DETAILED ACTION
This is a Non-final office action on the merits. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (the Office) has received claims 1-20 in application number 19/282,973. Claims 1-20 are pending and have been examined on the merits.
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 .
Priority
Applicant recites “claims benefit of provisional” in the “Domestic Benefit/National Stage Information” section of the Application Data Sheet (ADS) form dated 7/28/2025 but does not recite any provisional application number or any date of any provisional. Applicant further does not recite any provisional application number or date in the Specification dated 7/28/2025.
MPEP 201(I) states: “Whether an application was filed before, on, or after March 16, 2013, statutory provisions require that for a later-filed application to be entitled to the benefit of an earlier-filed national application, the later-filed application must contain a specific reference to the earlier-filed application. 35 U.S.C. 119(e), 120.
The inventor’s oath or declaration provisions of Public Law 112-29, sec. 4, 125 Stat. 284 (the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act) and the rules related thereto became effective September 16, 2012. In implementing these provisions the Office revised 37 CFR 1.78 to require that a benefit claim under 35 U.S.C. 119(e), 120, 121, or 365(c) must be in the application data sheet (37 CFR 1.76 ). Thus for all applications filed on or after September 16, 2012, the specific reference to the prior application must be in the application data sheet; for applications filed prior to September 16, 2012, the specific reference to the prior application must be in an application data sheet or in the first sentence(s) of the specification”. (Examiner’s emphasis).
See also MPEP 211.02.
The priority date of the present Application is held to be 7/28/25.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
Examiner is using the “step” annotation from the flowchart of MPEP 2106 (III), and MPEP 2106.04 and MPEP 2106.05 for clarity.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1:
Independent Claim 1 and dependent Claims 2-7 recite a device (Manufacture), Independent Claim 8 and dependent Claims 9-13 recite a medium (Manufacture), Independent Claim 14 and dependent claims 15-20 recite a method (process), thus Claims 1-20 fall into one of the four statutory categories of invention.
Step 2A, prong 1:
Applicant recites the following elements in Claim 1 (and similarly Claims 8 and 14):
A communication device for processing financial transaction data, the communication device comprising: a communication interface for receiving financial data; a processor coupled to the communication interface and adapted to receive the financial data; and a display coupled to the processor and adapted to display financial data; wherein the processor is adapted to allocate financial data to one or both of a primary balance sheet and an auxiliary balance sheet.
Examiner has bolded the elements that are part of the abstract idea.
These elements recite: acquiring information relating to financial accounts and displaying it. These elements represent an abstract idea in the category of Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity in the subcategory of Commercial or Legal interactions because it is a common commercial practice to obtain and display financial information from financial accounts.
Claim 1 (and similarly Claims 8 and 14) thus recites an abstract idea. Dependent Claims 2-7, 9-13 and 15-20 contain the same abstract idea by virtue of their dependency on Claim 1, 8 or 14, respectively. Accordingly Claims 1-20 recite an abstract idea.
Step 2A, prong 2:
In addition to the abstract idea discussed above, Claim 1 also recites the following additional elements:
Communications device – This element is described in Applicant’s specification at [0039] as “any type of fixed or wired computing device”. Applicant describes a wide range of types of computers and Examiner is interpreting this device as a general purpose computer. Applicant does not provide any detailed technical disclosure of any special features or benefits relating to Applicant’s inventive concept.
Communications interface – This element is described in Applicant’s specification at [0041] as “multiple communication interfaces could be used, including communication interfaces adapted to implement any wired or wireless communication protocol”. Examiner is interpreting this device as part of a general purpose computer. Applicant does not provide any detailed technical disclosure of any special features or benefits relating to Applicant’s inventive concept.
Processor - This element is described in Applicant’s specification at [0040] as “a processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a system on a chip, a field programmable device, such as a programmable logic device (PLD) or field programmable gate array (FPGA), or a combination of two or more of these devices”. Examiner is interpreting this device as part of a general purpose computer. Applicant does not provide any detailed technical disclosure of any special features or benefits relating to Applicant’s inventive concept.
Display - This element is described in Applicant’s specification at [0042] as “a display 220, which may be a touchscreen display as commonly used on mobile devices such as cellular phones, tablets or laptop computers, a speaker 222 and a microphone 224. However, it should be understood that the communication device may comprise any other type of input/output interface for receiving or transmitting information”. Examiner is interpreting this device as part of a general purpose computer. Applicant does not provide any detailed technical disclosure of any special features or benefits relating to Applicant’s inventive concept.
Medium – Claims 8-13 also recite a medium. This element is described in Applicant’s specification at [0043] as computer memory with no detailed technical disclosure of any special features or benefits relating to Applicant’s inventive concept. Examiner is interpreting this device as part of a general purpose computer.
MPEP 2106.05(f)(2) states “Use of a computer or other machinery in its ordinary capacity for economic or other tasks (e.g., to receive, store, or transmit data) or simply adding a general purpose computer or computer components after the fact to an abstract idea (e.g., a fundamental economic practice or mathematical equation) does not integrate a judicial exception into a practical application”.
As discussed, the additional elements Communications device, Communications interface, Processor, Display, and Medium are broadly claimed and used in their ordinary capacity with no detailed technical disclosure of any special features or technologies and, thus, they do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application.
The claims as a whole do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limitations on practicing the abstract idea. Claims 1- 20 are therefore directed to an abstract idea.
Step 2B: As discussed above, Applicant claims the abstract idea of acquiring information relating to financial accounts and displaying it. As discussed above, Applicant also recites the additional elements of: Communications device, Communications interface, Processor, Display, and Medium.
As discussed above with respect to Step 2A, the claimed Communications device, Communications interface, Processor, Display, and Medium are hardware recited at a high level of generality and amount to no more than instructions to apply the exception using general purpose computer systems. MPEP 2106.05(f) states that merely adding a general purpose computer or computer components to an abstract idea does not amount to significantly more, thus Communications device, Communications interface, Processor, Display, and Medium are not significantly more.
The additional elements alone or in combination do not improve the functioning of a computer or any other technology or technological field. The additional elements alone or in combination do not apply the judicial exception to a particular (non-general purpose) machine. The additional elements alone or in combination do not effect a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing. Applicant does not claim or teach in their specification any special purpose hardware or improvements thereof. Therefore, the claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Dependent Claims 2-7, 9-13 and 15-20 contain the same abstract idea by virtue of their dependency on Claims 1, 8 and 14, respectively, and further limit the abstract idea by further limiting the data.
Claims 1-20 are not patent eligible.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-5, 8-12, and 14-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Publication 2021/0357889 (Lawrence).
Regarding Claims 1, 8 and 14:
Lawrence teaches a cell phone app that downloads financial account information from financial institutions and allocates it into one or more accounts and sub-accounts, as directed through a user interface. Lawrence teaches: A communication device for processing financial transaction data, the communication device comprising: a communication interface for receiving financial data; ([0035] “mobile application or the like executing on a hardware computing device 102” and [0051] “the actual account module 202 is configured to receive information for an actual user account. The actual user account may be associated with, held at, located at, or otherwise maintained or managed by a financial institution such as a bank”).
a processor coupled to the communication interface and adapted to receive the financial data; ([0093] “processor”).
and a display coupled to the processor and adapted to display financial data; ([0044] “display device”).
wherein the processor is adapted to allocate financial data to one or both of a primary balance sheet and an auxiliary balance sheet. ([0053] “The virtual account, as used herein, refers to a simulated user account that is managed, controlled, supervised, linked to, maintained, or the like by the actual user account. The virtual account may be a subaccount of an actual account”).
Regarding Claims 2, 9 and 15:
Lawrence teaches all of the elements of Claims 1, 8 and 14. Lawrence also teaches: The communication device of claim 1, wherein the financial data comprises one or more of banking data, credit card data, savings data, and investment data. ([0051] “savings account”).
Regarding Claims 3, 10 and 16:
Lawrence teaches all of the elements of Claims 1, 8 and 14. Lawrence also teaches: The communication device of claim 1, wherein the primary balance sheet comprises financial transactions that are incurred by a user. ([0038] “may provide an interface for a child to link and/or otherwise associate one or more transactions to a goal”).
Regarding Claims 4, 11 and 17:
Lawrence teaches all of the elements of Claims 1, 8 and 14. Lawrence also teaches: The communication device of claim 1, wherein the primary balance sheet comprises one or more categories for allocating financial transactions to the auxiliary balance sheet. ([0053] “virtual account module 204 may generate different types of virtual accounts such as virtual savings accounts, virtual checking accounts, virtual credit card accounts, virtual loan accounts, and/or the like”).
Regarding Claims 5, 12 and 18:
Lawrence teaches all of the elements of Claims 1, 8 and 14. Lawrence also teaches: The communication device of claim 1, wherein the primary balance sheet comprises a category for designating a desired savings amount. ([0038] “a virtual account management module 104 may provide an interface for a child to link and/or otherwise associate one or more transactions to a goal (e.g., to indicate that the child has totally or partially “cashed out” their goal when making that purchase, or the like). For example, a child may save $200 for school clothes, and then when they go shopping, they may indicate, using an interface of a virtual account management module 104, that a transaction (e.g., this shoe transaction, this pants transaction, or the like), goes toward fulfilling and/or “cashing out” that goal”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claims 6, 7, 13, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication 2021/0357889 (Lawrence) in view of Korean Patent Application KR 20220044589 (Cha).
Regarding Claims 6, 13 and 19:
Lawrence teaches all of the elements of Claims 1, 8 and 14. Lawrence teaches: The communication device of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary balance sheet displays financial transactions for recorded expenses. ([0042] “displaying a user's financial transactions”).
Lawrence does not specifically teach: for a selected period of time. Cha teaches an electronic display of a bank account and teaches this: ([page 5, top] “it displays information such as the cumulative savings amount according to the input of coins and bills, the predetermined savings target amount, the saving period” and [page 3, center] “A display unit which displays the state information according to the operation of the electronic piggy bank and the deposit amount and the accumulated savings to the outside… storing the saving date and the savings history as data to display in the storage unit and to display through the display unit”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that the system taught by Lawrence could also include a display of financial transactions for a period of time, as taught by Cha, due to the predictable need by a user to understand the transaction history of an account that results in the current balance to ensure accuracy.
Regarding Claims 7 and 20:
Lawrence teaches all of the elements of Claims 1, 8 and 14. Lawrence teaches: The communication device of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary balance sheet displays a cumulative amount of savings ([0042] “displaying a user's account balances” and [0051] “savings account”).
Lawrence does not specifically teach: for a selected time period. Cha teaches this: ([page 5, top] “it displays information such as the cumulative savings amount according to the input of coins and bills, the predetermined savings target amount, the saving period” and [page 3, center] “A display unit which displays the state information according to the operation of the electronic piggy bank and the deposit amount and the accumulated savings to the outside… storing the saving date and the savings history as data to display in the storage unit and to display through the display unit”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that the system taught by Lawrence could also include a display of financial transactions for a period of time, as taught by Cha, due to the predictable need by a user to understand the historical deposits and withdrawals of a savings account that results in the current balance to ensure accuracy.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIMBERLY S BURSUM whose telephone number is (571)272-8213. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 AM - 6:30 PM.
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/KIMBERLY S. BURSUM/Examiner, Art Unit 3627
