DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
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.
This action is in reply to the remarks/arguments for Application 18/707,557 filed on 12 December 2024.
Claims 1-16 have been previously canceled.
Claims 17-25 of Group I have been elected in the response.
Claims 26-32 of Group II have been withdrawn/canceled.
Claims 17-25 are currently pending and have been examined.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statements filed 9 September 2024 and 16 September 2025 have been considered. An initialed copy of the Form 1449 is enclosed herewith.
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 17-25 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, independent claim 17 is directed towards facilitating purchasing digital artwork displayed on a TV platform, involving steps which are nothing more than merely implementing rules/instructions for facilitating interactions between people comprising the steps of accessing an NFT market server via a login signature, receiving data of pieces of preview artwork, displaying the pieces of preview artwork, generating a purchase transaction based on a selection by the user of a piece of preview artwork, and receiving status information based on the purchase transaction, which is grouped under the certain methods of organizing human activity – fundamental economic principles, practices or concepts; following set of instructions; commercial or legal interactions (agreements in the form of contracts; business relations); managing personal behavior of relationships or interactions between people (including following rules or instructions) grouping, in prong one of step 2A.
Claim 17 recites:
“a display device comprising a display unit and a speaker;
a transceiver configured to establish a communication connection with a non-fungible token (NFT) market server;
a memory storage storing a cryptocurrency wallet storing at least one piece of key information related to a cryptocurrency account of a user; and
a processor configured to:
access the NFT market server by generating a login signature according to the at least one piece of key information stored in the cryptocurrency wallet according to a request by the user;
receive data of pieces of preview artwork corresponding to at least one piece of digital artwork provided by the NFT market server;
control the display device to display the pieces of preview artwork; and
based on a selection by the user of a piece of preview artwork of the displayed pieces of preview artwork,
generate a purchase transaction comprising a signature according to the at least one piece of key information stored in the cryptocurrency wallet,
transmit the purchase transaction to the NFT market server, and
receive NFT status information of digital artwork corresponding to the selected piece of preview artwork and having transaction details updated based on the purchase transaction.”
Facilitating the purchase of digital artwork utilizing a television platform to display and facilitate the purchase thereof, is a basic economic and commercial practice and, thus, an abstract idea (Alice Coro. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l, Bilski v. Kappos, BuySAFE Inc., v. Google Inc., Ultramercial Inc., v. Hulu, LLC). Because the claim is directed to the performance of financial transactions, it is thus directed to an abstract idea. See Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (“MPEP”) § 2106.04(a)(2)(I)(A).
Performing steps comprising merely implementing rules/instructions for facilitating interactions between people comprising the steps of accessing an NFT market server via a login signature, receiving data of pieces of preview artwork, displaying the pieces of preview artwork, generating a purchase transaction based on a selection by the user of a piece of preview artwork, and receiving status information based on the purchase transaction, falls within the certain methods of organizing human activity grouping of abstract ideas. Other than the mere nominal recitation of a computer-related device –nothing in the claim element precludes the steps from the organizing human interactions grouping. Accordingly, for these reasons, the claim recites an abstract idea.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because, when analyzed under prong two of step 2A, the additional elements of the claim such as a “processor”, “display device”, “server”, “transceiver” represent the use of a computer-related devices as a tool (intermediary) to perform an abstract idea and/or does no more than generally apply the abstract idea to a particular field of use. 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. automate) implement the acts of merely implementing rules/instructions for facilitating interactions between people comprising the steps of accessing an NFT market server via a login signature, receiving data of pieces of preview artwork, displaying the pieces of preview artwork, generating a purchase transaction based on a selection by the user of a piece of preview artwork, and receiving status information based on the purchase transaction.
When analyzed under step 2B, 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 merely implementing rules/instructions for facilitating interactions between people comprising the steps of accessing an NFT market server via a login signature, receiving data of pieces of preview artwork, displaying the pieces of preview artwork, generating a purchase transaction based on a selection by the user of a piece of preview artwork, and receiving status information based on the purchase transaction using computer computer-related technology and/or devices that merely perform as designed to function. 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)). Hence, claim 17 is not patent eligible.
Dependent claims 18-25 add further details and contain limitations that narrow the scope of the invention. However, these details do not result in significantly more than the abstract idea itself. As explained in the December 16, 2014 Interim Eligibility Guidance from the USPTO (in reference to the BuySAFE, Inc. v. Google, Inc. decision), further narrowing the details of an abstract idea does not change the § 101 analysis since a more narrow abstract idea does not make it any less abstract.
In all the dependent claims, the judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the limitations are recited at a high-level of generality such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components. Also the claims do not affect an improvement to another technology or technical field; the claims do not amount to an improvement to the functioning of a computer system itself; the claims do not affect a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing; and the claims do not move beyond a general link of the use of an abstract idea to a particular technological environment. In addition, the dependent claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. The claims as a whole, do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea itself. For these reasons, the dependent claims also are not patent eligible.
Viewed individually and in combination, these additional elements do not provide meaningful limitations to transform the abstract idea such that the claims amount to significantly more than the abstraction itself.
Accordingly, the present pending claims are not patent eligible and are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
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 may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 17-25 are rejected under U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Trachtenberg et al., US 10,269,323 B2 (“Trachtenberg”), in view of Rice, US 2021/0279695 A1 (“Rice”).
Re Claims 1-16: (Canceled)
Re Claim 17: (Previously Presented) Trachtenberg discloses a television (TV) platform comprising:
a display device comprising a display unit and a speaker; (C3 L39-44: “In preferred embodiments, the invention includes a display device for artwork or the like-including a lightweight 40 digital display with a thin and sleek design, an application ("APP"), which is a program that enables management of digital content displayed on the Display Devices of the present invention …”)
a transceiver configured to establish a communication connection with a non-fungible token (NFT) market server; (C2 L62-65: “The service cloud comprises a server, a memory, and a processor, and further comprises a secure storage system, configured to store and manage digital content to be displayed on the display device, a communication controller configured to communicate with the display device …”)
Regarding the limitation feature comprising:
a memory storage storing a cryptocurrency wallet storing at least one piece of key information related to a cryptocurrency account of a user;
a processor configured to: access the NFT market server by generating a login signature according to the at least one piece of key information stored in the cryptocurrency wallet according to a request by the user;
Rice, however, makes this teaching in a related endeavor ([0060] “rights transfers effected through
VGO selection, purchase, acquisition, alienation or other re-characterization can incorporate crypto-currency tokens and blockchain techniques. One exemplary cryptocurrency, the non-fungible token (NFT) is generally stored in a crypto wallet …”; [0061] “NFTs may be acquired through an NFT marketplace, where a user creates the NFT token and associates it with the referenced item as represented by a photo or image of the referenced item. NFTs are sold through the marketplaces, and may be transferred or sold to another user, in a direct blockchain wallet to wallet transfer or listing on a NFT marketplace”; [0062] “The VGO may be stored in a user's … wallet …”; [0067] “cryptocurrency
may be stored in a crypto wallet. Non-fungible tokens may also be stored in crypto wallets …”; [0122] “… method also includes API calls 806 to authenticate, validate, and assign to a user account”; [0187] “User is at, the application communicates with a master server (login server … )”; [0197] “… remote user, … could login to the system …”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Rice with the invention of Trachtenberg as disclosed above for the motivation of facilitating the transfer of digital goods acquired in an exchange in a secure manner.
Trachtenberg further discloses:
receive data of pieces of preview artwork corresponding to at least one piece of digital artwork provided by the NFT market server; (C2 L62-65: “The service cloud comprises a server, a memory, and a processor, and further comprises a secure storage system, configured to store and manage digital content to be displayed on the display device, a communication controller configured to communicate with the display device …”)
control the display device to display the pieces of preview artwork; C3 L39-44: “In preferred embodiments, the invention includes a display device for artwork or the like-including a lightweight 40 digital display with a thin and sleek design, an application ("APP"), which is a program that enables management of digital content displayed on the Display Devices of the present invention …”)
based on a selection by the user of a piece of preview artwork of the displayed pieces of preview artwork, (C30 L63-67: Using the split relationship between the App 108 and a Display Device 105, a user can log into his/her own web service account - i.e., social network, media streaming, etc. on the Client Control 107 and direct the output to be displayed on a select Display Device 105 …”)
generate a purchase transaction comprising a signature according to the at least one piece of key information stored in the cryptocurrency wallet, (C40 L2-7: “Under proper commercial arrangement with an external digital media content catalog, a user could browse and purchase a media content item that is not ingested in the Service Cloud and push it to a Display Device in near real-time”; C27 L1-3: “… complete a one-time transaction to purchase content items using payment information linked to the Customer account …”)
transmit the purchase transaction to the NFT market server, (C40 L2-7: “Under proper commercial arrangement with an external digital media content catalog, a user could browse and purchase a media content item that is not ingested in the Service Cloud and push it to a Display Device in near real-time”; C27 L1-3: “… complete a one-time transaction to purchase content items using payment information linked to the Customer account …”)
receive NFT status information of digital artwork corresponding to the selected piece of preview artwork and having transaction details updated based on the purchase transaction. (C24 L12-20: … secure access to user account and profile information; review, monitoring, and management of owned devices; review, monitoring, and control of product subscriptions; browsing and management of purchased digital media content; browsing and management of private user media content; browsing and viewing of media content collections and catalog; purchase or subscription of products or services through a shopping cart including immediate access to a payment gateway …”; C27 L15-17: “user interface provides access to commercial terms and conditions of transactions, transaction history and order status”)
Re Claim 18: (Previously Presented) Trachtenberg in view of Rice discloses the TV platform of claim 17. Trachtenberg further discloses:
wherein the processor is further configured to: request, from the NFT market server, information about pieces of digital artwork owned by the user by transmitting the purchase transaction, and, in response to the requesting of the information, receive, from the NFT market server, a list of pieces of digital artwork corresponding to an NFT in which the user is recorded as an owner of the listed pieces of digital artwork. (C24 L38-42: “App 108 is configured to communicate with the service cloud over public or private Internet. In turn the Service Cloud 101 is configured to send requests and content to, and receive information from, the Display Devices 105 of the present invention …”)
Re Claim 19: (Previously Presented) Trachtenberg in view of Rice discloses the TV platform of claim 18. Trachtenberg further discloses:
wherein the processor is further configured to receive, from the NFT market server, at least one piece of digital artwork corresponding to the received list of pieces of digital artwork, and control the display device to sequentially output the received at least one piece of digital artwork. (C2 L62-65: “The service cloud comprises a server, a memory, and a processor, and further comprises a secure storage system, configured to store and manage digital content to be displayed on the display device, a communication controller configured to communicate with the display device …”)
Re Claim 20: (Previously Presented) Trachtenberg in view of Rice discloses the TV platform of claim 19. Regarding the limitation feature comprising:
an interface port connectable to an external memory storage comprising a second cryptocurrency wallet, wherein the processor is further configured to read key information stored in the second cryptocurrency wallet for generating the login signature and the purchase transaction signature.
Rice, however, makes this teaching in a related endeavor ([0060] “rights transfers effected through
VGO selection, purchase, acquisition, alienation or other re-characterization can incorporate crypto-currency tokens and blockchain techniques. One exemplary cryptocurrency, the non-fungible token (NFT) is generally stored in a crypto wallet …”; [0061] “NFTs may be acquired through an NFT marketplace, where a user creates the NFT token and associates it with the referenced item as represented by a photo or image of the referenced item. NFTs are sold through the marketplaces, and may be transferred or sold to another user, in a direct blockchain wallet to wallet transfer or listing on a NFT marketplace”; [0062] “The VGO may be stored in a user's … wallet …”; [0067] “cryptocurrency
may be stored in a crypto wallet. Non-fungible tokens may also be stored in crypto wallets …”; [0122] “… method also includes API calls 806 to authenticate, validate, and assign to a user account”; [0187] “User is at, the application communicates with a master server (login server … )”; [0197] “… remote user, … could login to the system …”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Rice with the invention of Trachtenberg as disclosed above for the motivation of facilitating the transfer of digital goods acquired in an exchange in a secure manner.
Re Claim 21: (Previously Presented) Trachtenberg in view of Rice discloses the TV platform of claim 17. Trachtenberg further discloses:
wherein, based on the selection of the piece of preview artwork of the displayed pieces of preview artwork, the processor is further configured to request, from the NFT market server, information of a purchase screen for purchasing the digital artwork corresponding to the selected piece of preview artwork and, in response to the request, control the display to display a purchase screen for receiving an input of unique information of the user at a region of the display. (C36 L20-13: “VCRME 1207 also keeps track of all registered Display Devices 105, their relationships to customer accounts and authentication information”)
Re Claim 22: (Previously Presented) Trachtenberg in view of Rice discloses the TV platform of claim 21. Regarding the limitation feature comprising:
wherein the processor is further configured to identify whether the unique information of the user received via the purchase screen corresponds to a user corresponding to the login signature, and based on a user corresponding to the unique information being identical to the user corresponding to the login signature, generate the purchase transaction and transmit the generated purchase transaction to the NFT market server.
Rice, however, makes this teaching in a related endeavor ([0060] “rights transfers effected through
VGO selection, purchase, acquisition, alienation or other re-characterization can incorporate crypto-currency tokens and blockchain techniques. One exemplary cryptocurrency, the non-fungible token (NFT) is generally stored in a crypto wallet …”; [0061] “NFTs may be acquired through an NFT marketplace, where a user creates the NFT token and associates it with the referenced item as represented by a photo or image of the referenced item. NFTs are sold through the marketplaces, and may be transferred or sold to another user, in a direct blockchain wallet to wallet transfer or listing on a NFT marketplace”; [0062] “The VGO may be stored in a user's … wallet …”; [0067] “cryptocurrency
may be stored in a crypto wallet. Non-fungible tokens may also be stored in crypto wallets …”; [0122] “… method also includes API calls 806 to authenticate, validate, and assign to a user account”; [0187] “User is at, the application communicates with a master server (login server … )”; [0197] “… remote user, … could login to the system …”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Rice with the invention of Trachtenberg as disclosed above for the motivation of facilitating the transfer of digital goods acquired in an exchange in a secure manner.
Re Claim 23: (Previously Presented) Trachtenberg in view of Rice discloses the TV platform of claim 22. Trachtenberg further discloses:
a camera configured to obtain an image in one direction of the TV platform through an image sensor, wherein, based on a user identified based on user unique information obtained by the camera being identical to the user corresponding to the login signature, the processor is further configured to generate the purchase transaction and transmit the generated purchase transaction to the NFT market server. (C26 L4-11: “Each Display Device 105 can be linked to a Customer account using its unique identification number. This number is preferably encoded in the image displayed by the device … and … captured by the App 108 through the camera of Client Control 107”; C21 L65-67: “… overlay a synthetic representation of a Display Device 105 on top of the picture captured by the camera in real-time …”)
Re Claim 24: (Previously Presented) Trachtenberg in view of Rice discloses the TV platform of claim 23. Trachtenberg further discloses:
wherein the user unique information comprises quick response (QR) information displayed on a mobile terminal of the user. (C23 L12-15: “The Mobile App 108 scans the opening pictures displayed on the Display Device 105 or the QR code printed on the packaging to extract the key information necessary …”; C5 L43-45: “FIG. 23 discloses the installation procedure of a display device of the present invention utilizing the client application on a mobile device …”)
Re Claim 25: (Previously Presented) Trachtenberg in view of Rice discloses the TV platform of claim 17. Trachtenberg further discloses:
wherein the TV platform is a platform implemented as digital signage. (C15 L54-58: “App Images can also be locked in the Display Processor 510 memory 55 during production process or when a user acquires the App Image to create a specialized Display Device 105 that can execute a limited number of Apps ( e.g., digital signage …”))
Conclusion
The prior art(s) made of record and not relied upon is/are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Williams et al. (US 2021/0133700 A1) discloses a blockchain cross-chain non-fungible token exchange. A system and corresponding method exchange a nonfungible token (NFT) via blockchain cross-chain fungible token transfers. The system comprises first and second blockchains. The first blockchain holds the NFT in a first escrow digital wallet. The NFT is available for trade by a seller and
is associated with a trade value. The first blockchain monitors a balance of fungible tokens, owned by a buyer, that are transferred from a second blockchain to a second escrow digital wallet of the first blockchain. In response to detecting that the balance monitored represents the trade value, the
first blockchain transfers, simultaneously, (i) the NFT from the first escrow digital wallet to a first digital wallet of the first blockchain, the first digital wallet owned by the buyer, and (ii) the balance of fungible tokens from the second escrow digital wallet to a second digital wallet of the second blockchain, the second digital wallet owned by the seller.
Claims 17-25 are rejected.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Clifford Madamba whose telephone number is 571-270-1239. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Thu 7:30-5:00 EST Alternate Fridays.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ryan Donlon, can be reached at 571-272-3602. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CLIFFORD B MADAMBA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3692