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 . This office action is in response to applicant's communication of February 4, 2025. The rejections are stated below. Claims 1-11 are pending and have been examined.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-11 are objected to under 37 CFR 1.84 because the drawings contain improper reference numbers. The drawings include reference numbers 1-14 in Figures 8-11 that appear to be reused from Figure 1. Reference numbers must be consistent throughout the application and must be clearly associated with the same element each time they appear. When reference numbers are reused to identify different elements in different figures, the drawings become confusing and fail to comply with the requirements for clear disclosure. Specifically, Figure 1 uses reference numbers such as 2, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 30, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 40, 41, 43, and 45. Figures 8-11 appear to reuse these same numbers for different elements in the process flow diagrams. This is improper because each reference number should correspond to the same feature throughout the application. Applicant is required to submit replacement drawing sheets with consistent reference numerals that do not reuse numbers for different elements, or to explain why the reuse of these reference numerals is proper. Any replacement drawing sheets must be submitted in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d).
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 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Claim 1 is directed to the abstract idea of “) in prong one of step 2A (See 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance).
Claim 1 recites “A … in a shop of a goods seller or a service provider; … of a settlement service provider connected to the … between shop-settlement service providers; and a … of a financial institution connected to the … via a … between a settlement service provider and a
financial institution, where the financial institution includes a credit card company, a debit card company, a prepaid card company, an electronic money company, a code settlement application management company, a point management company, and an on-credit payment management company, and enabling to make a charge settlement of goods or services using a legal currency, wherein the … that manages an account-type community currency that is used in a closed community, is not exchanged with a legal currency, and is not used for consumption tax payment,
… includes a member information saving device that saves therein member information enabling to specify members belonging to the closed community and necessary for identity verification, a member-account transaction-history recording device that records therein a transaction amount and a balance history of a community currency owned by each individual of the members, and … that calculates a sum of account balances of the community currency in a relevant community recorded in the member-account transaction-history recording device and checks that the sum is zero,
the settlement terminal includes … that, in a case
where the goods seller or the service provider belongs to a community using a community currency same as that a customer uses and in a case where it is agreed that a portion of a base price excluding consumption tax in a charge for goods or services is paid using the community currency, sends a price among the base price paid in a legal currency and a consumption tax amount corresponding to the price, a community
currency transaction amount paid using the community currency, and identity verification information necessary for verifying belongingness of the customer to the community to the settlement server computer so as to inquire possibility of a
settlement, a … that makes a settlement in a case where a response that it is possible to make a settlement is obtained from the …, and a … that sends a fact that a settlement has been made to the …, the … includes an … that, when there is an inquiry as to whether it is possible to make a settlement in which both a transaction of a legal currency and a transaction of a community currency are made in combination
from the … of the settlement terminal, inquires a transaction amount of the legal currency to the … and inquires a transaction amount of the community currency to the …, a … that, in response to a request from the …, when both the … and the … reply that it is possible to make a settlement, sends a reply that it is possible to make a settlement to the …, and when any one of the … and the … replies that it is not possible to make a settlement, sends a reply that it is not possible to make a settlement to
the …, and a … that, upon reception of a fact that a settlement has been made from the …, sends information including an amount of a relevant transaction to the … and the …, and the … enables to make a settlement in one transaction while combining a community currency and a legal currency with each other”.
These limitations describe an abstract idea settlement system that manages transactions” which is grouped under “methods of organizing human activity and fundamental economic practices such as commercial interactions.
Claim 1 also recites as additional elements such as “a settlement system comprising: a settlement terminal installed in a shop, a settlement server computer of a settlement service provider connected to the settlement terminal via a communication unit, settlement authentication server computer of a financial institution connected to the settlement server computer via a communication unit, the settlement sever computer is further connected to a community-currency management sever computer, the community-currency management sever computer includes a member information saving device, a member-account transaction-history recording device, a zero-sum checking device, the settlement terminal includes a settlement possibility inquiry device, a settlement making device , a settlement-making-result notification device, the settlement server includes an authentication requesting device, a settlement possibility replying device, a transaction result processing device” which do no more than implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment. Therefore, claim 1 is directed to an abstract idea without a practical application (Step 2A - Prong 2: NO).
Further, as the additional elements of claim 1 do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment, they do not improve computer functionality or improve another technology or technical field. Thus, claim 1 is not patent eligible (Step 2B: NO).
Claim 2 recites “wherein a transaction amount in one transaction or a balance in each account of the account-type community currency may have a negative value, the … that monitors an upper limit of a transaction amount in one transaction or a lower limit and an upper limit of a balance in each account, and when the … inquires the … about a transaction of the community currency, the … checks and replies not only identity verification of a customer but also whether the transaction reaches an upper limit of a transaction amount or of an account balance” which further describe the abstract idea. The claim includes “community-current management server computer, transaction-amount-balance upper-limit monitoring device, authentication requiring device of the settlement computer” as additional elements. The additional elements do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment. And, as the additional elements do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment, they do not improve the functioning of a computer or improve any other technology or technical field (MPEP 2106.05(a).
Claim 3 recites “wherein …, the …, and the … a face of a customer with the … for identifying identity of the customer with the …, regards captured information as identity verification information, and sends the identity verification information to the …” which further describe the abstract idea. The claim includes “wherein the settlement terminal is a settlement terminal as a dedicated product, the settlement terminal further includes a facial recognition camera or an information-embedded graphics reading camera, and the settlement terminal captures a face of a customer with the facial recognition camera or captures information-embedded graphics, settlement server computer” as additional elements. The additional elements do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment. And, as the additional elements do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment, they do not improve the functioning of a computer or improve any other technology or technical field (MPEP 2106.05(a).
Claim 4 recites “wherein … of the goods seller or the service provider and having … to make both a transaction of a community currency and a transaction of a legal currency, and the … for identifying identity of the customer, regards captured information as identity verification information, and sends the identity verification information to the settlement server computer” which further describe the abstract idea. The claim includes “settlement terminal is a smartphone installed, … having installed therein an application program, settlement terminal uses a camera incorporated in the smartphone to capture a face of a customer or information-embedded graphics, settlement sever computer” as additional elements. The additional elements do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment. And, as the additional elements do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment, they do not improve the functioning of a computer or improve any other technology or technical field (MPEP 2106.05(a).
Claim 5 recites “wherein the … to make both a transaction of a community currency and a transaction of a legal currency, and the … for identifying a shop of the goods seller or the service provider, regards captured information as identity verification information, and sends the identity verification information to the …” which further describe the abstract idea. The claim includes “wherein the settlement terminal is a smartphone of a customer having installed therein an application program, the settlement terminal uses a camera incorporated in the smartphone to capture information-embedded graphics, settlement server computer” as additional elements. The additional elements do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment. And, as the additional elements do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment, they do not improve the functioning of a computer or improve any other technology or technical field (MPEP 2106.05(a).
Claim 6 recites “wherein … enabling to make a transaction of a community currency and also having installed therein an application program enabling to make a transaction of a legal currency, and the … for identifying a shop of the goods seller or the service provider, regards captured information as identity verification information, and sends the identity verification information to the …” which further describe the abstract idea. The claim includes “wherein the settlement terminal is a smartphone of a customer having installed therein an application program, … installed therein an application program enabling, settlement terminal uses a camera incorporated in the smartphone to capture information-embedded graphics, settlement server computer” as additional elements. The additional elements do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment. And, as the additional elements do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment, they do not improve the functioning of a computer or improve any other technology or technical field (MPEP 2106.05(a).
Claim 7 recites “wherein the … calculates a sum of account balances at a constant cycle to check that the sum is zero, and when the sum is not zero, detects a transaction as a cause thereof, notifies a … involved in the transaction of a fact that the sum is not zero, and requests a correction of the transaction” which further describe the abstract idea. The claim includes “zero-sum checking device of the community-currency management server computer, settlement server computer” as additional elements. The additional elements do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment. And, as the additional elements do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment, they do not improve the functioning of a computer or improve any other technology or technical field (MPEP 2106.05(a).
Claim 8 recites “wherein it is possible for members belonging to the community to … for checking a balance and a transaction history of a community currency owned by each individual in each individual's …, and it is possible to perform transfer and reception of a community currency between the members using a …” which further describe the abstract idea. The claim includes “download and install an account application program, smartphone, relevant application” as additional elements. The additional elements do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment. And, as the additional elements do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment, they do not improve the functioning of a computer or improve any other technology or technical field (MPEP 2106.05(a).
Claim 9 recites “wherein the … that recognizes a flow of a relevant community currency and visualizes the flow, and as to between which members the community currency is often flowing to and from is made visible at first sight by the …” which further describe the abstract idea. The claim includes “community-currency management server computer further includes a community-currency visualization device” as additional elements. The additional elements do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment. And, as the additional elements do no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea and/or provide a particular technological environment, they do not improve the functioning of a computer or improve any other technology or technical field (MPEP 2106.05(a).
Claim 10 recites “wherein the community currency functions as a discount right” which further describe the abstract idea.
Claim 11 recites “wherein it is possible to exchange the community currency between members belonging to a relevant community” which further describe the abstract idea.
Claim Rejections – 35 USC §112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claims 9 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Lack of Algorithm
Claim 9 recites “a community-currency visualization device that recognizes a flow of a relevant community currency and visualizes the flow, and as to between which members the community currency is often flowing to and from is made visible at first sight by the community-currency visualization device.” However, the specification does not provide details on the methodology for such a visualization device. In other words, the algorithms or steps/procedures taken to perform the function must be described with sufficient details so that one of ordinary skill in the art would understand how the inventor intended the functions to be performed. (MPEP 2181 IV: MPEP 2161 01 I)
Community Currency Exchange Without Disclosure
Claim 11 recites "it is possible to exchange the community currency between members belonging to a relevant community”. Paragraph (0010) states that "A community currency can be exchanged between members belonging to a relevant community”. However, the specification provides no mechanism or process for such exchange. Paragraph (0038) mentions the ability to "download and install an account application program" and "perform transfer and reception of a community currency between the members," this describes a specific embodiment of an application, not a generic exchange capability. The written description does not convey possession of the broad concept of "exchange" recited in claim 11. See In re Curtis, 354 F.3d 1347, 1357, 69 USPQ2d 1274, 1282 (Fed. Cir. 2004)
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claims 1 through 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as indefinite because they fail to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter regarded as the invention. The claims contain relative and subjective terminology that leaves the scope of the invention unclear. The term "relevant" appears repeatedly throughout the claims in phrases such as "relevant community," "relevant transaction," "relevant community currency," and "relevant application." This word is inherently relative and ambiguous because it provides no objective standard for determining what is relevant. A person of ordinary skill in the art would not know with reasonable certainty which community, transaction, currency, or application is being referenced. Claim 1 recites "a relevant community" in connection with the zero sum checking device calculating a sum of account balances. It is impossible to determine whether "relevant community" means the closed community that uses the community currency, the community in which the goods seller belongs, the community to which the customer belongs, or something else entirely. The claim provides no antecedent basis or definition. Claim 1 also recites that the transaction result processing device sends "information including an amount of a relevant transaction". The claim does not specify which transaction is relevant. It could be the legal currency transaction, the community currency transaction, the combined transaction, or some other transaction. This lack of clarity makes the scope of the claim uncertain. Dependent claims 2-11 are rejected as each depends on claim 1.
Claim 1 is also rejected because it is unclear what the term “and enabling to make a charge” is modifying. In one interpretation it could modify the “financial institution”. In another interpretation it modifies the “settlement system”.
Claim 8 recites that members may "perform transfer and reception of a community currency between the members using a relevant application". The claim fails to identify what "relevant application" means. There is no clear antecedent basis.
Claim 9 recites that the community currency visualization device "recognizes a flow of a relevant community currency". It is unclear what currency is relevant.
Claim 9 also recites that "as to between which members the community currency is often flowing to and from is made visible at first sight". The term "often" is subjective and relative. It provides no objective metric for determining how frequently currency must flow between members to satisfy the claim. The phrase "at first sight" is equally problematic because it depends entirely on the subjective perception of a viewer. These terms do not provide any objective standard by which one could determine whether the limitation has been met.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure [US Patent No. 5,592,376, US Patent No. 5,687,323, JP 2004-258969. Hodroff US Patent 5,592,376, (divisional US Patent 5,687,323) discloses a dual-currency transaction management and accounting system where a member can purchase goods using a combination of cash and service credits converted into a community currency known as CEDS. The system includes a central computer that manages member accounts, processes debit card transactions, and verifies account balances before authorizing transactions. Hodroff does not disclose "a consumption tax amount corresponding to the price" as a separate data field distinct from the base price. The reference also does not teach "a zero-sum checking device that calculates a sum of account balances of the community currency in a relevant community recorded in the member-account transaction-history recording device and checks that the sum is zero". The system tracks individual balances but it does not enforce a global zero-sum invariant across all member accounts. Hodroff does not disclose "a settlement authentication server computer of a financial institution connected to the settlement server computer" as a distinct component separate from the community currency management server. The reference does not teach "a settlement possibility replying device that, in response to a request from the authentication requesting device, when both the settlement authentication server computer and the community-currency management server computer reply that it is possible to make a settlement, sends a reply that it is possible to make a settlement to the settlement terminal, and when any one of the settlement authentication server computer and the community-currency management server computer replies that it is not possible to make a settlement, sends a reply that it is not possible to make a settlement to the settlement terminal".
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-258969 discloses a virtual currency management method where a computer system stores virtual currency savings amounts for each user identifier and checks whether a banknote identification number has already been used before adding the corresponding amount. The system prevents double-spending of virtual banknotes.
JP 2004-258969 does not teach "a settlement terminal installed in a shop of a goods seller or a service provider". The reference is directed to virtual currency management. The references does not disclose "a settlement authentication server computer of a financial institution" for handling legal currency transactions. The reference also does not teach "enabling to make a charge settlement of goods or services using a legal currency". JP 2004-258969 further fails to disclose "a consumption tax amount corresponding to the price" or "a price among the base price paid in a legal currency and a consumption tax amount corresponding to the price, a community currency transaction amount paid using the community currency". The reference does not disclose "a zero-sum checking device that calculates a sum of account balances of the community currency in a relevant community recorded in the member-account transaction-history recording device and checks that the sum is zero". The reference does not teach "a settlement possibility replying device that, in response to a request from the authentication requesting device, when both the settlement authentication server computer and the community-currency management server computer reply that it is possible to make a settlement, sends a reply that it is possible to make a settlement to the settlement terminal".
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN T POE whose telephone number is (571)272-9789. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9:30am through 6pm EST.
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/K.T.P/Examiner, Art Unit 3692 /KEVIN T POE/
/RYAN D DONLON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3692 September 23, 2026
