DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to claims filed on 07/25/2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending are examined hereon.
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 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Analysis
In the instant case, claims 1-7 are directed to a “Method” (Process). Claims 8-14 are directed to “A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium” (Article of Manufacture). Claims 15-20 are directed to “A computing apparatus” (Machine). Therefore, these claims fall within the four statutory categories of invention.
The claims recite application (form) provisioning, which is an abstract idea. Specifically, but for the additional elements, the claim under its broadest reasonable interpretation recites limitations grouped within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity,” and “Mathematical Concepts,” grouping of abstract ideas in prong one of step 2A of the Alice/Mayo test since the steps include commercial interactions, managing relationships and mathematical calculations (See MPEP 2106.04 & 2106.04(a)). The use of a physical aid to help perform Organized Human Activity and Mathematical Concept steps does not negate the Organized Human Activity and Mathematical Concept nature of the limitations, but simply accounts for variations in memory capacity from one person to another. Further, claims can recite a Methods of Organized Human Activity and Mathematical Concepts even if they are claimed as being performed on a computer. See MPEP § 2106.04(a)(2), subsection III. The claim limitations reciting the abstract idea are grouped within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity” and “Mathematical Concepts,” grouping of abstract ideas as they relate to providing applications such as digital forms that needs to be filled out to user devices based on relationship to functions for business or transaction process including performing mathematical operation to encrypt associated data. More specifically, the following non-underlined claim elements recite the abstract idea while the underlined, bolded claim elements recite additional elements according to MPEP 2106.04(a).
Claims 1, as similarly as 8 and 15,
A computing apparatus comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
receive a request from a client device, the request comprising a link and encrypted data generated by a contactless card;
determine, based on the encrypted data, one or more functions to process the encrypted data;
select an application that includes the one or more functions to process the encrypted data; and
transmit the application to the client device.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because, when analyzed under prong two of step 2A of the Alice/Mayo test (See MPEP 2106.04(d)), the additional elements are merely used as circuitry and tools to perform an abstract idea and generally link the use of a judicial exception to a particular technological environment. Specifically, these additional elements perform the steps or functions of the abstract idea. Viewed as a whole, the use of the additional elements as a tools to implement the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it requires no more than a computer performing functions that correspond to acts required to carry out the abstract idea. The additional elements do not involve improvements to the functioning of a computer, or to any other technology or technical field (MPEP 2106.05(a)), and the claims do not apply or use the abstract idea in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception (MPEP 2106.05(e) and Vanda Memo). Therefore, the claims do not, for example, purport to improve the functioning of a computer. Nor do they effect an improvement in any other technology or technical field. Additionally, the additional element of “encrypted data generated by a contactless card,” also does not improve a computer as it represents the mere performance of a mathematical calculation by a computer. Accordingly, the additional elements do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea, and the claims are directed to an abstract idea.
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because, when analyzed under step 2B of the Alice/Mayo test (See MPEP 2106.05), using the additional elements to perform the steps amounts to no more than using a computer or processor to automate and implement the abstract idea. As discussed above, taking the claim elements separately, these additional elements perform the steps or functions of the abstract idea. These functions correspond to the actions required to perform the abstract idea. Viewed as a whole, the combination of elements recited in the claims merely recite the concept of providing applications such as forms that needs to be filled out to user devices based on relationship to functions to business or transaction process including performing mathematical operation to encrypt associated data. Therefore, the use of these additional elements does no more than employ the computer as a tool to automate and implement the abstract idea. Further, the additional element of generating encrypted data also does not improve a computer as it represents the mere performance of a mathematical calculation by a computer. The use of a computer or processor to merely automate and implement the abstract idea cannot provide significantly more than the abstract idea itself (MPEP 2106.05 (f) & (h)). Therefore, the claim is not patent eligible.
Dependent claims 2-7, 9-14 and 16-20 further describe the abstract idea of processing event data of users and controlling access to the private/public data. That is, although claims 5, 12 and 17 recites further functional steps, each of the dependent claims simply substantiate the abstract idea. The dependent claims do not include additional elements that integrate the abstract idea into a practical application or that provide significantly more than the abstract idea. Therefore, the dependent claims are also not patent eligible.
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, 5, 7-8, 12, 14-15 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Quinn et al. (US 9,069,869 B1) in view of Chou (US 2016/0149870 A1) in further view of Royyuru et al. (US 2012/0317035 A1).
With respect to claims 1, 8 and 15, Quinn discloses: A method, A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a processor of an application server, A computing apparatus comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: (Fig. 2; Col. 3, Lines 31-40)
receiving, by an application server, a request from a client device, (Figs. 3, 9; Col. 4, Lines 34-39 “The web server 202 is an application for serving content across the communication network 120… The web server 202 receives user requests from client device 110 to provide web pages”)
the request comprising a link and encrypted data (Col. 2, Lines 1-4 “Upon the user's request, the user data is encrypted and embedded into a file (e.g., a web page or equivalent.” Lines 11-16 “A user may open a link in the file and the encrypted data is transmitted to the server system.” Col. 6, Lines 45-60)
(Fig. 4; Col. 6, Lines 45-65 “Web server 202 forwards the file 1400 to the data restoring module 220. The data restoring module 220 invokes 460 encryption/decryption module 240 to decrypt the data. Once the user data is decrypted at step 460, server system 130 loads 470 the decrypted data into the online application 600 that is executed on the server system 130 and with which a user was previously working, thereby restoring its state to the point at which the user left it.”)
selecting, by the server, an application (Col. 3, Lines 53-57 “A web page may use a variety of definitional and programming languages to control how information is presented. The application server 204 generates or retrieves various web pages based on user input,”)
that includes the one or more functions to process the encrypted data; (Figs. 4-5; Col. 4, Lines 44-49; Col. 3, Lines 48-53; Col. 6, Lines 61-67 “Once the user data is decrypted at step 460, server system 130 loads 470 the decrypted data into the online application 600 that is executed on the server system 130 and with which a user was previously working, thereby restoring its state to the point at which the user left it.”) and
transmitting, by the server, the application to the client device. (Fig. 4; Col. 4, Lines 40-44; Col. 6, Line 65-Col. 7, Line 9 “The online application 600 generates a page with some or all of the loaded user data, which is then sent 475 to the client device 110, where it is provided 480 to a user. The application 600 is restored to the same page or location where the user left off… application page 600 is displayed to a user with the previously entered user data. The user can continue working with the application 600 from where the user left off.”)
Quinn does not explicitly disclose a link and encrypted data generated by a contactless card.
However, Chou disclose a link and encrypted data generated by a contactless card. (Fig. 2; Par. [0025] “In step 201, the processor 132 of the card device 13 generates an application dynamic link program based on an application verification code that corresponds to the application 135 stored in the protected zone 133 of the storage module 131 of the card device 13, and encrypts the application dynamic link program with the reference application key 137.”
Therefore, 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 to simply substitute generation of users data by applications that include links and encrypted data (Abstract; Col. 2, Lines 1-4, 11-16) of Quinn in view of Chou in order to provide the users data securely to online server systems to process the users data (Quinn, Fig. 4) and to perform application verification procedures before applications are provided to user devices and executed (Chou, Par. [0024]). ("Express suggestion to substitute one equivalent technique for another need not be present to render such substitution obvious"; In re Fout, 213 USPQ 532 (CCPA 1982), In re Siebentritt, 152 USPQ 618 (CCPA 1967); Ex Parte Smith, 83 USPQ2d 1509 (Bd. Pat. App. & Int. 2007); KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 82 USPQ2d 1385 (U.S. 2007)).
Neither Chou nor does Quinn explicitly disclose determining, by the server based on the encrypted data, one or more functions.
Royyuru disclose determining, by the server based on the encrypted data, one or more functions. (Fig. 4; Par. [0036] “determining the real PAN can comprise decrypting the dynamic PAN using a key maintained by the payment processor system…”)
Therefore, 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 to simply substitute decrypting of the encrypted data received from user devices (Fig. 4) of Quinn, Chou in view of Royyuru in order to process encrypted data before processing users request (Quinn, Fig. 4) and to verify/authenticate encrypted data received to stored data before further processing of encrypted data received from user devices (Chou, Par. [0068]). ("Express suggestion to substitute one equivalent technique for another need not be present to render such substitution obvious"; In re Fout, 213 USPQ 532 (CCPA 1982), In re Siebentritt, 152 USPQ 618 (CCPA 1967); Ex Parte Smith, 83 USPQ2d 1509 (Bd. Pat. App. & Int. 2007); KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 82 USPQ2d 1385 (U.S. 2007)).
With respect to claims 5, 12 and 19, Quinn, Chou in view of Royyuru discloses all the limitations as described above. Additionally, Quinn discloses: wherein the one or more functions comprise:
extracting the encrypted data from the link,
decoding the encrypted data, (Figs. 2, 4; Col. 6, Lines 45-60 “Web server 202 forwards the file 1400 to the data restoring module 220. The data restoring module 220 invokes 460 encryption/decryption module 240 to decrypt the data.”) and
transmitting the encrypted data to an authentication server.
With respect to claims 7 and 14, Quinn, Chou in view of Royyuru discloses all the limitations as described above. Additionally, Quinn discloses wherein the application is an instant application or a progressive web application. (“web page”). (Col. 3, Lines 53-57 “A web page may use a variety of definitional and programming languages to control how information is presented. The application server 204 generates or retrieves various web pages based on user input,”)
Claims 2-4, 9-11 and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Quinn et al. (US 9,069,869 B1) in view of Chou (US 2016/0149870 A1) in further view of Royyuru et al. (US 2012/0317035 A1) in further view of Reed et al. (US 2009/0249076 A1).
With respect to claims 2, 9 and 16, Quinn, Chou in view of Royyuru discloses all the limitations as described above.
Neither Quinn, Chou nor does Royyuru explicitly disclose:
wherein the request further comprises one or more attributes of the client device,
wherein the server selects the application based on the one or more attributes of the client device.
Reed disclose:
wherein the request (“link is activated by user”) further comprises one or more attributes (“user agent string”) of the client device, (Figs. 11-12; Pars. [0145] “Connection 1216 may be used to connect to the provisioning server 1230 based upon the address referenced in URL 630. Server 100 may transmit a URL 630 to mobile device 300 via connection 1208 using a URL transmission routine 631. In the exemplary embodiment depicted in FIG. 12, URL 630 is the address of provisioning server 1230. In the embodiment of FIG. 12, provisioning server 1230 hosts installation package 640 for the mobile device software 21… In an embodiment, information about the specifics of mobile device 300 is determined by examining the user agent string. According to this embodiment, when the secure link is activated by user 30, provisioning server 1230 uses a user agent string associated with mobile device 300 to determine the correct version of mobile application software 1212 to send to mobile device 300 via connection 1216. The user agent string (not shown) is sent via connection 1216 to provisioning server 1230.”)
wherein the server selects the application based on the one or more attributes of the client device. (Fig. 12; Par. [0145] “The version of mobile device software 21 selected for mobile device 300 is based on the device's characteristics and capabilities (e.g., the manufacturer, model, processing capability, memory, and storage capacity). Mobile device software 21 is then sent to mobile device 300 to be installed.”)
Therefore, 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 to simply substitute the data provided by users via user device during application request (Col. 4, Lines 34-39) of Quinn, Chou, Royyuru in view of Reed in order to process received data before presentation to users using proper format on to the user devices (Quinn, Figs. 4-6) and to select user requested applications based on the user devices’ characteristics and capabilities (Reed, Par. [0145]). ("Express suggestion to substitute one equivalent technique for another need not be present to render such substitution obvious"; In re Fout, 213 USPQ 532 (CCPA 1982), In re Siebentritt, 152 USPQ 618 (CCPA 1967); Ex Parte Smith, 83 USPQ2d 1509 (Bd. Pat. App. & Int. 2007); KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 82 USPQ2d 1385 (U.S. 2007)).
With respect to claims 3, 10 and 17, Quinn, Chou, Royyuru in view of Reed discloses all the limitations as described above.
Neither Quinn, Chou nor does Royyuru explicitly disclose: wherein the one or more attributes of the client device comprise:
an operating system of the client device,
types of applications supported by the operating system,
versions of software installed on the client device,
a speed of a network connection of the client device, and
a battery life of the client device.
Reed disclose: wherein the one or more attributes of the client device comprise:
versions of software installed on the client device, (Pars. [0118], [0136] [0145] “During the provisioning process, device-type information from mobile device 300 is used to determine the appropriate version of mobile device software 21 to be downloaded via connection 1216.”)
Therefore, 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 to simply substitute the data provided by users via user device during application request (Col. 4, Lines 34-39) of Quinn, Chou, Royyuru in view of Reed in order to process received data before presentation to users using proper format on to the user devices (Quinn, Figs. 4-6) and to select user requested applications based on the user devices’ characteristics and capabilities (Reed, Par. [0145]). ("Express suggestion to substitute one equivalent technique for another need not be present to render such substitution obvious"; In re Fout, 213 USPQ 532 (CCPA 1982), In re Siebentritt, 152 USPQ 618 (CCPA 1967); Ex Parte Smith, 83 USPQ2d 1509 (Bd. Pat. App. & Int. 2007); KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 82 USPQ2d 1385 (U.S. 2007)).
With respect to claims 4, 11 and 18, Quinn, Chou, Royyuru in view of Reed discloses all the limitations as described above.
Neither Quinn, Chou nor does Royyuru explicitly disclose: wherein the one or more attributes of the client device indicate the application is not installed on the client device.
Reed disclose: wherein the one or more attributes of the client device indicate the application is not installed on the client device. (Fig. 13; Pars. [0145] “According to this embodiment, when the secure link is activated by user 30, provisioning server 1230 uses a user agent string associated with mobile device 300…” [0162] “In step 1332, a determination is made regarding whether the mobile application is present (i.e., installed) on the mobile device… If it is determined that the mobile application has not been previously installed on the mobile device, control is passed to step 1333.” [0166] “In an embodiment, the mobile application includes a Java applet received from the provisioning server. During this step, device-type information received from the mobile device in step 1337 is used to determine the appropriate mobile application to be sent. Information about the specifics of the mobile device may be automatically determined by the provisioning server in this step.” )
Therefore, 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 to simply substitute the data provided via user device during application request (Col. 4, Lines 34-39) of Quinn, Chou, Royyuru in view of Reed in order to process received data before presentation to users using proper format on to the user devices (Quinn, Figs. 4-6) and to select user requested applications based on the user devices’ characteristics and capabilities (Reed, Par. [0145]). ("Express suggestion to substitute one equivalent technique for another need not be present to render such substitution obvious"; In re Fout, 213 USPQ 532 (CCPA 1982), In re Siebentritt, 152 USPQ 618 (CCPA 1967); Ex Parte Smith, 83 USPQ2d 1509 (Bd. Pat. App. & Int. 2007); KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 82 USPQ2d 1385 (U.S. 2007)).
Claims 6, 13 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Quinn et al. (US 9,069,869 B1) in view of Chou (US 2016/0149870 A1) in further view of Royyuru et al. (US 2012/0317035 A1) in further view of Flitcroft et al. (US 2009/0037333 A1).
With respect to claims 6, 13 and 20, Quinn, Chou in view of Royyuru discloses all the limitations as described above.
Neither Quinn, Chou nor does Royyuru explicitly disclose: wherein the one or more functions comprise:
receiving a virtual account number from a virtual account number generator and
providing the virtual account number to an autofill service of an operating system of the client device.
Flitcroft discloses: wherein the one or more functions comprise:
receiving a virtual account number from a virtual account number generator (Figs. 15; Pars. [0053], [0079], [0240] “The limited use number is then transmitted to the RAD support server 1506 for issuance to the user via RAD 1504.” [0336]) and
providing the virtual account number to an autofill service of an operating system of the client device.
Therefore, 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 to simply substitute the data provided via user device during application request (Fig. 7) of Quinn, Chou, Royyuru in view of Flitcroft in order to provide processing logic for managing financing (Quinn, Col. 4, Lines 40-49) and to allow users complete payment transactions using secure virtual account numbers during online shopping (Flitcroft, Par. [0240]). ("Express suggestion to substitute one equivalent technique for another need not be present to render such substitution obvious"; In re Fout, 213 USPQ 532 (CCPA 1982), In re Siebentritt, 152 USPQ 618 (CCPA 1967); Ex Parte Smith, 83 USPQ2d 1509 (Bd. Pat. App. & Int. 2007); KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 82 USPQ2d 1385 (U.S. 2007)).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
PGPub Griffin et al. (US 2009/0192935 A1) disclose:
a link by a contactless card; (Fig. 4; Pars. [0049] “Alternatively, the application(s) setup may be facilitated by using another NFC chip, wherein, for example, a pre-loaded NFC card issued by the payment provider system 120 or other entity may be pre-loaded with a basic application, account information, URL, and the like, such that, when touched to an NFC enabled mobile device, the information is transferred to the mobile device to permit access to an OTA site where the application/software download can be effected.”
PGPub Tsui et al. (US 2016/0026997 A1) disclose:
receiving, by an application server, from a client device comprising encrypted data by a contactless card; (Fig. 14A; Pars. [0019] “In some implementations, the extracted information includes an encrypted value and the encrypted value is transmitted to the server or a third party for the transaction.” [0169] “The data entry fields are thus populated based on data from the proximity based card… where encrypted values are extracted from the card, the process 1400 transmits (1460) the encrypted values to the server or a third party for the transaction.”)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WODAJO GETACHEW whose telephone number is (469)295-9069. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-6:00 CST.
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/WODAJO GETACHEW/Examiner, Art Unit 3697
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