DETAILED ACTION
The present application is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
This Office Action is in response Applicant communication filed on 8/28/2026.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 8/28/2026 has been entered.
Claims
Claims 1, 2, 4, 7, and 20 have been amended.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending in the application.
Information Disclosure Statements
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) that was filed on 9/4/2026 has been considered.
Response to Arguments
102
The examiner withdraws the previous 102 rejection based on the claim amendments.
101
The examiner agrees with the applicant’s arguments that the claim amendments overcome the 101 rejection. The amendments of claims 1, 4, and 20 are similar to the claims found in Weisner v. Google LLC, 51 F.4th 1073 (Fed. Cir. 2022) in that they recite an improvement to computer search result technology by using a payment service system for accessing transaction information that identifies merchants that the user previously interacted with and then provides a ranked order of nearby merchants based on a user device’s geolocation and the transaction information. The specification in sections [0029], [0043], and [0044] recites how this type of search results can be advantageous for the user. Therefore the additional elements in combination with the rest of the limitations of the claim integrate the abstract idea into a practical application.
103
In Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 have been considered but are moot because a new combination of references have been used for the rejection as necessitated by the applicant’s amendments to the claims.
Rejections under 35 § U.S.C. 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 of this title, 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 1-5, 7-11, 17, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20130311511 A1 (“Peng”) and US 20110191180 A1 (“Blackhurst”) and US 20110251892 A1 (“Laracey”).
Per claims 1 and 20, Peng discloses:
receiving, by a payment service system from a user device associated with a user, geolocation information indicating a location of the user device, the geolocation information based on a measurement associated with the user device (e.g. In some embodiments, the server uses the acquired geographic location information from the user's mobile terminal and looks up the geographic location zone threshold value. For example, the geographic location zone threshold value for Dining is 1,500 meters and the geographic location zone threshold value for Movies is 300 meters. The server takes the geographic location corresponding to the user's geographic location information to be the center of a circle and the geographic location zone threshold value of 1,500 meters to be the radius of the circle, and selects, within the circle, target information of dining merchants corresponding to the need information Dining In other words, the server acquires the geographic location information on physical shops relating to Dining within the circle. The server takes the geographic location corresponding to the user's geographic location information as the center of a circle and takes the geographic location zone threshold value of 300 meters as the radius of the circle) (Section [0049] and [051]);
receiving, by the payment service system from the user device, a request to search for merchants (e.g. The database of the server, in addition to having various types of aforementioned information, also includes need information corresponding to users when the server provided location services (such as by clicking the keywords "Nearby," "Vicinity," or "Right next to me") are sent. The need information having been predetermined in advance by the server and the users of each mobile terminal. Therefore, the need information of the user relates to a product or merchant information predetermined in advance by the server and the user. For example, the predetermined need information is sent to the user in response to a location service request issued after selecting or clicking "Nearby." After the server receives the location service request sent by the mobile terminal, and after the server dissects the location service request and extracts the keyword "Nearby," the server retrieves the predetermined need information from the local database, for example, nearby merchant information: dining, entertainment, and shopping) (Section [0021] and [0029]);
searching, by the payment service system, through at least one data structure based on the geolocation information to identify a subset of merchants within a first threshold proximity of the location of the user device, wherein the at least one data structure includes information about a plurality of merchants (e.g. The server selects, from within the circle, the target information for Movie Theaters corresponding to the need information from the database. In other words, the server acquires the geographic location information of physical shops providing Movies within the circle, and the server provides to the client the geographic location information on the shops that fall within the circle. The server also provides the shop information of the physical shops. In some embodiments, in addition to the geographic location information and shop information described above, the target offer information sent to the client also includes product information) (Section [0021], [0048], [0049], and [0051]);
Peng further discloses one or more processors; and one or more memory units communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations (e.g. The units described above can be implemented as software components executing on one or more general purpose processors, as hardware such as programmable logic devices and/or Application Specific Integrated Circuits designed to perform certain functions or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the units can be embodied by a form of software products which can be stored in a nonvolatile storage medium (such as optical disk, flash storage device, mobile hard disk, etc.), including a number of instructions for making a computer device (such as personal computers, servers, network equipment, etc.) implement the methods described in the embodiments of the present inventio) (Section [0097] and [0098]).
Although Peng discloses providing an ordered list of merchants to a user device based on the user device geolocation, Peng does not specifically disclose:
accessing, by the payment service system, transaction information associated with the user, the transaction information identifying merchants with which the user has previously interacted;
ranking, by the payment service system, the subset of merchants based on the transaction information to generate a ranking order;
providing, by the payment service system, the ranked subset of merchants to the user device according to the ranking order;
determining, by the payment service system, that the user device is within a second threshold proximity to a point-of-sale (POS) device of a merchant in the ranked subset of merchants;
receiving, by the payment service system, from the user device, authorization from the user to enter into a payment transaction with the merchant without presence of a payment card at the POS device;
in response to receiving the authorization, providing, by the payment service system to the POS device, information identifying the user;
receiving, by the payment service system from the POS device, a selection of a user account of the user and an instruction to process the payment transaction with the user;
initiating, by the payment service system, processing of the payment transaction using the payment card information associated with the user account;
confirming, by the payment service system, completion of the payment transaction.
However Blackhurst, in analogous art of searching for merchant information, discloses:
accessing, by the payment service system, transaction information associated with the user, the transaction information identifying merchants with which the user has previously interacted (e.g. In some embodiments of the invention, the customer's 6 transaction history can be used to rank the offers in a way that will make it more likely for the customer 6 to accept a particular offer. In some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program application 10 may rank the offers based on the amount of purchases the customer made with a particular merchant. For example, if the transaction history indicates that the customer buys a large percentage of her of products from a first merchant (i.e. Company B) relative to other merchants, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the offers from the first merchant (i.e. Company B) that relate to the customer's search near the top of the results section 720. In other embodiments of the invention, if the customer typically purchases products from a particular manufacturer, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the merchants who offer the product from that manufacturer first in the results section 720 of the local search interface 700) (Section [0094]);
ranking, by the payment service system, the subset of merchants based on the transaction information to generate a ranking order (e.g. In some embodiments of the invention, the customer's 6 transaction history can be used to rank the offers in a way that will make it more likely for the customer 6 to accept a particular offer. In some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program application 10 may rank the offers based on the amount of purchases the customer made with a particular merchant. For example, if the transaction history indicates that the customer buys a large percentage of her of products from a first merchant (i.e. Company B) relative to other merchants, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the offers from the first merchant (i.e. Company B) that relate to the customer's search near the top of the results section 720. In other embodiments of the invention, if the customer typically purchases products from a particular manufacturer, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the merchants who offer the product from that manufacturer first in the results section 720 of the local search interface 700) (Section [0094]);
providing, by the payment service system, the ranked subset of merchants to the user device according to the ranking order (e.g. In some embodiments of the invention, the customer's 6 transaction history can be used to rank the offers in a way that will make it more likely for the customer 6 to accept a particular offer. In some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program application 10 may rank the offers based on the amount of purchases the customer made with a particular merchant. For example, if the transaction history indicates that the customer buys a large percentage of her of products from a first merchant (i.e. Company B) relative to other merchants, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the offers from the first merchant (i.e. Company B) that relate to the customer's search near the top of the results section 720. In other embodiments of the invention, if the customer typically purchases products from a particular manufacturer, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the merchants who offer the product from that manufacturer first in the results section 720 of the local search interface 700) (Section [0094]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the merchant location based search results of Peng to include the use of user transaction history to determine which merchants are displayed at the top of the search results, as taught by Blackhurst, in order to achieve the predictable result of providing convenience to the user by allowing them to see merchants that they have previously transacted with and trust at the top of the search results.
Although Peng/Blackhurst discloses providing a ranked list of merchants to a user device based on the user device geolocation and the user transaction history, Peng/Blackhurst does not specifically disclose:
determining, by the payment service system, that the user device is within a second threshold proximity to a point-of-sale (POS) device of a merchant in the ranked subset of merchants;
receiving, by the payment service system, from the user device, authorization from the user to enter into a payment transaction with the merchant without presence of a payment card at the POS device;
in response to receiving the authorization, providing, by the payment service system to the POS device, information identifying the user;
receiving, by the payment service system from the POS device, a selection of a user account of the user and an instruction to process the payment transaction with the user;
initiating, by the payment service system, processing of the payment transaction using the payment card information associated with the user account;
confirming, by the payment service system, completion of the payment transaction.
However Laracey, in analogous art of cardless merchant payments, discloses:
determining, by the payment service system, that the user device is within a second threshold proximity to a point-of-sale (POS) device of a merchant in the ranked subset of merchants (e.g. a proximity sensor 720 can be included to facilitate the detection of the customer positioning the mobile device 700 proximate to a point of sale terminal or display and, in response, to activate the camera or other reader to detect or capture an image of a checkout token) (Section [0153]);
receiving, by the payment service system, from the user device, authorization from the user to enter into a payment transaction with the merchant without presence of a payment card at the POS device (e.g. Processing continues at 456 where a customer authentication request is received from a customer operating a mobile device 202 (e.g., the customer authentication request may be received as a result of processing at step 424 of FIG. 4B). The customer authentication request includes customer authentication data as well as, in some embodiments, device authentication data. The transaction management system 230 uses the received information to determine if the customer (and/or device) can be successfully authenticated based on information previously stored at or accessible to the transaction management system 230) (Section [0108]);
in response to receiving the authorization, providing, by the payment service system to the POS device, information identifying the user (e.g. The transaction information (including merchant name and location and the transaction amount, for example) and the available payment account information, are transmitted to the customer's mobile device 202 at 468) (Section [0109] and [0110]); Note: the claims are directed to the steps/functions of the payment service system. Although the transaction management system (e.g. payment service system) of Laracey sends the user’s payment account information (e.g. information identifying the user) to the user’s mobile device and not the merchant, Laracey still discloses the functionality being performed by the transaction management system which is providing information identifying the user that can be used for a payment transaction at a merchant. Further, one of ordinary skill in the art would find it obvious to have the transaction management system of Laracey send the payment account information to any device including a merchant POS that the user can use to choose the payment information they want to use when at a merchant location.
receiving, by the payment service system from the POS device, a selection of a user account of the user and an instruction to process the payment transaction with the user (e.g. Processing continues at 470 where the system 230 receives a customer payment authorization request message which includes the customer's selected payment account(s) for use in completing the transaction. At 472, the system 230 uses the payment account information received at 470 to lookup the actual payment credentials associated with the account(s) identified by the customer.) (Section [0110]).
initiating, by the payment service system, processing of the payment transaction using the payment card information associated with the user account (e.g. At 472, the system 230 uses the payment account information received at 470 to lookup the actual payment credentials associated with the account(s) identified by the customer. The actual payment credentials may be stored in a system accessible to the transaction management system 230 which is PCI compliant (e.g., which securely stores and protects the actual payment credentials). At 474, the actual payment credentials are used to obtain payment transaction authorization from the appropriate payment network and/or financial institution) (Section [0110]);
confirming, by the payment service system, completion of the payment transaction (e.g. The payment authorization response is then sent to the merchant as well as to the customer at 476 to complete the transaction) (Section [0110]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the nearby merchant search of Peng/Blackhurst to include performing cardless merchant payments using payment information in a user account at those merchants, as taught by Laracey, in order to achieve the predictable result of increasing security of payment card information which can be stolen when physically used at a merchant (see Laracey section [0003]).
Per claim 4, Peng discloses:
receiving, by a payment service system from a user device associated with a user, geolocation information indicating a location of the user device, the geolocation information based on a measurement associated with the user device, wherein the user is associated with a first entity type of a plurality of entity types, wherein the plurality of entity types include customers and merchants (e.g. In some embodiments, the server uses the acquired geographic location information from the user's mobile terminal and looks up the geographic location zone threshold value. For example, the geographic location zone threshold value for Dining is 1,500 meters and the geographic location zone threshold value for Movies is 300 meters. The server takes the geographic location corresponding to the user's geographic location information to be the center of a circle and the geographic location zone threshold value of 1,500 meters to be the radius of the circle, and selects, within the circle, target information of dining merchants corresponding to the need information Dining In other words, the server acquires the geographic location information on physical shops relating to Dining within the circle. The server takes the geographic location corresponding to the user's geographic location information as the center of a circle and takes the geographic location zone threshold value of 300 meters as the radius of the circle) (Section [0049] and [051]);
receiving, by the payment service system from the user device, a request to search for a second entity type (e.g. The database of the server, in addition to having various types of aforementioned information, also includes need information corresponding to users when the server provided location services (such as by clicking the keywords "Nearby," "Vicinity," or "Right next to me") are sent. The need information having been predetermined in advance by the server and the users of each mobile terminal. Therefore, the need information of the user relates to a product or merchant information predetermined in advance by the server and the user. For example, the predetermined need information is sent to the user in response to a location service request issued after selecting or clicking "Nearby." After the server receives the location service request sent by the mobile terminal, and after the server dissects the location service request and extracts the keyword "Nearby," the server retrieves the predetermined need information from the local database, for example, nearby merchant information: dining, entertainment, and shopping) (Section [0021] and [0029]);
searching, by the payment service system, through at least one data structure based on the geolocation information to identify a subset of entities of the second entity type within a first threshold proximity of the location of the user device, wherein the at least one data structure includes information about a plurality of entities of the second entity type (e.g. The server selects, from within the circle, the target information for Movie Theaters corresponding to the need information from the database. In other words, the server acquires the geographic location information of physical shops providing Movies within the circle, and the server provides to the client the geographic location information on the shops that fall within the circle. The server also provides the shop information of the physical shops. In some embodiments, in addition to the geographic location information and shop information described above, the target offer information sent to the client also includes product information) (Section [0021], [0048], [0049], and [0051]).
Although Peng discloses providing an ordered list of merchants to a user device based on the user device geolocation, Peng does not specifically disclose:
accessing, by the payment service system, transaction information associated with the user, the transaction information identifying entities of the second entity type with which the user has previously interacted;
ranking, by the payment service system, the subset of entities of the second entity type based on the transaction information to generate a ranking order;
providing, by the payment service system, the ranked subset of entities of the second entity type to the user device according to the ranking order;
determining, by the payment service system, that the user device is within a second threshold proximity to a point-of-sale (POS) device of an entity in the ranked subset of entities of the second entity type;
receiving, by the payment service system, from the user device, authorization from the user to enter into a payment transaction with the entity without presence of a payment card at the POS device;
in response to receiving the authorization, initiating, by the payment service system, processing of the payment transaction using the payment card information retrieved from an account associated with the user or the entity;
confirming, by the payment service system, completion of the transaction.
However Blackhurst, in analogous art of searching for merchant information, discloses:
accessing, by the payment service system, transaction information associated with the user, the transaction information identifying entities of the second entity type with which the user has previously interacted (e.g. In some embodiments of the invention, the customer's 6 transaction history can be used to rank the offers in a way that will make it more likely for the customer 6 to accept a particular offer. In some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program application 10 may rank the offers based on the amount of purchases the customer made with a particular merchant. For example, if the transaction history indicates that the customer buys a large percentage of her of products from a first merchant (i.e. Company B) relative to other merchants, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the offers from the first merchant (i.e. Company B) that relate to the customer's search near the top of the results section 720. In other embodiments of the invention, if the customer typically purchases products from a particular manufacturer, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the merchants who offer the product from that manufacturer first in the results section 720 of the local search interface 700) (Section [0094]);
ranking, by the payment service system, the subset of entities of the second entity type based on the transaction information to generate a ranking order (e.g. In some embodiments of the invention, the customer's 6 transaction history can be used to rank the offers in a way that will make it more likely for the customer 6 to accept a particular offer. In some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program application 10 may rank the offers based on the amount of purchases the customer made with a particular merchant. For example, if the transaction history indicates that the customer buys a large percentage of her of products from a first merchant (i.e. Company B) relative to other merchants, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the offers from the first merchant (i.e. Company B) that relate to the customer's search near the top of the results section 720. In other embodiments of the invention, if the customer typically purchases products from a particular manufacturer, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the merchants who offer the product from that manufacturer first in the results section 720 of the local search interface 700) (Section [0094]);
providing, by the payment service system, the ranked subset of entities of the second entity type to the user device according to the ranking order (e.g. In some embodiments of the invention, the customer's 6 transaction history can be used to rank the offers in a way that will make it more likely for the customer 6 to accept a particular offer. In some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program application 10 may rank the offers based on the amount of purchases the customer made with a particular merchant. For example, if the transaction history indicates that the customer buys a large percentage of her of products from a first merchant (i.e. Company B) relative to other merchants, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the offers from the first merchant (i.e. Company B) that relate to the customer's search near the top of the results section 720. In other embodiments of the invention, if the customer typically purchases products from a particular manufacturer, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the merchants who offer the product from that manufacturer first in the results section 720 of the local search interface 700) (Section [0094]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the merchant location based search results of Peng to include the use of user transaction history to determine which merchants are displayed at the top of the search results, as taught by Blackhurst, in order to achieve the predictable result of providing convenience to the user by allowing them to see merchants that they have previously transacted with and trust at the top of the search results.
Although Peng/Blackhurst discloses providing a ranked list of merchants to a user device based on the user device geolocation and the user transaction history, Peng/Blackhurst does not specifically disclose:
determining, by the payment service system, that the user device is within a second threshold proximity to a point-of-sale (POS) device of an entity in the ranked subset of entities of the second entity type;
receiving, by the payment service system, from the user device, authorization from the user to enter into a payment transaction with the entity without presence of a payment card at the POS device;
in response to receiving the authorization, initiating, by the payment service system, processing of the payment transaction using the payment card information retrieved from an account associated with the user or the entity;
confirming, by the payment service system, completion of the transaction.
However Laracey, in analogous art of cardless merchant payments, discloses:
determining, by the payment service system, that the user device is within a second threshold proximity to a point-of-sale (POS) device of an entity in the ranked subset of entities of the second entity type (e.g. a proximity sensor 720 can be included to facilitate the detection of the customer positioning the mobile device 700 proximate to a point of sale terminal or display and, in response, to activate the camera or other reader to detect or capture an image of a checkout token) (Section [0153]);
receiving, by the payment service system, from the user device, authorization from the user to enter into a payment transaction with the entity without presence of a payment card at the POS device (e.g. Processing continues at 456 where a customer authentication request is received from a customer operating a mobile device 202 (e.g., the customer authentication request may be received as a result of processing at step 424 of FIG. 4B). The customer authentication request includes customer authentication data as well as, in some embodiments, device authentication data. The transaction management system 230 uses the received information to determine if the customer (and/or device) can be successfully authenticated based on information previously stored at or accessible to the transaction management system 230) (Section [0108]);
in response to receiving the authorization, initiating, by the payment service system, processing of the payment transaction using the payment card information retrieved from an account associated with the user or the entity (e.g. Processing continues at 470 where the system 230 receives a customer payment authorization request message which includes the customer's selected payment account(s) for use in completing the transaction. At 472, the system 230 uses the payment account information received at 470 to lookup the actual payment credentials associated with the account(s) identified by the customer. The actual payment credentials may be stored in a system accessible to the transaction management system 230 which is PCI compliant (e.g., which securely stores and protects the actual payment credentials). At 474, the actual payment credentials are used to obtain payment transaction authorization from the appropriate payment network and/or financial institution) (Section [0110]);
confirming, by the payment service system, completion of the transaction (e.g. The payment authorization response is then sent to the merchant as well as to the customer at 476 to complete the transaction) (Section [0110]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the nearby merchant search of Peng/Blackhurst to include performing cardless merchant payments using payment information in a user account at those merchants, as taught by Laracey, in order to achieve the predictable result of increasing security of payment card information which can be stolen when physically used at a merchant (see Laracey section [0003]).
Per claims 2 and 7, Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey discloses all the limitations of claims 1 and 4 above. Blackhurst further discloses:
generating the ranking order comprises ranking the subset of merchants based on a relevance to the user using the transaction information (e.g. In some embodiments of the invention, the customer's 6 transaction history can be used to rank the offers in a way that will make it more likely for the customer 6 to accept a particular offer. In some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program application 10 may rank the offers based on the amount of purchases the customer made with a particular merchant. For example, if the transaction history indicates that the customer buys a large percentage of her of products from a first merchant (i.e. Company B) relative to other merchants, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the offers from the first merchant (i.e. Company B) that relate to the customer's search near the top of the results section 720. In other embodiments of the invention, if the customer typically purchases products from a particular manufacturer, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the merchants who offer the product from that manufacturer first in the results section 720 of the local search interface 700) (Section [0094]).
The motivation to combine Blackhurst with Peng/Laracey is disclosed above with reference to claims 1, 4, and 20.
Per claim 3, Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey discloses all the limitations of claim 1 above. Peng further discloses:
wherein the location is determined by the user device, and wherein the search result identifies one or more merchants that are within a proximity of a location based on the geographic information (e.g. In some embodiments, the server uses the acquired geographic location information from the user's mobile terminal and looks up the geographic location zone threshold value. For example, the geographic location zone threshold value for Dining is 1,500 meters and the geographic location zone threshold value for Movies is 300 meters. The server takes the geographic location corresponding to the user's geographic location information to be the center of a circle and the geographic location zone threshold value of 1,500 meters to be the radius of the circle, and selects, within the circle, target information of dining merchants corresponding to the need information Dining In other words, the server acquires the geographic location information on physical shops relating to Dining within the circle) (Section [0016], [0049], and [0051]).
Per claim 5, Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey discloses all the limitations of claim 4 above. Peng further discloses:
wherein the first entity type is customers, and wherein the second entity type is merchants (e.g. In one example, the server regards the products or merchants within an area having the geographic location of the mobile terminal as the center of a circle and the geographic location zone threshold value as a radius of the circle. The products or merchants within the area correspond to target information selections. The server then provides the target information to the mobile terminal of the user and displays the target information on the client of the mobile terminal, for example, as a list or as marker points on a map) (Section [0016], [0048], [0049], [0060] and [0061]).
Per claim 8, Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey discloses all the limitations of claim 4 above. Peng further discloses:
wherein the search result identifies one or more entities of the second entity type that are within a proximity of the location (e.g. In some embodiments, the server uses the acquired geographic location information from the user's mobile terminal and looks up the geographic location zone threshold value. For example, the geographic location zone threshold value for Dining is 1,500 meters and the geographic location zone threshold value for Movies is 300 meters. The server takes the geographic location corresponding to the user's geographic location information to be the center of a circle and the geographic location zone threshold value of 1,500 meters to be the radius of the circle, and selects, within the circle, target information of dining merchants corresponding to the need information Dining In other words, the server acquires the geographic location information on physical shops relating to Dining within the circle) (Section [0016], [0049], and [0051]).
Per claim 9, Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey discloses all the limitations of claim 4 above. Peng further discloses:
wherein the search result identifies one or more entities of the second entity type that are within a same geographic area as the location (e.g. The server transmits the target information to the mobile terminal, which displays the target information. For example, when the geographic location zone threshold value is found for "apparel," the geographic location zone threshold value corresponds to 2,000 meters. Accordingly, the server searches the database for geographic location information of physical shops within the geographic location zone threshold value corresponding to the radius and the user's geographic location information corresponding to the center. In the event that the physical shop information has been found within the surrounding area, the physical shop information is provided to the mobile terminal 10 of the use) (Section [0016], [0049], and [0051]).
Per claim 10, Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey discloses all the limitations of claim 4 above. Peng further discloses:
wherein the location is determined by a device associated with the user (e.g. In some embodiments, the server uses the acquired geographic location information from the user's mobile terminal and looks up the geographic location zone threshold value. For example, the geographic location zone threshold value for Dining is 1,500 meters and the geographic location zone threshold value for Movies is 300 meters. The server takes the geographic location corresponding to the user's geographic location information to be the center of a circle and the geographic location zone threshold value of 1,500 meters to be the radius of the circle, and selects, within the circle, target information of dining merchants corresponding to the need information Dining In other words, the server acquires the geographic location information on physical shops relating to Dining within the circle) (Section [0016], [0049], and [0051]).
Per claim 11, Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey discloses all the limitations of claim 4 above. Peng further discloses:
wherein the location is input into a device through a user interface, wherein the device is associated with the user (e.g. For example, after the user logs onto the shopping website client, the user browses a web page and clicks on "Nearby," "Vicinity," "Right next to me," or a similar location service initiating keyword displayed on the web page. The mobile terminal sends the location service request to the server. The location service request includes keyword information such as "Nearby," "Vicinity," or "Right next to me." The location services corresponding to the keywords "Nearby," "Vicinity," and "Right next to me" are positioning services that are preset by the server and provided to the user) (Section [0019] and [0020]).
Per claim 17, Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey discloses all the limitations of claim 4 above. Peng further discloses:
wherein providing the search result includes outputting the search result using an output interface of a device associated with the user (e.g. the server regards the products or merchants within an area having the geographic location of the mobile terminal as the center of a circle and the geographic location zone threshold value as a radius of the circle. The products or merchants within the area correspond to target information selections. The server then provides the target information to the mobile terminal of the user and displays the target information on the client of the mobile terminal, for example, as a list or as marker points on a map) (Section [0050], [0054], and [0060]).
Per claim 18, Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey discloses all the limitations of claim 4 above. Peng further discloses:
wherein providing the search result includes sending the search result to a device associated with the user (e.g. the server regards the products or merchants within an area having the geographic location of the mobile terminal as the center of a circle and the geographic location zone threshold value as a radius of the circle. The products or merchants within the area correspond to target information selections. The server then provides the target information to the mobile terminal of the user and displays the target information on the client of the mobile terminal, for example, as a list or as marker points on a map) (Section [0050], [0054], and [0060]).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey, as applied to claim 4 above, in further view of US 20060191995 A1 (“Stewart”).
Per claim 6, although Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey discloses a user searching for merchants that are geographically close to the user’s device, Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey does not specifically disclose:
wherein the first entity type is merchants, and wherein the second entity type is customers.
However Stewart, in analogous art of GPS location tracking, discloses:
wherein the first entity type is merchants, and wherein the second entity type is customers (e.g. Each Transmitter 54 includes a radio transmitter and a global positioning system ("GPS") circuit for transmitting the customer's location in real time. The transmitter may preferably use either Bluetooth or WiFi wireless transmissions protocols. Thus, the merchant may track where the user spends the most time and track heavily trafficked areas in the establishment so that suppliers of goods can be charged a premium of positioning a display of products in such areas) (Section [0059]-[0063]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the location based search results of Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey to return customers instead of merchants, as taught by Stewart, in order to achieve the predictable result of providing useful customer information to merchants by allowing merchants to passively receive information about the customers who shop at their stores (See Stewart section [0063]).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey, as applied to claim 4 above, in further view of US 20060277271 A1 (“Morse”).
Per claim 12, although Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey discloses returning merchant search results to a user based on relevance to the user, Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey does not specifically disclose:
determining one or more preferences of the user based on historical information associated with the user, wherein the relevance to the user is based on the one or more preferences of the user.
However Morse, in analogous art of user search results, discloses:
determining one or more preferences of the user based on historical information associated with the user, wherein the relevance to the user is based on the one or more preferences of the user (e.g. The prefetching may include performing a database query, a web search, an analysis of data, or other background processing. The prefetching may also include predicting content that the most likely to be interested in, based on weighting and/or other information in the user's profile(s). For example, if a prefetch is related to the mobile user's location, the portal service may search for nearby merchants, restaurants, theatres, pubs, and the like at an optional operation 156, and prioritize the results based on the user's history of content requests while near that location) (Section [0051]-[0052]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the location based search results of Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey to consider user historical information for relevance, as taught by Morse, in order to achieve the predictable result of providing convenience to the user by learning what interests and habits the user has and providing results that are in line with their interests and habits.
Claims 13 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey, as applied to claim 4 above, in further view of US 8645366 B1 (“Acharya”).
Per claim 13, although Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey discloses returning merchant search results to a user based on relevance to the user, Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey does not specifically disclose:
wherein the relevance to the user is based on relevance to a second user.
However Acharya, in analogous art of generating POI recommendations, discloses:
wherein the relevance to the user is based on relevance to a second user (e.g. Some of the points of interest may be associated with expressions of interest by members of the social networking service, some of whom may be in one or more social network groups of the end-user. Expressions of interest may include: indications of preference, indications of presence or reviews. The server machine would rank the POIs within the set of POIs. A highest rank may be assigned to a subset of POIs that include expressions of interest by members of one or more social network groups of the end-user ("social network group members"). A next highest rank may be assigned to a subset of POIs that include expressions of interest by other members of the social networking service who are not members of one or more social network groups of the end-user ("social network group nonmembers"). A lowest rank may be assigned to a subset of POIs that do not include any expressions of interest by members of the social networking service) (Column 2, Ln 55 – Column 3, Ln 30).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the location based search results of Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey to consider other user interest for relevance, as taught by Acharya, in order to achieve the predictable result of providing convenience to the user by returning results that the user has a better chance of being interested in based on shared group interest or popularity.
Per claim 14, although Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey discloses returning merchant search results to a user based on relevance to the user, Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey does not specifically disclose:
wherein the relevance to the user is based on relevance to a group of users.
However Acharya, in analogous art of generating POI recommendations, discloses:
wherein the relevance to the user is based on relevance to a group of users (e.g. Some of the points of interest may be associated with expressions of interest by members of the social networking service, some of whom may be in one or more social network groups of the end-user. Expressions of interest may include: indications of preference, indications of presence or reviews. The server machine would rank the POIs within the set of POIs. A highest rank may be assigned to a subset of POIs that include expressions of interest by members of one or more social network groups of the end-user ("social network group members"). A next highest rank may be assigned to a subset of POIs that include expressions of interest by other members of the social networking service who are not members of one or more social network groups of the end-user ("social network group nonmembers"). A lowest rank may be assigned to a subset of POIs that do not include any expressions of interest by members of the social networking service) (Column 2, Ln 55 – Column 3, Ln 30).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the location based search results of Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey to consider other user interest for relevance, as taught by Acharya, in order to achieve the predictable result of providing convenience to the user by returning results that the user has a better chance of being interested in based on shared group interest or popularity.
Claims 15, 16, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey, as applied to claim 4 above, in further view of US 9471925 B2 (“Ramer”).
Per claim 15, although Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey discloses returning merchant search results to a user based on relevance to the user, Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey does not specifically disclose:
wherein the relevance to the user is based on an age group of the user.
However Ramer, in analogous art of generating user search results, discloses:
wherein the relevance to the user is based on an age group of the user (e.g. For example, parameters relating to a user may include age (e.g. 27), sex (e.g. male), previous user transactions (e.g. purchase of a jazz recording), and geographic location (e.g. New York City). The automatically generated search may return search results that are ranked, ordering, indexed, and or prioritized by their relevance to a user characteristic or plurality of user characteristics) (Column 15, Ln 56 – Column 16, Ln 23).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the location based search results of Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey to consider other user interest for relevance, as taught by Ramer, in order to achieve the predictable result of providing convenience to the user by returning results that the user has a better chance of being interested in based on the user’s age.
Per claim 16, although Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey discloses returning merchant search results to a user based on relevance to the user, Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey does not specifically disclose:
wherein the relevance to the user is based on an age group associated with the plurality of entities of the second entity type.
However Ramer, in analogous art of generating user search results, discloses:
wherein the relevance to the user is based on an age group associated with the plurality of entities of the second entity type (e.g. For example, parameters relating to a user may include age (e.g. 27), sex (e.g. male), previous user transactions (e.g. purchase of a jazz recording), and geographic location (e.g. New York City). The automatically generated search may return search results that are ranked, ordering, indexed, and or prioritized by their relevance to a user characteristic or plurality of user characteristics) (Column 15, Ln 56 – Column 16, Ln 23).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the location based search results of Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey to consider other user interest for relevance, as taught by Ramer, in order to achieve the predictable result of providing convenience to the user by returning results that the user has a better chance of being interested in based on age.
Per claim 19, although Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey discloses returning merchant search results to a user based on the user’s location, Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey does not specifically disclose:
facilitating a transaction between the user and an entity of the plurality of entities of the second entity type, wherein the entity is identified in the search result.
However Ramer, in analogous art of generating user search results, discloses:
facilitating a transaction between the user and an entity of the plurality of entities of the second entity type, wherein the entity is identified in the search result (e.g. The link may be to an item of goods or services for sale, to a promotion, to a content item, to an advertisement, or to other material of a commercial provider, such as a vendor of goods or services. The link may, for example, be to an item on an electronic commerce site, to an auction site, to a reverse auction site, to a news site, to an information site, or to other content on a computer network, such as web content, content located on other networks, or the like. The link may include or be associated with various e-commerce features, such as those enabling single click purchasing, bidding, targeted advertising, instant purchasing (e.g., “buy it now”), tracking of clicks or transactions, tracking of referrals, affiliate program features, or the like. In embodiments the link is a sponsored link that is presented to a user on the user interface of a mobile communication facility 102, such as a cell phone. The sponsored link may be presented in association with an implicit query 164 (and may be related to such a query)) (Column 75, Ln 12-43).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the location based merchant search results of Peng/Blackhurst/Laracey to include a link that allows the user to perform a transaction with the merchant, as taught by Ramer, in order to achieve the predictable result of providing convenience to the user by allowing them to easily complete a purchase with a merchant that is nearby.
Non-Statutory Double Patenting Rejection
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP §§ 706.02(l)(1) - 706.02(l)(3) for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Claims 1 and 20 are rejected on the grounds of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32 of U.S. Patent No. 9,373,112 in further view of US 20110191180 A1 (“Blackhurst”) and US 20110251892 A1 (“Laracey”). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because:
Per claims 1 and 20, U.S. Patent No. 9,373,112 discloses:
receiving, by a payment service system from a user device associated with a user, geolocation information indicating a location of the user device, the geolocation information based on a measurement associated with the user device (e.g. sending, by the mobile device to a computer system of the cardless payment system, a current location of the mobile device) (Claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32);
receiving, by the payment service system from the user device, a request to search for merchants (e.g. sending, by the mobile device to a computer system of the cardless payment system, a current location of the mobile device; receiving, by the mobile device from the computer system of the cardless payment system, data identifying a plurality of merchants that are located within a threshold distance to the current location of the mobile device) (Claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32);
searching, by the payment service system, through at least one data structure based on the geolocation information to identify a subset of merchants within a first threshold proximity of the location of the user device, wherein the at least one data structure includes information about a plurality of merchants (e.g. receiving, by the mobile device from the computer system of the cardless payment system, data identifying a plurality of merchants that are located within a threshold distance to the current location of the mobile device) (Claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32);
determining, by the payment service system, that the user device is within a second threshold proximity to a point-of-sale (POS) device of a merchant in the ranked subset of merchants (e.g. a mobile device associated with the user sends, to a cardless payment system, an indication of consent for the particular merchant to perform a cardless payment transaction using an account of the user with the cardless payment system, the indication of consent being sent by the mobile device whenever the mobile device associated with the user becomes located within a predetermined distance of a location of the particular merchant selected for automatic authorization) and (e.g. determining, by the mobile device, that the current location of the mobile device is within the predetermined distance of the location of the particular merchant selected for automatic authorization, wherein the determining that the current location of the mobile device is within the predetermined distance of the location of the particular merchant selected for automatic authorization occurs while the application is running on the mobile device in a background) (Claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32);
receiving, by the payment service system, from the user device, authorization from the user to enter into a payment transaction with the merchant without presence of a payment card at the POS device (e.g. a mobile device associated with the user sends, to a cardless payment system, an indication of consent for the particular merchant to perform a cardless payment transaction using an account of the user with the cardless payment system, the indication of consent being sent by the mobile device whenever the mobile device associated with the user becomes located within a predetermined distance of a location of the particular merchant selected for automatic authorization, and wherein a cardless payment transaction is a transaction conducted by a merchant using an account of the user with the cardless payment system without receiving a payment card from the user) and (e.g. sending, by the mobile device to the computer system of the cardless payment system without further input from the user, an indication of consent for the particular merchant to perform a cardless payment transaction using the account of the user with the cardless payment system) (Claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32);
receiving, by the payment service system from the POS device, a selection of a user account of the user and an instruction to process the payment transaction with the user (e.g. receiving, by the cardless payment system, a request by the particular merchant to perform a cardless payment transaction using the account of the user with the cardless payment system) (Claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32);
initiating, by the payment service system, processing of the payment transaction using the payment card information associated with the user account (e.g. receiving, by the cardless payment system, a request by the particular merchant to perform a cardless payment transaction using the account of the user with the cardless payment system) and (e.g. sending, by the cardless payment system to the particular merchant, an indication that the cardless payment transaction is authorized) (Claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32);
confirming, by the payment service system, completion of the payment transaction (e.g. sending, by the cardless payment system to the particular merchant, an indication that the cardless payment transaction is authorized) (Claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32).
Although U.S. Patent No. 9,373,112 discloses a payment service system sending a user device a list of merchants near the geolocation of the user device and performing a cardless transaction using a user account at the merchant, U.S. Patent No. 9,373,112 does not specifically disclose:
accessing, by the payment service system, transaction information associated with the user, the transaction information identifying merchants with which the user has previously interacted;
ranking, by the payment service system, the subset of merchants based on the transaction information to generate a ranking order;
providing, by the payment service system, the ranked subset of merchants to the user device according to the ranking order;
in response to receiving the authorization, providing, by the payment service system to the POS device, information identifying the user.
However Blackhurst, in analogous art of searching for merchant information, discloses:
accessing, by the payment service system, transaction information associated with the user, the transaction information identifying merchants with which the user has previously interacted (e.g. In some embodiments of the invention, the customer's 6 transaction history can be used to rank the offers in a way that will make it more likely for the customer 6 to accept a particular offer. In some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program application 10 may rank the offers based on the amount of purchases the customer made with a particular merchant. For example, if the transaction history indicates that the customer buys a large percentage of her of products from a first merchant (i.e. Company B) relative to other merchants, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the offers from the first merchant (i.e. Company B) that relate to the customer's search near the top of the results section 720. In other embodiments of the invention, if the customer typically purchases products from a particular manufacturer, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the merchants who offer the product from that manufacturer first in the results section 720 of the local search interface 700) (Section [0094]);
ranking, by the payment service system, the subset of merchants based on the transaction information to generate a ranking order (e.g. In some embodiments of the invention, the customer's 6 transaction history can be used to rank the offers in a way that will make it more likely for the customer 6 to accept a particular offer. In some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program application 10 may rank the offers based on the amount of purchases the customer made with a particular merchant. For example, if the transaction history indicates that the customer buys a large percentage of her of products from a first merchant (i.e. Company B) relative to other merchants, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the offers from the first merchant (i.e. Company B) that relate to the customer's search near the top of the results section 720. In other embodiments of the invention, if the customer typically purchases products from a particular manufacturer, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the merchants who offer the product from that manufacturer first in the results section 720 of the local search interface 700) (Section [0094]);
providing, by the payment service system, the ranked subset of merchants to the user device according to the ranking order (e.g. In some embodiments of the invention, the customer's 6 transaction history can be used to rank the offers in a way that will make it more likely for the customer 6 to accept a particular offer. In some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program application 10 may rank the offers based on the amount of purchases the customer made with a particular merchant. For example, if the transaction history indicates that the customer buys a large percentage of her of products from a first merchant (i.e. Company B) relative to other merchants, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the offers from the first merchant (i.e. Company B) that relate to the customer's search near the top of the results section 720. In other embodiments of the invention, if the customer typically purchases products from a particular manufacturer, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the merchants who offer the product from that manufacturer first in the results section 720 of the local search interface 700) (Section [0094]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the merchant location based search results of U.S. Patent No. 9,373,112 to include the use of user transaction history to determine which merchants are displayed at the top of the search results, as taught by Blackhurst, in order to achieve the predictable result of providing convenience to the user by allowing them to see merchants that they have previously transacted with and trust at the top of the search results.
Although U.S. Patent No. 9,373,112 and Blackhurst discloses a payment service system sending a user device a list of merchants and performing a cardless transaction using a user account at the merchant, U.S. Patent No. 9,373,112 does not specifically disclose:
in response to receiving the authorization, providing, by the payment service system to the POS device, information identifying the user.
However Laracey, in analogous art of cardless merchant payments, discloses:
in response to receiving the authorization, providing, by the payment service system to the POS device, information identifying the user (e.g. The transaction information (including merchant name and location and the transaction amount, for example) and the available payment account information, are transmitted to the customer's mobile device 202 at 468) (Section [0109] and [0110]);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the nearby merchant search of U.S. Patent No. 9,373,112 and Blackhurst to include performing cardless merchant payments using payment information in a user account at those merchants, as taught by Laracey, in order to achieve the predictable result of increasing security of payment card information which can be stolen when physically used at a merchant (see Laracey section [0003]).
Claim 4 is rejected on the grounds of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32 of U.S. Patent No. 9,373,112 in further view of US 20110191180 A1 (“Blackhurst”). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because:
Per claim 4, U.S. Patent No. 9,373,112 discloses:
receiving, by a payment service system from a user device associated with a user, geolocation information indicating a location of the user device, the geolocation information based on a measurement associated with the user device, wherein the user is associated with a first entity type of a plurality of entity types, wherein the plurality of entity types include customers and merchants (e.g. sending, by the mobile device to a computer system of the cardless payment system, a current location of the mobile device) and (e.g. receiving, by the mobile device from the computer system of the cardless payment system, data identifying a plurality of merchants that are located within a threshold distance to the current location of the mobile device (Claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32);
receiving, by the payment service system from the user device, a request to search for a second entity type (e.g. sending, by the mobile device to a computer system of the cardless payment system, a current location of the mobile device; receiving, by the mobile device from the computer system of the cardless payment system, data identifying a plurality of merchants that are located within a threshold distance to the current location of the mobile device) (Claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32);
searching, by the payment service system, through at least one data structure based on the geolocation information to identify a subset of entities of the second entity type within a first threshold proximity of the location of the user device, wherein the at least one data structure includes information about a plurality of entities of the second entity type (e.g. receiving, by the mobile device from the computer system of the cardless payment system, data identifying a plurality of merchants that are located within a threshold distance to the current location of the mobile device) (Claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32);
determining, by the payment service system, that the user device is within a second threshold proximity to a point-of-sale (POS) device of an entity in the ranked subset of entities of the second entity type (e.g. a mobile device associated with the user sends, to a cardless payment system, an indication of consent for the particular merchant to perform a cardless payment transaction using an account of the user with the cardless payment system, the indication of consent being sent by the mobile device whenever the mobile device associated with the user becomes located within a predetermined distance of a location of the particular merchant selected for automatic authorization) and (e.g. determining, by the mobile device, that the current location of the mobile device is within the predetermined distance of the location of the particular merchant selected for automatic authorization, wherein the determining that the current location of the mobile device is within the predetermined distance of the location of the particular merchant selected for automatic authorization occurs while the application is running on the mobile device in a background) (Claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32);
receiving, by the payment service system, from the user device, authorization from the user to enter into a payment transaction with the entity without presence of a payment card at the POS device (e.g. a mobile device associated with the user sends, to a cardless payment system, an indication of consent for the particular merchant to perform a cardless payment transaction using an account of the user with the cardless payment system, the indication of consent being sent by the mobile device whenever the mobile device associated with the user becomes located within a predetermined distance of a location of the particular merchant selected for automatic authorization, and wherein a cardless payment transaction is a transaction conducted by a merchant using an account of the user with the cardless payment system without receiving a payment card from the user) and (e.g. sending, by the mobile device to the computer system of the cardless payment system without further input from the user, an indication of consent for the particular merchant to perform a cardless payment transaction using the account of the user with the cardless payment system) (Claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32);
in response to receiving the authorization, initiating, by the payment service system, processing of the payment transaction using the payment card information retrieved from an account associated with the user or the entity (e.g. receiving, by the cardless payment system, a request by the particular merchant to perform a cardless payment transaction using the account of the user with the cardless payment system) and (e.g. sending, by the cardless payment system to the particular merchant, an indication that the cardless payment transaction is authorized) (Claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32);
confirming, by the payment service system, completion of the transaction (e.g. sending, by the cardless payment system to the particular merchant, an indication that the cardless payment transaction is authorized) (Claims 1, 10, 19, 28, 30, and 32).
Although U.S. Patent No. 9,373,112 discloses a payment service system sending a user device a list of merchants near the geolocation of the user device and performing a cardless transaction using a user account at the merchant, U.S. Patent No. 9,373,112 does not specifically disclose:
accessing, by the payment service system, transaction information associated with the user, the transaction information identifying entities of the second entity type with which the user has previously interacted;
ranking, by the payment service system, the subset of entities of the second entity type based on the transaction information to generate a ranking order;
providing, by the payment service system, the ranked subset of entities of the second entity type to the user device according to the ranking order;
However Blackhurst, in analogous art of searching for merchant information, discloses:
accessing, by the payment service system, transaction information associated with the user, the transaction information identifying entities of the second entity type with which the user has previously interacted (e.g. In some embodiments of the invention, the customer's 6 transaction history can be used to rank the offers in a way that will make it more likely for the customer 6 to accept a particular offer. In some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program application 10 may rank the offers based on the amount of purchases the customer made with a particular merchant. For example, if the transaction history indicates that the customer buys a large percentage of her of products from a first merchant (i.e. Company B) relative to other merchants, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the offers from the first merchant (i.e. Company B) that relate to the customer's search near the top of the results section 720. In other embodiments of the invention, if the customer typically purchases products from a particular manufacturer, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the merchants who offer the product from that manufacturer first in the results section 720 of the local search interface 700) (Section [0094]);
ranking, by the payment service system, the subset of entities of the second entity type based on the transaction information to generate a ranking order (e.g. In some embodiments of the invention, the customer's 6 transaction history can be used to rank the offers in a way that will make it more likely for the customer 6 to accept a particular offer. In some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program application 10 may rank the offers based on the amount of purchases the customer made with a particular merchant. For example, if the transaction history indicates that the customer buys a large percentage of her of products from a first merchant (i.e. Company B) relative to other merchants, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the offers from the first merchant (i.e. Company B) that relate to the customer's search near the top of the results section 720. In other embodiments of the invention, if the customer typically purchases products from a particular manufacturer, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the merchants who offer the product from that manufacturer first in the results section 720 of the local search interface 700) (Section [0094]);
providing, by the payment service system, the ranked subset of entities of the second entity type to the user device according to the ranking order (e.g. In some embodiments of the invention, the customer's 6 transaction history can be used to rank the offers in a way that will make it more likely for the customer 6 to accept a particular offer. In some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program application 10 may rank the offers based on the amount of purchases the customer made with a particular merchant. For example, if the transaction history indicates that the customer buys a large percentage of her of products from a first merchant (i.e. Company B) relative to other merchants, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the offers from the first merchant (i.e. Company B) that relate to the customer's search near the top of the results section 720. In other embodiments of the invention, if the customer typically purchases products from a particular manufacturer, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the merchants who offer the product from that manufacturer first in the results section 720 of the local search interface 700) (Section [0094]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the merchant location based search results of U.S. Patent No. 9,373,112 to include the use of user transaction history to determine which merchants are displayed at the top of the search results, as taught by Blackhurst, in order to achieve the predictable result of providing convenience to the user by allowing them to see merchants that they have previously transacted with and trust at the top of the search results.
Conclusion
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US Publication Number 20140108173 A1 to Cooper teaches a system and method to perform cardless transactions at a merchant POS using a user account.
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/TIMOTHY PAUL SAX/Examiner, Art Unit 3698
