The US Patent and Trademark Office issued a notice of allowance to cloud computing software developer Dorado, clearing the way to issue a patent for its method to process loan applications. Dorado filed the 14-page patent application for “Dynamic Workflow Architectures for Loan Processing” (download here) in April 2006. It is the second notice of allowance granted to the San Mateo, Calif.-based software developer, the first granted in July 2009. A notice of allowance allows a patent applicant to pay required issuance fees and obtain patent protection. “This patent…validates the unique value of Dorado’s approach to managing complex, data-intensive transactions in the cloud,” said Rob Carpenter, Dorado chief technology officer, and an applicant on the patent, in a press statement. The patent covers Dorado technology for workflow automation. Other related technology is based on a set, or “static,” order of completing steps, where the next step can’t begin until all others are complete. But the Dorado technology can automate processes in way that allows the certain steps to begin, even when other previous steps are pending. One use of the Dorado technology breaks down the entire loan origination process into tasks, each with their own subordinate activities. The “Application” task includes the activities of collecting employment, income and rate lock information. Another task, “Processing,” includes employment and income verification, as well as generating a borrower credit report. The subordinate activities in the Application and Processing tasks can happen at different times. When an activity assigned to one task — like Processing’s employment verification — needs data from another task’s activity — in this case, Application’s employment data — Dorado’s technology lets the new activity begin as soon as the data is available, even if the entire Application task isn’t complete. The software continues to monitor the activities assigned to each task until they are all complete. When all the tasks are complete, the loan is originated. This process is especially helpful when multiple users are involved in the origination of a loan, Dorado said. In addition, it allows the developer to create unique workflows based on user requirements, like adding steps for state regulations or other custom needs. On top of its unique organizational structure, the cloud computing functions allow users to access the software and related files from the Internet, instead of having to store data on a specific computer. Write to Austin Kilgore.