DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the America Invents Act (AIA ).
Response and Claim Status
The instant Office action is responsive to the response received January 29, 2026 (the Response).
In response to the Response, the previous rejections of claims 1, 6–11, 14–16, 19, and 20 under 35 U.S.C. § 103
are WITHDRAWN.
Claims 1, 6–11, 14–16, 19, and 20 are currently pending.
Claim Rejections – 35 U.S.C. § 103
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.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments with respect to the rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103 in the previous Office action mailed October 30, 2025 (see Response 6–8) have been considered but are now moot.
Kato, Kumar, and Haung
Claims 1, 8–11, 15, 16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being obvious over Kato et al. (US 2020/0391696 A1; filed Aug. 27, 2020) in view of Kumar et al. (US 2004/0165725 A1; filed Feb. 20, 2003), and in further view of Huang et al. (CN 113837069 A1; filed Sept. 18, 2021)1.
Regarding claim 1, while Kato teaches a method (fig. 11) comprising:
receiving a request (“FIG. 11 is triggered by the user pressing the operation unit 13, for example. The user authentication process may be started when a predetermined condition for starting the scanning process is satisfied.” at ¶ 114) from a user (“the user” at ¶ 114) for access to a secure resource (fig. 1, item V; fig. 2, item 2 of item V);
collecting, for a time period (“the vein pattern reading unit F2 is configured to acquire a relatively wide range of the vein pattern by synthesizing the plurality of local vein images sequentially captured by the vein imaging device 15” at ¶ 98), biometric data (fig. 11, item S201; “perform the scanning process. Then, the vein pattern (that is, the scan pattern) of the wearer is acquired” at ¶ 115) for the user via a smart device (fig. 1, item 1; fig. 6, item 1) associated with the user, the biometric data being collected by the smart device and contained within images (“acquire a relatively wide range of the vein pattern by synthesizing the plurality of local vein images sequentially captured by the vein imaging device 15” at ¶ 98; “the vein pattern (that is, the scan pattern) of the wearer is acquired” at ¶ 115) depicting a vein structure (“The vein pattern corresponds to data indicating a pattern of the vehicle (in other words, vein structure).” at ¶ 72) associated with the user;
analyzing (fig. 11, item S202; ¶ 115), via execution of a computational analysis application (“Software stored in a tangible memory and a computer executing the software, only the software, only hardware, or combination of them may be possible to provide the methods or the functions provided by the ring controller 11 of the smart ring 1.” at ¶ 159), the biometric data based on a vein model (“the user pattern registered in the flash memory 113” at ¶ 115) of the user, the vein model comprising information related to known vein patterns of the user;
determining (fig. 11, items S203, S204), based on the analysis, to authenticate the request, the determination being based on a computational similarity (“determined that the scan pattern matches the user pattern as a result of the matching process in S202” at ¶ 116; “In S204, the user authentication unit F3 determines that the wearer is the authorized user (that is, the authentication is OK)” at ¶ 117) between the biometric data and the vein model; and
communicating, over the wireless network, via the smart device, identifier (ID) information (“if the wearer of the smart ring 1 is determined to be the authorized user as a result of the user authentication process using the vein pattern, the smart ring 1 returns the response signal in response to the challenge signal from the in-vehicle system 2” at ¶ 120) related to the user to the secure resource (fig. 1, item V; fig. 2, item 2 of item V), the communicated ID information causing the access request to be granted (fig. 11, item S206) by the secure resource;
Kato does not teach (A) the communication comprising applying, via the smart device, at least one of encryption or a time-to-live to the ID information; (B) updating, based on the biometric data, the vein model; (C) storing the updated vein model; and (D) receiving the request over a wireless network.
(A)
Kumar teaches applying, via a smart device (fig. 2f, item 750), at least one of encryption or a time-to-live to ID information (“Then ‘smart’ storage device 750 encrypts unique ID (K) 770 with encrypt/decrypt engine 760” at ¶ 46).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention for Kato’s communication to comprise applying, via the smart device, at least one of encryption or a time-to-live to the ID information as taught by Kumar “to protect the data from unauthorized copying and use.” Kumar ¶ 2.
(B)
Huang teaches updating, based on biometric data (“finger vein recognition is successful” at pp. 10–11; “Compare the M finger vein images with a preset finger vein model, and determine a finger vein recognition result” at p. 10), a vein model (“updating of the finger vein model” and “update of the finger vein model” at p. 11).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention for Kato’s vein model to be updated based on the biometric data as taught by Huang for “improving the accuracy of finger vein recognition.” Huang p. 4.
(C)
Huang teaches storing information (“storing computer programs;” at p. 4; “the program stored in the memory 63” at p. 12).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention for the Kato/Kumar/Huang combination’s updated vein model to be stored as taught by Huang for “improving the accuracy of finger vein recognition.” Huang p. 4.
(D)
Kato teaches receiving a request (“the in-vehicle communication module 25 is provided near the start button 24, the in-vehicle communication module 25 and the smart ring 1 can communicate with each other when a user operation for starting the engine is performed. The user operation for starting the engine in the present embodiment is a pressing operation of the start button 24.” at ¶ 51) over a wireless network (fig. 1, item 100).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention for Kato’s request to be received over a wireless network as taught by Kato so that “the convenience of the user can be improved.” Kato ¶ 54.
Regarding claim 8, Kato teaches further comprising:
identifying a set of sensors (fig. 6, item 152; “a pressure sensor” at ¶ 94; “an acceleration sensor” at ¶ 95; “a temperature sensor” at ¶ 96; “a pulse wave sensor” at ¶ 112) associated with the smart device;
collecting data (fig. 11, item S201; ¶¶ 94–96, 112) from each of the set of sensors;
analyzing (fig. 11, item S202; ¶¶ 94–96, 112), via the computational analysis application, the collected sensor data;
determining, via the computational analysis application, the vein model (“the user pattern registered in the flash memory 113” at ¶ 115) for the user; and
storing the vein model in a location (fig. 6, item 113; “a plurality of vein patterns are registered in the flash memory 113 as user patterns” at ¶ 105) accessible by the smart device.
Regarding claim 9, Kato teaches wherein the smart device is user equipment (fig. 1, item 1; fig. 6, item 1).
Regarding claim 10, Kato teaches wherein the secure resource is at least one of a digital asset, electronic asset and real-world asset (fig. 1, item V; fig. 2, item 2 of item V).
Regarding claim 11, Kato teaches a device (fig. 1, item 1; fig. 6, item 1) comprising:
a processor (fig. 6, item 11; “The MPU 11 is an example of a ring processor.” at ¶ 72) configured to perform operations according to claim 1. Thus, references/arguments equivalent to those present for claim 1 are equally applicable to claim 11.
Regarding claim 15, claim 8 recites substantially similar features. Thus, references/arguments equivalent to those present for claim 8 are equally applicable to claim 15.
Regarding claim 16, Kato teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (fig. 6, item 112, 113) tangibly encoded with computer-executable instructions, that when executed by a processor (fig. 6, item 11; “The MPU 11 is an example of a ring processor.” at ¶ 72) of a device (fig. 1, item 1; fig. 6, item 1), perform a method comprising operations according to claim 1. Thus, references/arguments equivalent to those present for claim 1 are equally applicable to claim 16.
Regarding claim 20, claim 8 recites substantially similar features. Thus, references/arguments equivalent to those present for claim 8 are equally applicable to claim 20.
Kato, Kumar, Haung, and Che
Claims 6, 14, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being obvious over Kato in view of Kumar, in further view of Huang, and in further view of Che et al. (US 10,762,366 B2; PCT filed Oct. 10, 2015).
Regarding claim 6, Kato does not teach wherein the biometric data corresponds to vein information comprising information related to at least one of a number of veins, size of veins, length of veins, vein position, and blood circulation through the veins.
Che teaches wherein biometric data corresponds to vein information comprising information related to at least one of a number of veins, size of veins, length of veins, vein position (“determining the total number Wab of pixels that are part of vein blood vessel lines at a same coordinate position in the finger vein blood vessel image and in another finger vein blood vessel image” at 11:47–50), and blood circulation through the veins.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention for Kato’s biometric data to correspond to vein information comprising information related to at least one of a number of veins, size of veins, length of veins, vein position, and blood circulation through the veins as taught by Che to “provide a finger vein identification method and device for use in effectively extracting finger vein identification characteristics for finger vein identification.” Che 1:67–2:3.
Regarding claims 14 and 19, claim 6 recites substantially similar features. Thus, references/arguments equivalent to those present for claim 6 are equally applicable to claims 14 and 19.
Kato, Kumar, Haung, and Chen
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being obvious over Kato in view of Kumar, in further view of Huang, and in further view of Chen et al. (US 2015/0610444 A1; filed Apr. 24, 2015).
Regarding claim 7, Kato does not teach wherein the biometric data corresponds to information related to at least one of heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), blood oxygen levels, blood pressure, hydration temperature and pulse.
Chen teaches biometric data corresponding to information related to at least one of heart rate (“biometric data and/or recognition and matching related thereto may include heart rate” at ¶ 43), heart rate variability (HRV), blood oxygen levels, blood pressure, hydration temperature and pulse.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention for Kato’s biometric data to correspond to information related to at least one of heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), blood oxygen levels, blood pressure, hydration temperature and pulse as taught by Chen “for continuous security assessment and/or rating of the user and device authentications.” Chen ¶ 39.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicants’ disclosure: US-20230155914-A1 and US-20190258881-A1.
Applicants’ amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicants are reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 C.F.R. § 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 extension fee pursuant to § 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to DAVID P. ZARKA whose telephone number is (703) 756-5746. The Examiner can normally be reached Monday–Friday from 9:30AM–6PM ET.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Vivek Srivastava, can be reached at (571) 272-7304. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/DAVID P ZARKA/PATENT EXAMINER, Art Unit 2449
1 The Examiner relies on an English machine translation of Huang using GOOGLE TRANSLATE as attached to the instant Office action.