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 . Applicants’ election of Group II corresponding to claims 7-20 is acknowledged by the Examiner. This office action is in response to Applicant’s communication filed February 13, 2026 in which claims 7-20 are pending in the application.
Claim Objections
2. Claim 7 is objected to because of the following typographical error :
In claim 7, the first limitation recites, “A method, comprising: receiving, a distributed application on a digital banking and payment platform and via an Application Programming Interface (API),…”. The limitation should instead read, “receiving, by a distributed application …” consistent with withdrawn claim 1. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
3. 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 7-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
The claims 7-20 are directed to a method which are one of the statutory categories of invention (Step 1: YES).
The claim 7 recites : receiving, a distributed application on a digital banking and payment platform and via an Application Programming Interface (API), a prepare transfer instruction from a first transaction party to prepare a transfer of funds for a transaction, the prepare transfer instruction comprising payment details including a transaction amount and a transaction identifier; sending, by an orchestration engine on a non-distributed ledger technology (DLT) banking platform, a request to the distributed application to reduce an amount in a blockchain deposit account for the first transaction party and to place a posting hold on the transaction amount in the blockchain deposit account with the transaction identifier; and instructing, by the distributed application, a smart contract on a distributed ledger to execute the request. These limitations (with the exception of italicized portions), under their broadest reasonable interpretation, when considered collectively as an ordered combination, is a process that covers Certain methods of organizing human activity such as commercial or legal interaction. Preparing a transfer of funds for a transaction and then sending a request to place a posting hold on the transaction amount is a commercial or legal interaction. The claim also recites a distributed application, a digital banking and payment platform, an Application Programming Interface (API), an orchestration engine, a non-distributed ledger technology (DLT) banking platform, the blockchain and a smart contract on a distributed ledger which do not necessarily restrict the claim from reciting an abstract idea. That is, other than, a distributed application, a digital banking and payment platform, an Application Programming Interface (API), an orchestration engine, a non-distributed ledger technology (DLT) banking platform, the blockchain and a smart contract on a distributed ledger, nothing in the claim precludes the steps from being performed as a method of organizing human activity. If the claim limitations, under the broadest reasonable interpretation, covers methods of organizing human activity but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the “Certain methods of organizing human activity” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim 7 recites an abstract idea (Step 2A: Prong 1: YES).
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. The additional elements of a distributed application, a digital banking and payment platform, an Application Programming Interface (API), an orchestration engine, a non-distributed ledger technology (DLT) banking platform, the blockchain and a smart contract on a distributed ledger result in no more than simply applying the abstract idea using generic computer elements. The specification describes the additional elements of a distributed application, a digital banking and payment platform, an Application Programming Interface (API), an orchestration engine, a non-distributed ledger technology (DLT) banking platform, the blockchain and a smart contract on a distributed ledger to be generic computer elements (see Fig. 3A, Fig. 3B, [0029], [0046], [0051-0052]). Hence, the additional elements in the claim are generic components suitably programmed to perform their respective functions. The additional elements of a distributed application, a digital banking and payment platform, an Application Programming Interface (API), an orchestration engine, a non-distributed ledger technology (DLT) banking platform, the blockchain and a smart contract on a distributed ledger are recited at a high level of generality and under their broadest reasonable interpretation comprises a generic computer arrangement. The presence of a generic computer arrangement is nothing more than mere instructions to implement the abstract idea on a computer (MPEP 2106.05(f)). Accordingly, these additional elements, when considered separately and as an ordered combination, do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. Hence, the claims as a whole are not integrated into a practical application. Therefore, the claim 7 is directed to an abstract idea (Step 2A - Prong 2: NO).
The claim 7 does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional elements of a distributed application, a digital banking and payment platform, an Application Programming Interface (API), an orchestration engine, a non-distributed ledger technology (DLT) banking platform, the blockchain and a smart contract on a distributed ledger are recited at a high level of generality in that it results in no more than simply applying the abstract idea using generic computer elements. 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 (MPEP 2106.05(f)). The additional elements, when considered separately and as an ordered combination, does not add significantly more (also known as an “inventive concept”) to the exception. The additional elements of the instant underlying process, when taken in combination, together do not offer significantly more than the sum of the functions of the elements when each is taken alone. Thus, claim 7 is not patent eligible (Step 2B: NO).
Dependent claims 8-20 are held to be patent ineligible under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the additional recited limitations only narrow the abstract idea further and thus correspond to Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity and hence are abstract for the reasons presented above. Dependent claims 13 and 20 recite a new additional element that is not present in independent claim 7 and require further analysis under Prong Two of Step 2A and Step 2B.
Claims 13 and 20 recite the additional element of a digital asset platform. A digital asset platform, recited in the claims, is recited at a high level of generality and amounts to generic computer implementation. Hence, it does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application or provide significantly more than the abstract idea when considered individually and as an ordered combination.
Viewing the claim limitations as a combination does not add anything further than looking at the claim limitations individually. When viewed either individually, or as a combination, the additional limitations do not amount to a claim as a whole that is significantly more than the abstract idea. Accordingly, claim(s) 7-20 are ineligible.
No Prior Art Rejections
4. Based on the prior art search results, the prior art of record fails to anticipate or render obvious the claimed subject matter of claims 7-20. While some individual features of claims 7-20 may be shown in the prior art of record, no known reference, alone or in combination, would provide the invention of claims 7-20. The prior art most closely resembling the applicant’s claimed invention are :
1) Barnes (US 2021/0192517 A1) – This invention relates generally to a system for processing transaction submissions over a distributed ledger network. The system includes an exchange platform to generate settlement instructions comprising a set of net positions held by transaction participants with respect to transaction submissions submitted to the exchange platform by the transaction participants for exchange of assets via an off-ledger settlement entity. The system further includes a settlement platform to host a private distributed ledger network to store a record of positions held by the transaction participants with respect to the assets, update the record of positions according to the settlement instructions, and transmit an update of the record of positions to the off - ledger settlement entity .
2) Bellamy (US 11,615,413 B2) - This invention relates generally to distributed ledger cores. A method for interacting with a distributed ledger core may include: (1) a distributed banking ledger in a blockchain-based distributed ledger system receiving a transaction request for a transaction from a client system; (2) a smart contract creating a pending transaction; (3) the smart contract sending a posting request for the pending transaction to a ledger interoperability service; (4) the posting generation service generating accounting movements for the transaction; (5) the posting execution service posting the accounting movements and providing posting details to the ledger interoperability service; (6) validating the posting details with a data services module; (7) the smart contract receiving a posting validation complete notification from the posting execution service via the ledger interoperability service; (8) the smart contract settling the transaction on the distributed banking ledger by writing the transaction as a new block to the distributed banking ledger.
3) Harper (US 2005/0197945 A1) – This invention relates generally to making purchases at a merchant point-of-sale (POS) device using a mobile device. Transaction information may be communicated from the POS device to the mobile device and an authorization from the purchaser to proceed with the transaction returned to the POS device from the mobile device. After authorization, the POS device may communicate the transaction information together with an identifier of the mobile device to a financial institution to process payment. The financial institution may confirm the transaction with the purchaser at the mobile device using the identifier of the mobile device. Upon receiving a confirmation response from the mobile device, the financial institution may then transfer funds from a purchaser account to a merchant account.
Examiner Request
5. The Applicant is request to indicate where in the specification there is support for amendments to claims should Applicant amend. The purpose of this is to reduce potential 35 U.S.C. §112(a) or §112 1st paragraph issues that can arise when claims are amended without support in the specification. The Examiner thanks the Applicant in advance.
Conclusion
6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BHAVIN SHAH whose telephone number is (571)272-2981. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9AM-6PM.
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/B.D.S./Examiner, Art Unit 3694
March 19, 2026 /BENNETT M SIGMOND/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3694