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 .
This Office action is in response to the supplemental amendment filed on 01/12/2026.
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/07/2025 is compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the at least a third device" in line 7. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PARK et al. (US 2024/0073031 A1), in view of Aichinger (US 2023/0065364 A1), Wentz (US 2022/0158855 A1).
As to claims 1 and 8, PARK discloses the invention as claimed, including a method comprising:
receiving, by a first device, a voucher data item (i.e., certificate, confirmation), from a second device (FIG. 4, S130; ¶0015, “receives a second certificate signed with a user identifier of a terminal user of the second terminal and a private key from the second terminal…transmits the second certificate to the first terminal through short range communication”), wherein:
the voucher data item includes participant information associated with the second device (FIGS. 6-11; ¶0099, “the second terminal 120 to activate a class attendance certificate icon set in an integrated certificate to be issued, clicks an attendance confirmation”; ¶0118, “The event attendance certificate may include an event name, an event period, an organizer's name, an attendee workplace name, an attendee's name, and the like”; ¶0129, “The meeting attendance certificate may include a meeting name, meeting date and time, an organizer's name, a member's name (nickname), and the like”; ¶0153), and
the voucher data item is signed with a key associated with the second device (¶0015, “receives a second certificate signed with a user identifier of a terminal user of the second terminal and a private key from the second terminal”; ¶0074, “receives a second certificate signed with a user identifier and a private key of a user of the second terminal 120 from the second terminal 120, and verifies the received second certificate with a public key of the second terminal 120”); and
providing, by the first device, the voucher data item to the at least the third device to verify that the first device is vouched for by the second device for participation in the group communication session initiated by the first device (FIGS. 6-8; ¶0097, “a process of issuing a class attendance certificate according to an embodiment of the present invention, and illustrates an example of a case where an integrated certificate is a class attendance certificate”; ¶0098; ¶0101, “The professor also runs an app of the first terminal 110 to activate a class attendance certificate icon set in an integrated certificate to be issued, clicks a professor confirmation between an attendance confirmation to be generated by the student and the professor confirmation to be generated by the professor, and inputs essential information”; ¶0105, “The first terminal 110 receives the attendance confirmation with the electronic signature attached, verifies it with a public key of the corresponding student registered on the on/off-chain, and combines the generated professor confirmation and the attendance confirmation when the verification is completed to generate a co-signed class attendance certificate”; ¶0109-¶0112; ¶0123, “The organizer also runs an app of the first terminal 110 to activate a meeting attendance certificate icon set in an integrated certificate to be issued”).
Although PARK discloses a group communication (FIGS. 6-11), and it is obvious that the group communication is created when the invited devices confirm to join the group communication according to the invitation information, PARK does not specifically disclose providing, by the first device, an invitation to at least a third device to join a group communication session with at least the first device.
However, Aichinger discloses providing, by the first device, an invitation to at least a third device to join a group communication session with at least the first device (¶0013, “user may invite participants from outside the tenant or a federated tenant by providing an email address with a domain that is outside of the tenant or federated tenant(s). While the invitation sent to the provided email address may include join information”; ¶0018, “By authenticating users using a token on a blockchain account, the system may have confidence that the invitee is the participant and the system may apply these settings immediately”; ¶0037, “send one or more invites to participants. Invites may include the tokens, communication session details, join information (e.g., a join link)”; ¶0042; ¶0050; ¶0053; ¶0068). It would have obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of PARK to include providing, by the first device, an invitation to at least a third device to join a group communication session with at least the first device, as taught by Aichinger because it would improve trusted communications by allowing the initiator to send the invitation only to the desired recipients to participate in the communication (Aichinger; ¶0013; ¶0018; ¶0037; ¶0042; ¶0050; ¶0053; ¶0068).
Although PARK discloses receiving, by a first device, a voucher data item (i.e., certificate, confirmation), from a second device (FIG. 4, S130; ¶0015, “receives a second certificate signed with a user identifier of a terminal user of the second terminal and a private key from the second terminal…transmits the second certificate to the first terminal through short range communication”), PARK does not specifically disclose the second device is in a group communication session.
However, Wentz discloses receiving, by a first device (Fig. 1, 108, 128), a voucher data item, from a second device (Fig. 1, 104) in a group communication session (¶0026, “a first device is “communicatively connected” to second device when the first device is able to send data to and/or receive data from the second device using electronic communication. Communicatively connected devices may be capable of communication via direct or indirect wired or wireless communication”; ¶0054, “At least a second verifying node 128 may include one or more remote devices authorized to participate in implementation of distributed certificate authority, for instance by performing authorization and authentication steps described herein as performed by first verifying node 104”; ¶0068-¶0069; ¶0116, “authorization token generated by first verifying node 104 may be shared with the at least a device. Sharing may include providing the at least a device with the authorization token to prove that a remote device 108 has been verified and/or granted some type of privilege and/or access as to the network. In an embodiment, sharing may include making the authorization token public so that it is visible to other devices, or a subset of devices (e.g. only those with a shared cryptographic key) to be easily ascertained”). It would have obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of PARK to include receiving, by a first device, a voucher data item, from a second device in a group communication session, as taught by Wentz because it would enable to utilize structured peer-to-peer (P2P) networks to manage and locate verifying nodes, thereby allowing nodes in the network to efficiently discover other verifying nodes to participate in a verification process (Wentz; ¶0073, “verifying nodes and/or other elements of system may locate such verifying nodes to participate in method 300 via peer to peer routing mechanisms”; ¶0110).
As to claim 2, PARK discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: determining whether an account associated with the first device is different than an account associated with the second device; and receiving the voucher data item in response to determining that the account associated with the first device is different than the account associated with the second device (FIGS. 6-11; ¶0012, “provide a person-to-person non-face-to-face identity verification system using wireless communication that can verify a certificate generated by a user through directly inputting essential information”; ¶0074, “the identify certificate management module 115a of the first terminal 110 generates a first certificate signed with a user identifier and a private key of a user of the corresponding terminal”; ¶0099, “The student_1 runs an app of the second terminal 120 to activate a class attendance certificate icon set in an integrated certificate to be issued”; ¶0101, “The professor also runs an app of the first terminal 110 to activate a class attendance certificate icon set in an integrated certificate to be issued”).
As to claim 3, PARK discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the voucher data item further includes an expiration time for determining whether the voucher data item is expired (It is noted that the electronic certificate or digital identity certificate, which is used and valid only during the time the meeting is running. When the meeting is over, the certificate is invalid or expired for the security purposes; ¶0107, “The class attendance certificate may include a school name, a subject name, class date and time”; ¶0129, “The meeting attendance certificate may include a meeting name, meeting date and time”; ¶0141; ¶0153).
As to claim 4, PARK discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the participant information associated with the second device includes one or more group communication session participant identifiers associated with one or more of the group communication session and the second device (FIGS. 6-11; ¶0022, “generate an event attendance certificate capable of checking the event attendance, an organizer of an event, a workshop, a conference, an exhibition, or a meeting can quickly and accurately check the event attendance of a large number of attendees located in an event hall”; ¶0118, “The event attendance certificate may include an event name, an event period, an organizer's name, an attendee workplace name, an attendee's name, and the like”; ¶0129, “The meeting attendance certificate may include a meeting name, meeting date and time, an organizer's name, a member's name (nickname), and the like”; ¶0153).
As to claim 5, PARK discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the voucher data item includes a signature generated by the second device with a private key associated with the second device such that the signature can be verified by a public key associated with the second device (¶0016, “The first or second terminal may include: a wireless communication module; a user app unit which keeps a certificate, a private key, and an original encryption key in the terminal, verifies a received certificate with a public key of the other terminal registered on the on/off-chain, and is operated to transmit the certificate signed with the user identifier of the terminal and the private key to the other terminal through the wireless communication module”).
As to claim 6, PARK discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising generating, by the first device, a group communication session control message including the voucher data item, wherein providing, by the first device (FIGS. 6-8, 110), the voucher data item to at least the third device comprises providing the voucher data item to the third device via the group communication session control message (¶0101, “The professor also runs an app of the first terminal 110 to activate a class attendance certificate icon set in an integrated certificate to be issued, clicks a professor confirmation between an attendance confirmation to be generated by the student and the professor confirmation to be generated by the professor, and inputs essential information”; ¶0123, “The organizer also runs an app of the first terminal 110 to activate a meeting attendance certificate icon set in an integrated certificate to be issued”).
As to claim 7, PARK discloses the method of claim 6, wherein providing, by the first device, the voucher data item to at least the third device further comprises sending the group communication session control message to a group communication session service that is constructed to forward the group communication session control message to the second device and the third device (FIGS. 6-8; ¶0022, “person-to-person non-face-to-face identity verification system using wireless communication…generate an event attendance certificate capable of checking the event attendance, an organizer of an event, a workshop, a conference, an exhibition, or a meeting can quickly and accurately check the event attendance of a large number of attendees located in an event hall”; ¶0026; ¶0101, “The professor also runs an app of the first terminal 110 to activate a class attendance certificate icon set in an integrated certificate to be issued, clicks a professor confirmation between an attendance confirmation to be generated by the student and the professor confirmation to be generated by the professor, and inputs essential information”; ¶0123, “The organizer also runs an app of the first terminal 110 to activate a meeting attendance certificate icon set in an integrated certificate to be issued”).
As to claim 9, it is rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim 1 above. In addition, PARK discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to the voucher data item not being verified by the third device: generating a group communication session control message including the voucher data item; and transmitting the group communication session control message to at least the second device and the third device (FIGS. 6-8; ¶0022, “person-to-person non-face-to-face identity verification system using wireless communication…generate an event attendance certificate capable of checking the event attendance, an organizer of an event, a workshop, a conference, an exhibition, or a meeting can quickly and accurately check the event attendance of a large number of attendees located in an event hall”; ¶0026; ¶0101, “The professor also runs an app of the first terminal 110 to activate a class attendance certificate icon set in an integrated certificate to be issued, clicks a professor confirmation between an attendance confirmation to be generated by the student and the professor confirmation to be generated by the professor, and inputs essential information”; ¶0123, “The organizer also runs an app of the first terminal 110 to activate a meeting attendance certificate icon set in an integrated certificate to be issued”).
As to claim 10, PARK discloses the method of claim 9, wherein the group communication session control message includes a notification indicating that the first device is associated with the second device based on the voucher data item (Abstract, “mutually exchanges a first certificate signed with a user identifier and a private key of a terminal user and a second certificate signed with a user identifier and a private key of a terminal user of a second terminal from the second terminal, verifies the received certificates with a public key of each terminal registered on on/off-chain, combines the verified certificate and a self-generated certificate to generate an integrated certificate”; ¶0023, “generate a meeting attendance certificate capable of checking the meeting attendance, an organizer of a club, an alumni association, or a society can quickly and accurately check the attendance of a large number of members located in a meeting place”; ¶0047, “a first terminal (Terminal_a) 110, a second terminal (Terminal_b) 120, and a third terminal (Terminal_c) 130 are operated in an area called a domain A 100, user registration information including a user identifier, a public key, a copy of an encryption key, and a terminal identifier is registered on off-chain A 140 and on-chain 10, electronically signed certificates are exchanged between registered terminals”; ¶0105, “The first terminal 110 receives the attendance confirmation with the electronic signature attached, verifies it with a public key of the corresponding student registered on the on/off-chain”; ¶0120, “the first terminal 110 is a terminal possessed by an organizer, and the second terminal 120 is a terminal (Terminal_b) possessed by a member_1”; ¶0127; ¶0129).
As to claim 11, it is rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim 1 above. In addition, PARK discloses a method comprising:
retrieving, by the first device, a key associated with the third device (¶0047, “a third terminal (Terminal_c) 130 are operated in an area called a domain A 100, user registration information including a user identifier, a public key, a copy of an encryption key, and a terminal identifier is registered on off-chain A 140 and on-chain 10”; ¶0064, “in order to efficiently perform an operation of storing a certificate, a private key, and an original encryption key in the corresponding terminal, verifying a received certificate with a public key of the other terminal registered on on/off-chain, and transmitting an identifier and a private key of a user of the terminal to the other terminal through the wireless communication module”; ¶0066, “A storage unit 116 stores various kinds of information necessary to operate the app of the present invention, that is, personal information of a terminal holder, a private key/public key, an original encryption key, a user identifier, a terminal identifier, a generated certificate, and the like”; ¶0100, “For the electronic signature, the user identifier and the private key stored in the storage unit are used as described above”);
in response to verifying the voucher data item, joining the group communication session with at least the second device (¶0022-¶0023, “according to the person-to-person non-face-to-face identity verification system using wireless communication”; ¶0112, “The organizer also runs an app of the first terminal 110 to activate an event attendance certificate icon set in an integrated certificate to be issued, clicks an organizer confirmation between an attendance confirmation to be generated by the attendee and the organizer confirmation to be generated by the organizer, and inputs essential information”).
As to claim 12, PARK discloses the method of claim 11, wherein the key comprises a public key associated with the third device and the voucher data item includes a signature generated by the third device with a private key corresponding to the public key (¶0047, “a first terminal (Terminal_a) 110, a second terminal (Terminal_b) 120, and a third terminal (Terminal_c) 130 are operated in an area called a domain A 100, user registration information including a user identifier, a public key, a copy of an encryption key, and a terminal identifier is registered on off-chain A 140 and on-chain 10”; ¶0064, “in order to efficiently perform an operation of storing a certificate, a private key, and an original encryption key in the corresponding terminal, verifying a received certificate with a public key of the other terminal registered on on/off-chain, and transmitting an identifier and a private key of a user of the terminal to the other terminal through the wireless communication module”; ¶0066, “A storage unit 116 stores various kinds of information necessary to operate the app of the present invention, that is, personal information of a terminal holder, a private key/public key, an original encryption key, a user identifier, a terminal identifier, a generated certificate, and the like”; ¶0100, “For the electronic signature, the user identifier and the private key stored in the storage unit are used as described above”).
As to claim 13, PARK discloses the method of claim 12, wherein retrieving the key associated with the third device includes querying a device management server for the public key associated with the third device (¶0047, “a first terminal (Terminal_a) 110, a second terminal (Terminal_b) 120, and a third terminal (Terminal_c) 130 are operated in an area called a domain A 100, user registration information including a user identifier, a public key, a copy of an encryption key, and a terminal identifier is registered on off-chain A 140 and on-chain 10”; ¶0064, “in order to efficiently perform an operation of storing a certificate, a private key, and an original encryption key in the corresponding terminal, verifying a received certificate with a public key of the other terminal registered on on/off-chain, and transmitting an identifier and a private key of a user of the terminal to the other terminal through the wireless communication module”; ¶0066, “A storage unit 116 stores various kinds of information necessary to operate the app of the present invention, that is, personal information of a terminal holder, a private key/public key, an original encryption key, a user identifier, a terminal identifier, a generated certificate, and the like”; ¶0100, “For the electronic signature, the user identifier and the private key stored in the storage unit are used as described above”).
As to claim 14, PARK discloses the method of claim 11, wherein verifying the voucher data item includes: deriving the first participant information from the voucher data item with the key associated with the third device; and determining that the first participant information matches the second participant information (Abstract, “mutually exchanges a first certificate signed with a user identifier and a private key of a terminal user and a second certificate signed with a user identifier and a private key of a terminal user of a second terminal from the second terminal, verifies the received certificates with a public key of each terminal registered on on/off-chain, combines the verified certificate and a self-generated certificate to generate an integrated certificate”; Claim 6, “the first terminal generates an attendance confirmation including a meeting name and a member's name, electronically signs the attendance confirmation, transmits the attendance confirmation to the second terminal through the wireless communication module…”; ¶0105, “The first terminal 110 receives the attendance confirmation with the electronic signature attached, verifies it with a public key of the corresponding student registered on the on/off-chain”; ¶0127; ¶0129).
As to claim 15, PARK discloses the method of claim 11, further comprising: determining whether the voucher data item is expired based on an expiration time corresponding to the voucher data item; and rejecting the invitation in response to determining that the voucher data item is expired (It is noted that the electronic certificate or digital identity certificate, which is used and valid only during the time the meeting is running. When the meeting is over, the certificate is invalid or expired for the security purposes; ¶0107, “The class attendance certificate may include a school name, a subject name, class date and time”; ¶0129, “The meeting attendance certificate may include a meeting name, meeting date and time”; ¶0141; ¶0153).
As to claim 16, PARK discloses the method of claim 11, wherein the first participant information associated with the third device includes one or more group communication session participant identifiers associated with one or more of the group communication session and the third device (Abstract, “mutually exchanges a first certificate signed with a user identifier and a private key of a terminal user and a second certificate signed with a user identifier and a private key of a terminal user of a second terminal from the second terminal, verifies the received certificates with a public key of each terminal registered on on/off-chain, combines the verified certificate and a self-generated certificate to generate an integrated certificate”; ¶0023, “generate a meeting attendance certificate capable of checking the meeting attendance, an organizer of a club, an alumni association, or a society can quickly and accurately check the attendance of a large number of members located in a meeting place”; ¶0047, “a first terminal (Terminal_a) 110, a second terminal (Terminal_b) 120, and a third terminal (Terminal_c) 130 are operated in an area called a domain A 100, user registration information including a user identifier, a public key, a copy of an encryption key, and a terminal identifier is registered on off-chain A 140 and on-chain 10, electronically signed certificates are exchanged between registered terminals”; ¶0105, “The first terminal 110 receives the attendance confirmation with the electronic signature attached, verifies it with a public key of the corresponding student registered on the on/off-chain”; ¶0120; ¶0127; ¶0129).
As to claim 17, it is rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim 1 above. In addition, PARK discloses further comprising receiving a group communication session control message generated by the second device (¶0101, “The professor also runs an app of the first terminal 110 to activate a class attendance certificate icon set in an integrated certificate to be issued, clicks a professor confirmation between an attendance confirmation to be generated by the student and the professor confirmation to be generated by the professor, and inputs essential information”; ¶0123, “The organizer also runs an app of the first terminal 110 to activate a meeting attendance certificate icon set in an integrated certificate to be issued”).
As to claim 18, PARK discloses the method of claim 11, wherein receiving the voucher data item comprises receiving, from the second device, a group communication session control message including the voucher data item (FIGS. 6-11; ¶0012, “provide a person-to-person non-face-to-face identity verification system using wireless communication that can verify a certificate generated by a user through directly inputting essential information”; ¶0074, “the identify certificate management module 115a of the first terminal 110 generates a first certificate signed with a user identifier and a private key of a user of the corresponding terminal”; ¶0099, “The student_1 runs an app of the second terminal 120 to activate a class attendance certificate icon set in an integrated certificate to be issued”; ¶0101, “The professor also runs an app of the first terminal 110 to activate a class attendance certificate icon set in an integrated certificate to be issued”).
As to claim 19, PARK discloses the method of claim 18, wherein the group communication session control message comprises a notification indicating that the second device is associated with the third device (Abstract, “mutually exchanges a first certificate signed with a user identifier and a private key of a terminal user and a second certificate signed with a user identifier and a private key of a terminal user of a second terminal from the second terminal, verifies the received certificates with a public key of each terminal registered on on/off-chain, combines the verified certificate and a self-generated certificate to generate an integrated certificate”; ¶0023, “generate a meeting attendance certificate capable of checking the meeting attendance, an organizer of a club, an alumni association, or a society can quickly and accurately check the attendance of a large number of members located in a meeting place”; ¶0047, “a first terminal (Terminal_a) 110, a second terminal (Terminal_b) 120, and a third terminal (Terminal_c) 130 are operated in an area called a domain A 100, user registration information including a user identifier, a public key, a copy of an encryption key, and a terminal identifier is registered on off-chain A 140 and on-chain 10, electronically signed certificates are exchanged between registered terminals”; ¶0105, “The first terminal 110 receives the attendance confirmation with the electronic signature attached, verifies it with a public key of the corresponding student registered on the on/off-chain”; ¶0120; ¶0127; ¶0129).
As to claim 20, it is rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim 1 above. In addition, PARK discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform one or more operations (FIG. 2, 110; ¶0039; ¶0054; ¶0066; ¶0077).
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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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/JUNGWON CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454 March 19, 2026