DETAILED ACTION
Acknowledgements
This Office Action is in response to Applicant’s response/application filed on 08/12/2024.
The Examiner notes that citations to United States Patent Application Publication paragraphs are formatted as [####], #### representing the paragraph number.
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 14 has been amended.
No claims have been added or canceled.
Claims 1-14 are currently pending and have been examined.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-7,9, 11, 12, and 13 are objected because of capital letter within body of claims. Each claim can only contain a single sentence. Capital letter should only be used for first letter of claim and abbreviation. Appropriate correction is required.
In claim 1, “CC” should be “cryptocurrency”, and “QCC” should be “cryptographic asset”. In claim 2, “KYC” should be “Know Your Customer”. In claim 14, “USDT” should be “US Tether”. The first occurrence of all acronyms or abbreviations should be written out for clarity, whether or not they may be considered well known. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 1-7, 9, 11, 12, 13, the scope of the claim is unclear. It is unclear whether all of the elements in the claims are included or the elements are in alternative form. For examination purposed, the examiner interprets the elements are in alternative form. Dependent claims are also rejected since they inherit this deficiency.
Claim 1 recites a limitation “the following general steps”; claim 2 includes a limitation “the move”; claim 3 includes a limitation “the customer’s account”; claim 4 includes limitations “the move”, “the contact’s”; claim 5 includes a limitation “the operation”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claims. For examination purposes examiner has interpreted “the” to be “a/an”. Dependent claims are also rejected since they inherit this deficiency.
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.
As per claims 1-14, the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more because:
Claim 1 recites a process includes following steps:
a) Develop API's and Smart contracts.
b) Qcc Deposit Manage and Qcc creation.
c) A transaction within the network.
d) Withdrawal of CC from the network.
e) Manage a crypto asset clearinghouse.
14. Under Step 1 of the Section 101 analysis, the claim(s) is/are directed to a method, a system, and a manufacture, which are statutory categories of 15. Under Step 2A Prong One of the 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligiblity Guidance, the claimed invention as drafted includes language (see underlined language above) that recites an abstract idea of managing a banking network (a certain method of organizing human activity such as a commercial or legal interactions) but for the recitation of additional claim elements, because it is common to analyze transaction information to prevent fraud in sales activities/behaviors. That is, other than reciting the additional elements, nothing in the claim precludes the language from being considered as performed by a person.
16. Under Step 2A Prong Two of the 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligiblity Guidance, the additional claim element(s), considered individually, do not apply, rely on, or use the judicial exception in a manner that imposes a meaningful limit on the judicial exception and in a manner that integrates the exception into a practical application of the exception. The additional claim elements(s) merely add the words “apply it” (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea. For example, the additional elements of “API”, merely use a generic computer device and/or generic computer components as a tool to perform an abstract idea. Furthermore, the additional claim elements(s) such as “smart contract”, generally link the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use of blockchain.
17. Under Step 2A Prong Two, the additional claim element(s), considered in combination, do not apply, rely on, or use the judicial exception in a manner that imposes a meaningful limit on the judicial exception and in a manner that integrates the exception into a practical application of the exception. The combination of elements is no more than the sum of their parts. Unlike the eligible claims in Diehr and Bascom, in which the elements limiting the exception taken together improve a technical field, the instant claim lacks an improvement to the functioning of a computer or to any other technology or technical field.
18. Under Step 2B, the additional claim element(s), considered individually and in combination, do not provide meaningful limitation(s) to transform the abstract idea into a patent eligible application of the abstract idea such that the claim(s) amounts to significantly more than the abstract idea itself for similar reasons outlined under Step 2A Prong Two.
19. A similar analysis can be applied to dependent claims 2-14 which further recite the abstract idea of developing API, creating smart contract, managing a banking network (a certain method of organizing human activity such as a commercial or legal interactions). That is, other than reciting the additional elements, nothing in the claim precludes the language from being considered as performed by a person.
20. A similar analysis can be applied to dependent claims 2-14, which include additional claim elements that merely add the words “apply it” (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea. For example, “Qcc node”. Furthermore, the additional claim elements(s) such as “wallet” generally link the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use of e-wallet; and the additional claim elements(s) such as “generate cryptocurrency address”, “USDT” generally link the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use of cryptocurrency. The additional claim elements(s) such as “block” generally link the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use of blockchain.
21. Therefore, claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §101.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Alwar (US 20180191503).
Regarding claim 1, Alwar discloses:
(a) Develop API’s and Smart contracts (By disclosing, “make, via at least one processor, an API call to generate a crypto token asset for the requested asset in a socially aggregated blockchain datastructure, wherein the API call facilitates transfer of the generated crypto token asset to an account data structure datastore associated with the first entity” ([1195] of Alwar); and smart contracts are generated within the SOCOACT ([0474], [[0475] of Alwar)).
Regarding claim 2, Alwar discloses:
(a) The APIs that must be developed for the management of CC and Qcc through the network are mentioned. (By disclosing, “FIG. 59 shows an exemplary TOA model for the SOCOACT. Screen 5901 illustrates a model of receiving broker initiated TOA. At 1a, a receiving broker initiates an asset transfer, interacting with APIs connecting to a blockchain network. At 1b, an API call is made to a contra broker (e.g., a delivering broker) and a wallet address where the deposited assets are to be received is provided to the contra broker. At 2a, the API interacts with the contra broker's books and records to determine whether to accept or reject the transfer. At 2b, if approved, the contra broker deposits assets to the provided wallet address a of the receiving broker by making a call to the API.” ([0465] of Alwar)).
Regarding claim 3, Alwar discloses:
Generate cryptocurrency address associated with the customer’s account at the business network (By disclosing, “Addresses can be created using Bitcoin clients or ‘wallets’.” ([0028] of Alwar); and “Virtual wallets provide addresses associated with an online account to hold virtual currency funds on the user's behalf, similar to traditional bank accounts that hold real currency.” ([0185] of Alwar)).
Regarding claim 4, Alwar discloses:
Get the contact’s cryptocurrency master account (By disclosing, “Next, at step 1107, the SOCOACT system confirms whether the payer source of funds has a sufficient balance for completing the transaction. This may be done by comparing the requested transaction amount to the balance stored in the source account or wallet.” ([0228] of Alwar)).
Regarding claim 5, Alwar discloses:
Obtain signatures to authorize the operation (By disclosing, “Agreement of contract parties may be obtained at 4125. In one implementation, contract parties may provide cryptographic signatures to indicate that they agree to the smart contract.” ([0383] of Alwar)).
Regarding claim 6, Alwar discloses:
(a) Generate addresses to receive outside the business network (By disclosing, “Addresses can be created using Bitcoin clients or ‘wallets’.” ([0028] of Alwar)).
Regarding claim 7, Alwar discloses:
(a) A client makes a transfer of CCs to his wallet guarded by a first bank (By disclosing, “Participant A may send a cryptocollateral transfer request 4069 (e.g., a block chain transaction) to the SOCOACT Server to transfer collateral crypto tokens associated with the repo transaction from the account data structure datastore of Authority B (e.g., an electronic wallet associated with a permissioned ledger) to the account data structure datastore of Participant A.” ([0376] of Alwar); and “the SOCOACT may generate a 2nd key for a crypto wallet so that if customer loses their crypto (e.g., Bitcoin) wallet, their financial services institution (e.g., Fidelity) account will offer another key to gain access to their crypto wallet corpus.” ([0153] of Alwar)).
Regarding claim 8, Alwar discloses:
more than three banks and more than one regulatory body (By disclosing, “In one embodiment, SOCOACT allows for the creation of digital assets such that, for example, the Fed may issues funds on the blockchain. Upon creating a ‘trust’ between counterparts with special encrypted token/smart contracts. Financial institutions would make a permissioned block chain where all counter parties know each other.” ([0163] of Alwar); and “As shown in FIG. 1A, brokers (e.g., including a receiving broker 105 and a delivering broker 110) and/or agencies (e.g., including a regulatory body such as the DTCC 115) may utilize a permissioned ledger 120 (e.g., on a permissioned blockchain) to facilitate crypto asset transfer.” ([0170] of Alwar)).
Regarding claim 9, Alwar discloses:
(e) A new block is added to the existing blockchain in such a way that it remains unaltered and permanent. (By disclosing, “The network groups transactions into blocks, confirms that the transactions are valid, and adds the block to the blockchain.” ([0115] of Alwar); and “By using the blockchain technology, an immutable ledger is created” ([0121] of Alwar)).
Regarding claim 10, Alwar discloses:
more than three banks and more than one regulatory body (By disclosing, “In one embodiment, SOCOACT allows for the creation of digital assets such that, for example, the Fed may issues funds on the blockchain. Upon creating a ‘trust’ between counterparts with special encrypted token/smart contracts. Financial institutions would make a permissioned block chain where all counter parties know each other.” ([0163] of Alwar); and “As shown in FIG. 1A, brokers (e.g., including a receiving broker 105 and a delivering broker 110) and/or agencies (e.g., including a regulatory body such as the DTCC 115) may utilize a permissioned ledger 120 (e.g., on a permissioned blockchain) to facilitate crypto asset transfer.” ([0170] of Alwar)).
Regarding claim 11, Alwar discloses:
(e) A new block is added to the existing blockchain in such a way that it remains unaltered and permanent. (By disclosing, “The network groups transactions into blocks, confirms that the transactions are valid, and adds the block to the blockchain.” ([0115] of Alwar); and “By using the blockchain technology, an immutable ledger is created” ([0121] of Alwar)).
Regarding claim 12, Alwar discloses:
(f) As a security characteristic of the network is the existence of regulatory participants or observers who can ensure the correct operation (By disclosing, “In some implementations, the assets may be deposited with or control over the assets may be transferred to the CCDSS via the trusted entity in exchange for the crypto tokens (e.g., to guarantee the value of the crypto tokens). The trusted entity (e.g., DTCC) may issue crypto tokens to an account data structure datastore (e.g., an electronic wallet associated with a permissioned ledger) of the requesting participant at 3810” ([0364] of Alwar)).
Regarding claim 13, Alwar discloses:
(b) Confirm the accounting balances in CC (By disclosing, “Wallets let users send or receive virtual currency payments, calculate the total balance of addresses in use, and generate new addresses as needed.” ([0182] of Alwar)).
Regarding claim 14, Alwar discloses:
The process to manage a cryptographic banking network according to claim 1, wherein incorporates complementary transactions with USDT or another digital currency. (By disclosing, “Bitcoin is the first successful implementation of a distributed crypto-currency. Bitcoin is more correctly described as the first decentralized digital currency.” ([0025] of Alwar)).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20190370792 to Lam for disclosing:
A method for cryptocurrency exchange between multiple parties using threshold signature cryptocurrency wallets includes steps for creating threshold signature cryptocurrency wallets shared between a set of parties and a mediator for trading cryptocurrencies. The method may include steps for dividing a threshold private key, corresponding to each of the threshold signature cryptocurrency wallets, into n shares based on (t, n)-threshold signature scheme and sharing masked shares, corresponding to the threshold private key for each of the threshold signature cryptocurrency wallets, by the set of parties and the mediator. The method may include steps for validating correctness of all masked shares of the threshold private keys by the set of parties and the mediator. The method may include steps for signing a withdrawal cryptocurrency transaction jointly by the set of parties or signing a withdraw deposit transaction jointly by the at least one party and the mediator.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUAN ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)272-4642. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 10 AM-5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Neha Patel can be reached at 571-270-1492. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUAN ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3699
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