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 .
Acknowledgements
The reply filed 03/19/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 1, 7-10, 12, 16, 23, and 26 have been amended. Claims 2, 5-6, 13-15, 17-21, and 24 have been canceled. Claims 1, 3-4, 7-12, 16, 22-23, and 25-29 are pending and presented for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendment to claim 1 has overcome the claim objection set forth in the Non-Final Rejection 12/31/2025. Therefore, the previous claim objection to claim 1 has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed 03/19/2026 with respect to the 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection of claims 1, 3-4, 6-12, 16, and 21-29 set forth in the Non-Final Rejection 12/31/2025 have been fully considered, but they are not persuasive.
In response to Applicant’s remarks under “i. Step 2A (Prong 2) The claimed invention integrates the alleged abstract idea into a practical application,” controlling access to a permissioned blockchain is not a technical field or technology. A permissioned blockchain being a financial transaction ledger as recited is merely a data structure that records financial information, and access control to such information is not a technology and/or technical field. Therefore, improvement to the access control itself is not an improvement to the functioning of a computer, technology, and/or technical field. Furthermore, the claimed invention does not claim any limitations that suggest “restricting the information available to the accounting system using the claimed access control methods.” The claim language currently recites limitations to grant the accounting system permission to read data related to the monitored entity, but does not restrict the accounting system from other data as purported by the Applicant’s remarks. Therefore, even if access control to permissioned blockchain is considered a technical field, to which the Examiner is not acquiescing, the purported improvements are not reflected based on the current claim language because there are no limitations that suggest such selective restriction of permissions to other data.
In response to Applicant’s remarks under “ii. Step 2B: The claims, as a whole, amount to something significantly more than the abstract idea,” as noted above, controlling access to a financial ledger is not a technical field, and therefore, the claimed invention cannot amount to an improvement to a technology or technical field. Furthermore, there is no language that suggests the claimed invention “enable[s] real-time access of an accounting system to financial transactions stored on a permissioned blockchain while restricting access of the accounting system to a subset of transactions of entities for which the accounting system has been granted access.” In particular, there is no language that suggests real-time access is enabled and access is restricted otherwise. At most, the claimed invention is granting access to the accounting system, not controlling or restricting its access to other data, and therefore, any purported improvements in the remarks are not realized in the claim language.
In response to the remarks related to the nonfunctional descriptive material, the amendments to claims 1, 12, and 16 have rendered such interpretation moot. Therefore, there are no remarks that need to be addressed here. However, the interpretation for claims 3, 4, and 28 still stand and further clarification is provided below. For purposes of brevity, please see below. The remarks did not address claims 3, 4, and 28, therefore, there is no further response needed.
In response to the remarks related to the prior art rejections, the claimed method of 1 is not directed to the limitations of the accounting system. In particular, claim 1 is a computer-implemented method for controlling access to a permissioned blockchain, not a method for what an accounting system is capable of doing. The amended limitation “wherein the accounting system is configured to record and categorize financial transactions in which the monitored entity is a payment participant” has not been positively recited as an active method step for controlling access to a permissioned blockchain. MPEP 2111.04 states “Claim scope is not limited by claim language that suggests or makes optional but does not require steps to be performed, or by claim language that does not limit a claim to a particular structure. However, examples of claim language, although not exhaustive, that may raise a question as to the limiting effect of the language in a claim are:
(A) "adapted to" or "adapted for" clauses;
(B) "wherein" clauses; and
(C) "whereby" clauses.”
The accounting system being configured to record and categorize financial transactions in which the monitored entity is a payment participant cannot be given patentable weight because the clause does not give meaning and purpose to the manipulative steps. In other words, what the accounting system is configured to do does not give meaning and purpose to any of the steps for controlling access to a permissioned blockchain. However, for purposes of compact prosecution, prior art is provided. Padmanabhan U.S. 2021/0243193 discloses that the blockchain can be used to store financial transactions [0093]. Padmanabhan further discloses that the bank Wells Fargo can be a participant [0255], i.e. a bank is configured to record and categorize financial transactions, and access controls are definable and configurable in relation to participants [0343]. Therefore, Padmanabhan discloses “wherein the accounting system is configured to record and categorize financial transactions in which the monitored entity is a payment participant.” Furthermore, Padmanabhan discloses in [0345] a third party may be a college requesting access to a student’s transcripts, and although the example provided is related to a college and a student, Padmanabhan also suggests the process may be applied to at least financial transactions [0093]. In which case, the third party or college is analogous to the accounting system, and the student is analogous to the monitored entity. Padmanabhan also discloses permissions or privileges for access control associated with transaction data stored on the blockchain in [0297]. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the disclosed steps are also reasonably applicable to a financial transaction ledger regarding transactions in which the monitored entity is recorded as a payment participant.
In regards to the remark that Padmanabhan “provides no teaching of how such an application may be implemented, nor does Padmanabhan provide any meaningful suggestion to one of ordinary skill in the art to lead them to such an application,” it has been shown already that Padmanabhan discloses the steps and operations for controlling access to a blockchain as shown in the Non-Final Rejection 12/31/2025 and below, and Padmanabhan suggests the steps can be applied to a variety of field of uses, including financial transactions, purchase receipts, etc. [0093]. The remarks have failed to specifically point out any steps or operations that Padmanabhan failed to disclose or suggest, but instead, is erroneously focused on how the prior art provides examples with a different field of use than the claimed invention. Such remark cannot be persuasive since it has been demonstrated that Padmanabhan discloses all of the steps and operations for controlling access to a permissioned blockchain. Modifying the third party to be an accounting system and the student to be the monitored entity would still result in the same steps for granting access to the system to read the data related to the monitored entity recorded on the ledger.
In regards to the remark against Lanc U.S. 2013/0212022, Lanc compares the supplied identification code and details of users wishing to take part in a transaction, i.e. payment participants, with those stored within user records, i.e. registered monitored entities of the accounting system, to provide an indication that the user is a registered user, i.e. determine that a payment participant is the monitored entity for the accounting system. Therefore, Lanc discloses the step of comparing a participant to a database of registered participants to determine if the participant is registered with the system, which is analogous to the claimed limitation. The processes are analogous because both are comparing a participant to a registered database of participants to determine that they are a particular entity. In regards to the remark that Lanc does not teach or suggest monitoring transactions concerning a specific user, the claimed invention is not claiming any limitations that suggest it is monitoring transactions concerning a specific user. The claimed invention is also not claiming that the accounting system is notified when the specific user is a participant in a transaction or that the accounting system then records and categorizes the new payment. Therefore, such remarks are not relevant to what is being claimed.
Specification
The substitute specification filed 03/19/2026 has not been entered because it does not conform to 37 CFR 1.125(b) and (c) because: a clean copy of the substitute specification has not been supplied.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
-“wherein read-only access request” in line 4 should be “wherein the read-only access request”
-“to allow the read-only request” in line 7 should be “to allow the read-only access request”
Appropriate correction is required.
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, 3-4, 7-12, 16, 22-23, and 25-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1:
Claims 1, 3-4, 7-12, 16, 22-23, and 25-29 fall into at least one of the four categories of statutory subject matter. The eligibility analysis proceeds to Step 2A.1.
Step 2A.1:
The limitations of independent claim 1 have been denoted with letters by the Examiner for easy reference. Independent claims 12 and 16 recite similar distinguishing features as claim 1, therefore the following eligibility analysis shall apply to all independent claims. The judicial exceptions recited in claim 1 are identified in bold below:
A computer-implemented method for controlling access to a permissioned blockchain, comprising:
receiving, from an accounting system, a read-only access request, being a request for registration as a read-only blockchain user, wherein read-only access request specifies a monitored entity, the monitored entity being a user of the accounting system;
determining whether or not to allow the read-only access request, and
in response to determining to allow the read-only request:
registering the accounting system as a read-only blockchain user, having permission to read data from the permissioned blockchain in an absence of permission to write data to the permissioned blockchain, wherein:
the permissioned blockchain is a financial transaction ledger recording payments between payment participants in exchange for goods or services; and
the accounting system is registered as a read-only blockchain user for the monitored entity, the registration granting the accounting system permission to read data from the financial transaction ledger regarding transactions in which the monitored entity is recorded as a payment participant; and
adding a new block to the financial transaction ledger recording a new payment between payment participants;
comparing the payment participants for the new payment with registered monitored entities of the accounting system to determine that a payment participant is the monitored entity for the accounting system;
notifying the accounting system of the new payment, wherein the accounting system is configured to record and categorize financial transactions in which the monitored entity is a payment participant; and
the computer-implemented method further comprising:
receiving, from one or more read write requester entities, one or more respective read write access requests, each read write access request being a request for registration as a read and write blockchain user; and
determining whether or not to allow each read write access request, and
in response to determining to allow a read write access request, registering the respective read write requester entity as a read and write blockchain user, having permission to read data from the permissioned blockchain and permission to write data to the permissioned blockchain.
Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, the bolded limitations of A, C-E, G, I, K, and M-N recite limitations that are reasonably categorized under mental processes. Specifically, controlling access by determining whether or not to allow an access request, registering the entities, granting permission to read/write data, and comparing payment participants with registered monitored entities are considered concepts that can be practically performed in the human mind, or by a human using a pen and paper, in the form of observation, evaluation and judgment.
Claims 1, 12, and 16 recite at least one abstract idea. The eligibility analysis proceeds to Step 2A.2.
Step 2A.2:
The judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, claim 1 recites the additional element(s) not in bold above.
Additional elements in B, H, J (“notifying…”), and L are considered insignificant extra-solution activities because they amount to no more than mere data gathering. They do not meaningfully limit how access to the permissioned blockchain is controlled MPEP 2106.05(g). Therefore, when the additional elements are considered individually and as an ordered combination with the abstract idea, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
Additional elements in A, F, and J (“wherein the accounting system is configured to…”) have all been recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to no more than generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use, i.e. finance and accounting. Furthermore, merely reciting performing the method steps related to a “permissioned blockchain” is a general usage of a data structure. Therefore, when the additional elements are considered individually and as an ordered combination with the abstract idea, the claims amount to no more than mere software instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer and/or a data structure, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea. These additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
Claims 12 and 16 further recite “non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a computing apparatus having memory hardware and processor hardware, causes the processor hardware to perform a method,” “a computing apparatus comprising memory hardware and processor hardware, the memory hardware storing processing instructions which when executed by the processor hardware, configure the process hardware to,” and “the processor being further configured to” as additional elements. These additional elements and reciting “computer-implemented” have all been recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to no more than generic computing components. Therefore, when the additional elements are considered individually and as an ordered combination with the abstract idea, the claims amount to no more than mere software instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea. These additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
Claims 1, 12, and 16 do not recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. The eligibility analysis proceeds to Step 2B.
Step 2B:
The additional elements, both individually and as an ordered combination, do not amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the outcome of the considerations at Step 2B will be the same when considerations from Step 2A.2 are re-evaluated. Furthermore, the courts have recognized that receiving data (i.e. B and L), electronic recordkeeping (i.e. H), and transmitting data (i.e. J) are well-understood, routine, and conventional functions when they are claimed in a merely generic manner (MPEP 2106.05(d)(II) - “receiving or transmitting data over a network,” Symantec, “electronic recordkeeping,” Alice Corp.). As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept.
Claims 1, 12, and 16 are not patent eligible.
Dependent Claims
Dependent claims 3-4 are considered additional elements but have all been recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to no more than generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use. Therefore, when the limitations are considered individually and as a whole in combination with the independent claims from which they depend, the claims do not recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Dependent claims 7, 22, and 25 recite “receiving an update request from the accounting system” and “responding to the update request with a notification of the identified payments” as additional elements. The identifying step is considered part of the abstract idea of mental processes, i.e. observation. The aforementioned additional elements are considered are considered insignificant extra-solution activities because they do not impose any meaningful limits on how access to the permissioned blockchain is controlled. Furthermore, the courts have recognized that receiving and transmitting data (“receiving an update request…,” “responding to…with a notification…”) are well-understood, routine, and conventional functions when they are claimed in a merely generic manner (MPEP 2106.05(d)(II), “receiving or transmitting data over a network,” Symantec). Therefore, when the additional elements are considered individually and as an ordered combination with the abstract idea, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
Dependent claims 8, 23, and 26 recite limitations related to the read-only certificate, which are considered part of the abstract idea above. Issuing a certificate can be practically performed by a human using a pen and paper. The limitations related to encrypting and decrypting introduce another abstract idea: mathematical concepts. Encrypting and decrypting are considered mathematical calculations. The limitation “replicating the blockchain to read and write blockchain users and to read-only blockchain users” is an additional element. This additional element is considered an insignificant extra-solution activity because it does not impose any meaningful limits on how access to the permissioned blockchain is controlled. Furthermore, the courts have recognized that electronic recordkeeping (“replicating the blockchain…” is analogous to creating another record) is a well-understood, routine, and conventional function when it is claimed in a merely generic manner (MPEP 2106.05(d)(II), “electronic recordkeeping,” Alice Corp.). Therefore, when the additional elements are considered individually and as an ordered combination with the abstract idea(s), these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea(s) into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
Dependent claims 9-10 elaborate on the abstract idea without reciting any new additional elements not already addressed. The “transmitting” and “receiving” steps are given a similar analysis and suffer from the same conclusion(s) as identified above. Therefore, when the limitations are considered individually and as a whole in combination with the independent claims from which they depend, the claims do not recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Dependent claim 11 recite “reconciling the transaction information with a corresponding entry or entries in a general ledger for monitored entity maintained by the accounting system” as an additional element. The “receiving data” step is also an additional element, it is given a similar analysis and suffer from the same conclusion(s) as identified above.
The “reconciling the transaction information…” is considered an insignificant extra-solution activity because it does not impose any meaningful limits on how access to the permissioned blockchain is controlled. Furthermore, such limitation is interpreted to mean updating and/or maintaining the general ledger with the transaction information. The courts have recognized that electronic recordkeeping is a well-understood, routine, and conventional functions when it is claimed in a merely generic manner (MPEP 2106.05(d)(II), “electronic recordkeeping,” Alice Corp.). Therefore, when the limitations are considered individually and as a whole in combination with the independent claims from which they depend, the claims do not recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Dependent claims 27-29 elaborate on the abstract idea without introducing any new additional elements not already addressed. Therefore, when the limitations are considered individually and as a whole in combination with the independent claims from which they depend, the claims do not recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
In summary, the dependent claims considered both individually and as an ordered combination do not provide meaningful limitations to transform the abstract idea(s) into a patent eligible application such that the abstract idea amounts to significantly more than the abstract idea itself. The claims do not recite an improvement to another technology or technical field, an improvement to the functioning of the computer itself, or provide meaningful limitations beyond generally linking an abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, claims 1, 3-4, 7-12, 16, 22-23, and 25-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
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.
Claims 1, 8-9, 12, 16, 23, 26-27, and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Padmanabhan U.S. 2021/0243193 in view of Lanc U.S. 2013/0212022.
Re Claim 1, Padmanabhan teaches a computer-implemented method for controlling access to a permissioned blockchain, comprising:
receiving, from an accounting system, a read-only access request, being a request for registration as a read-only blockchain user, wherein read-only access request specifies a monitored entity, the monitored entity being a user of the accounting system ([0419] – “receives a read request for data stored on the blockchain from a user authenticated with the host organization,” [0343] – “A participant…can be a defined set of users or entities that have ownership or access privileges over specified data in the blockchain,” [0345] – “access request from a third party,” “a third party may be a college requesting to review transcripts of a student,” the third party is analogous to the accounting system, the student of the college being analogous to a monitored entity being a user of the accounting system);
determining whether or not to allow the read-only access request ([0421] – “attains consensus from participating nodes of the blockchain for the write transaction,” the write transaction specifying the user and the read request [0420]), and in response to determining to allow the read-only request;
registering the accounting system as a read-only blockchain user, having permission to read data from the permissioned blockchain in an absence of permission to write data to the permissioned blockchain ([0421] – “allowing the user to read the data identified by the read request, in which the write transaction is added to the blockchain with an indication the user has permission to read the data identified by the read request”), wherein:
the permissioned blockchain is a financial transaction ledger recording payments between payment participants in exchange for goods or services [0093];
the accounting system is registered as a read-only blockchain user for the monitored entity, the registration granting the accounting system permission to read data from the financial transaction ledger regarding transactions in which the monitored entity is recorded as a payment participant ([0346] – “The access request of the third party can then be accepted to grant access to the requested record…in the blockchain,” the requested record being the transcript(s) of the student [0345], i.e. the monitored entity); and
Although the example provided in Padmanabhan is related to a college as the third party and a student as the owner of the requested information, Padmanabhan also suggests the process may be applied to financial transactions, purchase receipts, digital rights management records, or any kind of data that is storable via a payload of a blockchain protocol [0093]. Furthermore, Padmanabhan discloses permissions or privileges for access control associated with transaction data stored on the blockchain in [0297]. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the disclosed steps are also reasonably applicable to a financial transaction ledger regarding transactions in which the monitored entity is recorded as a payment participant.
adding a new block to the financial transaction ledger recording a new payment between payment participants [0093] – “Block payload 169 data stored within the block may relate to any number of a wide array of transactional data…including…financial transactions, ownership information…purchase receipts,” [0209] – “adding a transaction to a new block on the blockchain.”
[…]
notifying the accounting system of the new payment [0375] – “triggering a notification or issuing a confirmation to a transaction requestor,” wherein the accounting system is configured to record and categorize financial transactions in which the monitored entity is a payment participants [0093], [0297]; and
the computer-implemented method further comprising:
receiving, from one or more read write requester entities, one or more respective read write access requests, each read write access request being a request for registration as a read and write blockchain user ([0347] – “receiving a request including an identifier of a requestor, the request to access transaction data having defined privileges” [0334] – “access levels can be defined with two types, a permission level (e.g., read, write, and read/write),” thereby suggesting a request to access can include request to read/write); and
determining whether or not to allow each read write access request ([0348-0349] – determining the read/write privileges), and in response to determining to allow a read write access request, registering the respective read write requester entity as a read and write blockchain user, having permission to read data from the permissioned blockchain and permission to write data to the permissioned blockchain ([0343] – “Access controls (which are also referred to as “permissions”) are definable and configurable in relation to participants, records, record policies, and record authorization,” [0344] – “a record policy can be a junction object that keeps the record and participant access policy…permission level (e.g., read, write, read/write),” [0452] – “permissions, etc., may be updated at anytime through the updating of the access control objects.” Defining, configuring, and/or updating a participant’s, i.e. requester entity, access controls/permissions are analogous to registering the requester entity as a read and write blockchain user).
However, Padmanabhan does not explicitly teach
comparing the payment participants for the new payment with registered monitored entities of the accounting system to determine that a payment participant is the monitored entity for the accounting system.
Lanc discloses a secure authentication and payment system. Specifically, Lanc discloses
comparing the payment participants for the new payment with registered monitored entities of the accounting system to determine that a payment participant is the monitored entity for the accounting system [0082] – “compare the supplied consumer identification code and details with those stored within user records to provide an indication that the user is a registered user.”
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Padmanabhan’s access control method and system with the teachings of comparing the payment participants with registered monitored entities to determine that a payment participant is the monitored entity in Lanc. One would be motivated to make the combination to ensure other users of the system can have confidence that they are transacting with another member of a trusted network Lanc, [0082].
Re Claim 8, Padmanabhan in view of Lanc teach the computer-implemented method according to claim 1, and Padmanabhan in view of Lanc further teach further comprising:
upon registering the accounting system as a read-only blockchain user for the monitored entity, issuing the accounting system with a read-only certificate specific to the monitored entity Padmanabhan, [0420] – “issues a write transaction to the blockchain specifying both (i) the user and (ii) the read request,” [0421] – “the write transaction at the blockchain pursuant to the access controls for the user being validated by the smart contract as allowing the user to read the data identified by the read request”;
replicating the blockchain to read and write blockchain users and to read-only blockchain users Padmanabhan, [0070] – “Blockchain systems use a peer-to-peer (P2P) network of nodes, and consensus algorithms ensure replication of digital data across nodes,” the financial transaction ledger of the blockchain being selectively cryptographically encrypted in the blockchain with an encryption code selected per recorded payment in dependence upon the payment participants Padmanabhan, [0291] – “…the blockchain which is protected by encryption. A request to read data in the blockchain can have any level of granularity where fields, records, metadata or similar data in the blockchain can be separately protected by the process”; and
the read-only certificate specific to the monitored entity being configured to decrypt the financial transaction ledger to obtain a notification of recorded transactions in which the monitored entity is a payment participant, and not to decrypt a remainder of the financial transaction ledger (The “read-only certificate” is interpreted to be an indicator of rights and/or access control for the entity to which it is issued. Padmanabhan, [0296] – “the requested data can be decrypted and accessed” by the requesting node).
Re Claim 9, Padmanabhan in view of Lanc teach the computer-implemented method according to claim 1, and Padmanabhan in view of Lanc further teach the method further comprising, at a computing apparatus:
transmitting, to a blockchain user registration entity operable to register users and associated permissions of the users for accessing the permissioned blockchain, a request for registration as a read-only blockchain user of the permissioned blockchain (Padmanabhan, [0421] – “attains consensus from the participating nodes of the blockchain…pursuant to the access controls,” thereby suggesting the request is transmitted to the participating nodes, the participating nodes being analogous to a “blockchain user registration entity”); and
receiving, from the blockchain user registration entity, notification of registration as a read-only blockchain user of the permissioned blockchain Padmanabhan, [0421] – “attains consensus from the participating nodes.”
Re Claim 29, Padmanabhan in view of Lanc teach the computer-implemented method according to claim 1, and Padmanabhan in view of Lanc further teach wherein
the permissioned blockchain is a private blockchain to which access is controlled by a financial institute Padmanabhan, [0331] – “These access control functions are applicable to both permissioned (i.e., private) and public blockchains.”
Re Claims 12 and 23, they are the non-transitory computer-readable medium claims of claims 1 and 8, respectively. They recite similar distinguishing features as claims 1 and 8. Furthermore, Padmanabhan discloses a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon in [0445]. Therefore, claims 12 and 23 are rejected for the same reasons above.
Re Claims 16, 26, and 27, they are the apparatus claims of claims 1, 8, and 29, respectively. They recite similar distinguishing features as claims 1, 8, and 29. Furthermore, Padmanabhan discloses at least a processor and a memory in [0445-0446]. Therefore, claims 16, 26, and 27 are rejected for the same reasons above.
Claims 3-4 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Padmanabhan U.S. 2021/0243193 in view of Lanc U.S. 2013/0212022 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Cash et al. U.S. Patent 11,373,187 (herein as “Cash”).
Examiner notes the limitations of claim 3 is not given patentable weight. It merely provides context to the requester entity without requiring any steps to be performed. Therefore, the claim does not meaningfully limit how access to a permissioned blockchain is controlled and cannot be given patentable weight MPEP 2111.04. However, for purposes of compact prosecution, prior art is provided below.
Re Claim 3, Padmanabhan in view of Lanc teach the computer-implemented method according to claim 1, however, Padmanabhan in view of Lanc do not explicitly teach wherein
the read and write requester entities include a point-of-sale system, the point-of-sale system being a distributed multi-user system, providing a mechanism for system users to accept payments from customers in exchange for goods or services provided by the system users to the customers; and
the point-of-sale system being registered as a read and write blockchain user of the permissioned blockchain and being configured to record in the financial transaction ledger the accepted payments between the customers and the system users as payment participants.
Cash discloses an interchange system for managing transactions. Specifically, Cash discloses
the read and write requester entities include a point-of-sale system, the point-of-sale system being a distributed multi-user system, providing a mechanism for system users to accept payments from customers in exchange for goods or services provided by the system users to the customers Col. 4, lines 5-15 – “the system may include a point-of-sale (POS) terminal…configured to receive payments in exchange for goods and/or services”; and
the point-of-sale system being registered as a read and write blockchain user of the permissioned blockchain and being configured to record in the financial transaction ledger the accepted payments between the customers and the system users as payment participants Col. 9, lines 43-47 – “The distributed ledger system may support closed enrollment, to provide a ledger that is only accessible to authorized entities,” Col. 5, lines 50-51 – “a record of the transaction may be stored on the distributed ledger.”
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Padmanabhan in view of Lanc’s users (or entities, participants, and/or businesses) with the teachings of a point-of-sale system in Cash. The modification is a simple substitution of one known element, i.e. a point-of-sale system, for another to obtain predictable results.
Examiner notes the limitations of claim 4 is not given patentable weight. It merely provides context to the requester entity without requiring any steps to be performed. Therefore, the claim does not meaningfully limit how access to a permissioned blockchain is controlled and cannot be given patentable weight MPEP 2111.04. However, for purposes of compact prosecution, prior art is provided below.
Re Claim 4, Padmanabhan in view of Lanc teach the computer-implemented method according to claim 1, however, Padmanabhan in view of Lanc do not explicitly teach wherein
the read write requester entities include a financial institute maintaining financial accounts holding currency on behalf of account holding entities, via which financial accounts account holding entities enter into transactions as a payer entity transferring currency from a respective financial account to a payee entity, or as a payee entity receiving currency into a respective financial account from a payer entity; and
the financial institute being registered as a read and write blockchain user of the permissioned blockchain.
Cash discloses an interchange system for managing transactions. Specifically, Cash discloses
the read write requester entities include a financial institute maintaining financial accounts holding currency on behalf of account holding entities, via which financial accounts account holding entities enter into transactions as a payer entity transferring currency from a respective financial account to a payee entity, or as a payee entity receiving currency into a respective financial account from a payer entity Col. 10, lines 44-47 – “Various institutions, such as financial institutions (e.g., banks, credit unions, investment management firms, etc.) may opt into and participate in the distributed leger based interchange system”; and
the financial institute being registered as a read and write blockchain user of the permissioned blockchain Col. 9, lines 43-47 – “The distributed ledger system may support closed enrollment, to provide a ledger that is only accessible to authorized entities (e.g. members of the interchange system consortium)…(e.g., banks)”.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Padmanabhan in view of Lanc’s users (or entities, participants, and/or businesses) with the teachings of a financial institution in Cash. The modification is a simple substitution of one known element, i.e. a financial institution, for another to obtain predictable results.
Examiner notes the limitations of claim 28 is not given patentable weight. It merely provides context to the requester entity and monitored entity without requiring any steps to be performed. Therefore, the claim does not meaningfully limit how access to a permissioned blockchain is controlled and cannot be given patentable weight MPEP 2111.04. However, for purposes of compact prosecution, prior art is provided below.
Re Claim 28, Padmanabhan in view of Lanc teach the computer-implemented method according to claim 1, however, Padmanabhan in view of Lanc do not explicitly teach wherein
at least one of the read write requester entities is a point-of-sale system, and the monitored entity is a user of both the point-of-sale system and the accounting system.
Cash discloses an interchange system for managing transactions. Specifically, Cash discloses
at least one of the read write requester entities is a point-of-sale system (Col. 4, lines 5-15 – “the system may include a point-of-sale (POS) terminal…configured to receive payments in exchange for goods and/or services”), and the monitored entity is a user of both the point-of-sale system and the accounting system (Col. 4, lines 29-32 – “The user may employ the user device, in proximity to the POS terminal 102, to request that a transaction be initiated (e.g., a purchase transaction),” Col. 23, lines 8-10 – “the first entity may have an account with a first financial institution,” the first entity being involved in a transaction, therefore, the first entity is also considered a user.)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Padmanabhan in view of Lanc’s users (or entities, participants, and/or businesses) with the teachings of a point-of-sale system and an accounting system in Cash. The modification is a simple substitution of known elements, i.e. a point-of-sale system and accounting system, for another to obtain predictable results.
Claims 7, 10-11, 22, and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Padmanabhan U.S. 2021/0243193 in view of Lanc U.S. 2013/0212022 as applied to claims 9, 12, 16, and 29 above, and further in view of Drury et al. U.S. 2015/0088707 (herein as “Drury”).
Re Claim 7, Padmanabhan in view of Lanc teach the computer-implemented method according to claim 1, however, Padmanabhan in view of Lanc do not explicitly teach further comprising:
receiving an update request from the accounting system, being the registered read-only blockchain user;
for blocks in the permissioned blockchain having timestamps belonging to a defined time period, identifying payments recorded in the financial transaction ledger in which a payment participant is the monitored entity for the accounting system from which the update request is received; and
responding to the update request with a notification of the identified payments.
Drury discloses systems and methods of access control and system integration. Specifically, Drury discloses
receiving an update request from the accounting system, being the registered read-only blockchain user [0078] – “requested by the accounting application”;
for blocks in the permissioned blockchain having timestamps belonging to a defined time period, identifying payments recorded in the financial transaction ledger in which a payment participant is the monitored entity for the accounting system from which the update request is received [0078] – “generate bank feeds for an accounting server…feed data can include information regarding transactions on a particular account, ” [0121] – “request the data to be included in a periodic data feed (e.g., a nightly feed)”; and
responding to the update request with a notification of the identified payments [0240] – “periodically send feed data to the accounting platform.”
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Padmanabhan in view of Lanc’s access control method and system with the teachings of receiving an update request, identifying payments recorded in which a payment participant is the monitored entity within a defined time period, and responding to the update request with a notification of the identified payments in Drury. One would be motivated to make this combination to allow for both the accountant and the business owner to have real-time visibility into the health of the business Drury, [0031].
Re Claim 10, Padmanabhan in view of Lanc teach the computer-implemented method according to claim 9, however, Padmanabhan in view of Lanc do not explicitly teach wherein
the computing apparatus is the accounting system having, as a user, a payee entity in one or more payments in the financial transaction ledger;
the request for registration as a read-only blockchain user of the permissioned blockchain specifying, as the monitored entity, the user; and
the registration granting, to the accounting system, permission to read data from the financial transaction ledger regarding transactions in which the monitored entity is the payee entity.
Drury discloses systems and methods of access control and system integration. Specifically, Drury discloses
the computing apparatus is the accounting system having, as a user, a payee entity in one or more payments in the financial transaction ledger [0130];
the request for registration as a read-only blockchain user of the permissioned blockchain specifying, as the monitored entity, the user ([0129], “the user” in this instance is interpreted to be the user defined above as a “payee entity,” [0041] – profits are reported, therefore, the client, i.e. user, is a “payee entity”); and
the registration granting, to the accounting system, permission to read data from the financial transaction ledger regarding transactions in which the monitored entity is the payee entity ([0130] – “Once a bank account with the feed service is connected to an accounting software system account,” thereby suggesting the permission is granted.)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Padmanabhan in view of Lanc’s access control method and system with the teachings of granting to the accounting system permission to read data from the financial transaction ledger regarding the monitored entity in Drury. One would be motivated to make this combination to allow for both the accountant and the business owner to have real-time visibility into the health of the business Drury, [0031].
Re Claim 11, Padmanabhan in view of Lanc and Drury teach the computer-implemented method according to claim 10, and Padmanabhan in view of Lanc and Drury further teach further comprising, at the accounting system:
receiving data from the permissioned blockchain comprising transaction information representing one or more transactions in which the monitored entity is the payee entity Drury, [0241] – “The account platform periodically receives the financial account data in a feed”; and
reconciling the transaction information with a corresponding entry or entries in a general ledger for the monitored entity maintained by the accounting system Drury, [0241] – “generates additional bookkeeping data for the corresponding bookkeeping account…as new data is received.”
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Padmanabhan in view of Lanc’s access control method and system with the teachings of receiving data comprising transaction information representing one or more transactions for the monitored entity and reconciling the transaction information with a corresponding entry in a general ledger for the monitored entity in Drury. One would be motivated to make this combination to allow for both the accountant and the business owner to have real-time visibility into the health of the business Drury, [0031].
Re Claim 22, it is the non-transitory computer-readable medium claim of claim 7. It recites similar distinguishing features as claim 7. Therefore, claim 22 is rejected for the same reasons above.
Re Claim 25, it is the apparatus claim of claim 7. It recites similar distinguishing features as claim 7. Therefore, claim 25 is rejected for the same reasons above.
Conclusion
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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/CHRISTINE DANG/Examiner, Art Unit 3698
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