DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This is in response to the correspondence filed on 08/13/24. Claims 1-5 and 7-22 are still pending and have been considered below.
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)(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) 1-5, 7-9 and 15-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Fleck et al. (2022/0230263).
Claim 1: Fleck et al. discloses a digital verification system comprising:
a server comprising one or more processors and memory having stored thereon non- transitory machine instruction that when executed by the processors are configured to perform functions [pages 10-11, paragraph 0140];
the non-transitory machine instructions comprising an application having a user interface module [page 7, paragraph 0111];
the non-transitory machine instructions comprising an identification verification module configured to receive a digital copy of a physical identification document [page 7, paragraphs 0113-0114] and an image or video of a user to confirm the identity of the user relative to the physical identification document [pages 7-8, paragraphs 0118 & 0120-0121 & 0127]; and
a digital wallet of the user configured to communicate with a blockchain open ledger [page 1, paragraph 0010], wherein the application is configured to generate a nonfungible token (NFT) associated with the user and associate the NFT to the digital wallet of the user [pages 1-2, paragraphs 0011-0012].
Claim 2: Fleck et al. discloses the digital verification system of claim 1, wherein the NFT comprises metadata comprising claims, the claims contain information related to the user but do not provide specific information of the user [page 2, paragraphs 0013-0014].
Claim 3: Fleck et al. discloses the digital verification system of claim 2, wherein the claims include information of the user in a hashed format [pages 2-3, paragraphs 0014 & 0018].
Claim 4: Fleck et al. discloses the digital verification system of claim 2, wherein the claims include an indication of an age grouping [page 2, paragraphs 0011 & 0013-0014 | page 3, paragraph 0022].
Claim 5: Fleck et al. discloses the digital verification system of claim 2, wherein the NFT is configured to be non-transferable, and the digital verification system is configured through the NFT and/or entries written to the blockchain open ledger to minimize unauthorized modification of the NFT [page 1, paragraphs 0008-0009 | pages 6-7, paragraph 0108].
Claim 7: Fleck et al. discloses the digital verification system of claim 1, wherein the claims are stored in a metadata URL [page 7, paragraph 0114 | page 8, paragraph 0119.
Claim 8: Fleck et al. discloses the digital verification system of claim 1, wherein the claims are configured to be retrieved using a json URL [page 2, paragraph 0016].
Claim 9: Fleck et al. discloses a method of creating a digital identification using a digital verification system, comprising:
providing a user interface using a user interface module of the digital verification system [page 7, paragraph 0111];
creating an identification through the user interface by receiving information about a user [page 7, paragraphs 0113-0114];
creating a digital wallet using a wallet generation module of the digital verification system [page 1, paragraph 0010];
receiving a data file relating to an original identification document of the user [page 7, paragraphs 0113-0114];
validating the original identification document of the user [pages 7-8, paragraphs 0118 & 0120-0121 & 0127]; and
creating a non-fungible token for verification related to a sovereign jurisdiction and the identification [pages 1-2, paragraphs 0011-0012].
Claim 15: Fleck et al. discloses a method of creating a digital identification using a digital verification system, comprising:
confirming a user identity of a user with the digital verification system [page 7, paragraphs 0113-0114];
receiving information about the user [page 7, paragraphs 0113-0114];
creating a digital identification as a nonfungible token (NFT) [pages 1-2, paragraphs 0011-0012];
associating one or more claims with the NFT [page 2, paragraphs 0013-0014];
storing the NFT in a user's digital wallet [page 1, paragraph 0010];
validating an attribute of the user using the claims associated with the NFT [pages 7-8, paragraphs 0118 & 0120-0121 & 0127].
Claim 16: Fleck et al. discloses the method of claim 15, further comprising determining one or more claims from the received information about the user [page 2, paragraphs 0013-0014].
Claim 17: Fleck et al. discloses the method of claim 16, wherein at least one of the claims of the one or more claims is related to a user's age grouping [page 2, paragraphs 0011 & 0013-0014 | page 3, paragraph 0022].
Claim 18: Fleck et al. discloses the method of claim 16, further comprising securing the NFT by hashing information of the NFT and storing the hash on an open ledger [pages 2-3, paragraphs 0014 & 0018].
Claim 19: Fleck et al. discloses the method of claim 18, wherein the NFT is configured to prevent transfer between user wallets [page 1, paragraphs 0008-0009 | pages 6-7, paragraph 0108].
Claim 20: Fleck et al. discloses the method of claim 19, wherein the user identity is confirmed using identification documents that are authenticated [pages 7-8, paragraphs 0118 & 0120-0121 & 0127].
Claim 21: Fleck et al. discloses the method of claim 20, wherein information associated with the identification documents are expunged from the system after authentication [page 12, paragraph 0156].
Claim 22: Fleck et al. discloses the method of claim 21, further comprising expunging personal information from the system after creation of the NFT [page 12, paragraph 0156].
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.
Claim(s) 10-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fleck et al. (2022/0230263) in view of Clark et al. (2023/0139878).
Claim 10: Fleck et al. discloses the method of claim 9, but does not explicitly disclose further comprising generating a new identification document for the user and the sovereign jurisdiction.
However, Clark et al. discloses a similar invention [page 1, paragraph 0007] and further discloses further comprising generating a new identification document for the user and the sovereign jurisdiction [pages 5-6, paragraphs 0044-0045].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the disclosure of Fleck et al. with the additional features of Clark et al., in order to establish long-term authenticity of non-fungible tokens, as suggested by Clark et al. [page 1, paragraph 0006].
Claim 11: Fleck et al. and Clark et al. disclose the method of claim 10, and Clark et al. further discloses further comprising sending the new identification document to the user [page 6, paragraph 0046].
Claim 12: Fleck et al. and Clark et al. disclose the method of claim 11, and Clark et al. further discloses further comprising encrypting the original identification document and sending to a jurisdiction system [page 6, paragraph 0046].
Claim 13: Fleck et al. and Clark et al. disclose the method of claim 12, and Fleck et al. further discloses wherein the data file is an image of the original identification document of the user [pages 7-8, paragraphs 0118 & 0120-0121 & 0127].
Claim 14: Fleck et al. and Clark et al. disclose the method of claim 13, and Fleck et al. further discloses wherein the original identification document was issued by any sovereign jurisdiction to confirm an identity of the user [page 2, paragraph 0012].
Conclusion
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/EDWARD ZEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2435