DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 6-10, 12, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Moore (US 6118490 A) in view of Nemirofsky (US 5907350 A) and Park (WO 0242972 A1).
Re Claim 1: Moore discloses a system comprising:
a device (23 in figs 1B & 2A); and
a display including a first display region (15 in fig 1A) operable to provide light pulses to said device that comprise among other information specific information, and
a second display region (14 excluding 15 in fig. 1A) that does not provide any information to said device,
However, Moore does not disclose that the device is a payment device, wherein said payment device is further operable to communicate at least said provided payment-related information, and the specific information is payment-related.
First embodiment of Nemirofsky however discloses that the device is a payment device, and the specific information is payment-related (col 11 line 27+: The process described above uses photo and data detector 70 to decode light from the TV screen containing benefit or value data such as, money, discounts, value,..., col 11 line 34+: After capturing benefits or values from the television broadcast, the card holder may go the store to take advantage of the benefits or values, col 11 line 51+: As the card is waved over the scanner each individual bar code is read. This procedure is followed for each benefit or value to be redeemed.),
wherein said payment device is further operable to communicate at least said provided payment-related information (col 6 ll 48+: Each TV Card may have a unique identity or serial number which identifies demographics, psychographics and other measurable information about the card owner. This information is imbedded in a magnetic strip and a bar code strip on the back of the card. These strips can either be scanned, or "swiped" allowing the consumer to use the card either as a credit, debit, affinity or identity card. As the card is scanned, the store computer can process data about the products purchased and who purchased them.).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the teaching of first embodiment of Nemirofsky in the Moore’s system for the purpose of motivating viewers to become purchasers.
However, Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky does not disclose a payment device operable to generate a dynamic credit card number; and wherein said payment device is further operable to communicate said dynamic credit card number to a website being hosted on a server to facilitate a purchase transaction based on said dynamic credit card number for payment and said payment-related information.
Park however discloses a payment device operable to generate a dynamic credit card number (abst: pay using a disposable authentication code assigned by a credit card company); and wherein said payment device is further operable to communicate said dynamic credit card number to a website being hosted on a server (the electronic commerce server recognizes the authentication code as a credit card number of the credit card company) to facilitate a purchase transaction based on said dynamic credit card number for payment and said payment-related information (inputting the authentication code to the credit card information input field of the electronic commerce site and transmitting the inputted authentication code to the electronic commerce server by the user terminal).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the teaching of first embodiment of Park in the system of Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky for the purpose of preventing financial loss due to the leakage of the credit card information (Park: abst: preventing the leakage of credit card information of the user, and preventing financial loss due to the leakage of the credit card information).
Re Claim 2: Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park discloses the system of claim 1, wherein said first display region is a television display region (10 in fig 1A).
Re Claim 4: Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park discloses the system of claim 1, wherein said first display region is card shaped (14 in fig 1A: As a card can have a variety of shapes, the limitation, “card shaped” does not limit the shape of said first display region to a particular shape, such as a rectangular shape.).
Re Claim 6: Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park discloses the system of claim 1, wherein said first display region is operable to communicate information.
However, Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park does not disclose information representative of an encryption scheme.
Second embodiment of Nemirofsky however discloses information representative of an encryption scheme (col 6 lines 59+: “The data integrity is preserved by using the commonly accepted computer data transmission and encryption technologies Parity and Cyclic Redundancy Checks (CRC) insure that the data is properly received.” Col 9 lines 24: “security device 24 containing encryption keys and algorithms.”).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the teaching of second embodiment of Nemirofsky in the system of Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park for the purpose of preserving the integrity of the communicated data (Nemirofsky: col 6 lines 59+:).
Re Claim 7: Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park discloses the system of claim 1, said second display region is operable to display images not including said light pulses during said provision of said light pulses to said payment device (col 3 line 49: “primary visual images” col 3 lines 54-56: These primary visual images are displayed over most or all of screen 14 other than in an optical transmitter display screen portion, 15, of screen 14).
Re Claim 8: Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park discloses the system of claim 1, wherein said second display screen is operable to display one of a television show and a commercial (col 3 line 49-55: Television receiver 10 is assumed to be displaying primary visual images on screen 14… provided by some data source such as a broadcast transmitter... These primary visual images are displayed over most or all of screen 14 other than in an optical transmitter display screen portion, 15)
Re Claim 9: Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park discloses the system of claim 1, wherein said first display region is operable to communicate information via light pulses visible to a user (col 3 lines 64+: shown as radiating a relatively high intensity electromagnetic radiation in FIG. 1A in the visible spectrum by being shown in white.).
Re Claim 10: Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park discloses the system of claim 1, wherein said light pulses representative of said payment related information include information.
However, Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park does not disclose information to communicate to a reader.
Third embodiment of Nemirofsky however discloses information to communicate to a reader (col 3 lines 61; “imbedded light signal data code which contains product discount information,” col 11 line 36: “card coupon”).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the teaching of third embodiment of Nemirofsky in the system of Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park for the purpose of enabling a user to redeem benefits such as a coupon at a venue (Nemirofsky: col 3 ll 53+: This stored data can be displayed and read by a terminal at a benefit redemption venue, among which can be mass merchandisers, supermarkets and department stores.).
Re Claim 12: Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park discloses the system of claim 1, wherein said first display region is operable to communicate data via light pulses.
Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park however does not disclose that the data is a coupon code and a time.
Fourth embodiment of Nemirofsky however discloses that the data is a coupon code and a time (col 4 line 21+: discount rate signal in the form of a bar code, col 4 line 28: “the specific time period is carried by authorization signal and imputed into the smart card along with the product identification/discount rate data.”, col 8 lines 40: “The signal is then passed to the microprocessor for further qualification as to timing and phase criteria. This signal is utilized to synchronize to the video timing of the light.”).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the teaching of fourth embodiment of Nemirofsky in the system of Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park for the purpose of providing a user with benefits such as a coupon and also for the purpose of device synchronization (Nemirofsky: col 3 ll 53+, col 4 line 28, & col 8 lines 40).
Re Claim 19: Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park discloses the system of claim 1, wherein said first display region (15 in fig 1A) is operable to provide said light pulses to a payment device.
Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park however does not disclose that providing said light pulses is based on user input information received from one or more interfaces on said payment device.
Seventh embodiment of Nemirofsky however discloses that providing said light pulses is based on user input information received from one or more interfaces on said payment device (col 6 lines 24: The customer may press the "activate" button, col 13 line 17: The customer could press the "activate" button 82 on the TV Card 300).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the teaching of seventh embodiment of Nemirofsky in the system of Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park for the purpose of being able to initiate, by the payment device user, transmission of the payment information to the payment device.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Moore (US 6118490 A) modified by Nemirofsky (US 5907350 A) and Park (WO 0242972 A1) in view of Lagard (US 5721908 A).
Re Claim 3: Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park discloses the system of claim 1 including said first display region (col 14 lines 33+:”computer screens connected to various data base systems.”).
Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park however does not disclose that the display region is a webpage display region.
Lagard however discloses that the display region is a webpage display region (abst).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Lagard’s teaching in the system of Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park for the purpose of promoting user-friendliness and user-interaction by incorporating web based graphics interface.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Moore (US 6118490 A) modified by Nemirofsky (US 5907350 A) and Park (WO 0242972 A1) in view of NAKAMURA (JP 2008165650 A).
Re Claim 5: Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park discloses the system of claim 1, wherein said first display region is operable to display an alignment symbol (col 4 lines 7+: The use of annular ring portion 16 in a constantly darkened condition provides assistance in positioning a photodetector, 20.).
Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park however does not disclose that the alignment symbol is a card alignment symbol.
NAKAMURA however discloses an alignment symbol that is a card alignment symbol (NOVELTY: … A display controller controls display of guide mark on display region (26) while positioning the card in the apparatus.).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate NAKAMURA’s teaching in the system of Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park for the purpose of enabling a user to easily align a card on a display region.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Moore (US 6118490 A) modified by Nemirofsky (US 5907350 A) and Park (WO 0242972 A1) in view of Francini (US 4701601 A).
Re Claim 11: Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park discloses the system of claim 1, wherein said light pulses are representative of said payment related information.
However, Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park does not disclose that said payment related information include a coupon code communicable to a reader.
Eighth embodiment of Nemirofsky however discloses that said payment related information include a coupon code communicable to a reader (col 4 line 21+: discount rate signal in the form of a bar code).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the teaching of eighth embodiment of Nemirofsky in the system of Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky and Park for the purpose of enabling a user to redeem a benefit such as a coupon at a venue (Nemirofsky: col 3 ll 53+: This stored data can be displayed and read by a terminal at a benefit redemption venue, among which can be mass merchandisers, supermarkets and department stores.).
However, Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky, Park, and eighth embodiment of Nemirofsky does not disclose communicating via a magnetic emulator.
Francini however discloses communicating via a magnetic emulator (col 7 lines 14+ “the user would first select and press one of these specific keys, causing the microprocessor to access the corresponding data representative of the magnetic stripe information associated with the selected card.” Col 7 lines 64+ “Where a send button is used, the generation of the varying magnetic field can be limited to one burst per each depression of the key.”).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Francini’s teaching in the system of Moore modified by first embodiment of Nemirofsky, Park, and eighth embodiment of Nemirofsky for the purpose of preventing credit and fraud losses as smart card with magnetic emulators are more secure (than static magnetic stripe and barcode) against counterfeiting and against an unauthorized access to the card data (Francini: col 1 ll 68 – col 2 ll 12: Equipment has been developed to facilitate the counterfeiting of the magnetic stripe… This type of counterfeiting accounts for a significant portion of the fraud losses experienced by the industry… col 2 ll 50 – col 2 ll 57: The storage system in these cards can also be provided with data representative of a secret code of the user. In operation, the authorized user will enter a secret code or a personal identification number (PIN) which is then compared with the data stored in the card. This approach provides extra security since it is almost impossible for an unauthorized user to gain access to the secret code.).
Claims 13, 14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Moore (US 6118490 A) in view of Park (WO 0242972 A1).
Re Claim 13: Moore discloses a method of communicating information, the method comprising:
emitting light from a first portion (15 in fig 1A) of a display screen (14 in fig 1A) to communicate information (col 3 lines 56-65), wherein an area of said first portion is less than an area of said display screen (fig 1A: the area of display screen portion 15 in fig 1A is less than the area of screen 14 in fig 1A); and
receiving said light by a light sensor (20 in figs 2A) of a device (23 in figs 1B & 2A).
Moore however does not disclose that the device is a payment device, and generating a dynamic credit card number; and enabling a user to perform, by said payment device, a purchase function on a server based on said communicated information and said dynamic credit card number that are transmitted from said payment device to said server in connection with said purchase function.
Park however discloses that the device is a payment device (fig 1: 21, fig 3), and generating a dynamic credit card number (abst: pay using a disposable authentication code assigned by a credit card company); and enabling a user to perform, by said payment device, a purchase function on a server based on said communicated information and said dynamic credit card number that are transmitted from said payment device to said server in connection with said purchase function (the electronic commerce server recognizes the authentication code as a credit card number of the credit card company, inputting the authentication code to the credit card information input field of the electronic commerce site and transmitting the inputted authentication code to the electronic commerce server by the user terminal).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the teaching of Park in the Moore’s method for the purpose of motivating viewers to become purchasers as well as for the purpose of preventing financial loss due to the leakage of the credit card information (Park: abst: preventing the leakage of credit card information of the user, and preventing financial loss due to the leakage of the credit card information).
Re Claim 14: Moore modified by Park discloses the method of claim 13, further comprising: displaying a payment device alignment symbol in the first portion of the display screen (col 4 lines 7+: The use of annular ring portion 16 in a constantly darkened condition provides assistance in positioning a photodetector, 20.).
Re Claim 16: Moore modified by Park discloses the method of claim 13, further comprising:
displaying, during the emitting light, one of a television show and a commercial in only a second portion of the display screen (col 3 line 49-55: Television receiver 10 is assumed to be displaying primary visual images on screen 14… provided by some data source such as a broadcast transmitter...), the second portion not communicating the information (col 3 lines 54-56: “These primary visual images are displayed over most or all of screen 14 other than in an optical transmitter display screen portion, 15, of screen 14”).
Claims 15 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Moore (US 6118490 A) modified by Park (WO 0242972 A1) in view of Nemirofsky (US 5907350 A).
Re Claim 15: Moore modified by Park discloses the method of claim 13.
However, Moore modified by Park does not disclose that emitting light includes emitting light to communicate information usable by said payment device to change an encryption scheme.
Fifth embodiment of Nemirofsky however discloses emitting light includes emitting light to communicate information usable by a payment device to change an encryption scheme (col 6 lines 59: “The data integrity is preserved by using the commonly accepted computer data transmission and encryption technologies Parity and Cyclic Redundancy Checks (CRC) insure that the data is properly received.” Col 9 lines 24: “security device 24 containing encryption keys and algorithms.”).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the teaching of fifth embodiment of Nemirofsky in the method of Moore modified by Park for the purpose of preserving the integrity of the communicated data (Nemirofsky: col 6 lines 59+:).
Re Claim 18: Moore modified by Park discloses the method of claim 13, further comprising:
displaying a payment device alignment symbol and a border (col 4 lines 7+: The use of annular ring portion 16 in a constantly darkened condition provides assistance in positioning a photodetector, 20.) in the first portion of the display screen; and
displaying one of a television show, a commercial and a webpage in a second portion of the display screen (col 3 line 49-55: Television receiver 10 is assumed to be displaying primary visual images on screen 14… provided by some data source such as a broadcast transmitter... These primary visual images are displayed over most or all of screen 14 other than in an optical transmitter display screen portion, 15), wherein the emitting light includes emitting light pulses to communicate information.
Moore modified by Park however does not disclose that the information is indicative of a coupon.
Sixth embodiment of Nemirofsky however discloses that the information is indicative of a coupon (col 3 lines 61; “imbedded light signal data code which contains product discount information,” col 11 line 36: “card coupon”).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the teaching of sixth embodiment of Nemirofsky in the method of Moore modified by Park for the purpose of motivating viewers to become purchasers by providing viewers with benefits such as a coupon that can be redeemed at a venue (Nemirofsky: col 3 ll 53+: This stored data can be displayed and read by a terminal at a benefit redemption venue, among which can be mass merchandisers, supermarkets and department stores.).
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Moore (US 6118490 A) modified by Park (WO 0242972 A1) in view of Matheny (US 7840975 B2).
Re Claim 17: Moore modified by Park discloses the method of claim 13, further comprising: displaying content in a second portion of the display screen.
Moore modified by Park however does not disclose displaying webpage.
Matheny however discloses displaying webpage (fig 1, col 1 lines 28-35).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Matheny’s teaching in the method of Moore modified by Park for the purpose of providing interactive access to WWW from a TV set.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAE W KIM whose telephone number is (571)272-5971. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30AM-5:30PM.
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/TAE W KIM/Examiner, Art Unit 2876
/STEVEN S PAIK/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2876