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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-17 (and 21-22) in the reply filed on 03/24/2026 is acknowledged.
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-20 were previously pending and subject to a restriction requirement mailed 01/28/2026. Claim 1-17 have been elected without traverse; claims 18-20have been cancelled without prejudice or disclaimer, claim 14 has been amended and claims 21-22 have been added. Therefore claims 1-17 and 21-22 are currently pending and subject to the non-final office action below.
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 and 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Claim(s) 1/12/13/17/21/22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. Claim(s) 1/13/21 is/are directed towards a method (i.e. a process) and claims 12/17/22 are directed towards a non-transient computer readable medium (i.e. manufacture). Thus, each of the claims fall within one of the four statutory categories. Nevertheless, the claims fall within the judicial exception of an abstract idea.
Claim(s) 1/12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim recites “receiving information derived from an authorization response for a transaction with a merchant conducted on an account issued to an account holder on an account, wherein the information includes: the date and time of the transaction; a currency amount of the transaction; and identifiers for the merchant and the account holder; using the identifiers for the merchant and the account holder to look-up information corresponding to the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant; using the identifier for the merchant to look-up information corresponding to: a business rule by which the merchant will make a contribution to an affinity entity using the identifier for the merchant; and using the identifier for the account holder to look-up information corresponding to an identifier of the affinity entity; for each said transaction for which the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant match: deriving, using the business rule, the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity; deriving, using predetermined contribution rules, information characterizing the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity as being bifurcated into: a fund to which the affinity entity has ready access; and an endowment trust for the benefit of the affinity entity to which the affinity entity has access to a portion of income from investment of the principal in the endowment trust; and for each said transaction conducted by one said account holder with one said merchant, for each group for which the one said account holder has a membership designed by a globally unique identifier, where each said group is participating in a challenge against at least one other said group to make contributions matching that of said merchants to said affinity entities, recording an obligation of the group in which the one said account holder has membership to make a matching contribution to that made by the one said merchant for each corresponding said transaction conducted by the one said account holder with the one said merchant.”.
The limitations above, as drafted, is a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers a method of “organizing and administering merchant funded charitable contributions, fund allocation and matching obligations” which is a method of organizing a human activity and mental process. That is, the method allows for fundamental economic principles or practices (including hedging, insurance, mitigating risk); 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 or interactions between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions); concepts performed in the human mind.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claim only recites hardware executing software, “accessing one or more databases”, “the logical address of the merchant using the identifier for the merchant” and “transmitting a message to a logical address containing the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity”. Each of the additional limitations is recited at a high level of generality and amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Accordingly, these additional element(s), alone or in combination, do(es) not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it/they do(es) not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. 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 element(s), alone or in combination, is/are nothing more than mere instructions to apply the exception on a general computer.
Dependent claim(s) 2-3, 5-6, 9 is/are also directed to an abstract idea without significantly more because it/they further narrow(s) the abstract idea described in relation to claim 1 without successfully integrating the exception into a practical application (XXX is recited at a high level of recitation which amounts to mere instructions to apply the exception in a computer environment) or providing significantly more limitations.
Dependent claim(s) 4 is/are also directed to an abstract idea without significantly more because it/they further narrow(s) the abstract idea described in relation to claim 1 without successfully integrating the exception into a practical application (a system and a transaction handler in communication with both the issuer of the account and the acquirer for the merchant are recited at a high level of recitation which amounts to mere instructions to apply the exception in a computer environment) or providing significantly more limitations.
Dependent claim(s) 7 is/are also directed to an abstract idea without significantly more because it/they further narrow(s) the abstract idea described in relation to claim 1 without successfully integrating the exception into a practical application (navigation algorithm is recited at a high level of recitation which amounts to mere instructions to apply the exception in a computer environment) or providing significantly more limitations.
Dependent claim(s) 8 is/are also directed to an abstract idea without significantly more because it/they further narrow(s) the abstract idea described in relation to claim 1 without successfully integrating the exception into a practical application (a logical address selected from the group consisting of: the logical address of the merchant; the logical address of the account holder; the logical address of the affinity entity; and a combination thereof is recited at a high level of recitation which amounts to mere instructions to apply the exception in a computer environment) or providing significantly more limitations.
Dependent claim(s) 10 is/are also directed to an abstract idea without significantly more because it/they further narrow(s) the abstract idea described in relation to claim 1 without successfully integrating the exception into a practical application (a logical address network location corresponding to the account holder; and receiving, in response to the survey, a survey response pertaining to the transaction from the logical address network location corresponding to the account holder is recited at a high level of recitation which amounts to mere instructions to apply the exception in a computer environment) or providing significantly more limitations.
Dependent claim(s) 11 is/are also directed to an abstract idea without significantly more because it/they further narrow(s) the abstract idea described in relation to claim 1 without successfully integrating the exception into a practical application (a logical address network location corresponding to the merchant is recited at a high level of recitation which amounts to mere instructions to apply the exception in a computer environment) or providing significantly more limitations.
Claim(s) 13/17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim recites “ receiving information derived from an authorization response for a transaction with a merchant conducted on an account issued to an account holder, wherein the information includes: the date and time of the transaction; a currency amount of the transaction; and identifiers for the merchant and the account holder; using the identifiers for the merchant and the account holder to look-up information corresponding to the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant; using the identifier for the merchant to look-up information corresponding to: a business rule by which the merchant will make a contribution to an affinity entity using the identifier for the merchant; and using the identifier for the account holder to look-up information corresponding to an identifier of the affinity entity; for each said transaction for which the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant match: deriving, using the business rule, the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity; and deriving, using predetermined contribution rules, information characterizing the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity as being bifurcated into: a fund to which the affinity entity has ready access; and an endowment trust for the benefit of the affinity entity to which the affinity entity has access to a portion of income from investment of the principal in the endowment trust.”.
The limitations above, as drafted, is a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers a method of “organizing and administering merchant funded charitable contributions, fund allocation and matching obligations” which is a method of organizing a human activity and mental process. That is, the method allows for fundamental economic principles or practices (including hedging, insurance, mitigating risk); 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 or interactions between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions); concepts performed in the human mind.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claim only recites hardware executing software, “accessing one or more databases”, “the logical address of the merchant using the identifier for the merchant” and “transmitting a message to a logical address containing the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity”. Each of the additional limitations is recited at a high level of generality and amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Accordingly, these additional element(s), alone or in combination, do(es) not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it/they do(es) not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. 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 element(s), alone or in combination, is/are nothing more than mere instructions to apply the exception on a general computer.
Dependent claim(s) 14-15 is/are also directed to an abstract idea without significantly more because it/they further narrow(s) the abstract idea described in relation to claim 1 without successfully integrating the exception into a practical application (XXX is recited at a high level of recitation which amounts to mere instructions to apply the exception in a computer environment) or providing significantly more limitations.
Dependent claim(s) 16 is/are also directed to an abstract idea without significantly more because it/they further narrow(s) the abstract idea described in relation to claim 1 without successfully integrating the exception into a practical application (a system and a transaction handler in communication with both the issuer of the account and the acquirer for the merchant are recited at a high level of recitation which amounts to mere instructions to apply the exception in a computer environment) or providing significantly more limitations.
Claim(s) 21/22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim recites “receiving information derived from an authorization response for a transaction with a merchant conducted on an account issued to an account holder, wherein the information includes: the date and time of the transaction; a currency amount of the transaction; and identifiers for the merchant and the account holder; using the identifiers for the merchant and the account holder to look-up information corresponding to the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant; using the identifier for the merchant to look-up information corresponding to: a business rule by which the merchant will make a contribution to an affinity entity using the identifier for the merchant; and using the identifier for the account holder to look-up information corresponding to an identifier of the affinity entity; for each said transaction for which the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant match: deriving, using the business rule, the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity; deriving, using predetermined contribution rules, information characterizing the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity as being bifurcated into: a fund to which the affinity entity has ready access; and an endowment trust for the benefit of the affinity entity to which the affinity entity has access to a portion of income from investment of the principal in the endowment trust; at a predetermined time period after the date of the transaction: receiving a plurality of contribution receipts each including: the respective identifiers for the merchant and the affinity entity; and a currency amount; deriving the sum of the currency amounts of the contribution receipts for the affinity entity; determining a difference between: the sum of the currency amounts of the contribution receipts that were transmitted to the logical address of the merchant for the affinity entity; and the sum of the currency amounts of the contribution receipts that were received for the affinity entity for the merchant; and transmitting the determined difference to a logical address, wherein: the logical address to which the message and the determined difference are transmitted is selected from the group consisting of: a logical address for the merchant; a logical address for the account holder; a logical address of the affinity entity; and a combination thereof; each said transaction occurs in a system that includes a plurality of said merchants each conducting transaction on a respective said account issued to a respective said account holder by a respective issuer;;each said transaction on each said account is acquired for clearing and settlement by an acquirer for each said merchant through a transaction handler in communication with both the issuer of the account and the acquirer for the merchant; and the issuer sends a corresponding said authorization response for the transaction to the merchant through the transaction handler and the acquirer in response to an authorization request sent to the issuer from the merchant through the transaction handler and the acquirer”.
The limitations above, as drafted, is a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers a method of “organizing and administering merchant funded charitable contributions, fund allocation and matching obligations” which is a method of organizing a human activity and mental process. That is, the method allows for fundamental economic principles or practices (including hedging, insurance, mitigating risk); 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 or interactions between people (including social activities, teaching, and following rules or instructions); concepts performed in the human mind.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claim only recites hardware executing software, “accessing one or more databases”, “the logical address of the merchant using the identifier for the merchant” and “transmitting a message to a logical address containing the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity”. Each of the additional limitations is recited at a high level of generality and amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Accordingly, these additional element(s), alone or in combination, do(es) not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it/they do(es) not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. 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 element(s), alone or in combination, is/are nothing more than mere instructions to apply the exception on a general computer.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tietzen (US 20130275296) in view of Georgetown University, “current use and endowed gifts – what’s the difference”, published by Georgetown.edu on March 27, 2025, hereinafter “Gtown”, Jeff Lydenberg, “Building Endowment with planned gifts”, published by Pgcalc.com in 2017, hereinafter “Jeff” in further view of Shwartz (US 2002/0091538).
As per claim 1/12, Tietzen discloses (Original) A method comprising a plurality of steps each being performed by hardware executing software, wherein the steps include:
receiving information derived from an authorization response for a transaction with a merchant conducted on an account issued to an account holder on an account (fig. 2, [0066] At step 202 of FIG. 2, information is received as derived from a positive authorization response originating from an issuer of an account, or its agent, upon which the transaction was conducted by the customer/account holder with the merchant who made offer 102 as describe above with respect to FIG. 1. Data from this information can be extracted at step 204 by a POS such as POS 106 seen in FIG. 1, including, by way of example and not by way of limitation, the date and time of the transaction, a total currency amount to be paid to the merchant at clearing and settlement on the customer's account, respective identifiers for the merchant and customer, etc.),
wherein the information includes: the date and time of the transaction; a currency amount of the transaction; and identifiers for the merchant and the account holder (fig. 2, step 204, authorization response extract: date/time/ currency amount, donor identifiers, [0104] A transaction database entry (n) 496 is stored for each such Merchant (m) 410 who is determined to be obligated to make such a donation to the affinity (f) 484, where `n` is an integer from 1 to N. Each transaction database entry (n) 496 can include: (i) the Account IDentifier (Acct-ID) such a Primary Account Number or PAN of the Account Holder (p) 408; (ii) a Merchant IDentifier (M-ID) for the Merchant (m) 410; (iii) an IDentifier for the transaction (T-ID); (iv) the date (Merchant-Msg-Date) that the Account Holder (p) 408 (Acct-ID) was sent an Affinity Donation Message from Merchant (m) 410 (M-ID); and (v) the date (xn-Date) that Account Holder (p) 408 (Acct-ID) conducted the transaction with the Merchant (m) 410 (M-ID).);
accessing one or more databases (fig. 3):
using the identifiers for the merchant and the account holder to look-up information corresponding to the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant ([0096] At step 506, the merchant automatic loyalty boarding entity sends a transmission that includes the MAP to the logical address for the merchant's acquirer, which is received at step 508. In response to receiving the MAP, at step 510, the merchant's acquirer uses the MAP to access one or more databases 520 so as to retrieve therefrom a Merchant-Identifier (M-ID) for the merchant, a Merchant Logical Address (MLA) for the merchant, a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA) for the merchant, a Merchant-Community Identifier (MCI) for the merchant, and a Merchant Affinity Donation Rule for the merchant… [0101] By way of non-limiting example, each Account Holder (p) Database entry 492 can include, for each Account Holder (p) 408, an account Issuer Password (Acct-IP), and an Account IDentifier (Acct-ID), an Account Logical Address (Acct-L));
using the identifier for the merchant to look-up information corresponding to:
a business rule by which the merchant will make a contribution to an affinity entity using the identifier for the merchant ([0095] Referring to FIGS. 4-5, a flowchart illustrates an exemplary process 500 in FIG. 5 for making contributions incident to transactions in a cashless payment processing system seen in FIG. 4. Process 500 is enabled, at least in part, via access to one or more entries in one or more databases in communication via one or more networks 520. At step 502, a Merchant Acquirer Password (MAP) is sent to a logical address of a merchant automatic loyalty boarding entity. At step 504, the merchant automatic loyalty boarding entity uses the MAP to access one or more databases 520 to locate a logical address for the merchant's acquirer (Acquirer (i) 306). [0096] At step 506, the merchant automatic loyalty boarding entity sends a transmission that includes the MAP to the logical address for the merchant's acquirer, which is received at step 508. In response to receiving the MAP, at step 510, the merchant's acquirer uses the MAP to access one or more databases 520 so as to retrieve therefrom a Merchant-Identifier (M-ID) for the merchant, a Merchant Logical Address (MLA) for the merchant, a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA) for the merchant, a Merchant-Community Identifier (MCI) for the merchant, and a Merchant Affinity Donation Rule for the merchant. By way of non-limiting example, a database has a plurality of Merchant Acquirer Database entries 490 as shown in FIG. 4. Each such entry 490 includes, for one Merchant (m) 410, a MAP, as well as a Merchant IDentifier (M-ID), a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA), a Merchant Logical Address (MLA), a Merchant-Community Identifier (MCI), a Merchant Affinity Donation Rule (MADR).);
the logical address of the merchant using the identifier for the merchant ([0096] At step 506, the merchant automatic loyalty boarding entity sends a transmission that includes the MAP to the logical address for the merchant's acquirer, which is received at step 508. In response to receiving the MAP, at step 510, the merchant's acquirer uses the MAP to access one or more databases 520 so as to retrieve therefrom a Merchant-Identifier (M-ID) for the merchant, a Merchant Logical Address (MLA) for the merchant, a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA) for the merchant, a Merchant-Community Identifier (MCI) for the merchant, and a Merchant Affinity Donation Rule for the merchant. By way of non-limiting example, a database has a plurality of Merchant Acquirer Database entries 490 as shown in FIG. 4. Each such entry 490 includes, for one Merchant (m) 410, a MAP, as well as a Merchant IDentifier (M-ID), a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA), a Merchant Logical Address (MLA), a Merchant-Community Identifier (MCI), a Merchant Affinity Donation Rule (MADR).);
and using the identifier for the account holder to look-up information corresponding to an identifier of the affinity entity (abstract, whereby the merchant selects the donation, and the account holder selects the donee. “, [0101] By way of non-limiting example, each Account Holder (p) Database entry 492 can include, for each Account Holder (p) 408, an account Issuer Password (Acct-IP), and an Account IDentifier (Acct-ID), an Account Logical Address (Acct-LA), an Account Geographic Address (Acct-GA), and an Account Affinity Donation Rule (AADR). The Account Holder (p) 408 can supply its Acct-IP, as well as each of its Acct-IDs for use of the Merchant (m) 410 and/or the merchant's Acquirer 406 so that the Account Holder (p) 408 will be able to receive messages about each Merchant (m) 410 who will make a contribution to an entity with whom the Merchant (m) 410, the merchant's Acquirer (i) 406, and/or the Account Holder (p) 408 has an Affinity (f) 484… [0098] At step 512, the MAG is used to access one or more databases 520 so as to retrieve therefrom the Affinity-ID (A-ID). The A-ID corresponds to an entity having an affinity to which a merchant and/or an account holder belong. The affinity can be a community, such as a geographic community, to which the merchant and/or the account holder belong. At step 514, the A-ID is used to gain access one or more databases 520 and retrieve information therefrom, such as by sending transmissions that include the A-ID to logical addresses that include, for instance, the Affinity-ID (A-ID) and the Affinity Geographic Address (AGA). By way of non-limiting example, a database has a plurality of Account Holder (p) database entries 494 as shown in FIG. 4. Each entry 494 can include, for each Affinity (f) 484, an Affinity IDentifier (A-ID), an Affinity Geographic Address (AGA), and an Affinity Logical Address (ALA).);
for each said transaction for which the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant match (abstract, Address, time, and rules obligating donee donations are auto-populated for merchants whose authorization responses for transactions conducted on accounts are used to obtain account holders' travel time to the merchants'. When travel time is proximal to the auto-populated time, the rule and the transaction currency amount are used to calculate the merchant's donee donation, which donation can be messaged for auditing of donations paid and payable. “, [0099] At step 516, logical addresses respectively corresponding to account holders are sent messages containing information as to the merchants' intentions to make contributions to one or more entities having an affinity, for instance, to the account holder and/or the merchant. By way of non-limiting example, a transmission is made to the logical address of each account holder with an account having a geographic address corresponding to the geographic address of the merchant (e.g., the customer's travel time does not exceed the merchant's MCI as further discussed below with respect to FIGS. 7-8), where the message sent to the account holder is derived at least in part from affinity donation information.):
deriving, using the business rule, the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity (fig. 2, step 210, “[0068] At step 210, rules for calculating a the merchant's donation are made for one or more affinity entity recipients via retrieval of information using data acquired in steps 202-204. These calculations can also include steps to use mapping data to calculate the time to travel from a customer's residence to the merchant's location, which time must be lower than a predetermined threshold in order to obligate the merchant to make a donation, as further discussed below with respect to FIGS. 7-8. These calculations can also include steps to access one or more databases as shown at reference numerals 212-214, including transmitting to and/or storing the calculated donations in one or more merchant donor databases 212 and/or in one or more merchant donations payable databases 214.”, [0102] The account holders, having received and been incented by the affinity donation messages, will begin to transact with the merchants. Thereafter, at step 518, for each of a plurality of such transactions, an Authorization Response is received. Information in the Authorization Response will be examined to determine whether the transaction was conducted by an Account Holder (p) 408 who had previously received an affinity donation message from a Merchant (m) 410 on a date that was within a predetermined time range from the date of the transaction. This examination will be used to determine whether the Merchant (m) 410 is obligated to make a donation to an affinity (f) 494 that will be good for a community to which the Account Holder (p) 408 and/or the Merchant (m) 410 has an affinity. [0103] The affinity donation information can include an identification of the entity to which the merchant will make a donation, which donation can be a function, at least in part, of the currency amount of a transaction conducted between the account holder and the merchant on an account issued by an issuer to the account holder. The account holders can be so contacted by access to, and use of information in, a database having a plurality of Account Holder (p) Entries 492 as seen in FIG. 4.); and
transmitting a message to a logical address containing the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity ([0107] Once the Affinity Donation currency amount has been derived, a message will be sent to the logical address for the Affinity-ID that includes both the derived Affinity Donation currency amount and, optionally, the Merchant-ID. A message will also be sent to the logical address for the Merchant-ID that includes both the derived Affinity Donation currency amount and the Affinity-ID.);
deriving, using predetermined contribution rules, information characterizing the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity (paragraph 38, “Using the Affinity Donation Rule and the currency amount of the authorization response, a derivation is made of an Affinity Donation currency amount that is greater than a predetermined threshold when the date and time of the received information derived from the authorization response for the transaction is within the time range from the date and time that the message derived at least in part from the Affinity Donation Rule that was transmitted to the logical address of the account holder. When the Affinity Donation currency amount is greater than the predetermined threshold, a message is sent to the logical address for the Merchant Affinity-ID that includes the Affinity Donation currency amount and the Merchant-ID, and Affinity Donation Information is sent to the MLA that includes the Affinity Donation currency amount and the Merchant Affinity-ID. In some implementations, however, the merchant will not be responsible for paying the Affinity Donation currency amount unless: (i) that currency amount exceeds the predetermined threshold; and/or (ii) the message derived at least in part from the Affinity Donation Rule had been previously transmitted to the account holder on a date that is not more than the time range from the date of the transaction between that account and the merchant.”)
In regards to this limitation, for each said transaction conducted by one said account holder with one said merchant, for each group for which the one said account holder has a membership designed by a globally unique identifier, where each said group is participating in a challenge against at least one other said group to make contributions matching that of said merchants to said affinity entities, recording an obligation of the group in which the one said account holder has membership to make a matching contribution to that made by the one said merchant for each corresponding said transaction conducted by the one said account holder with the one said merchant.
Tietzen discloses for each said transaction conducted by one said account holder with one said merchant (Tietzen discloses that an account holder conducts a cashless transaction with a merchant, “[0105] FIG. 4 shows, by double headed arrows, authorization and transaction data movement between and among Issuer (j) 404, Transaction Handler 402, Acquirer (i) 406, and Merchant (m) 410, in which Account Holder (p) 408 offers to conduct a cashless transaction with Merchant (m) 410 on an account issued by Issuer (j) 404 to Account Holder (p) 408. Merchant (m) 410 initiates an authorization request to determine whether the Issuer (j) 404, in an authorization response to the authorization request, will authorize the transaction.”; the one said account holder has a membership designed by a globally unique identifier, the account holder to make contributions matching that of said merchants to said affinity entities, recording an obligation of the account holder in which the one said account holder has membership to make a matching contribution to that made by the one said merchant for each corresponding said transaction conducted by the one said account holder with the one said merchant (Tietzen discloses deriving the merchant’s donation/contribution from the transaction data “[0106] By access to, and examination of, various database entries 490-496, the determination can be made as to whether the cashless transaction was conducted by an Account Holder (p) 408 who had previously received an affinity donation message from a Merchant (m) 410 on a date that was within a predetermined time range from the date of the transaction. If this examination finds that this is true, then a derivation will be made, using the Affinity Donation Rule and the currency amount in the Authorization Response, of an Affinity Donation currency amount. Optionally, the Affinity Donation Rule may dictate that no donation will be made unless the currency amount in the Authorization Response is large enough to justify that the donation… [0108] When the examination at step 518 determines that a donation is to be made by the Merchant (m) 410 to affinity (f) 484, the Account Holder (p) 408 can be sent a survey at step 522, where the data for such surveying may also be auto-boarded in Process 500 at step 510 or elsewhere. Step 522 is described below with respect to FIG. 6.”, Tietzen discloses the portion of the limitation requiring a contribution “matching that of said merchants to said affinity entities” but Tietzen discloses this matching contribution at the account holder level, not at the claimed group level. It teaches that the account holder can indicate whether the account holder will match the donor’s donation to the affinity entity “ “[0136] Other columns in each row of the table seen in screen shot 904 are, from left to right, as follows: 1st the percentage of the donor's donation that the account holder directs to be donated to the entity of affinity identified in the 2nd column; 3rd: a yes or no indication whether the account holder will match the donor's donation to that entity of affinity; and the 4th through the 7th columns: the maximum currency amounts that the Account Holder will commit to give to the identified entity of affinity for the current year, quarter, month and day, respectively. The bottom of screen shot 904 shown the maximum total of all matching contributions to all entities of affinity that the Account Holder (p) 308 is willing to commit for the current year, quarter, month and day, respectively. [0137] To pay the donation to the entities of affinity so specified in screen shot 904, the Account Holder (p) 308's issuer (j) 304 can pay the entity of affinity (k) 398 and place a debit in that currency amount on the Account Holder (p) 308's periodic revolving credit statement. The Account Holder (p) 308, upon receipt of the statement, can thereafter make a total payment to the issuer (j) 304 of the currency amount of the donation that appears as a debit on the statement along with the other credit charges that also appear on the Account Holder (p) 308's statement.” This teaches matching contributions because the account holder may match the merchant/donor’s donation to the same affinity entity and may commit maximum matching contribution amounts. Tietzen further discloses the portion of the limitation requiring “recording an obligation…to make a matching contribution” again at the account holder/payment system level rather than the claimed group level. Tietzen teaches that the account holder is “willing to commit” maximum matching contribution amounts, which indicates a recorded commitment to make matching donations. It also teaches recording an auditing donation obligations by storing calculated donations in a payable database and comparing paid amounts against payable amounts: “[0075] As in other implementations described above, donations calculated at step 210 are communicated to the local merchant donor, or its agent, at step 212, and are stored in a donations payable database 214. “, “Donations received are stored in donation receipts database 218. Data from donations that are made by donors via communication to affinity entities 216 during an audit period, as determined at query 220, is extracted at step 222. The donation-related data that is extracted at step 222 can include the donor ID, and the currency amount of the donation. During the audit period, a sum of donations to each affinity entity 216 made by each local merchant donor for the audit period is calculated and stored in a donor-Affinity Entity donation paid database 226. After a predetermined time period, an audit period begins, as determined by query 228. During the audit time period, differences in donations paid are compared to donations payable for each donor at step 230.” This teaches the obligation recording mechanics because Tietzen stores expected donations as payable amounts and audits those payable amounts against received donations. Tietzen also discloses that the parties in the system are tracked via global unique identifier “[0101] By way of non-limiting example, each Account Holder (p) Database entry 492 can include, for each Account Holder (p) 408, an account Issuer Password (Acct-IP), and an Account IDentifier (Acct-ID), an Account Logical Address (Acct-LA), an Account Geographic Address (Acct-GA), and an Account Affinity Donation Rule (AADR). The Account Holder (p) 408 can supply its Acct-IP, as well as each of its Acct-IDs for use of the Merchant (m) 410 and/or the merchant's Acquirer 406 so that the Account Holder (p) 408 will be able to receive messages about each Merchant (m) 410 who will make a contribution to an entity with whom the Merchant (m) 410, the merchant's Acquirer (i) 406, and/or the Account Holder (p) 408 has an Affinity (f) 484. Note also that each entry 492 can have one or more sub-entries (q), where `q` is an integer from 1 to Q, Each subentry (q) for entry 492 can include: (i) the date that the Account Holder (p) 408 (Acct-ID) was sent an Affinity Donation Message from Merchant (m) 410 (M-ID); (ii) the date that Account Holder (p) 408 (Acct-ID) conducted the transaction with the Merchant (m) 410 (M-ID); and (iii) the currency amount of that donation (Currency Amount). Having retrieved various data stored in one or more databases seen in FIGS. 3-6 as pertains to each Merchant (m) 410 and each Account Holder (p) 408, corresponding fields can be automatically populated (i.e., boarded) for storage in records of particular files in one or more of the databases seen in FIGS. 4-5.”)
However, Tietzen does not expressly disclose the portion of the limitation requiring “for each group for which the one said account holder has a membership designated by a globally unique identifier” nor does it expressly disclose the portion requiring “where each said group is participating in a challenge against at least one other said group”. It also does not expressly disclose that the recorded matching obligation is specifically “an obligation of the group in which the one said account holder has membership” rather than an obligation or commitment of the account holder.
Nevertheless, Shwartz discloses the portion of the limitation requiring a group for which the account holder has membership because Shwartz teaches joining or forming teams and recruiting team members in a fundraising campaign ([0015]… The method further comprises the step of joining a team, on the website, to participate in the fundraising campaign. The method further comprises the step of forming a new team, on the website, to participate in the fundraising campaign. The method further comprises the step of recruiting new team members by email messages.).
Also, while Shwartz does not expressly disclose recording an obligation of the group to make a matching contribution to the merchant’s transaction triggered donation, it supplies the group/team fundraising challenge environment, while Tietzen supplies the matching donation commitment and payable/paid obligation recording mechanics.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include the limitation above as taught by Shwartz in the teaching of Tietzen, in order to allow the donors to conveniently and efficiently form teams, participate in competitions, and communicate with team members (paragraph 14, Shwartz).
However, Tietzen does not disclose but Gtown discloses a donation that can be bifurcated between current use and endowment support and the fund to which the affinity entity has ready access (“current use gifts – directly expendable funds – allow Georgetown to say “yes’ to good ides now…” “the distinct aspect of current use gifts is that they have full and immediate impact”. A “directly expendable” current use fund with “full and immediate impact” corresponds to a fund to which the affinity entity has ready access. “some donors establishing endowments choose to commit a portion of their gift – or an additional annual gift – for current use, funding that can be distributed immediately…” a gift structure that includes a portion committed to endowment and a portion committed to current use teaches the claimed bifurcation.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include the limitation above as taught by Gtown in the teaching of Tietzen, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
However, Tietzen in view of Gtown does not disclose but Jeff discloses an endowment trust for the benefit of the affinity entity to which the affinity entity has access to a portion of income from investment of the principal in the endowment trust and predetermined rules for allocating gifts (page 3, “A true endowment is to be invested for the purpose of producing present and future income that may, also by donor stipulation, be expended or reinvested with the original gift. The principal or corpus of the true endowment must be maintained intact.”. This is equivalent to the claimed endowment trust because the claimed endowment trust requires principal to be invested and income from that investment to be available to the affinity entity. Page 15, “Other charities state that the first $XX dollars of each deferred gift will go to the operating budget, with dollars above that amount directed to the endowment. In organizations where the capacity and desire to increase endowment is the greatest, the decision has been made for all unrestricted deferred gifts to be placed into endowment automatically, regardless of size.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include the limitation above as taught by Jeff in the teaching of Tietzen in view of Gtown, in order for organizations that host endowments apply a spending policy to most endowed funds (page 7, Jeff).
As per claim 2, Tietzen discloses wherein the steps further comprise, a predetermined time period after the date of the transaction: receiving a plurality of contribution receipts each including: the respective identifiers for the merchant and the affinity entity; and a currency amount; deriving the sum of the currency amounts of the contribution receipts for the affinity entity; determining a difference between: the sum of the currency amounts of the contribution receipts that were transmitted to the logical address of the merchant for the affinity entity; and the sum of the currency amounts of the contribution receipts that were received for the affinity entity for the merchant; and transmitting the determined difference to a logical address (fig. 2, [0070] After a predetermined audit time period has passed as determined by a query at step 220, an audit is conducted to insure compliance by each community merchant in its donation commitments to each of the one or more affinity entities or charities for which prior notice of such donations were provided to the merchant. This audit can include adding up all required donations for each local merchant to each affinity entity or charity as shown at step 222. The donation summation for each local merchant to each affinity entity or charity derived at step 224 is compared to information in one or more databases 226 to ascertain compliance of each merchant with its donation obligations. Stated otherwise, the local merchant has a certain amount of time after a predetermined audit period, as determined at step 228, by which to complete or make all of the merchant's donation obligations to all affinity entities. [0071] Differences between donations paid and donations still payable by each local merchant are calculated at step 230, which differences are subjected to an audit threshold query at step 232. If a local merchant's donations paid is non-compliant with donations still payable, as may be determined by the audit threshold query at step 232, then Process 200 moves to step 234 to notify the local merchant, or its agent, accordingly of its deficiency. Otherwise, affirmative results at query 232 causes Process 200 to terminate at step 236 which may also include notice of compliance being transmitted to each such complaint local merchant, its customers, and/or each of the local affinity entities. Each such notice can be either by way of summary report, donations to respective affinity entities by the merchant, and variations thereof. [0075]… During the audit period, a sum of donations to each affinity entity 216 made by each local merchant donor for the audit period is calculated and stored in a donor-Affinity Entity donation paid database 226. After a predetermined time period, an audit period begins, as determined by query 228. During the audit time period, differences in donations paid are compared to donations payable for each donor at step 230. Differences exceeding a predetermined audit threshold, as determined by query 232, are communicated to the respective local merchant donors, or their respective agents, at step 234.).
As per claim 3, Tietzen discloses wherein the logical address to which the message and the determined difference are transmitted is selected from the group consisting of: a logical address for the merchant; a logical address for the account holder; a logical address of the affinity entity; and a combination thereof (fig. 4, [0012]…As a further option, the logical address to which the message and the determined difference are transmitted can be any or all or a logical address for the merchant, the account holder, the affinity entity, an agent for at least one of the merchant, the account holder and the affinity entity, and combination of these.)
As per claim 4, Tietzen discloses each said transaction occurs in a system that includes a plurality of said merchants each conducting transaction on a respective said account issued to a respective said account holder by a respective issuer; each said transaction on each said account is acquired for clearing and settlement by an acquirer for each said merchant through a transaction handler in communication with both the issuer of the account and the acquirer for the merchant; and the issuer sends a corresponding said authorization response for the transaction to the merchant through the transaction handler and the acquirer in response to an authorization request sent to the issuer from the merchant through the transaction handler and the acquirer (paragraph 77-83, fig. 3, [0019] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary payment processing system in which the processes of FIGS. 1-2 can be performed, where the system processes transactions conducted by merchants with account holders, wherein, for each transaction, there is a provision of a service and/or good by the merchant to the account holder for the transaction which is conducted on an account issued to the account holder by an issuer, there is an authorizing and remunerating of an electronic payment by the account holder in conducting the transaction on the account with the merchant, and there are one or more donations by the merchant that are made to respective affinity entities or charities incident to the transaction).
As per claim 5, Tietzen discloses wherein the steps further comprise using the information corresponding to the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant to derive whether the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant match ([[038]… The method retrieves, using the MAP, a logical address for an acquirer for the merchant. A request that includes the MAP is sent to the logical address for the acquirer for the merchant. In response to the MAP request, there is received for a Merchant-Identifier (M-ID) for the merchant, a Merchant Logical Address (MLA) for the merchant, and a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA) for the merchant. Using the MGA, a Merchant Affinity-ID is retrieved. Using the Merchant Affinity-ID, there are retrieved a logical address for the Merchant Affinity-ID and an Affinity Donation Rule that includes a time range. A message derived at least in part from the Affinity Donation Rule is transmitted to a logical address of each such account holder associated with an account holder geographic address that corresponds to the MGA for the merchant).
As per claim 6, Tietzen discloses wherein: the derivation of the match is performed by using the information corresponding to the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant to determine that the account holder and the merchant have the same community; and the same community is selected from the group consisting of the same province, the same state, the same county in the same state, the same prefecture, the same city in the same state, the same city- state, the same borough in the same city, the same postal code for the delivery of posted mail, and combinations thereof ([0048] Alternatively, the local community determination can be made on any of other different methods, or combinations thereof. Once such method is a political or legal division, that is, the merchant's place of business is determined to be in the same political or legal division as that of its customer's residence, such as the same province, state, county, prefecture, city, city-state, borough, etc. Another such comparison can be whether the merchant's place of business has a governmentally issued postal code that is the same, or within a predetermined proximity, as that of its customer's residence…[0155] The local community of each of the merchant and its customer can be determined in still other ways in other implementations, where the merchant's obligation to donate will not be fixed unless the respective physical addresses of merchant and customer are in the same community or neighborhood according to a predetermined algorithm. Any such local community determination can be made in any of several different methods, or combinations thereof, according to the merchant's preference as to what algorithm is mostly likely to attract the most favorable foot traffic to the merchant's brick and mortar store. One such method is a political or legal division, that is, the merchant's place of business is determined to be in the same political or legal division as that of its customer's residence, such as the same province, state, county, prefecture, city, city-state, borough, etc. Another such comparison can be whether the merchant's place of business has a governmentally issued postal code that is the same or within a predetermined proximity as that of its customer's residence. Yet another such comparison can be whether the merchant's place of business and its customer's residence are physically proximate within a predetermined factor by any of a variety of measures or combinations thereof. For example, latitude and longitude coordinates might be known for both the merchant's place of business and the residence of its customer. These coordinates can be used to determine whether the linear distance there between is within a predetermined distance to ascertain whether or not the merchant and its customer share the same local community.).
As per claim 7, Tietzen discloses the information corresponding to the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant includes respective geographic locations for the account holder and the merchant; the derivation of the match is performed by using a navigation algorithm and the respective geographic locations for the account holder and the merchant; the navigation algorithm computes a navigation time between from the respective geographic locations for the account holder and the merchant; and the navigation time is computed to be below a predetermined maximum in order for the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant to match; and the navigation time is computed for a transportation mode selected from the group consisting of walking, automobile, bicycle, mass transit, and a combination thereof (fig. 5, fig. 7, [0115] Reference numeral 702 shows a geographic address attributed to a merchant and reference numeral 706 shows a geographic address attributed to an account holder. Reference numeral 704 shows a Merchant-Community Identifier that includes a maximum travel time with and without real time travel conditions weighting. In some implementations, the merchant has no obligation to make a donation to one or more customer selected affinity entities unless the customer's travel time, using at least one of the modes of transportation I though V as seen, respectively, at reference numerals 708-716, is not greater than the maximum(s) at seen at 704. As such, the merchant will incent only those customers who live close by in terms of travel time. Stated otherwise, the merchant's incentive is given only to a customer who is more likely to spend a significant portion of their spending at merchants who have a location that is close to where the customer resides in terms of travel time by any likely mode of transportation that the customer will use to travel to those merchants' locations., [0123] Reference numeral 802 shows a geographic address attributed to a merchant. Reference numeral 804 shows a Merchant-Community Identifier that includes a maximum travel time but does not show real time travel conditions weighting, given that automobile traffic driving conditions are an unlikely navigation time factor in the particular type of population density of the Merchant-Community. Reference numeral 806 shows a geographic address attributed to an account holder.” [0050] As discussed above and for a further alternative, and also further discussed below with respect to FIGS. 7-8, a calculated navigation time algorithm, using any of various different travel methods (e.g., walking, automobile, bicycle, mass transit, etc.), can be used to determine whether the time, using any of one or more modes of transportation, is within a predetermined time limit to ascertain whether or not the merchant and its customer share the same local community, `neighborhood`, or Merchant-Community. By way of example, the merchant and its customer might be determined to be within the same local community if the automobile drive time, as determined from one or more databases of contemporary cartographic road system information, to navigate from a geographic address attributed to the attributed to the customer and a geographic address attributed to the merchant is less than a predetermined time threshold (e.g., 17 minutes), with yet another threshold that may be used to weight the navigation time calculations with real time traffic conditions data. [0115] Reference numeral 702 shows a geographic address attributed to a merchant and reference numeral 706 shows a geographic address attributed to an account holder. Reference numeral 704 shows a Merchant-Community Identifier that includes a maximum travel time with and without real time travel conditions weighting. In some implementations, the merchant has no obligation to make a donation to one or more customer selected affinity entities unless the customer's travel time, using at least one of the modes of transportation I though V as seen, respectively, at reference numerals 708-716, is not greater than the maximum(s) at seen at 704. [0123] Reference numeral 802 shows a geographic address attributed to a merchant. Reference numeral 804 shows a Merchant-Community Identifier that includes a maximum travel time but does not show real time travel conditions weighting, given that automobile traffic driving conditions are an unlikely navigation time factor in the particular type of population density of the Merchant-Community. Reference numeral 806 shows a geographic address attributed to an account holder. 0116] Reference numeral 708 shows respective calculations for different routes 1 through M for a mass transit mode of transportation, where each calculation is for a travel time using mass transit as the mode of transportation from address 706 to address 702. [0117] Reference numeral 710 shows respective calculations for different routes 1 through W for walking as a mode of transportations, where each calculation is for a travel time to walk from address 706 to address 702. [0118] Reference numeral 712 shows respective calculations for different routes 1 through B for bicycling as a mode of transportation, where each calculation is for a travel time to ride a bicycle from address 706 to address 702. [0119] Reference numeral 714 shows respective calculations for different routes 1 through D for using an automobile as a mode of transportations, where each calculation is for a travel time to drive from address 706 to address 702.)
As per claim 8, Tietzen discloses wherein the steps further comprise retrieving, using at least one of the respective merchant, account holder, and affinity entity identifiers, a logical address selected from the group consisting of: the logical address of the merchant; the logical address of the account holder; the logical address of the affinity entity; and a combination thereof (claim 1, “retrieving, using the identifier for the merchant, at least a portion of the stored merchant data for the merchant;”, claim 3, “transmitting a message to a logical address of the merchant containing the donation to be made by the merchant to the default affinity entity.”, claim 4, “wherein the logical address to which the message and the determined difference are transmitted is selected from the group consisting of: a logical address for the merchant; a logical address for the account holder; a logical address of the affinity entity; a logical address of an agent for at least one of the merchant, the account holder and the affinity entity; and a combination thereof.” [0038]… In response to the MAP request, there is received for a Merchant-Identifier (M-ID) for the merchant, a Merchant Logical Address (MLA) for the merchant, and a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA) for the merchant. Using the MGA, a Merchant Affinity-ID is retrieved. Using the Merchant Affinity-ID, there are retrieved a logical address for the Merchant Affinity-ID and an Affinity Donation Rule that includes a time range. )
As per claim 9, Tietzen discloses wherein the derivation of the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity for the predetermined time period using the respective account holder and merchant contribution business rules is a function, at least in part, of the received currency amount (fig. 2, [0068] At step 210, rules for calculating a the merchant's donation are made for one or more affinity entity recipients via retrieval of information using data acquired in steps 202-204. These calculations can also include steps to use mapping data to calculate the time to travel from a customer's residence to the merchant's location, which time must be lower than a predetermined threshold in order to obligate the merchant to make a donation, as further discussed below with respect to FIGS. 7-8. These calculations can also include steps to access one or more databases as shown at reference numerals 212-214, including transmitting to and/or storing the calculated donations in one or more merchant donor databases 212 and/or in one or more merchant donations payable databases 214., “claim 1: if the inquired travel time is within a predetermined tolerance of the default maximum travel time, deriving, using the default business rule and the currency amount of the transaction, a donation to be made by the merchant to the default affinity entity.”).
As per claim 10, Tietzen discloses wherein the steps further comprise, for each transaction conducted by the merchant on the account issued to the account holder: sending a survey pertaining to the transaction to a logical address network location corresponding to the account holder; and receiving, in response to the survey, a survey response pertaining to the transaction from the logical address network location corresponding to the account holder ([0109] The flowchart in FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary process 600 optionally extending, at step 602 thereof, processes 200 and 500 respectively illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 5. Process 600 is enabled, at least in part, via access to one or more entries in one or more databases in communication via one or more networks 620, Process 620 begins at step 602 and moves to step 604 where, for each donation-eligible transaction that takes place between Merchant (m) 910 and Account Holder (p) 908, a retrieval is made from one or more database(s) 620 of a survey of questions, which questions in the one or more databases 630 may have been auto-boarded, or manually changed, for the transacting merchant…[0111] At step 614, a determination is made as to whether or not the account holder sent a response to the survey. If so, then, optionally, another counter for the account holder is incremented 614. This second increment to the account holder's counter also provides a benefit as an incentive to send survey responses. Again, the incentive can be non-monetary, such an additional donation to be made to the one or more account holder selected entities of affinity, or monetary, such as an extra sweepstakes entry for the account holder. The account holder can be informed of this second incentive, for example, within the same message that was sent to the account holder as pertains to the merchant's donation to the entity of affinity. If no response is received to the survey, then process 600 terminates at step 610. [0112] Each response to each survey that is received from each account holder can be stored, at step 618 in one or more entries in the one or more databases that are in communication via one or more networks 620. The corresponding merchant with whom the merchant conducted the transaction can be sent the survey response either in batch and/or in real-time as shown at reference numerals 632, 634. The survey results can be selectively obscured as to some or all of the content provided by, or otherwise linked to, the account holder so that the account holder's identify and/or demographics can be fully or partially anonymous when seen by the merchant or third parties.)
As per claim 11, Tietzen discloses wherein the steps further comprise, for each said survey response pertaining to the transaction, sending at least a portion of the survey response pertaining to the transaction to a logical address network location corresponding to the merchant ([0112] Each response to each survey that is received from each account holder can be stored, at step 618 in one or more entries in the one or more databases that are in communication via one or more networks 620. The corresponding merchant with whom the merchant conducted the transaction can be sent the survey response either in batch and/or in real-time as shown at reference numerals 632, 634. The survey results can be selectively obscured as to some or all of the content provided by, or otherwise linked to, the account holder so that the account holder's identify and/or demographics can be fully or partially anonymous when seen by the merchant or third parties.).
Claim(s) 13-17 and 21-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tietzen (US 20140136300) in view of Georgetown University, “current use and endowed gifts – what’s the difference”, published by Georgetown.edu on March 27, 2024, hereinafter “Gtown”, Jeff Lydenberg, “Building Endowment with planned gifts”, published by Pgcalc.com in 2017, hereinafter “Jeff”.
As per claim 13/17, Tietzen discloses a method comprising a plurality of steps each being performed by hardware executing software, wherein the steps include:
receiving information derived from an authorization response for a transaction with a merchant conducted on an account issued to an account holder on an account (fig. 2, [0066] At step 202 of FIG. 2, information is received as derived from a positive authorization response originating from an issuer of an account, or its agent, upon which the transaction was conducted by the customer/account holder with the merchant who made offer 102 as describe above with respect to FIG. 1. Data from this information can be extracted at step 204 by a POS such as POS 106 seen in FIG. 1, including, by way of example and not by way of limitation, the date and time of the transaction, a total currency amount to be paid to the merchant at clearing and settlement on the customer's account, respective identifiers for the merchant and customer, etc.),
wherein the information includes: the date and time of the transaction; a currency amount of the transaction; and identifiers for the merchant and the account holder (fig. 2, step 204, authorization response extract: date/time/ currency amount, donor identifiers, [0104] A transaction database entry (n) 496 is stored for each such Merchant (m) 410 who is determined to be obligated to make such a donation to the affinity (f) 484, where `n` is an integer from 1 to N. Each transaction database entry (n) 496 can include: (i) the Account IDentifier (Acct-ID) such a Primary Account Number or PAN of the Account Holder (p) 408; (ii) a Merchant IDentifier (M-ID) for the Merchant (m) 410; (iii) an IDentifier for the transaction (T-ID); (iv) the date (Merchant-Msg-Date) that the Account Holder (p) 408 (Acct-ID) was sent an Affinity Donation Message from Merchant (m) 410 (M-ID); and (v) the date (xn-Date) that Account Holder (p) 408 (Acct-ID) conducted the transaction with the Merchant (m) 410 (M-ID).);
accessing one or more databases (fig. 3):
using the identifiers for the merchant and the account holder to look-up information corresponding to the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant ([0096] At step 506, the merchant automatic loyalty boarding entity sends a transmission that includes the MAP to the logical address for the merchant's acquirer, which is received at step 508. In response to receiving the MAP, at step 510, the merchant's acquirer uses the MAP to access one or more databases 520 so as to retrieve therefrom a Merchant-Identifier (M-ID) for the merchant, a Merchant Logical Address (MLA) for the merchant, a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA) for the merchant, a Merchant-Community Identifier (MCI) for the merchant, and a Merchant Affinity Donation Rule for the merchant… [0101] By way of non-limiting example, each Account Holder (p) Database entry 492 can include, for each Account Holder (p) 408, an account Issuer Password (Acct-IP), and an Account IDentifier (Acct-ID), an Account Logical Address (Acct-L));
using the identifier for the merchant to look-up information corresponding to:
a business rule by which the merchant will make a contribution to an affinity entity using the identifier for the merchant ([0095] Referring to FIGS. 4-5, a flowchart illustrates an exemplary process 500 in FIG. 5 for making contributions incident to transactions in a cashless payment processing system seen in FIG. 4. Process 500 is enabled, at least in part, via access to one or more entries in one or more databases in communication via one or more networks 520. At step 502, a Merchant Acquirer Password (MAP) is sent to a logical address of a merchant automatic loyalty boarding entity. At step 504, the merchant automatic loyalty boarding entity uses the MAP to access one or more databases 520 to locate a logical address for the merchant's acquirer (Acquirer (i) 306). [0096] At step 506, the merchant automatic loyalty boarding entity sends a transmission that includes the MAP to the logical address for the merchant's acquirer, which is received at step 508. In response to receiving the MAP, at step 510, the merchant's acquirer uses the MAP to access one or more databases 520 so as to retrieve therefrom a Merchant-Identifier (M-ID) for the merchant, a Merchant Logical Address (MLA) for the merchant, a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA) for the merchant, a Merchant-Community Identifier (MCI) for the merchant, and a Merchant Affinity Donation Rule for the merchant. By way of non-limiting example, a database has a plurality of Merchant Acquirer Database entries 490 as shown in FIG. 4. Each such entry 490 includes, for one Merchant (m) 410, a MAP, as well as a Merchant IDentifier (M-ID), a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA), a Merchant Logical Address (MLA), a Merchant-Community Identifier (MCI), a Merchant Affinity Donation Rule (MADR).);
the logical address of the merchant using the identifier for the merchant ([0096] At step 506, the merchant automatic loyalty boarding entity sends a transmission that includes the MAP to the logical address for the merchant's acquirer, which is received at step 508. In response to receiving the MAP, at step 510, the merchant's acquirer uses the MAP to access one or more databases 520 so as to retrieve therefrom a Merchant-Identifier (M-ID) for the merchant, a Merchant Logical Address (MLA) for the merchant, a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA) for the merchant, a Merchant-Community Identifier (MCI) for the merchant, and a Merchant Affinity Donation Rule for the merchant. By way of non-limiting example, a database has a plurality of Merchant Acquirer Database entries 490 as shown in FIG. 4. Each such entry 490 includes, for one Merchant (m) 410, a MAP, as well as a Merchant IDentifier (M-ID), a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA), a Merchant Logical Address (MLA), a Merchant-Community Identifier (MCI), a Merchant Affinity Donation Rule (MADR).);
and using the identifier for the account holder to look-up information corresponding to an identifier of the affinity entity (abstract, whereby the merchant selects the donation, and the account holder selects the donee. “, [0101] By way of non-limiting example, each Account Holder (p) Database entry 492 can include, for each Account Holder (p) 408, an account Issuer Password (Acct-IP), and an Account IDentifier (Acct-ID), an Account Logical Address (Acct-LA), an Account Geographic Address (Acct-GA), and an Account Affinity Donation Rule (AADR). The Account Holder (p) 408 can supply its Acct-IP, as well as each of its Acct-IDs for use of the Merchant (m) 410 and/or the merchant's Acquirer 406 so that the Account Holder (p) 408 will be able to receive messages about each Merchant (m) 410 who will make a contribution to an entity with whom the Merchant (m) 410, the merchant's Acquirer (i) 406, and/or the Account Holder (p) 408 has an Affinity (f) 484… [0098] At step 512, the MAG is used to access one or more databases 520 so as to retrieve therefrom the Affinity-ID (A-ID). The A-ID corresponds to an entity having an affinity to which a merchant and/or an account holder belong. The affinity can be a community, such as a geographic community, to which the merchant and/or the account holder belong. At step 514, the A-ID is used to gain access one or more databases 520 and retrieve information therefrom, such as by sending transmissions that include the A-ID to logical addresses that include, for instance, the Affinity-ID (A-ID) and the Affinity Geographic Address (AGA). By way of non-limiting example, a database has a plurality of Account Holder (p) database entries 494 as shown in FIG. 4. Each entry 494 can include, for each Affinity (f) 484, an Affinity IDentifier (A-ID), an Affinity Geographic Address (AGA), and an Affinity Logical Address (ALA).);
for each said transaction for which the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant match (abstract, Address, time, and rules obligating donee donations are auto-populated for merchants whose authorization responses for transactions conducted on accounts are used to obtain account holders' travel time to the merchants'. When travel time is proximal to the auto-populated time, the rule and the transaction currency amount are used to calculate the merchant's donee donation, which donation can be messaged for auditing of donations paid and payable. “, [0099] At step 516, logical addresses respectively corresponding to account holders are sent messages containing information as to the merchants' intentions to make contributions to one or more entities having an affinity, for instance, to the account holder and/or the merchant. By way of non-limiting example, a transmission is made to the logical address of each account holder with an account having a geographic address corresponding to the geographic address of the merchant (e.g., the customer's travel time does not exceed the merchant's MCI as further discussed below with respect to FIGS. 7-8), where the message sent to the account holder is derived at least in part from affinity donation information.):
deriving, using the business rule, the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity (fig. 2, step 210, “[0068] At step 210, rules for calculating the merchant's donation are made for one or more affinity entity recipients via retrieval of information using data acquired in steps 202-204. These calculations can also include steps to use mapping data to calculate the time to travel from a customer's residence to the merchant's location, which time must be lower than a predetermined threshold in order to obligate the merchant to make a donation, as further discussed below with respect to FIGS. 7-8. These calculations can also include steps to access one or more databases as shown at reference numerals 212-214, including transmitting to and/or storing the calculated donations in one or more merchant donor databases 212 and/or in one or more merchant donations payable databases 214.”, [0102] The account holders, having received and been incented by the affinity donation messages, will begin to transact with the merchants. Thereafter, at step 518, for each of a plurality of such transactions, an Authorization Response is received. Information in the Authorization Response will be examined to determine whether the transaction was conducted by an Account Holder (p) 408 who had previously received an affinity donation message from a Merchant (m) 410 on a date that was within a predetermined time range from the date of the transaction. This examination will be used to determine whether the Merchant (m) 410 is obligated to make a donation to an affinity (f) 494 that will be good for a community to which the Account Holder (p) 408 and/or the Merchant (m) 410 has an affinity. [0103] The affinity donation information can include an identification of the entity to which the merchant will make a donation, which donation can be a function, at least in part, of the currency amount of a transaction conducted between the account holder and the merchant on an account issued by an issuer to the account holder. The account holders can be so contacted by access to, and use of information in, a database having a plurality of Account Holder (p) Entries 492 as seen in FIG. 4.); and
transmitting a message to a logical address containing the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity ([0107] Once the Affinity Donation currency amount has been derived, a message will be sent to the logical address for the Affinity-ID that includes both the derived Affinity Donation currency amount and, optionally, the Merchant-ID. A message will also be sent to the logical address for the Merchant-ID that includes both the derived Affinity Donation currency amount and the Affinity-ID.);
deriving, using predetermined contribution rules, information characterizing the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity (paragraph 38, “Using the Affinity Donation Rule and the currency amount of the authorization response, a derivation is made of an Affinity Donation currency amount that is greater than a predetermined threshold when the date and time of the received information derived from the authorization response for the transaction is within the time range from the date and time that the message derived at least in part from the Affinity Donation Rule that was transmitted to the logical address of the account holder. When the Affinity Donation currency amount is greater than the predetermined threshold, a message is sent to the logical address for the Merchant Affinity-ID that includes the Affinity Donation currency amount and the Merchant-ID, and Affinity Donation Information is sent to the MLA that includes the Affinity Donation currency amount and the Merchant Affinity-ID. In some implementations, however, the merchant will not be responsible for paying the Affinity Donation currency amount unless: (i) that currency amount exceeds the predetermined threshold; and/or (ii) the message derived at least in part from the Affinity Donation Rule had been previously transmitted to the account holder on a date that is not more than the time range from the date of the transaction between that account and the merchant.”)
However, Tietzen does not disclose but Gtown discloses a donation that can be bifurcated between current use and endowment support and the fund to which the affinity entity has ready access (“current use gifts – directly expendable funds – allow Georgetown to say “yes’ to good ides now…” “the distinct aspect of current use gifts is that they have full and immediate impact”. A “directly expendable” current use fund with “full and immediate impact” corresponds to a fund to which the affinity entity has ready access. “some donors establishing endowments choose to commit a portion of their gift – or an additional annual gift – for current use, funding that can be distributed immediately…” a gift structure that includes a portion committed to endowment and a portion committed to current use teaches the claimed bifurcation.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include the limitation above as taught by Gtown in the teaching of Tietzen, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
However, Tietzen in view of Gtown does not disclose but Jeff discloses an endowment trust for the benefit of the affinity entity to which the affinity entity has access to a portion of income from investment of the principal in the endowment trust and predetermined rules for allocating gifts (page 3, “A true endowment is to be invested for the purpose of producing present and future income that may, also by donor stipulation, be expended or reinvested with the original gift. The principal or corpus of the true endowment must be maintained intact.”. This is equivalent to the claimed endowment trust because the claimed endowment trust requires principal to be invested and income from that investment to be available to the affinity entity. Page 15, “Other charities state that the first $XX dollars of each deferred gift will go to the operating budget, with dollars above that amount directed to the endowment. In organizations where the capacity and desire to increase endowment is the greatest, the decision has been made for all unrestricted deferred gifts to be placed into endowment automatically, regardless of size.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include the limitation above as taught by Jeff in the teaching of Tietzen in view of Gtown, in order for organizations that host endowments apply a spending policy to most endowed funds (page 7, Jeff).
As per claim 14, Tietzen discloses wherein the steps at a predetermined time period after the date of the transaction, further comprise: receiving a plurality of contribution receipts each including: the respective identifiers for the merchant and the affinity entity; and a currency amount; deriving the sum of the currency amounts of the contribution receipts for the affinity entity; determining a difference between: the sum of the currency amounts of the contribution receipts that were transmitted to the logical address of the merchant for the affinity entity; and the sum of the currency amounts of the contribution receipts that were received for the affinity entity for the merchant; and transmitting the determined difference to a logical address. (fig. 2, [0070] After a predetermined audit time period has passed as determined by a query at step 220, an audit is conducted to insure compliance by each community merchant in its donation commitments to each of the one or more affinity entities or charities for which prior notice of such donations were provided to the merchant. This audit can include adding up all required donations for each local merchant to each affinity entity or charity as shown at step 222. The donation summation for each local merchant to each affinity entity or charity derived at step 224 is compared to information in one or more databases 226 to ascertain compliance of each merchant with its donation obligations. Stated otherwise, the local merchant has a certain amount of time after a predetermined audit period, as determined at step 228, by which to complete or make all of the merchant's donation obligations to all affinity entities. [0071] Differences between donations paid and donations still payable by each local merchant are calculated at step 230, which differences are subjected to an audit threshold query at step 232. If a local merchant's donations paid is non-compliant with donations still payable, as may be determined by the audit threshold query at step 232, then Process 200 moves to step 234 to notify the local merchant, or its agent, accordingly of its deficiency. Otherwise, affirmative results at query 232 causes Process 200 to terminate at step 236 which may also include notice of compliance being transmitted to each such complaint local merchant, its customers, and/or each of the local affinity entities. Each such notice can be either by way of summary report, donations to respective affinity entities by the merchant, and variations thereof. [0075]… During the audit period, a sum of donations to each affinity entity 216 made by each local merchant donor for the audit period is calculated and stored in a donor-Affinity Entity donation paid database 226. After a predetermined time period, an audit period begins, as determined by query 228. During the audit time period, differences in donations paid are compared to donations payable for each donor at step 230. Differences exceeding a predetermined audit threshold, as determined by query 232, are communicated to the respective local merchant donors, or their respective agents, at step 234.).
As per claim 15, Tietzen discloses wherein the logical address to which the message and the determined difference are transmitted is selected from the group consisting of: a logical address for the merchant; a logical address for the account holder; a logical address of the affinity entity; and a combination thereof (fig. 4, [0012]…As a further option, the logical address to which the message and the determined difference are transmitted can be any or all or a logical address for the merchant, the account holder, the affinity entity, an agent for at least one of the merchant, the account holder and the affinity entity, and combination of these.)
As per claim 16, Tietzen discloses each said transaction occurs in a system that includes a plurality of said merchants each conducting transaction on a respective said account issued to a respective said account holder by a respective issuer; each said transaction on each said account is acquired for clearing and settlement by an acquirer for each said merchant through a transaction handler in communication with both the issuer of the account and the acquirer for the merchant; and the issuer sends a corresponding said authorization response for the transaction to the merchant through the transaction handler and the acquirer in response to an authorization request sent to the issuer from the merchant through the transaction handler and the acquirer (paragraph 77-83, fig. 3, [0019] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary payment processing system in which the processes of FIGS. 1-2 can be performed, where the system processes transactions conducted by merchants with account holders, wherein, for each transaction, there is a provision of a service and/or good by the merchant to the account holder for the transaction which is conducted on an account issued to the account holder by an issuer, there is an authorizing and remunerating of an electronic payment by the account holder in conducting the transaction on the account with the merchant, and there are one or more donations by the merchant that are made to respective affinity entities or charities incident to the transaction).
As per claim 21/22, Tietzen discloses a method comprising a plurality of steps each being performed by hardware executing software, wherein the steps include:
receiving information derived from an authorization response for a transaction with a merchant conducted on an account issued to an account holder on an account (fig. 2, [0066] At step 202 of FIG. 2, information is received as derived from a positive authorization response originating from an issuer of an account, or its agent, upon which the transaction was conducted by the customer/account holder with the merchant who made offer 102 as describe above with respect to FIG. 1. Data from this information can be extracted at step 204 by a POS such as POS 106 seen in FIG. 1, including, by way of example and not by way of limitation, the date and time of the transaction, a total currency amount to be paid to the merchant at clearing and settlement on the customer's account, respective identifiers for the merchant and customer, etc.),
wherein the information includes: the date and time of the transaction; a currency amount of the transaction; and identifiers for the merchant and the account holder (fig. 2, step 204, authorization response extract: date/time/ currency amount, donor identifiers, [0104] A transaction database entry (n) 496 is stored for each such Merchant (m) 410 who is determined to be obligated to make such a donation to the affinity (f) 484, where `n` is an integer from 1 to N. Each transaction database entry (n) 496 can include: (i) the Account IDentifier (Acct-ID) such a Primary Account Number or PAN of the Account Holder (p) 408; (ii) a Merchant IDentifier (M-ID) for the Merchant (m) 410; (iii) an IDentifier for the transaction (T-ID); (iv) the date (Merchant-Msg-Date) that the Account Holder (p) 408 (Acct-ID) was sent an Affinity Donation Message from Merchant (m) 410 (M-ID); and (v) the date (xn-Date) that Account Holder (p) 408 (Acct-ID) conducted the transaction with the Merchant (m) 410 (M-ID).);
accessing one or more databases (fig. 3):
using the identifiers for the merchant and the account holder to look-up information corresponding to the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant ([0096] At step 506, the merchant automatic loyalty boarding entity sends a transmission that includes the MAP to the logical address for the merchant's acquirer, which is received at step 508. In response to receiving the MAP, at step 510, the merchant's acquirer uses the MAP to access one or more databases 520 so as to retrieve therefrom a Merchant-Identifier (M-ID) for the merchant, a Merchant Logical Address (MLA) for the merchant, a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA) for the merchant, a Merchant-Community Identifier (MCI) for the merchant, and a Merchant Affinity Donation Rule for the merchant… [0101] By way of non-limiting example, each Account Holder (p) Database entry 492 can include, for each Account Holder (p) 408, an account Issuer Password (Acct-IP), and an Account IDentifier (Acct-ID), an Account Logical Address (Acct-L));
using the identifier for the merchant to look-up information corresponding to:
a business rule by which the merchant will make a contribution to an affinity entity using the identifier for the merchant ([0095] Referring to FIGS. 4-5, a flowchart illustrates an exemplary process 500 in FIG. 5 for making contributions incident to transactions in a cashless payment processing system seen in FIG. 4. Process 500 is enabled, at least in part, via access to one or more entries in one or more databases in communication via one or more networks 520. At step 502, a Merchant Acquirer Password (MAP) is sent to a logical address of a merchant automatic loyalty boarding entity. At step 504, the merchant automatic loyalty boarding entity uses the MAP to access one or more databases 520 to locate a logical address for the merchant's acquirer (Acquirer (i) 306). [0096] At step 506, the merchant automatic loyalty boarding entity sends a transmission that includes the MAP to the logical address for the merchant's acquirer, which is received at step 508. In response to receiving the MAP, at step 510, the merchant's acquirer uses the MAP to access one or more databases 520 so as to retrieve therefrom a Merchant-Identifier (M-ID) for the merchant, a Merchant Logical Address (MLA) for the merchant, a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA) for the merchant, a Merchant-Community Identifier (MCI) for the merchant, and a Merchant Affinity Donation Rule for the merchant. By way of non-limiting example, a database has a plurality of Merchant Acquirer Database entries 490 as shown in FIG. 4. Each such entry 490 includes, for one Merchant (m) 410, a MAP, as well as a Merchant IDentifier (M-ID), a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA), a Merchant Logical Address (MLA), a Merchant-Community Identifier (MCI), a Merchant Affinity Donation Rule (MADR).);
the logical address of the merchant using the identifier for the merchant ([0096] At step 506, the merchant automatic loyalty boarding entity sends a transmission that includes the MAP to the logical address for the merchant's acquirer, which is received at step 508. In response to receiving the MAP, at step 510, the merchant's acquirer uses the MAP to access one or more databases 520 so as to retrieve therefrom a Merchant-Identifier (M-ID) for the merchant, a Merchant Logical Address (MLA) for the merchant, a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA) for the merchant, a Merchant-Community Identifier (MCI) for the merchant, and a Merchant Affinity Donation Rule for the merchant. By way of non-limiting example, a database has a plurality of Merchant Acquirer Database entries 490 as shown in FIG. 4. Each such entry 490 includes, for one Merchant (m) 410, a MAP, as well as a Merchant IDentifier (M-ID), a Merchant Geographic Address (MGA), a Merchant Logical Address (MLA), a Merchant-Community Identifier (MCI), a Merchant Affinity Donation Rule (MADR).);
and using the identifier for the account holder to look-up information corresponding to an identifier of the affinity entity (abstract, whereby the merchant selects the donation, and the account holder selects the donee. “, [0101] By way of non-limiting example, each Account Holder (p) Database entry 492 can include, for each Account Holder (p) 408, an account Issuer Password (Acct-IP), and an Account IDentifier (Acct-ID), an Account Logical Address (Acct-LA), an Account Geographic Address (Acct-GA), and an Account Affinity Donation Rule (AADR). The Account Holder (p) 408 can supply its Acct-IP, as well as each of its Acct-IDs for use of the Merchant (m) 410 and/or the merchant's Acquirer 406 so that the Account Holder (p) 408 will be able to receive messages about each Merchant (m) 410 who will make a contribution to an entity with whom the Merchant (m) 410, the merchant's Acquirer (i) 406, and/or the Account Holder (p) 408 has an Affinity (f) 484… [0098] At step 512, the MAG is used to access one or more databases 520 so as to retrieve therefrom the Affinity-ID (A-ID). The A-ID corresponds to an entity having an affinity to which a merchant and/or an account holder belong. The affinity can be a community, such as a geographic community, to which the merchant and/or the account holder belong. At step 514, the A-ID is used to gain access one or more databases 520 and retrieve information therefrom, such as by sending transmissions that include the A-ID to logical addresses that include, for instance, the Affinity-ID (A-ID) and the Affinity Geographic Address (AGA). By way of non-limiting example, a database has a plurality of Account Holder (p) database entries 494 as shown in FIG. 4. Each entry 494 can include, for each Affinity (f) 484, an Affinity IDentifier (A-ID), an Affinity Geographic Address (AGA), and an Affinity Logical Address (ALA).);
for each said transaction for which the respective communities of the account holder and the merchant match (abstract, Address, time, and rules obligating donee donations are auto-populated for merchants whose authorization responses for transactions conducted on accounts are used to obtain account holders' travel time to the merchants'. When travel time is proximal to the auto-populated time, the rule and the transaction currency amount are used to calculate the merchant's donee donation, which donation can be messaged for auditing of donations paid and payable. “, [0099] At step 516, logical addresses respectively corresponding to account holders are sent messages containing information as to the merchants' intentions to make contributions to one or more entities having an affinity, for instance, to the account holder and/or the merchant. By way of non-limiting example, a transmission is made to the logical address of each account holder with an account having a geographic address corresponding to the geographic address of the merchant (e.g., the customer's travel time does not exceed the merchant's MCI as further discussed below with respect to FIGS. 7-8), where the message sent to the account holder is derived at least in part from affinity donation information.):
deriving, using the business rule, the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity (fig. 2, step 210, “[0068] At step 210, rules for calculating a the merchant's donation are made for one or more affinity entity recipients via retrieval of information using data acquired in steps 202-204. These calculations can also include steps to use mapping data to calculate the time to travel from a customer's residence to the merchant's location, which time must be lower than a predetermined threshold in order to obligate the merchant to make a donation, as further discussed below with respect to FIGS. 7-8. These calculations can also include steps to access one or more databases as shown at reference numerals 212-214, including transmitting to and/or storing the calculated donations in one or more merchant donor databases 212 and/or in one or more merchant donations payable databases 214.”, [0102] The account holders, having received and been incented by the affinity donation messages, will begin to transact with the merchants. Thereafter, at step 518, for each of a plurality of such transactions, an Authorization Response is received. Information in the Authorization Response will be examined to determine whether the transaction was conducted by an Account Holder (p) 408 who had previously received an affinity donation message from a Merchant (m) 410 on a date that was within a predetermined time range from the date of the transaction. This examination will be used to determine whether the Merchant (m) 410 is obligated to make a donation to an affinity (f) 494 that will be good for a community to which the Account Holder (p) 408 and/or the Merchant (m) 410 has an affinity. [0103] The affinity donation information can include an identification of the entity to which the merchant will make a donation, which donation can be a function, at least in part, of the currency amount of a transaction conducted between the account holder and the merchant on an account issued by an issuer to the account holder. The account holders can be so contacted by access to, and use of information in, a database having a plurality of Account Holder (p) Entries 492 as seen in FIG. 4.); and
transmitting a message to a logical address containing the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity ([0107] Once the Affinity Donation currency amount has been derived, a message will be sent to the logical address for the Affinity-ID that includes both the derived Affinity Donation currency amount and, optionally, the Merchant-ID. A message will also be sent to the logical address for the Merchant-ID that includes both the derived Affinity Donation currency amount and the Affinity-ID.);
deriving, using predetermined contribution rules, information characterizing the contribution to be made by the merchant to the affinity entity (paragraph 38, “Using the Affinity Donation Rule and the currency amount of the authorization response, a derivation is made of an Affinity Donation currency amount that is greater than a predetermined threshold when the date and time of the received information derived from the authorization response for the transaction is within the time range from the date and time that the message derived at least in part from the Affinity Donation Rule that was transmitted to the logical address of the account holder. When the Affinity Donation currency amount is greater than the predetermined threshold, a message is sent to the logical address for the Merchant Affinity-ID that includes the Affinity Donation currency amount and the Merchant-ID, and Affinity Donation Information is sent to the MLA that includes the Affinity Donation currency amount and the Merchant Affinity-ID. In some implementations, however, the merchant will not be responsible for paying the Affinity Donation currency amount unless: (i) that currency amount exceeds the predetermined threshold; and/or (ii) the message derived at least in part from the Affinity Donation Rule had been previously transmitted to the account holder on a date that is not more than the time range from the date of the transaction between that account and the merchant.”)
wherein the steps at a predetermined time period after the date of the transaction, further comprise: receiving a plurality of contribution receipts each including: the respective identifiers for the merchant and the affinity entity; and a currency amount; deriving the sum of the currency amounts of the contribution receipts for the affinity entity; determining a difference between: the sum of the currency amounts of the contribution receipts that were transmitted to the logical address of the merchant for the affinity entity; and the sum of the currency amounts of the contribution receipts that were received for the affinity entity for the merchant; and transmitting the determined difference to a logical address. (fig. 2, [0070] After a predetermined audit time period has passed as determined by a query at step 220, an audit is conducted to insure compliance by each community merchant in its donation commitments to each of the one or more affinity entities or charities for which prior notice of such donations were provided to the merchant. This audit can include adding up all required donations for each local merchant to each affinity entity or charity as shown at step 222. The donation summation for each local merchant to each affinity entity or charity derived at step 224 is compared to information in one or more databases 226 to ascertain compliance of each merchant with its donation obligations. Stated otherwise, the local merchant has a certain amount of time after a predetermined audit period, as determined at step 228, by which to complete or make all of the merchant's donation obligations to all affinity entities. [0071] Differences between donations paid and donations still payable by each local merchant are calculated at step 230, which differences are subjected to an audit threshold query at step 232. If a local merchant's donations paid is non-compliant with donations still payable, as may be determined by the audit threshold query at step 232, then Process 200 moves to step 234 to notify the local merchant, or its agent, accordingly of its deficiency. Otherwise, affirmative results at query 232 causes Process 200 to terminate at step 236 which may also include notice of compliance being transmitted to each such complaint local merchant, its customers, and/or each of the local affinity entities. Each such notice can be either by way of summary report, donations to respective affinity entities by the merchant, and variations thereof. [0075]… During the audit period, a sum of donations to each affinity entity 216 made by each local merchant donor for the audit period is calculated and stored in a donor-Affinity Entity donation paid database 226. After a predetermined time period, an audit period begins, as determined by query 228. During the audit time period, differences in donations paid are compared to donations payable for each donor at step 230. Differences exceeding a predetermined audit threshold, as determined by query 232, are communicated to the respective local merchant donors, or their respective agents, at step 234.).
wherein the logical address to which the message and the determined difference are transmitted is selected from the group consisting of: a logical address for the merchant; a logical address for the account holder; a logical address of the affinity entity; and a combination thereof (fig. 4, [0012]…As a further option, the logical address to which the message and the determined difference are transmitted can be any or all or a logical address for the merchant, the account holder, the affinity entity, an agent for at least one of the merchant, the account holder and the affinity entity, and combination of these.)
each said transaction occurs in a system that includes a plurality of said merchants each conducting transaction on a respective said account issued to a respective said account holder by a respective issuer; each said transaction on each said account is acquired for clearing and settlement by an acquirer for each said merchant through a transaction handler in communication with both the issuer of the account and the acquirer for the merchant; and the issuer sends a corresponding said authorization response for the transaction to the merchant through the transaction handler and the acquirer in response to an authorization request sent to the issuer from the merchant through the transaction handler and the acquirer (paragraph 77-83, fig. 3, [0019] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary payment processing system in which the processes of FIGS. 1-2 can be performed, where the system processes transactions conducted by merchants with account holders, wherein, for each transaction, there is a provision of a service and/or good by the merchant to the account holder for the transaction which is conducted on an account issued to the account holder by an issuer, there is an authorizing and remunerating of an electronic payment by the account holder in conducting the transaction on the account with the merchant, and there are one or more donations by the merchant that are made to respective affinity entities or charities incident to the transaction).
However, Tietzen does not disclose but Gtown discloses a donation that can be bifurcated between current use and endowment support and the fund to which the affinity entity has ready access (“current use gifts – directly expendable funds – allow Georgetown to say “yes’ to good ides now…” “the distinct aspect of current use gifts is that they have full and immediate impact”. A “directly expendable” current use fund with “full and immediate impact” corresponds to a fund to which the affinity entity has ready access. “some donors establishing endowments choose to commit a portion of their gift – or an additional annual gift – for current use, funding that can be distributed immediately…” a gift structure that includes a portion committed to endowment and a portion committed to current use teaches the claimed bifurcation.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include the limitation above as taught by Gtown in the teaching of Tietzen, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
However, Tietzen in view of Gtown does not disclose but Jeff discloses an endowment trust for the benefit of the affinity entity to which the affinity entity has access to a portion of income from investment of the principal in the endowment trust and predetermined rules for allocating gifts (page 3, “A true endowment is to be invested for the purpose of producing present and future income that may, also by donor stipulation, be expended or reinvested with the original gift. The principal or corpus of the true endowment must be maintained intact.”. This is equivalent to the claimed endowment trust because the claimed endowment trust requires principal to be invested and income from that investment to be available to the affinity entity. Page 15, “Other charities state that the first $XX dollars of each deferred gift will go to the operating budget, with dollars above that amount directed to the endowment. In organizations where the capacity and desire to increase endowment is the greatest, the decision has been made for all unrestricted deferred gifts to be placed into endowment automatically, regardless of size.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include the limitation above as taught by Jeff in the teaching of Tietzen in view of Gtown, in order for organizations that host endowments apply a spending policy to most endowed funds (page 7, Jeff).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMAR ZEROUAL whose telephone number is (571)272-7255. The examiner can normally be reached Flex schedule.
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OMAR . ZEROUAL
Examiner
Art Unit 3628
/OMAR ZEROUAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3629
Prosecution Insights