DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to claims filed on 03/20/2026.
Claims 1-20 are pending and are examined hereon.
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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
The present invention is directed to locating lost retirement accounts at financial institutions and resetting authentication credentials at the financial institutions for access to the lost accounts. If the rejection rendered hereon are properly overcome, the claims may become patentable as the prior art made of record alone or in combination do not disclose: a request to discover the lost retirement accounts, supplying identification data to third party financial institutions to cause the third-party financial institutions to search for retirement accounts associated with the identification data, and providing links to the third-party financial institutions associated with the retirement accounts to enable the user to reset third-party authentication credentials, receiving an account identifier and the third-party authentication credentials for the retirement accounts after receiving notification of the retirement accounts associated with the identification data.
Yet even if the missing claimed elements were found in a reasonable number of references, a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made would not have been motivated to combine the above missing elements.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Analysis
In the instant case, claims 1-5 are directed to a “A computer-implemented method” (Process). Claims 6-12 are directed to “An apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and a memory…” (Machine). Claims 13-20 are directed to “A non-transitory machine-readable medium…” (Article of Manufacture). Therefore, these claims fall within the four statutory categories of invention.
The claims recite an abstract idea of asset management, which is an abstract idea. Specifically, but for the additional elements, the claim under its broadest reasonable interpretation recites limitations grouped within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity and Mathematical Concept,” grouping of abstract ideas in prong one of step 2A of the Alice/Mayo test since the steps include commercial interactions, managing relationships and mathematical calculation (See MPEP 2106.04 & 2106.04(a)). The use of a physical aid to help perform Organized Human Activity and Mathematical Concept does not negate the Organized Human Activity and Mathematical Concept nature of the limitations, but simply accounts for variations in memory capacity from one person to another. Further, claims can recite a Methods of Organized Human Activity and Mathematical Concept even if they are claimed as being performed on a computer. See MPEP § 2106.04(a)(2), subsection III. The claim limitations reciting the abstract idea are grouped within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity” grouping of abstract ideas as they relate to colleting lost retirement accounts of users from third party financial institutions and providing links to the third-party financial institutions associated with the retirement accounts to enable the users to reset third-party authentication credentials before receiving account identifier and the third-party authentication credentials for the retirement accounts, and saving the account identifier and the third-party authentication credentials based on users’ request to discover the lost retirement accounts after authenticating the users. More specifically, the following non-underlined claim elements recite the abstract idea while the underlined, bolded claim elements recite additional elements according to MPEP 2106.04(a).
Claims 1, as similarly as 6 and 13,
An apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to perform operations for discovering lost retirement accounts for a user, the operations comprising:
A non-transitory machine-readable medium configured to store data and instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors on a computing device, causes the following operations for discovering lost retirement accounts for a user, comprising:
receiving, from the user, user authentication credentials comprising data encrypted by private key associated with the user;
authenticating the user by decrypting the data by a public key associated with the private key;
receiving, from the user, a request to discover the lost retirement accounts;
retrieving identification data associated with the user;
supplying the identification data to a plurality of third-party financial institutions to cause the plurality of third-party financial institutions to search for one or more retirement accounts associated with the identification data; and
responsive to receiving notification of the one or more retirement accounts associated with the identification data:
providing one or more links to one or more of the plurality of third-party financial institutions associated with the one or more retirement accounts to enable the user to reset third-party authentication credentials,
receiving an account identifier and the third-party authentication credentials for the one or more retirement accounts, and
saving the account identifier and the third-party authentication credentials.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because, when analyzed under prong two of step 2A of the Alice/Mayo test (See MPEP 2106.04(d)), the additional elements are merely used as circuitry and tools to perform an abstract idea and generally link the use of a judicial exception to a particular technological environment. Specifically, these additional elements perform the steps or functions of the abstract idea. Viewed as a whole, the use of the additional elements as a tools to implement the abstract idea and generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it requires no more than a computer performing functions that correspond to acts required to carry out the abstract idea. The additional elements do not involve improvements to the functioning of a computer, or to any other technology or technical field (MPEP 2106.05(a)), and the claims do not apply or use the abstract idea in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception (MPEP 2106.05(e) and Vanda Memo). Therefore, the claims do not, for example, purport to improve the functioning of a computer. Nor do they effect an improvement in any other technology or technical field. Additionally, the additional element of “data encrypted by private key and decrypting the data by a public key ” also does not improve a computer as it represents the mere performance of a mathematical calculation by a computer. Accordingly, the additional elements do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea, and the claims are directed to an abstract idea.
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because, when analyzed under step 2B of the Alice/Mayo test (See MPEP 2106.05), using the additional elements to perform the steps amounts to no more than using a computer or processor to automate and implement the abstract idea. As discussed above, taking the claim elements separately, these additional elements perform the steps or functions of the abstract idea. These functions correspond to the actions required to perform the abstract idea. Viewed as a whole, the combination of elements recited in the claims merely recite the concept of asset management. Therefore, the use of these additional elements does no more than employ the computer as a tool to automate and implement the abstract idea. Further, the additional element of data encryption/decryption using keys also does not improve a computer as it represents the mere performance of a mathematical calculation by a computer. The use of a computer or processor to merely automate and implement the abstract idea cannot provide significantly more than the abstract idea itself (MPEP 2106.05 (f) & (h)). Therefore, the claim is not patent eligible.
Dependent claims 2-5, 7-12 and 14-20 further describe the abstract idea of asset management. That is, although claims 2-5, 7-12 and 14-20 recite further functional steps using the additional elements of processors, application or a web page, private and public key, digital wallet and links, those additional element re merely used as circuitries and/or tools to perform an abstract idea and generally link the use of a judicial exception to a particular technological environment. Further, claims 2, 7, 11, 14 and recites “zero-knowledge proof (ZKP)…” and claims 3, 8, 11, 13, 15 recites “encrypted account… decrypting…the encrypted account data using a cryptographic key,” additional elements respectively, but those additional element also does not improve a computer as it represents the mere performance of a mathematical calculation by a computer. The dependent claims do not include additional elements that integrate the abstract idea into a practical application or that provide significantly more than the abstract idea. Therefore, the dependent claims are also not patent eligible.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
PGPub Rule et al. (US 2020/0302432 A1) discloses:
receiving, from the user, user authentication credentials comprising data encrypted by private key associated with the user; (Pars. [0004] “the mobile device may transmit, to a verification service… the encrypted indication of the user data element…” [0024] “The user data applet 103 may then select the private key 104 to generate encrypted data used… such as an account identifier of the contactless card 101, an identifier of the user, etc.”)
authenticating the user by decrypting the data by a public key associated with the private key; (Pars. [0004] “An encrypted data element corresponding to the user data element may be decrypted using a public key.” [0045] “authentication record 407 may identify… a purpose of the authentication request (e.g., to expose and/or verify elements of user data 141), a result of the authentication request (e.g., which elements of user data 141 were exposed and/or verified), and information related to the authentication request… a result of the authentication request may include whether the purpose of the authentication request was achieved… when the purpose of the authentication request was exposing and/or verifying one or more elements of user data 141, the result of the authentication request may indicate whether the elements of user data 141 were exposed and/or verified.”)
receiving, from the user, a request to accounts; (Par. [0048] “a user may access the account application 113 on a mobile device 110 and provide valid authentication credentials (e.g., username/pas sword, fingerprint, etc.).”)
retrieving identification data associated with the user; (Pars. [0050] “At block 545, the verification service 121 and/or the blockchain 140 retrieves the requested user data 141 (e.g., full name, address, date of birth, identification number).”) and
saving the account identifier and the third-party authentication credentials. (Pars. [0031] “The user data 141 may include any type of personally identifiable data. Example elements of user data 141 include, without limitation, a user's name… credit card numbers… login names, screen names, nicknames, and passwords.” [0038] “the remaining user data 141 stored in the blockchain 140 remains secure.” [0026]-[0027])
PGPub Ali et al. (US 20210306152 A1) discloses:
receiving, from the user, a request to discover the lost retirement accounts; (Par. [0067] “The client user device (450)… generate client account information (459) such as… a request to recover the account (449)” “For example, the provider server (440) may… receive a request to recover the account (449)”)
supplying the identification data to a plurality of third-party financial institutions to cause the plurality of third-party financial institutions to search for one or more retirement accounts associated with the identification data; (Par. [0066] “The provider server (440) may additionally broadcast a transaction message that includes events for the account (449) to the distributed computing network. The transaction message may include events such as… receiving a request to recover the account (449),”)
PGPub Pruthi et al. (US 2016/0350748 A1) discloses:
providing to one or more of the plurality of third-party financial institutions associated with the one or more accounts (Par. [0062] “At step 412, aggregator computing platform 350 may send a request to register for access to the new financial account to online banking computing platform 310. For example, at step 412, after determining that the new financial account is maintained by, provided by, and/or otherwise associated with the financial institution that may operate online banking computing platform 310, aggregator computing platform 350 may send a request to register for access to the financial account to online banking computing platform 310.”) to enable the user to third-party authentication credentials, (Fig. 4C; Pars. [0065] “At step 414, online banking computing platform 310 may send to aggregator computing platform 350 a message to redirect customer computing device 360 to an authentication prompt.” [0067])
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WODAJO GETACHEW whose telephone number is (469)295-9069. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-6:00 CST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, John W Hayes can be reached at (571) 272-6708. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/WODAJO GETACHEW/Examiner, Art Unit 3697
Prosecution Insights