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 .
Acknowledgement
The amendment/request for reconsideration dated 01/23/2026 is acknowledged.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 06/04/2026 has been entered.
Status of Claims
Claims 1, 2, 10, 11, 19 and 20 have been amended.
Claims 21-22 are new
Claim 3, 12 has been cancelled.
Claims 1-2, 4-11 and 13-22 remain pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to amended claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching.
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 1-2, 4-11 and 13-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception without significantly more.
Claims 1-2 and 4-9 a method and/or process of financial coaching, wherein claims 10-11 and 13-18 are directed to a system and claims 19-22 are directed to computer readable medium to implement the process.
The method and system having devices are statutory. At least claim 1 is directed to an abstract idea of financial coaching.
Claim 1 can be group as certain methods of organizing human activity being related to economic practices of a financial advisor or educator in the management of personal behavior.
The claim(s) recites, "…receiving,... the one or more feature inputs;
receiving,…, a financial goal of the user; …
monitoring,…, a usage frequency…;
selecting,…, based on the usage frequency, a communication channel;
sending,…a communication containing information…
assessing,…, an effectiveness
obtaining,…, …geolocation and transaction data…;
comparing,…, the geolocation….;
determining,…,
modifying…”
. Accordingly, the process implements the abstract idea of financial coaching.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because, when analyzed under prong two of step 2A (see 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance), the additional elements of elements the claim such as "financial institution computing system", "user device", "logic", and "merchant computing system" represent the use of a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea and/or does more than generally link the abstract idea to a particular field of use. Therefore, the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical as they do more than represent a computer performing functions that correspond to automate the acts of financial. When analyzed under step 2B (See 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance), the claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception itself. Viewed as a whole, the combination of elements recited in the claims merely describe the concept of using rules to authorize a financial transaction using computer technology (e.g. financial institution computing system). Therefore, the use of these additional elements does no more than employ a computer as a tool to automate and/or implement the abstract idea, which cannot provide significantly more than the abstract idea itself (MPEP 2106.05(I)(A)(f) & (h)). Hence, claim 1 is not patent eligible.
Claims 2 and 4-9 do not provide significantly more than the abstract idea.
Claims 10 and 19 are rejected for similar reasons as claim 1.
Claims 11, 13-18 and 20-22 are rejected because they do not provide significantly more than the abstract idea.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL S FELTEN whose telephone number is (571)272-6742. The examiner can normally be reached Flex.
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DANIEL S. FELTEN
Examiner
Art Unit 3692
/DANIEL S FELTEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3692
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