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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 have been examined.
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.
Independent Claims 1, 16, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claims are in a statutory category of invention. However, the claims recite data including a membership status, membership tier data including multiple membership tiers, membership token data including memberships each associated with one of multiple user entities, establish a communication connection; define, in the membership tier data, one or more specified requirements associated with each of the multiple membership tiers; grant tokenized memberships to multiple user entities according to user data associated with the multiple user entities, and the one or more specified requirements associated with each of the multiple membership tiers; determine whether any of the multiple user entities have a changed membership status among the multiple membership tiers according to the one or more specified requirements; in response to determining that one of the multiple user entities has a changed membership status, update a membership corresponding to the one of the multiple user entities having the changed membership status, on the membership status; and for each of the multiple user entities, grant access to one or more resources, according to one of the multiple membership tiers associated with a membership of the user entity.
This is considered in the Abstract Idea grouping of certain methods of organizing human activity - advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the claim is directed to an abstract idea with additional generic computer elements. The additional elements are considered memory hardware configured to store blockchain, tokenized memberships, and computer-executable instructions; and processor hardware configured to execute the computer-executable instructions, with at least one membership system touchpoint, token gating. These are considered generic. No technical steps or technical specifics are given for any of the preceding. The generically recited computer elements do not add a practical application or meaningful limitation to the abstract idea because they amount to simply implementing the abstract idea on a computer.
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. The additional limitations only perform well-understood, routine, conventional computer functions as recognized by the court decisions listed in MPEP § 2106.05(d). Also, the additional hardware elements are: (i) mere instructions to implement the idea on a computer, and/or (ii) recitation of generic computer structure that serves to perform generic computer functions. Viewed separately or as a whole, these additional claim elements do not provide meaningful limitations to transform the abstract idea into a patent eligible application of the abstract idea such that the claims amounts to significantly more than the abstract idea itself. The claim does not provide significantly more than the identified abstract idea, in that there is no improvement to another technology or technical field, no improvement to the functioning of a computer, no application with, or by use of a particular machine, no transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing, no specific limitation other than what is well-understood, routing and conventional in the field, no unconventional step that confines the claim to a particular useful application, or meaningful limitations that amount to more than generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, the claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Dependent claims 2-15, 17-19 are not considered directed to any additional non-abstract claim elements. Any additional elements in the dependents are considered generic. Rather, these claims offer further descriptive limitations of elements found in the independent claims and addressed above. While these descriptive elements may provide further helpful description for the claimed invention, these elements do not confer subject matter eligibility to the invention since their individual and combined significance is still not more than the abstract concepts identified in the claimed invention. Hence, these dependent claims are also rejected under 101.
Please see the 35 USC 101 section at the Examination Guidance and Training Materials page on the USPTO website.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-5, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipate by Volpone (20250148433).
Claims 1, 16, 20. Volpone discloses a computer system for blockchain synchronized membership processing, the computer system comprising:
memory hardware configured to store blockchain data including a membership status blockchain, membership tier data including multiple membership tiers (see membership tier at [135] and see blockchain and member at [119, 120]; also see computer system and network at [7, 47] ), membership token data including tokenized memberships each associated with one of multiple user entities, and computer-executable instructions (see token and member at [121] and earn membership tiers at [135]); and
processor hardware configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:
establish a communication connection with at least one membership system touchpoint (Fig. 1a, 1b; also see touchpoint at [15]);
define, in the membership tier data, one or more specified requirements associated with each of the multiple membership tiers (see unlock at [15, 35, 114, 125], see status, earn, tier and progress and accumulating at [135] and tier at [136]);
grant tokenized memberships to multiple user entities according to user data associated with the multiple user entities, and the one or more specified requirements associated with each of the multiple membership tiers (see verify membership and token at [121], see membership and status, earn, tier and progress and accumulating at [135] and membership and tier at [136]);
determine whether any of the multiple user entities have a changed membership status among the multiple membership tiers according to the one or more specified requirements (see membership and status, earn, tier and progress and accumulating at [135]);
in response to determining that one of the multiple user entities has a changed membership status, update a tokenized membership corresponding to the one of the multiple user entities having the changed membership status, on the membership status blockchain of the blockchain data (see membership and status, earn, tier and progress and accumulating at [135]; see blockchain and member at [119, 120]); and
for each of the multiple user entities, grant access to one or more resources via token gating, according to one of the multiple membership tiers associated with a tokenized membership of the user entity (see membership and status, earn, tier and progress and accumulating at [135]; also see token gating at [134] and note token at [5, 6, 9]).
Claim 2. Volpone further discloses the computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor hardware is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to repeat checking whether any of the multiple user entities have a changed membership status among the multiple membership tiers (see updated data access permissions [6]; note membership and status, earn, tier and progress and accumulating at [135]; see update and tier at [136]), on a periodic interval (see month at [78, 81, 82, 151]).
Claim 3, 17. Volpone further discloses the computer system of claim 2, wherein the periodic interval includes at least one of a daily interval and a weekly interval (see update and tier and real-time at [136] which is interpreted to read on daily).
Claim 4. Volpone further discloses the computer system of claim 1, wherein the one or more specified requirements for the multiple membership tiers include at least one of ownership of one or more specified non-fungible tokens (NFTs) (see NFT for access and authenticate at [121]), a following status on a social media account associated with the multiple membership tiers, a specified number of points obtained from defined quests associated with the multiple membership tiers, a subscription active status for a subscription service associated with the multiple membership tiers, completion of a specified purchase associated with the multiple membership tiers, or confirmed attendance at an event associated with the multiple membership tiers (see attend and earn at [121]).
Claim 5. Volpone further discloses the computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor hardware is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to define at least one quest represented by one or more actions executed by each one of the multiple user entities (Fig. 3, page 1 and 2), wherein each quest specifies at least one of a number of points that will be granted to one of the multiple user entities upon completion of the quest, a limit on whether the quest may be repeated, or a time period between successive completions of the quest (Fig. 3, page 1 and 2 for awards, see for points [117], and it is interpreted as a number of points since they accumulate [135] and are earned and lead to new tiers [135]).
Claim 9, 18. Volpone further discloses the computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor hardware is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to adjust a number of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) held by one of the multiple user entities by burning at least one NFT and sending at least one new NFT to the one of the multiple user entities according to the one or more specified requirements associated with each of the multiple membership tiers (see issue NFT at [7], see NFT as points at [124] which his interpreted can be used for payment/redemption; note tier and status at [135] ).
Claim 10. Volpone further discloses the computer system of claim 9, wherein the multiple membership tiers are hierarchical and a single smart contract is linked for each one of the multiple user entities to facilitate token gating for each one of the multiple user entities (see tier and tier tracking at [135, 136]; also see token gating at [134] ; see smart contract at [6, 119, 120, 133] ).
Claim 12. Volpone further discloses the computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor hardware is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to establish the communication connection with the at least one membership system touchpoint by plugging into a web application associated with the at least one membership system touchpoint (see touchpoint at [15, 23, 150]; claim 3).
Claim 13. Volpone further discloses the computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor hardware is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to evaluate information of each of the multiple user entities by executing an authentication check and application programming interface (API) integration with one or more external systems (see API and validate at [11]).
Claim 15, 19. Volpone further discloses the computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor hardware is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to implement the token gating by determining whether one of the multiple user entities has a specified threshold number of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) corresponding to a level of requested access (see NFT as points at [124] and see “[121]… ALT uses NFTs or digital tokens to authenticate and verify a viewer's membership, providing the holder with exclusive access and unique benefits.”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Volpone (20250148433) in view of Choy (20230316242).
Claim 6. Volpone does not explicitly disclose the computer system of claim 1, wherein the processor hardware is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to display one or more widgets on a user interface to facilitate changing system settings by a client user. However, Choy discloses membership points, rewards, awards [220] and also widgets for controlling settings ([87-88, 105, 106], [162-168]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to add Choy’s widgets for better interface control and membership awards/rewards/points to Volpone’s interface and membership system with points/awards. One would have been motivated to do this in order to better interface with the system.
Claim 7. Volpone further discloses the computer system of claim 6, wherein the one or more widgets include at least one of: a membership onboarding widget configured to connect at least one of an email account associated with one of the multiple user entities, a blockchain wallet associated with one of the multiple user entities, or a social media account associated with one of the multiple user entities (see blockchain, wallet, and social platform at [47]; see blockchain wallet at [132, 143]); a member dashboard widget configured to display at least one of membership tier information, points information, and steps needed to advance membership tiers; a quests widget configured to identify determined actions for one of the multiple user entities to take to earn a specified number of points; a leaderboard widget configured to display some of the multiple user entities on a leaderboard; or a forms widget configured to collect information from one of the multiple user entities. And, the prior art renders obvious the interface as widget as rendered obvious in the parent claim.
Claim 8. Volpone discloses the computer system of claim 7, wherein the one or more include all of the membership onboarding [15], the member dashboard [111, 133], the quests widget (Fig. 3 page 1, 2), the leaderboard (see display and share assets at [118]) and the forms (Fig. 3, page 1, Create Wallet if does not have compatible wallet). Volpone does not explicitly disclose doing the preceding with widgets. However, Choy discloses membership points, rewards, awards [220] and also widgets for controlling settings ([87-88, 105, 106], [162-168]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to add Choy’s widgets for better interface control and membership awards/rewards/points to Volpone’s interface and membership system with points/awards. One would have been motivated to do this in order to better interface with the system.
Claims 11, 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Volpone (20250148433) in view of Official Notice.
Claim 11. Volpone further discloses the computer system of claim 1, wherein: the processor hardware is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to create and store a blockchain wallet for identifying membership in an organization (see blockchain wallet at [132, 143]). Volpone does not explicitly disclose and the blockchain wallet includes a combination of a private key and a public key. However, Volpone discloses secure transmission and validation [14]. And, Examiner takes Official Notice that blockchain wallets and keys and private and public keys are old and well known technologies. Keys and public and private keys were used commonly well before Applicant priority date for secure communications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to add message standards like keys, public and private keys and Volpone’s use of blockchain wallets. One would have been motivated to do this in order to better use blockchain wallets and standard securing technologies.
Claim 14. Volpone further discloses the computer system of claim 13, wherein the processor hardware is configured onboard a new user entity by: receiving a message to prove that the new user entity owns a blockchain wallet (see blockchain wallet at [132, 143]); and executing a blockchain query to determine if user information of the new user entity satisfies specified member action definitions (see blockchain and validate and confirm and verify at [3, 11, 14, 129, 143, 144]). Volpone does not explicitly disclose a message satisfying an ERC-4361 standard. However, Applicant Spec states that ERC-4361 is a standard [14, 49]. And, Examiner takes Official Notice that ERC-4361 is a obvious and well known standard to use with messages and blockchain. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to add message standards like ERC-4361 to Volpone’s use of blockchain wallets. One would have been motivated to do this in order to better use blockchain wallets and standard technologies.
Conclusion
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Mara discloses blockchain and membership and tokens and awards.
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/ARTHUR DURAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3621 11/17/25