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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 1-17 are objected to because of the following informalities: the claims contain numerous abbreviations without the full abbreviation first being established. Examples include: merchant beacon ID, SS application, CD application, POS application, transaction ID, CD beacon, etc. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 17 is objected to because it is a duplicate of claim 13 with identical claim language and dependency. Claim 17 should be canceled or amended to correct this issue.
Claim 15 is objected to because it is a duplicate of claim 11 with identical claim language and dependency. Claim 15 should be canceled or amended to correct this issue.
Claim 16 is objected to because it is a duplicate of claim 12 with identical claim language and dependency. Claim 16 should be canceled or amended to correct this issue.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 3-7 and 10-17 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.
Claim 4 contains the trademark/trade name SignalR. Where a trademark or trade name is used in a claim as a limitation to identify or describe a particular material or product, the claim does not comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph. See Ex parte Simpson, 218 USPQ 1020 (Bd. App. 1982). The claim scope is uncertain since the trademark or trade name cannot be used properly to identify any particular material or product. A trademark or trade name is used to identify a source of goods, and not the goods themselves. Thus, a trademark or trade name does not identify or describe the goods associated with the trademark or trade name. In the present case, the trademark/trade name is used to identify/describe the beacon and the software that is on the beacon and, accordingly, the identification/description is indefinite.
Claim 3 recites the limitation "completing a transaction" in line 3 of page 5. It is unclear if this is the same or different transaction from independent claim 2. Claims 4-7 are rejected under 35 USC 112(b) due to their dependency from claim 3.
Claims 10 and 14 recite the limitation "collecting an identity verification database and a payment accounts database" on page 7 and 11. It is unclear how the method is “collecting” multiple databases and the scope of the term “collecting” is not clear, therefore the claims are vague and indefinite. Claims 11-13 and 15-17 are rejected under 35 USC 112(b) due to their dependency from claim 10.
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) 2 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(1)(2) as being anticipated by Baldie US 2016/006376.
As per claim 2: Baldie discloses a method of use of a commercial transaction system for establishing a secure transaction between a point of sale system and a customer device and verifying the identity of a merchant and one or more consumers, comprising:
establishing a merchant account and merchant beacon ID with SS application associated with said merchant (¶¶ [0012], [0014] “The beacon may be configured to broadcast a unique beacon identifier (“ID”). The beacon ID may be stored in system 100. Moreover, the beacon ID may be associated with a specific merchant, a specific merchant terminal 155, a particular merchant location, and/or the like”);
establishing a transaction start request between a transaction parties comprising said merchant and a current customer among said one or more consumers (¶ [0003] “The system may also include transmitting, to a merchant terminal, a request to make a payment from a user associated with the user device, and an image of the user”);
creating a transaction data package on said SS application of a sales system server comprising at least transaction ID, a shopping cart and a shopping limitations
parameters (¶¶ [0003], [0004], although Baldie fails to explicitly disclose a shopping limitations parameter, as shown in the current specification at [0062] this includes following jurisdiction regulation, it would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to follow regulations because they are required to be followed and it is obvious to follow all laws and regulations);
sending a portion of said transaction data package to CD application on said customer device of said current customer and a POS application on said point of sale system of said merchant (¶¶ [0028] “System 100 may be configured to transmit to user device 145, preliminary transaction information including a preliminary transaction amount “ [0029] “system 100 may transmit to merchant terminal 155 the transaction amount as modified and/or confirmed by the user. System 100 may further request that the merchant confirm the modified and/or user confirmed transaction amount via merchant terminal”);
populating said shopping cart of said transaction data package using at least one among said CD application and said one or more consumers (¶ [0027] “system 100 may receive transaction details and/or transaction information from merchant terminal 155. This information may include, for example, a transaction amount, one or more items associated with the transaction, and/or any other suitable information including merchant information, manufacturer information, item information, and/or the like”);
verifying an identity of the transaction parties using said transaction data package (¶¶ [0003], [0026], the system provides verification of the merchant by sending merchant ID information to the user device and the system sends user identifying information to the merchant terminal); and
completing a transaction between the transaction parties (¶¶ [0028], [0012]).As per claim 8: Baldie further discloses the method of use of claim 2, wherein: establishing said transaction start request between said customer device of said current customer and said sales system server of said merchant comprises:
comparing a location of said customer device with a merchant location of said merchant store (¶¶ [0017], [0018]),
verifying said customer device is in proximity of said merchant store (¶¶ [0017], [0018]),
notifying said SS application using said CD application of said customer device of a nearness of said merchant store and said customer device (¶¶ [0016]-[0017], [0024]), and
establishing said transaction start request using said CD application of said customer device (¶¶ [0026]).
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) 1, and 3-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baldie US 2016/0063476 in view of Morgan US 2016/0125389.
As per claim 1: Baldie discloses a method of use of a commercial transaction system for establishing a secure transaction between a point of sale system and a customer device and verifying the identity of a merchant and one or more consumers, comprising:
establishing a merchant account and merchant beacon ID with SS application associated with said merchant (¶¶ [0012], [0014] “The beacon may be configured to broadcast a unique beacon identifier (“ID”). The beacon ID may be stored in system 100. Moreover, the beacon ID may be associated with a specific merchant, a specific merchant terminal 155, a particular merchant location, and/or the like”);
establishing a transaction start request between a transaction parties comprising said merchant and a current customer among said one or more consumers (¶ [0003] “The system may also include transmitting, to a merchant terminal, a request to make a payment from a user associated with the user device, and an image of the user”);
creating a transaction data package on said SS application of a sales system server comprising at least transaction ID, a shopping cart and [a shopping limitations
parameters] (¶¶ [0003], [0004], although Baldie fails to explicitly disclose a shopping limitations parameter, as shown in the current specification at [0062] this includes following jurisdiction regulation, it would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to follow regulations because they are required to be followed and it is obvious to follow all laws and regulations);
sending a portion of said transaction data package to CD application on said customer device of said current customer and a POS application on said point of sale system of said merchant (¶¶ [0028] “System 100 may be configured to transmit to user device 145, preliminary transaction information including a preliminary transaction amount “ [0029] “system 100 may transmit to merchant terminal 155 the transaction amount as modified and/or confirmed by the user. System 100 may further request that the merchant confirm the modified and/or user confirmed transaction amount via merchant terminal”);
populating said shopping cart of said transaction data package using at least one among said CD application and said one or more consumers (¶ [0027] “system 100 may receive transaction details and/or transaction information from merchant terminal 155. This information may include, for example, a transaction amount, one or more items associated with the transaction, and/or any other suitable information including merchant information, manufacturer information, item information, and/or the like”);
verifying an identity of the transaction parties using said transaction data package (¶¶ [0003], [0026], the system provides verification of the merchant by sending merchant ID information to the user device and the system sends user identifying information to the merchant terminal);
completing a transaction between the transaction parties (¶ [0012]);
establishing a customer account and [a customer beacon ID] with said SS application and associated with said one or more consumers (¶ [0012], [0014]);
assigning said transaction ID to a transaction between said merchant and said one or more consumers (¶ [0036] each transaction or record may include a unique identifier associated with a transaction, which corresponds to a transaction ID);
facilitating and verifying an ad hoc transaction between the parties on said customer device and said point of sale system (¶ [0025]);
wherein establishing said transaction start request between said customer device of said current customer and said sales system server of said merchant comprises (¶¶ [0026]):
broadcasting said customer beacon from said point of sale system comprising said merchant beacon ID (¶ [0014]),
receiving said customer beacon from said point of sale system with a CD beacon
hardware of said customer device (¶¶ [0022], [0014]),
creating said transaction data package on said sales system server (¶ [0027]), synchronizing a portion of said transaction data package to said CD application
and said CD application as a synchronized copy (¶¶ [0028], [0012]), and
completing a transaction between the parties using said transaction data package (¶¶ [0028], [0012]).
Baldie fails to explicitly disclose but Morgan does disclose activating a customer beacon on said customer device bearing said customer beacon ID (¶¶ [0012] “Such beacon devices may be deployed to enable mobile devices to communicate with other systems in a manner that informs the other systems of their location or to trigger performance of certain functionality, such as making mobile payments, checking in a customer at a restaurant, hospital, or clinic, and other functionality”);
verifying said merchant and said one or more consumers to one another by matching and verifying said merchant beacon ID and said customer beacon ID using said point of sale system, said customer device and said sales system server (¶¶ [0012], [0014] “The mobile device app of the first customer may then listen for a radio beacon signal broadcast from the transceiver of the mobile device of the second customer. The received radio beacon signal includes an identifier encoded therein, such as a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the broadcasting transceiver. That MAC address is associated in customer account data of the second customer in a backend system….Upon receipt of the identifiers of the mobile device of the second customer and the transaction, the backend system then associates the second customer with the transaction. A confirmation may then be transmitted by the backend system, again via the network, to one or both of the mobile device apps of the first and second customers.“, [0023] “the mobile device 106 is present in the facility 102. An app on the mobile device 106 transmits data to the backend system 114 that indicates it is within the facility, such as a beacon device identifier encoded in a radio signal received by the mobile device 106. The mobile device 106 is also associated with a customer account maintained in the backend system”, [0024] “wait staff or other facility personnel may enter data into their own mobile device or other system, such as a point of sale system, to associate the open bill with the customer account of the mobile device 106 user… Once the backend system 114 associates the customer account with the bill, a confirmation message may be sent to the mobile devices 106, 108 such as by an in-app message, a text message, an email, and the like.”) matching a CD memory of said customer device with said POS application of
said point of sale system using said SS application of said sales system server (¶¶ [0012], [0014], [0023]-[0024]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include the features as taught in Morgan in Baldie since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable. Both are in the art of transaction processing it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art to combine the art to improve the functioning of the system in Baldie and using the customer device as a BLE beacon.
As per claim 3: Baldie further discloses the method of use of claim 2, wherein: establishing said transaction start request between said customer device of said current customer and said sales system server of said merchant comprises:
broadcasting a customer beacon from said point of sale system comprising said merchant beacon ID (¶ [0014]);
receiving said customer beacon from said point of sale system with a CD beacon hardware of said customer device (¶¶ [0022], [0014]);
creating said transaction data package on said sales system server (¶ [0027]), synchronizing a portion of said transaction data package to said CD application and said CD application as a synchronized copy ¶¶ [0028], [0012]), and
completing a transaction between the parties using said transaction data package ¶¶ [0028], [0012]).
Baldie fails to explicitly disclose but Morgan does disclose matching a CD memory of said customer device with said POS application of said point of sale system using said SS application of said sales system server (¶¶ [0012], [0014], [0023]-[0024]),
As per claim 4: Baldie further discloses the method of use of claim 3, wherein: a POS beacon comprises SignalR (¶¶ [0012], [0014]).
As per claim 5: Baldie further discloses the method of use of claim 3, wherein: said point of sale system comprises A POS beacon hardware for generating said POS beacon (¶¶ [0012], [0014] “The beacon may be configured to broadcast a unique beacon identifier (“ID”). The beacon ID may be stored in system 100. Moreover, the beacon ID may be associated with a specific merchant, a specific merchant terminal 155, a particular merchant location, and/or the like”);
said POS beacon comprises said merchant beacon ID (¶¶ [0012], [0014] “The beacon may be configured to broadcast a unique beacon identifier (“ID”). The beacon ID may be stored in system 100. Moreover, the beacon ID may be associated with a specific merchant, a specific merchant terminal 155, a particular merchant location, and/or the like”).
As per claim 6: Baldie further discloses the method of use of claim 3, further wherein: said commercial transaction system further comprises one or more POS beacon nodes arranged around a merchant store for broadcasting said POS beacon having said merchant beacon ID (¶ [0015], [0018]).
As per claim 7: Baldie further discloses the method of use of claim 3, further wherein: establishing a customer account and [a customer beacon ID] with said SS application associated with said one or more consumers (¶ [0012], [0014]);
assigning said transaction ID to a transaction between said merchant and said one or more consumers (¶ [0036] each transaction or record may include a unique identifier associated with a transaction, which corresponds to a transaction ID), and
Baldie fails to explicitly disclose but Morgan does disclose activating said customer beacon on said customer device bearing said customer beacon ID, verifying said merchant and said one or more consumers to one another by matching and verifying said merchant beacon ID and said customer beacon ID using said point of sale system, said customer device and said sales system server(¶¶ [0012] “Such beacon devices may be deployed to enable mobile devices to communicate with other systems in a manner that informs the other systems of their location or to trigger performance of certain functionality, such as making mobile payments, checking in a customer at a restaurant, hospital, or clinic, and other functionality”), facilitating and verifying an ad hoc transaction between the parties on said customer device and said point of sale system (¶¶ [0012], [0014] “The mobile device app of the first customer may then listen for a radio beacon signal broadcast from the transceiver of the mobile device of the second customer. The received radio beacon signal includes an identifier encoded therein, such as a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the broadcasting transceiver. That MAC address is associated in customer account data of the second customer in a backend system….Upon receipt of the identifiers of the mobile device of the second customer and the transaction, the backend system then associates the second customer with the transaction. A confirmation may then be transmitted by the backend system, again via the network, to one or both of the mobile device apps of the first and second customers.“, [0023] “the mobile device 106 is present in the facility 102. An app on the mobile device 106 transmits data to the backend system 114 that indicates it is within the facility, such as a beacon device identifier encoded in a radio signal received by the mobile device 106. The mobile device 106 is also associated with a customer account maintained in the backend system”, [0024] “wait staff or other facility personnel may enter data into their own mobile device or other system, such as a point of sale system, to associate the open bill with the customer account of the mobile device 106 user… Once the backend system 114 associates the customer account with the bill, a confirmation message may be sent to the mobile devices 106, 108 such as by an in-app message, a text message, an email, and the like.”).
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baldie US 2016/0063476 in view of Hammad US 2022/0253832.
As per claim 9: Baldie further discloses the method of use of claim 2, wherein verifying an identify of said one or more consumers using said customer device (¶¶ [0003], [0026], the system provides verification of the merchant by sending merchant ID information to the user device and the system sends user identifying information to the merchant terminal) Baldie fails to explicitly disclose but Hammad does disclose establishing said transaction start request between said customer device of said current customer and said sales system server of said merchant comprises:
establishing a visual code comprising data associated with a location of said merchant store, a time data, and an encrypted key (¶¶ [0037], [0038]),
displaying said visual code on said point of sale system using said POS application (¶ [0037], Fig 2C), reading said visual code with an optical reader of said customer device (Fig 2D, ¶ [0038] “the user may obtain a snapshot of the QR code displayed on the screen of the secure display or the POS terminal using a smartphone”),
verifying a proximity of said customer device and said point of sale system using said SS application to match data in said visual code and said CD application (¶¶ [0040]-[0041]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include the features as taught in Hammad in Baldie since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable. Both are in the art of mobile transactions and it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art to combine the art of Hammad to improve the beacon transaction process with QR codes or visual code in order to security and functioning of the system of Baldie with widely used QR technology.
Claim(s) 10-12 and 14-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baldie US 2016/0063476 in view of Ching US 2018/0314841.
As per claim 10: Baldie further discloses the method of use of claim 2, further comprising: an account setup method and a customer verification method;
said account setup method comprises for each said current customer among said one or more consumers: creating unique credentials associated with said current customer (¶¶ [0031]-[0034] “account”),
collecting an identity verification database and a payment accounts database
associated with said customer account of said current customer (¶¶ [0031]-[0034] “account”), associating one or more bio-verification markers with said current customer within said CD application (¶¶ [0032]-[0034]); and
said customer verification method comprises for each among said current customer: receiving a unique identifier associated with said current customer in said CD
application (¶ [0022] “user identifier”),
creating said transaction start request associated with said current customer and
said POS application (¶ [0003] “The system may also include transmitting, to a merchant terminal, a request to make a payment from a user associated with the user device, and an image of the user”),
sending said transaction start request to said SS application (¶¶ [0003], [0004]),
sending said synchronized copy to said one or more consumers to associated said current customer with said transaction data package (¶¶ [0028], [0012]), verifying the identity of said current customer (¶¶ [0032]-[0034])
Baldie fails to explicitly disclose but Ching does disclose applying a jurisdiction regulations associated with said current customer to said customer account (¶ [0004], [0080]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include the features as taught in Ching in Baldie since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable. Both are in the art of mobile transactions and it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art to combine the art of Ching to improve the transaction processing of Baldie in order to follow laws and regulations, as this is obvious to follow laws and regulations.
As per claims 11 and 15: Baldie further discloses the method of use of claim 10, wherein: verifying the identity of said current customer comprises biometric verification of said current customer with customer credentials stored on said customer device (¶¶ [0032]-[0034] ‘biometric’).
As per claims 12 and 16: Baldie further discloses the method of use of claim 10, wherein: verifying the identity of said current customer comprises biometric verification of said current customer with customer credentials stored on said customer device selected among: facial recognition, fingerprint verification, voice recognition, and government ID verification (¶¶ [0032]-[0034] ‘biometric’).
As per claim 14: Claim 14 is rejected under the rationales of claims 2, 8, and 10.
Claim(s) 13 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baldie US 2016/0063476 in view of Ching US 2018/0314841 in further view of Park US 2016/0253651.
As per claims 13 and 17: Baldie discloses the method of use of claim 10, wherein: verifying biometric data associated with said current customer for use in verifying an identify of said current customer for said transaction data package (¶¶ [0032]-[0034] ‘biometric’);
said customer verification method verifying said biometric data prior to creating said transaction data package (¶¶ [0032]-[0034] ‘biometric’),
said method of use is further configured to pass portions of said jurisdiction regulations to said one or more consumers as said shopping limitations parameters to ensure regulatory compliance for a current transaction (although Baldie fails to explicitly disclose a shopping limitations parameter, as shown in the current specification at [0062] this includes following jurisdiction regulation, it would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to follow regulations because they are required to be followed and it is obvious to follow all laws and regulations), see also Park below for following regulations for dispensing medicine and the like).
Baldie fails to explicitly disclose but Park does disclose said account setup method for each said current customer among said one or more consumers further comprises: collecting copies of a government ID for said current customer (¶¶ [1822]-[1825]), It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include features as taught in Park in Baldie since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable. Both are in the art of mobile transactions and it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art to combine the art of Park to improve customer verification of Baldie using known technology which is typically performed manually such as an ID check. Baldie fails to explicitly disclose but Ching does disclose collecting medical authorization or prescriptions for purchase of regulated goods under said jurisdiction regulations (¶ [0004] “In addition to Specific Transaction Data, additional data that is, e.g., related to or arises out of discrete transactions or prior or future transactions can also be exchanged. This information can include but not be limited to data about… or other types of data (for example, in the case of a transaction involving healthcare or healthcare related services, relevant data such as a record of medical treatment received or medicine prescribed or dispensed or in the case of a proposed sale, information that is intended to assist the Purchaser in deciding whether or not to complete the transaction) (collectively “Information”)”, [0080]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to include the features as taught in Ching in Baldie since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable. Both are in the art of mobile transactions and it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art to combine the art of Ching to improve the transaction processing of Baldie in order to follow laws and regulations, as this is obvious to follow laws and regulations.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Dorogusker US 9519901 Pandiarajan US 2015/0178721
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/DAVID P SHARVIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3692
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