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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 9/13/2024 was filed before the mailing date of a first Office action on the merits. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Status
Claims 21-40 are pending.
Claims 21, 38, and 39 are independent.
Claims 21-37 are previously presented.
Claims 38-40 are withdrawn.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I (Claims 21-37) in the reply filed on 1/5/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that there would be no serious burden on the examiner for maintaining all the inventions together in a single application. This is not found persuasive because there would be a serious search and/or examination burden if restriction were not required because the inventions require a different field of search (e.g., searching different classes/subclasses or electronic resources, or employing different search strategies or search queries).
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 38-40 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 1/5/2026.
Claim Objections
Claim 23 is objected to because of the following informalities: the claim limitation “…configured to that serves…” is ungrammatical. The limitation is understood as “…configured to serve…”.
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 21-37 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claims do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter.
Step 1
Claims 21-37 are directed to a computer program per se (often referred to as “software per se”).
Per MPEP 2106.03, claims that are not directed to any of the statutory categories include: Products that do not have a physical or tangible form, such as information (often referred to as “data per se”) or a computer program per se (often referred to as “software per se”) when claimed as a product without any structural recitations.
Independent claim 1 is directed to a “downloadable application” which comprises a “user downloadable component”, “a goods and/or services provider downloadable component”, and “a financial institution downloadable component”. The broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim covers software without any structural recitations.
Dependent claims 22-24 further recite a “relationship scoring system”. The limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, is not a structural recitation. Thus, the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claims covers software without any structural recitations.
Dependent claims 30-37 further recite “a collaborative value amplification tool”. The limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, is not a structural recitation. Thus, the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim covers software without any structural recitations.
As such, claims 21-37 do not fall within at least one of the four statutory categories of invention.
(Step 1: NO).
Thus, claims 21-37 are ineligible under 35 U.S.C. 101.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hunter (US 2012/0197689 A1) discloses a system and method for providing a dynamic savings allocation account. The dynamic savings allocation account includes customer-defined savings categories within the account that act as sub-accounts. The customer may create savings categories and set parameters such as the goal amount to be reached, the time to reach the goal, how much or what percentage to be allocated to each category per deposit, etc. As the customer deposits funds into the dynamic savings allocation account, the deposit is automatically allocated to each savings category as defined by the customer. As goals are reached, customers may opt to take advantage of group purchasing benefits offered by the financial institution for some in-demand items. Alternatively, the financial institution, in partnering with third-party vendors may perform targeted sales campaigns.
Scipioni (US 2009/0112763 A1) discloses a method and a system to control activities of a financial account. A holder of the financial account may be restricted to transact only with a first set of merchants. The holder of the financial account may be prohibited from transacting with a second set of merchants. The holder of the financial account may further be restricted to transact based on at least one of category or spending limit.
Ageenko (US 2010/0161467 A1) discloses a networked computer system comprising a user, a website of a bank or a financial institution, and a computer software tool. The computer software tool is accessible on the website of the bank or the financial institution and provides personalized lifetime financial planning to the user based upon financial information of the user along with a life event and a life stage of the user in an interactive computer generated timeline. The timeline comprises a past event, a present event, a future event, or a combination thereof of the user. The tool provides an automated reminder to the user based upon information of the user present in the timeline. The user may be a customer of the bank or the financial institution.
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.
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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