Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/569,982

GENERATING AND EXECUTING ENCRYPTED PROGRAM INSTRUCTIONS BY MEANS OF A DIGITAL CONTROL DEVICE

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Dec 13, 2023
Examiner
KHUU, HIEN DIEU THI
Art Unit
2116
Tech Center
2100 — Computer Architecture & Software
Assignee
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
87%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 9m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 87% — above average
87%
Career Allow Rate
392 granted / 451 resolved
+31.9% vs TC avg
Strong +15% interview lift
Without
With
+15.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
28 currently pending
Career history
479
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
17.2%
-22.8% vs TC avg
§103
24.7%
-15.3% vs TC avg
§102
31.6%
-8.4% vs TC avg
§112
19.0%
-21.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 451 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
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 . Status of Claims Claims 16-30 are currently pending in this application. Claims 1-15 are canceled. Claim Objections Claims 16, 18-19, 25-26, 28, and 30 are objected to because of the following informality: Claims 16 and 29 recite acronym “CAM”, claims 18-19 and 25-26 recite acronym “NC”, claims 28 and 30 recite acronym “CNC”, and claims 25-26 recite acronym “DRM” that need to spell out upon their first mention. Claims 18 and 29 are objected to because of the following informality: Each of claims 18 and 29 recites the feature “workpiece data” (claim 16 line 6 and claim 29 line 7) hat has insufficient antecedent basis. Claim 19 is objected to because of the following informality: Claim 19 recites the feature “the NC kernel” that has insufficient antecedent basis. Claim 19 is interpreted to depend under claim 18 and not under claim 16 for antecedent basis. Appropriate corrections are required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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. (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 16-17, 20-23, and 27-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or (a)(2) as being anticipated by Tarnofsky et al. (WO-2020043723-A1). With respect to claims 16 and 29, Tarnofsky teaches a method and a manufacturing machine system for operating a numerical control facility for controlling a manufacturing machine for manufacturing a workpiece and the manufacturing machine system (method and system for providing processing of a workpiece on a numerically controlled machine tool 100, abstract and figs.1-2), comprising: a manufacturing machine (a numerically controlled machine tool 100, figs.1-2); and a numerical control facility (numerical controlled system of fig.1 and fig.2) configured to: providing workpiece data on the numerical control facility1 (providing processing data to a {control} data processing device 300 {fig.1}…comprise numeric control data, in particular one or more NC programs, on the basis of which a processing of a workpiece on the numerically controlled machine tool, fig.1/3 and page 8; machining data are provided which indicate or specify the machining of one or more workpieces on a machine tool, page 8; {control} data processing device 300 is arranged in a control panel of the NC machine tool 100, page 6, thus {control} data processing device 300 is interpreted as a component of the NC ‘facility’ {space, place, network, or system}); providing CAM software on the numerical control facility; generating program instructions on the numerical control facility by the CAM software in accordance with workpiece data for manufacturing the workpiece by the manufacturing machine (data processing from CAD / CAM systems (CAD for Computer Aided Design, CAM for Computer Aided Manufacturing) are provided and to the control data processing device on an upstream computer or directly machine tool, page 3; {control} data processing device 300 is arranged in a control panel of the NC machine tool 100, page 6, thus {control} data processing device 300 is interpreted as a component of the NC ‘facility’ {space, place, network, or system}; data processing device 300 can, for example, be set up to read, process and execute NC data of a machining program, in particular by executing the NC program and executing commands specified in the NC program, commands given in the NC program for execution to the To transmit NC control 211 and / or the PLC control 212 or, based on the commands specified in the NC program, to transmit corresponding control commands or signals for execution to the NC control 211 and / or the PLC control 212, page 7); encrypting the program instructions (encryption of the generated execution data is carried out on the basis of the entered encryption specifications, page 10, the encrypted execution data comprising the processing data and/or the execution data with encrypted processing data provided, page 10) and saving of the encrypted program instructions in a non-volatile memory of the numerical control facility (the encrypted execution data comprising the processing data and/or the execution data with encrypted processing data provided and/or transmitted via the network 700 to the area C, S307 and page 10; area C as taught in fig.2 includes the machine tools 100, NC control 200, and data processing device 300, fig.1 teaches the data processing device 300 includes data storage device 330 with hard disk and/or a flash memory, figs.1-2 and page 6; data processing device 300 set up to read, process and execute NC data of a machining program, in particular by executing the NC program and executing commands specified in the NC program, commands given in the NC program for execution to the To transmit NC control 211 and / or the PLC control 212 or, based on the commands specified in the NC program, to transmit corresponding control commands or signals for execution to the NC control 211 and / or the PLC control 212, page 7, thus area C is interpreted as the components of the numerical control facility); reading out the encrypted program instructions from the non-volatile memory; decrypting the encrypted program instructions; and processing of the decrypted program instructions by the numerical control facility for controlling the manufacturing machine for manufacturing the workplace (the NC code of the machining program can be decrypted on the graphical user interface of the control panel {of the NC machine tool 100}…the decryption of the NC code is only carried out by the NC code execution system directly when the machining program is executed…decrypted NC code or decrypted machining data on the data processing device 300 of the machine tool, page 8; encryption key…can be obtained…from server 400 of area C, page 10; The encryption specifications can also specify the period in which the processing data and / or execution data can be decrypted. This can limit the possibility of executing the machining to a permitted period or manufacturing period in which the manufacturing by machining the workpiece is permitted, page 9). With respect to claims 17, Tarnofsky teaches wherein the program instructions form individual sets or blocks of a plurality of sets of a parts program for manufacturing the workplace (the machining data can only be simulated in blocks on the machine tool simulation application 502, page 12). With respect to claims 20, Tarnofsky teaches wherein the program instructions are decrypted in accordance with metadata associated with the program instructions. With respect to claim 21, Tarnofsky teaches wherein the decryption of the program instructions is restricted to a particular numerical control facility and/or a particular manufacturing machine and/or a particular license (the execution data preferably also specifying the authentication specification…indicate a permissible machine tool type or a permissible machine tool, pages 5 and 11). With respect to claim 22, Tarnofsky teaches wherein a key is used for encryption and decryption of the program instructions (encryption key…can be obtained…from server 400 of area C, page 10). With respect to claim 23, Tarnofsky teaches wherein a first key is used for encryption (the encryption key data K2 can be assigned to the machine data M2 and the encryption key data K3 can be assigned to the machine data M3, page 7) and a second key for decryption of the program instructions (a private key or encryption key on the storage medium 330 (step S402 results in YES), then the execution data is decrypted in step, page 11). With respect to claim 27, Tarnofsky teaches a numerical control facility for performing a method of claim 16 (CNC control system of fig.1). With respect to claim 28, Tarnofsky teaches designed as a CNC control system (CNC control system of fig.1). With respect to claim 30, Tarnofsky teaches wherein the numerical control facility comprises a CNC control system and the manufacturing system comprises a machine tool (method and system for providing processing of a workpiece on a numerically controlled machine tool 100, abstract and figs.1-2). 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. 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 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tarnofsky et al. (WO-2020043723-A1) in view of Wang et al. (CN-102087515-B). With respect to claim 18/16, Tarnofsky teaches wherein the encrypted program instructions are decrypted in a NC kernel of the numerical control facility (Tarnofsky: the NC code of the machining program can be decrypted on the graphical user interface of the control panel {of the NC machine tool 100}…the decryption of the NC code is only carried out by the NC code execution system directly when the machining program is executed…decrypted NC code or decrypted machining data on the data processing device 300 of the machine tool, page 8). But Tarnofsky fails to state the obvious that the numerical control facility includes a NC kernel. However, it is known by Wang to teach that the numerical control facility includes a NC kernel (Wang: CNC kernel 121, page 4). Because Wang’s teaching is also directed to a method and a manufacturing machine system for operating a numerical control facility for controlling a manufacturing machine for manufacturing a workpiece and the manufacturing machine system (Wang: fig.1; Tarnofsky: method and system for providing processing of a workpiece on a numerically controlled machine tool 100, abstract and figs.1-2), it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate the teaching that the numerical control facility includes a NC kernel as taught by Wang with the method and system for controlling a manufacturing machine as taught by Tarnofsky for the purpose of realizing interpolation calculating and motion control (Wang: page 4). With respect to claim 19/16, Tarnofsky teaches wherein the decrypted program instructions are only made available in a volatile memory of the numerical control facility (Tarnofsky: the encrypted execution data comprising the processing data and/or the execution data with encrypted processing data provided and/or transmitted via the network 700 to the area C, S307 and page 10; area C as taught in fig.2 includes the machine tools 100, NC control 200, and data processing device 300, fig.1 teaches the data processing device 300 includes data storage device 330 with hard disk and/or a flash memory, figs.1-2 and page 6; data processing device 300 set up to read, process and execute NC data of a machining program, in particular by executing the NC program and executing commands specified in the NC program, commands given in the NC program for execution to the To transmit NC control 211 and / or the PLC control 212 or, based on the commands specified in the NC program, to transmit corresponding control commands or signals for execution to the NC control 211 and / or the PLC control 212, page 7, thus area C is interpreted as the components of the numerical control facility). But Tarnofsky fails to state the obvious that the numerical control facility includes a NC kernel. However, it is known by Wang to teach that the numerical control facility includes a NC kernel (Wang: CNC kernel 121, page 4). Because Wang’s teaching is also directed to a method and a manufacturing machine system for operating a numerical control facility for controlling a manufacturing machine for manufacturing a workpiece and the manufacturing machine system (Wang: fig.1; Tarnofsky: method and system for providing processing of a workpiece on a numerically controlled machine tool 100, abstract and figs.1-2), it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate the teaching that the numerical control facility includes a NC kernel as taught by Wang with the method and system for controlling a manufacturing machine as taught by Tarnofsky for the purpose of realizing interpolation calculating and motion control (Wang: page 4). Claim 24/16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tarnofsky et al. (WO-2020043723-A1) in view of Wu et al. (“A flexible and lightweight user-demand DRM system for multimedia contents over multiple portable device platforms”, Softw. Pract. Exper., 2017, P.1417-1441). With respect to claim 24, Tarnofsky does not appear to teach wherein encryption and decryption takes place using OpenSSL software. However, it is known by Wu to teach of an encryption and decryption system that takes place using Open SSL software (Wu: figure 20 and p.1430-1432). Because Wu’s teaching is also directed to an teach of an encryption and decryption system (Wu: figure 20; Tarnofsky: figs.1-2), it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate the teaching of an Open SSL software as taught by Wu with the encryption and decryption system of Wu for a well-known purpose of providing the foundational libraries for secure communication over networks, making it an indispensable part of modern internet security. Claims 25/18/16 and 26/18/16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tarnofsky et al. (WO-2020043723-A1) in view of Wang et al. (CN-102087515-B) and further in view of Wu et al. (“A flexible and lightweight user-demand DRM system for multimedia contents over multiple portable device platforms”, Softw. Pract. Exper., 2017, P.1417-1441). With respect to claims 25-26, Tarnofsky and Wang combined teaches wherein the NC kernel manages access rights, accesses the encrypted program instructions, and decrypts and processes the encrypted program instructions only after successful authentication (Wang: CNC kernel 121, page 4; Tarnofsky: the encrypted execution data comprising the processing data and/or the execution data with encrypted processing data provided and/or transmitted via the network 700 to the area C, S307 and page 10; the NC code of the machining program can be decrypted on the graphical user interface of the control panel {of the NC machine tool 100}…the decryption of the NC code is only carried out by the NC code execution system directly when the machining program is executed…decrypted NC code or decrypted machining data on the data processing device 300 of the machine tool, page 8; the execution data preferably also specifying the authentication specification…indicate a permissible machine tool type or a permissible machine tool, pages 5 and 11). But Tarnofsky and Wang combined does not appear to teach controlling the access and usage of the program instructions by the DRM library. However, it is known by Wu to teach of an encryption and decryption system (Wu: figure 20 and p.1430-1432) that controls access to content via DRM library (Wu: a secure DRM system with a design based on user demands, where a consumer can access contents only on authenticated devices until the authorization expires, p.1417,1422, and 1428-1430). Because Wu’s teaching is also directed to an teach of an encryption and decryption system (Wu: figure 20; Tarnofsky: figs.1-2), it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate the teaching of a DRM library as taught by Wu with the encryption and decryption system of Wu for a well-known purpose of providing the foundational libraries for secure communication over networks, making it an indispensable part of modern internet security. Conclusion The additional prior arts made of record and have not been relied upon are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure as follows: CN_101750998_A and Xu et al. (CN-102087515-B) teaches of a CNC system embedded with encryption and decryption of programming instructions (See Abstract). Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HIEN (CINDY) D KHUU whose telephone number is (571)272-8585. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9am-5:30pm. 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, Ken Lo can be reached on 571-272-9774. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /HIEN D KHUU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2116 January 29, 2026 1 The phrase providing workpiece data “on the numerical control facility” can be interpreted as the data being provided is regarding/concerning the numerical control facility or the data being provided is situated on the numerical control facility. Additionally, the term “facility” can be interpreted as: space, place, network, or system of the numerical control and not construed as a singular/particular device. It is suggested that the limitations be amended as such: providing workplace data [[on]]to the numerical control facility; providing CAM software [[on]]to the numerical control facility; generating program instructions [[on]]by the numerical control facility [[by]]with the CAM software in accordance with the workpiece data for manufacturing the workpiece by the manufacturing machine; encrypting the program instructions by the numerical control facility and saving of the encrypted program instructions in a non-volatile memory of the numerical control facility; reading out, by the numerical control facility, the encrypted program instructions from the non-volatile memory; decrypting, by the numerical control facility, the encrypted program instructions.
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Dec 13, 2023
Application Filed
Jan 29, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §103
Apr 13, 2026
Interview Requested

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
87%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+15.3%)
2y 9m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 451 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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