Detailed Action
Claims 1-16 are pending and are examined.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2/24/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 17-20 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 2026-05-04.
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 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1
Step 1 of the eligibility analysis asks is the claim to a process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter (See MPEP § 2106.03, subsections I and II). Claims 1-7 are directed to a computer-implemented system (i.e., machine, and manufacture). Claims 8-16 are directed to a computer-implemented method (i.e., process). Therefore, these claims fall within the four statutory categories of invention.
Step 2A, Prong One
Prong One asks does the claim recite an abstract idea, law of nature, or natural phenomenon (MPEP § 2106.04(II)(A)(1)). Claims 1 and 8 under a broadest reasonable interpretation recite an abstract idea because the claims describe cryptocurrency funds transfer, grouped within the “certain methods of organizing human activity” grouping of abstract ideas (MPEP § 2106.04(a)(2), subsection II). The claim limitations reciting the abstract idea are grouped within the “certain methods of organizing human activity” grouping of abstract ideas because the limitations describe fundamental economic principles or practices, including mitigating risk in payment processing, and include commercial or legal interactions, including advertising, marketing or sales activities or behaviors. The following underlined claim limitations recite the abstract idea. The non-underlined claim limitations recite additional elements.
Claim 1:
A cryptocurrency payment system for point of sale payments comprising:
a payment card comprising a secure element integrated circuit chip physically in or on the payment card, the secure element integrated circuit chip configured to cryptographically sign transactions associated with a payor cryptocurrency wallet account; and
a point of sale payment card terminal connected to a first electronic network and electronically connectable to the secure element integrated circuit chip through at least one wired or wireless connection,
wherein the first electronic network further connects to a blockchain associated with the payor cryptocurrency wallet account, and
wherein the point of sale payment card terminal receives a cryptographically signed transaction from the payment card and publishes the cryptographically signed transaction to the blockchain to transfer funds from the payor cryptocurrency wallet account to a payee cryptocurrency wallet account identified in the cryptographically signed transaction.
Claim 8:
A method of cryptocurrency payment by a point of sale payment system, the method comprising:
electronically connecting a point of sale payment card terminal to a secure element integrated circuit chip of a payment card;
receiving, by the point of sale payment card terminal, a cryptographically signed transaction associated with a payor cryptocurrency wallet account from the secure element integrated circuit chip of the payment card; and
transmitting, by the point of sale payment card terminal, the cryptographically signed transaction over a first electronic network connecting to a blockchain associated with the payor cryptocurrency wallet account.
Step 2A, Prong Two
Prong Two asks does the claim recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application (MPEP § 2106.04(II)(A)(2)). Here, the additional elements of payment card having a secure element integrated circuit chip, point of sale payment card terminal, blockchain, individually and in combination, are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional elements merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea (MPEP § 2106.05(f)) and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment (MPEP § 2106.05(h)). The description of the additional elements evidences that they are generic and conventional elements used as tools to perform the abstract idea. The payment card having a secure element integrated circuit chip may be a generic and conventional payment card (See Spec. 0024-0025). The point of sale payment card terminal may be a generic and conventional point of sale payment card terminal (See Spec. 0026-0027). The blockchain may be a generic and conventional blockchain (See Spec. 0004 and 0006).
Step 2B
Step 2B determines whether the claim as a whole amount to significantly more than the abstract idea itself (MPEP § 2106.05). Evaluating additional elements to determine whether they amount to an inventive concept requires considering them both individually and in combination to ensure that they amount to significantly more than the abstract idea itself. Individually, the additional elements do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea. As discussed previously, the description of the additional elements evidences that they are generic and conventional elements used as tools to perform the abstract idea (See Spec. 0013, 0016, 0020, and 0075). As such, the additional elements merely serve as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. The ordered combination recites no more than the individual elements do. Thus, the additional elements are not significantly more than the abstract idea. Accordingly, the claims are directed to the abstract idea identified above without significantly more. The claims are not eligible, warranting a rejection for lack of subject matter eligibility and concluding the eligibility analysis.
Dependent Claims
Claims 2-7, and 9-16 have also been analyzed. However, the subject matter of these claims also fails to recite patent eligible subject matter for the following reasons:
Claim 2 recites an abstract idea because the claim describes the same abstract idea as claim 1. The additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. The additional elements are not significantly more than the abstract idea because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, the claim is not eligible. The following underlined claim limitations recite the abstract idea. The non-underlined claim limitations recite additional elements.
wherein the payment card and the point of sale payment card terminal are EVM-compliant.
Claim 3 recites an abstract idea because the claim describes the same abstract idea as claim 1. The additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. The additional elements are not significantly more than the abstract idea because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, the claim is not eligible. The following underlined claim limitations recite the abstract idea. The non-underlined claim limitations recite additional elements.
wherein the secure element integrated circuit chip of the payment card comprises:
a memory storing a private key of an asymmetric cryptographic key pair, the private key for signing the cryptographically signed transactions; and
a processor connected to the memory to increment a monotonically increasing transaction counter that increments by one for every cryptographically signed transaction that is signed by the private key.
Claim 4 recites an abstract idea because the claim describes the same abstract idea as claim 1. The additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. The additional elements are not significantly more than the abstract idea because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, the claim is not eligible. The following underlined claim limitations recite the abstract idea. The non-underlined claim limitations recite additional elements.
wherein the secure element integrated circuit chip of the payment card comprises a memory storing an identification number comprising a 16-digit primary account number (PAN).
Claim 5 recites an abstract idea because the claim describes the same abstract idea as claim 1. The additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. The additional elements are not significantly more than the abstract idea because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, the claim is not eligible. The following underlined claim limitations recite the abstract idea. The non-underlined claim limitations recite additional elements.
wherein the secure element integrated circuit chip connects to the point of sale payment card terminal through a wireless connection, the wireless connection comprising a Near-Field Communication (NFC) connection.
Claim 6 recites an abstract idea because the claim describes the same abstract idea as claim 1. The additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. The additional elements are not significantly more than the abstract idea because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, the claim is not eligible. The following underlined claim limitations recite the abstract idea. The non-underlined claim limitations recite additional elements.
wherein the secure element integrated circuit chip transmits to the point of sale payment card terminal a public- blockchain-compliant cryptocurrency transaction.
Claim 7 recites an abstract idea because the claim describes the same abstract idea as claim 1. The additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. The additional elements are not significantly more than the abstract idea because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, the claim is not eligible. The following underlined claim limitations recite the abstract idea. The non-underlined claim limitations recite additional elements.
wherein the payment card terminal approves the cryptographically signed transaction in response to acceptance of the cryptographically signed transaction by the blockchain.
Claim 9 recites an abstract idea because the claim describes the same abstract idea as claim 1. The additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. The additional elements are not significantly more than the abstract idea because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, the claim is not eligible. The following underlined claim limitations recite the abstract idea. The non-underlined claim limitations recite additional elements.
wherein the transmitting of the cryptographically signed transaction initiates a cryptocurrency transfer from the payor cryptocurrency wallet account to a payee cryptocurrency wallet account identified in the cryptographically signed transaction.
Claim 10 recites an abstract idea because the claim describes the same abstract idea as claim 1. The additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. The additional elements are not significantly more than the abstract idea because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, the claim is not eligible. The following underlined claim limitations recite the abstract idea. The non-underlined claim limitations recite additional elements.
wherein the blockchain includes a smart contract published on the blockchain, and the method further comprises:
attributing a cryptocurrency balance to at least one of (1) a public key and (2) a cryptocurrency account address of the payor cryptocurrency wallet account;
storing the public key or the cryptocurrency account address on the blockchain; and
storing the cryptocurrency balance on the blockchain.
Claim 11 recites an abstract idea because the claim describes the same abstract idea as claim 1. The additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. The additional elements are not significantly more than the abstract idea because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, the claim is not eligible. The following underlined claim limitations recite the abstract idea. The non-underlined claim limitations recite additional elements.
wherein the public key or the cryptocurrency account address corresponds to one or more public key of one or more payment card.
Claim 12 recites an abstract idea because the claim describes the same abstract idea as claim 1. The additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. The additional elements are not significantly more than the abstract idea because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, the claim is not eligible. The following underlined claim limitations recite the abstract idea. The non-underlined claim limitations recite additional elements.
wherein the method further comprises:
exposing, by the smart contract, a function to add cryptocurrency funds to the cryptocurrency balance.
Claim 13 recites an abstract idea because the claim describes the same abstract idea as claim 1. The additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. The additional elements are not significantly more than the abstract idea because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, the claim is not eligible. The following underlined claim limitations recite the abstract idea. The non-underlined claim limitations recite additional elements.
wherein the method further comprises:
exposing, by the smart contract, a payment function that performs one or more of the following:
(1) receiving the cryptographically signed transaction;
(2) validating a cryptographic signature of the cryptographically signed transaction using a public key corresponding to a private key of an asymmetric key pair used to sign the cryptographically signed transaction;
(3) verifying that a transaction counter value provided with the cryptographically signed transaction is greater than a previous transaction counter value provided with an immediately preceding call of the payment function;
(4) verifying that an available balance attributed to the public key is greater than or equal to an amount of the cryptographically signed transaction; and
(5) transferring the available balance attributed to the public key to the payee
cryptocurrency wallet account.
Claim 14 recites an abstract idea because the claim describes the same abstract idea as claim 1. The additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. The additional elements are not significantly more than the abstract idea because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, the claim is not eligible. The following underlined claim limitations recite the abstract idea. The non-underlined claim limitations recite additional elements.
further comprising, prior to the receiving, by the point of sale payment card terminal, the cryptographically signed transaction, further performing digital signing, by the secure element integrated circuit chip of the payment card, using a private key of an asymmetric key pair associated with the payor cryptocurrency wallet account, wherein the cryptographically signed transaction include a transaction amount and a value of a counter that counts transactions.
Claim 15 recites an abstract idea because the claim describes the same abstract idea as claim 1. The additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. The additional elements are not significantly more than the abstract idea because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, the claim is not eligible. The following underlined claim limitations recite the abstract idea. The non-underlined claim limitations recite additional elements.
wherein the blockchain includes a smart contract published on the blockchain, and the transmitting the cryptographically signed transaction over the first electronic network includes:
(a) calling a payment function of the smart contract, wherein calling the payment function includes providing the cryptographically signed transaction to the smart contract;
(b) receiving an indication from the smart contract that the payment function was successfully called; and
(c) approving a payment transaction in response to the calling the payment function of the smart contract being successfully called.
Claim 16 recites an abstract idea because the claim describes the same abstract idea as claim 1. The additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. The additional elements are not significantly more than the abstract idea because individually and in combination, the additional elements are recited at a high level of generality as generic and conventional computers and components merely serving as a tool to perform the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment. Therefore, the claim is not eligible. The following underlined claim limitations recite the abstract idea. The non-underlined claim limitations recite additional elements.
wherein the blockchain includes a smart contract published on the blockchain, and the transmitting the cryptographically signed transaction over the first electronic network includes:
transmitting the cryptographically signed transaction to a first server;
calling by the first server, a payment function of the smart contract and providing the cryptographically signed transaction to the smart contract;
receiving, by the first server, an indication from the smart contract that the payment function was successfully called;
communicating, by the first server, an indication to the point of sale payment card terminal that the payment function was successfully called; and
approving, by the point of sale payment card terminal, a payment transaction in response to the receiving the communication that the payment function was successfully called.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kurennykh et al. (US11315113B1) (hereinafter “Kurennykh”) in view of Lyons et al. (US20170236121A1) (hereinafter “Lyons”).
As per Claim 1 and 8, Kurennykh teaches:
A cryptocurrency payment system for point of sale payments comprising: (“The present disclosure describes transaction authorization in payment systems requiring direct consent for operations from the holder of funds (e.g., blockchains, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), distributed ledger technologies (DLTs)).” (Col. 4, Ln. 5-8); “a bank payment card may, for example, serve as a personal hardware wallet for blockchain assets and, simultaneously, enable payment at a POS terminal with the stored assets.” (Col. 4, Ln. 20-23); “the payment process between the customer and the merchant is not changed and no error messages are returned by the POS terminal.” (Col. 4, Ln. 34-37))
a payment card comprising a secure element integrated circuit chip physically in or on the payment card, the secure element integrated circuit chip configured to cryptographically sign transactions associated with a payor cryptocurrency wallet account; and (“Such an authorization may be generated using a personal cryptographic key management device (e.g., a hardware wallet, self-custody, self-storage, etc.) built into a smartcard or a wearable-based payment device (e.g., a smartwatch).” (Col. 4, Ln. 8-12); “authenticating device 104 may be a smart card that includes a secure smart-card chip having an ISO/IEC 14443 contactless interface.” (Col. 4, Ln. 58-60))
a point of sale payment card terminal connected to a first electronic network and electronically connectable to the secure element integrated circuit chip through at least one wired or wireless connection, (“Terminal device 110 may be a POS terminal, which is a hardware system for processing payments at retail locations.” (Col. 6, Ln. 28-30); “authenticating device 104 may include a short-range communication module that communicates with terminal device 110 via a short-range communication range. The short-range communication range is typically shorter than a wireless communication range of terminal device 110. In an exemplary embodiment, the short-range communication range may include, but is not limited to, near-field communication (NFC), Bluetooth.” (Col. 5, Ln. 56-65); “Authenticating device 104 may communicate with user device 102 using a proprietary transmission protocol and may communicate with terminal device 110 using a technical transmission protocol (e.g., EMV transmission protocol).” (Col. 6, Ln. 8-12))
wherein the first electronic network further connects to a blockchain associated with the payor cryptocurrency wallet account, and (“the blockchain transaction can be transmitted through existing payment network to the blockchain.” (Col. 4, Ln. 29-32); “processing service 118, which manages digital (crypto) transaction processing and provides integration with computing nodes maintaining distributed ledger 120.” (Col. 7, Ln. 1-5); “processing service 118 will be considered a blockchain processing service and distributed ledger 120 will be considered a blockchain.” (Col. 7, Ln. 6-8))
Kurennykh does not disclose:
• “wherein the point of sale payment card terminal receives a cryptographically signed transaction from the payment card and publishes the cryptographically signed transaction to the blockchain to transfer funds from the payor cryptocurrency wallet account to a payee cryptocurrency wallet account identified in the cryptographically signed transaction.” (claim 1).
However, as per Claim 1, Lyons in the analogous art of blockchain exchanges, teaches: “wherein the point of sale payment card terminal receives a cryptographically signed transaction from the payment card and publishes the cryptographically signed transaction to the blockchain to transfer funds from the payor cryptocurrency wallet account to a payee cryptocurrency wallet account identified in the cryptographically signed transaction”. (“The electronic point of sale device 104 may then generate a destination address. The destination address may be a blockchain address to which blockchain currency is to be transferred to effect payment of the transaction value from the user associated with the integrated circuit card 102 to the merchant associated with the electronic point of sale device 104. The destination address may be generated via the application of one or more hashing algorithms to a public key of a key pair associated with the electronic point of sale device 104. The key pair may comprise the public key and a private key possessed by the electronic point of sale device 104 or a computing system of the associated merchant.” (Para. 0038); “The integrated circuit card 102 may then generate a signed blockchain transaction. The blockchain transaction may comprise at least the destination address received from the electronic point of sale device 104 and a payment amount, which may be an amount of blockchain currency corresponding to the transaction value. The blockchain transaction may then be signed using the private key of the key pair stored in the integrated circuit card 102 and a reference associated with the previous blockchain transaction.” (Para. 0039 ); “In step 530, the receiving device 302 of the electronic point of sale device 104 may receive the signed blockchain transaction. In step 532, the signed blockchain transaction may be posted to the blockchain network 110.” (Para. 0086)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the method of Kurennykh with the technique of Lyons to include a POS terminal publish the signed transaction to the blockchain to transfer funds to the merchant/payee blockchain address. Therefore, the incentives of reducing reliance on issuer-side backend broadcasting provided a reason to make an adaptation, and the invention resulted from application of the prior knowledge in a predictable manner.
As per Claim 2, Kurennykh teaches:
The cryptocurrency payment system of claim 1, wherein the payment card and the point of sale payment card terminal are EVM-compliant. (“The entire existing payment infrastructure, including bank cards, POS terminals, POS (acquirer) processing, card (issuer) processing, may comply with a technical protocol such as the EMV standard.” (Col. 4, Ln. 23-27); “The technical protocol in diagram 200 is the EMV standard.” (Col. 7, Ln. 15-17); “a full transaction in Ethereum blockchain has size of at least 110 bytes including a 64-byte signature. Neither the transaction nor the signature can fit into 32 bytes of unused space in EMV tags.” (Col. 9, Ln. 24-28))
As per Claim 3 and 14, Kurennykh teaches:
The cryptocurrency payment system of claim 1, wherein the secure element integrated circuit chip of the payment card comprises: a memory storing a private key of an asymmetric cryptographic key pair, the private key for signing the cryptographically signed transactions; and a processor connected to the memory to increment a monotonically increasing transaction counter that increments by one for every cryptographically signed transaction that is signed by the private key. (“Application 106 may then generate a wallet key pair by executing a “Create Wallet” command.” (Col. 5, Ln. 34-36); “application 106 supports a plurality of commands, including a “Sign” command, which is configured such that application 106 generates and returns a transaction signature.” (Col. 5, Ln. 50-54); ““n” is the blockchain nonce (e.g., an integer value, automatically incremented by applet 404 on completion of each EMV transaction with terminal device 110 and delivered in EMV transaction (tag 9F36, Application Transaction Counter (ATC))).” (Col. 10, Ln. 13-16))
As per Claim 4, Kurennykh teaches:
The cryptocurrency payment system of claim 1, wherein the secure element integrated circuit chip of the payment card comprises a memory storing an identification number comprising a 16-digit primary account number (PAN). (“Terminal device 110 then sends a Selects Application Identifier (AID) command, which queries the type of card and which company (e.g., Visa, Amex, etc.) the card is assigned to.” (Col. 7, Ln. 24-27); “Terminal device 110 subsequently sends multiple Read Record commands and receives, from authenticating device 104, card data elements.” (Col. 7, Ln. 39-41); “Wsrc (known to processing service 118, corresponds to authenticating device 104's primary account number (PAN) delivered in the EMV transaction).” (Col. 10, Ln. 35-37))
As per Claim 5, Kurennykh teaches:
The cryptocurrency payment system of claim 1, wherein the secure element integrated circuit chip connects to the point of sale payment card terminal through a wireless connection, the wireless connection comprising a Near-Field Communication (NFC) connection. (“The smartcard may transmit the authorization using a standard single-tap contactless approach or an insert-your-card contact approach.” (Col. 4, Ln. 15-17); “authenticating device 104 cryptographically secures ownership of digital assets and may comprise a contactless interface (e.g., NFC).” (Col. 4, Ln. 52-54); “the short-range communication range may include, but is not limited to, near-field communication (NFC), Bluetooth.” (Col. 5, Ln. 62-65))
As per Claim 6, Kurennykh teaches:
The cryptocurrency payment system of claim 1, wherein the secure element integrated circuit chip transmits to the point of sale payment card terminal a public- blockchain-compliant cryptocurrency transaction. (“distributed ledgers, the latter including public (e.g., Ethereum) or private blockchains.” (Col. 7, Ln. 12-14); “Application 108 builds and signs blockchain transactions based on transaction data of a given technical protocol.” (Col. 9, Ln. 1-3); “application 108 embeds serialized blockchain transaction and/or transaction signature into the transaction data returned to terminal device 110.” (Col. 9, Ln. 3-6))
As per Claim 7 and 15, Kurennykh teaches:
The cryptocurrency payment system of claim 2, wherein the payment card terminal approves the cryptographically signed transaction in response to acceptance of the cryptographically signed transaction by the blockchain. (“Ledger 120 confirms the addition of the transaction and sends a confirmation response back to processing service 118.” (Col. 9, Ln. 17-20); “If the result of the operation is OK (e.g., the blockchain transaction is approved by the blockchain network and stored on distributed ledger 406, terminal device 110 indicates that the transaction is approved (e.g., on a screen).” (Col. 10, Ln. 50-54).
As per Claim 9, Kurennykh teaches:
The method of cryptocurrency payment according to claim 8, wherein the transmitting of the cryptographically signed transaction initiates a cryptocurrency transfer from the payor cryptocurrency wallet account to a payee cryptocurrency wallet account identified in the cryptographically signed transaction. (“the transaction is a blockchain transaction indicative of transferring one or more blockchain assets.” (Col. 2, Ln. 20-22); “Wdst is a destination identifier (e.g., address of destination blockchain wallet (fixed value, stored in the card during the personalization stage)).” (Col. 10, Ln. 7-9); “The blockchain transaction is indicative of transferring one or more blockchain assets equivalent to the transaction value.” (Col. 12, Ln. 37-39))
As per Claim 10, Kurennykh teaches:
The method of cryptocurrency payment according to claim 8, wherein the blockchain includes a smart contract published on the blockchain, and the method further comprises: attributing a cryptocurrency balance to at least one of (1) a public key and (2) a cryptocurrency account address of the payor cryptocurrency wallet account; storing the public key or the cryptocurrency account address on the blockchain; and storing the cryptocurrency balance on the blockchain. (“returns a public key of the wallet to the user.” (Col. 5, Ln. 36-38); “obtaining a public key associated with the blockchain wallet of authenticating device 104.” (Col. 6, Ln. 17-20); “obtaining a blockchain wallet balance via external blockchain nodes.” (Col. 6, Ln. 22-24))
As per Claim 11, Kurennykh teaches:
The method of cryptocurrency payment according to claim 9, wherein the public key or the cryptocurrency account address corresponds to one or more public key of one or more payment card. (“a bank payment card may, for example, serve as a personal hardware wallet for blockchain assets.” (Col. 4, Ln. 20-22); “a source wallet address being generated by a Create Wallet command.” (Col. 10, Ln. 4-6); “X.” (Col. , Ln. ))
As per Claim 12, Kurennykh teaches:
The method of cryptocurrency payment according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises: exposing, by the smart contract, a function to add cryptocurrency funds to the cryptocurrency balance. (“a user may utilize any third party blockchain wallet application to fund the associated wallet with the relevant cryptocurrency.” (Col. 5, Ln. 38-41); “On-card wallet balance storage and offline wallet balance verification may be performed through a dedicated card memory block.” (Col. 5, Ln. 46-49); “obtaining a blockchain wallet balance via external blockchain nodes.” (Col. 6, Ln. 22-24))
As per Claim 13, Kurennykh teaches:
The method of cryptocurrency payment according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises: exposing, by the smart contract, a payment function that performs one or more of the following: (1) receiving the cryptographically signed transaction; (2) validating a cryptographic signature of the cryptographically signed transaction using a public key corresponding to a private key of an asymmetric key pair used to sign the cryptographically signed transaction; (3) verifying that a transaction counter value provided with the cryptographically signed transaction is greater than a previous transaction counter value provided with an immediately preceding call of the payment function; (4) verifying that an available balance attributed to the public key is greater than or equal to an amount of the cryptographically signed transaction; and (5) transferring the available balance attributed to the public key to the payee cryptocurrency wallet account. (“authorization data in a form of a digital signature.” (Col. 1, Ln. 60-62); ““n” is the blockchain nonce (e.g., an integer value, automatically incremented by applet 404 on completion of each EMV transaction with terminal device 110 and delivered in EMV transaction.” (Col. 10, Ln. 13-16); “processing service 118 may also perform a few optional actions such as verify funds (AML check), protect against double spending attack in the blockchain, and prevent fraud.” (Col. 11, Ln. 55-59))
As per Claim 16, Kurennykh teaches:
The method of cryptocurrency payment according to claim 8, wherein the blockchain includes a smart contract published on the blockchain, and the transmitting the cryptographically signed transaction over the first electronic network includes: transmitting the cryptographically signed transaction to a first server; calling by the first server, a payment function of the smart contract and providing the cryptographically signed transaction to the smart contract; receiving, by the first server, an indication from the smart contract that the payment function was successfully called; communicating, by the first server, an indication to the point of sale payment card terminal that the payment function was successfully called; and approving, by the point of sale payment card terminal, a payment transaction in response to the receiving the communication that the payment function was successfully called. (“Issuing entity 116 performs filtering by separating transactions carrying encapsulated blockchain transaction data inside from typical transactions and forwards the blockchain transaction data to processing service 118.” (Col. 9, Ln. 9-13); “processing service 118 reconstructs the blockchain transaction. . . [and] broadcasts the blockchain transaction to distributed ledger 406.” (Col. 10, Ln. 33-46); “Processing service 118 then responds to issuing entity 116 with the result of the operation (e.g., OK or not OK).” (Col. 10, Ln. 47-50))
Conclusion
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: US20210312431A1 (Ravinathan), discussing “A method for carrying out a cryptocurrency blockchain transaction through an integrated circuit payment card using a multi-signature blockchain wallet includes: storing, in an integrated circuit of a payment card, a first private key of a first cryptographic key pair and a transaction account number; receiving, by the integrated circuit, a blockchain transaction from a point of sale device, the blockchain transaction including unspent transaction outputs, destination addresses, a cryptocurrency amount for each destination address, and a first digital signature generated using a second private key of a second cryptographic key pair; digitally signing, by the integrated circuit, the blockchain transaction using the first private key to generate a second digital signature; and transmitting, by the integrated circuit, the digitally signed blockchain transaction including the first digital signature and the second digital signature to the point of sale device.” (Abstract).
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/Justin Jimenez/
Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3697
/ARI SHAHABI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3697
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