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
Applicant's arguments filed 3 April 2026 with respect to the 101 rejection have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues the claim amendments and limitations on pages 10-11, individually or in combination, amount to more than the alleged abstract idea and/or amount to significantly more. The Examiner disagrees and has updated the 101 rejection below addressing the claim limitations. No specific arguments as to the prior rejection are presented.
Applicant's arguments filed 3 April 2026 with respect to the 102/103 rejection have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues the limitations, including the claim amendments, on pages 12-13 are not disclosed by the reference(s). The Examiner has updated the prior art rejection to address the amendments and to clarify the citations that disclose the claim limitations.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. In the instant case, claim 1 is directed to a “method”.
Claim 1 is directed to the concept of “mitigating fraud risk” which is grouped under “organizing human activity… fundamental economic practice (mitigating fraud is a type of risk mitigation) and commercial or legal interactions (business relations, sales activity are similar to transferring of funds or transactions)” in prong one of step 2A (See MPEP 2106.04(a)(2)). Claim 1 recites receiving an action notification from a customer device associated with a customer in response to the customer initiating an action associated with an account held by the customer at the provider institution; upon receiving the action notification, pulling user action information associated with the action from the customer device, the user action information including an e-mail username or a transfer tag associated with an intended recipient of funds in a transaction requiring front-end customer authorization; performing a fraud detection analysis in real-time or near real-time using based on the user action information, the fraud detection analysis comprising generating a plurality of individual risk values associated with a plurality of fraud data risk elements using the user action information; wherein generating the plurality of individual risk values includes: identifying one or more fraud risk keywords within the e-mail username or the transfer tag, the one or more fraud risk keywords being one or more words, phrases, word permutations, or phrase permutations that are indicative of the intended recipient deceiving or potentially deceiving the customer; generating, by the at least one processing circuit, a first individual risk value of the plurality of individual risk values for the e-mail username or the transfer tag based on the identified one or more fraud risk keywords; determining that the action is fraudulent based on the plurality of individual risk values associated with the plurality of fraud data risk elements; and performing a fraud mitigation action before the action has been completed based on determining that the action is fraudulent the plurality of individual risk values including the first individual risk value. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea (See MPEP 2106.04(a)(2)).
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because, when analyzed under prong two of step 2A (See MPEP 2106.04(d)), the additional elements of the claim such as at least one processing circuit of a provider computing system associated with a provider institution, a customer device, one or more processors, and one or more memories represent the use of a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea and/or does no more than ‘Apply it’ the abstract idea to a particular field of use (MPEP 2106.05(f)&(h)). Therefore, the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application as they do no more than represent a computer performing functions that correspond to (i.e. implement) the acts of mitigating fraud risk.
When analyzed under step 2B (See MPEP 2106.05), the claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception itself. Viewed as a whole, the combination of elements recited in the claims merely describe the concept of mitigating fraud risk using computer technology (e.g. at least one processor). Therefore, the use of these additional elements does no more than employ a computer as a tool to automate and/or implement the abstract idea, which cannot provide significantly more than the abstract idea itself (MPEP 2106.05(I)(A)(f) & (h)).
Dependent claims 2-10, 12-15, and 17-20 do not remedy the deficiencies of the independent claims and are rejected accordingly. The dependent claims further refine the abstract idea of the independent claims and do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application In this case, all claims have been reviewed and are found to be substantially similar and linked to the same abstract idea (see Content Extraction and Transmission LLC v. Wells Fargo (Fed. Cir. 2014)).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-7, 9, 11-15, 16-17 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chamberlain US 2019/0318358.
As per claim 1: Chamberlain discloses a method comprising: receiving, by at least one processing circuit of a provider computing system associated with a provider institution, an action notification from a customer device associated with a customer in response to the customer initiating an action associated with an account held by the customer at the provider institution (Fig 4, ¶ [0055]);
upon receiving the action notification, pulling, by the at least one processing circuit, user action information associated with the action from the customer device, the user action information including an e-mail username or a transfer tag associated with an intended recipient of funds in a transaction requiring front-end customer authorization (Fig 4 ¶ [0055], [0041], [0043] “The risk score can be generated based on suitable models that consider context information, account/profile information, transaction history information, beneficiary information, previous fraud claims, and/or 3rd party data”); performing, by the at least one processing circuit, a fraud detection analysis in
real-time or near real-time using (¶ [0014] “in real-time or near real-time”) the user action information pulled from the customer device, the fraud detection analysis comprising generating a plurality of individual risk values associated with a plurality of fraud data risk elements using the user action information (Fig 4, ¶¶ [0038]-[0039], [0041]-[0043]); wherein generating the plurality of individual risk values includes: identifying, by the at least one processing circuit, one or more fraud risk keywords within the e-mail username or the transfer tag, the one or more fraud risk keywords being one or more words, phrases, word permutations, or phrase permutations that are indicative of the intended recipient deceiving or potentially deceiving the customer (¶ [0043] “the risk analysis circuit 244 includes a risk score generation circuit 246 that generates a risk score for an electronic transaction based on context information, historical transaction data, beneficiary information, and/or the rules” “The risk score can be generated based on suitable models that consider context information, account/profile information, transaction history information, beneficiary information, previous fraud claims, and/or 3rd party data”, see also [0017], [0020]-[0021], [0038], [0044]) ; and
generating, by the at least one processing circuit, a first individual risk value of the plurality of individual risk values for the e-mail username or the transfer tag based on the identified one or more fraud risk keywords (¶¶ [0017], [0020]-[0021], [0038], [0043]-[0044] “The risk score can be generated based on suitable models that consider context information, account/profile information, transaction history information, beneficiary information, previous fraud claims, and/or 3rd party data”, [0046]-[0048]); determining, by the at least one processing circuit, that the action is fraudulent based on the plurality of individual risk values associated with the plurality of fraud data risk elements (Figs 3A & 4, [0047]-[0048], [0055]-[0058]); and performing, by the at least one processing circuit, a fraud mitigation action before the action has been completed based on determining that the action is fraudulent the plurality of individual risk values including the first individual risk value (Fig 4 ‘425’, ¶¶ [0057]-[0059], [0044]-[0046])
As per claims 11 and 16: Claims 11 and 16 are rejected under the rationale of claim 1.
As per claim 2: Chamberlain further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein determining that the action is fraudulent comprises determining that one of the individual risk values of one of the fraud data risk elements exceeds an individual risk value threshold or a cumulative total of the plurality of individual risk values exceeds a cumulative total threshold (¶¶ [0045], [0048], [0055]-[0058]).
As per claim 12: Claim 12 is rejected under the rationale of claim 2.
As per claim 3: Chamberlain further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the individual risk values are weighted based on a level of correlation between the corresponding individual risk values and a likelihood of fraud and determining that the action is fraudulent comprises determining that an aggregated weighted overall risk value exceeds a weighted overall risk value threshold (¶¶ [0045], [0048], [0055]-[0058]).
As per claims 13 and 17: Claims 13 and 17 are rejected under the rationale of claim 3.
As per claim 4: Chamberlain further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein generating the individual risk value for the e-mail username or the transfer tag comprises: identifying, by the at least one processing circuit, one or more fraud risk keywords within the e-mail username or the transfer tag (¶¶ [0017], [0020]-[0021], [0038], [0043]-[0044], [0046]-[0048);
determining, by the at least one processing circuit, a fraud risk keyword value for each of the one or more fraud risk keywords (¶¶ [0017], [0020]-[0021], [0038], [0043]-[0044], [0046]-[0048); and
aggregating, by the at least one processing circuit, the fraud risk keyword values for each of the one or more fraud risk keywords (¶¶ [0017], [0020]-[0021], [0038], [0043]-[0044], [0046]-[0048).
As per claim 14: Claim 14 is rejected under the rationale of claim 4.
As per claim 5: Chamberlain further discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the fraud risk keywords include one or more of transaction-related words, known company or entity names, governmental agency names, or business-related words (¶¶ [0017], [0020]-[0021], [0038], [0043]-[0044], [0046]-[0048).
As per claim 15: Claim 15 is rejected under the rationale of claim 5.
As per claim 6: Chamberlain further discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the fraud risk keyword value for each of the one or more fraud risk keywords is determined based on a frequency with which each fraud risk keyword has been used in fraudulent actions (¶¶ [0017], [0020]-[0021], [0038], [0043]-[0044], [0046]-[0048).
As per claim 7: Chamberlain further discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the one or more fraud risk keywords comprise a plurality of fraud risk keywords and, wherein generating the individual risk value for the e-mail username or the transfer tag further comprises: aggregating, by the at least one processing circuit, the fraud risk keyword values for each of the plurality of fraud risk keywords (¶¶ [0017], [0020]-[0021], [0038], [0043]-[0044], [0046]-[0048); and
applying, by the at least one processing circuit, a multiplicative factor to an aggregated total of the fraud risk keyword values based on there being multiple fraud risk keywords within the e-mail username or the transfer tag (¶¶ [0017], [0020]-[0021], [0038], [0043]-[0044], [0046]-[0048).
As per claim 9:
Chamberlain further discloses the method of claim 1, wherein one fraud data risk element is one of a transaction count velocity or a transaction amount velocity of the account associated with the action and the individual risk value is determined, by the at least one processing circuit, based on one of a number of transactions on the account within an amount of time or an amount of resources transferred into or out of the account within an amount of time (¶¶ [0039], [0040], [0048], Fig 3A).
As per claim 19:
Claim 19 is rejected under the rationale of claim 9.
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.
Claim(s) 8 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chamberlain US 2019/0318358 in view of Milden US 2022/0270008.
As per claim 8: Chamberlain fails to explicitly disclose but Milden does disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the action is a transfer request including a memo field and one fraud data risk element is the memo field of the transfer request and the individual risk value is determined based on the memo field of the transfer request including one or more predefined words, phrases, or emojis, the one or more predefined words, phrases, or emojis being used in at least one fraudulent transaction (¶¶ [0046], [0059]-[0066], abstract, Figs 2 & 3).
As per claim 18: Claim 18 is rejected under the rationale of claim 8.
Claim(s) 10 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chamberlain US 2019/0318358 in view of Benkreira US 2023/0059064.
As per claim 10: Chamberlain fails to explicitly disclose but Benkreira does disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the fraud mitigation action comprises one or more of preventing the customer from opening a new customer account, preventing the customer from registering an e-mail address with an opened new customer account, preventing the customer from registering a phone number with the opened new customer account, preventing the customer from using an e-mail address or a phone number to register for a new transfer service token, or performing an additional customer validation operation (¶¶ [0096]-[0101], Fig 3).As per claim 20: Claim 20 is rejected under the rationale of claim 10.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID P SHARVIN whose telephone number is (571)272-9863. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9 am - 5 pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ryan Donlon can be reached at 571-270-3602. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAVID P SHARVIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3692
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