DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
This action is in reply to amendment and response filed on 11/12/25. Claims 1-14 were cancelled. Claim 15 was amended. Claims 15-20 are pending and examined.
Response to Arguments
101: The Applicant’s amendments and arguments have been fully considered but are not persuasive.
The Applicant essentially argues that the amended claims do not recite an abstract idea.
The Examiner disagrees.
The Applicant’s arguments are moot due to substantive amendments. Per example, claim 15 recites “implementing a marketplace for transactions associated with the digital voucher, where the marketplace is blockchain-based and is configured to facilitate a sale of the digital voucher from a seller to a buyer” which includes additional elements (e.g.: the marketplace is blockchain-based). Therefore, the amendments necessitate reconsideration of the claims.
As such, an updated rejection is provided that addresses the amended claims.
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 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. (Step 1) The claims recite a process (claim 15). For the purposes of this analysis, representative claim 8 is addressed. (Step 2A, prong 1) Abstract ideas are in bold below, and represent organizing human activity as a method of verifying a user and facilitating a sale of a financial asset associated with the user, as are all a form of commercial or legal interactions.
obtaining from an interface a request to generate a digital voucher, where the request is obtained from a user that is authenticated and authorized by an encryption component;
in response to authenticating and authorizing the user, deploying the digital voucher on a distributed ledger;
implementing a marketplace for transactions associated with the digital voucher, where the marketplace is blockchain-based and is configured to facilitate a sale of the digital voucher from a seller to a buyer;
in response to a redemption of the digital voucher, destroying the digital voucher and removing the digital voucher from the distributed ledger.
(Step 2A prong 2) The additional elements are as follows:
“from an interface”, “digital [voucher]”. This is general linking as “from an interface”, “digital” do no more than link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use.
“authenticated […] by an encryption component”. This is merely “apply it” as the authenticating by an encryption component is claimed at a high level of generality, receives the information, performs the abstract idea, and outputs the results.
“deploying the digital voucher on a distributed ledger”. This is merely “apply it” as deploying is claimed at a high level of generality, receives the information, performs the abstract idea, and outputs the results. This is also general linking as “deploying … on a distributed ledger” does no more than link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use.
“[the marketplace] is blockchain-based”. This is also general linking as “is blockchain-based” does no more than link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use.
“removing the digital voucher from the distributed ledger”. This is merely “apply it” as removing is claimed at a high level of generality, receives the information, performs the abstract idea, and outputs the results.
(Step 2B) The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration into a practical application, the additional elements amount do no more than provide mere instructions to apply the abstract idea of using generic computer components. The claim elements when considered separately and in an ordered combination, do not add significantly more than implementing the abstract idea of verifying a user and facilitating a sale of a financial asset associated with the user, over a generic computer network with generic computing elements, and generic hardware.
Analysis of dependent claims 16-18, recited additional details which only further narrow the abstract idea and do not add any additional features, alone or in combination, that would provide a practical application or provide significantly more.
Analysis of dependent claim 19, recited “automatically deploying a smart contract on the distributed ledger in response to a predefined condition being satisfied, where the smart contract is configured to execute operations associated with the digital voucher”, additional details which further narrow the abstract idea and additional elements.
The additional elements are as follows:
“automatically deploying a smart contract on the distributed ledger […] where the smart contract is configured to execute operations associated with the digital voucher”. This is merely “apply it” as automatically deploying the smart contract and the smart contract executing operations are claimed at a high level of generality, receives the information, performs the abstract idea, and outputs the results. Furthermore, this is also general linking as the “distributed ledger” and the “smart contract” do no more than link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use.
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration into a practical application, the additional elements amount do no more than provide mere instructions to apply the abstract idea of using generic computer components. The claim elements when considered separately and in an ordered combination, do not add significantly more than implementing the abstract idea of exchanging assets, over a generic computer network with generic computing elements, and generic hardware.
Analysis of dependent claim 20, recited “wherein the digital voucher is stored in a digital wallet and the digital wallet is used for transactions in the marketplace”, additional details which further narrow the abstract idea and additional elements.
The additional elements are as follows:
“the digital voucher is stored in a digital wallet and the digital wallet is used”. This is merely “apply it” as storing in a digital wallet is claimed at a high level of generality, receives the information, performs the abstract idea, and outputs the results. Furthermore, this is also general linking as the “digital wallet is used” does no more than link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use.
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration into a practical application, the additional elements amount do no more than provide mere instructions to apply the abstract idea of using generic computer components. The claim elements when considered separately and in an ordered combination, do not add significantly more than implementing the abstract idea of exchanging assets, over a generic computer network with generic computing elements, and generic hardware.
Conclusion
Reference, made of record, not relied upon, pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure, includes US 20230368189 A1 (Ambrose) disclosing purchasing customized non-fungible tokens.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/BROCK E TURK/Examiner, Art Unit 3692
/RYAN D DONLON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3692