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 .
Status of Claims
Applicant’s submission filed 7/31/26 has been entered. Claims 1- 20 are presented for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The claims have been amended to recite an account balance tied to the user of the remote device.
The rejection under 35 USC § 112 of claims 1-20 is withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
The Examiner agrees with Applicant’s remarks dated 7/31/26. Furthermore, the combination of steps included in the amendments, particularly, the mobile device communicating with the server and not in direct communication with the POS terminal. The server transmitting the account balance to the POS terminal, receiving a transaction amount from the POS terminal, deducting the transaction amount form the available account balance, calculating a remaining balance, and updating the account balance after the remaining balance. The claims are eligible.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 3, 4, 6 -8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MCGAUGH et al. (2016/0104155 A1), in view of Stone et al. (US 20130304559 A1).
Re-claim 1, MCGAUGH et al. teach -A method for cashless vending of goods of a vending machine, performed by one or more servers, the method comprising:
--receiving, at the one or more servers, a code sent from a remote device in wireless communication with the one or more servers, the code indicative of a specific vending machine;
(see e.g. [0086] Point-of-sale terminals 102 may be associated with unique individual and/or group identifiers, such as suitably-configured optical or wirelessly-readable codes. Such codes may, for example, be displayed proximate to the corresponding POS terminal(s) 102 so that a user 104 of, for example, a mobile device 106 may be able to use the device 106 to identify the POS terminal 102 and associate it with a proposed transaction.
(see also [0097] Transaction request processing subsystem(s) 118 may be configured to receive inputs from a mobile device 106 identifying a particular POS terminal or merchant backend system 102, 103, or group(s) thereof. Such inputs may include information such as a code identifying the POS or merchant systems 102, 103. Identifying information may include the location of a merchant, department of a store or other merchant premises, a particular check-out lane or area associated with the point-of-sale terminal 102, etc. For example, a transaction request processing subsystem 118 may receive data representing an identifier “TOR-GS04-10018”, associated with a particular pump at a particular gas station in Toronto. The transaction request processing subsystem 118, in some embodiments, may determine which code matches with which point-of-sale terminal 102 through stored information on a database 124, for example, a stored look-up table.)
[0145] At 304, an application stored on the mobile device 106 may be configured to and acquire or otherwise receive a code identifying the point-of-sale terminal or merchant system 102, 103 from a user 104, for example by manual keypad/touchpad input, or by RFID, NFC, QR, barcode, or other scanning, as described above.
[0146] At 306, the user's mobile device 106 may transmit a message, e.g., a suitably-configured transaction request date set including the provisioned payment information and the information indicating the point-of-sale terminal 102, to a transaction adjudication or other third-party backend system 108, which may be a financial institution which administers or is otherwise responsible for or in control of a deposit, credit, loyalty, or rewards account associated with the user and/or the mobile device 106, or another transaction processing system.)
(see e.g. [0157] At 408, the point-of-sale terminal 102 may transmit a message including information identifying itself and/or merchant system(s) 103 associated therewith, and transaction information, to the backend system 108. The transaction information can include, for example, an amount to be paid by the user 104 in completing the transaction.
[0148] At 310, the point-of-sale terminal 102 can transmit relevant transaction information or other confirmation, such as a total price, and optionally quantities and/or item identification and pricing data, along with, optionally, any desired payment instructions, such as information identifying a deposit account associated with the merchant and any other desired or requested information, taxation requirements, etc., to the backend system 108.
[0090] Backend system(s) 108 may further communicate with external systems 110 for the processing of transactions and/or association of payment transactions involving use of loyalty programs, redemption of coupons, redemption of rewards, redemption of gift cards, etc., and/or other alternative means of payment.)
wherein the remote device and the specific vending machine communicate indirectly with one another through the one or more servers, and wherein the remote device and the specific vending machine are not in direct wireless or wired communication with one another; (see e.g. Fig. 3B, 4B).
--receiving, at the one or more servers, a transaction amount from the specific vending machine based on a selected good; and
(see e.g. [0157] At 408, the point-of-sale terminal 102 may transmit a message including information identifying itself and/or merchant system(s) 103 associated therewith, and transaction information, to the backend system 108. The transaction information can include, for example, an amount to be paid by the user 104 in completing the transaction.
[0148] At 310, the point-of-sale terminal 102 can transmit relevant transaction information or other confirmation, such as a total price, and optionally quantities and/or item identification and pricing data, along with, optionally, any desired payment instructions, such as information identifying a deposit account associated with the merchant and any other desired or requested information, taxation requirements, etc., to the backend system 108.
[0090] Backend system(s) 108 may further communicate with external systems 110 for the processing of transactions and/or association of payment transactions involving use of loyalty programs, redemption of coupons, redemption of rewards, redemption of gift cards, etc., and/or other alternative means of payment.
--deducting the transaction amount from the available balance.
(see e.g. [0173] Transaction information displayed to the user 104 through the mobile device 106 may include other information, such as advertising information, information indicating that a loyalty account was credited, a coupon applied, a gift card balance applied, etc.
Although MCGAUGH et al. teach transmission of data from the backend system to the point-of-sale terminal --- (see e.g. [0147] At 308, the backend system 108 may transmit a transaction confirmation message or data set to the identified point-of-sale terminal 102, or an associated merchant back-end system 103 to provide notification that the user 104 wishes to pay or otherwise complete the requested transaction electronically, and request confirmation that the merchant system 102, 103 wishes to proceed.)
MCGAUGH et al. do not explicitly teach the following limitation.
However, Stone et al. teach --authenticating a payment method associated with an account of a user of the remote device for a vending transaction;
(see e.g. [0020] FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic illustration of a system for requesting and acquiring service provider validation and redemption of available virtual rewards points in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.
[0055] Once the desired virtual gift card and corresponding denomination has been established, a final validation of the available virtual rewards points can be initiated within the reward points provider's 20 proprietary system and accessed through the points provider's 20 API 320.
--determining an account balance associated with the account of the user of the remote device; transmitting, from the one or more servers, the account balance to the specific vending machine;
(see e.g. [0007] display a balance of virtual rewards points available for redemption by a user of the portable electronic device; display an exchange value of the virtual rewards points for making a purchase associated with the selected at least one merchant;
--receiving, at the one or more servers and from the specific vending machine, a remaining account balance associated with the account after deduction of the transaction amount from the account balance, and updating the account balance associated with the account based on the remaining account balance.
(see e.g. [0009] deducting the purchase price from the stored value to produce a modified stored value and displaying the modified stored value on the display device; and, the portable electronic device communicating over the wireless network the purchase price or the modified stored value directly or through the host server to the prepaid instrument provider server to cause the prepaid instrument provider server to modify the stored value to the modified stored value.
Stone further considers calculating the remaining account balance as follows:
(see e.g. [0045] This purchase can be reflected, in part, by the updated balance of virtual rewards points 158 shown in FIG. 7, which reflects the redemption of 1,500 rewards points and a remaining updated balance 158 of 70,500 rewards points. In some aspects, only after the virtual gift card is authorized and released to the user does the points provider server 20 deduct the reward points from the user's reward points account. The updated balance of reward points 158 as displayed in FIG. 7 does not necessarily mean that the points provider server 20 has actually deducted those points, but rather indicates what the remaining balance would be if the virtual gift card is approved and released by the prepaid instrument provider server 18.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify MCGAUGH et al., and include the steps cited above, as taught by Stone et al., so that a purchase can be reflected, in part, by the updated balance of virtual rewards points which reflects the redemption of rewards points and a remaining updated balance of rewards points for future use. (see e.g. [0045], [0048] ).
Re-claims 3, 4, MCGAUGH et al. teach --The method for cashless vending of goods of a vending machine, performed by one or more servers, of claim 1, wherein: --the code that indicates the specific vending machine is a quick-response (QR) code displayed by the specific vending machine. 4. The method for cashless vending of goods of a vending machine, performed by one or more servers, of claim 1, wherein: --the code that indicates the specific vending machine is a quick-response (QR) code that is read by the remote device.
(see e. g. (0087] In some embodiments, identification codes associated with POS terminals and/or other merchant transaction processing systems 102, 103 may be displayed in passive, machine-interpretable form, such as a QR code, bar code, and/or RFID or NFC tags, for reading by device(s) 106 and association with proposed transactions. For example, a suitably-encoded QR image may be displayed on a wall, sign-post, or other convenient or appropriate location in or near a merchant premises, for easy access and reading by a user 104 using a device 106.)
Re-claims 6, 7, MCGAUGH et al. teach --The method for cashless vending of goods of a vending machine, performed by one or more servers, of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving, by the one or more servers, a purchase and vending selection indicating the selected good, from the specific vending machine.
(see e.g. [0148] At 310, the point-of-sale terminal 102 can transmit relevant transaction information or other confirmation, such as a total price, and optionally quantities and/or item identification and pricing data, along with, optionally, any desired payment instructions, such as information identifying a deposit account associated with the merchant and any other desired or requested information, taxation requirements, etc., to the backend system 108.)
7. The method for cashless vending of goods of a vending machine, performed by one or more servers, of claim 1, wherein:
--receiving, by the one or more servers, a purchase and vending selection indicating the selected good, from the remote device.
(see e.g. [0086] the mobile device 106 may be able to push transaction information to the point-of-sale terminal 102, and/or route it independently to a third-party system 108, such as a payment processor, for processing. )
Claim 8 recites similar limitations as claim 1 and is therefore rejected under the same arts and rationale.
Claim 10 recites similar limitations as claim 3 and is therefore rejected under the same arts and rationale.
Claim 12 recites similar limitations as claim 6 and is therefore rejected under the same arts and rationale.
Claim 13 recites similar limitations as claim 7 and is therefore rejected under the same arts and rationale.
Claim 14 recites similar limitations as claim 1 and is therefore rejected under the same arts and rationale.
Furthermore, MCGAUGH et al. teach two servers, including a remote server, to communicate with vending machines and remote devices, wherein such remote devices are to communicate with such vending machines through the two servers;
(see e.g. Fig. 2B,5B, 4B where “User 104 communicates with Account Administration 100, and Transaction Processing System (Back End 108).
Merchant Transaction System 102, 103 communicates with Transaction Processing System (Back End 108)
(see e.g. [0106] Merchant the merchant system 102, 103 may submit transaction information to an external loyalty program.
(see e.g. [0090] Backend system(s) 108 may further communicate with external systems 110 for the processing of transactions and/or association of payment transactions involving use of loyalty programs, redemption of coupons, redemption of rewards, redemption of gift cards, etc., and/or other alternative means of payment.
[0070] While embodiments and implementations of the present invention may be discussed in particular non-limiting examples with respect to use of the cloud to implement aspects of the system platform, a local server, a single remote server, a software as a service platform, or any other computing device may be used instead of the cloud.
[0156] At 406, the user's mobile device 106 may transmit a message including the provisioned payment information and the information indicating the point-of-sale terminal 102 to a backend system 108.
[0157] At 408, the point-of-sale terminal 102 may transmit a message including information identifying itself and/or merchant system(s) 103 associated therewith, and transaction information, to the backend system 108. The transaction information can include, for example, an amount to be paid by the user 104 in completing the transaction.
[0158] At 410, the back end/adjudication system 108 can match the request received from the user 106 with the message received from the point-of-sale terminal 102, based on an identifier of the point-of-sale terminal 102 included in each message. In this way, a particular user 104 and/or device may be confidently associated by system 108 with a particular proposed transaction.).
Accordingly, MCGAUGH et al. teach multiple servers communicating separately with the mobile device and the merchant system to process transactions.
Claim 16 recites similar limitations as claim 3 and is therefore rejected under the same arts and rationale.
Claim 17 recites similar limitations as claim 4 and is therefore rejected under the same arts and rationale.
Claim 19 recites similar limitations as claim 6 and is therefore rejected under the same arts and rationale.
Claim 20 recites similar limitations as claim 7 and is therefore rejected under the same arts and rationale.
Claims 2, 9, 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MCGAUGH et al. (2016/0104155 A1), in view of Stone et al. (US 20130304559 A1), in further view of Hiremath et al. (US 20140058815 A1 )
Re-claim 2, MCGAUGH et al., in view of Stone et al. do not explicitly teach the limitation as claimed.
However, Hiremath et al. explicitly teach ---The method for cashless vending of goods of a vending machine, performed by one or more servers, of claim 1, further comprising:
--adding a promotion for a specific good to be vended at no charge or reduced price, to the specific vending machine in response to receiving the code from the remote device.
(see e.g. [0181] The computer based system may receive a transaction identifier associated with a transaction, where the transaction identifier comprises a transaction value, a customer account identifier, a merchant identifier, and/or a product identifier. The product identifier may be assessed 1004, by the computer based system, to determine whether the transaction qualifies for a rebate credit in accordance with a predetermined offer. Furthermore, a value of a rebate credit is determined based on the transaction information and/or the predetermined offer. The rebate credit may be applied to a qualified transaction 1005,
[0185] Also, the qualification for the rebate credit may be based at least in part on the product identifier corresponding to at least one of a particular product or a vendor.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify MCGAUGH et al., in view of Stone et al., and include the steps cited above, as taught by Hiremath et al., in order to satisfy obligations associated with a transaction account (see e.g. [0195]).
Claim 9 recites similar limitations as claim 2 and is therefore rejected under the same arts and rationale.
Claim 15 recites similar limitations as claim 2 and is therefore rejected under the same arts and rationale.
Claims 5, 11, 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MCGAUGH et al. (2016/0104155 A1), in view of Stone et al. (US 20130304559 A1), in further view of LIM (US 20220067696 A1).
Re-claim 5, MCGAUGH et al., in view of Stone et al. do not explicitly teach the limitation as claimed.
However, LIM explicitly teaches --The method for cashless vending of goods of a vending machine, performed by one or more servers, of claim 1, further comprising:
generating, by the one or more servers, a quick-response (QR) code; and communicating the QR code from the one or more servers to the specific vending machine, to be displayed by the specific vending machine as the code that indicates the specific vending machine.
(see e.g. [[0378] Since there may be plural POSs in one store, a number or code is assigned to each POS.
[0370] Third, the QR codes may be assigned to each POS as follows.
[0371] For the present invention, the QR code may be configured to recognize the POS as in the following example. [0372] 00000001-0001-02 [0373] Where the first number or code separated by “-” is information for identifying the store.
[0392] In step 3, the customer runs the payment app and scans the QR code of each POS.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify MCGAUGH et al., in view of Stone et al., and include the steps cited above, as taught by LIM in order to identify the POS in the store (see e.g. [0377]).
Claim 11 recites similar limitations as claim 5 and is therefore rejected under the same arts and rationale.
Claim 18 recites similar limitations as claim 5 and is therefore rejected under the same arts and rationale.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/31/26 have been fully considered but they moot in view of the new rejection. The newly added amendments are taught by the new reference Stone et al.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 LUNA CHAMPAGNE whose telephone number is (571)272-7177. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-5:00.
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/LUNA CHAMPAGNE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3627 October 8, 2026
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