DETAILED ACTION
This is in reference to communication received 06 May 2026. Addition of claims 14 and cancellation of claims 4 – 5 and 10 – 12 is acknowledged. Claims 1 – 3, 6 – 9 and 13 – 14 are pending for examination. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 – 13, 6 – 9 and 13 – 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Independent claim 1, representative of claims 13 and 14, in part is directed toward a statutory category of invention, the claim appears to be directed toward a judicial exception namely an abstract idea. Claim 1 recites invention directed to a method of operating a service provision environment which maintains a public ledger for storing resume information and verified employment records of a user. Information corresponding to a first user is recorded, and education attendance history of the first user as the first user attends and completes individual education courses provided by an education platform (e.g., college, university, school) are recorded and considered as being unfalsifiable. History information including (i) educational history information and (ii) career information and (ii) portfolio information is obtained from a user are obtained and verification of the obtained information associated with the first user is requested, first verification information including response to the request for verification of the educational history information is generated; second verification information including response to the request for verification of the career information or the portfolio information is generated; combining the first verification information and the second verification information are combined with the history information to generate the history data record and stored.
Causing verifying information of a document like a resume associated with a user before it is registered and stored, and, as a service providing verified information to a requesting users like and hiring entity who wants maintaining workforce qualification information, and providing an applicant’s background verification as a services to a requesting corporation Human-Resources (HR) personnel by providing verified job applicant’s Curriculum Vitae (CV) that can be reviewed by HR personnel before they make an offer for employment to the job applicant. These limitations describe sales activities. Providing, as a service, verified CV of a job. applicant (as a product) to requesting personnel would be part of providing background search service. Providing a CV as a report would be the sales team, a headhunter, human-resources department (or person) providing, such a CV report as fulfillment of requested service from a HR personnel. Also, applicant has not positively claimed a processor performing the recited steps.
The independent claims further recite the additional functional element of mapping of the history block data to the resume ledger data in the ledger information database, such that the identification information of the first and second personal relationship terminals that participated in the verification of the educational history information, the career information, or the portfolio information is permanently recorded in the new block of the NCP blockchain network. Not only do these features fail to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, but it can also reasonably be seen as the conventional application of well-known machine learning concepts to build and train a model to implement the abstract idea on a computer, and merely uses a computer as a tool to perform the abstract idea. See MPEP 2106.05(f).
Represented claims 13 and 14, which do recite statutory categories (machine, product of manufacture, for example), the same analysis as above applies to these claims since the method steps are the same. However, the judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. These claims add the generic computer components (additional elements) of a system comprising one or more service provision apparatus (e.g., hardware) (claim 13), and computing apparatus comprising one or more hardware processors and a memory (claim 14).
The apparatus, service provisioning apparatus and memory are recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Accordingly, 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. The claims are directed to an abstract idea.
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 of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional element of the computer apparatus, processor and memory amounts 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. The claims are not patent eligible.
When taken as an ordered combination, nothing is added that is not already present when the elements are taken individually. When viewed as a whole, the marketing activities amount to instructions applied using generic computer components.
As for dependent claims 2 – 3, 6 – 9 and 11 - 12, these claims recite limitations that further define the same abstract idea of what algorithm will be used for extracting validation data from newly received data, how verified data will be linked with user’s previously save data record using blockchain technology, verifying user’s educational history, career information and portfolio information to make verifying decision for the user, identifying first resume ledger data matched with company information based on the history block data normally formed, and providing the first resume ledger data to one or more company terminals, and how data will be used to provide the prospective employee recommendation information to the company terminal, defining that compensation will be given to verifying terminals, defining algorithm of how prospective employee recommendation will be generated, as drafted, is a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of organizing certain methods of human activity related to marketing or sales activities or behaviors but for the recitation of generic computer components. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's argument that pending claimed amended invention is eligible for patent under 35 USC 101 because is directed to a technical method for generating and propagating history block data in a neural consensus proof-based blockchain network and define a specific blockchain based data generation and propagation process within a distributed ledger system, rather than a marketing or human resources activity, is acknowledged and considered.
However, upon further review, it is deemed that the claimed invention uses blockchain technology store verified data, and pays compensation of other blockchain terminals who provided their services for verifying the information. Therefore it is deemed that the claimed invention is directed to performing functions of a headhunter who perform sales services of providing their client’s CV to hiring entities, of functions of Human Services personnel who perform the task of maintaining verified employee CVs for marketing their entities service providing business.
Applicant's argument that pending claimed amended invention is eligible for patent because combination of cited prior art does not teach amended claimed invention is acknowledged and accepted.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Lee Korean Publication KR-20230022764-A teaches system and method directed to verification of personal resume using Blockchain DID
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Naresh Vig whose telephone number is (571)272-6810. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 06:30a - 04:00p.
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/NARESH VIG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3622
July 2, 2026
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