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 .
Status of Claims
The following is a non-final Office Action in response to application number 19290713 filed on August 05, 2025. Claims 17-36 are currently pending, and have been examined.
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 17-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
In the instant case, claims 17-25 are directed to a “system”; claims 26-30 are directed to a “method”; and claims 31-36 are directed to a “non-transitory computer-readable medium”. Therefore, these claims are directed to one of the four statutory categories of invention.
Claim 26 recites “financial arrangement options based on geographic location”, which is a form of commercial or legal interactions and of fundamental economic principles or practices (i.e., organizing human activity), and an abstract idea. Specifically, the claim recites “receiving, from a user device, a unique token, wherein the unique token is linked to the entity at the unique geographic location; receiving, from the user device, a first data associated with a requestor, wherein the first data includes at least one of a name, address, date of birth, or an identification number; querying, using the first data, a first database for a second data associated with the requestor; receiving the second data associated with the requestor, wherein the second data relates to an ability of the requestor to obtain goods or services before payment; generating a data structure based on one or more of the unique token, the first data, or the second data, wherein the data structure contains information suitable to generate a variety of arrangement options; transmitting the data structure to the user device; receiving, from the user device, an input from the requestor, wherein the input is indicative of a selected arrangement; querying, using the first data, a second database for a third data associated with the requestor; receiving, from the second database, the third data associated with the requestor, wherein the third data relates to the ability of the requestor to obtain goods or services before payment; and issuing the selected arrangement based on the input from the requestor and the third data, wherein the selected arrangement is for use by the requestor with the entity at the unique geographic location”. The abstract idea is in italics, and the additional elements are in bold. (MPEP §2106.04 II.A.1.).
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because, when analyzed under prong two of step 2A (MPEP §2106.04 II.A.2.), the additional elements of the claim (the bolded claim language), such as “a computer-implemented method for a computing device, the computing device including at least one processor, …”, “a user device”, “first database”, and “a second database”, which amount to merely “apply it”, as they represent the use of a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea. Therefore, the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application as they do no more than represent a computer performing functions that correspond to implementing the acts of “financial arrangement options based on geographic location”.
When analyzed under step 2B (MPEP 2106.05 I.A.), the claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception itself. Viewed as a whole, the combination of elements recited in the claim merely describes the concept of “financial arrangement options based on geographic location” using computer technology (e.g., “a computing device” and “a first database”). Therefore, these additional elements do no more than employ a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea. And as the computer does no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea, they do not improve computer functionality nor improve another technology or technical field. Therefore, claim 26 is non-statutory.
Claim 17 also recites the abstract idea of “financial arrangement options based on geographic location”, as well the additional elements of “a system”, “at least one processor configured to: …”, “a mobile device”, “a first database”, and “a second database”, which amount to merely “apply it”, as they represent the use of a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea. Therefore, the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application as they do no more than represent a computer performing functions that correspond to implementing the acts of “financial arrangement options based on geographic location”.
When analyzed under step 2B (MPEP 2106.05 I.A.), the claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception itself. Viewed as a whole, the combination of elements recited in the claim merely describes the concept of “financial arrangement options based on geographic location” using computer technology (e.g., “at least one processor configured to: …” and “a second database”). Therefore, these additional elements do no more than employ a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea. And as the computer does no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea, they do not improve computer functionality nor improve another technology or technical field. Therefore, claim 17 is non-statutory.
Claim 31 also recites the abstract idea of “financial arrangement options based on geographic location”, as well the additional elements of “a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a computing device to execute …”, “a mobile device”, “a first database”, and “a second database”, which amount to merely “apply it”, as they represent the use of a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea. Therefore, the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application as they do no more than represent a computer performing functions that correspond to implementing the acts of “financial arrangement options based on geographic location”.
When analyzed under step 2B (MPEP 2106.05 I.A.), the claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception itself. Viewed as a whole, the combination of elements recited in the claim merely describes the concept of “financial arrangement options based on geographic location” using computer technology (e.g., “a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a computing device to execute …” and “a mobile device”). Therefore, these additional elements do no more than employ a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea. And as the computer does no more than serve as a tool to implement the abstract idea, they do not improve computer functionality nor improve another technology or technical field. Therefore, claim 31 is non-statutory.
Dependent claims 18-25, 27-30, and 32-36 further describe the abstract idea of “financial arrangement options based on geographic location”, which is insufficient to overcome the rejections of claims 17, 26, and 31.
Dependent claims 19-20, 22-24, 27, 29, and 32-35 do not recite any new additional elements that integrate the abstract idea into a practical application, and that do no more than represent a computer performing functions that correspond to implementing the acts of “financial arrangement options based on geographic location”, when analyzed under Step 2A, Prong Two. And, as they do no more than employ a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea, they do not improve computer functionality nor improve another technology or a technical field, when analyzed under Step 2B.
Dependent claim 18 recites new additional elements of “a QR code”, “a bar code”, and “an alphanumeric code”, which do no more than employ a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea. And, as they do no more than employ a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea, they do not improve computer functionality nor improve another technology or a technical field.
Dependent claim 21 recites new additional elements of “one or more customer databases”, which do no more than employ a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea. And, as they do no more than employ a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea, they do not improve computer functionality nor improve another technology or a technical field.
Dependent claim 25 recites a new additional element of “a wallet”, which does no more than employ a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea. And, as it does no more than employ a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea, it does not improve computer functionality nor improve another technology or a technical field.
Dependent claim 28 recites new additional elements of “contiguous or non-contiguous memory”, which do no more than employ a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea. And, as they do no more than employ a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea, they do not improve computer functionality nor improve another technology or a technical field.
Dependent claim 30 recites a new additional element of “a user interface”, which does no more than employ a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea. And, as it does no more than employ a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea, it does not improve computer functionality nor improve another technology or a technical field.
Dependent claim 36 recites a new additional element of “a third database”, which does no more than employ a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea. And, as it does no more than employ a computer as a tool to implement the abstract idea, it does not improve computer functionality nor improve another technology or a technical field.
Hence, claims 17-36 are not patent eligible.
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 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U. S. 1. 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. § 103 are summarized as follows:
Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 17-24, 26-27, and 30-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Anderson et al (U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 20230004951 A1), herein referred to as Anderson, in view of Laracey (U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 20130238455 A1), herein referred to as Laracey, and in further view of Rozman et al (U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 20150235310 A1), herein referred to as Rozman.
Regarding claims 17, 26, and 31, Anderson discloses a system for issuing an arrangement for use with an entity at a unique geographic location, the system comprising:
at least one processor (FIG. 2, item 114; para 46, “… Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a mobile device 110 is shown … mobile device 110 includes a display 112, a processor 114, a memory 116, a GPS 118 (or other location determining application), a camera 119, and the like …”; FIG. 9, items 906A, 906B, 906C; para 269, “… a processor 906A coupled to bus 904 for processing information and instructions … in FIG. 9, system 900 is also well suited to a multi-processor environment in which a plurality of processors 906A, 906B, and 906C are present. Conversely, system 900 is also well suited to having a single processor such as … processor 906A. Processors 906A, 906B, and 906C may be any of various types of microprocessors …”) configured to:
receive, from a mobile device (FIG. 2, item 110; para 46, “… Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a mobile device 110 is shown. In one embodiment, mobile device 110 includes a display 112, a processor 114, a memory 116, a GPS 118 (or other location determining application), a camera 119, and the like …”; para 48, “… mobile device 110 is an example of a customer's mobile device. Mobile device 110 could be a mobile phone, a smart phone, a tablet, a smart watch, a piece of smart jewelry, smart glasses, or other customer portable devices having wireless telephony connectivity via a mobile service provider … mobile device 110 is also capable of broadcasting and receiving via at least one network, such as, but not limited to, WiFi, Bluetooth, near field communication (NFC), and the like …”), a unique token, wherein the unique token is linked to the entity at the unique geographic location (FIG. 4, item 263; para 95, “… Token generator 263 then generates a token identifying the customer data file … the token is an identification number, hash, or other type of anti-tamper encrypted protection that is generated as an identifier for the customer data file …”; para 96, “… BNPL product generator 265 generates a BNPL product pass 170 formatted for mobile wallet 129 … the BNPL product pass 170 could include an image and a token embedded within the image data … the token could be provided via NFC between the mobile device 110 and the POS when BNPL product pass 170 is presented at the POS 104 …”; para 157, “… the BNPL product pass 170 includes a token … the token embedded in code 632 will also be added to the BNPL product pass 170 stored in mobile wallet 129 …”);
receive, from the mobile device (FIG. 2, item 110; paras 46, 48) a first data associated with a requestor, wherein the first data includes at least one of a name, address, date of birth, or an identification number (FIG. 3, item 218; para 71, “… User ID 218 can be the customer's identification information such as, name, zip code, social security number or portion thereof, driver's license number or portion thereof, or the like that is used to identify a specific customer …”; FIG. 3, items 218, 220, 223; para 75, “… user specific information engine 220 will use device ID 216 and user ID 218 to obtain user specific information 223 to prepopulate an electronic form such as a BNPL application … user specific information 223 could be at least two of: a name and full or partial address, a driver's license number, a social security number, or the like …”; para 86, “… If the customer is found 36, then the user specific information 223 is returned via return information 12 to user specific information engine 220. If no user specific information 223 is found from the secondary search 25, then no user specific information 223 will be pre-populated into the forms. That is, the user specific information engine 220 will receive a return empty 39. However, if a match is made, then the user specific information 223 can be used to prepopulate a portion of the application, e.g., name, address, city, state, zip, mobile device number, email, etc. …”; FIG. 5B, item 520; para 118, “… With reference now to 520 of FIG. 5A and as shown and expanded in the flowchart 550 of FIG. 5B and shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, one embodiment utilizes device ID 216 and user ID 218 to obtain user specific information 223 useable for a credit screen and/or to prepopulate the BNPL application … user specific information 223 could be one or more of: a name and full or partial address, a driver's license number, a social security number, an exist-ing credit account, or the like …”);
query, using the first data, a first database for a second data associated with the requestor (FIG. 3, item 16; para 77, “… uses the device ID 216 and user ID 218 information to perform a proprietary search 5 of at least one proprietary database 16 … the proprietary database 16 may be one or more databases such as a credit accounts database, or the like, that store a company's private database such as an Alliance Data Legacy database or the like. Proprietary database 16 will include user specific information 223 for customers that have existing accounts with the company, have previously applied for an account, or the like …”; para 80, “… the search would use an internal account holder proprietary database 16 to see if the customer has another account within the shared information database …”); …
query, using the first data, a second database for a third data associated with the requestor (FIG. 3, item 26; para 84, “… If no user specific information 223 is found during the proprietary search 5 or if the found user specific infor-mation 223 cannot be validated, then the device ID 216 and user ID 218 are passed on to a secondary search 25. At secondary search 25, a second source search engine 28 will search at least one secondary source database 26. One example of secondary source database 26 is a reverse phone number look up. However, other secondary source databases may be searched such as, but not limited to: social media sites, search engines, online public and/or private records, reverse name and phone number engines, and the like. In one embodiment, the user specific information 223 may be obtained by performing a secondary source database 26 search with the user ID 218 and the device ID 216 …”; para 85, “… the secondary search 25 may be for example, a real-time call to a reverse phone look-up product to try and locate the customer … reverse phone look-up products provide accurate and current customer telephone information … the data is updated regularly from a broad range of sources, including regional bell operating companies, white pages and proprietary sources … also integrates validation and authentication aspects that add further benefits to append address information for a customer … validation and authentication aspects match customer name and zip code information that was returned from the reverse phone look-up, against data from a secondary source to return full address data …”; FIG. 5B, item 26; para 119, “… At 524 of FIG. 5B, if the user specific information 223 cannot be found on the proprietary database, or if the user specific information 223 found does not overcome the confidence factor threshold, one embodiment uses the user ID 218 and device ID 216 information to perform a search of a secondary source database 26 …”); …
issue the selected arrangement based on the input from the requestor and the third data, wherein the selected arrangement is for use by the requestor with the entity at the unique geographic location (FIG. 7, item 735; para 183, “… At 735, … provides, from the mobile device 110 and to the BNPL product provider 230 computing system, the agreement with the associated terms of the selected BNPL payment scenarios … the associated terms include an interest rate, a reward information, a time period for repayment, a predefined payment amount, a recurring payment due date within the time period for repayment, and the like …”).
With respect to claim 26, Anderson further discloses receiving the second data associated with the requestor, wherein the second data relates to an ability of the requestor to obtain goods or services before payment (para 90, “… after the customer passes the credit screening then BNPL product provider 230 provides an application for a BNPL product to the customer's mobile device … BNPL product provider 230 populates the application for the BNPL product with the user specific information 223. That is, BNPL product provider 230 will place the user specific information 223 provided by the user specific information engine 220 into the forms that are provided to the customer's mobile device. By populating the forms prior to presenting them to the customer, the abandonment rate will be improved as the application process will be shortened due to the pre-filling of the customer's information into the application form …”; FIG. 5A, item 530; para 149, “… With reference now to 530 of FIG. 5A, once the customer passes the credit screening, … provides the BNPL product pass 170 to the customer … at FIG. 6D, an embodiment of a screen capture 630 of the identified customer's BNPL product 631 information and a ready for purchase feature such as code 632 (which may be a visual code, an aural code, and/or a combination thereof) as viewed on a customer's mobile device 110 is shown …”); …
receiving, from the second database, the third data associated with the requestor, wherein the third data relates to the ability of the requestor to obtain goods or services before payment (FIG. 5A, item 530; para 149, “… With reference now to 530 of FIG. 5A, once the customer passes the credit screening, … provides the BNPL product pass 170 to the customer … at FIG. 6D, an embodiment of a screen capture 630 of the identified customer's BNPL product 631 information and a ready for purchase feature such as code 632 (which may be a visual code, an aural code, and/or a combination thereof) as viewed on a customer's mobile device 110 is shown in accordance with an embodiment …”); …
With respect to claim 31, Anderson further discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor (FIG. 9, item 902; para 267, “… FIG. 9, portions of the technology for providing a communication composed of computer-readable and computer-executable instructions that reside … in non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing instructions of a computer system … FIG. 9 illustrates one example of a type of computer that can be used to implement embodiments of the present technology …”; para 268, “… As shown in FIG. 9, computer system 900 of FIG. 9 is well adapted to having peripheral computer readable media 902 such as … an external hard drive, a compact disc, a flash drive, a thumb drive, a wireless radio enabled device, and the like coupled thereto …”) containing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor (FIG. 9, item 906A, 906B, 906C; para 269, “… a processor 906A coupled to bus 904 for processing information and instructions. As depicted in FIG. 9, system 900 is also well suited to a multi-processor environment in which a plurality of processors 906A, 906B, and 906C are present … system 900 is also well suited to having a single processor such as … processor 906A. Processors 906A, 906B, and 906C may be any of various types of microprocessors. Computer system 900 also includes data storage features such as a computer usable volatile memory 908, e.g., random access memory (RAM), coupled to bus 904 for storing information and instructions for processors 906A, 906B, and 906C …”; para 270, “… storing static information and instructions for processors 906A, 906B, and 906C. Also present in system 900 is a data storage unit 912 ( e.g., a magnetic disk drive, optical disk drive, solid state drive (SSD), and the like) coupled to bus 904 for storing information and instructions. Computer system 900 also includes an optional alphanumeric input device 914 including alphanumeric and function keys coupled to bus 904 for communicating information and command selections to processor 906A or processors 906A, 906B, and 906C …”), cause a computing device to execute a method to issue a financing arrangement for use with a lender at a unique geographic location, the method comprising: …
Anderson does not specifically disclose, however, Laracey discloses generate a data structure comprising at least one table based on at least one of the unique token, the first data, or the second data, wherein the table contains information suitable to generate a variety of arrangement options (FIG. 10A, 10B; para 73, “… the customer may also register one or more discounts or offers in an offer database such as shown in FIG. l0A, and/or one or more loyalty program accounts such as shown in FIG. l0B … the discounts or offers stored or accessible in a database table such as that shown in FIG. 10A may be "clipped" or "accepted" by the customer by browsing a set of offers or discounts available to the customer (e.g., by interacting with an offer or discount selection system on their mobile device, or via a Web browser). Once an offer or discount has been accepted by the customer, details of the offer or discount may be stored in a table associated with the customer such as the table shown in FIG. 10A. Each offer or discount may be identified by an offer identifier 1028 and associated with the customer (e.g., via a user ID 1022 and a specific mobile device ID 1026) and may have offer details 1030, preferences or rules 1032, and possibly a balance 1034 …”; para 74, “… During the customer registration process (and subsequently, during account update transactions), the customer may provide information about one or more loyalty or reward accounts that the customer wishes to make available via their mobile device. This account information may be stored in a database table such as the illustrative table shown in FIG. l0B. Each loyalty account 1048 associated with a customer (e.g. via a user ID 1042 and a specific mobile device ID 1046) may have account details and one or more rules or preferences associated with the use of the loyalty account …”);
transmit the data structure to the mobile device (FIG. 4, 8B, item 436; para113, “… Processing continues at 436 where the mobile device 202, under control of the mobile application, presents the transaction details and enhanced payment account choice(s) to the customer on a display screen of the mobile device 202 … if the customer (during the registration process 300) provided information about one or more payment accounts, the customer may be given the opportunity to select which one(s) of those accounts are to be used in the current transaction … the customer may be presented with a display of options such as the one shown as FIG. 8B … the display of options may include information about the status of each of the available accounts (e.g., such as the balance, the current interest rate, any current rewards or loyalty points, etc.) so that the customer may select the most appropriate account for use in the current transaction …;
receive, from the mobile device, an input from the requestor, wherein the input is indicative of a selected arrangement (FIG. 8C, 8D, 8E, items 844a-n, 846, 848, 850, 852, 858; para 179, “… In the user interface of FIG. 8C, the customer has selected which payment account to use and has been presented with a screen to confirm the payment details using the selected payment account. The user interface may display … transaction details 846 and a confirmation button 848. The transaction details show the detailed transaction information received by the mobile device 802 from the transaction man-agement system … the user interface of FIG. 8C may be displayed after the customer has selected a desired payment account, and immediately prior to the transmission of a message to the transaction management system (e.g., such as at step 438 of FIG. 4B, step "17" of FIG. 6) …”; para 180, “… In the user interface of FIG. 8D, the customer has confirmed the purchase (e.g., by selecting "Confirm" 848 on FIG. 8C or by tapping on one of the payment accounts 844a-n in FIG. 8B, or by having specified a default payment instrument to use for all transactions after capturing the checkout token as shown in FIG. 8A), and the payment message has been transmitted to the transaction management system. The user interface of FIG. 8D shows the customer the details 850 of the just completed transaction including any loyalty rewards, rebate amount or the like earned from the transaction (shown at 854 as a savings amount) … Once the customer is done viewing the transaction details, the customer may click on a button 852 to navigate away from the screen and to return to the home page of the payment application or to a thank you page such as the page 858 shown in the user interface of FIG. 8E …”) …
Laracey discloses methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions, as in Laracey, to improve and/or enhance the technology of providing a buy now pay later product to a credit account holder, as in Anderson, because it would amount to combining elements that in the combination would perform the same function as they functioned separately. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine the references to provide systems and methods in which payment card information is not stored, captured, or transmitted by merchants in order to prevent and/or minimize cardholder data being stolen from merchant systems, to eliminate employees directly skimming or copying cardholder data to be used in fraudulent transactions, and to avoid significant cost to merchants in providing systems to read, store, and transmit payment cardholder information.
Anderson and Laracey do not specifically disclose, however, Rozman discloses receive the second data associated with the requestor, wherein the second data includes a soft credit score (para 16, “… this entity may be unaffiliated with one or more credit reporting bureaus or other entities from which information is obtained and used in determining the availability of lending options. As used herein, the entity is referred to as a "credit brokering entity." However, understand this terminology is for purposes of discussion, and an entity need not be an actual broker. Simply put, the entity may be a third party with respect to borrowers and lenders, although embodiments may equally be used by lenders and other loan servicing entities …”; para 21, “… Based at least in part on some of this information, the credit brokering entity may generate a query to one or more third parties for information. More specifically, in an embodiment the credit brokering entity may generate, responsive to the user's request, a request for independent credit information for the user and/or small business concern, e.g., using a Social Security number and/or other information associated with user 110 or the small business concern … a web services application programming interface (API) request 125 may be used to convey an electronic data transfer of an XML file from the credit brokering entity to one or more third parties …”; FIG. 9, items 970, 972-979; para 72, “… in an embodiment consumer credit educational information may be generated (block 970) … such consumer credit education information may include one or more of: a FICO consumer credit score; information regarding what consumer credit reports and scores are; information regarding how lenders view a given score (e.g., as exceptional, very good, good, not good, poor); and making available one or more consumer credit reports (blocks 972-979) …); …
receive, from the second database, the third data associated with the requestor, wherein the third data includes a hard credit score (FIG. 6, item 650; para 51, “… Still with reference to FIG. 6, if a pre-qualification offer is available, control passes to block 650 where a report may be generated including such pre-qualification offers credit scoring information obtained from the credit bureaus may be communicated, along with loan education information, among other potential information. This report may then be communicated back to the user …”; Tables 1-4; para 53, “… the following Tables 1-4 provide information regarding a funding likelihood matrix that may be used to determine the likelihood based on factors including business type, equity injection availability and credit score. Understand that in other situations, additional and different criteria may be considered …”); and …
Rozman discloses a system and method for gathering and presenting credit information and loan information for individuals and small businesses. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include a system and method for gathering and presenting credit information and loan information for individuals and small businesses, as in Rozman; and to include methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions, as in Laracey, to improve and/or enhance the technology of providing a buy now pay later product to a credit account holder, as in Anderson, because it would amount to combining elements that in the combination would perform the same function as they functioned separately. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine the references to provide prospective business borrowers information as to their likelihood of securing financing, educational content, and pre-qualification offers based on independent (non-self-reported) data, as small business borrowers historically have had no capacity to directly access information that lenders use to assess an application for business financing, and had no capacity to understand their likelihood of securing financing based on independently secured data.
Regarding claim 18, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claim 17. Anderson and Rozman do not specifically disclose, however, Laracey discloses the system of claim 17, wherein the unique token is linked to the entity at the unique geographic location through at least one of location metadata, the unique token comprising a QR code, a bar code, or an alphanumeric code (para 58, “… The checkout token 210 may be either a "static" checkout token or a "dynamic" checkout token. In situations where static checkout tokens are used, the token may be printed, displayed, or provided near the point of sale location (such as on a sticker or placard displayed so the customer can easily see and read or capture the token). Static checkout tokens 210 may be printed as a bar code image, as an alphanumeric identifier, or in other forms … checkout tokens may be presented in forms which are easily discernable by a human so that they may be both key-entered or captured using a mobile device 202. In embodiments where static checkout tokens are used, an additional processing step may be performed in order to provide the mobile device 202 with detailed information about the transaction …”; FIG. 8A, item 837; para 175, “… Referring first to FIG. SA, a mobile device 802 is shown which has a display 836 showing an image of a check-out token (represented as a dynamic two dimensional bar code image or "QR code" 837) which has been captured or imaged by a camera associated with the mobile device 802 …”; FIG. 8B, item 836; para 177, “… Referring now to FIG. 8B, a further user interface is shown, again on a display device 836 of a mobile device 802. In the user interface of FIG. 8B, the user has captured the checkout token or QR code (e.g., using the screen of FIG. SA), and has received a response message from a transaction management system (such as the system 230 of FIG. 2) with details of the payment transaction that the customer is about to complete ...”).
Laracey discloses methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions, as in Laracey; and to include a system and method for gathering and presenting credit information and loan information for individuals and small businesses, as in Rozman, to improve and/or enhance the technology of providing a buy now pay later product to a credit account holder, as in Anderson, because it would amount to combining elements that in the combination would perform the same function as they functioned separately. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine the references to provide a customer with information to make an informed decision about which account(s) should be used in a given transaction (i.e., in order to save on transaction costs, to earn rewards, to manage balances and spend, etc.) because a cardholder may have a number of payment cards, but must make a conscious decision, without much information, regarding which one (or ones, in the case of a split tender transaction) of those payment cards to use in a given transaction.
Regarding claim 19, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claims 17-18. Anderson and Rozman do not specifically disclose, however, Laracey discloses the system of claim 18, wherein the location metadata includes at least one of an identification code, address, or graphical representation identifying the entity's unique geographic location (FIG. 9, 10; para 70, “… a customer may provide name, address and other contact information as well as contact preferences, including one or more email addresses and phone numbers. A customer identifier or other unique record (or records) may be established in a database as illustrated in the tables of FIGS. 9 and 10. A customer identifier U1002 may be used to uniquely identify the customer. The customer identifier U1002 may be an alphanumeric identifier assigned by the transaction management system 230 or may be information based on or provided by the customer (e.g., such as a mobile phone number or identifier associated with a mobile device 202) …“; FIG. 11, items 5, 6, 7; para 190, “… During this time (or any time after "2"), the mer-chant 1108 may choose to transmit a customer information request message "6" to the transaction management system 1130 requesting detailed customer information associated with the customer operating the mobile device 1102. This request may include the checkout token information, and the transaction management system 1130 may return customer information (if the customer has already scanned the token and transmitted the message "5") or an error message (if the customer has not yet scanned the token or transmitted the message "5"). Customer information may be returned in mes-sage "7" and may include a wide variety of information (such as the customer's name, address, or the like), …”).
Laracey discloses methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions, as in Laracey; and to include a system and method for gathering and presenting credit information and loan information for individuals and small businesses, as in Rozman, to improve and/or enhance the technology of providing a buy now pay later product to a credit account holder, as in Anderson, because it would amount to combining elements that in the combination would perform the same function as they functioned separately. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine the references to provide an ability to conduct purchase transactions (both online and at brick and mortar stores) using a mobile device as current payment cards in existing payment systems are unable to easily be used in conjunction with mobile devices, such as smart phones; and to avoid expensive and time consuming installations of point of sales devices having RFID readers installed.
Regarding claim 20, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claim 17. Anderson and Rozman do not specifically disclose, however, Laracey discloses the system of claim 17, wherein the requestor uses an access key to authenticate retrieval of the first data associated with the requestor (para 38, “… the authentication process serves to authenticate the customer to the transaction management system 130. The authentication process may involve the customer launching a mobile payment application or a Web browser on the mobile device 102 and providing one or more credentials or items of information to the transaction management system 130 via communication path 114 … the authentication process may involve the entry of a user identifier, a password, or other credentials into a login screen or other user interface displayed on a display device 136 of the mobile device 102. The transaction management system 130 compares the received information with stored information to authenticate the customer …”; para 39, “… The authentication process … also involves the comparison of one or more attributes of the mobile device 102 with a stored set of attributes collected from the mobile device 102 during a registration process (such as the process of FIG. 3) … the attributes may include identifiers associated with the mobile device 102 which uniquely identify the device … the customer is authenticated two ways-with something they know (login credentials), and something they have (mobile device). Once the customer is successfully authenticated, then the system has access to a variety of attributes about the customer, including a list of payment accounts that the customer previously identified to the transaction management system 130 as part of the registration process ...”).
Laracey discloses methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions, as in Laracey; and to include a system and method for gathering and presenting credit information and loan information for individuals and small businesses, as in Rozman, to improve and/or enhance the technology of providing a buy now pay later product to a credit account holder, as in Anderson, because it would amount to combining elements that in the combination would perform the same function as they functioned separately. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine the references a customer with information to make an informed decision about which account(s) should be used in a given transaction (i.e., in order to save on transaction costs, to earn rewards, to manage balances and spend, etc.) because a cardholder may have a number of payment cards, but must make a conscious decision, without much information, regarding which one (or ones, in the case of a split tender transaction) of those payment cards to use in a given transaction.
Regarding claim 21, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claim 17. Anderson further specifically discloses the system of claim 17, wherein the first database includes one or more customer databases, account records, and transaction histories (FIG. 3, item 16; para 77, “… uses the device ID 216 and user ID 218 information to perform a proprietary search 5 of at least one proprietary database 16. In general, the proprietary database 16 may be one or more databases such as a credit accounts database, or the like, that store a company's private database such as an Alliance Data Legacy database or the like. Proprietary database 16 will include user specific information 223 for customers that have existing accounts with the company, have previously applied for an account, or the like …”).
Regarding claim 22, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claim 17. Anderson and Rozman do not specifically disclose, however, Laracey discloses the system of claim 17, wherein the second data further includes one or more pricing tables generated by the first database using the unique token and the first data (FIG. 9, 10; para 70, “… a customer may provide name, address and other contact information as well as contact preferences, including one or more email addresses and phone numbers. A customer identifier or other unique record (or records) may be established in a database as illus-trated in the tables of FIGS. 9 and 10. A customer identifier U1002 may be used to uniquely identify the customer. The customer identifier U1002 may be an alphanumeric identifier assigned by the transaction management system 230 or may be information based on or provided by the customer (e.g., such as a mobile phone number or identifier associated with a mobile device 202) …”; FIG. 10A, 11B; para 194, “… The offers or discounts available for use in the trans-action may include offers or discounts established by the merchant 1108 for specific customers … referring to FIG. l0A, the customer named "Jane Doe" may be a frequent patron of "Mom & Pop Mexican Restaurant", and the restaurant may offer a frequent customer benefit such as "buy 10 burritos and get 1 free" … in transactions such as shown in FIG. 11B, allow such a retailer to track and administer such a program, and allow the customer to enjoy the discount during the transaction …. a wide variety of types and combinations of offers, discounts, rewards, rebates and loyalty benefits may be administered in transactions pursuant to the present invention. Each transaction allows the system 1130 to apply a wide variety of rules, conditions and filters to determine which of such offers are available for use in a transaction ...”).
Laracey discloses methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions, as in Laracey; and to include a system and method for gathering and presenting credit information and loan information for individuals and small businesses, as in Rozman, to improve and/or enhance the technology of providing a buy now pay later product to a credit account holder, as in Anderson, because it would amount to combining elements that in the combination would perform the same function as they functioned separately. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine the references to provide systems and methods in which payment card information is not stored, captured, or transmitted by merchants in order to prevent and/or minimize cardholder data being stolen from merchant systems, to eliminate employees directly skimming or copying cardholder data to be used in fraudulent transactions, and to avoid significant cost to merchants in providing systems to read, store, and transmit payment cardholder information.
Regarding claim 23, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claims 17 and 22. Anderson further specifically discloses the system of claim 22, wherein the one or more pricing tables includes representations of loan amounts and repayment options for which the requestor is eligible (para 129, “… the due at transaction time percentage can be a specific amount, e.g., 25% for example, or it could be based on the purchase price and the total number of monthly payments … if the transac-tion is 500 dollars, the customer could choose a BNPL product with 5 equal payments such that the first payment due at time of purchase is 100 dollars and then there will be four additional payments taken out at the agreed upon payment schedule ...”; para 131, “… the BNPL product includes a number of options such as payment amount per payment and the payment timeframe. For example, if the customer is looking at making a 500-dollar transaction, they could be offered a BNPL1 that is 5 monthly payments of 100 dollars, BNPL2 that is 10 monthly payments of 50 dollars, BNPLX that is 50% due at transaction and then some number of weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly payments to cover the remaining 250 dollars …”).
Regarding claim 24, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claims 17 and 22. Anderson further specifically discloses the system of claim 22, wherein the one or more pricing tables are provided to the mobile device for local calculation of the variety of arrangement options (para 132, “… one or more different BNPL product options are presented to the customer as one or more payment scenarios. In other words, the BNPL product can be offered to the customer with a number of different payment scenarios such that the customer can select the payment amount and schedule, and use the BNPL product with the appropriate terms to complete the transaction. E.g., one or more optional payback schedules including amounts, num-ber of payments, different interest rates, available offers, discounts, and the like ...”; para 145, “… if the customer would like to make monthly payments of 50 dollars toward the BNPL product, the customer would select the 50-dollar payment option and the modified BNPL product information including payment option terms and/or conditions 612 would be presented to the customer. In one embodiment, when the customer chooses to pay 50 dollars a month toward the BNPL product, the BNPL product fee would be increased by a defined amount and presented to the customer along with the terms and conditions. For example, the amount of the one-time BNPL product would be 520 dollars (e.g., 500 dollars+l0-dollar fee+l0 dollars in interest). Since the customer has selected to pay 50 dollars a month, the customer's BNPL product term would be 11 months, with 10 months of 50-dollar payments and the 11th month being a 20-dollar payment …”).
Regarding claim 27, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claim 26. Anderson further specifically discloses the method of claim 26, wherein the user device is a mobile device (FIG. 2, item 110; para 46, “… Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a mobile device 110 is shown … mobile device 110 includes a display 112, a processor 114, a memory 116, a GPS 118 (or other location determining application), a camera 119, and the like …”; para 48, “… mobile device 110 is an example of a customer's mobile device. Mobile device 110 could be a mobile phone, a smart phone, a tablet, a smart watch, a piece of smart jewelry, smart glasses, or other customer portable devices having wireless telephony connectivity via a mobile service provider … mobile device 110 is also capable of broadcasting and receiving via at least one network, such as, but not limited to, WiFi, Bluetooth, near field communication (NFC), and the like …).
Regarding claim 30, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claim 26. Anderson and Rozman do not specifically disclose, however, Laracey discloses the method of claim 26, wherein the user device further includes a user interface for soliciting the input from the requestor (FIG. 2, item 236; para 55, “… Mobile device 202 has a display screen 236 and a data entry device 238 (such as a keypad or touch screen, or voice interface). Pursuant to embodiments of the present invention, the customer may use the mobile device 202 to conduct a purchase transaction with a merchant 208 …”; FIG. 8A-8E, item 836; para 174, “… Reference is now made to FIG. 8A-8E which depict a number of illustrative user interfaces that may be presented to a user operating a mobile device (such as the mobile device 202 of FIG. 2) on a display screen of the device (such as the display 236 of FIG. 2) so that the customer can conduct payment transactions using features of embodiments of the present invention. Each of the customer interfaces are shown as being displayed on an Apple iPhone mobile device - those skilled in the art will appreciate that similar user interfaces may be displayed on other mobile devices …”; para 175, “… Referring first to FIG. 8A, a mobile device 802 is shown which has a display 836 showing an image of a check-out token (represented as a dynamic two dimensional bar code image or "QR code" 837) which has been captured or imaged by a camera associated with the mobile device 802 …”).
Laracey discloses methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions, as in Laracey; and to include a system and method for gathering and presenting credit information and loan information for individuals and small businesses, as in Rozman, to improve and/or enhance the technology of providing a buy now pay later product to a credit account holder, as in Anderson, because it would amount to combining elements that in the combination would perform the same function as they functioned separately. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine the references to provide systems and methods in which payment card information is not stored, captured, or transmitted by merchants in order to prevent and/or minimize cardholder data being stolen from merchant systems, to eliminate employees directly skimming or copying cardholder data to be used in fraudulent transactions, and to avoid significant cost to merchants in providing systems to read, store, and transmit payment cardholder information.
Regarding claim 32, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claim 31. Anderson and Laracey do not specifically disclose, however, Rozman discloses the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein the processor uses the first data to perform an automatic soft credit inquiry without manual underwriting by the lender (FIG. 4, item 400; para 32, “… FIG. 4, shown is a representative graphical user interface 400 for providing at least a portion of a report to a small business concern user regarding the results of the analysis performed by the credit brokering entity … this report may be generated based on the inputs received from the user, communications with third party credit bureaus or other third party data sources, and analysis of information in one or more databases of the credit brokering entity regarding lender and other information …”; para 33, “… An example report includes various information, including an identification of one or more pre-qualification messages that indicate that one or more lenders have pre-qualified the user for some type of product. If no such offers are available for a user, the report may include a likelihood of the user's ability to obtain lender financing …”).
Rozman discloses a system and method for gathering and presenting credit information and loan information for individuals and small businesses. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include a system and method for gathering and presenting credit information and loan information for individuals and small businesses, as in Rozman; and to include methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions, as in Laracey, to improve and/or enhance the technology of providing a buy now pay later product to a credit account holder, as in Anderson, because it would amount to combining elements that in the combination would perform the same function as they functioned separately. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine the references to provide prospective business borrowers information as to their likelihood of securing financing, educational content, and pre-qualification offers based on independent (non-self-reported) data, as small business borrowers historically have had no capacity to directly access information that lenders use to assess an application for business financing, and had no capacity to understand their likelihood of securing financing based on independently secured data.
Regarding claim 33, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claim 31. Anderson further specifically discloses the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein the processor is configured to perform a risk assessment based on the second data (FIG. 8C, item 881; para 262, “… Referring now to 881 of FIG. 8C, one embodiment makes, at the computer system, e.g., fraud determination module 805 of FIG. 8A, a risk assessment based on a result of the comparison. The following discussion utilizes the home address for the comparison … it should be appreciated that any or all addresses determined to be of interest in the application, e.g., home, work, etc. can be subject to comparison …”; para 263, “… when the comparison results in a similar or a matching home address as described in the verification portion, a risk solution from the risk assessment, would likely result in a low concern for fraud, e.g., it is likely that the address in the BNPL application is correct …”; para 264, “… when the comparison results in a dis-similarity, as described in the updating/replacing section, a risk assessment would likely result in a concern of medium or high-level fraud … depending upon the source that provided the conflicting location information, the level of fraud risk would likely, but not necessarily, be different … if the information was input by user specific information engine 220, the difference may be due to an incorrect match with the customer, the customer having moved, or the like … the level of fraud risk may be set to medium which would … result in the customer receiving a BNPL product at a reduced monetary value …”).
Regarding claim 34, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claim 31. Anderson and Laracey do not specifically disclose, however, Rozman discloses the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein the query of the second database is a soft credit inquiry that occurs before the requestor has applied for credit from the lender (para 21, “… the credit brokering entity may generate a query to one or more third parties for information … the credit brokering entity may generate, responsive to the user's request, a request for independent credit information for the user and/ or small business concern, e.g., using a Social Security number and/or other information associated with user 110 or the small business concern … a web services application programming interface (API) request 125 may be used to convey an electronic data transfer of an XML file from the credit brokering entity to one or more third parties …”).
Rozman discloses a system and method for gathering and presenting credit information and loan information for individuals and small businesses. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include a system and method for gathering and presenting credit information and loan information for individuals and small businesses, as in Rozman; and to include methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions, as in Laracey, to improve and/or enhance the technology of providing a buy now pay later product to a credit account holder, as in Anderson, because it would amount to combining elements that in the combination would perform the same function as they functioned separately. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine the references to provide prospective business borrowers information as to their likelihood of securing financing, educational content, and pre-qualification offers based on independent (non-self-reported) data, as small business borrowers historically have had no capacity to directly access information that lenders use to assess an application for business financing, and had no capacity to understand their likelihood of securing financing based on independently secured data.
Regarding claim 35, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claim 31. Anderson and Laracey do not specifically disclose, however, Rozman discloses the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein the query of the second database occurs after the requestor has applied for credit from the lender (para 51, “… in addition to providing these pre-qualification offers, additional information is included in the report … credit scoring information obtained from the credit bureaus may be communicated, along with loan education information, among other potential information. This report may then be communicated back to the user …; FIG. 8B, item 895; para 66, “… at block 895 various amounts of this education information may be provided by way of report to the user, including consumer credit score, credit report and credit score assessment …”; FIG. 9D, items 972, 978, 979; para 72, “… consumer credit educa-tional information may be generated (block 970). In an embodiment, such consumer credit education information may include one or more of: a FICO consumer credit score; information regarding what consumer credit reports and scores are; information regarding how lenders view a given score (e.g., as exceptional, very good, good, not good, poor); and making available one or more consumer credit reports (blocks 972-979) …”).
Rozman discloses a system and method for gathering and presenting credit information and loan information for individuals and small businesses. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include a system and method for gathering and presenting credit information and loan information for individuals and small businesses, as in Rozman; and to include methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions, as in Laracey, to improve and/or enhance the technology of providing a buy now pay later product to a credit account holder, as in Anderson, because it would amount to combining elements that in the combination would perform the same function as they functioned separately. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine the references to provide prospective business borrowers information as to their likelihood of securing financing, educational content, and pre-qualification offers based on independent (non-self-reported) data, as small business borrowers historically have had no capacity to directly access information that lenders use to assess an application for business financing, and had no capacity to understand their likelihood of securing financing based on independently secured data.
Regarding claim 36, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claims 31 and 35. Anderson further specifically discloses the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the method further comprises querying at least one of the first database, the second database, or a third database for instances where the requestor applied for loans over a specified duration of time (para 131, “… the BNPL product includes a number of options such as payment amount per payment and the payment timeframe. For example, if the customer is looking at making a 500-dollar transaction, they could be offered a BNPL l that is 5 monthly payments of 100 dollars, BNPL2 that is 10 monthly payments of 50 dollars, BNPL X that is 50% due at transaction and then some number of weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly payments to cover the remaining 250 dollars …”; para 142, “… there would be no interest charged and the BNPL product fee would be reduced to 5 dollars. If that opportunity is accepted, the amount of the BNPL product would be 505 dollars (e.g., 500 dollars+5-dollar fee) broken down over 2 months thereby resulting in a monthly payment of 252.50 per month for the next 2 months …”; para 145, “… if the customer would like to make monthly payments of 50 dollars toward the BNPL product, the customer would select the 50-dollar payment option and the modified BNPL product information including payment option terms and/or conditions 612 would be presented to the customer … when the customer chooses to pay 50 dollars a month toward the BNPL product, the BNPL product fee would be increased by a defined amount and presented to the customer along with the terms and conditions … the amount of the one-time BNPL product would be 520 dollars (e.g., 500 dollars+l0-dollar fee+l0 dollars in interest). Since the customer has selected to pay 50 dollars a month, the customer's BNPL product term would be 11 months, with 10 months of 50-dollar payments and the 11th month being a 20-dollar payment …”).
Claim 25 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Anderson et al (U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 20230004951 A1), herein referred to as Anderson, in view of Laracey (U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 20130238455 A1), herein referred to as Laracey, in view of Rozman et al (U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 20150235310 A1), herein referred to as Rozman, and in further view of Jung et al (U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 20070136185 A1), herein referred to as Jung.
Regarding claim 25, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claim 17. Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman do not specifically disclose, however, Jung discloses the system of claim 17, wherein the selected arrangement is in the form of a virtual card stored in a wallet associated with the mobile device (FIG. 4, items 190, 192; para 82, “… The detailed exemplary flow chart of FIG. 4 shows a process 180 for implementing an application procedure for a virtual charge card. A person who is not already an authorized user can make application (block 182) for a virtual charge card. An evaluation or screening confirms whether or not the person meets predetermined criteria (block 184) for having the virtual charge card. Persons that do not meet the criteria are rejected (block 186). When a person does meet the criteria, their application is accepted and a user ID established (block 188) …”; para 83, “… the virtual card features such as credit terms, payment terms, penalties, benefits, and the like may be selected by the user (block 190) … a program may select the virtual card features (block 192), which features may be determined from stored application data (block 194) that is evaluated by the program (block 196). The virtual card features that are selected for each user are stored (block 198) for future reference. Where virtual account terms for a virtual card are being programmed for a new user, such programming may be based on user demo-graphic information …”; FIG. 10, item 406; para 106, “… The virtual charge card server 402 includes various predetermined data records as well as other dynamically updated records that are used by the server to help provide virtual credit services based on different types of credit arrangements and accounts. Exemplary categories of records available to the virtual charge card server 402 include user ID data and related individual virtual card terms 406, user demographic parameters 408, user ID virtual account status data 410 (e.g., entity/person owed, compensation already received, and remaining balance due), virtual account statements 412, user ID performance records 414, and benchmark standards for virtual card usage 416 …”).
Jung discloses disposition of proprietary virtual rights. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include disposition of proprietary virtual rights, as in Jung; to include a system and method for gathering and presenting credit information and loan information for individuals and small businesses, as in Rozman; and to include methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions, as in Laracey, to improve and/or enhance the technology of providing a buy now pay later product to a credit account holder, as in Anderson, because it would amount to combining elements that in the combination would perform the same function as they functioned separately. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine the references to provide systems and methods in using a virtual card for enhanced security through unique, single-use numbers that protect sensitive data, better spend management via customizable limits and merchant restrictions, improved efficiency through automated processes and faster supplier payments, and greater convenience for both personal online shopping and business expense management.
Claim 28-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Anderson et al (U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 20230004951 A1), herein referred to as Anderson, in view of Laracey (U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 20130238455 A1), herein referred to as Laracey, in view of Rozman et al (U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 20150235310 A1), herein referred to as Rozman, and in further view of Sivaprakasam (U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 20170220482 A1), herein referred to as Sivaprakasam.
Regarding claim 28, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claim 26. Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman do not specifically disclose, however, Sivaprakasam discloses the method of claim 26, wherein the data structure may be stored in contiguous (FIG.2C, item 2062; para 36, “… FIG. 2C depicts an example where new virtual memory is demanded (e.g., some contiguous virtual addresses 2062 from within the address space of the virtual memory map 2023). The new memory range 2102v is demanded by the process … processing is needed to deliver virtually-contiguous memory against the demand. Such additional processing ( e.g., a contiguous memory demand allocation technique) is shown and described as pertains to FIG. 2D …”; FIG. 2D, item 2D; para 37, “… FIG. 2D depicts a contiguous memory demand allocation technique 2D00 as used in systems that support concatenation of virtual memory pages to form virtually contiguous memory ranges. As an option, one or more variations of contiguous memory demand allocation technique 2D00 or any aspect thereof may be implemented in the context of the architecture and functionality of the embodi-ments described herein …) or non-contiguous memory (FIG. 2A, item 2A00; para 32, “… FIG. 2A exemplifies a non-contiguous memory mapping scenario 2A00. As an option, one or more variations of non-contiguous memory mapping scenario 2A00 or any aspect thereof may be implemented in the context of the architecture and functionality of the embodiments described herein. Also, the non-contiguous memory mapping scenario 2A00 or any aspect thereof may be implemented in any environment …”; FIG.2C, item 2C00; para 36, “… FIG. 2C depicts a non-contiguous memory demand scenario 2C00 … Allocation of physical memory (e.g., within physical memory 1043) for new memory range and allocation of the next page available of a page table entry would satisfy this non-contiguous memory demand scenario …).
Sivaprakasam discloses manipulation of virtual memory page table entries to form virtually-contiguous memory corresponding to non-contiguous real memory allocations. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include manipulation of virtual memory page table entries to form virtually-contiguous memory corresponding to non-contiguous real memory allocations, as in Sivaprakasam; to include a system and method for gathering and presenting credit information and loan information for individuals and small businesses, as in Rozman; and to include methods and systems for selecting accounts and offers in payment transactions, as in Laracey, to improve and/or enhance the technology of providing a buy now pay later product to a credit account holder, as in Anderson, because it would amount to combining elements that in the combination would perform the same function as they functioned separately. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have been motivated to combine the references to provide a way to improve the likelihood that prefetching data found at the physical memory addresses corresponding to the ‘next’ virtual memory is indeed going to be the ‘next’ to be accessed data, by increasing the likelihood that the ‘next’ to be accessed data is going to be used to recognize what is the next segment in a virtual memory space, and then manipulate memory pointers accordingly to increase the speed in reading from or writing to main memory.
Regarding claim 29, Anderson, Laracey, and Rozman disclose the limitations of claim 26. Anderson, Laracey, Rozman, and Sivaprakasam disclose the limitations of claim 28. Anderson further specifically discloses the method of claim 28, wherein the user device automatically calculates the variety of arrangement options using the stored data structure (para 131, “… the BNPL product includes a number of options such as payment amount per payment and the payment timeframe … if the customer is looking at making a 500-dollar transaction, they could be offered a BNPL l that is 5 monthly payments of 100 dollars, BNPL 2 that is 10 monthly payments of 50 dollars, BNPLX that is 50% due at transaction and then some number of weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly payments to cover the remaining 250 dollars …”; para 132, “… one or more different BNPL product options are presented to the customer as one or more payment scenarios … the BNPL product can be offered to the customer with a number of different payment scenarios such that the customer can select the payment amount and schedule, and use the BNPL product with the appropriate terms to complete the transaction. E.g., one or more optional payback schedules including amounts, number of payments, different interest rates, available offers, discounts, and the like …”; para 135, “… the different transaction payment scenarios may include different offers dependent upon the customer's credit history … a customer with a good credit history could be offered a BNPL product that has a no interest plan. Similarly, depending upon the goals of the BNPL product provider 230, the BNPL product provider 230 may decide to weigh the BNPL product with respect to the existing customer credit account in order to drive one or more different customers toward the BNPL product … the weighing may be based upon a customer's credit history, a brand or retailer's desires, available incentives, and the like …”; FIG. 7, item 715; para 177, “… At 715, one embodiment generates, at the BNPL product provider 230 computing system and based on a result of the credit prescreen, a plurality of BNPL payment scenarios with associated terms …”).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Ortiz et al (U. S. Patent No. 11354651 B2) – System And Method For Location-Based Token Transaction Processing
Ortiz discloses systems, methods, and machine-executable data structures for the processing of data for the secure creation, administration, manipulation, processing, and storage of electronic data useful in the processing of electronic payment transactions. Aspects of such methods, systems, and data structures include providing at an electronic device, an output indicating that a dynamically-configured electronic token is in a transaction-ready state, where the dynamically-configured electronic token is associated with a plurality of loyalty accounts; in response to one or more signals providing information regarding a location of the electronic device, obtaining token data associated with a loyalty account of the plurality of loyalty accounts corresponding to the location of the electronic device; and via a data communication interface, route a token, generated from the token data, for processing at a transaction processing system..
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/STEVEN CHISM/
Examiner, Art Unit 3692
/DAVID P SHARVIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3692
