DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to Applicant’s Arguments /Remarks filed on 12/15/2025.
In the instant Amendment, claims 1, 10 and 19 have been amended; and claims 1, 10 and 19 are independent claims. Claims 1-20 have been examined and are pending. This Action is made FINAL.
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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 1-20 are objected to because of the following informalities: Independent claims 1, 10 and 19, the acronyms ‘IAM’ is used without spelling out in full at their first occurrences in the claim. Appropriate correction is required.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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)(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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(2) as being anticipated by Nagaraja et al. (hereinafter Nagaraja), Pub. No.: US 2024/0187221.
Referring to claim 1, Nagaraja teaches a computer-implemented method for providing secure communication for connected systems, the computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving a communication session indication associated with a first connected system; authenticating the first connected system based on IAM policy (para. 0057, The operator database 116 may comprise part of an identity management system that creates, manages, and deletes user (e.g., operator) access to system resources.);
obtaining, by a context processing engine, a context data of the first connected system using a context processing engine, wherein the context data comprises collection of operational states of the connected systems (paras. 0099, 0159 and figs. 4 and 8, obtaining a protocol file…at step 426 in fig. 4):
encrypting a message to generate an encrypted message using based on a post quantum cryptography public key associated with the first connected system, wherein the encrypted message is generated based on the context data (para. 0067 and fig. 4, encrypting the message at step 424); and
causing transmitting of the encrypted message to a second connected system (para. 0098 and fig. 4, see step 426).
Referring to claim 2, Nagaraja further teaches comprising: generating a post quantum cryptography public-private key pair comprising the post quantum cryptography public key and a post quantum cryptography private key (paras. 0096- 0097, 0111 and figs. 4-5, post quantum cryptography private key).
Referring to claim 3, Nagaraja further teaches comprising: providing the post quantum cryptography private key to the second connected system to facilitate decryption of the encrypted message (abstract, paras. 0042, 0049., 0057-0059 and figs. 1-5, decryption of the encrypted message).
Referring to claim 4, Nagaraja further teaches wherein the post quantum cryptography public-private key pair is generated using key encapsulation methodology (paras. 0026, 0040, 0094, 0099, 0154 and figs. 4-5).
Referring to claim 5, Nagaraja further teaches wherein the post quantum cryptography public-private key pair is generated via a cloud-based quantum service computing entity (paras. 0096- 0097, 0111 and figs. 4-5).
Referring to claim 6, Nagaraja further teaches storing one or more of the post quantum cryptography public key or the post quantum cryptography private key in a key store (paras. 0096- 0097, 0111 and figs. 4-5).
Referring to claim 7, Nagaraja further teaches wherein the key store is hosted by a quantum edge computing entity associated with a gateway network entity, wherein the quantum edge computing entity is communicatively coupled to the cloud-based quantum service computing entity (paras. 0058-0059, 0079 and fig. 1; cloud-based service).
Referring to claim 8, Nagaraja further teaches wherein the encrypted message comprises a ciphertext (para. 0067 and fig. 4, encrypting the message at step 424).
Referring to claim 9, Nagaraja further teaches wherein the first connected system is associated with a flight management system onboard an aircraft and the second connected system is associated with an air traffic control system (paras. 0105, 0157, 0159 and figs. 4 and 8).
Referring to claim 10, This claim is similar in scope to claim 1, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 11, This claim is similar in scope to claim 2, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 12, This claim is similar in scope to claim 3, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 13, This claim is similar in scope to claim 4, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 14, This claim is similar in scope to claim 5, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 15, This claim is similar in scope to claim 6, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 16, This claim is similar in scope to claim 7, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 17, This claim is similar in scope to claim 8, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 18, This claim is similar in scope to claim 9, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 19, This claim is similar in scope to claim 1, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 20, This claim is similar in scope to claim 2, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please see the attached PTO-892.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 YONAS A BAYOU whose telephone number is (571)272-7610. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7AM-4PM.
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/YONAS A BAYOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2499 02/18/2026