DETAILED ACTION
Status of Application
This action is a Non-Final Rejection. This action is in response to the request for continued examination filed on January 29, 2026.
Claims 1, 5, 11, 15. and 20 have been amended.
Claims 6 and 16 have been canceled.
Claims 21 and 22 have been added.
Claims 1-5, 7-15, and 17-22 are pending and rejected.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . 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 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.
Response to Arguments
Regarding the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 101, Applicant argues that “Applicant’s claimed invention does not merely use existing technology to improve a business process, as alleged in the Office Action. To the contrary, the methods and systems described in the specification and embodied in the claims provide novel flexibility for satisfying the authentication requirements of payment processing systems using digital payment sources (e.g., cryptocurrencies).” Remarks at 9-10. Applicant describes the invention and refers to paragraphs 0046 and 0048 of the Specification. Id. at 9. However, although Applicant is describing the use of technology to solve a business problem, Applicant has not shown an improvement to the technology itself. Existing technology is being used to improve an abstract idea. As such, the rejection is maintained.
Regarding the rejection of claims 11-20 under 35 U.S.C. 103, this rejection is withdrawn in light of Applicant’s amendments that remove contingent language. An updated search of the prior art did not result in a finding of obviousness.
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 1-5, 7-15, and 17-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1: Does the Claim Fall within a Statutory Category? (see MPEP 2106.03)
Yes, with respect to claims 1-5 and 7-10, which recite a system and, therefore, are directed to the statutory class of machine or manufacture.
Yes, with respect to claims 11-15 and 17-22, which recite a method and, therefore, are directed to the statutory class of process.
Step 2A, Prong One: Is a Judicial Exception Recited? (see MPEP 2106.04(a))
The following claims (Claims 1-5, 7-10, 20, and 22 are representative) identify the limitations that recite the abstract idea in regular text and that recite additional elements in bold:
1. A system for authenticating a transaction, comprising:
a payment terminal or point of sale device configured to receive transaction information related to the transaction and display validation data; and
a peripheral device configured to:
capture validation data from the payment terminal or point of sale device;
initiate a web-based service in response to capturing validation data from the payment terminal or the point of sale device;
present, via the web-based service, one or more digital payment sources to a user via a display of the peripheral device;
receive a selection, via a user input of the peripheral device, of a digital payment source of the one or more digital payment sources to process a transaction associated with the validation data;
in response to receipt of the selection, receive a determination by a logic layer of the web-based service whether the selected digital payment source is associated with a minimum threshold of user authentication criteria;
in response to the minimum threshold of user authentication criteria not being satisfied, determine if another digital payment source of the one or more digital payment sources meets the minimum threshold of user authentication and prompt the user to select the other digital payment source; and
in response to the another digital payment source of the one or more digital payment sources not meeting the minimum threshold of user authentication, prompt the user to perform one or more authentication actions.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction includes a request to process a transaction value above a predetermined threshold value.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more digital payment sources include one or more crypto-wallets and/or one or more digital currency exchange accounts or applications.
4. The system of claim 1 further comprising at least one remote server or cloud-based storage device having a memory, wherein if the minimum threshold of user authentication is satisfied, the peripheral device and a payment processor are configured to process the transaction, and the web-based service stores, via the memory, a transaction instance, wherein the transaction instance includes at least one of i) a transaction identification (ID), ii) identification data related to the one or more digital payment source, and iii) meta data related to an identity of the user.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the memory operates to form a record keeping environment for all transactions from the user and includes a transaction number that is unique to the payment processor, and/or wherein the memory operates to bind data related to hardware of the peripheral device to the transaction instance.
6. The system of claim 4, wherein the memory operates to bind data related to hardware of the peripheral device to the transaction instance.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic layer of the web-based service returns a binary result indicating whether the minimum threshold of user authentication has been met.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the validation data is bar code or quick response (QR) code, the peripheral device comprises at least one camera, and the capturing of the validation data utilizes the at least one camera.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic layer, via at least one application program interface (API), is configured to retrieve data related to at least one of i) device hardware of the peripheral device, ii) which digital payment source of the one or more digital payment sources has been selected, iii) and whether the peripheral device has data stored for other digital payment sources of the one or more digital payment sources.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic layer, via at least one application program interface (API), is configured to retrieve secondary authentication data selected from i) user faceprint data, ii) user fingerprint data, iii) a user's personal identification number (PIN), iv) a media access control address (MAC), or any combination thereof.
20. A method of authenticating a transaction comprising:
initiating a web-based service in response to capturing a bar code or Quick Response (QR) code from a payment terminal or a point of sale device;
presenting, via the web-based service, one or more crypto-wallets and/or one or more digital currency exchange accounts or applications to a user via a display of a peripheral device;
receiving a selection, via a user input of the peripheral device, of the one or more crypto-wallets and/or the one or more digital currency exchange accounts or applications to process a transaction associated with the validation data;
receiving a determination by a logic layer of the web-based service whether the selected one or more crypto-wallets and/or the one or more digital currency exchange accounts or applications are associated with a minimum threshold of user authentication criteria; and
determining if another of the one or more crypto-wallets and/or the one or more digital currency exchange accounts or applications meets the minimum threshold of user authentication and prompting the user to select the other digital payment source.
22. The method of claim 20, further comprising:
in response to the another of the one or more crypto-wallets and/or the one or more digital currency exchange accounts or applications not meeting the minimum threshold of user authentication, prompting the user to perform one or more authentication actions.
Yes. But for the recited additional elements as shown above in bold, the remaining limitations of the claims recite certain methods of organizing human activity. The claims are directed to transaction authentication. This type of method of organizing human activity is a fundamental economic practice because it involves mitigating risk and a commercial interaction such as sales activities or behaviors and business relations. Thus, the claims recite an abstract idea.
Step 2A, Prong Two: Is the Abstract Idea Integrated into a Practical Application? (see MPEP 2106.04(d))
No. The claims as a whole merely use a computer as a tool to perform the abstract idea. The computing components (i.e., additional elements that are in bold above) are recited at a high level of generality and are merely invoked as a tool to implement the steps. For example, only a programmed general purpose computing device is needed to implement the claimed process. Simply implementing the abstract idea on a generic computer is not a practical application of the abstract idea. Additionally, there is no improvement to the functioning of a computer or technology. Therefore, the abstract idea is not integrated into a practical application.
Step 2B: Does the Claim Provide an Inventive Concept? (see MPEP 2106.05)
No. As discussed with respect to Step 2A, Prong 2, the additional elements in the claims, both individually and in combination, amount to no more than tools to perform the abstract idea. Merely performing the abstract idea using a computer cannot provide an inventive concept. Therefore, the claims do not provide an inventive concept.
As such, the claims are not patent eligible.
Relevant Prior Art
The following references are relevant to Applicant’s invention:
Leyva, U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2016/0180333 A1. This reference teaches a wallet server that establishes a single sign-on link between a user bank account and a wallet application. Specifically, this reference teaches that if a transaction is determined to be high risk, one or more challenge questions may be initiated.
Williams et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2022/0210151 A1. This reference teaches passive multi-factor authentication of device users.
Email Communications
Per MPEP 502.03, Applicant may authorize email communications by filing Form PTO/SB/439, available at https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/sb0439.pdf, via the USPTO patent electronic filing system.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELIZABETH H ROSEN whose telephone number is (571) 270-1850 and email address is elizabeth.rosen@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 10 AM ET - 7 PM ET.
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, Michael Anderson, can be reached at 571-270-0508. 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.
/ELIZABETH H ROSEN/Primary Examiner, 3693
Prosecution Insights