DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Claims
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This action is in response to an application dated January 23, 2025. Claims 1-20 are pending. All pending claims are examined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (abstract idea) without significantly more.
Claim 1: Ineligible
Claim 1 which is illustrative of the invention is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to abstract idea without significantly more. The claim recites abstract idea of organizing human activities. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application and the claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Analysis
The claims are directed to one or more of the following statutory categories: a process, a machine, a manufacture, and a composition of matter. For claim 1, which is illustrative of claims 11 and 17 and recites
As to claim 1. A method for transferring risk associated with possible harm to an asset or disruption of a business arising from an environmental condition or event, comprising:
establishing a connection to a plurality of cryptocurrency wallets, wherein each wallet is associated with one of a plurality of user computing devices;
storing a plurality of account profiles, with one account profile associated with each computing device of the plurality of user computing devices, wherein each account profile includes a unique user identifier and a verified amount of cryptocurrency available from that user's respective cryptocurrency wallet;
receiving from at least one user computing device of the plurality of user computing devices, a hedge order to hedge against occurrence of a specific environmental condition or event, wherein the hedge order includes terms corresponding to a hedge premium offered, a risk coverage amount sought, a payout condition for the hedge order, a contract duration for the hedge order, and one or more data sources for use in determining whether the hedge order payout condition is satisfied;
receiving from at least one user computing device of the plurality of user computing devices, a risk order for a risk corresponding to occurrence of the specific environmental condition or event, wherein the risk order includes terms corresponding to a hedge premium sought, the risk coverage amount offered, a payout condition for the risk order, a contract duration for the risk order, and one or more data sources for use in determining whether the risk order payout condition is satisfied;
determining if the received hedge order and received risk order have acceptable values for the terms of the respective orders to proceed with establishing a smart contract between the received hedge order and received risk order;
generating a smart contract in a blockchain structure if the received hedge order and received risk order have acceptable values for the terms of the respective orders, wherein the smart contract includes at least one hedge user identifier, at least one risk user identifier, the hedge premium amount, the risk coverage amount, the payout condition or conditions, the 91 contract duration, and the one or more of the data sources in the terms of the received hedge order and for the received risk order;
polling environmental data from one or more of the data sources in the smart contract;
determining based on the environmental data polled if the payout condition or conditions have been satisfied during the duration of the smart contract; and
disbursing the risk coverage amount to the hedge party if the payout condition or conditions have been met or disbursing the risk coverage amount to the risk party if the payout condition or conditions have not been met.”
This is an abstract idea of risk underwriting iwhich is a certain method of organizing human activity, since it recites commercial or legal interactions (including agreements in the form of contracts; legal obligations; advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors; business relations); managing personal behavior or relationships.
This involves gathering data for analysis. Besides reciting the abstract idea, the remaining claim limitations recite generic computer components. This recited abstract idea is not integrated into a practical application.
In particular, the claim only recites generic computer components in the form of a computing device (see App. Spec. paras 0015, 0017, 0025) to receive, determine, generate and transmit information entered. The additional elements are recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components.
Accordingly, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. Therefore, the claim is directed to an abstract idea.
The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements - (e.g., computing device) amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the abstract idea using generic computer components.
Further, the dependent claims 2-10, 12-16 and 18-20 recite additional descriptive details about the criteria or rules applied to the evaluation of blockchain risk underwriting process. For example, claims 2-4 describe with additional specificity details about the additional inputs, conditions and parameters factored into the underwriting process, however the recited abstract idea is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claims only recite generic computer components (e.g., general-purpose components) to evaluate the submitted data based on predefined conditions.
The dependent claims provide additional descriptions of the components of the claimed invention in a manner that merely refines and further limits the abstract idea of independent claims 1, 11 and 17 do not add any feature that is an “inventive concept” which cures the deficiencies of the independent claims.
None of the additional elements taken individually or when taken as an ordered combination amount to significantly more than the abstract idea. Accordingly, the dependent claims are patent-ineligible.
In conclusion, merely “applying” the exception using generic computer components cannot provide an inventive concept. Therefore, the claims 1-20 are not patent eligible under 35 USC 101.
Relevant Prior Art
Although the claims recite
“receiving from at least one user computing device of the plurality of user computing devices, a hedge order to hedge against occurrence of a specific environmental condition or event, wherein the hedge order includes terms corresponding to a hedge premium offered, a risk coverage amount sought, a payout condition for the hedge order, a contract duration for the hedge order, and one or more data sources for use in determining whether the hedge order payout condition is satisfied;
receiving from at least one user computing device of the plurality of user computing devices, a risk order for a risk corresponding to occurrence of the specific environmental condition or event, wherein the risk order includes terms corresponding to a hedge premium sought, the risk coverage amount offered, a payout condition for the risk order, a contract duration for the risk order, and one or more data sources for use in determining whether the risk order payout condition is satisfied;
determining if the received hedge order and received risk order have acceptable values for the terms of the respective orders to proceed with establishing a smart contract between the received hedge order and received risk order.
generating a smart contract in a blockchain structure if the received hedge order and received risk order have acceptable values for the terms of the respective orders, wherein the smart contract includes at least one hedge user identifier, at least one risk user identifier, the hedge premium amount, the risk coverage amount, the payout condition or conditions, the 91 contract duration, and the one or more of the data sources in the terms of the received hedge order and for the received risk order;
polling environmental data from one or more of the data sources in the smart contract;.”
the prior art does not disclose and made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure includes:
Madeyski, USP. No. 10489798, Insurance Lead Marketplace
DiNello, USP Pub. No. 20200175603, Method For Structuring A Finance Agreement Efficiently To Include An Insurance Component Appendix To Hedge Against Risk From Unforeseeable Events And Defaults Through A Contractual Risk Transfer Structure
Calvin, USP Pub. No. 20200311816, Distributed Ledger Investment Governance Platform
Cardot, USP No, 11223647, Cybersafety Incremental Insurance Policy Utilizing Blockchain Underwriting Process
Conclusion
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/CHIKAODINAKA OJIAKU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3696