DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
2. 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.
3. Claims 9-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claims do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claims are directed to a signal per se. Claim 9 recites “a computer-readable medium” (emphasis added.) However, the recited computer-readable medium may be understood as transitory media under the broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI). A review of the specification as filed shows that paragraphs (0054, 0064) recite the computer-readable medium, however, they do not clearly define that the computer-readable medium is only limited to non-transitory computer readable media.
Claims 10-15 are rejected based on their direct or indirect dependency on Claim 9.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
4. 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.
5. Claims 2-5, 8, 10-13 and 17-20 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.
6. Claim 2 depends on Claim 1 and recites in a limitation “wherein the command is provided to a remote component outside the edge component or the on-premises component” (emphasis added). It is unclear whether the applicant is trying to refer to the same remote component recited earlier in Claim 1 or a different remote component. Thus, Claim 2 fails 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.
Dependent Claims 3-5 directly or indirectly dependent on Claim 2 and are rejected based upon their dependence from Claim 2.
Claims 10 and 17 suffer similar deficiencies and rejected using the same rationale.
Dependent Claims 11-13 directly or indirectly dependent on Claim 10 and are rejected based upon their dependence from Claim 10.
Dependent Claims 18-20 directly or indirectly dependent on Claim 17 and are rejected based upon their dependence from Claim 17.
Note: Applicant may overcome this rejection by changing “a remote component” to “the remote component”.
Claim 4 recites in a limitation “to store the cryptographic key component in the security enclave” (Emphasis added). However, it is unclear whether the applicant is trying to refer to the same remote HSM key component (i.e. recited in Claim 1) that was retrieved to perform cryptographic operations or a different cryptographic key component. Thus, the claim fails 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.
Claims 5, 8, 12-13 and 19-20 similarly recite the term “the cryptographic key component” in limitations and rejected using the same rationale.
Dependent Claim 5 depends on Claim 4 and is rejected based upon the dependence from Claim 4.
Dependent Claim 13 depends on Claim 12 and is rejected based upon the dependence from Claim 12.
Dependent Claim 20 depends on Claim 19 and is rejected based upon the dependence from Claim 19.
Note: Applicant may overcome this rejection by changing “the cryptographic key component” to “the remote HSM key component”. For the examination purposes, the examiner is interpreting that “the cryptographic key component” is same as “the remote HSM key component”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. 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.
8. 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:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
9. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
10. Claims 1-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Buonora (US 11,475,140 Bl, hereinafter Buonora) in view of Cheng et al. (US 2021/0051002 A1, hereinafter Cheng).
Regarding Claim 1,
Buonora discloses an apparatus (Buonora: [Abstract] Systems and methods for providing cryptographic services. A cryptography service obtains a request to provision a
computing device to perform cryptographic operations, [Col. 12 Lines: 20-24] a computing
environment 200 of an edge device. The computing environment 200 includes an edge device 202 which comprises an endpoint 204, routing service 206, and a plurality of
protected execution environments, [Col. 32 Lines: 5-7] edge device 1004 may include executable code to at least transmit 1008 a cryptography service instance request to the cryptography service 1006), comprising:
an interface coupled to processing circuitry (Buonora: [Col. 32 Lines: 56-63] one or more processors of the edge device 1004, [Col. 9 Lines: 18-23] An edge device 110 may be any suitable computing device such as a computer, computing system, server system, mobile computing device, and/or variations thereof. Edge device 110 may include one or more processors, and memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, [Col. 12 Lines: 39-45] Edge device 202 may include one or more processors, and memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors. Edge device 202 may include an endpoint 204. Endpoint 204 may be a collection of one or more hardware and/or software network components that transmit and/or receive data from one or more networks); and
cryptographic circuitry coupled to the interface and configured to (Buonora: [Col. 9 Lines: 46-49] that the edge device 110 can run to provision one or more enclaves that securely
store, access, and fulfill cryptographic requests using the one or more cryptographic keys, [Col. 12 Lines: 39-45] Edge device 202 may include one or more processors, and memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors. Edge device 202 may include an endpoint 204. Endpoint 204 may be a collection of one or more hardware and/or software network components that transmit and/or receive data from one or more networks, See also [Col. 42 Lines: 38-45], Fig. 2—204-206, 208B):
receive a request from the processing circuitry over the interface to perform a cryptographic operation using a remote hardware security module (HSM) key component (Buonora: [Col. 31 Lines: 45-46] provision a protected execution environment and perform cryptographic operations, [Col. 4 Lines: 30-40] a computing environment 100 in which a device obtains code to provision a protected execution environment comprising a cryptography service instance…, cryptography service 102 may be a service implemented in the context of a computing resource service provider 126, and may be accessible through a global computer network, such as the Internet. A cryptography service 102 may include a network of one or more devices, such as a hardware security module (HSM) 104, [Col. 32 Lines: 5-19] edge device 1004 may include executable code to at least transmit 1008 a cryptography service instance request to the cryptography service 1006…, cryptography service instance request may be formatted as a web service API request. The cryptography service instance request may indicate one or more cryptographic keys, which may be managed by the cryptography service 1006, [Col. 12 Lines: 39-45] Edge device 202 may include one or more processors, and memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors. Edge device 202 may include an endpoint 204. Endpoint 204 may be a collection of one or more hardware and/or software network components that transmit and/or receive data from one or more networks);
transmit a command to a remote component to retrieve the remote HSM key component (Buonora: [Col. 32 Lines: 5-19] edge device 1004 may include executable code to at least transmit 1008 a cryptography service instance request to the cryptography service 1006…, cryptography service instance request may be formatted as a web service API request. The cryptography service instance request may indicate one or more cryptographic keys, which may be managed by the cryptography service 1006, [Col. 4 Lines: 37-40] cryptography service 102 may be a service implemented in the context of a computing resource service provider 126, and may be accessible through a global computer network, such as the Internet. A cryptography service 102 may include a network of one or more devices, such as a hardware security module (HSM) 104, See Fig. 1--102, Fig. 10- 1008);
construct a trusted execution environment (TEE) instance (Buonora: [Col. 32 Lines:27-32, 39-42] cryptography service instance executable code may be code that, when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to provision the protected execution environment comprising a cryptography service instance that can perform cryptographic operations with the cryptographic key…, cryptography service instance request
response may comprise the generated cryptography service instance executable code and the cryptographic key, which may be encrypted, [Col. 32 Lines: 56-63] edge device 1004
may execute the cryptography service instance code using one or more processors of the edge device 1004. The cryptography service instance executable code may cause the edge device 1004 to provision the protected execution environment with the cryptography service instance that can perform cryptographic operations with the cryptographic key);
store the remote HSM key component in the TEE instance (Buonora:[Col. 22 Lines: 5-8] enclave may have cryptographic keys resident within the enclave for digitally signing data output from the enclave, and, by verifying the digital signature, applications external
to the enclave may be configured to trust the output data, [Col. 2 Lines: 45-50] a cryptography service instance may be executed within the context of an enclave, and cryptographic keys used for cryptographic operations may be stored as secure enclave data that cannot be accessed outside of the enclave, even by the operating system of the edge device); and
use the remote HSM key component to perform the cryptographic operation and provide a result of the cryptographic operation to the processing circuitry over the interface (Buonora: [Col. 33 Lines: 17-28] edge device 1004 may include executable code to at least process 1018 the cryptographic operation request in the protected execution environment using the cryptographic key..., to perform one or more cryptographic operations of the cryptographic
operation request…, use the cryptographic key to perform the one or more cryptographic operations, and provide results of the one or more cryptographic operations from the protected execution environment, [Col. 33 Lines: 30-34] transmit 1020 a cryptographic operation request response to the client device 1002. The cryptographic operation request response may comprise the results of the one or more cryptographic operations from the protected execution environment, [Col. 32 Lines: 56-63]).
It is noted that Buonora does not explicitly disclose:
receive a request from the processing circuitry over the interface to perform a cryptographic operation using a remote hardware security module (HSM) key component.
However, Cheng from the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention discloses receiving an initial request to perform a first cryptographic operation using a key stored in security hardware circuitry (Cheng: [Abstract]), request 180 to initiate the session is intercepted by the intermediary server computer 110 on behalf of the application server 120. Specifically, the
traffic management logic 114 can process the request 180 and can partition the request 180 (Cheng: ¶ [0034], ¶ [0081] See also Fig. 3), the method 400 can be implemented by a thread executing on the intermediary server computer 110 (Cheng: ¶ [0048]), a request to perform a cryptographic operation can be received. The cryptographic operation can be associated with a key (Cheng: ¶ [0049]), it can be determined whether the key associated with the cryptographic operation is a new key or an existing key (Cheng: ¶ [0050]), and a request to generate the key can be sent to an HSM using a persistent name for the key. For example, the request can be sent to the HSM using a standardized protocol…, HSM can generate the key and respond with a volatile key handle (Cheng: ¶ [0051]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Cheng in the teachings of Buonora. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because the server can only create a cryptographic workspace when actually needed, and further be able create a custom workspace as required by the request, thereby efficiently using the system resources.
Regarding Claim 2,
Claim 2 is dependent on Claim 1, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 1. Buonora further discloses wherein the cryptographic circuitry operates within an edge component or an on-premises component (Buonora: [Col. 8 Lines: 49-65] An edge environment 108, which may be referred to as an edge computing environment, may refer to a computing environment in which connectivity to one or more global networks, such as the Internet…, An edge device 110 operating in an edge environment 108 may provide cryptography services that may be accessible to devices operating in the edge environment 108, [Col. 12 Lines: 39-45] Edge device 202 may include one or more processors, and memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors. Edge device 202 may include an endpoint 204. Endpoint 204 may be a collection of one or more hardware and/or software network components that transmit and/or receive data from one or more networks, See Fig. 1—108, 110, 116, 118), and wherein the command is provided to a remote component outside the edge component or the on-premises component (Buonora: [Col. 9 Lines: 4-7] edge device 110 submits a 112 may be transferred locally to the edge device 110, and provisioning request to cryptography service 102 requesting to create a cryptography service instance for managed key 106, [Col. 4 Lines: 30-40] a computing environment 100 in which a device obtains code to provision a protected execution environment comprising a cryptography service instance…, cryptography service 102 may be a service implemented in the context of a computing resource service provider 126, and may be accessible through a global computer network, such as the Internet. A cryptography service 102 may include a network of one or more devices, such as a hardware security module (HSM) 104, a trusted platform module 40 (TPM), a cryptographic processor, and/or variations thereof, [Col. 32 Lines: 5-19] edge device 1004 may include executable code to at least transmit 1008 a cryptography service instance request to the cryptography service 1006…, cryptography service instance request may be formatted as a web service API request. The cryptography service instance request may indicate one or more cryptographic keys, which may be managed by the cryptography service 1006,).
Regarding Claim 3,
Claim 3 is dependent on Claim 2, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 2. Buonora further discloses wherein the cryptographic circuitry is configured to: construct the TEE instance on an edge device (Buonora: [Col. 9 Lines: 46-49] that the edge device 110 can run to provision one or more enclaves that securely store, access, and fulfill cryptographic requests using the one or more cryptographic keys, [Col. 32 Lines: 27-32, 39-42] cryptography service instance executable code may be code that, when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to provision the protected execution environment comprising a cryptography service instance that can perform cryptographic operations with the cryptographic key…, cryptography service instance request response may comprise the generated cryptography service instance executable code and the cryptographic key, which may be encrypted, [Col. 32 Lines: 56-63]).
Regarding Claim 4,
Claim 4 is dependent on Claim 3, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 3. Buonora further discloses wherein the cryptographic circuitry is configured to allocate a security enclave within the TEE instance (Buonora: [Col. 9 Lines: 46-49] that the edge device 110 can run to provision one or more enclaves that securely store, access, and fulfill cryptographic requests using the one or more cryptographic keys, [Col. 2 Lines: 16-20] A protected execution environment may be implemented as an enclave that protects access to cryptographic keys such that cryptographic keys resident to the enclave are designed to never be exposed outside of the enclave in a plaintext format, [Col. 20 Lines: 44-56, Col. 7 Lines: 62-65], Fig. 7 - 712) and to store the cryptographic key component in the security enclave (Buonora: [Col. 21 Lines: 34-38] Enclave data 714 and/or enclave code 716 may be stored in a specific region of trusted memory that is encrypted. In some embodiments, enclave data and enclave code is stored in an enclave page cache (EPC), [Col. 2 Lines: 45-50] a cryptography service instance may be executed within the context of an enclave, and cryptographic keys used for cryptographic operations may be stored as secure enclave data that cannot be accessed outside of the enclave, even by the operating system of the edge device).
Regarding Claim 5,
Claim 5 is dependent on Claim 4, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 4. Buonora further discloses wherein the cryptographic circuitry is configured to remove the security enclave and destroy the cryptographic key component subsequent to use of the cryptographic key component (Buonora: [Col. 2 Lines: 45-50] a cryptography service instance may be executed within the context of an enclave, and cryptographic keys used for cryptographic operations may be stored as secure enclave data that cannot be accessed outside of the enclave, even by the operating system of the edge device, [Col. 23 Lines: 34-36] Enclave functionality may include functionality for creating, deprovisioning, measuring (e.g., gathering metrics 35 from), and populating enclaves, [Col. 8 Lines: 43-46] A data key may be generated and used to encrypt data; the data key may be encrypted by a managed key 106 and the plaintext data key may be discarded or otherwise deleted).
Regarding Claim 6,
Claim 6 is dependent on Claim 1, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 1. Buonora discloses further comprising hardware security circuitry configured to implement at least one gateway process to obtain cryptographic key components (Buonora: [Col. 32 Lines: 5-19] edge device 1004 may include executable code to at least transmit 1008 a cryptography service instance request to the cryptography service 1006…, cryptography service instance request may be formatted as a web service API request. The cryptography service instance request may indicate one or more cryptographic keys, which may be managed by the cryptography service 1006, [Col. 4 Lines: 30-40] a computing environment 100 in which a device obtains code to provision a protected execution environment comprising a cryptography service instance…, cryptography service 102 may be a service implemented in the context of a computing resource service provider 126, and may be accessible through a global computer network, such as the Internet. A cryptography service 102 may include a network of one or more devices, such as a hardware security module (HSM) 104, a trusted platform module 40 (TPM), a cryptographic processor, and/or variations thereof, [Col. 12 Lines: 39-45] Edge device 202 may include one or more processors, and memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors. Edge device 202 may include an endpoint 204. Endpoint 204 may be a collection of one or more hardware and/or software network components that transmit and/or receive data from one or more networks, See Fig. 1--102, Fig. 10- 1008).
Regarding Claim 7,
Claim 7 is dependent on Claim 6, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 6. Buonora further discloses wherein the at least one gateway process provides an interface to at least one of a cloud-based key provider, a managed cloud key provider, and an on-premises key provider (Buonora: [Col. 12 Lines: 39-45] Edge device 202 may include one or more processors, and memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors. Edge device 202 may include an endpoint 204. Endpoint 204 may be a collection of one or more hardware and/or software network components that transmit and/or receive data from one or more networks, [Col. 4 Lines: 30-51] a computing environment 100 in which a device obtains code to provision a protected execution environment comprising a cryptography service instance…, cryptography service 102 may be a service implemented in the context of a computing resource service provider 126, and may be accessible through a global computer network, such as the Internet. A cryptography service 102 may include a network of one or more devices, such as a hardware security module (HSM) 104, a trusted platform module (TPM), a cryptographic processor, and/or variations thereof…, Cryptography service 102 may securely maintain cryptographic keys in HSM 104 to avoid access by unauthorized parties, [Col. 8 Lines: 23-40] See Fig. 1--126, 102).
Regarding Claim 8,
Claim 8 is dependent on Claim 1, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 1. Buonora further discloses further comprising a cache memory to store the cryptographic key component (Buonora: [Col. 2 Lines: 45-50] a cryptography service instance may be executed within the context of an enclave, and cryptographic keys used for cryptographic operations may be stored as secure enclave data that cannot be accessed outside of the enclave, even by the operating system of the edge device, [Col. 21 Lines: 34-38] Enclave data 714 and/or enclave code 716 may be stored in a specific region of trusted memory that is encrypted. In some embodiments, enclave data and enclave code is stored in an enclave page cache (EPC)).
Regarding Claim 9,
Buonora discloses a computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed on a device, cause the device to perform operations comprising (Buonora: [Col. 31 Lines: 44-59] FIG. 10 illustrates a swim diagram of a process 1000 to provision a protected execution environment and perform cryptographic operations…, performed under control of
one or more computer systems configured with computer executable instructions and may be implemented as code (e.g., computer-executable instructions, one or more computer
programs, or one or more applications) executing collectively on one or more processors, by hardware, software, or combinations thereof. Code may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium in form of a computer program comprising a plurality of computer-readable instructions executable by one or more processors, [Col. 12 Lines: 20-24] a computing environment 200 of an edge device. The computing environment 200 includes an edge device 202 which comprises an endpoint 204, routing service 206, and a plurality of
protected execution environments) and discloses, in combination with Cheng, all the limitations of Claim 9 as discussed in Claim 1. Therefore, Claim 9 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 10,
Claim 10 is dependent on Claim 9, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 9. The combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 10 as discussed in Claim 2. Therefore, Claim 10 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claim 2.
Regarding Claim 11,
Claim 11 is dependent on Claim 10, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 10. Buonora further discloses wherein the operations further comprise: constructing a trusted execution environment (TEE) instance on an edge device (Buonora: [Col. 9 Lines: 46-49] that the edge device 110 can run to provision one or more enclaves that securely store, access, and fulfill cryptographic requests using the one or more cryptographic keys, [Col. 32 Lines: 27-32, 39-42] cryptography service instance executable code may be code that, when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to provision the protected execution environment comprising a cryptography service instance that can perform cryptographic operations with the cryptographic key…, cryptography service instance request response may comprise the generated cryptography service instance executable code and the cryptographic key, which may be encrypted, [Col. 32 Lines: 56-63]); and
storing the remote HSM key component in the TEE instance (Buonora:[Col. 22 Lines: 5-8] enclave may have cryptographic keys resident within the enclave for digitally signing data output from the enclave, and, by verifying the digital signature, applications external
to the enclave may be configured to trust the output data, [Col. 2 Lines: 45-50] a cryptography service instance may be executed within the context of an enclave, and cryptographic keys used for cryptographic operations may be stored as secure enclave data that cannot be accessed outside of the enclave, even by the operating system of the edge device).
Regarding Claim 12,
Claim 12 is dependent on Claim 11, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 11. The combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 12 as discussed in Claim 4. Therefore, Claim 12 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claim 4.
Regarding Claim 13,
Claim 13 is dependent on Claim 12, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 12. The combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 13 as discussed in Claim 5. Therefore, Claim 13 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claim 5.
Regarding Claim 14,
Claim 14 is dependent on Claim 9, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 9. The combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 14 as discussed in Claim 6. Therefore, Claim 14 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claim 6.
Regarding Claim 15,
Claim 15 is dependent on Claim 14, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 14. The combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 15 as discussed in Claim 7. Therefore, Claim 15 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claim 7.
Regarding Claim 16,
Buonora discloses a method comprising (Buonora: [Abstract] Systems and methods for providing cryptographic services. A cryptography service obtains a request to provision a
computing device to perform cryptographic operations, [Col. 12 Lines: 20-24] a computing
environment 200 of an edge device. The computing environment 200 includes an edge device 202 which comprises an endpoint 204, routing service 206, and a plurality of
protected execution environments, [Col. 31 Lines: 44-46] a process 1000 to provision a protected execution environment and perform cryptographic operations) and discloses, in combination with Cheng, all the limitations of Claim 16 as discussed in Claim 1. Therefore, Claim 16 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 17,
Claim 17 is dependent on Claim 16, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 16. The combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 17 as discussed in Claim 2. Therefore, Claim 10 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claim 2.
Regarding Claim 18,
Claim 18 is dependent on Claim 17, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 17. The combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 18 as discussed in Claim 11. Therefore, Claim 18 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claim 11.
Regarding Claim 19,
Claim 19 is dependent on Claim 18, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 18. The combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 19 as discussed in Claim 4. Therefore, Claim 19 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claim 4.
Regarding Claim 20,
Claim 20 is dependent on Claim 19, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 19. The combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 20 as discussed in Claim 5. Therefore, Claim 20 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claim 5.
Regarding Claim 21,
Claim 21 is dependent on Claim 16, and the combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 16. The combination of Buonora and Cheng discloses all the limitations of Claim 21 as discussed in Claims 6 and 7. Therefore, Claim 21 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claims 6 and 7.
Conclusion
11. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US-20180239897-A1
US-20190163912-A1
US-20210218559-A1
US-10728044-B1
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMEERA WICKRAMASURIYA whose telephone number is (571)272-1507. The examiner can normally be reached on MON-FRI 8AM-4:30PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JUNG W. KIM can be reached on (571)272-3804. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SAMEERA WICKRAMASURIYA/
Examiner, Art Unit 2494
/JUNG W KIM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2494