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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/11/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 301-316, 318-320, 561-565 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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) 301-302, 306-307, 309, 312, 314-316, 318-320, 561-563, 565 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bakish (US2018/0232511) in view of Holzrichter (US2012/0053931).
To claim 320, Bakish teach a system (Fig. 3) for determining facial skin micromovements (paragraph 0020 vibrations of cheek skin), the system comprising:
at least one processor (paragraph 0021, inside a helmet, glasses, or headgear) configured to:
generate a first data stream representing a communication by a subject, the communication having a duration (202 of Fig. 2; paragraph 0112, optical microphone);
operate a light source to project light toward a portion of a face of the subject that excludes lips of the subject (paragraph 0020, can be applied to different options of face-point, face-region, or face-area, wherein lips can be obviously excluded);
receive signals that correspond to facial skin light reflections from the portion of the face captured during the duration of the communication (paragraphs 0041, 0052, 0055-0056, 0062, user-specific manner the vibrations of the facial skin of the user; paragraph 0035, optical measurement during speech), wherein the received signals represent prevocalization facial skin micromovements (paragraphs 0020, 0052, 0056, 0062, optical microphone or laser microphone operates to detect or measure or estimate vibrations of the skin of a face-point or a face-region or a face-area of the human speaker; paragraphs 0058-0060, user authentication module may optionally comprises a speckles estimator able to estimate or determine or detect one or more properties or user-specific features or characteristics such as amount and/or size and/or pattern and/or vibrations; paragraphs 0086-0101, speckle analysis on facial skin movements that would obviously be considered as micromovement, Official Notice is also taken, and wherein prevocalization would be obvious because facial skin micromovement occurs prior to vocalization);
generate a second data stream for corroborating an identity of the subject from the received signals (202 of Fig. 3; paragraph 0113, optical microphone captures optical feedback reflected from user’s face-area, optical data), wherein the second data stream is indicative of the prevocalization facial skin micromovements (paragraphs 0020, 0052, 0056, 0062, optical microphone or laser microphone operates to detect or measure or estimate vibrations of the skin of a face-point or a face-region or a face-area of the human speaker; paragraphs 0058-0060, user authentication module may optionally comprises a speckles estimator able to estimate or determine or detect one or more properties or user-specific features or characteristics such as amount and/or size and/or pattern and/or vibrations; paragraphs 0086-0101, speckle analysis on facial skin movements that would obviously be considered as micromovement, Official Notice is also taken, and wherein prevocalization would be obvious because facial skin micromovement occurs prior to vocalization);
transmit the first data stream to a destination; transmit the second data stream to the destination (paragraph 0042, user-specific characteristic may be stored locally and/or remotely); and
wherein the second data stream is correlated to the first data stream in a manner such that upon receipt at the destination (as shown in Fig. 1B, paragraph 0010, different patterns or parameters or features are extracted from raw data for further processing and comparison; paragraphs 0098-0099, correspond freshly generated output of said optical microphone to an expected optical signal feature/pattern that is expected to be reflected from said current user; paragraphs 0046, 0113, optical data is compared to optical features), the second data stream is enabled for use in repeatedly checking during the communication that the communication originated from the subject by comparing the first data stream to the second data stream to verify authenticity of the first data stream (paragraphs 0043, 0053, 0084, authenticate a fresh user or a current user by comparing extracted feature to previously extracted feature), and
wherein the first data stream and the second data stream are determined based on signals from a same light detector (Figs. 1A-B; paragraphs 0042, 0055, 0071, speech estimation, similarity estimation, biometric/behavioral identification, liveness detection, replay attack detection, etc. are all based on raw data describing the reflected optical signal, and/or raw data reflecting the self-mix signal, and/or data indicating processed or partially-processed optical signals from the same light detector, wherein the first data stream and the second data stream can be interpreted as input from raw data or output from extraction in a parallel process or processes in time).
But, Bakish do not expressly disclose prevocalization.
In furthering said obviousness in Bakish, Holzrichter teaches using laser interferometer vibration sensor to obtain skin surface vibration information in form of an electric signal in advance of the user’s actual speech sounds leaving mouth and nose (paragraphs 0017, 0019, 0041).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate teaching of Holzrichter into the system of Bakish, in order to further laser interferometer vibration application.
To claim 319, Bakish and Holzrichter teach a method for ongoing verification of communication authenticity based on light reflections from facial skin (as explained in response to claim 320 above).
To claim 301, Bakish and Holzrichter teach a non-transitory computer readable medium containing instruction that when executed by at least one processor cause the at least one processor to perform operations for ongoing verification of communication authenticity based on light reflections from facial skin (as explained in response to claim 320 above).
To claim 302, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Bakish teach wherein checking that the communication originated from the subject includes verifying that all words in the communication originated from the subject (paragraph 0126, speech recognition; paragraph 0130, voice command).
To claim 306, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Bakish teach wherein the destination is an entity engaged in a real-time transaction with the subject and the second data stream enables the entity to verify in real-time the identity of the subject during the duration of the communication (paragraphs 0031, 0039, 0130, online banking service in real-time).
To claim 307, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 306.
Bakish teach wherein verifying the identity includes verification of a name of the subject (paragraph 0042).
To claim 309, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Bakish teach wherein the operations further include determining a biometric signature of the subject from light reflections associated with facial skin captured before the communication, and wherein the identity of the subject is determined using the corroborating facial skin light reflections and the biometric signature (paragraphs 0006-0010, 0038, 0058; paragraph 0063, user authentication module may operate after, or during, or before, or in parallel to, a process in which the user is requested or required to perform one or more operations).
To claim 312, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Bakish teach wherein the second data stream is indicative of a liveliness state of the subject and transmitting the second data stream enables verification of the communication authenticity based on the liveliness state of the subject (paragraphs 0010, 0051-0052).
To claim 313, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Bakish teach wherein the first data stream is indicative of an expression of the subject and the second data stream enables corroboration of the expression (expression is interpreted as vibration or motion reflected by raw data, paragraph 0018, any other suitable type of motion, and may not necessarily require vibration or resonance per se; and may include, for example, any suitable type of motion, movement, shifting, drifting, slanting, horizontal movement, vertical movement, diagonal movement, one-dimensional movement, two-dimensional movement, three-dimensional movement, or the like; paragraphs 0061, 0091-0092, facial movement estimation).
To claim 314, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Bakish teach wherein the operations further include storing in a data structure identifying facial skin micromovements of the subject vocalizing or prevocalizing a passphrase, and identifying the subject based on the vocalization or prevocalization of the passphrase (paragraphs 0047-0050, 0063, 0113, particular phrase).
To claim 315, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Bakish teach wherein the operations further include storing in a data structure a profile of the subject based on patterns of facial skin micromovements, and identifying the subject based on the patterns (paragraphs 0042, 0120-0121).
To claim 316, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Bakish teach wherein the first data stream is based on signals associated with sound captured by a microphone during the duration of the communication (201 of Fig. 2; paragraph 0113, acoustic microphone captures and records user’s speech, acoustic data).
To claim 318, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Bakish teach wherein generating the first data stream representing the communication by the subject includes reproducing speech based on the corroborating facial skin light reflections (paragraphs 0024, 0047, 0055, 0059, analyze the spectrum of the received optical signal with reference to the transmitted optical beam, and able to remotely estimate the audio or speech or utterances generated by the target, vibrate in a manner that corresponds to the utterances).
To claim 561, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Bakish teach wherein the light source is a coherent light source, and the second data stream is generated by applying a speckle analysis on the received signals (paragraph 0058, laser is coherent light source).
To claim 562, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Bakish teach wherein a size of the region of the face is less than 20 cm2 (obvious because it is well-known in the art that laser beam in laser microphone only measures a few millimeters in diameter, which would be a very small area, hence Official Notice is taken).
To claim 563, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Bakish teach wherein the identity of the subject is determined from facial skin micromovements that occur in a surface area of the portion of the face of less than one square centimeter (obvious because it is well-known in the art that laser beam in laser microphone only measures a few millimeters in diameter, which would be a very small area, hence Official Notice is taken).
To claim 565, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Bakish teach wherein comparing the first data stream to the second data stream comprises applying at least one of cross-correlation, Fourier Transform, statistical analysis, waveform matching, distance measures, or machine learning techniques to the first data stream or the second data stream (paragraphs 0043, 0057).
Claim(s) 303, 308 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bakish (US2018/0232511) in view of Holzrichter (US2012/0053931) and Boesen (US2019/0096000).
To claim 303, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Bakish and Holzrichter teach wherein checking that the communication originated from the subject incudes verifying during the duration of the conversation that speech captured originated from the subject (as explained in response to claim 301, wherein verification occurs during conversation or skin vibration), but Bakish and Holzrichter do not expressly disclose at regular time intervals.
Boesen teach a wireless wearable device using sensors to verify the identity of a user periodically while the user is wearing the wireless wearable device (paragraph 0053), which would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate into the apparatus of Bakish and Holzrichter, in order to implement authentication regularly.
To claim 308, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 306.
Bakish, Holzrichter and Boesen teach wherein verifying the identity includes verification at least periodic intervals throughout the communication that the subject spoke words presented in the communication (as explained in response to claim 303 above).
Claim(s) 304 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bakish (US2018/0232511) in view of Holzrichter (US2012/0053931) and Klinghult et al. (US2009/0010461).
To claim 304, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Though Bakish and Holzrichter do not expressly disclose wherein the first data stream and the second data stream are intermingled in a common omnibus data stream, multiplexing different data stream is a well-known transmission technique in the art, which would have been obvious to incorporate by design preference.
Klinghult teach a wireless headset using a multiplexer to combine sensor signals and audio signals together for transmission (paragraphs 0024-0027), which would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate into the apparatus of Bakish and Holzrichter, in order to enable a common omnibus data stream for preferential transmission.
Claim(s) 305 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bakish (US2018/0232511) in view of Holzrichter (US2012/0053931) and Evans et al. (US8970348).
To claim 305, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Bakish teach wherein the destination is a social network service the second data stream enables the social network service to publish the communication with an authenticity indicator (obvious in paragraph 0039, authentication for online service or website, wherein social network service would have been an obvious service require user authentication).
Evans teach wherein the destination is a social network service the second data stream enables the social network service to publish the communication with an authenticity indicator (column 3 lines 33-49), which would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate into the apparatus of Bakish and Holzrichter for targeted online service.
Claim(s) 310 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bakish (US2018/0232511) in view of Holzrichter (US2012/0053931) and Kalscheur et al. (US2019/0080153).
To claim 310, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 309.
But, Bakish and Holzrichter do not expressly disclose wherein the biometric signature is determined based on a micro-veins pattern in the facial skin.
Kalscheur teach wherein the biometric signature is determined based on a micro-veins pattern in the facial skin (paragraphs 0067, 0069, 0072 capturing subepidermal image with laser for individual vein pattern in facial skin; paragraphs 0075-0077, subepidermal matching provides user authentication), which would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate into the apparatus of Bakish and Holzrichter for providing alternative or additional authentication technique.
Claim(s) 311, 564 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bakish (US2018/0232511) in view of Holzrichter (US2012/0053931) and Ortiz et al. (US2021/0173916).
To claim 311, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 309.
Bakish teach wherein the biometric signature is determined based on a facial skin micromovement sequence associated with phonemes spoken by the subject (obvious in paragraphs 0061).
Ortiz further teach biometric signature is determined based on a facial skin micromovement sequence associated with phonemes spoken by the subject (paragraphs 0036, 0170, 0182, phoneme transition information, facial expression shifts between phonemes, lip movements, among others), which would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate into the apparatus of Bakish and Holzrichter, in order to implement particular authentication by design preference.
To claim 564, Bakish and Holzrichter teach claim 301.
Bakish teach wherein comparing the first data stream to the second data stream comprises determining a degree of similarity between the first data stream and the second data stream (paragraphs 0043-0045, 0085-0099).
Ortiz teach user identity authentication involves correlating extracted facial features with phonemes in auditory features of registered individual (paragraphs 0050, 0178-0184), which would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate into the apparatus of Bakish and Holzrichter, in order to implement combined individual features for identity authentication.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHIYU LU whose telephone number is (571)272-2837. The examiner can normally be reached Weekdays: 8:30AM - 5:00PM.
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ZHIYU . LU
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2669
/ZHIYU LU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2665 January 14, 2026