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 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.
This action is in response to the correspondence filed 12/27/2023.
Claims 1-24, 28 and 29 are presented for examination.
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.
Claims 16 and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wu F, Yao W, Zhang X, Wang W, Zheng Z. Identity-based Proxy Signature Over NTRU Lattice. Int J Commun Syst. 2019; 32: e3867. https:// doi.org/ 10.1002/ dac.3867 (hereinafter Wu).
As to claims 16 and 29, Wu teaches a lattice-based proxy signature verification method, applied to a verification node, comprising: acquiring a message and proxy signature information (Page 7, section 6, ProxyVfy, received signature from proxy signer); acquiring public key information which comprises a public key of a first node, a public key of a second node and a proxy public key (Page 5, section 6 and Page 7 section 6, ProxyVfy gets the mpk, PKo, PKp and PKd for verifying the proxy signature information and proxy signature of the message); verifying validity of the proxy signature information based on the public key information (Page 5, section 6 and Page 7 section 6, Vfy(par, W, Cert, mpk, PKo; and checking Cert1, Cert2); and verifying validity of a proxy signature of the message based on the proxy public key (Page 5, section 6 and Page 7 section 6, Vfy(par, W, Cert, mpk, PKp, Z1, Z2) and Vfy(par, PKd, Z3, Z4; and checking Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4).
Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Wu et al. (Cited above) teaches an identity-based proxy signature scheme over Number Theory Research Unit (NTRU)-lattice including key generation, delegation key and certificate generation and proxy signature generation and verification.
US 20150358167 A1 to Wang et al. teaches a certificateless multi-proxy signature method and apparatus, where the method may include computing, by a proxy signature device, a public key and a private key of the proxy signature device according to a public parameter, where the public key is corresponding to the private key, acquiring a verification result of a standard signature and determining, according to the verification result, whether the standard signature is valid, computing a partial proxy signature of the proxy signature device according to the private key if the verification result is used to represent that the standard signature is valid, and sending the partial proxy signature to a proxy signature device administrator, so that after the proxy signature device administrator obtains a multi-proxy signature through computation according to the partial proxy signature, a multi-proxy signature verification device verifies the multi-proxy signature.
US 20080133926 A1 to Gentry teaches methods and systems for generating and verifying signatures of digital messages communicated between signers and verifiers. Using bilinear mappings, such as Weil or Tate pairings, these methods and systems enable generation and verification of efficient multisignatures, identity-based ring signatures, hierarchical proxy signatures, and hierarchical online/offline signatures.
US 20150229478 A1 to Hoffstein et al. teaches a method for signing and subsequently verifying a digital message, including the following steps implemented using at least one processor-based subsystem: selecting parameters including an integer q and a relatively smaller integer p that is coprime with q; generating random polynomial f relating to p and random polynomial g relating to q; producing a public key that includes h, where h is equal to a product that can be derived using g and the inverse of f mod q; producing a private key from which f and g can be derived; storing the private key and publishing the public key; producing a message digest by applying a hash function to the digital message; producing a digital signature using the message digest and the private key; and performing a verification procedure utilizing the digital signature and the public key to determine whether the signature is valid.
US 20080126801 A1 to Lee et al. teaches a method and apparatus for generating a proxy signature on a right object, and a method and apparatus for issuing a proxy signature certificate. The right object proxy signature method includes receiving a proxy signature certificate in which authority for right object conversion is specified, from a right issuer; receiving a right object from a first apparatus; signing the right object; and transmitting the signed right object and the proxy signature certificate to a second apparatus. Accordingly, by allowing a right object to be signed by a third right object proxy signature apparatus, not by a right issuer, users can freely share their own content between a variety of apparatuses, and the right issuer can reduce the load associated with the conversion and signature of right objects.
US 20140211943 A1 to Nyang teaches proxy key generation, and signature generation and validation. In some examples, a cryptographic key generation system may include an original key generation unit configured to generate a public key and a private key for an original signer, a proxy key generation unit configured to generate one or more proxy public keys and one or more proxy private keys for one or more proxy signers, and a transmitter configured to transmit the proxy private keys respectively to the one or more proxy signers.
US 20090327735 A1 to Feng et al. teaches a "proxy re-signature system" provides various techniques for transforming a delegatee's signature on a message m into a delegator's on the same message m. Various embodiments of non-interactive re-signature generation processes are described. Various embodiments to aggregate part of signatures to reduce the size of re-signed signatures are also described. Various combinations of the proxy re-signature process and the re-signature conversion process result in an overall process that is unidirectional, multi-use, private, and non-interactive. As such, the proxy re-signature system is applicable for use with a wide range of applications.
US 20040151309 A1 to Gentry et al. teaches a method and system for generating and verifying a digital signature of a message is provided. The digital signature includes digital signature polynomials. Two relatively prime ideals p and q of a ring R are selected. A private key and the second ideal q are used to generate a public key. One or more message polynomials are generated based on the message to be signed. The digital signature polynomials are generated using at least one of the message polynomials, at least one of the private key polynomials, and at least one of the ideals p and q, wherein the digital signature polynomials in unreduced form are not multiples of the private key polynomials in the ring R. The signature is then verified by confirming that a deviation between at least one of the message polynomials and at least one of the digital signature polynomials is less than a predetermined deviation threshold.
Allowable Subject Matter
After a complete search of the entire relevant prior art, the examiner has determined that claims 1-15 and 28 are in condition for allowance. Accordingly, claims 1-15 and 28 are allowed over the prior art of record.
Claims 17 and 18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Independent claims 1 and 28, and its dependent claims, are allowable over the prior art of record, including Wu, Wang, Gentry, Hoffstein and the remaining references cited by the Examiner and the Applicant’s IDS, since the prior art, taken individually or in combination, fails to particularly disclose, fairly suggest or render obvious the combination of randomly selecting a first signature polynomial from the first ring, and calculating a signature of the delegation certificate based on the first signature polynomial, the first public key and the first private key and sending proxy information to the second node for calculating a proxy public key and a proxy private key, to allow the second node to implement proxy signature on a message based on the proxy public key and the proxy private key, wherein the proxy information comprises the proxy signature polynomial, the delegation certificate and the signature of the delegation certificate, in view of the other limitations of the claim, as specified in the claim 1;
Independent claim 8, and its dependent claims, are allowable over the prior art of record, including Wu, Wang, Gentry, Hoffstein and the remaining references cited by the Examiner and the Applicant’s IDS, since the prior art, taken individually or in combination, fails to particularly disclose, fairly suggest or render obvious the combination of receiving proxy information sent by a first node, wherein the proxy information comprises a proxy signature polynomial, a delegation certificate and a signature of the delegation certificate, calculating a proxy signature of a message based on the third signature polynomial, the proxy public key and the proxy private key and outputting proxy signature information which comprises the delegation certificate, the signature of the delegation certificate, the signature of the proxy information and the proxy signature of the message, in view of the other limitations of the claim, as specified in the claim 8;
Dependent claim 17 is allowable over the prior art of record, including Wu, Wang, Gentry, Hoffstein and the remaining references cited by the Examiner and the Applicant’s IDS, taken individually or in combination, because the prior art of record fails to particularly disclose, fairly suggest or render obvious calculating a counter-signature C1' for a signature (Z11, Z12, C1) of a delegation certificate based on the public key of the first node, wherein in a case that c1’ is equal to c1, it is verified that the proxy signature information is valid, and in a case that c1’ is not equal to c1, the proxy signature information is invalid and a process of the verifying is ended; calculating a counter-signature C2' for a signature (Z21, Z22, C2) of proxy information based on the public key of the second node, wherein in a case that c2’ is equal to c2, it is verified that the proxy signature information is valid, and in a case that c2’ is not equal to c2, the proxy signature information is invalid and the process of the verifying is ended; and verifying whether a valid time range of a proxy signature in the delegation certificate has expired, wherein in a case that the valid time range has not expired, it is verified that the proxy signature information is valid, and in a case that the valid time range has expired, the proxy signature information is invalid, in view of the other limitations of independent claim 16, as to claim 17;
Dependent claim 18 is allowable over the prior art of record, including Wu, Wang, Gentry, Hoffstein and the remaining references cited by the Examiner and the Applicant’s IDS, taken individually or in combination, because the prior art of record fails to particularly disclose, fairly suggest or render obvious calculating a counter-signature C3' for a signature (Z31, Z32, C3) of the message based on the proxy public key, wherein in a case that c3’ is equal to c3, it is verified that the proxy signature of the message is valid, and in a case that c3’ is not equal to c3, the proxy signature of the message is invalid, in view of the other limitations of independent claim 16, as to claim 18.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MALCOLM CRIBBS whose telephone number is (571)270-1566. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 930a-330p; 430p-630p.
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, Eleni Shiferaw can be reached at (571)272-3867. 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.
MALCOLM . CRIBBS
Examiner
Art Unit 2497
/MALCOLM CRIBBS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2497