DETAILED ACTION
Introduction
This Office action is responsive to the communications filed March 31, 2026. Claims 1, 3, 5, 13, 15, and 17 were amended. Claims 1, 3-9, 13, 15-21 are pending.
Response to Arguments
1. Applicant has correctly the drawings as it relates to reference character “206;” however, the informality regarding reference character 1305 described in paragraph [0043] and reference character 1300 in paragraph [0047] were not corrected. Therefore, the drawings objection is maintained.
2. Applicant has amended the specification, thereby the objection has been withdrawn.
Rejection under 35 U.S.C. 101
1. Applicant asserts that the claims are not directed to an abstract idea of “organizing human activity” as it does not relate to “managing human behavior, economic transactions, or interpersonal relationships.”
However, the Examiner respectfully disagrees. The certain methods of organizing human activity abstract idea grouping is defined as concepts related to fundamental economic principles or practices, commercial or legal interactions including agreements in the form of contracts, legal obligations, advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors, and business relations. See MPEP § 2106.04(a)(2), subsection II. In this case, the claims are directed to generating a non-fungible token based on a smart contract. An application for energy certification is received and the smart contract monitors energy related data of a device installed at a home. Hence, this is considered a business relation.
2. Applicant submits that the “alleged concept in not claimed in the abstract but is applied through a concrete technological elements required for the invention that improves how energy is processed, validated, maintained, and presented.”
However, the Examiner respectfully disagrees. “[B]are assertion of an improvement without the detail necessary to be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art” is not considered a technology improvement. MPEP 2106.04(d)(1).
3. Applicant submits that the claimed limitations “define a particularized, non-conventional system for blockchain-based certification of home electrification and energy efficiency, not a mere instruction to apply an abstract concept on a computer.”
However, the Examiner respectfully disagrees. The additional elements (i.e. smart contract, database, and NFT) are “generally linking the use of a judicial exception to a particular” field of use. MPEP 2106.05(h). The “additional element or combination of elements must do ‘more than simply stat[e]the [judicial exception] while adding the words ‘apply it’”. MPEP 2106.05(f).
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description: 1305 in paragraph [0043], and 1300 in paragraph [0047]. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1, 3-9, 13, 15-21 1-9 and 13-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
In the instant case, claims 1-9 are directed to a method. Claims 13-21 are directed to a computer-readable medium. Therefore, these claims fall within the four statutory categories of invention.
For example, claim 1 recites an abstract idea of generating a non-fungible token. The claim under its broadest reasonable interpretation recites limitations grouped within the “certain methods of organizing human activity” grouping of abstract ideas. The certain methods of organizing human activity abstract idea grouping is defined as concepts related to fundamental economic principles or practices, commercial or legal interactions including agreements in the form of contracts, legal obligations, advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors, and business relations. See MPEP § 2106.04(a)(2), subsection II. The claim limitations reciting the abstract idea are grouped within the “certain methods of organizing human activity” grouping of abstract ideas as they relate to generating a non-fungible token. More specifically, the following the bolded claim elements recite additional elements while the other claim elements recite the abstract idea. according to MPEP 2106.04(a).
A method for providing a decentralized blockchain database comprising energy information for homes, the method comprising:
receiving an application for energy certification of a home, wherein the application includes information on an owner of the home and at least one energy device installed at the home;
generating a smart contract associated with the home, wherein the smart contract is configured to monitor energy related data of the at least one energy device installed at the home, wherein the energy related data of one or more energy devices installed at the home is received from an external database;
providing the smart contract associated with the home to a certifying authority for approval of the energy related data of the one or more energy devices;
based on receiving approval from the certifying authority, generating an non-fungible token (NFT) based on the smart contract associated with the home to be maintained on the decentralized blockchain database,
wherein metadata of the NFT comprises information on energy efficiency of the home including the at least one energy device; and
providing at least the metadata of the NFT for viewing the information on energy efficiency of the home via a website.
Independent claim 13 recites similar language.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because, when analyzed under prong two of step 2A of the Alice/Mayo test (See MPEP 2106.04(d)), the additional element(s) of the claim(s) such as the decentralized blockchain database, smart contract, energy device, external database, website, and NFT are merely used as tools to perform an abstract idea and/or generally link the use of a judicial exception to a particular technological environment. Specifically, these additional elements perform the steps or functions of generating a non-fungible token. Viewed as a whole, the use of decentralized blockchain database, smart contract, energy device, external database, website, and NFT as tools to implement the abstract idea and/or generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it requires no more than a computer or computer networks performing functions that correspond to acts required to carry out the abstract idea. The additional elements do not involve improvements to the functioning of a computer, or to any other technology or technical field (MPEP 2106.05(a)), and the claims do not apply or use the abstract idea in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception (MPEP 2106.05(e) and Vanda Memo). Therefore, the claims do not, for example, purport to improve the functioning of a computer. Nor do they effect an improvement in any other technology or technical field. Accordingly, the additional elements do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea, and the claims are directed to an abstract idea.
The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because, when analyzed under step 2B of the Alice/Mayo test (See MPEP 2106.05), the additional element(s) of the decentralized blockchain database, smart contract, energy device, external database, website, and NFT to perform the steps amounts to no more than using generic hardware or software to automate and/or implement the abstract idea of generating a non-fungible token. Viewed as a whole, the combination of elements recited in the claims merely recite the concept of generating a non-fungible token. Therefore, the use of these additional elements does no more than employ the computer as a tool to automate and/or implement the abstract idea. The use of a computer or processor to merely automate and/or implement the abstract idea cannot provide significantly more than the abstract idea itself (MPEP 2106.05 (f) & (h)). Therefore, the claim is not patent eligible.
The dependent claims further describe the abstract idea such as receiving the energy related data of one or more energy devices installed at the home from an external database;
updating the generated NFT includes providing the received energy related data to a certifying authority for audit of the energy related data; and
receiving a request to update the generated NFT based on installation of new energy device at the home.
The dependent claims do not include additional elements that integrate the abstract idea into a practical application or that provide significantly more than the abstract idea. Therefore, the dependent claims are also not patent eligible.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Publication No. 2024/0393758 to Goldsmith et al.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JALATEE WORJLOH whose telephone number is (571)272-6714. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 6:00am-2:00pm.
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/Jalatee Worjloh/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3697
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