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 . In communications filed on 12/18/2025. Claims 1-3, 10-11, 13, 15-16, and 19-20 are amended. Claims 9, and 18 are cancelled. Claims 21-22 newly added. Claims 1-8, 10-17, and 19-22 are pending in this examination.
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. This examination is in response to US Patent Application No. 18/524,058.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendment, see page 9 of remarks, filed on 12/18/2025 with respect to claims 1, 10, and 19 under claim objection has been fully considered and are persuasive. The objection has been withdrawn. However, Examiner submits a USC35 112(a) , and (112(b) rejection for claims 1, 10, and 19( see below).
Applicant's arguments regarding the drawing objection, see pages 7-9 of remarks, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. In the FIG. 1B , the items do not have a text description of what the items are. Examiner maintain the objection ( see below for drawing objection).
Applicant's remarks filed on pages 9-10 on 12/18/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant has not given any reason why the cited referenced does not teach the amendment to claims 1, 10, and 19 , and submitted that with regard to the §103 rejection of claims 1-8, 10-17, and 19-22, Applicant respectfully traverses on the ground that the collective teachings of Brandenburger and Xie fail to disclose or suggest each and every limitation of claims 1-8, 10-17, and 19-22, arranged as recited in those claims.
Examiner refers application to claim rejection-35 USC 103 section below for mapping the claim 1 limitation plus the amended limitation.
Drawings
New corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in this application because [the drawing filed on 11/30/2023 does not describe what the item numbers are in the FIG 1B]. Applicant is advised to employ the services of a competent patent draftsperson outside the Office, as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office no longer prepares new drawings. The corrected drawings are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The requirement for corrected drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 1-8, 10-17, and 19-22 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
The independent claims 1, 10, and 19 recite “The encrypted data further comprising a signature issued by a publisher different than the user…. wherein the encrypted data is encrypted with a private key provided by one of the user and the publisher”; which renders the claim indefinite because the claim does not clearly explain what is the purpose of a publisher and its signature in the claim? Because the claim states that the user encrypted data includes signature issued by a publisher, later the claim states the encrypted data encrypted by with a private key provided by the user and publisher, if the authentication node uses the user public key and decrypt the encrypted data, then it can identify the user , for that reason, examiner is unclear why the applicant has introduced the publisher and it signature in the claim?
The independent claims 1, 10, and 19 recite “The encrypted data further comprising a signature issued by a publisher different than the user” which renders the claim indefinite because the claim does not indicate if the user encrypted data already encrypted with user private key and then the publisher signature added/ amended to the encrypted data OR the user personal information digitally signed by the publisher private key and the encrypted data forwarded to authentication not?
The independent claims 1, 10, and 19 recite “wherein the encrypted data is encrypted with a private key provided by one of the user and the publisher” which renders the claim indefinite because the claim does not states if the encrypted data encrypted with both private key of the user and publisher or just one of the?
Claims 2-8, 11-17, and 20-22 do not cure the deficiency of claims 1, 10, and 19 and are rejected under 35 USC 112, 2nd paragraph, for their dependency upon claim 1, 10, and 19.
As a result, the metes and bounds of the claim are not clear and the Examiner is unable to search for appropriate prior art. The examiner maps the limitation based on the broadest reasonable interpretation.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 1-8, 10-17, and 19-22 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 independent claims 1, 10, and 19 recite “The encrypted data further comprising a signature issued by a publisher different than the user…. wherein the encrypted data is encrypted with a private key provided by one of the user and the publisher”; 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 pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
The independent claims 1, 10, and 19 recite “The encrypted data further comprising a signature issued by a publisher different than the user” , 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 pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
The independent claims 1, 10, and 19 recite “wherein the encrypted data is encrypted with a private key provided by one of the user and the publisher”, 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 pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Applicant is kindly requested to show the examiner support in the original disclosure for the new or amended claims. See MPEP 714.02 and 2163.06 (“Applicant should specifically point out the support for any amendments made to the disclosure").
Claims 2-8, 11-17, and 20-22 do not cure the deficiency of claims 1, 10, and 19 and are rejected under 35 USC 112, 1st paragraph, for their dependency upon claim 1, 10, and 19.
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 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 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.
Claims 1-8, 10-17, 10-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent No. (US2022/0360450) issued to Brandenbuger and in view of US Patent No. (US2019/0288854) issued to XIE.
Regarding claims 1, 10, and 19, XIE discloses a method for identity authentication, comprising determining a confidence of an authentication node based on historical behavior, consensus, contribution, and security of the authentication node [¶¶112-113, With respect to the data writing of the blockchain, a blockchain node writes data to the blockchain by publishing a transaction to the blockchain network. The transaction includes: a transaction data packet generated by the blockchain node according to a preset transaction data format, and a digital signature performed on the transaction data packet by using the private key of the blockchain node, wherein the digital signature is used for proving the identity of the user of the blockchain node; thereafter, the transaction is recorded in the new block generated by “miners” (i.e., the blockchain nodes that implement a PoW (Proof Of Work) consensus competition mechanism) in the blockchain network, and the transaction is published to the blockchain network. In various embodiments disclosed by the present invention, the process of writing data into the blockchain is performed by using the above process. The application scenario involved in the various embodiments disclosed by the present invention may be an identity authentication system. The system is based on a blockchain, and may include at least: a blockchain, two or more user nodes and an identity proof publishing node, and the blockchain, the user nodes and the identity proof publishing node belong to the same blockchain network. The user node is a demand node for identity proof and is used for actually performing an identity authentication operation. The identity proof publishing node is a node used for publishing the identity proof for the user node. The “publishing the identity proof” herein refers to verifying and performing digital signature on the identity information of the user node and writing the digital signature into the blockchain, moreover, in the blockchain network]; and
receiving, by the authentication node, [¶¶5-8, In order to achieve the above objective, according to a first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the present disclosure provides a method for blockchain-based identity authentication, applied to an authenticating party node, comprising: receiving an authentication request sent by an authenticated party node, wherein the authentication request includes the identity information of the authenticated party node and the identity information of an identity proof publishing node. in the case that it is determined that the identity information of the authenticated party node, the identity information of the identity proof publishing node and a first digital signature obtained by the identity proof publishing node by performing digital signature on the identity information of the authenticated party node have been written into a blockchain, verifying the first digital signature according to a public key of the identity proof publishing node, wherein the public key of the identity proof publishing node is obtained according to the identity information of the identity proof publishing node; after the first digital signature passes the verification, determining whether the authenticated party node has mastered a private key corresponding to the public key of the authenticated party node, wherein the public key of the authenticated party node is obtained according to the identity information of the authenticated party node; and in the case that it is determined that the authenticated party node has mastered the private key corresponding to the public key of the authenticated party node, it is determined that the authenticated party node passes the identity authentication]; and
and the 6, receiving an authentication request sent by an authenticated party node, wherein the authentication request includes the identity information of the authenticated party node and the identity information of an identity proof publishing node]; and
wherein the encrypted data is encrypted with a private key provided by one of the user and the publisher, the private key having a corresponding public key generated based on the private key, and the decentralized network generates a decentralized identifier associated with the user based on the public key and stores the decentralized identifier and the public key in a decentralized identifier document ; the encrypted data further comprising a signature issued by a publisher different than the user [¶¶5-8, In order to achieve the above objective, according to a first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the present disclosure provides a method for blockchain-based identity authentication, applied to an authenticating party node, comprising: receiving an authentication request sent by an authenticated party node, wherein the authentication request includes the identity information of the authenticated party node and the identity information of an identity proof publishing node. in the case that it is determined that the identity information of the authenticated party node, the identity information of the identity proof publishing node and a first digital signature obtained by the identity proof publishing node by performing digital signature on the identity information of the authenticated party node have been written into a blockchain, verifying the first digital signature according to a public key of the identity proof publishing node, wherein the public key of the identity proof publishing node is obtained according to the identity information of the identity proof publishing node; after the first digital signature passes the verification, determining whether the authenticated party node has mastered a private key corresponding to the public key of the authenticated party node, wherein the public key of the authenticated party node is obtained according to the identity information of the authenticated party node; and in the case that it is determined that the authenticated party node has mastered the private key corresponding to the public key of the authenticated party node, it is determined that the authenticated party node passes the identity authentication]; and
decrypting the encrypted data; and determining an identity of the user based on authentication of the decrypted data [¶¶8-10, after the first digital signature passes the verification, determining whether the authenticated party node has mastered a private key corresponding to the public key of the authenticated party node, wherein the public key of the authenticated party node is obtained according to the identity information of the authenticated party node; and in the case that it is determined that the authenticated party node has mastered the private key corresponding to the public key of the authenticated party node, it is determined that the authenticated party node passes the identity authentication. Alternatively, after the first digital signature passes the verification, determining whether the authenticated party node has mastered a private key corresponding to the public key of the authenticated party node comprises: after the first digital signature passes the verification, sending verification information to the authenticated party node]; and [¶¶117, Step 102, after the authenticating party node determines that the identity information of the authenticated party node, the identity information of the identity proof publishing node and a first digital signature obtained by the identity proof publishing node by performing digital signature on the identity information of the authenticated party node have been written into a blockchain, and after the first digital signature passes the verification of the authenticating party node, verification of determining whether the authenticated party node has mastered a private key corresponding to the public key of the authenticated party node is performed with the authenticating party node. Step 103, in the case that the authenticating party node determines that the authenticated party node has mastered the private key corresponding to the public key of the authenticated party node, the authenticated party node passes the identity authentication].
While XIE discloses the personal information associated with the user as the identity information of the authenticated party node, however, does not explicitly disclose, and Brandenburger discloses as: [ see FIG 1A and corresponding text for more details ], and [¶50, In addition to anonymizing the raw data submitted by the data owner node 110, the anonymization service 122 may generate an authenticator object (e.g., further described in the examples of FIGS. 4A and 4B) which can be used to prove the anonymized data is valid data submitted by a registered entity of the consortium/blockchain 130. For example, the authenticator may be a structured message, data object, etc., such as a network message, an XML file, a CSV file, a data file, or the like. The authenticator may include i) a hash (h.sub.rd) of the original data (i.e., the raw data), ii) a hash (h.sub.ad) of the anonymized data, iii) a digital signature over hash (h.sub.rd∥h.sub.hd), and iv) a signer identity. Note ∥ denotes the concatenation of the hash of the raw data and the hash of the anonymized data], and [¶47, anonymized data can also be used as input for interference using machine learning. Examples of anonymized data include personal health information (personally identifiable information, sensitive personal data, e.g., patients’ data), medical data, customers data (personal information), advertisement tracking information (commercially sensitive data, e.g., locations, personal information), credit card information, and other transaction data], and [¶53, As an example, the identifier of the authenticator object may be a hash value of the anonymized data. Here, the aggregator node 140 may compute the hash of the received anonymized data and query the blockchain for an authenticator object corresponding to the hash value of the anonymized data. Additionally, the aggregator can also subscribe at the blockchain 130 to automatically receive a notification once a transaction has been committed comprising the authenticator object for the received anonymized data].
While XIE discloses receive data as includes the identity information of the authenticated party node and the identity information of an identity proof publishing node, however, does not explicitly disclose, encrypted data, and Brandenburger discloses as: [¶63, Data written to the blockchain can be public and/or can be encrypted and maintained as private], and [¶115, The blockchain may be formed in various ways. In one embodiment, the digital content may be included in and accessed from the blockchain itself. For example, each block of the blockchain may store a hash value of reference information (e.g., header, value, etc.) along the associated digital content. The hash value and associated digital content may then be encrypted together. Thus, the digital content of each block may be accessed by decrypting each block in the blockchain, and the hash value of each block may be used as a basis to reference a previous block].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of XIE by incorporating “anonymization service to prove the anonymized data is valid data submitted by a registered entity”, as taught by Brandenburger. One could have been motivated to do so in order In order to generate authenticator object by anonymization service by anonymizing the raw data submitted by the data owner node which includes personal health information (personally identifiable information, sensitive personal data, e.g., patients’ data), medical data, customers data (personal information), and where the authenticator object includes a hash (h.sub.rd) of the original data (i.e., the raw data), ii) a hash (h.sub.ad) of the anonymized data, iii) a digital signature over hash (h.sub.rd∥h.sub.hd), and iv) a signer identity to prove the anonymized data is valid data submitted by a registered entity of the consortium/blockchain [ Brandenbuger, ¶¶47, 50].
Regarding claims 2, 11, and 20, the combination of XIE and Brandenbuger discloses wherein decrypting, by the authentication node, the encrypted data comprises: decrypting the encrypted data using a public key which is stored in a decentralized identifier (DID) document in the decentralized network.
XIE discloses: [¶112] With respect to the data writing of the blockchain, a blockchain node writes data to the blockchain by publishing a transaction to the blockchain network. The transaction includes: a transaction data packet generated by the blockchain node according to a preset transaction data format, and a digital signature performed on the transaction data packet by using the private key of the blockchain node, wherein the digital signature is used for proving the identity of the user of the blockchain node; thereafter, the transaction is recorded in the new block generated by “miners” (i.e., the blockchain nodes that implement a PoW (Proof Of Work) consensus competition mechanism) in the blockchain network, and the transaction is published to the blockchain network. After the transaction passes the verification performed by other blockchain nodes (the other nodes may obtain the public key of the blockchain node from the transaction generated by the blockchain node and verifies the digital signature according to the public key of the blockchain node, and the other nodes may also verify whether the transaction data packet is a specified data structure in addition to verifying the digital signature) and is accepted, the transaction is written into the blockchain].
Brandenbuger discloses: [¶63, Data written to the blockchain can be public and/or can be encrypted and maintained as private], and [¶115, The blockchain may be formed in various ways. In one embodiment, the digital content may be included in and accessed from the blockchain itself. For example, each block of the blockchain may store a hash value of reference information (e.g., header, value, etc.) along the associated digital content. The hash value and associated digital content may then be encrypted together. Thus, the digital content of each block may be accessed by decrypting each block in the blockchain, and the hash value of each block may be used as a basis to reference a previous block], and [¶145, the public key may be distributed publicly to serve as an address to receive messages from other users, e.g., an IP address or home address. The private key is kept secret and used to digitally sign messages sent to other blockchain participants. The signature is included in the message so that the recipient can verify using the public key of the sender. This way, the recipient can be sure that only the sender could have sent this message].
Regarding claims 3, 12, and 21, XIE discloses wherein authenticating, by the authentication node, the decrypted data comprises: authenticating the data by determining a consistency of the signature in the data and the publisher signature in a publishing node [¶¶7-8, in the case that it is determined that the identity information of the authenticated party node, the identity information of the identity proof publishing node and a first digital signature obtained by the identity proof publishing node by performing digital signature on the identity information of the authenticated party node have been written into a blockchain, verifying the first digital signature according to a public key of the identity proof publishing node, wherein the public key of the identity proof publishing node is obtained according to the identity information of the identity proof publishing node; after the first digital signature passes the verification, determining whether the authenticated party node has mastered a private key corresponding to the public key of the authenticated party node, wherein the public key of the authenticated party node is obtained according to the identity information of the authenticated party node; and in the case that it is determined that the authenticated party node has mastered the private key corresponding to the public key of the authenticated party node, it is determined that the authenticated party node passes the identity authentication].
Regarding claims 4, and 13, XIE discloses determining rights of the user based on strategy control in the authentication node and the encrypted data; and allowing the user to perform operations on the decentralized network based on the rights of the user[¶8, after the first digital signature passes the verification, determining whether the authenticated party node has mastered a private key corresponding to the public key of the authenticated party node, wherein the public key of the authenticated party node is obtained according to the identity information of the authenticated party node; and in the case that it is determined that the authenticated party node has mastered the private key corresponding to the public key of the authenticated party node, it is determined that the authenticated party node passes the identity authentication].
Regarding claims 5, and 14, XIE does not explicitly disclose, however, Branden burger discloses wherein allowing the user to perform the operations on the decentralized network comprises: adding data to the decentralized network; deleting data from the decentralized network; and modifying data in the decentralized network [ ¶130, The type of processing performed may vary from block to block. The processing may involve, for example, any modification of a file in a preceding block, such as redacting information or otherwise changing the content of, taking information away from, or adding or appending information to the files].
Regarding claims 6, 15, and 22, the combination of XIE and Brandenburger discloses issuing, by the authentication node, an identity signature to the user, wherein the identity signature is used for authentication with another authentication node.
XIE discloses: [0113] In various embodiments disclosed by the present invention, the process of writing data into the blockchain is performed by using the above process. The application scenario involved in the various embodiments disclosed by the present invention may be an identity authentication system. The system is based on a blockchain, and may include at least: a blockchain, two or more user nodes and an identity proof publishing node, and the blockchain, the user nodes and the identity proof publishing node belong to the same blockchain network. The user node is a demand node for identity proof and is used for actually performing an identity authentication operation. The identity proof publishing node is a node used for publishing the identity proof for the user node. The “publishing the identity proof” herein refers to verifying and performing digital signature on the identity information of the user node and writing the digital signature into the blockchain, moreover, in the blockchain network, the identity proof publishing node may not be a fixed node, and as long as any node is configured with a private key of the identity proof publishing node, its role is an identity authentication publishing node. In general, (an account address or a public key) of the identity information of the identity proof publishing node has been written into the blockchain and is accepted by the user node.], and [¶117, Step 102, after the authenticating party node determines that the identity information of the authenticated party node, the identity information of the identity proof publishing node and a first digital signature obtained by the identity proof publishing node by performing digital signature on the identity information of the authenticated party node have been written into a blockchain, and after the first digital signature passes the verification of the authenticating party node, verification of determining whether the authenticated party node has mastered a private key corresponding to the public key of the authenticated party node is performed with the authenticating party node.], and [¶¶122-123],
Brandenburger discloses: [¶55, For example, the aggregator node 140 may verify the received anonymized data using the corresponding authenticator object. In some embodiments, the aggregator node 140 verifies the signature of the anonymization service 122 over the hash values using the signer identity. In particular, the aggregator node 140 may check that the received anonymized data matches the data referenced in the authenticator using hash comparison. Moreover, the aggregator node 140 may check that the signer identity is also registered on the blockchain and there exists a valid attestation. If these checks are successful, the aggregator node 140 may forward the anonymized data to the data processing pipeline. Otherwise, the aggregator node 140 may terminate the process].
Regarding claims 7, and 16, XIE does not explicitly disclose, however, Branden burger discloses revoking or modifying, by the authentication node, the identity signature in response to invalidation of the identity signature [¶43, When the aggregator node has both the authenticator object from the blockchain and the anonymized data from the data owner/organization, the aggregator node verifies the signature of the anonymization service in the aggregator object using the signer identity included in the aggregator object. For example, the aggregator node may check that the received anonymized data matches the data referenced in the authenticator using hash comparison. Moreover, the aggregator checks that the signer identity is also registered on the blockchain and there exists a valid attestation, as described above. If these checks are successful, the aggregator node may forward the validated anonymized data to the DPP. In the case that no authenticator is submitted for some anonymized data, the data will be dropped after some timeout. In some cases, the aggregator node is a first node within the DPP (which may include one or more computing systems that train an analytic model)].
Regarding claims 8, and 17, XIE does not explicitly disclose, however, Branden burger discloses, wherein the authentication node communicates with an identity federator to authenticate the identity of the user [¶45, the aggregator node 140 is the first node in the data processing pipeline which includes the aggregator node 140 and one or more analytic nodes 150.].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
See submitted 892 for more relevant references.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHAHRIAR ZARRINEH whose telephone number is (571)272-1207. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30am-5:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jorge 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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/SHAHRIAR ZARRINEH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2496