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 the Claims
This is a final office action prepared in response to claim amendments and Remarks submitted by Applicant on May 12, 2026 relating to U.S. Patent Application No. 18/219,608, filed on July 7, 2023. This application is a continuation of U.S. Application 14/975,843, filed on December 20, 2015, now abandoned. Claims 1, 8 and 15 have been amended. Claims 1-3, 5-10, 12-17 and 19-20 are pending and have been examined.
Response to Arguments
The Remarks submitted by Applicant on May 12, 2026 have been fully considered, however, are not persuasive.
With respect to the Section 101 Rejection, Applicant has amended the independent claims and asserts that Claim 8 does not recite an abstract idea. (Remarks, p. 12). Examiner respectfully disagrees. (See Section 101 Rejection below). Applicant further asserts that even if the claims did recite a judicial exception or an abstract idea, they are integrated into a practical application using additional elements (Remarks, p. 13). Applicant, citing to Specification Pars. 67-70, asserts that the claims provide a technical solution over the prior art in that when a bank customer falls behind on a credit balance, the bank would prefer to take the money out of a delinquent customer’s account until a customer is current, however, the payment due may actually exceed the customer’s balance and predicts the future bank balance for the user’s delinquent account so that this can be automatically deducted. (Remarks, p. 14). This particular information relating to the technical problem, however, is not recited within the amended claims. The claims recite using a user’s first and second data bank data to generate additional data and using a plurality of different models to predict a future position based on the additional data. (Remarks, pp. 14-15). Applicant asserts that that "dynamically generating the plurality of different model for predicting a future position of the user based on the additional data," and "computing a portion of the future position of the user data accessed from the second server to transfer at a future date" allow for the "technical solution" to be realized, as described in the Specification, and integrates the alleged judicial exception into a practical application. (Remarks, p. 15). Applicant also asserts that the claims amount to significantly more than an abstract idea because they contain an inventive concept. (Remarks, pp. 16-17). Examiner respectfully disagrees. The additional elements of the claims are recited at a high level of generality and are being used as tools to implement the abstract idea. They recite appear to recite an improvement to a business practice. They do not provide a technical solution to a technical problem such as an improvement to the functioning of a computer or to technology or a technical field. They do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application or add significantly more to the abstract idea. (See Section 101 Rejection below). The Section 101 rejection is maintained.
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 1-3, 5-10, 12-17 and 19-20 are rejected pursuant to 35 USC § 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1 - Statutory Class
Claims 1-3 and 5-7 are directed to a method. Claims 8-10 and 12-14 are directed to an apparatus. Claims 15-17 and 19-20 are directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium. Therefore, on its face, each of Claims 1-3, 5-10, 12-17 and 19-20 is directed to a statutory class of invention.
Step 2A, Prong 1 – Abstract Idea
Claim 8 recites determines an action to be performed on a first data account associated with a user, wherein the first data account is a user's bank account and the action is a prediction of a future bank balance of the user, accesses a stored value related to second data associated with the user, wherein the stored value is an average daily bank balance for the user over a defined time period and the second data are daily bank balances for the user over the defined period; generating additional data from the second data, wherein the additional data comprises optimal parameter values for a plurality of different models for predicting a future position of the user data based on the additional data; dynamically generates the plurality of different models for predicting a future position of the user data based on the additional data, wherein the future position of the user comprises a projected average daily balance for the user for a future period of time; executes, over a plurality of iterations, the plurality of different models to generate a plurality of solutions to a predefined operation, wherein the plurality of solutions comprise a plurality of forecasts of average daily balances for the user for the future period of time; and computes a portion of the future position of the user data to transfer at a future date via execution of a selected model using the additional data by computing the projected average daily balance over a plurality of simulations. Claim 8 recites the abstract idea of predicting and managing user stored value from user banking data from one point in time to a future point in time in order to transfer the user’s future position of stored value at the future date (and effectively make a payment from the user’s account) which are fundamental economic principles and practices and commercial interactions falling under “Certain methods of organizing human activity” in MPEP 2106.04(a). Claims 1 and 15 recite the same abstract idea.
Step 2A, Prong 2 – Practical Application
Claim 8 recites a first server, a second server, memory communicatively coupled to the first server and the second server and a plurality of different models. The additional elements are recited at a high level of generality and are used as tools to implement the abstract idea. They do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. They do not provide improvements to the functioning of a computer or to technology or to a technical field because they only manipulate financial data. The claims do not invoke a particular machine as our guidance is clear that a generic computer is not the particular machine envisioned, they do not transform matter as they only manipulate data which is not matter.
Step 2B – Significantly more
As set forth in the discussion in Step 2A, Prong 2, above, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality and are used as tools to implement the abstract idea. They do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application or add significantly more to the abstract idea.
Dependent claims
Claims 2, 9 and 16 (retrieving the second data is based on a predetermined window of time of 90 days), Claims 3, 10 and 17 (executing the selected model using the retrieved second data based on the predetermined window of time to predict the portion of the future position), Claim 5, 12 and 19 (transmitting an electronic mail to an email account of the user with a notification of the transferring of the portion of the future position), Claims 6, 13 and 20 (outputting the portion of the future position of the user data to transfer to a device of the user via one or more of an electronic mail, an instant message, and a web interface) and Claims 7 and 14 (computing the portion of the future position of the user data comprises executing the selected model using at least ninety days of the retrieved second data) contain additional elements (which are underlined above) that are recited at a high level of generality and used as tools to implement the abstract idea and/or further define and merely add specificity to the abstract idea. The dependent claims fail to add significantly more to the abstract idea.
As such, Claims 1-3, 5-10, 12-17 and 19-20 are not patent eligible.
Conclusion
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 GEORGE PROIOS whose telephone number is (571)272-4573. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
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, Bennett M Sigmond can be reached on 303-297-4411. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GEORGE N. PROIOS/Examiner, Art Unit 3694
/BENNETT M SIGMOND/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3694
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