DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Drawings
Examiner is requiring suitable descriptive legends in word(s) for figure 1 numeric reference characters 112, and 110, figure 2 numeric reference characters 210, and 208, figure 3A reference characters 308, 310, figure 3B reference characters 308, figure 4 reference characters 406, 408, 414, 418, figure 5 reference characters 506, 508, 512, 518, and figure 6 reference characters 606, 608, 612, 624, 630, 628, 626, as being necessary for understanding of the drawing. See 37 CFR 1.84(o). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 20180052662 A1 Dale et al., (hereinafter “Dale”).
Regarding claim 1, Dale teaches the following:
memories to receive and store a previous randomly generated number and a current randomly generated number([0032], [0035-0036], [0184] all entropy is accumulated in cyclic buffers, figure 1 instantaneous memory storing entropy from entropy source2 wherein instantaneous memory and based on timer stores previous and current entropy source, via periodic polling, [0065], [0154], RAND_bytes of entropy for the entropy being a randomly generated number, [0441] entropy can be a random string); and
a logic circuit (fig 1 entropy module 106) to:
determine a relationship between the previous randomly generated number and the current randomly generated number ([0014] calculate a hamming distance between successive collected first bits, [0035-0036] if a modified Hamming distance compared to a previous entropy fig 1-128); and
generate an indication of quality of the current randomly generated number at least partially responsive to the determined relationship between the previous randomly generated number and the current randomly generated number ([0036-0036] if hamming distance is less than a threshold or greater than a threshold for acceptance or rejection ).
Regarding claim 2, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 1 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
wherein the logic circuit to:
determine a string distance between the previous randomly generated number and the current randomly generated number ([0441] entropy is a random string, [0014] calculate a hamming distance between successive collected first bits);
determine a relationship between the determined string distance and a string distance threshold ([0035-0036] if a modified hamming distance of a first entropy source compared with previous entropy source is less than a threshold or greater than or equal to a threshold); and
utilize the determined relationship between the determined string distance and the string distance threshold for the relationship between the previous randomly generated number and the current randomly generated number ([0035-0036] reject or accept. If accepted accept in accumulation buffer, and forwarded to PRNG as a seed, fig 1).
Regarding claim 3, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 2 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
wherein the logic circuit to:
generate the indication of quality having a first value indicative of a first relationship between the determined string distance and the string distance threshold ([0035-0036], [0096], [0111] output from the module using hamming distance metric is an estimator for the amount of change since the previous sample, relationship less than threshold); and
generate the indication of quality having a second value indicative of a second relationship between the determined string distance and the string distance threshold ([0035-0036], [0096], [0109],[0111] output from the module using hamming distance metric is an estimator for the amount of change since the previous sample, second relationship is the estimator for the next entropy bit collection, each of the entropy sources are updated periodically, entropy in the output cache may be requested by the calling application, estimate entropy at a given polling interval, relationship greater than a threshold).
Regarding claim 4, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 3 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
wherein the first relationship is that a value of the determined string distance is less than a value of the string distance threshold ([0035-0036]).
Regarding claim 5, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 3 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
wherein the second relationship is that a value of the determined string distance is greater than or equal to a value of the string distance threshold ([0035-0036].
Regarding claim 6, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 1 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
wherein a value of the string distance threshold is user configurable ([0266-0267], specifying the number of bits that change to a threshold specifies the string distance).
Regarding claim 7, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 1 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
wherein the logic circuit to:
perform a string distance algorithm to determine the string distance between the previous randomly generated number and the current randomly generated number ([0035-0036] hamming distance).
Regarding claim 8, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 7 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
wherein the string distance algorithm comprises one or more of: a Hamming distance algorithm, a Levenshtein distance algorithm, a full Damerau-Levenshtein distance algorithm, a restricted Damerau-Levenshtein distance algorithm, a longest common substring distance algorithm, a q-gram distance algorithm, a cosine distance algorithm, a Jaccard distance algorithm, a Jaro distance algorithm, or a Jaro-Winkler distance algorithm ([0035-0036] hamming distance).
Regarding claim 9, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 1 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
a further memory to store a time-out threshold ([0308-0309], [0315-0318], [0322]interval between gatherings stored in memory),
wherein the logic circuit to:
detect a time-out condition at least partially responsive to a relationship between a timer count and the time-out threshold (fig 4, out of time is the trailing edge of the timer, time events of figure 4 are relative to an interval timer count of the computer as in [0441] ITC); and
transform the current randomly generated number at least partially responsive to detection of the time-out condition ([0036], fig 3, [0128-0130] when counts go over a certain number the accumulation buffer is full, and the bits are flushed to whitening 140, whitening for transform, and embodiment wherein the whitening is included in the entropy module, the flushing to the whitening is at least partially responsive to the time out condition of figure 4).
Regarding claim 10, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 9 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
wherein the logic circuit to detect the time- out condition at least partially responsive to a determination that a value of the timer count exceeds a value of the time-out threshold (fig 4, out of time is the trailing edge of the timer, time events of figure 4 are relative to an interval timer count of the computer as in [0441] ITC) [0036] when counts go over a certain number the accumulation buffer is full, and the bits are flushed to the PRNG).
Regarding claim 11, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 9 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
wherein the logic circuit to generate an indication of a quality of a modified current randomly generated number obtained at least partially responsive to the performed transformation of the current randomly generated number ([0129], whitening and continuous random number generator test module).
Claim 12 is directed to a method that would be practiced by the apparatus of claim 1. All steps performed by the method of claim 12 would be practiced by the apparatus of claim 1 as configured. The claim 1 analysis applies equally to claim 12.
Regarding claim 13, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 12 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
Receiving a string distance threshold ([0267]);
determining a string distance between the previous randomly generated number and the current randomly generated number ([0441] entropy is a random string, [0014] calculate a hamming distance between successive collected first bits);
determining a relationship between the determined string distance and a string distance threshold ([0035-0036] if a modified hamming distance of a first entropy source compared with previous entropy source is less than a threshold or greater than or equal to a threshold); and
determining the relationship between the previous randomly generated number and the current randomly generated number at least partially responsive to the determined relationship between the determined string distance and the string distance threshold ([0035-0036] reject or accept. If accepted accept in accumulation buffer, and forwarded to PRNG as a seed, fig 1).
Regarding claim 14, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 13 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
generating the indication having a first value representing the determined string distance being greater than or equal to a value of the string distance threshold ([0035-0036]); and
generating the indication having a second value representing the determined string distance being less than a value of the string distance threshold ([0035-0036]).
Regarding claim 15, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 13 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
wherein a value of the string distance threshold is user configurable ([0266-0267], specifying the number of bits that change to a threshold specifies the string distance).
Regarding claim 16, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 13 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
performing a string distance algorithm to determine the string distance between the previous randomly generated number and the current randomly generated number ([0035-0036] hamming distance).
Regarding claim 17, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 16 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
wherein performing the string distance algorithm comprises one or more of: a Hamming distance algorithm, a Levenshtein distance algorithm, a full Damerau-Levenshtein distance algorithm, a restricted Damerau-Levenshtein distance algorithm, a longest common substring distance algorithm, a q-gram distance algorithm, a cosine distance algorithm, a Jaccard distance algorithm, a Jaro distance algorithm, or a Jaro-Winkler distance algorithm ([0035-0036] hamming distance).
Regarding claim 18, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 1 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
performing a transformation of the current randomly generated number at least partially responsive to a time-out condition (fig 4, out of time is the trailing edge of a timer [0036], fig 3, [0128-0130] when counts go over a certain number the accumulation buffer is full, and the bits are flushed to whitening 140, whitening for transform, and embodiment wherein the whitening is included in the entropy module, the flushing to the whitening is at least partially responsive to the time out condition of figure 4).
Regarding claim 19, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 18 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
detect a time-out condition at least partially responsive to a relationship between a timer count and the time-out threshold (fig 4, out of time is the trailing edge of the timer, time events of figure 4 are relative to an interval timer count of the computer as in [0441] ITC).
Regarding claim 20, in addition to the teachings addressed in the claim 18 analysis, Dale teaches the following:
wherein the generating the indication of the current randomly generated number comprises: generating an indication of a quality of a modified current randomly generated number obtained at least partially responsive to the performed transformation of the current randomly generated number ([0129], whitening and continuous random number generator test module).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20160371059 A1 Riou (hereinafter “Riou”) discloses an apparatus related to random number generation using a plurality of S-Boxes and a sampling circuit to sample strings([0001-0009], fig 1). Riou further discloses a comparator to compare string values from a forward S-Box with string values from a reverse S-Box wherein the S-Box implements a function to provide an output based on Hamming distance ([0044]).
US 20120089656 A1 Tanamoto et al., (hereinafter “Tanamoto”) discloses a random number generator circuit comprising a testing circuit and an error correcting code circuit, wherein the testing circuit tests the corrected random number sequence when the result of the test indicates a rejection (abstract, fig 1). Tanamoto further comprises an LFSR/ECC circuit that multiplies a data string by a code generating matrix ([0044], fig 2).
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/EMILY E LAROCQUE/Examiner, Art Unit 2182
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