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 .
Status of claims
This office action is in response to claims filed on 11/11/2025; the PCT application priority date of 10/26/2018 is considered
Claims 1-9 are pending and rejected; claims 1, 4 and 7 are independent claims
Applicant’s request that the double patenting rejection be held in abeyance until it is the sole reason preventing the application from being formally allowed is noted by the examiner and accepted.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) filed on 11/112025 have been considered but are not persuasive
With respect to applicant’s argument Li, however, does not disclose or suggest authentication candidate extraction apparatus comprising "a feature information storage part that acquires and stores in advance one piece of authentication feature information for each person who can be the subject to-be-authenticated” "a first feature information extraction part that extracts first feature information from the first biometric information received at the first spot," and "a feature information transmission part that transmits the authentication feature information candidates selected to the authentication apparatus," and an authentication apparatus comprising "a second feature information extraction part that extract second feature information from the second biometric information that was received at the second spot; and an authentication processing part that performs authentication processing using the authentication feature information candidates received from the authentication candidate extraction apparatus and the second feature information," as recited by amended claim 1
Examiner respectfully disagrees with applicant’s argument for the following reason: The recited claim limitation is disclosed by Li (see Li Figs. 1A-1B, ¶¶31 44, face image recording unit 18 records the selected deformed face images to the registered-user database 20 as registration face images of the user (S106). Moreover, the face image recording unit 18 extracts image features from each of the registration face images and registers the feature values to the registered-user database 20 (S107)), [disclosing the limitation, “a feature information storage part that acquires and stores in advance one piece of authentication feature information for each person who can be the subject to-be-authenticated”]; (see Li Figs 1A-1B and ¶¶42, face image deformation unit 15 feeds the created deformed face image 16 to the face image recording unit 18; ¶43, face image recording unit 18 receives a plurality of deformed face images 16 fed in a predetermined period and calculates the similarity of these deformed face images 16 to the standard template face image 24), [disclosing the limitation “a first feature information extraction part that extracts first feature information from the first biometric information received at the first spot”]; (see Li. Figs. 1A-1B and ¶¶30 49 85-89 face image matching unit 19 acquires [receives/transmitted from registered user database] a plurality of registered face images from the registered-user database 20 and compares the deformed face image 17 with each of the registered face images (S206) [i.e. candidates selected to the authentication apparatus that performs authentication process]) [disclosing the limitation, “a feature information transmission part that transmits the authentication feature information candidates selected to the authentication apparatus”]; (see Li Figs. 1A-1B ¶¶45, face image deformation unit 14 non-linearly deforms the arrangement of the facial parts, the sizes of the individual facial parts, the shapes of the individual facial parts, and the shape of the face in the face image 23 to create a deformed face image 17 (S204), [disclosing the limitation ["a second feature information extraction part that extract second feature information from the second biometric information that was received at the second spot”] ; and (see Li Figs 1A-1B and ¶49, the face image matching unit 19 determines whether the deformed face image 17 matches any of the registered face images… if the similarity between the deformed face image 17 and a registered face image reaches a specified level, the face image matching unit 19 determines that the two images are a match. The face image matching unit 19 verifies that the user is a registered user if the deformed face image 17 matches a registered face image), [disclosing the limitation, “an authentication processing part that performs authentication processing using the authentication feature information candidates received from the authentication candidate extraction apparatus and the second feature information”].
In addition, Applicant's arguments fail to comply with 37 CFR 1.111(b) because they amount to a general allegation that the claims define a patentable invention without specifically pointing out how the language of the claims patentably distinguishes them from the references.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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.
Claim(s) 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li. et al. US Pub. 2016/0371535 A1 (hereinafter "Li”), in view of Matsuda US Pub. No.: 2012/0005736 A1 (hereinafter Takahashi).
Li teaches:
As to claim 1, an authentication system comprising:
an authentication candidate extraction apparatus (see Li Figs. 1A-1B, 13 and ¶28 face registration apparatus 1 includes a face area detection unit 12, a face image deformation unit 15, and a face image recording unit 18 [i.e. candidate extraction]); and
an authentication apparatus, wherein the authentication candidate extraction apparatus ((see Li Figs. 1A-1B, 13 and ¶28 face registration apparatus 1) comprises:
at least one first processor (see Figs. 1A-1B and ¶31, a processor 530 ); and
a first memory in circuit communication with the at least one first processor, wherein the at least one first processor is configured to execute program instructions stored in the first memory (see Li Figs. 1A-1B, ¶33, processor 530 controls operations of the face registration apparatus 1 in accordance with a program or computational parameters stored in the memory 560 to implement the functions illustrated in FIG. 1A) to implement :
a first biometric information input part that receives first biometric information of a subject to-be-authenticated, acquired at a first spot before the subject moves to a second spot (see Li Figs. 1A-1B, 13 and ¶9 a first face area detection unit configured to detect a first face image from a first captured image captured by a camera; ¶¶38 42, camera 121 takes a plurality of registration images 10 and feeds them to the face image deformation unit 15) and ;
a feature information storage part that acquires and stores in advance one piece of authentication feature information for each person who can be the subject to-be-authenticated (see Li Figs. 1A-1B, ¶¶31 44, face image recording unit 18 records the selected deformed face images to the registered-user database 20 as registration face images of the user (S106). Moreover, the face image recording unit 18 extracts image features from each of the registration face images and registers the feature values to the registered-user database 20 (S107));
a first feature information extraction part that extracts first feature information from the first biometric information received at the first spot (see Li Figs 1A-1B and ¶¶42, face image deformation unit 15 feeds the created deformed face image 16 to the face image recording unit 18; ¶43, face image recording unit 18 receives a plurality of deformed face images 16 fed in a predetermined period and calculates the similarity of these deformed face images 16 to the standard template face image 24);
a candidate selection part that selects at least one authentication feature information similar to the first feature information, from a plurality of authentication feature information of different persons stored in the information storage part, and sets the at least one authentication feature information selected as authentication candidates (see Li Figs. 1A-1B and ¶49, face image matching unit 19 acquires a plurality of registered face images from the registered-user database 20; ¶87, registered-user database 20 stores a plurality of registered face images for each of a plurality of users [i.e. feature information registered at the first spot, extracted and stored for authentication are acquired from the database as a candidate features for authentication]); and
a feature information transmission part that transmits the authentication feature information candidates selected to the authentication apparatus (see Li. Figs. 1A-1B and ¶¶30 49 85-89 face image matching unit 19 acquires [receives/transmitted from registered user database] a plurality of registered face images from the registered-user database 20 and compares the deformed face image 17 with each of the registered face images (S206) [i.e. candidates selected to the authentication apparatus that performs authentication process]),
wherein the authentication apparatus comprises: at least one second processor; and a memory in circuit communication with the at least one second processor, wherein the at least one second processor is configured to execute program instructions stored in the second memory to implement (see Li Figs. 1A-1B 13 and ¶36, the face authentication apparatus 2, the face area detection unit 13, the face image deformation unit 14, and the face image matching unit 19 can be implemented with the processor operating in accordance with programs);
a second biometric information input part that receives second biometric information of the subject to-be-authenticated acquired at the second spot (see Li Fig. 2 and ¶45, face authentication apparatus 2 [i.e. second spot] receives an authentication image 11 taken by the camera 22 via the network 27. The authentication image 11 is fed to the face area detection unit 13 (S201))
a second feature information extraction part that extract second feature information from the second biometric information that was received at the second spot (see Li Figs. 1A-1B ¶¶45, face image deformation unit 14 non-linearly deforms the arrangement of the facial parts, the sizes of the individual facial parts, the shapes of the individual facial parts, and the shape of the face in the face image 23 to create a deformed face image 17 (S204)) ;
an authentication processing part that performs authentication processing using the authentication feature information candidates received from the authentication candidate extraction apparatus and the second feature information (see Li Figs 1A-1B and ¶49, the face image matching unit 19 determines whether the deformed face image 17 matches any of the registered face images… if the similarity between the deformed face image 17 and a registered face image reaches a specified level, the face image matching unit 19 determines that the two images are a match. The face image matching unit 19 verifies that the user is a registered user if the deformed face image 17 matches a registered face image)
Li does not explicitly teach but the related art Takahashi teaches:
the feature information being protected by secret sharing (see Takahashi ¶103, transmit the encrypted converted feature quantity U to the parameter server 800)
using a predetermined secure computation scheme (see Takahashi ¶7, protected by appropriate encryption)
wherein the authentication processing part of the authentication apparatus further discards the authentication feature information candidates transmitted from the feature information transmission part of the authentication candidate extraction apparatus after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since completion of the authentication processing (see Takahashi ¶60authentication server 120 deletes the generated one-time template T1 and the received converted feature quantity U from the storage devices such as memory and HDD (S310)… if there is no communication from the client 110 (in step S306) when a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the authentication server 120 received the ID)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify face authentication system disclosed by Li to include the biometric authentication system and method therefor as thought by Takahashi, in order to securely and efficiently authenticate moving authentication requesting person by discarding/deleting the authentication feature after a period of time. a person with ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to prevent leaking of feature information and securely authenticate a moving person and enhance security (see Takahashi ¶8).
As to claim 2, the combination of Li and Takahashi teaches the authentication system according to claim 1, wherein the completion of the authentication processing includes when a subject matching the authentication the authentication feature information candidates transmitted by the authentication candidate extraction apparatus in successfully authenticated (see Li ¶103, the face authentication apparatus in Embodiment 2 acquires an authentication face image and selects registered face images of candidates for the registered user corresponding to the person to be authenticated. The face authentication apparatus non-rigidly deforms the authentication face image using each of the obtained registered face images as a reference image. The face authentication apparatus performs matching of the obtained deformed authentication face image with the registered face images of the candidates for the registered user corresponding to the user to be authenticated and outputs the face authentication result)
As to claim 3, the combination of Li and Takahashi teaches the authentication system according to claim 1, wherein the completion of the authentication processing includes when the authentication processing part is not able to detect any subject matching the authentication feature information candidates transmitted by the authentication candidate extraction apparatus (see Li Fig. 7 ¶¶49 108, face image matching unit 19 acquires a plurality of registered face images from the registered-user database 20 and compares the deformed face image 17 with each of the registered face images (S206). The face image matching unit 19 outputs the authentication result obtained by the comparison to an output device or another program (S207). Specifically, the face image matching unit 19 determines whether the deformed face image 17 matches any of the registered face images [i.e. authentication is: matching/not matching/not detecting/detecting feature information] );
As to independent claim 4, this claim directed to a method executed by the system of claim 1; therefore, it is rejected along similar rationale.
As to independent claim 7, this claim directed to a non-transitory computer readable recording medium recording a program executed by the system of claim 1; therefore, it is rejected along similar rationale.
As to dependent claims 5-6 and 8-9, these claims contain substantially similar subject matter as claim 2-3; therefore, they are rejected along the same rationale.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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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NEGA . WOLDEMARIAM
Examiner
Art Unit 2407
/N.W/ Examiner, Art Unit 2407
/Catherine Thiaw/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2407 1/21/2026