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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims1, 9 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SATO et al(US 20230229795 A1) and in view of Ikemoto et al(US 20210264414 A1) in view of Brody et al(US 20200034457 A1).
With regards to claim 1, 9 SATO Discloses, A node on a blockchain network, the node (FIG 1 D1 and associated text; ) comprising: a memory including a private area (FIG 1 D111 and associated text) and a pubic area (FIG 1 D112 and associated text; ), wherein the private area is accessible by an entity involved in a specific transaction and having an access right (FIG 3, 304 and associated text; Note: based on policy private information make to public ), the public area is accessible by any entity (FIG 3 306 and associated text; Note: information available for public suggest available for any entity),
the private area stores contract related data ([0026]According to the method, a smart contract of each of the organizations refers to information made open to the public in a public area, the information being related to an evidence held in a private area of each of the plurality of organizations, and in response to a trigger event of the information's meeting a given condition, executes a process of making the evidence open to the public in the public area, the evidence being held in the private area of an organization to which the smart contract belongs.[0077]; . A combined method may also be adopted, according to which the private data is encrypted first, using a secret key unknown to a different organization, and is stored in the public area, and then the secret key is disclosed to the different organization later.) and the public area stores public data (FIG 4 Public area)
SATO does not exclusively but Ikemoto teaches,
Soring a transaction price of an asset or a ratio corresponding to the transaction price of the asset (FIG 4 55 and associated text; [0073] The distributed ledger 50 stores and manages the smart contract 55 for various events such as power sale, power purchase, and commodity purchase, and a result of executing the smart contract 55. The distributed ledger 50 has a typical data structure. Specifically, for example, the distributed ledger 50 holds state information based on a result of executing transactions in the form of a table with a history of the transactions stored as a blockchain; [0074] The smart contract 55 involves comparing a value of a transaction issued in accordance with each event with commodity exchange rate information 53 or campaign-destined commodity exchange rate information 54 to determine an amount of a payment token and the details of a premium. The smart contract 55 is similar in other data structures to an existing typical smart contract. ), and stores asset related data including information on an owner of the asset (FIG 5-8 “Sale ID”, “Customer ID” and associated text; ) and a link to a storage location of the contract related data (FIG 5 and associated text; [0073]; The distributed ledger 50 has a typical data structure. Specifically, for example, the distributed ledger 50 holds state information based on a result of executing transactions in the form of a table with a history of the transactions stored as a blockchain. ) and
circuitry configured to transmit the asset related data and the contract related data to one or more other nodes on the blockchain network to share the asset related data and the contract related data ([0106] In transmitting the power sale request, the transaction processing unit 111 issues a transaction (s21 in the flow of FIG. 13), and delivers the transaction to the retail electric utility terminal 200 and the customer terminal 300, which are other distributed ledger nodes, via the network 1 (similar things apply to the following). [0107] The delivered transaction is subjected to appropriate processes, such as consensus building, in each distributed ledger node as described above, and then is stored in the block of each distributed ledger 50 to form a blockchain.) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify SATO’s device with teaching of Ikemoto in order to hold a distributed ledger storing transactions issued in accordance with events including power sale from an ordinary household to a retail electric utility (Ikemoto Abstract)
SATO in view of Ikemoto does not exclusively but Brody teaches, wherein the asset related data includes link information indicating a storage location of the contract related data (Brody [0004] In some embodiments, a method includes storing a hierarchical hash-linked tree structure off-chain, and causing storage of a hash value in a blockchain. The hash value can represent an off-chain storage location of a root node of the hierarchical hash-linked tree structure. The hash value can also be associated with a state of a smart contract, where the smart contract includes a representation of an owner of a tangible asset (e.g., a machine or a parcel of land) or a representation of a location of the tangible asset.).
Brody also teaches, a memory that stores asset related data ([0007] In some embodiments, a method includes storing a hierarchical hash-linked tree structure in a non-transitory, processor-readable memory. The hierarchical hash-linked tree structure can include multiple nodes. The multiple nodes can include a root node and, optionally, one or more subsidiary nodes. The root node can include a hash value that represents its storage location, a list of hashes of one or more subsidiary nodes (if any), and, optionally, also includes data associated with a tangible asset, a financial instrument (e.g., an aggregated financial instrument), a right associated with a tangible asset, or an obligation associated with a tangible asset.) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify SATO in view of Ikemoto’s device with teaching of Brody in order to transfer and tracking of tangible assets using a blockchain (Brody Abstract)
With regards to claim 2 SATO in view of Ikemoto and Brody further discloses, wherein an access right to the contract related data is assigned to entities involved in a transaction of the asset (Ikemoto [0140] The transaction processing unit 312 issues a transaction concerning the payment processing and the ownership right transfer as to the power token based on the payment processing, and then stores in the distributed ledger 50 the transaction subjected to delivery to the other distributed ledger nodes, consensus building, and the like. In the distributed ledger 50, for example, the record “target of token issue” in the issued power token information 52 is updated from the identification information of the customer to the identification information of the retail electric utility (the ownership right is transferred from the customer to the retail electric utility).).
With regards to claim 4, SATO in view of Ikemoto and Brody discloses, wherein the asset related data includes information indicating a type of a production method of the asset (Ikemoto 0008] There has also been proposed, for example, a power management system including: two or more sites, wherein the two or more sites are connected by a distribution network including a power purchasing line on which power is purchased, a power selling line on which power is sold, and a communication line on which information is communicated, wherein each site includes a power generating apparatus generating power using natural energy,).
With regards to claim 5, SATO in view of Ikemoto and Brody discloses, wherein the type of the production method indicates that the asset is produced using a predetermined type of resource (Ikemoto [0005] There has also been proposed, for example, a power resource trading system for on-line trading in power resource among power production entities each having a terminal device connected to a power resource trading management server via a network, wherein the power resource trading management server includes a purchase and sale condition registration unit and a substantially purchasable and sellable power amount calculation unit, the purchase and sale condition registration unit has a function of registering a sale condition containing an amount of power suggested to sell and a suggested price of the power, the amount and price being presented by one of the power production entities that intends to sell power, in units of time periods to which 24 hours a day are allocated, through the terminal device of the power production entity that intends to sell power, via the network, the substantially purchasable and sellable power amount calculation unit has a function of obtaining an amount of power calculated by subtracting a feeding loss in feeding power from the power production entity to another power production entity from the amount of the power suggested to sell, the amount being presented by the power production entity that intends to sell the power,[0008];).
With regards to claim 6, SATO in view of Ikemoto and Brody discloses, wherein the asset related data includes information indicating a transaction status of the asset (Ikemoto [0019] To solve the problem described above, a resource accommodation assistance system according to the present invention includes a plurality of information processing apparatuses each including: a storage unit configured to hold a distributed ledger storing transactions issued by a predetermined apparatus in accordance with events including resource sale in which a business operator in a community sells a resource to an intermediary, resource purchase in which another business operator purchases the resource which the intermediary secures through the resource sale, and another resource purchase in which the business operator purchases another resource from the other business operator with a predetermined payment token gained from the intermediary through the resource sale; and an arithmetic unit configured, in the event of resource purchase, to carry out a transaction for payment on the resource purchase and to store, in the distributed ledger, the transaction subjected to a predetermined process executed together with another information processing apparatus among the information processing apparatuses.).
With regards to claim 7, SATO in view of Ikemoto and Brody discloses, wherein the information indicating the transaction status of the asset indicates one of production of the asset, intermediation of transfer of the asset (Ikemoto [0140] The transaction processing unit 312 issues a transaction concerning the payment processing and the ownership right transfer as to the power token based on the payment processing, and then stores in the distributed ledger 50 the transaction subjected to delivery to the other distributed ledger nodes, consensus building, and the like. In the distributed ledger 50, for example, the record “target of token issue” in the issued power token information 52 is updated from the identification information of the customer to the identification information of the retail electric utility (the ownership right is transferred from the customer to the retail electric utility).), and use of the asset.
With regards to claim 8, SATO in view of Ikemoto and Brody discloses, wherein the asset is electric power, and the information indicating the transaction status indicates charging or discharging of the electric power (Ikemoto [0140] The transaction processing unit 312 issues a transaction concerning the payment processing and the ownership right transfer as to the power token based on the payment processing, and then stores in the distributed ledger 50 the transaction subjected to delivery to the other distributed ledger nodes, consensus building, and the like. In the distributed ledger 50, for example, the record “target of token issue” in the issued power token information 52 is updated from the identification information of the customer to the identification information of the retail electric utility (the ownership right is transferred from the customer to the retail electric utility).).
With regards to claim 10 SATO in view of Ikemoto and Brody discloses, wherein the circuitry is further configured to receive, from a producer system, power related data including power generation information, and the contract related data (Ikemoto FIG 4 and associated text; ).
With regards to claim 11 SATO in view of Ikemoto and Brody discloses, wherein the circuitry is further configured to receive data related to electric power having been allocated and the contract related data (Ikemoto FIG 5 and associated text;).
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMED WALIULLAH whose telephone number is (571)270-7987. The examiner can normally be reached 8.30 to 430 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yin-Chen Shaw can be reached at 1-571-272-8878. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MOHAMMED WALIULLAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2498