DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This is in reply to papers filed on 2024-02-23. Claims 1-18 are pending. Claims 1, 17, 18 is/are independent.
Priority papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a)-(d) are acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement PTO-1449
The Information Disclosure Statement(s) submitted by applicant on 2024-01-29 has/have been considered. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR § 1.97. Form PTO-1449 signed and attached hereto.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. The title of the invention should be brief but technically accurate and descriptive, preferably from two to seven words. See MPEP § 608.01(a). In particular, it fails to mention tokens, services, and external devices. Examiner suggests Managing Access to Services via Tokens, though other formulations that are sufficiently searchable may also be acceptable.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to the numbered, but unlabeled, rectangular box(es) shown in Figure(s) 1 should be provided with sufficient descriptive text labels to orient the viewer as to what is being depicted. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Summary of Claim Rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103
The following table summarizes the rejections set forth in detail below of the claims over the prior art.
Claim No.
Mori '562 in view of Ishibashi '245
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Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 103
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
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 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 AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 that 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 of this title, 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.
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(a) 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.
Claim(s) 1-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication 20240171562 to Mori (hereinafter "Mori '562") in view of U.S. Publication 20160255245 to Ishibashi et al. (hereinafter "Ishibashi '245"). Mori '562 is prior art to the claims under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(2). Ishibashi '245 is prior art to the claims under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) and 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(2).
Per claim 1 (independent):
Mori '562 discloses an information processing system comprising at least one processor configured to perform operations (MFP 10 has processor 30 [Mori '562 Fig. 2])
Mori '562 discloses link a token to be used for accessing a service with identification information for identifying the service and manage the token and the identification information linked with each other (MFP 10 stores token and serviceID [Mori '562 ¶ 0066, Fig. 5 at T140-T154])
Mori '562 does not disclose return, when a request for a token is received from an external device, the request including identification information of a specified service, and if a valid token of the specified service is stored, a reply including the token of the specified service
However, Mori '562 discloses return, when a request for a token is received from an external device, the request including identification information of a specified service, and if a valid token of the specified service is stored, a reply about the token of the specified service (terminal device 100 sends serviceID and email address to MFP 10 [Mori '562 Fig. 4 at T36-T52, ¶ 0042-0046]; in response, MFP 10 obtains token from parameter provision server 200 for terminal device 100 [Mori '562 Fig. 4 at T54-T76, ¶ 0047-0050])
Further:
Ishibashi '245 discloses return, when a request for a token is received from an external device, the request including identification information of a specified service, and if a valid token of the specified service is stored, a reply including the token of the specified service (sends tokens to mobile device for storage until needed by MFP 10/ server 80 [Ishibashi '245 ¶ 0108-0111, 0114, Fig. 6, ¶ 0127])
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (1) before the effective filing date of the claimed invention and (2) before the invention was made to have modified Mori '562 with the storage of tokens and associated data at the mobile device of Ishibashi '245 to arrive at an apparatus, method, and product including:
return, when a request for a token is received from an external device, the request including identification information of a specified service, and if a valid token of the specified service is stored, a reply including the token of the specified service
A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine them at least because storage of tokens and associated data at the mobile device would have freed the MFP/ server from possible denial of service attacks and allowed each mobile to manage the tokens and associated data that were valuable to that mobile's user according to its own policies. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been further motivated to combine them at least because Ishibashi '245 teaches [Ishibashi '245 ¶ 0108-0111, 0114, Fig. 6, ¶ 0127] modifying a token based access scheme between a user device, an information processing apparatus, and a service server [Mori '562 Fig. 4 at T36-T52, ¶ 0042-0046; Fig. 4 at T54-T76, ¶ 0047-0050] such as that of Mori '562 to arrive at the claimed invention; because Ishibashi '245 and Mori '562 are in the same field of endeavor; because doing so constitutes use of a known technique (storage of tokens and associated data at the mobile device [Ishibashi '245 ¶ 0108-0111, 0114, Fig. 6, ¶ 0127]) to improve similar devices and/or methods (token based access scheme between a user device, an information processing apparatus, and a service server [Mori '562 Fig. 4 at T36-T52, ¶ 0042-0046; Fig. 4 at T54-T76, ¶ 0047-0050]) in the same way; because doing so constitutes applying a known technique (storage of tokens and associated data at the mobile device [Ishibashi '245 ¶ 0108-0111, 0114, Fig. 6, ¶ 0127]) to known devices and/or methods (token based access scheme between a user device, an information processing apparatus, and a service server [Mori '562 Fig. 4 at T36-T52, ¶ 0042-0046; Fig. 4 at T54-T76, ¶ 0047-0050]) ready for improvement to yield predictable results; and because the modification amounts to combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results. Here, (1) the prior art included each element (as detailed above); (2) one of ordinary skill in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods, and in this combination, each element merely performs the same function as it does separately (token based access scheme connects a user device, an information processing apparatus, and a service server [Mori '562 Fig. 4 at T36-T52, ¶ 0042-0046; Fig. 4 at T54-T76, ¶ 0047-0050] while storing tokens and associated data at the mobile device [Ishibashi '245 ¶ 0108-0111, 0114, Fig. 6, ¶ 0127]); (3) one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable; and (4) other considerations do not overcome this conclusion.
Per claim 2 (dependent on claim 1):
Mori '562 in view of Ishibashi '245 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 1 above, incorporated herein by reference
Mori '562 discloses the at least one processor is configured to obtain in advance the token to be linked with the identification information based on authentication settings set between the information processing system and an authorization server and to link information on the authentication settings with the identification information and manage the information on the authentication settings and the identification information linked with each other (MFP 10 obtains and stores token and serviceID [Mori '562 ¶ 0066, 0047-0050, Fig. 5 at T140-T154] before sending service instructions to email service sss1 [Mori '562 ¶ 0067-0068, Fig. 5 at T160-0162])
Per claim 3 (dependent on claim 2):
Mori '562 in view of Ishibashi '245 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 2 above, incorporated herein by reference
Mori '562 discloses the at least one processor is configured to notify, when the request is received from the external device and if neither of a valid token of the specified service nor information on authentication settings for the valid token are stored, the external device that it is not possible to provide the token of the specified service (displays screens to user when token or authentication parameters are not present at MFP 10 [Mori '562 Fig. 6, ¶ 0037-0062, Fig. 4-5]; if refresh token is present at MFP 10, uses refresh token to recreate access token [Mori '562 ¶ 0068])
Per claim 4 (dependent on claim 1):
Mori '562 in view of Ishibashi '245 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 1 above, incorporated herein by reference
Mori '562 discloses manage an access token and an update token as the token to be linked with the identification information, the access token being a token to be presented to a service server that provides a service when access is made to the service, the update token being a token to be presented to an authorization server in order to obtain the access token (MFP 10 uses refresh token to recreate access token [Mori '562 ¶ 0068])
Mori '562 does not disclose return, if a valid access token of the specified service is stored, a reply including the access token of the specified service to the external device
However, Mori '562 discloses return, if a valid access token of the specified service is stored, a reply about the access token of the specified service to the external device (MFP 10 obtains token from parameter provision server 200 for terminal device 100 [Mori '562 Fig. 4 at T54-T76, ¶ 0047-0050])
Further:
Ishibashi '245 discloses return, if a valid access token of the specified service is stored, a reply including the token of the specified service to the external device (sends tokens to mobile device for storage until needed by MFP 10/ server 80 [Ishibashi '245 ¶ 0108-0111, 0114, Fig. 6, ¶ 0127])
For the reasons detailed above with respect to claim 1, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (1) before the effective filing date of the claimed invention and (2) before the invention was made to have modified Mori '562 with the storage of tokens and associated data at the mobile device of Ishibashi '245 to arrive at an apparatus, method, and product including:
return, if a valid access token of the specified service is stored, a reply including the access token of the specified service to the external device
Per claim 5 (dependent on claim 2):
Mori '562 in view of Ishibashi '245 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 2 above, incorporated herein by reference
The remaining limitations of the claim(s) correspond(s) to features of claim(s) 4 and the claim(s) is/are rejected for the reasons detailed with respect to those claims.
Per claim 6 (dependent on claim 3):
Mori '562 in view of Ishibashi '245 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 3 above, incorporated herein by reference
The remaining limitations of the claim(s) correspond(s) to features of claim(s) 4 and the claim(s) is/are rejected for the reasons detailed with respect to those claims.
Per claim 7 (dependent on claim 4):
Mori '562 in view of Ishibashi '245 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 4 above, incorporated herein by reference
Mori '562 does not disclose the at least one processor is configured to obtain, if a valid access token of the specified service is not stored, an access token of the specified service by using a corresponding update token and return a reply including the obtained access token of the specified service to the external device
However, Mori '562 discloses the at least one processor is configured to obtain, if a valid access token of the specified service is not stored, an access token of the specified service by using a corresponding update token and return a reply about the obtained access token of the specified service to the external device (MFP 10 uses refresh token to recreate access token [Mori '562 ¶ 0068]; MFP 10 obtains access token from parameter provision server 200 for terminal device 100 [Mori '562 Fig. 4 at T54-T76, ¶ 0047-0050])
Further:
Ishibashi '245 discloses the at least one processor is configured to obtain, if a valid access token of the specified service is not stored, an access token of the specified service by using a corresponding update token and return a reply including the obtained token of the specified service to the external device (sends tokens to mobile device for storage until needed by MFP 10/ server 80 [Ishibashi '245 ¶ 0108-0111, 0114, Fig. 6, ¶ 0127])
For the reasons detailed above with respect to claim 1, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (1) before the effective filing date of the claimed invention and (2) before the invention was made to have modified Mori '562 with the storage of tokens and associated data at the mobile device of Ishibashi '245 to arrive at an apparatus, method, and product including:
the at least one processor is configured to obtain, if a valid access token of the specified service is not stored, an access token of the specified service by using a corresponding update token and return a reply including the obtained access token of the specified service to the external device
Per claim 8 (dependent on claim 5):
Mori '562 in view of Ishibashi '245 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 5 above, incorporated herein by reference
The remaining limitations of the claim(s) correspond(s) to features of claim(s) 7 and the claim(s) is/are rejected for the reasons detailed with respect to those claims.
Per claim 9 (dependent on claim 6):
Mori '562 in view of Ishibashi '245 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 6 above, incorporated herein by reference
The remaining limitations of the claim(s) correspond(s) to features of claim(s) 7 and the claim(s) is/are rejected for the reasons detailed with respect to those claims.
Per claim 10 (dependent on claim 1):
Mori '562 in view of Ishibashi '245 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 1 above, incorporated herein by reference
Mori '562 discloses manage an update token as the token to be linked with the identification information, the update token being a token to be presented to an authorization server in order to obtain an access token, the access token being a token to be presented to a service server that provides a service when access is made to the service (MFP 10 uses refresh token to recreate access token [Mori '562 ¶ 0068]; MFP 10 obtains access token from parameter provision server 200 for terminal device 100 [Mori '562 Fig. 4 at T54-T76, ¶ 0047-0050])
Mori '562 does not disclose return, if a valid update token of the specified service is stored, a reply including the update token of the specified service to the external device
However, Mori '562 discloses return, if a valid update token of the specified service is stored, a reply about the update token of the specified service to the external device (MFP 10 uses refresh token to recreate access token [Mori '562 ¶ 0068]; MFP 10 obtains access token from parameter provision server 200 for terminal device 100 [Mori '562 Fig. 4 at T54-T76, ¶ 0047-0050])
Further:
Ishibashi '245 discloses return, if a valid update token of the specified service is stored, a reply including the update token of the specified service to the external device (sends tokens to mobile device for storage until needed by MFP 10/ server 80 [Ishibashi '245 ¶ 0108-0111, 0114, Fig. 6, ¶ 0127])
For the reasons detailed above with respect to claim 1, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (1) before the effective filing date of the claimed invention and (2) before the invention was made to have modified Mori '562 with the storage of tokens and associated data at the mobile device of Ishibashi '245 to arrive at an apparatus, method, and product including:
return, if a valid update token of the specified service is stored, a reply including the update token of the specified service to the external device
Per claim 11 (dependent on claim 2):
Mori '562 in view of Ishibashi '245 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 2 above, incorporated herein by reference
The remaining limitations of the claim(s) correspond(s) to features of claim(s) 10 and the claim(s) is/are rejected for the reasons detailed with respect to those claims.
Per claim 12 (dependent on claim 3):
Mori '562 in view of Ishibashi '245 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 3 above, incorporated herein by reference
The remaining limitations of the claim(s) correspond(s) to features of claim(s) 10 and the claim(s) is/are rejected for the reasons detailed with respect to those claims.
Per claim 13 (dependent on claim 10):
Mori '562 in view of Ishibashi '245 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 10 above, incorporated herein by reference
Mori '562 discloses manage the update token and the access token as the token to be linked with the identification information (MFP 10 uses refresh token to recreate access token [Mori '562 ¶ 0068]; MFP 10 obtains access token from parameter provision server 200 for terminal device 100 [Mori '562 Fig. 4 at T54-T76, ¶ 0047-0050])
Mori '562 does not disclose return, if a valid update token of the specified service is stored, a reply including both of the update token and the access token of the specified service to the external device
However, Mori '562 discloses return, if a valid update token of the specified service is stored, a reply about both of the update token and the access token of the specified service to the external device (MFP 10 uses refresh token to recreate access token [Mori '562 ¶ 0068]; MFP 10 obtains access token from parameter provision server 200 for terminal device 100 [Mori '562 Fig. 4 at T54-T76, ¶ 0047-0050])
Further:
Ishibashi '245 discloses return, if a valid update token of the specified service is stored, a reply including tokens of the specified service to the external device (sends tokens to mobile device for storage until needed by MFP 10/ server 80 [Ishibashi '245 ¶ 0108-0111, 0114, Fig. 6, ¶ 0127])
For the reasons detailed above with respect to claim 1, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (1) before the effective filing date of the claimed invention and (2) before the invention was made to have modified Mori '562 with the storage of tokens and associated data at the mobile device of Ishibashi '245 to arrive at an apparatus, method, and product including:
return, if a valid update token of the specified service is stored, a reply including both of the update token and the access token of the specified service to the external device
Per claim 14 (dependent on claim 11):
Mori '562 in view of Ishibashi '245 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 11 above, incorporated herein by reference
The remaining limitations of the claim(s) correspond(s) to features of claim(s) 13 and the claim(s) is/are rejected for the reasons detailed with respect to those claims.
Per claim 15 (dependent on claim 12):
Mori '562 in view of Ishibashi '245 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 12 above, incorporated herein by reference
The remaining limitations of the claim(s) correspond(s) to features of claim(s) 13 and the claim(s) is/are rejected for the reasons detailed with respect to those claims.
Per claim 16 (dependent on claim 1):
Mori '562 in view of Ishibashi '245 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 1 above, incorporated herein by reference
Mori '562 does not disclose link service information to be used by a service server that provides a service with the identification information and manage the service information and the identification information linked with each other; and include the service information of the specified service to the reply including the token of the specified service to be returned to the external device
However, Mori '562 discloses link service information to be used by a service server that provides a service with the identification information and manage the service information and the identification information linked with each other; and store the service information of the specified service with the reply about the token of the specified service to be returned to the external device (manages particular desired service action information until actions are completed [Mori '562 Fig. 4 at T38-T52, ¶ 0043-0045, Fig. 5 at T160-T162, ¶ 0067-0068]; MFP 10 uses refresh token to recreate access token [Mori '562 ¶ 0068]; MFP 10 obtains access token from parameter provision server 200 for terminal device 100 [Mori '562 Fig. 4 at T54-T76, ¶ 0047-0050])
Further:
Ishibashi '245 discloses link service information to be used by a service server that provides a service with the identification information and manage the service information and the identification information linked with each other; and return the reply including the token of the specified service to be returned to the external device (communication instruction information 0129-0130]; sends tokens to mobile device for storage until needed by MFP 10/ server 80 [Ishibashi '245 ¶ 0108-0111, 0114, Fig. 6, ¶ 0127])
For the reasons detailed above with respect to claim 1, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (1) before the effective filing date of the claimed invention and (2) before the invention was made to have modified Mori '562 with the storage of tokens and associated data at the mobile device of Ishibashi '245 to arrive at an apparatus, method, and product including:
link service information to be used by a service server that provides a service with the identification information and manage the service information and the identification information linked with each other; and include the service information of the specified service to the reply including the token of the specified service to be returned to the external device
Per claim 17 (independent):
The remaining limitations of the claim(s) correspond(s) to features of claim(s) 1 and the claim(s) is/are rejected for the reasons detailed with respect to those claims.
Per claim 18 (independent):
Mori '562 discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a process (processor(s), memory, computer readable media, storage, executable instructions [Mori '562 Fig. 2, ¶ 0021-0026, 0007, claim 10])
The remaining limitations of the claim(s) correspond(s) to features of claim(s) 1 and the claim(s) is/are rejected for the reasons detailed with respect to those claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Publication 20240028271 to Mizuno (hereinafter "Mizuno '271") discloses a protocol that is the obverse of the instant application in some ways. The client terminal of Mizuno acquires the tokens itself and sends them to MFP as needed, with the client terminal performing token refreshes [Mizuno '271 Fig. 14B].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THEODORE C PARSONS whose telephone number is (571)270-1475. The examiner can normally be reached on MTWRF 7:30-4:30.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jung 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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/THEODORE C PARSONS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2494
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