333DETAILED 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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: the CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION section needs updated to reflect applications that have matured into patents. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 11-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. Claims 11-19 recites "a computer program product” A memorandum from Director Kappos was issued January 26, 2010 entitled "Subject Matter Eligibility of Computer Readable Media" hereinafter "Kappos 1/26/2010". According to "Kappos 1/26/2010", in the absence of a definition in the specification explicitly excluding transitory propagating/transmission type memory medium, the broadest reasonable interpretation of "a computer readable medium" is interpreted to include both "non-transitory tangible media" and "transitory propagating signals" medium where the latter renders the claim non-statutory. "Kappos 1/26/2010" directs the patent community to overcome 101 rejections of this nature by amending the claim language to add the limitation "non- transitory" to the claim, for example "non-transitory computer program product".
Claim Objections
Claims 8, 9, 17, 18 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claims 8 and 17 recite ‘biometric data within a dataset’ and should recite ‘the biometric data within a dataset’. Claims 9 and 18 recite ‘a dataset among the plurality…’ and should recite ‘the dataset among the plurality…’ Appropriate correction is 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.
Claims 1-5, 7-14, 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Vemury (US Pub. 20230403157 A1).
Vemury discloses the following limitations:
1. A method for monitoring or controlling access to a service at a point-of-service, comprising performing at a processor implemented point-of-service terminal, the steps of:
receiving, from one or more communication devices, a plurality of datasets, wherein each dataset within the plurality of data sets corresponds to a distinct person and comprises at least that person’s biometric data (para. 32, 37- The kiosk 106 may comprise a biographical retrieval module 168 configured to retrieve biographical information 112A of the user 101 corresponding to the non-informational identifier 164. The kiosk may be configured to receive N individual library images of N individuals. The N individuals may have an identity associated biographic information. The kiosk may comprise a database configured to store N identities of N users);
acquiring, from a person at the point-of-service terminal, a biometric sample using a biometric sample acquisition sensor (para. 28- The kiosk and/or scanner may use an HE encryption algorithm to generate HE encrypted images containing biometric information. The kiosk and/or scanner may store the HE encrypted images in the library 110. The kiosk and/or scanner may be configured to distribute (e.g., upload via a cloud service) the HE encrypted biometric information to a third-party computer 150.);
comparing the acquired biometric sample against biometric data within each of the plurality of datasets (para. 8, 28);
selecting a dataset from the plurality of datasets, wherein selection of said dataset is based on a comparison between the acquired biometric sample and biometric data within the selected dataset resulting in a positive match decision (para. 36-37);
transmitting, to a service-access-control system, a data payload, wherein the transmitted data payload comprises data that is extracted from or derived from data within the selected dataset, wherein (para. 31):
the service-access-control system is configured to respond to a determination that the person from whom the biometric sample has been acquired, is authorized to access the service by generating a control signal that authorizes or records such person’s access to the service, wherein said determination is based on data within the transmitted data payload. (para. 31)
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein:
data within the selected dataset is based on an associated communication device dataset stored in a memory of the communication device from which the selected dataset has been received at the point-of-service terminal; and
said associated communication device dataset corresponds to an associated service-access-control system dataset stored in a memory that is accessible by the service-access-control system. (para. 28, para. 48- control resource and access control device integrated unit
3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the determination that the person from whom the biometric sample has been acquired is authorized to access the service, is based on an output of a computation involving the transmitted data payload and at least one associated service-access-control system dataset stored in the memory that is accessible by the service-access-control system. (para. 31)
4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein:
biometric data within the selected dataset is inaccessible to the service-access-control system. (para. 19)
5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein:
a dataset among the plurality of datasets comprises an additional data element, wherein the additional data element is an output of a cryptographic function or is derived from an output of a cryptographic function; and the additional data element is indecipherable at the point-of-service terminal. (para. 37)
7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the determination that the person from whom the biometric sample has been acquired is authorized to access the service, is conditioned on verification of authenticity of some data within the selected dataset.(para. 36-37, 40)
8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein:
biometric data within a dataset among the plurality of datasets is homomorphically encrypted and indecipherable at the point-of-service terminal; or biometric data within a dataset among the plurality of datasets is homomorphically encrypted and indecipherable at the point-of-service terminal unless the said dataset is selected. (para. 38)
9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein: a dataset among the plurality of datasets comprises an encrypted supplemental biometric data that is indecipherable at the point-of-service terminal unless the said dataset is selected; and the determination that the person present at the point-of-service terminal is authorized to access the service is conditioned on verification of authenticity of the supplemental biometric data. (paras. 26, 32)
10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein: the determination that the person from whom the biometric sample has been acquired is authorized to access the service is conditioned on a comparison between the supplemental biometric data and the biometric sample acquired by the biometric sample acquisition sensor resulting in a positive match, or the determination that the person from whom the biometric sample has been acquired, is authorized to access the service is conditioned on a comparison between the supplemental biometric data and the homomorphically encrypted biometric data contained within the selected dataset resulting in a positive match. (paras. 28-29, 31)
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.
Claims 6 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vemury and further in view of Scholz et al. (US Pub. 20220385653 A1).
Regarding claims 6 and 15, although Vemury teaches using a wireless connection/communication sessions for receiving the selected datasets, it does not specifically teach limiting the session/communication to less than 3 minutes. However, this subject matter is known and used in the related art of performing biometric authentication as evidenced by Scholz (see para. 67) as a known way to limit the amount of time sensitive biometric information has possible exposure in a wireless connection/session.
Regarding claims 11-19, they merely recites a computer program that when executed, performs the functional steps of method claims 1-10, and thus, rejected for the same rationale. (para. 65)
Regarding claim 20, it is rejected as applied to claim 1 because a corresponding system would have been necessitated to carry forth the method steps of claim 1. The applied prior art also discloses the corresponding architecture. (Fig. 9)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM A CORUM JR whose telephone number is (303)297-4234. The examiner can normally be reached Mon. - Fri. 8 AM - 5 PM EST.
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WILLIAM A. CORUM JR
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2433
william.corum2@uspto.gov
/WILLIAM A CORUM JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2433