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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 01/30/2026 has been entered.
Response to the Amendments
Applicant’s arguments have been fully considered. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Boland (US 20130148573 A1) in view of SMITH (US 20140108197 A1) in view of Skourtis (US 20200089917 A1) based on the new amendments to the claims 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11-15, 18, 19.
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, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nilsson (US 20140025579 A1) in view of Boland (US 20130148573 A1) in view of SMITH (US 20140108197 A1) in view of Skourtis (US 20200089917 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Nilsson teaches a system comprising:
a first communication equipment associated with a first user (Para [0052]: the payment server 205 may then transmits a PIN code request 308 to the buyer's mobile device 208/the first communication.); and
the second communication equipment, that is different than the first communication equipment, in communication with an entity server via a network (Para [0043]-[0047]: an encrypted purchase message is transmitted from the merchant's device 202,203/second communication equipment,),
wherein the first communication equipment is configured to:
communicate the encrypted interaction payload to the second communication equipment (Para [0041]-[0043]: the buyer identification information the buyer is requested to enter by the payment application running in the merchant's device 202, may also be any of: the buyer's mobile phone number, an e-mail address, postal address, a social security number, a one-time code, a signature, a pre-registered identification number, a photograph (taken by the camera in the mobile phone 203), biometric information (read or scanned by the mobile phone 203 or some adapter connected to the mobile phone 203) or any other information making it possible to identify the buyer in question. when the buyer has completed the task of inputting buyer identification information 305, an encrypted purchase message is transmitted from the merchant's device 202, 203/second communication device over the Internet 204, to a payment server 205. The payment server 205 receives the encrypted purchase message 306 coming from the merchant's device 202,203/second communication device.);
receive a user input to validate the electronic document associated with the interaction payload in response to an encrypted validation message from the second communication equipment (Para [0055]: when the PIN code request is received in the buyer's mobile device 208,3409 a secure PIN entry application is launched.);
communicate to the second communication equipment an encrypted user input validating the interaction payload object electronic document via the network (Para [0052]: the payment server 205 may then transmits a PIN code request 308 to the buyer's mobile device 208/the first communication using the buyer's contact information (for instance the mobile phone number). The transmission of the PIN code request to the buyer's mobile device 208 may be done over the Internet 204. The transmission over the Internet 204 may be encrypted.);
wherein the second communication equipment (Para [0049]: merchant's device 202,203) is configured to:
forward the encrypted interaction payload to an entity server associated with the entity (Para [0049]: the payment server 205 receives the encrypted purchase message 306 (the encrypted interaction payload) coming from the merchant's device 202,203/second communication device.);
forward, by the second communication equipment, the encrypted user input to the entity server (Para [0043]-[0047]: when the buyer has completed the task of inputting buyer identification information 305, an encrypted purchase message is transmitted from the merchant's device 202,203/second communication equipment, wirelessly over the Internet 204, to a payment server 205/entity. The encrypted purchase message may contain encrypted information of the buyer identification information);
wherein the entity server (Para [0049]: the payment server 205) is configured to:
in response to receiving the encrypted interaction payload from the second communication equipment (Para [0049], the payment server 205 receives the encrypted purchase message 306 coming from the merchant's device 202,203/second communication device.), send to the first communication equipment, the encrypted validation message to validate the electronic document object associated with the interaction payload, wherein the encrypted validation message comprises a security code (Para [0052]: the payment server 205 may then transmits a PIN code request 308 to the buyer's mobile device 208/the first communication using the buyer's contact information (for instance the mobile phone number). The transmission of the PIN code request to the buyer's mobile device 208 may be done over the Internet 204. The transmission over the Internet 204 may be encrypted. Para [0047]: the PIN entry request is transmitted in plain text.);
determine the user input based on the encrypted user input (Para [0061]: the payment server 205 receives the encrypted PIN code block 313 and, if available, the buyer security information from the mobile device 208. The payment server 205 decrypts and stores the buyer/user security information, if it is present. The payment server 205 may in a variant compare the buyer security information with already stored buyer security information or with the buyer identification information to determine if the buyer is legitimate or not.);
determine whether the user input comprises the security code (Para [0061]: the payment server 205 receives the encrypted PIN code block 313 and, if available, the buyer security information from the mobile device 208. The payment server 205 decrypts and stores the buyer security information, if it is present. The payment server 205 may in a variant compare the buyer security information with already stored buyer security information or with the buyer identification information to determine if the buyer is legitimate or not.); and
reconcile the electronic document based on the payload instruction and the payload metadata to complete the interaction session in response to determining that the user input comprises the security code (Para [0061], The payment server 205 receives the encrypted PIN code block 313 and, if available, the buyer security information from the mobile device 208. The payment server 205 decrypts and stores the buyer security information, if it is present. The payment server 205 may in a variant compare the buyer security information with already stored buyer security information or with the buyer identification information to determine if the buyer is legitimate or not.).
Nilsson does not explicitly disclose the second communication equipment from a plurality of communication equipment that are in a dynamic hopping chain and the plurality of communication equipment are coupled via the short-range wireless connection to the first communication equipment and, wherein the dynamic hopping chain is established based on an availability and a location of each communication equipment associated with the dynamic hopping chain.
Boland teaches the second communication equipment from a plurality of communication equipment that are in a dynamic hopping chain and the plurality of communication equipment are coupled via the short-range wireless connection to the first communication equipment and, wherein the dynamic hopping chain is established based on an availability and a location of each communication equipment associated with the dynamic hopping chain (Fig .3. Para [0037]-[0042]: user initiating a locate me request causes each 1-hop neighbor of the initiating computing device to initiate a 1-hop or multi-hop neighbor discovery process. Each computing device 110 identify all of its 1-hop and 2-hop neighbors. Expert system 122 determines if each computing device 110 has identified a 1-hop or 2-hop neighbor chain to a wireless device associated with a fixed physical location using information stored in knowledge base 126.);
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Nilsson with the teachings of Boland to include the second communication equipment from a plurality of communication equipment that are in a dynamic hopping chain and the plurality of communication equipment are coupled via the short-range wireless connection to the first communication equipment and, wherein the dynamic hopping chain is established based on an availability and a location of each communication equipment associated with the dynamic hopping chain in order to discover a wireless networks and secure the transaction using multiple the hopping node (Boland Para [0001]).
Nilsson in view of Bolan does not explicitly disclose (equipment) is selected by the first user.
SMITH teaches (equipment) is selected by the first user (Para [0077]: the user may select the merchant, which would be listed at the top of a listing of merchants that nearest to the user's current location)).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Nilsson in view of Boland with the teachings of SMITH to (equipment) is selected by the first user in order to provide the user list-based representation for offering a sparser information set (SMITH Para [0078]).
Nilsson in view of Boland in view of SMITH does not disclose execute a homomorphic encryption algorithm to encrypt the interaction payload as an encrypted interaction payload based on the payload metadata and the payload instruction.
Skourtis does disclose execute a homomorphic encryption algorithm to encrypt the interaction payload as an encrypted interaction payload based on the payload metadata and the payload instruction (Para [0132]-[0135]. Para [0143]: use homomorphic encryption optimized based on the request and data.).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Nilsson in view of Boland in view of SMITH with the teachings of Skourtis to include execute a homomorphic encryption algorithm to encrypt the interaction payload as an encrypted interaction payload based on the payload metadata and the payload instruction in order to encrypting data while retaining the ability to perform computations on that data (Skourtis Para [0132]-[0135]).
Regarding claim 2, Nilsson in view of Boland in view of SMITH in view of of Skourtis teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the first communication equipment is configured to:
send a request to pair with the second communication equipment located in an area of the short-range wireless connection (Boland Fig .3. Para [0037]-[0042]: user initiating a locate me request causes each 1-hop neighbor of the initiating computing device to initiate a 1-hop or multi-hop neighbor discovery process. Each computing device 110 identify all of its 1-hop and 2-hop neighbors. Expert system 122 determines if each computing device 110 has identified a 1-hop or 2-hop neighbor chain to a wireless device associated with a fixed physical location using information stored in knowledge base 126.); and
in response to receiving an approval from the second communication equipment, establish a wireless connection with the second communication equipment, wherein the second communication equipment is configured to determine whether to approve the request (Boland Fig .3. Para [0037]-[0042]: user initiating a locate me request causes each 1-hop neighbor of the initiating computing device to initiate a 1-hop or multi-hop neighbor discovery process. Each computing device 110 identify all of its 1-hop and 2-hop neighbors. Expert system 122 determines if each computing device 110 has identified a 1-hop or 2-hop neighbor chain to a wireless device associated with a fixed physical location using information stored in knowledge base 126.).
Regarding claim 4, Nilsson in view of Boland in view of SMITH in view of of Skourtis teaches the system of claim 1,
wherein the dynamic hopping chain is configured to:
transmit the encrypted interaction payload and the encrypted user input from the second communication equipment to the entity server along the dynamic hopping chain (Nilsson Para [0043]. Para [0049]: when the buyer has completed the task of inputting buyer identification information 305, an encrypted purchase message is transmitted from the merchant's device 202, 203/second communication device over the Internet 204, to a payment server 205. The payment server 205 receives the encrypted purchase message 306 coming from the merchant's device 202,203. Boland Claim 12. Para [0037]: wherein the 2-hop neighbor information comprises the identities of one or more wireless neighbors of the one or more responding wireless neighbors of the mobile wireless device that responded to the discovery request transmitted by each of the one or more wireless neighbors of the mobile wireless device in an ad hoc wireless communications protocol.);
and transmit the encrypted validation message from the entity server to the second communication equipment to the first communication equipment along the dynamic hopping chain (Nilsson Para [0052]. Boland Claim 12. Para [0037]: wherein the 2-hop neighbor information comprises the identities of one or more wireless neighbors of the one or more responding wireless neighbors of the mobile wireless device that responded to the discovery request transmitted by each of the one or more wireless neighbors of the mobile wireless device in an ad hoc wireless communications protocol.).
Regarding claim 6, Nilsson in view of Boland in view of SMITH in view of of Skourtis teaches the system of claim 1, wherein reconciling the electronic document by the entity server further comprises sending the electronic document to a third-party server (Nilsson Para [0065]- [0066]: In case the PIN verification is determined to perform an on-line verification 316, the payment server 205 will transmit the previously received and stored encrypted PIN code block, sales information together with the credit card information, to the bank server 207/third party for on-line verification. Para [0047]: the buyer identification information and the credit card information are encrypted and the PIN entry request and the sales information are transmitted in plain text to the payment server 205.).
As per claims 8, 9, the claims claim the method essentially corresponding to thesystem claims 1, 2 above, and they are rejected, at least for the same reasons.
As per claims 11, 18, the claims claim the method essentially corresponding to thesystem claims 4 above, and they are rejected, at least for the same reasons.
As per claim 13, the claims claim the method essentially corresponding to thesystem claim 6 above, and they are rejected, at least for the same reasons.
As per claims 15, 16, the claims claim the method essentially corresponding to thesystem claims 1, 2 above, and they are rejected, at least for the same reasons.
Claim(s) 3, 10, 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nilsson (US 20140025579 A1) in view of Boland (US 20130148573 A1) in view of SMITH (US 20140108197 A1) in view of Skourtis (US 20200089917 A1), and in view of Yang (US 20190089544 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Nilsson in view of Boland in view of SMITH in view of of Skourtis teaches the system of claim 1.
Nilsson in view of Boland in view of SMITH in view of of Skourtis does not explicitly disclose wherein the first communication equipment is configured to decrypt the encrypted validation message to obtain the security code.
Yang teaches wherein the first communication equipment is configured to decrypt the encrypted validation message to obtain the security code (Para [0025]. Para [0069]: providing sufficient information to a user to be able to decrypt the encrypted validation code. A user can decrypt the validation code to determine the decrypted validation code.).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Nilsson in view of Boland in view of SMITH in view of of Skourtis with the teachings of Yang to include wherein the first communication equipment is configured to decrypt the encrypted validation message to obtain the security code in order to establish a secure connection between the user device and the payment device thought the validation massage (Yang Para [0025]).
As per claim 10, 17, the claims claim the method essentially corresponding to thesystem claims 3 above, and they are rejected, at least for the same reasons.
Claim(s) 5, 12, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nilsson (US 20140025579 A1) in view of Boland (US 20130148573 A1) in view of SMITH (US 20140108197 A1) in view of Skourtis (US 20200089917 A1), and in view of LIU (US 20180343123 A1).
Regarding claim 5, Nilsson in view of Boland in view of SMITH in view of of Skourtis teaches the system of claim 1, wherein:
the payload metadata of the interaction payload comprises the electronic document, a first user identifier, a first user location, and entity information (Para [0038]. Para [0053]: the buyer is asked to enter buyer identification information 304 which for instance could be contact information such as his or her mobile phone number or email address into the payment application. This approach requires that both the merchant's device 202,203 and the mobile device 208 transmit their location to the payment server 205 for comparison.);
the electronic document is associated with a first user profile and the first user identifier (Para [0038]- [0039]: the phone number and or email address are stored in the payment server 205 and associated with the EMV debit or credit card 201. If the phone number or email address has been entered before (i.e. have previously made a payment in the store), the user may in a variant not have to enter the same information again, unless he or she uses a different EMV payment card.); and
Nilsson in view of Boland in view of SMITH in view of of Skourtis does not explicitly disclose the payload instruction of the interaction payload represents a payload request that the first user requests the entity to send the electronic document from the first user profile to a third-party server.
LIU teaches the payload instruction of the interaction payload represents a payload request that the first user requests the entity to send the electronic document from the first user profile to a third-party server (Para [0077]: the third-party application client may send a payment request to the third-party application server after obtaining the operation indication for requesting to perform the payment operation. The payment request includes payment request information. The payment request information is used to request the third-party application server to complete a payment procedure of a target order.).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Nilsson in view of Boland in view of SMITH in view of of Skourtis with the teachings of LIU to the payload instruction of the interaction payload represents a payload request that the first user requests the entity to send the electronic document from the first user profile to a third-party server in order to establish a secure payment process (LIU Para [0077]).
As per claim 12, 19, the claims claim the method essentially corresponding to thesystem claims 5 above, and they are rejected, at least for the same reasons.
Claim(s) 7, 14, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nilsson (US 20140025579 A1) in view of Boland (US 20130148573 A1) in view of SMITH (US 20140108197 A1) in view of Skourtis (US 20200089917 A1), and in view of NA (US 20220116198 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Nilsson in view of Boland in view of SMITH in view of of Skourtis teaches the system of claim 1.
Nilsson in view of Boland in view of SMITH in view of of Skourtis does not explicitly disclose wherein: a common application is installed on the first communication equipment, the second communication equipment, and the entity server; and the common application is configured to implement the homomorphic encryption algorithm.
NA teaches wherein:
a common application is installed on the first communication equipment, the second communication equipment, and the entity server (FIGS. 1 and 2. Para [0064]. Para [0069]: the first homomorphic encryption client 300 may generate ciphertext data by performing homomorphic encryption on the plaintext data. In some example embodiments, the ciphertext data may be generated by executing an application downloaded and installed in the first homomorphic encryption client 300 to perform homomorphic encryption on the plaintext data. he homomorphic encryption processing server 100 may receive homomorphic encryption information and ciphertext data from the first homomorphic encryption client 300 and may receive homomorphic operation information from the second homomorphic encryption client 500. In some example embodiments, the server-side host 150 may include a homomorphic operation performing device 150a, and the homomorphic operation performing device 150a.);
and the common application is configured to implement the homomorphic encryption algorithm (FIGS. 1 and 2. Para [0064]. Para [0069]: the first homomorphic encryption client 300 may generate ciphertext data by performing homomorphic encryption on the plaintext data. In some example embodiments, the ciphertext data may be generated by executing an application downloaded and installed in the first homomorphic encryption client 300 to perform homomorphic encryption on the plaintext data. he homomorphic encryption processing server 100 may receive homomorphic encryption information and ciphertext data from the first homomorphic encryption client 300 and may receive homomorphic operation information from the second homomorphic encryption client 500. In some example embodiments, the server-side host 150 may include a homomorphic operation performing device 150a, and the homomorphic operation performing device 150a.).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Nilsson in view of Boland in view of SMITH in view of of Skourtis with the teachings of NA to include wherein: a common application is installed on the first communication equipment, the second communication equipment, and the entity server; and the common application is configured to implement the homomorphic encryption algorithm in order to prevent leakage of personal information using the homomorphic encryption technology (NA Para [0003]).
As per claim 14, 20, the claims claim the method essentially corresponding to thesystem claims 7 above, and they are rejected, at least for the same reasons.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUDY BAZNA whose telephone number is (703)756-1258. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 08:30 AM-05:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Farid Homayounmehr can be reached on (571) 272-3739. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JUDY BAZNA/Examiner, Art Unit 2495
/FARID HOMAYOUNMEHR/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2495