dedicated security hardware authorizes use of the credentials before the at least one backend enterprise transaction module initiates an aggregation operation;
(Han [Co 13, Lines 20-23] asked to key in a PIN or password
Han [Col 56, Lines 11-16] input-output interfaces (I/O) 1022, storage interfaces 1024... cryptographic processor interfaces 1028 may be connected to the interface bus 1018.
Han [Col 16, Lines 65 to Col 17, Line 2] PPS 114 can encrypt the cached data such that only the reader can decrypt the data using cryptographic keys. Furthermore, the cached data can saved and accessed through one or more bloom filters
Han [Co 13, Lines 20-23] asked to key in a PIN or password shown on the first or a third device, either through a text or email notification, to authorize the payment transaction
Han [Col 24, Lines 24-29] highly predictive artificial intelligence pattern matching, network data aggregation ...to calculate fraud risk... The risk analysis component 128 analyzes the current offline transaction)
derived using a standardized pattern-matching algorithm and Bloom filter
(Han [Col 3, Lines 9-10] send encrypted data in one or more bloom filters
Han [Col 17, Lines 1-2] accessed through one or more bloom filters
Han [Col 24, Lines 23-25] highly predictive artificial intelligence pattern matching)
to eliminate extraneous character strings,
(Han [Col 11, Line 67 to Col 12, Line 1 ] followed by a string of alphanumeric characters or in general, any identifier
Han [Col 67, Lines 16-20] receives data ...and removes noise or other irrelevant parameters.)
wherein the pattern-matching algorithm normalizes the transaction description prior to insertion into the Bloom filter
(Han [Col 24, Lines 23-25] highly predictive artificial intelligence pattern matching
Han [Col 20, Line 59 to Col 21, Line 3] payment object reader 110 may store such data locally...also facilitates storage of the device information and maps the device information to the payment object that was presented at the time of transaction so as to create a relationship
Han [Col 22, Lines 43-44] includes all standard EMV data (i.e., Field 55 data/DE 55, ARQC)
Han [Col 41, Lines 31-34] if the corroboration indicates that another component separate from the communication device more accurately matches the authorization standards, the POS terminal can recalibrate the authorization of the payment transaction
Han [Col 11, Lines 17-20] each message is stored...before being transmitted to the next node or switch. Hence the payment network could be a ‘store-and-forward’ network.
Han [Col 17, Lines 1-2] accessed through one or more bloom filters
Han [Col 3, Lines 9-10] send encrypted data in one or more bloom filters)
It is prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the targeted commercial communications teachings of Flowers to incorporate the pattern matching teachings of Han for “highly predictive artificial intelligence pattern matching” (Han [Col 24, Lines 23-25]). The modification would have been obvious, because it is merely applying a known technique (i.e. pattern matching) to a known concept (i.e. targeted commercial communications) ready for improvement to yield predictable result (i.e. “risk analysis component 128 analyzes the current offline transaction and associated data against risk parameters and data from known fraudulent transactions.” Han [Col 24, Lines 27-30])
Regarding Claim 4,
Flowers, Dintenfass, Seubert, and Han teach the apparatus of Claim 1 as described earlier.
Flowers does not teach wherein the hardware computer server is further configured to predict a future shortfall of funds for the business entity based on the plurality of financial transactions and the offer for the financial product comprises an offer for a bridge loan from the financial institution to the business entity.
Dintenfass teaches,
wherein the hardware computer server is further configured to predict a future shortfall of funds for the business entity based on the plurality of financial transactions and the offer for the financial product comprises an offer for a bridge loan from the financial institution to the business entity.
(Dintenfass [0015] A user of the system may be a person, but may also be a business or any other entity.
Dintenfass [0040] In some embodiments, the logic rules may be based on predictive models of user resource activity rather than on actual user resource activity. For example, the system may predict the need for certain financial services or products based on known data about the user when compared to aggregated data from the financial institution system users. For example, the system may predict that a user might be in a potential overdraft situation when the balance in an account falls below a certain level and a regularly occurring future payment is coming due. In other examples the system may be able to predict that the user may require a short term loan based cash flow.)
It is prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the targeted commercial communications teachings of Flowers to incorporate the resource activity monitoring and alert teachings of Dintenfass to “monitor a user resource activity of a user and determine if a condition applies to the user resource activity; and, upon a determination that the condition applies to the monitored user resource activity, to transmit an alert to the user” (Dintenfass [Abstract]). The modification would have been obvious, because it is merely applying a known technique (i.e. resource activity monitoring and alert system) to a known concept (i.e. targeted commercial communications) ready for improvement to yield predictable result (i.e. “monitoring a user resource activity of a user related to that entity and determining if a condition applies to the user resource activity” Dintenfass [0004])
Regarding Claim 5,
Flowers, Dintenfass, Seubert, and Han teach the apparatus of Claim 4 as described earlier.
Flowers teaches,
to be paid back by funds from one or more financial transactions from the plurality of financial transactions
(Flowers [0056] transfer some of an account surplus to another account with a better interest rate, the amount of such transfers, etc.
Flowers [0111] Aspects include personalized banking engine 120 then transferring funds from the user's account to another financial account that bears a higher interest rate for four days, after which time personalized banking engine 120 may transfer the funds back to the original account.)
Flowers does not teach wherein an amount of the bridge loan is selected to cover the predicted future shortfall; determined to be in an accounts payable accounting category.
Dintenfass teaches,
wherein an amount of the bridge loan is selected to cover the predicted future shortfall
(Dintenfass [0015] A user of the system may be a person, but may also be a business or any other entity.
Dintenfass [0040] In some embodiments, the logic rules may be based on predictive models of user resource activity rather than on actual user resource activity. For example, the system may predict the need for certain financial services or products based on known data about the user when compared to aggregated data from the financial institution system users. For example, the system may predict that a user might be in a potential overdraft situation when the balance in an account falls below a certain level and a regularly occurring future payment is coming due. In other examples the system may be able to predict that the user may require a short term loan based cash flow.
Dintenfass [0038] In yet another exemplary embodiment the user resource activity may be a loan and the condition may be a late payment. In still another exemplary embodiment the user resource activity may be a loan and the condition may be the dropping the loan balance below a predetermined amount.)
It is prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the targeted commercial communications teachings of Flowers to incorporate the resource activity monitoring and alert teachings of Dintenfass to “monitor a user resource activity of a user and determine if a condition applies to the user resource activity; and, upon a determination that the condition applies to the monitored user resource activity, to transmit an alert to the user” (Dintenfass [Abstract]). The modification would have been obvious, because it is merely applying a known technique (i.e. resource activity monitoring and alert system) to a known concept (i.e. targeted commercial communications) ready for improvement to yield predictable result (i.e. “monitoring a user resource activity of a user related to that entity and determining if a condition applies to the user resource activity” Dintenfass [0004])
Dintenfass does not teach determined to be in an accounts payable accounting category.
Seubert teaches,
determined to be in an accounts payable accounting category.
(Seubert [1138] A GDT AccountsPayableDueItemTypeCode is the coded representation of the type of due item of an accounts payable.
Seubert [1142] The data type GDT AccountsPayableDueItemTypeCode may use the following codes: Invoice accounts payable due item (i.e., An invoice accounts payable due item is a due item that results from an invoice))
It is prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the targeted commercial communications teachings of Flowers to incorporate the interfaces derived from a business object teachings of Seubert for “business object model, which reflects data that is used during a given business transaction, is utilized to generate interfaces.” (Seubert [Abstract]). The modification would have been obvious, because it is merely applying a known technique (i.e. interfaces from business objects) to a known concept (i.e. targeted commercial communications) ready for improvement to yield predictable result (i.e. “facilitates commercial transactions by providing consistent interfaces that are suitable for use across industries, across businesses, and across different departments within a business during a business transaction” Seubert [Abstract])
Regarding Claim 6,
Flowers, Dintenfass, Seubert, and Han teach the apparatus of Claim 1 as described earlier.
Flowers does not teach wherein the remote hardware computer server is further configured to predict a future breach of a financial covenant of the business entity for one financial account of the one or more financial accounts of the business entity and wherein the offer for the financial product comprises an offer for one or more of an amended financial covenant for the one financial account and a new financial account with a different financial covenant.
Dintenfass teaches,
wherein the remote hardware computer server is further configured to predict a future breach of a financial covenant of the business entity for one financial account of the one or more financial accounts of the business entity
(Dintenfass [0036] cloud storage
Dintenfass [0015] A user of the system may be a person, but may also be a business or any other entity.
Dintenfass [0040] the system may predict that a user might be in a potential overdraft situation when the balance in an account falls below a certain level and a regularly occurring future payment is coming due.)
and wherein the offer for the financial product comprises an offer for one or more of an amended financial covenant for the one financial account
(Dintenfass [0038] In yet another exemplary embodiment the user resource activity may be a loan and the condition may be a late payment. In still another exemplary embodiment the user resource activity may be a loan and the condition may be the dropping the loan balance below a predetermined amount.)
It is prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the targeted commercial communications teachings of Flowers to incorporate the resource activity monitoring and alert teachings of Dintenfass to “monitor a user resource activity of a user and determine if a condition applies to the user resource activity; and, upon a determination that the condition applies to the monitored user resource activity, to transmit an alert to the user” (Dintenfass [Abstract]). The modification would have been obvious, because it is merely applying a known technique (i.e. resource activity monitoring and alert system) to a known concept (i.e. targeted commercial communications) ready for improvement to yield predictable result (i.e. “monitoring a user resource activity of a user related to that entity and determining if a condition applies to the user resource activity” Dintenfass [0004])
Dintenfass does not teach a new financial account with a different financial covenant.
Seubert teaches
a new financial account with a different financial covenant.
(Seubert [2190] Used for creation (i.e., the related Social Insurance Contribution can start collecting to a new contribution account))
It is prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the targeted commercial communications teachings of Flowers to incorporate the interfaces derived from a business object teachings of Seubert for “business object model, which reflects data that is used during a given business transaction, is utilized to generate interfaces.” (Seubert [Abstract]). The modification would have been obvious, because it is merely applying a known technique (i.e. interfaces from business objects) to a known concept (i.e. targeted commercial communications) ready for improvement to yield predictable result (i.e. “facilitates commercial transactions by providing consistent interfaces that are suitable for use across industries, across businesses, and across different departments within a business during a business transaction” Seubert [Abstract])
Regarding Claim 7,
Flowers, Dintenfass, Seubert, and Han teach the apparatus of Claim 1 as described earlier.
Flowers teaches,
wherein the hardware computer server is further configured to predict that an account of the one or more financial accounts will have a negative balance based on the plurality of financial transactions, and wherein the remote hardware computer server is further configured to one or more of: notify the user on the electronic display of the hardware device of the user; and transfer funds from a different account of the one or more financial accounts to the account predicted to have the negative balance.
(Flowers [0005] one or more local or remote processors
Flowers [0079] calculate the effect of such a potential transaction on the user's current checking account balance. In the event that a potential transaction of the calculated predicted spending amount would cause an overdraft, then personalized banking engine 120 may transmit a notification to client device 102 indicating that a potential overdraft may occur.
Flowers [0023] The present aspects relate to, inter alia, using cognitive computing and/or predictive modeling to perform various actions when a financial account overdraft is anticipated. ...This predicted transaction amount may then be compared to the user's current account balance to determine whether spending the predicted transaction amount would result in an overdraft.
Flowers [0056] This additional data may facilitate the execution of one or more cognitive computing and/or predictive modeling algorithms via personalized banking engine 120 to calculate the statistical probability that an overdraft is about to occur, whether a particular user account has a surplus in funds, if and when to transfer some of an account surplus to another account with a better interest rate, the amount of such transfers, etc.
Flowers [0082] Additionally or alternatively, spending prediction module 131 may facilitate one or more processors 122 actively avoiding one or more potential negative financial outcomes for the user. For example, in the event that a potential credit card overdraft is detected, personalized banking engine 120 may communicate with one or more financial institutions 150 to request a funds transfer from one of the user's other financial accounts to cover the calculated predicted transaction amount.)
Regarding Claim 8,
Flowers, Dintenfass, Seubert, and Han teach the apparatus of Claim 1 as described earlier.
Flowers and Dintenfass do not teach wherein the remote hardware computer server is further configured to autopopulate one or more governmental tax forms for the business entity based on the plurality of financial transactions and the determined accounting categories.
Seubert teaches,
wherein the hardware computer server is further configured to autopopulate one or more governmental tax forms for the business entity based on the plurality of financial transactions and the determined accounting categories.
(Seubert [0509] communicably coupled with a relatively remote repository
Seubert [0517] Network 312 facilitates wireless or wireline communication between computer server 302 and any other local or remote computer
Seubert [0009] A business object is a capsule with an internal hierarchical structure, behavior offered by its operations, and integrity constraints. Business objects are semantically disjointed, i.e., the same business information is represented once. The business object model contains all of the elements in the messages, user interfaces and engines for these business transactions. Each message represents a business document with structured information. The user interfaces represent the information that the users deal with, such as analytics, reporting, maintaining or controlling. The engines provide services concerning a specific topic, such as pricing or tax.
Seubert [0052] Tax Ledger Account is a record for a company based on the principle of double-entry bookkeeping that reflects the effects of business transactions on a restricted part of the valuated balance of payables and receivables from sales tax and excise duty with regard to the tax authorities. Serves as a structuring element for collecting and evaluating postings in the tax ledger in Accounting. Contains values that concern a company and where applicable various tax characteristics (such as ( tax authority) tax type, tax rate).
Seubert [0063] Company Tax Arrangement is an agreement between a company and a tax authority regarding the declaration and payment of taxes.)
It is prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the targeted commercial communications teachings of Flowers to incorporate the interfaces derived from a business object teachings of Seubert for “business object model, which reflects data that is used during a given business transaction, is utilized to generate interfaces.” (Seubert [Abstract]). The modification would have been obvious, because it is merely applying a known technique (i.e. interfaces from business objects) to a known concept (i.e. targeted commercial communications) ready for improvement to yield predictable result (i.e. “facilitates commercial transactions by providing consistent interfaces that are suitable for use across industries, across businesses, and across different departments within a business during a business transaction” Seubert [Abstract])
Regarding Claim 9,
Flowers, Dintenfass, Seubert, and Han teach the apparatus of Claim 1 as described earlier.
Flowers teaches,
using an Application Programming Interface (API) of the governmental hardware computer device over the network interface of the hardware computer server in response to input from the user over the network interface of the hardware device of the user.
(Flowers [0030] In the present aspect, communication network 116 may provide one or more client devices 102 with connectivity to network services, such as Internet services, for example, and/or support application programming interface (API) calls between one or more client devices 102, one or more financial institutions 150, and/or personalized banking engine 120.)
Flowers and Dintenfass do not teach wherein the remote hardware computer server is further configured to electronically submit the one or more governmental tax forms to a governmental hardware computer device
Seubert teaches,
wherein the hardware computer server is further configured to electronically submit the one or more governmental tax forms to a governmental hardware computer device
(Seubert [0509] communicably coupled with a relatively remote repository
Seubert [0517] Network 312 facilitates wireless or wireline communication between computer server 302 and any other local or remote computer
Seubert [0009] A business object is a capsule with an internal hierarchical structure, behavior offered by its operations, and integrity constraints. Business objects are semantically disjointed, i.e., the same business information is represented once. The business object model contains all of the elements in the messages, user interfaces and engines for these business transactions. Each message represents a business document with structured information. The user interfaces represent the information that the users deal with, such as analytics, reporting, maintaining or controlling. The engines provide services concerning a specific topic, such as pricing or tax.
Seubert [0052] Tax Ledger Account is a record for a company based on the principle of double-entry bookkeeping that reflects the effects of business transactions on a restricted part of the valuated balance of payables and receivables from sales tax and excise duty with regard to the tax authorities. Serves as a structuring element for collecting and evaluating postings in the tax ledger in Accounting. Contains values that concern a company and where applicable various tax characteristics (such as ( tax authority) tax type, tax rate).
Seubert [0063] Company Tax Arrangement is an agreement between a company and a tax authority regarding the declaration and payment of taxes.)
It is prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the targeted commercial communications teachings of Flowers to incorporate the interfaces derived from a business object teachings of Seubert for “business object model, which reflects data that is used during a given business transaction, is utilized to generate interfaces.” (Seubert [Abstract]). The modification would have been obvious, because it is merely applying a known technique (i.e. interfaces from business objects) to a known concept (i.e. targeted commercial communications) ready for improvement to yield predictable result (i.e. “facilitates commercial transactions by providing consistent interfaces that are suitable for use across industries, across businesses, and across different departments within a business during a business transaction” Seubert [Abstract])
Regarding Claim 10,
Flowers, Dintenfass, Seubert, and Han teach the apparatus of Claim 1 as described earlier.
Flowers and Dintenfass do not teach wherein the operations of the computer executable program code are further configured to prompt the user on the electronic display of the user device for approval of a payment for an accounts payable financial transaction of the plurality of financial transactions in response to the remote hardware computer server determining an accounts payable accounting category for the accounts payable financial transaction and wherein the operations of the computer executable program code are further configured to automatically make the payment in response to input from the user approving the payment.
Seubert teaches,
wherein the operations of the computer executable program code are further configured to prompt the user on the electronic display of the user device for approval of a payment for an accounts payable financial transaction of the plurality of financial transactions in response to the remote hardware computer server determining an accounts payable accounting category for the accounts payable financial transaction and wherein the operations of the computer executable program code are further configured to automatically make the payment in response to input from the user approving the payment.
(Seubert [0079] Alternatively, if, in step 703, the user elects, or the system is configured to pay multiple invoices with one check (yes branch), the system prepares 708 a layout of the payment document. The payment document may optionally be presented to the user for approval 709.
Seubert [1138] A GDT AccountsPayableDueItemTypeCode is the coded representation of the type of due item of an accounts payable.
Seubert [1142] The data type GDT AccountsPayableDueItemTypeCode may use the following codes: Invoice accounts payable due item (i.e., An invoice accounts payable due item is a due item that results from an invoice)
Seubert [0148] payments that should be made automatically, such as very small payments or payments to certain vendors;)
It is prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the targeted commercial communications teachings of Flowers to incorporate the interfaces derived from a business object teachings of Seubert for “business object model, which reflects data that is used during a given business transaction, is utilized to generate interfaces.” (Seubert [Abstract]). The modification would have been obvious, because it is merely applying a known technique (i.e. interfaces from business objects) to a known concept (i.e. targeted commercial communications) ready for improvement to yield predictable result (i.e. “facilitates commercial transactions by providing consistent interfaces that are suitable for use across industries, across businesses, and across different departments within a business during a business transaction” Seubert [Abstract])
Regarding Claim 11,
Flowers, Dintenfass, Seubert, and Han teach the apparatus of Claim 1 as described earlier.
Flowers teaches,
by downloading item-level data for the same financial transaction from a third-party hardware server of a party to the same financial transaction.
(Flowers [0030] In the present aspect, communication network 116 may provide one or more client devices 102 with connectivity to network services, such as Internet services, for example, and/or support application programming interface (API) calls between one or more client devices 102, one or more financial institutions 150, and/or personalized banking engine 120.
Flowers [0188] some aspects include analyzing various sources of data to predict whether a user will likely spend money at a particular retailer, and how much. …additional processing and memory usage may be required to perform such transfers, as a client device may need to download additional data and process this data as part of the transfer process.)
Flowers and Dintenfass do not teach wherein the remote hardware computer server is further configured to determine different accounting categories for different items from the same financial transaction of the plurality of transactions
Seubert teaches wherein the hardware computer server is further configured to determine different accounting categories for different items from the same financial transaction of the plurality of transactions
(Seubert [0509] communicably coupled with a relatively remote repository
Seubert [0517] Network 312 facilitates wireless or wireline communication between computer server 302 and any other local or remote computer
Seubert [1138] A GDT AccountsPayableDueItemTypeCode is the coded representation of the type of due item of an accounts payable.
Seubert [1142] The data type GDT AccountsPayableDueItemTypeCode may use the following codes: Invoice accounts payable due item (i.e., An invoice accounts payable due item is a due item that results from an invoice))
It is prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the targeted commercial communications teachings of Flowers to incorporate the interfaces derived from a business object teachings of Seubert for “business object model, which reflects data that is used during a given business transaction, is utilized to generate interfaces.” (Seubert [Abstract]). The modification would have been obvious, because it is merely applying a known technique (i.e. interfaces from business objects) to a known concept (i.e. targeted commercial communications) ready for improvement to yield predictable result (i.e. “facilitates commercial transactions by providing consistent interfaces that are suitable for use across industries, across businesses, and across different departments within a business during a business transaction” Seubert [Abstract])
Regarding Claim 12,
Flowers, Dintenfass, Seubert, and Han teach the apparatus of Claim 11 as described earlier.
Flowers teaches,
wherein the hardware computer server is further configured to use electronic credentials for the business entity to login to an account of the business entity with the party to download the item-level data.
(Flowers [0050] to provide authorization (e.g., online login credentials) to access the user's accounts held at one or more financial institutions 150, etc.
Flowers [0188] additional processing and memory usage may be required to perform such transfers, as a client device may need to download additional data and process this data as part of the transfer process.)
Regarding Claim 13,
Flowers, Dintenfass, Seubert, and Han teach the apparatus of Claim 12 as described earlier.
Flowers teaches,
wherein downloading the item-level data comprises parsing one or more webpages from the third-party hardware server of the party to locate one or more of an invoice, an order history, and an account statement comprising at least a portion of the item-level data.
(Flowers [0071] To provide another example, instructions stored in data aggregation module 129 may facilitate personalized banking engine 120 accessing one or more additional data sources (e.g., via database 170) to receive data from one or more third party data mining providers, to receive browsing history data
Flowers [0090] via data received from third party credit reports and/or data obtained via access to a user's credit card accounts. Input (b) may represent a history of retailers that each user may have visited over some period of time (e.g., within the last 30 days, 60 days, etc.), the amount of money that each user spent at each retailer, and/or what each user purchased,
Flowers [0102] tracked financial account balance 300 may represent a log of historical daily closing balances for a user's financial account, such as a checking account, for example.)
Regarding Claim 14,
Flowers, Dintenfass, Seubert, and Han teach the apparatus of Claim 1 as described earlier.
Flowers and Dintenfass do not teach wherein the remote hardware computer server is further configured to deduplicate manually entered financial transactions of the plurality of transactions and electronically generated financial transactions of the plurality of transactions based on the created metadata records.
Seubert teaches,
wherein the remote hardware computer server is further configured to deduplicate manually entered financial transactions of the plurality of transactions and electronically generated financial transactions of the plurality of transactions based on the created metadata records.
(Seubert [0148] Dependencies, in this case, are circumstances in which conflicts may arise among rules set up in response to the data input by the user. The system may need additional clarification, to understand which rules should override which other rules, which rules should be amended, which rules should be added or deleted, etc. In step 2904, the system presents the dependencies and requests clarification and additional data to resolve issues.
Seubert [0770] A ReconciliationIndicator specifies whether something relates to a reconciliation.
Seubert [0509] communicably coupled with a relatively remote repository
Seubert [0517] Network 312 facilitates wireless or wireline communication between computer server 302 and any other local or remote computer)
It is prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the targeted commercial communications teachings of Flowers to incorporate the interfaces derived from a business object teachings of Seubert for “business object model, which reflects data that is used during a given business transaction, is utilized to generate interfaces.” (Seubert [Abstract]). The modification would have been obvious, because it is merely applying a known technique (i.e. interfaces from business objects) to a known concept (i.e. targeted commercial communications) ready for improvement to yield predictable result (i.e. “facilitates commercial transactions by providing consistent interfaces that are suitable for use across industries, across businesses, and across different departments within a business during a business transaction” Seubert [Abstract])
Regarding Claim 15,
Flowers, Dintenfass, Seubert, and Han teach the apparatus of Claim 1 as described earlier.
Flowers teaches,
wherein the remote hardware computer server is further configured to dynamically determine one or more of a risk analysis and a credit worthiness for the business entity based on the plurality of financial transactions and the determined accounting categories.
(Flowers [0182] In some embodiments, the financial profile includes net worth, net income, credit rating, credit score, or some combination thereof, for the customer. The customer's net worth may be the total assets the customer owns minus the total liabilities for which the customer is liable....The customer's credit rating may be an estimate of the ability of the customer to pay off all of his or her financial obligations, or meet new financial obligations. Similarly, the customer's credit score may be a number, calculated by analyzing a customer's financial profile, that is indicative of the customer's ability to pay off a loan, or a number indicative of his or her general credit worthiness. Both the credit rating and credit score may be used to determine the customer's overall financial risk to a lending institution, such as the vendor offering the asset for sale.
Flowers [0005] one or more local or remote processors)
Regarding Claim 18,
Flowers, Dintenfass, Seubert, and Han teach the apparatus of Claim 1 as described earlier.
Flowers and Dintenfass do not teach wherein the determined accounting categories comprise one or more of a general ledger for the business entity and a financial statement for the business entity and the operations are further configured to display the one or more of the general ledger and the financial statement to the user on the electronic display of the hardware device of the user.
(Seubert [0033] Accounting Document is a representation of changes to values of general ledger and subledger accounts resulting from a business transaction and relating to a company and a set of books.
Seubert [2639] As these are local requirements and the identification of the acquisition and production costs is necessary for the local financial statements, this data can be managed in the same set of books and can be distinguished by the fixed asset valuation view.
Seubert [0518] and provide output to users of clients 304 through the display, namely the client portion of GUI or application interface 336. )
It is prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the targeted commercial communications teachings of Flowers to incorporate the interfaces derived from a business object teachings of Seubert for “business object model, which reflects data that is used during a given business transaction, is utilized to generate interfaces.” (Seubert [Abstract]). The modification would have been obvious, because it is merely applying a known technique (i.e. interfaces from business objects) to a known concept (i.e. targeted commercial communications) ready for improvement to yield predictable result (i.e. “facilitates commercial transactions by providing consistent interfaces that are suitable for use across industries, across businesses, and across different departments within a business during a business transaction” Seubert [Abstract])
Regarding Claim 19,
Flowers, Dintenfass, Seubert, and Han teach the apparatus of Claim 1 as described earlier.
Flowers teaches,
wherein the offer for the financial product comprises one or more of a lower interest rate and a lower fee than existing terms for an external account of the one or more financial accounts of the business entity, the external account being held by a different financial institution.
(Flowers [0181] In some embodiments, the method may include determining the loan offer (block 1308) and may further comprise adjusting a loan length, a loan interest rate, or some combination thereof, for the loan offer based upon the customer's financial profile. Similarly, in some embodiments determining the loan details (e.g., the loan length, the loan interest rate) may include utilizing a predictive analytics or cognitive computing algorithm
Flowers [0056] to another account with a better interest rate
Flowers [0114] the lower interest-bearing account.
Flowers [0195] cost … considerations.
Flowers [0082] personalized banking engine 120 may communicate with one or more financial institutions)
Claim 20 is rejected on the same basis as Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 21,
Flowers, Dintenfass, Seubert, and Han teach the computer program product of Claim 20 as described earlier.
Flowers teaches,
wherein the metadata records further comprise at least one classification comprising one of: a recurring transaction indicator, an account identifier, and a transaction type.
(Flowers [0105] financial transactions associated with the user's accounts, the frequency and/or amount of deposits to the user's financial account (e.g., regular recurring deposits from the user's paycheck or direct deposit), etc.
Flowers [0059] with suitable types of information to uniquely identify each particular user, so that each user may later be matched to his or her financial data profile stored in financial data profiles 180. For example, financial data profiles 180 may store a username that is used by one or more users in accordance with virtual personalized banker application 115, a first and last name of each user, etc. These financial data profiles are discussed in further detail below.)
Claim 22 is rejected on the same basis as Claim 1.
Response to Remarks
Applicant's arguments filed on December 15, 2025, have been fully considered and Examiner’s remarks to Applicant’s amendments follow.
Response Remarks on Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
The Applicant states:
“Step 2A - Prong One: The Claim Does Not Recite a Judicial Exception in Isolation
[0005] The amended claims recite a hardware-implemented architecture that includes:
I. dedicated security hardware comprising a cryptoprocessor, secure bus, and secure
key storage that authorizes credential use before aggregation;
II. a two-stage transaction-description transformation pipeline employing a
standardized pattern-matching algorithm followed by a Bloom filter stored in
volatile memory;
III. hierarchical duplication and inheritance of accounting categories across
organizational divisions; and
IV. a dynamically generated ruleset derived from historical override activity and cross- division categorization patterns.…Step 2A - Prong Two: The Claim is Integrated into a Practical Application
[0007] Even if the claim is deemed to recite an abstract idea (which Applicant does not concede), the claims apply the recited concepts using concrete technical mechanisms that meaningfully limit the scope of the claim. "
Examiner responds:
Of the statement above, the Examiner identifies the following as an abstract idea:
“I. …that authorizes credential use before aggregation;
II. a two-stage transaction-description transformation pipeline employing a standardized pattern-matching algorithm…;
III. hierarchical duplication and inheritance of accounting categories across
organizational divisions; and
IV. a dynamically generated ruleset derived from historical override activity and cross- division categorization patterns”
This abstract idea describes the gathering, sharing, and manipulation of data that expresses an Abstract Idea [Intellectual Ventures I v. Capital One Fin. Corp., 850 F.3d 1332, 121 USPQ2d 1940 (Fed. Cir. 2017) “collecting, displaying, and manipulating data” was considered part of the abstract idea], and Selecting A Particular Data Source or Type Of Data To Be Manipulated [Selecting information, based on types of information and availability of information in a power-grid environment, for collection, analysis and display, Electric Power Group, LLC v. Alstom S.A., 830 F.3d 1350, 1354-55, 119 USPQ2d 1739, 1742 (Fed. Cir. 2016)]
Examiner identifies the following as additional elements (technical components):
[dedicated security hardware comprising a cryptoprocessor, secure bus, and secure key storage]
[followed by a Bloom filter stored in volatile memory]
Any generic cryptoprocessor is expected to be connected to a secure bus. Any Bloom filter is expected to be run in volatile memory. Cryptographic keys are typically employed withing encryption schemes. The question becomes whether innovation or unconventional arrangement of generic technical components integrate the abstract idea of data management into a practical application.
The Applicant’s Specification says:
[0020] a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom VLSI circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips…
[0026] source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages….
[0028] These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer.
[0071] A Bloom filter is a space-efficient probabilistic data structure that a metadata module 202 may use to test whether an element (e.g., a string describing a financial transaction) is a member of a set (e.g., a set of previous matches, a set of known merchants/vendors, or the like).
Wikipedia (Bloom filter, 19 December 2018) teaches, “A Bloom filter is a space-efficient probabilistic data structure, conceived by Burton Howard Bloom in 1970, that is used to test whether an element is a member of a set.”
The Specification confirms the generic nature of the components. The components all function as expected with no unusual nor unexpected results and is well-understood, routine, and conventional, see MPEP 2106.05(d).
In the absence of unexpected results, changes or alteration of sequence do not make for a patentable invention, see Ex parte Rubin, 128 USPQ 440 (Bd. App. 1959) ; In re Burhans, 154 F.2d 690, 69 USPQ 330 (CCPA 1946); In re Gibson, 39 F.2d 975, 5 USPQ 230 (CCPA 1930)
The Applicant states:
“[0008] First, the claims require dedicated security hardware with a cryptoprocessor that outputs decrypted data only to a secure bus and stores cryptographic keys on a secure storage device, such that the hardware authorizes credential use before aggregation occurs. This is a physical, structural limitation that improves system security and prevents unauthorized credential access, and is not a generic "computer implementation."
[0009] Second, the claims require normalization of transaction descriptions using a
pattern-matching algorithm prior to insertion into a Bloom filter, and further require that Bloom-filter matching be performed in volatile memory for override propagation. …
[0010] Third, the claims require duplication of accounting categories across divisions using a hierarchical organizational chart, …
[0011] Fourth, the claims recite dynamic ruleset generation based on historical override activity and detected differences in category-assignment patterns across divisions… "
Examiner responds:
A “cryptoprocessor that outputs decrypted data only to a secure bus and stores cryptographic keys on a secure storage device” and a “Bloom-filter matching be performed in volatile memory” is a common and expected arrangement of components for a cryptoprocessor. Again, this is supported by the Applicant’s Specification:
[0020] a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom VLSI circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips…
[0026] source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages….
[0028] These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer.
The remaining statements of “normalization of transaction descriptions using a pattern-matching algorithm”, “duplication of accounting categories across divisions using a hierarchical organizational chart”, and “dynamic ruleset generation based on historical override activity and detected differences in category-assignment patterns across divisions” express the abstract idea of gathering, sharing, and manipulation of data.
Therefore, the rejection under 35 USC § 101 remains.
Response Remarks on Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Applicant's amendments required the application of new/additional prior art.
New prior art includes:
Han (“PROCESSING TRANSACTIONS IN OFFLINE MODE”, U.S. Patent Number: US 10366378 B1)
Excised prior art includes:
Greifeneder (“METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR REAL-TIME, LOAD-DRIVEN MULTIDIMENSIONAL AND HIERARCHICAL CLASSIFICATION OF MONITORED TRANSACTION EXECUTIONS FOR VISUALIZATION AND ANALYSIS TASKS LIKE STATISTICAL ANOMALY DETECTION”, U.S. Publication Number: 20170039554 A1)
Applicant’s remarks regarding the rejection made under 35 USC § 103 are rendered moot by the introduction of additional prior art.
Therefore, the rejection under 35 USC § 103 remains.
Prior Art Cited But Not Applied
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Wikipedia (Bloom filter, 19 December 2018) teaches, “A Bloom filter is a space-efficient probabilistic data structure, conceived by Burton Howard Bloom in 1970, that is used to test whether an element is a member of a set.”
Tang (“XBRL-BASED INTELLIGENT FINANCIAL CLOUD PLATFORM SYSTEM, CONSTRUCTION METHOD AND BUSINESS IMPLEMENTATION METHOD THEREOF”, U.S. Publication Number: 2010/0161379 A1) proposes an XBRL-based intelligent financial cloud platform system, provides rich accounting services for users in an efficient and convenient manner. [0026] automatically generates accounting voucher data in an XBRL format and conforming to the accounting software data interface standard according to the XBRL GL taxonomy element labels mapped by the grain center accounting element library and the master data element library used for auditing.
“xBRL: The Standard for Reporting” (xBRL website, August 2017) and “Getting Started for Developers: Introductory information aimed at professional IT developers and programmers that would like to utilise XBRL.” (xBRL website, August 2017): xBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language), a freely available and global framework for exchanging business and accounting information, to facilitate generating user-interface fields. xBRL enables developers to generate “Simple Forms”, “Complex and Multidimensional forms”, “Transaction reporting that can be aggregated and rolled up into aggregate performance reports” where “XBRL taxonomies are the metadata framework against which information can be reported.”
Bene (“METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PREDICTING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR FROM TRANSACTION CARD PURCHASES”, U.S. Publication Number: 2010/0161379 A1) proposes recording consumer data in the database for each consumer of a global population of consumers including historical purchases made by each consumer using a transaction card, defining a life event by assigning spending variables to the life event, determining a sample group of consumers that are experiencing the life event based on the consumer data stored within the database with respect to the spending variables, generating a predictive model based on historical purchases made by consumers within the sample group, and applying the predictive model to predict each consumer within the global population that will experience the life event. The predictive model is applied using the computer system. A list of consumers predicted to experience the life event within a predetermined time period is output.
Bautista (“STATISTICAL PRIORITIZATION AND DETECTION OF POTENTIAL FINANCIAL CRIME EVENTS”, U.S. Patent Number: US 8706587 B1) for calculating financial crimes ratings for banking entities are provided. High risk transaction data for a plurality of similarly situated banking entities is collected. The banking entities may include banking centers, business customers, individual customers or other banking entities. Summary data is then calculated from the high risk transaction data. The summary data for a banking entity is then compared to summary data of the similarly situated banking entities to calculate the rating. Financial crimes ratings may be used to allocate investigation and enforcement resources.
Shaibu (“Normalization vs. Standardization: How to Know the Difference”, Oct 15, 2024) teaches, “Normalization vs. Standardization: Key Differences…Sometimes, it’s difficult to distinguish between normalization and standardization. For one thing, normalization is sometimes used as a more general term, while standardization has a meaning that is a little more specific or specifically technical.”
Bobbitt (“Standardization vs. Normalization: What’s the Difference?”, June 9, 2021) teaches, “Standardization vs. Normalization: When to Use Each…Typically we normalize data when performing some type of analysis in which we have multiple variables that are measured on different scales and we want each of the variables to have the same range….This prevents one variable from being overly influential, especially if it’s measured in different units (i.e. if one variable is measured in inches and another is measured in yards)…..On the other hand, we typically standardize data when we’d like to know how many standard deviations each value in a dataset lies from the mean…For example, we might have a list of exam scores for 500 students at a particular school and we’d like to know how many standard deviations each exam score lies from the mean score.”
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
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/C.E./Examiner, Art Unit 3695
/CHRISTINE M Tran/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3695