Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 26, 2026
Application No. 18/124,516

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR WEB ACCESS WITH CONTACTLESS CARD

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Mar 21, 2023
Examiner
BAYOU, YONAS A
Art Unit
2499
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Capital One Services LLC
OA Round
4 (Final)
84%
Grant Probability
Favorable
5-6
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 84% — above average
84%
Career Allowance Rate
737 granted / 875 resolved
+26.2% vs TC avg
Strong +15% interview lift
Without
With
+15.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 10m
Avg Prosecution
15 currently pending
Career history
896
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
12.2%
-27.8% vs TC avg
§103
41.4%
+1.4% vs TC avg
§102
25.5%
-14.5% vs TC avg
§112
8.7%
-31.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 875 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
DETAILED ACTION This Office Action is in response to Applicant’s Arguments /Remarks filed on 08/24/2026. In the instant Amendment, claims 12 and 21 have been cancelled; claims 1, 10 and 19 are independent claims. Claims 1-11, 13-20 and 22 have been examined and are pending. This Action is made FINAL. 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 . Response to Arguments Applicants’ arguments in the instant Amendment, filed on 08/24/2026, with respect to limitations listed below, have been fully considered but they are persuasive in terms of claim limitations: “the personal identity code is generated based on a transaction history of an owner of a user device associated with the user device application”. However, Examiner made new rejections that reads on the above limitations. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status. 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. Claims 1-11, 13-20 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hart et al. (hereinafter Hart), Pub. No.: US 2013/03185752 in view of Rule et al. (hereinafter Rule), Pub. No.: US 2022/0414648. Referring to claim 1, Hart teaches a system for dynamic direction of a user device to a Uniform resource locator (URL) (paras. 0001, 0057, URL is received and figs. 1-4), the system comprising: a card (para. 0043 and figs. 1-4, smartcard); and a server (para. 0045 and figs. 1-4, remote server 108), the server further comprising: a memory (para. 0045 and figs. 1-4), and a processor (para. 0045 and figs. 1-4) configured to: open a communication field (para. 0065, step 504, and figs. 5-6, 503 smart cards presented…), receive, from the card via the communication field, a request to direct a user device application to the server, the request comprising a personal identity code (para. 0064, step 502; para. 0065, step 504; para. 0067, step 508; para. 0068, step 510; para. 0069, step 512; para. 0070-0077, step 516 and figs. 5-6), determine whether the personal identity code matches at least one of one or more stored personal identity codes (para. 0064, fig. 5, step 502, the user touches their smartcard on the mobile device/ personal identity codes stored in the mobile device), upon a successful match, identify a URL associated with the personal identity code, wherein the URL is associated with the URL after a predetermined number of visits by the user device application to the URL (paras. 0057-0060 and fig. 2, the OTP is associated with the username, and linked with a URL which is fed to the browser on the smartphone. The username and OTP is embedded within the URL and the whole URL is passed to transmitter 212). receive, from the server, an authentication request (para. 0075), transmit, to the server, an authentication credential (para. 0076), validate the authentication credential (para. 0077), and direct the user device application to the website associated with the URL (para. 0057 and fig. 5-6, “When the smartphone is energized by the NFC field generated by chip inside the smartphone, the URL is received and passed to the browser, which opens up the secure website for the user.). Hart does not explicitly disclose a personal identity code is generated based on a transaction history of an owner of a user device associated with the user device application. However, in an analogous art, Rule discloses a personal identity code is generated based on a transaction history of an owner of a user device associated with the user device application (para. 0040 and fig. 1; recent events associated with the account and/or contactless card 104. The events may include any type of event, such as a declined transaction, approved transaction, transaction history, activation of the contactless card, mailing (but not activation) of the contactless card 104 to the customer, etc. ). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to combine the teachings of Hart with the method and system of Rule, wherein a personal identity code is generated based on a transaction history of an owner of a user device associated with the user device application to provide users with a means for Contactless cards may include logic to generate and/or store uniform resource locators (URLs). However, contactless cards may have limited resources compared to other computing devices. As such, there may be a limit to the number of different URLs a given contactless card can generate and/or store. Furthermore, the logic of the contactless card may need to be updated periodically. This may pose challenges, as the number of contactless cards may number in the thousands, millions, or more. (Rule: para. 0001). Referring to claim 2, Hart and Rule teach the system of claim 1. Hart further teaches wherein the processor is further configured to: open, upon receiving an authentication request from the server, a second communication field (para. 0074), and perform a diversified key exchange between the card and the server, the card further configured with a private key and the server further configured with a public key (Hart: paras. 0054-0055 and figs. 5-6, PKI Public Key Infrastructure). Referring to claim 3, Hart and Rule teach the system of claim 1. Hart further teaches wherein the user device associated with the user device application is at least one selected from the group of a smart phone, tablet, smart watch or computer (Hart: para. 0046 and figs. 1-4). Referring to claim 4, Hart and Rule teach the system of claim 1. Hart further teaches wherein the authentication credential is a password or personal identification number (PIN) number (Hart: paras. 0074-0075 and fig. 6, security data. i.e., password, PIN). Referring to claim 5, Hart and Rule teach the system of claim 1. Hart further teaches wherein the authentication credential is a biometric fingerprint scan, facial scan, or voice recognition (Hart: para. 0074-0075 and figs. 5-6, biometric info.). Referring to claim 6, Hart and Rule teach the system of claim 1. Hart further teaches wherein the predetermined URL can be changed manually by the user on the user device (Hart: para. 0016). Referring to claim 7, Hart and Rule teach the system of claim 1. Hart further teaches wherein the personal identity code is associated with an email, phone number, or card information (Hart: para. 0069-0071 and figs. 6-7, mobile device). Referring to claim 8, Hart and Rule teach the system of claim 1. Hart further teaches wherein the card is further configured with a private key and the server is further configured with a public key (Hart: paras. 0054-0055 and figs. 5-6). Referring to claim 9, Hart and Rule teach the system of claim 1. Hart further teaches wherein the card is a contactless card associated with an account holder at a banking institution (Hart: para. 0043, 0080 and figs. 1-4). Referring to claim 10, This claim is similar in scope to claim 1 and is therefore rejected under similar rationale. Referring to claim 11, This claim is similar in scope to claim 2 and is therefore rejected under similar rationale. Referring to claim 13, Hart and Rule teach the method of claim 10. Hart further teaches wherein the personal identity code is a driver's license number, passport number, or birth date (Hart: paras. 0018, 0052, additional authentication info.). Referring to claim 14, Hart and Rule teach the method of claim 10. Hart further teaches wherein the communication field is Bluetooth, a near field communication (NFC) field, or a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-compatible field (Hart: para. 0063 and figs. 5-6). Referring to claim 15, This claim is similar in scope to claim 9 and is therefore rejected under similar rationale. Referring to claim 16, Hart and Rule teach the method of claim 10. Hart further teaches wherein the steps further comprise transmitting the authentication request by a short message service (SMS) or a multimedia message service (MS) (Hart: paras. 0062, 0069, transmitted to the mobile device, i.e., SMS, MS). Referring to claim 17, Hart and Rule teach the method of claim 10. Hart further teaches wherein the steps further comprise directing the user device to a mobile application associated with the URL (Hart: paras. 0057-0058). Referring to claim 18, Hart and Rule teach the method of claim 11. Hart further teaches wherein the authentication credential is a digital signature from the card (Hart: para. 0059, PKI certificate). Referring to claim 19, This claim is similar in scope to claim 1 and is therefore rejected under similar rationale. Referring to claim 20, Hart and Rule teach the computer readable non-transitory medium of claim 19. Hart further teaches wherein a copy of the personal identity code is stored in a memory associated with the server (Hart: paras. 0003, 0052). Referring to claim 22, Hart and Rule teach the system of claim 1. Hart further teaches wherein the personal identity code is associated with the URL after the user device application has visited the URL for a predetermined time period (Hart: paras. 005periodfig. 2, The username and OTP is embedded within the URL and the whole URL is passed to transmitter 212). Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please see the attached PTO-892. THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YONAS A BAYOU whose telephone number is (571)272-7610. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7AM-4PM. 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, Philip Chea can be reached at 571-272-3951. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /YONAS A BAYOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2499 09/25/2026
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Show 4 earlier events
Mar 04, 2026
Request for Continued Examination
Mar 16, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Mar 25, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Jul 27, 2026
Interview Requested
Aug 07, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary
Aug 07, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Aug 24, 2026
Response Filed
Sep 30, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

5-6
Expected OA Rounds
84%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+15.4%)
2y 10m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 875 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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