DETAILED ACTION
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 Status
The claims filed 11/7/2025 are examined herein.
Claims 1-6, 8-13, and 15-20 are pending.
Claims 1, 8, and 15 are independent.
Claims 1, 3-5, 8, 10-12, 15, and 17-19 are currently amended.
Claims 2, 6, 9, 13, 16, and 20 are original.
Claims 7 and 14 are canceled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/7/2025 have been fully considered but they are not fully persuasive.
Double Patenting
The non-statutory double patenting rejections of claims 1-6, 8-13, and 15-20 are maintained herein absent any specific arguments from Applicant.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used to overcome the rejection. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
35 U.S.C. 101
Applicant’s arguments regarding the prior rejection of claims 1-6, 8-13, and 15-20 under 35 U.S.C. 101 have been considered and are persuasive. Independent claims 1, 8, and 15, considered as a whole and as an ordered combination of elements, improve the accuracy of a real-time authentication/authorization system.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
US 12,112,329 B2
Claims 1-6, 8-13, and 15-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-5 and 7 of U.S. Patent No. 12,112,329 B2. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they recite substantially similar limitations drawn to image-based authorization. Instants claims 1-6 are anticipated by reference claims 1-5 and 7 as demonstrated by the following claim chart. Instant claims 8-13 and 15-20 are corresponding device and non-transitory computer-readable medium claims which recite substantially similar limitations as instant claims 1-6 and are rejected as being obvious over the same reference claims.
Instant Claims
Reference Claims (US 12,112,329 B2)
1. A method comprising:
receiving, by a first computing device and from a second computing device, a first message for authorization of a user request associated with a user account;
causing, on a graphical user interface on a user device associated with the user account, output of:
a plurality of user selectable options, each associated with a respective category; and
a prompt to take one or more photos that depict a physical environment where the user request is made;
receiving, from the user device:
the one or more photos; and
a selection, of one of the plurality of user selectable options, that indicates the user request belonging to a first category;
providing, as input to, a trained machine learning model, at least a portion of the one or more photos:
receiving, as output from the trained machine learning model and in response to the input, an identification of one or more objects in the physical environment associated with the user request; and
identifying, based on the one or more photos and the one or more objects, one or more times of a day when the one or more photos were taken;
determining, based on the one or more objects and the one or more times of the day, that the user request belongs to the first category; and
transmitting, to a third computing device and based on a determination that authorizing a user request of the first category does not violate a category restriction, a second message indicating an authorization of the user request.
1. A method comprising:
receiving, by a first computing device and from a second computing device, a request, associated with a user account, to approve a transaction;
receiving, from a database, a message indicating that the user account is subject to a transaction category restriction;
processing the request to identify, based on data in the request, that the transaction belongs to a first category;
transmitting, to a third computing device and based on a determination that approving a transaction of the first category violates the transaction category restriction, a declination of the request;
causing, after the request is declined and on a graphical user interface associated with a user device, output of:
a plurality of user selectable options, each associated with a respective transaction category; and a
an instruction to take one or more photos that depict a physical environment where the transaction is requested;
receiving, from the user device;
the one or more photos; and
a selection, of one of the plurality of user selectable options, that indicates the transaction belonging to a second category;
providing, to a machine learning model, the one or more photos;
receiving, as output from the machine learning model, a prediction of one or more times of day when the one or more photos were taken;
processing, using one or more object recognition algorithms and based on the one or more times of day satisfying a threshold, the one or more photos to identify one or more objects in the physical environment where the transaction is requested;
determining, based on comparing the one or more objects to one or more reference objects associated with the second category, that the transaction belongs to the second category, wherein the second category is different from the first category; and
transmitting, to the third computing device and based on a determination that approving a transaction of the second category does not violate the transaction category restriction, an approval of the transaction.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second computing device comprises a smart card reader or a point of sale (POS) device.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second computing device comprises a smart card reader or a point of sale (POS) device.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the prompt comprises a second request to take the one or more photos within a time range after the prompt is sent, and wherein the providing the one or more photos is based on determining that the one or more photos were received within the time range.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the instruction comprises a second request to take the one or more photos within a time range after the instruction is sent, and wherein the processing the one or more photos is based on determining that the one or more photos were received within the time range
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more photos each depict the physical environment from a different perspective, and wherein the identification of the one or more photos to identifies a first object based on different perspectives of the object.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more photos each depict the physical environment from a different perspective, and wherein processing the one or more photos to identify the one or more objects comprises identifying a first object based on different perspectives of the object.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the user device, authentication information associated with the one or more photos; and authenticating, based on the authentication information, that the one or more photos depict the physical environment where the user request is made.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprises: receiving, from the user device, authentication information associated with the one or more photos; and authenticating, based on the authentication information, that the one or more photos depict the physical environment where the transaction is requested.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: training, using training data comprising a plurality of photos depicting a plurality of photos at different times of day, the machine learning model to output, in response to an input photo, a prediction of a time of day when the input photo was taken.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprises: training, using training data comprising a plurality of photos depicting a plurality of photos at different times of day, the machine learning model to output, in response to an input photo, a prediction of a time of day when the input photo was taken.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Huang (US 2017/0295177 A1) discloses an identity verification method performed at a terminal including: displaying and/or playing in an audio form action guide information selected from a preset action guide information library, and collecting a corresponding set of action images within a preset time window; performing matching detection on the collected set of action images and the action guide information, to obtain a living body detection result indicating whether a living body exists in the collected set of action images; according to the living body detection result that indicates that a living body exists in the collected set of action images: collecting user identity information and performing verification according to the collected user identity information, to obtain a user identity information verification result; and determining the identity verification result according to the user identity information verification result.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIC T WONG whose telephone number is (571)270-3405. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm M-F.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael W Anderson can be reached at 571-270-0508. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ERIC T WONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3693
ERIC WONG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3693