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 .
Status of Claims
Claim 1 has been amended.
Claims 1-4 and 7-11 are pending and are presented to be examined upon their merits.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 09/26/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-4 and 7-11 under Taveau (US 2012/0123841). have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in further view of Bhatia (US 11, 734, 748).
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.
Claim(s) 1-4 and 7-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taveau (US 2012/0123841) in view of Bhatia (US 11, 734,748)
As per claim 1, Taveau discloses a computer-implemented method to interact with a customer physically visiting a vendor’s business through a customer software application running on a mobile device of the customer, [see Fig 1A, ¶0025, ¶0042] the method comprising:
Identifying the customer by authenticating the customer on the customer’s mobile device wherein the customer interacts with the vendor without using the vendor’s hardware [see ¶0026- Taveau provides an example whereby the user accesses a payment app on a user mobile device, makes a call to the payment provider through the mobile app device, enters credentials to access the user account which enables payment through the mobile app on the user device. Here the user is interacting with the vendor by being at the physical location of the vendor’s POS, however the user uses the mobile app with the payment provider system, and not the vendor’s hardware, to make purchases]
receiving a request to access a bill associated with the customer, so that the customer
can provide payment without interacting with an employee of the vendor; [see Fig. 1A, item# 114, ¶0025-indication is received that a user is ready to pay for items, ¶0031-transaction details]
receiving a selection of a payment method to apply to pay the bill and an authorization from the customer to pay the bill using the selected payment method; see Fig. 1A, item# 116, ¶0032, ¶0034-¶0035
and submitting a payment from the customer to the vendor using the customer’s selected payment method, wherein the preceding steps are performed by at least one processor. see FIG 1A, Item#, ¶0035
TAVEAU discloses identifying the vendor that the customer is currently physically visiting [See FIG. 1A (110), ¶0030-where the identify of the merchant is suggested by the merchant informing the payment provider that the user is with the merchant, and the merchant location is known by the payment provider]
Taveau discloses identifying the customer by authenticating the customer on the customer’s mobile device, see Fig.1A, item# 102, ¶0026, also without taking photos of the customer [see Fig. 5D (using a biometric/fingerprint for authentication), ¶0013; Fig.2 (for different authentication types), item# 214, item# 212/sensitive data, item# 208, Item# 206/payment, ¶0059, Item#200/flowchart; see also ¶0060 (mobile device authentication can be PIN, password, name, email, etc.,); ¶0063 (Auth2 (e.g., PIN, biometric); overall ¶0059-¶0067, ¶0067 suggests not limiting]
However, Taveau does not disclose that the vendor’s business is a restaurant.
BHATIA teaches an embodiment wherein the vendor’s business is a restaurant and/or a wireless system for processing restaurant service transactions as well as other vendor businesses. (Fig. 1)(item# 106)(see abstract, column 5, lines 17 to column 6, line 67).
Since Taveau (similar to Bhatia) contemplates a wireless smart device to interact with a merchant server and payment provider, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the invention to either substitute the user device of Taveau (Fig. 3)(Item# 310) for the wireless device of Bhatia (Fig. 1)(item# 106) or integrate Taveau’s device into Bhatia’s invention, being a substitution of equivalence, both performing payment functions within various vendor/merchant businesses including restaurants.
As in claim 2 Taveau discloses, wherein authenticating the customer comprises asking the customer for a username, password, biometric information, two-factor authentication, or other method of authentication that distinguishes one customer from another. see ¶0042-¶0044
As per claim 3 Taveau discloses, wherein authenticating the customer comprises during the customer’s first use of the customer software application, performing a registration step during which the customer initially identifies his or herself, selects a username, and provides authentication credentials. see ¶0042-¶0044, ¶0091-registry entries
As per claim 4 Taveau discloses, wherein identifying the vendor comprises automatically detecting the customer’s current location by accessing GPS, Bluetooth, NFC, camera, or other hardware and software of the customer’s mobile device. see ¶0030
As per claim 7 Taveau discloses, further comprising after identifying the vendor and before displaying the bill: presenting a menu of items available for the customer to purchase from the vendor, see ¶0042 receiving an order from the customer including a selection of one or more items from the
presented menu of items, see ¶0047, and submitting the order to the vendor so that the vendor may begin preparing the order for delivery to the customer without the customer interacting with a waitperson of the vendor. see ¶0047.
As per claim 8, Taveau discloses receiving the request to access the bill comprises detecting that the customer opened the customer application and indicated that he or she is ready to settle the bill. [¶0010, ¶0025, ¶0030]
As per claim 9, Taveau discloses wherein receiving the request to access the bill comprises detecting that the customer opened the customer application and indicated that he or she is ready to settle the bill. see ¶0062-¶0063
As per claim 10 Taveau discloses, wherein receiving the selection of the payment method comprises receiving from the customer a selection of loyalty points earned by the customer through previous usage of the customer software application. ¶0029- 10 percent credit
As per claim 11 Taveau discloses, wherein submitting the payment comprises submitting the payment using a credit card API to perform a credit transaction, using a banking API to submit an EFT or ACH payment, deducting a gift card or loyalty points account, or using a digital payments API to submit a digital payment, wherein submitting the payment transfers value from the customer to the vendor and settles the customer’s bill. see ¶0091
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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Vaananen (US 2022/0198416) disclose social network payments
Herman (WO 2021/178427) discloses systems and methods for facilitating mobile payment transactions with a plurality of merchants
Bhatia (WO 2013/098661) discloses collaborative, improved system and method for processing commercial transactions
Dean et al (US 2018/0060865) discloses retrieving payment information for a user from an authentication server for use in purchase requests for vendors.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL S FELTEN whose telephone number is (571)272-6742. The examiner can normally be reached Flex.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Calvin L Hewitt can be reached on 5712726709. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANIEL S FELTEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3692