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 .
Response to Arguments
Remarks
The Examiner acknowledges the newly added claims 7-10. The Examiner further acknowledges amendments to the claims.
Claim objections
The Examiner withdraws the claim objections made due to amendments to the claims.
35 U.S.C. 112(a) and 112(b)
The Examiner withdraws the 112(b) rejections regarding processing circuitry structure for claims 1-4 and claim 6, due to amendments to the claims.
The Examiner withdraws the 112(b) rejection regarding relative language in claim 2, due to amendments to the claims.
The Examiner withdraws the 112(a) rejection regarding claim 2 due to discussion in the interview held on 01/05/2026, and the paragraph referred to by the applicant (Remarks page 9).
The Examiner withdraws the 112(b) rejections regarding it being unclear whether the bracketed variable values were of the same value of the same variables unbracketed, of claims 1-6, due to amendments to the claims.
The Examiner withdraws the 112(b) rejection of claim 3 regarding the OR logic due to amendment to the claims.
The applicant seemingly does not make arguments regarding 112(b) rejections regarding claims 1, 4, and 5 regarding 1 is first set from the head of the random bits. The Examiner acknowledges the amendments to these claims, seemingly to clarify the limitations, though the Examiner respectfully disagrees with the amendments clarifying the limitations. For these reasons, the 112(b) rejections regarding these claims remains.
Newly Added Claims
The Examiner acknowledges the applicant’s newly added claims, claims 7-10.
Conclusion
The Examiner acknowledges the applicant’s conclusionary statements.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 1, 4 and 5, the claims recite the limitation of: “concealed value [L] of a position L in which 1 is first set when viewed from the head among the random number bits”. It is unclear what exactly is meant by “1 is first set when viewed from the head among the random number bits”. It is unclear if the 1 is a value of one of bit values, or if it is referring to the head of the random bit stream as position 1, or if it is referring to 1 being a position after the head of the bit stream, as in the following position from the head is position 1.
Claims 2-3 and 7-10 inherit the same deficiency as claim 1 based on dependence.
Claim 6 inherits the same deficiency as claim 4 based on dependence.
Indication of Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-10 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 1, the applicant claims a system for securely generating random numbers, the system of claim 1 comprising:
“a plurality of secure computation apparatuses and generating a concealed value [r] of a random number r, wherein [r] is a concealed value that is a same value as r, the random number r following a discrete Laplace distribution with parameter [Symbol font/0x61], wherein, [Symbol font/0x61] is a number that is larger than 0 and smaller than 1, and N is an integer of 2 or more, the secure computation apparatuses each include: bit stream generating circuitry configured to generate a concealed value stream [bo], [bi], ..., [brN] that is constituted by a concealed value [bo] of a random number bit bo that follows a Bernoulli distribution with probability (1-[Symbol font/0x61])/(1+[Symbol font/0x61]) and concealed values [b1],...,[bN] of random number bits b1,..., bN that each follow a Bernoulli distribution with probability (1-[Symbol font/0x61]), wherein [bo] is a concealed value that is a same value as bo and [b1],…, [bN] are concealed values that are same values as b1 ..., bN; absolute value determining circuitry configured to obtain a concealed value [L] of a position L in which 1 is first set when viewed from the head among the random number bits bo, b1, .., bN, wherein [L] is a concealed value that is a same value as L; and sign determining circuitry configured to obtain a result [L*s] obtained by multiplying the concealed value [L] by a concealed value [s] of a random sign s, as a concealed value [r] of the random number r, wherein [s] is a concealed value that is a same value as s.”
The primary reason for indication of allowable subject matter is the above italicized claim limitations in combination with the remaining claim limitations including intervening claims.
Regarding claim 4, the applicant claims a secure computation apparatus to generate secure random numbers, the secure computation apparatus comprising:
“the secure random number generation system generating a concealed value [r] of a random number r, wherein [r] is a concealed value that is a same value as r, the random number r following a discrete Laplace distribution with parameter [Symbol font/0x61], wherein, [Symbol font/0x61] is a number that is larger than 0 and smaller than 1, and N is an integer of 2 or more, the secure computation apparatus comprising bit stream generating circuitry configured to generate a concealed value stream [bo], [b1], ..., [bN] that is constituted by a concealed value [bo] of a random number bit b0 that follows a Bernoulli distribution with probability (1-[Symbol font/0x61])/(1+[Symbol font/0x61]) and concealed values [b1],..., [bN] of random number bits b1, ..., bN that each follow a Bernoulli distribution with probability (1-[Symbol font/0x61]), wherein [bo] is a concealed value that is a same value as bo and[b1], ..., [bN] are concealed values that are same values as b, ..., bN; absolute value determining circuitry configured to obtain a concealed value [L] of a position L in which 1 is first set when viewed from the head among the random number bits bo, b1, ,.., bN, wherein [L1] is a concealed value that is a same value as L; and sign determining circuitry configured to obtain a result [L*s] obtained by multiplying the concealed value [L] by a concealed value [s] of a random sign s, as a concealed value [r] of the random number r, wherein [s] is a concealed value that is a same value as s.”
The primary reason for indication of allowable subject matter is the above italicized claim limitations in combination with the remaining claim limitations including intervening claims.
Regarding claim 5, the applicant claims a secure computation method to generate secure random numbers, the secure computation method comprising:
“executed by a secure random number generation system comprising: a plurality of secure computation apparatuses, the secure random number generation system generating a concealed value [r] of a random number r, wherein [r] is a concealed value that is a same value as r, the random number r following a discrete Laplace distribution with parameter [Symbol font/0x61], wherein, [Symbol font/0x61] is a number that is larger than 0 and smaller than 1 and N is an integer of 2 or more, the secure random number generation method comprising: generating, by bit stream generating circuitry of each of the secure computation apparatuses, a concealed value stream [bo], [bi], ..., [bN] that is constituted by a concealed value [bo] of a random number bit bo that follows a Bernoulli distribution with probability (1-[Symbol font/0x61])/(1+[Symbol font/0x61]) and concealed values [b1], ..., [bN]of random number bitsb1,...,br that each follow a Bernoulli distribution with probability (1-[Symbol font/0x61]), wherein [bo] is a concealed value that is a same value as b0 and [b1], ..., [bN] are concealed values that are same values as b1, ..., bN; obtaining, by absolute value determining circuitry of each of the secure computation apparatuses , a concealed value [L] of a position L in which 1 is first set when viewed from the head among the random number bits bo, b1, ..., bN, wherein [L] is a concealed value that is a same value as L; and obtaining, by sign determining circuitry of each of the secure computation apparatuses, a result [L*s] obtained by multiplying the concealed value [L] by a concealed value [s] of a random sign s, as a concealed value [r] of the random number r, wherein [s] is a concealed value that is a same value as s.”
The primary reason for indication of allowable subject matter is the above italicized claim limitations in combination with the remaining claim limitations including intervening claims.
Tsou et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2019027238), hereinafter “Tsou”, discloses randomized data streams (Fig. 3) which appear to resemble Laplacian distribution. Tsou further discloses a random variable having Bernoulli distribution. However, Tsou fails to teach or suggest the italicized claim limitations in combination with the remaining claim limitations as referenced above.
Karabinis (U.S. Patent No. RE47633E), hereinafter, “Karabinis” discloses a random number generator having a Laplacian, and Bernoulli distribution (Column 10 lines 6-17). Karabinis further discloses using noise to mask, thereby concealing communication data. However, Karabinis fails to teach or suggest the italicized claim limitations in combination with the remaining claim limitations as referenced above.
Ikarashi (U.S. Patent Application Publication 20170365192 A1), hereinafter, “Ikarashi” discloses random number generation, and secure/concealed operations. However, Ikarashi fails to teach or suggest the italicized claim limitations in combination with the remaining claim limitations as referenced above.
Wu et al. (G. Wu, Y. He, J. Wu and X. Xia, "Inherit Differential Privacy in Distributed Setting: Multiparty Randomized Function Computation," 2016 IEEE Trustcom/BigDataSE/ISPA, Tianjin, China, 2016, pp. 921-928), hereinafter, “Wu”, discloses multiparty randomized function computation, involving a random variable (number) following a Bernoulli distribution (Section V). However, Wu fails to teach or suggest the italicized claim limitations in combination with the remaining claim limitations as referenced above.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/J.A.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2182 /EMILY E LAROCQUE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2182