DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to claims filed on 01/09/2025.
Claims 1-17 are examined hereon.
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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
The present invention is directed to processing transaction authorization request messages that include digitally signed transaction type indicators and tokens as substitutes for primary account numbers (PANs) for accounts in which the digitally signed transaction type indicators are verified before modifying the transaction authorization request messages to include indications of the verified signatures and/or confirmations of types of the transactions before providing the modifying transaction authorization request messages to issuers of the PANs for approval of the transactions. If the rejection rendered hereon are properly overcome, the claims may become patentable as the prior art made of record alone or in combination do not disclose confirming, by the token service provider computing device, the signed transaction type indicator is consistent with an indicator of a type of transaction included in the authorization request by a merchant involved in the transaction; and based on the verified signature and the confirmation of the type of the transaction: modifying, by the token service provider computing device, the authorization request to include the PAN and to indicate the verified signature and/or the confirmation of the type of the transaction.
Yet even if the missing claimed elements were found in a reasonable number of references, a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made would not have been motivated to combine the above missing elements.
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 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Analysis
In the instant case, claims 1-8 are directed to a “Method” (Process). Claims 9-16 are directed to “A system, comprising: a processor; a memory…” (Machine). Claim 17 is directed to “A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium…” (Article of Manufacture). Therefore, these claims fall within the four statutory categories of invention.
The claims recite an abstract idea of transaction authorization, which is an abstract idea. Specifically, but for the additional elements, the claim under its broadest reasonable interpretation recites limitations grouped within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity,” and “Mathematical Concepts,” grouping of abstract ideas in prong one of step 2A of the Alice/Mayo test since the steps include commercial interactions, managing relationships and mathematical calculations (See MPEP 2106.04 & 2106.04(a)). The use of a physical aid to help perform Organized Human Activity and Mathematical Concept steps does not negate the Organized Human Activity and Mathematical Concept nature of the limitations, but simply accounts for variations in memory capacity from one person to another. Further, claims can recite a Methods of Organized Human Activity and Mathematical Concepts even if they are claimed as being performed on a computer. See MPEP § 2106.04(a)(2), subsection III. The claim limitations reciting the abstract idea are grouped within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity and Mathematical Concepts” grouping of abstract ideas as they relate to processing payment authorization requests data to associate payment data, verify transaction type indicators of the requests data and modifying the payment authorization requests data to the associated payment data before providing the modified requests to issuers of the payment data during commercial interactions between payers and payment service providers using managed payments data relationships and mathematical calculations for associating payments data and authorization data verification. More specifically, the following non-underlined claim elements recite the abstract idea while the underlined, bolded claim elements recite additional elements according to MPEP 2106.04(a).
Claims 1, as similarly as 9 and 17,
A system for use in identifying types of network interactions, the system comprising at least one computing device of a token service provider, the at least one computing device configured to… A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including executable instructions for identifying types of network interactions, which when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
receive at least a part of an authorization request for a transaction, the authorization request including a token specific to an account and a signed transaction type indicator;
detokenize the token into a primary account number (PAN) for the account;
verify a signature on the signed transaction type indicator;
confirm the signed transaction type indicator is consistent with an indicator of a type of transaction included in the authorization request by a merchant involved in the transaction; and
based on the verified signature and the confirmation of the type of the transaction:
modify the authorization request to include the PAN and to indicate the verified signature and/or the confirmation of the type of the transaction; and
transmit the authorization request to an issuer associated with the PAN, via a payment network.
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 elements are merely used as circuitry and tools to perform an abstract idea and generally link the use of a judicial exception to a particular technological environment. Specifically, these additional elements perform the steps or functions of the abstract idea. Viewed as a whole, the use of the additional elements as a tools to implement the abstract idea and 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 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. Additionally, the additional element of “detokenizing… the token,” “verifying… a signature,” and “confirming… the signed transaction type…” also does not improve a computer as it represents the mere performance of a mathematical calculation by a computer. 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 claims 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), using the additional elements to perform the steps amounts to no more than using a computer or processor to automate and implement the abstract idea. As discussed above, taking the claim elements separately, these additional elements perform the steps or functions of the abstract idea. These functions correspond to the actions required to perform the abstract idea. Viewed as a whole, the combination of elements recited in the claims merely recite the concept of transaction authorization. Therefore, the use of these additional elements does no more than employ the computer as a tool to automate and implement the abstract idea. Further, the additional element of detokenizing and verifying signature also does not improve a computer as it represents the mere performance of a mathematical calculation by a computer. The use of a computer or processor to merely automate and 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.
Dependent claims 2-8 and 10-16 further describe the abstract idea of transaction authorization. That is, although claims 2-8 and 10-16 recite further functional steps using the additional elements of token service provider, the additional element is merely used as circuitry and tools to perform an abstract idea and generally link the use of a judicial exception to a particular technological environment. Further, claims 7 and 15 recites “generate a cryptogram specific to the transaction…” in which non-underlined claim elements recite the abstract idea while the underlined, bolded claim elements recite additional elements, but the additional element of generating cryptograms also does not improve a computer as it represents the mere performance of a mathematical calculation by a computer. 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:
PGPub Powell et al. (US 2015/0127547 A1) discloses:
receive at least a part of an authorization request for a transaction, the authorization request including a token specific to an account; (Par. [0114] “The token requestor 114 may present the token to the merchant 106, who may generate a payment authorization request message including the token. The merchant 106 may send the payment authorization request message to the acquirer 108, who may then pass the payment authorization request message to the payment network 210.”)
detokenize the token into a primary account number (PAN) for the account; (Par. [0115] “the payment network 210 may interact with the token vault 218 and/or other network server(s) 220 to de-tokenize the token provided in the payment authorization request message. Specifically, the payment network 210 may retrieve the PAN represented by the token as a result of the de-tokenization process.”)
modify the authorization request to include the PAN (Par. [0135] “The payment network 412 may then modify the authorization request message 414 to generate a modified authorization request message 418. In the modified authorization message, the token may be replaced with the PAN;”); and
transmit the authorization request to an issuer associated with the PAN, via a payment network. (Figs. 1, 4; Par. [0135] “Upon generating the modified authorization request message 418, the payment network 412 may send the modified authorization request message 418 to the issuer 416.”)
PGPub Wong et al. (US 2021/0042753 A1) discloses:
receive at least a part of an authorization request for a transaction, the authorization request including a token specific to an account (Par. [0089] “Access device 160 or a merchant computer coupled to access device 160 may then generate an authorization request message including the account identifier or token, and additional information such as a transaction cryptogram and other transaction data, and forward the authorization request message to acquirer 174 associated with the merchant. The authorization request message can then be sent by acquirer 174 to payment processing network 194.”) and a signed transaction type indicator; (Pars. [0110] “in the ODA transaction illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2B, access device 260 may send a transaction type indicator in the terminal transaction data 210…” [0111] “the mobile application of portable communication device 201… generate dynamic transaction processing information using at least some of the received terminal transaction data 210, and send a set of transaction processing information 212 including the generated dynamic transaction processing information to access device 260… portable communication device 201 may also need to generate a signature based on at least some of the received terminal transaction data 210… the signature generation process can begin when the terminal transaction data 210 from access device 260 is received, and can be performed in parallel with the generation of the transaction cryptogram and transaction processing information 212.” [0124] “some or all of the data elements in the transaction processing information 212 and account data transmissions can be used by access device 260 to generate a transaction authorization request message.”)
verify a signature on the signed transaction type indicator; (Pars. [0097] “access to a good or service can be given to a user of the portable communication device based on authentication of a signature generated with a signature key…” [0110] “in FIGS. 2A-2B, access device 260 may send a transaction type indicator in the terminal transaction data 210…” [0111] “the signature generation process can begin when the terminal transaction data 210 from access device 260 is received, and can be performed in parallel with the generation of the transaction cryptogram and transaction processing information 212.”)
PGPub Gaddam et al. (US 2017/0338965 A1) discloses:
receive at least a part of an authorization request for a transaction, (Fig. 1; Par. [0100] “forward the authorization request message to the transaction processing network 140.”) the authorization request including a token (“An authorization request message may also comprise additional data elements corresponding to “identification information” including, by way of example only:… a PAN (primary account number or “account number”), a payment token,”) specific to an account (Par. [0029] “A “payment token” may include an identifier for a payment account that is a substitute for an account identifier, such as a primary account number (PAN).”);
detokenize the token into a primary account number (PAN) for the account; (Pars. [0033] “the de-tokenization may refer to the process of redeeming a token for the associated PAN value based on a token-to-PAN mapping stored, for example, in a token vault.” [0114] “The de-tokenization module 140P may comprise code that causes the processor 140A to de-tokenize payment tokens. For example, the de-tokenization module 140P may contain logic that causes the processor 140A to identify a payment credential associated with a payment token, such as a PAN or another payment token.”)
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/WODAJO GETACHEW/Examiner, Art Unit 3697
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