DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the application 18/438,430 filed on 02/10/2024.
Claims 1-3 have been examined and are pending in this application.
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 .
Election/Restrictions
For the record, the Examiner acknowledges that NO restrictions warranted at applicants initial time of filing for patent.
Priority
For the record, the Examiner acknowledges that NO foreign priority claimed at applicant’s initial time of filing for patent.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS), submitted on 02/10/2024, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Oath/Declaration
For the record, the Examiner acknowledges that the Oath/Declaration submitted on 02/10/2024 has been accepted.
Drawings
For the record, the Examiner acknowledges that the drawings filed on 02/10/2024 has been accepted.
Specification
For the record, the Examiner acknowledges that the Applicant's specification filed on 02/10/2024 has been accepted.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because claim 3 is directed towards a computer program product comprising computer readable instructions. The specification as originally filed does not define the metes and bounds of what is meant to be encompassed by the term "computer readable instructions", thus the term can broadly, but reasonable be interpreted to include signals per se, which means that claim 3 is directed towards signals per se and is not statutory. Applicant may overcome this rejection by instead reciting a "non-transitory computer readable instructions" in place of ‘computer readable instructions.’
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Meghji, Pub. No.: US 2023/0066838.
Referring to claim 1, Meghji teaches a system for securing access to a resource using public or private blockchain distributed networks for authorized parties, the system comprising:
a. a public key that is provided on a first public or private blockchain that is delivered to the authorized parties that require access to the public key and which is not exposed to the general public (abstract, claim 1, para. 0007, hash of the public key; paras. 0039, 0230);
b. a private key that is provided on a second public or private blockchain that is created to deliver the private key to the first blockchain (para. 0011, 0015, 0230, 0238-0239, private key in the ledger/blockchain and figs. 11-15); and
c. wherein both the public key and the private key are required to gain access to the resource (para. 0230, a key pair that is specific to the access-right holder (e.g., a first private key and a first public key).
Referring to claim 2, This claim is similar in scope to claim 1, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 3, This claim is similar in scope to claim 1, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please see the attached PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YONAS A BAYOU whose telephone number is (571)272-7610. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7AM-4PM.
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, Philip Chea can be reached at 571-272-3951. 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.
/YONAS A BAYOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2499 08/21/2025