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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statements (IDS) submitted are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, the terms “selectively” and “over time” in claim are relative terms which renders the claim indefinite. The term terms “selectively” and “over time” are not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. It did not provide any indication as to what range of specific matter is covered by the term ", nor what amount of time is covered by “over time” and therefore the claim is rendered indefinite.
Claims 2-7 are rejected as having the same deficiencies as the claim they depend from.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
As described above, the disclosure does not provide adequate standard to ascertain the terms “selectively” and “over time” as the terms are relative terms, in addition the specification provides no description of sufficient to perform the claimed functions There is no description of a processor and programming sufficient to perform the functions, which would be required to support the claimed specialized functions of “issue a verified identification credential to a holder wallet associated with a user of the identification holder machine, …which is selectively granted to different machines over time to establish a reusable digital identity”.
Specifically, for the specification merely repeats the functionality found in the claim language (i.e. [004], Summary of the invention). The original claim lack written description since the claim defines the invention in functional language specifying a desired result but the specification does not sufficiently identify how the inventor has devised the function to be performed or result achieved.
The specification does not demonstrate that applicant has made an invention that achieves the claimed function because the invention is not described with sufficient detail such that one of ordinary skill in the art can reasonably conclude that the inventor had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 2-7 are rejected as having the same deficiencies as the claim they depend from.
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)(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.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lei et. al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20250045374 A1 (hereinafter Lei).
Regarding claim 1, Lei discloses an apparatus, comprising:
a network interface ([0019], e.g., network interface) circuit to provide connectivity to a network including an identification issuer machine, an identification holder machine, an identification validation machine, an identification verifier machine and an identification registry machine;
a processor ([0019], e.g., processor) connected to the network interface circuit; and
a memory ([0019], e.g., memory) connected to the processor, the memory storing instructions executed by the processor to:
receive a registration request from the identification issuer machine ([0045], e.g., the client device can transmit a registration request to the DID management service),
assign a distributed identification (DID) ([0047], e.g., provides a decentralized globally unique identifier as verifiable proof of the relationship) to the identification issuer machine,
register the DID ([0047], e.g., generate a relationship DID and store it in the distributed ledger in association with a DID document) at the identification registry machine,
receive an identification request ([0050], e.g., the client device can transmit the relationship DID to the verifier service or a verifier device) from the identification holder machine,
collect verified identification evidence from the identification validation machine ([0050], e.g., the verifier service may require a threshold or particular credit limit, credit score, bank balance, government license, age, or other attribute value that is tracked by an attribute that is verifiable), and
issue a verified identification credential ([0049], e.g., The DID management service can also provide VCs corresponding to the attributes) to a holder wallet associated with a user ([0049], e.g., to the client device) of the identification holder machine, where the verified identification credential in the holder wallet is accessible only with permission from the user of the identification holder machine ([0087], e.g., The attributes and the set of VCs can also be indicated to be preauthorized for the identified verifier service in attribute preauthorization data), which is selectively granted to different machines over time to establish a reusable digital identity ([0039], e.g., The verifier service can provide any consumer, commercial, industrial, or any other service to various DID holders).
Regarding claim 2, Lei discloses the apparatus of claim 1. Lei further discloses instructions executed by the processor to:
receive an identification verification request ([0052], e.g., the verifier service can transmit an attribute request that specifies an attribute),
retrieve the verified identification credential from the holder wallet ([0087], e.g., the client device can broadcast or transmit a peer did that includes the VCs),
supply the verified identification credential to the identification verifier machine ([0087], e.g., the client device can provide a set of VCs that is limited to those logically associated with the identified verifier service),
resolve the DID at the identification registry machine to establish a decentralized verification process ([0067], e.g., The DID management service can generate a relationship DID that provides a decentralized globally unique identifier as verifiable proof of the relationship), and verify the verified identification credential ([0088], e.g., the verifier service can verify the VCs).
Regarding claim 3, Lei discloses the apparatus of claim 1. Lei further discloses the verified identification credential is issued in accordance with an open standard created by the World Wide Web Consortium ([0025], e.g., a DID and its related components such as the DID document can conform to a standard such as a decentralized identifier standard promoted or published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)).
Regarding claim 4, Lei discloses the apparatus of claim 1. Lei further discloses the DID is governed in a decentralized network ([0099], e.g., a collection of distributed computer-readable media located across a plurality of computing devices (e.g., storage area networks or distributed or clustered filesystems or databases)).
Regarding claim 5, Lei discloses the apparatus of claim 1. Lei further discloses the holder wallet is interoperable with proprietary digital wallets ([0093], e.g., enables the user to select a wallet).
Regarding claim 6, Lei discloses the apparatus of claim 1. Lei further discloses the verified identification credential is a verified profile page ([0037], e.g., the user interface can include a network page, an application screen, or other user mechanism for obtaining user input).
Regarding claim 7, Lei discloses the apparatus of claim 1. Lei further discloses the verified identification credential is a verify request ([0093], e.g., a user can interact with user interface elements of a user interface to provide third-party VCs with attributes that are VC criteria used to instate a relationship).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZIXUAN WENG whose telephone number is (571)272-7069. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday 8:30-5:30pm, ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jorge L. Ortiz-Criado can be reached at (571) 272-7624. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZIXUAN WENG/Examiner, Art Unit 2496
/JORGE L ORTIZ CRIADO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2496
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