DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the claims filed 8/17/2026. Claims 1-20 are pending. Claims 1, 12 and 19 have been amended. Independent claims 1, 12 and 19, and corresponding dependent claims are directed towards an activator node, a reader node and a method for an authentication repetition protocol for ambient IoT.
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 8/17/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
In response to the amendment filed 8/17/2026: Applicant has amended the claims, and the corresponding rejections have been altered to address the amended language.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 8/17/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues with regards to claims 1, 12 and 19:
“However, Chen fails to disclose or suggest "transmit[ting] at least a first activation signal of a plurality of activation signals to the at least one device based on the repetition information, the first activation signal causing the at least one device to transmit a responsive signal to at least one reader node, wherein the at least one reader node is a node separate and different from the activator node," as required by amended claim 1.”
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Examiner now relies upon the combination of Chen and Fischer (see the rejection below) to address the amended claims. The Fischer reference has been relied upon to show “wherein the at least one reader node is a node separate and different from the activator node” (Fischer [0077] physically separate transmitting and receiving devices at different locations; [0081] assigning RF data source to one reader device (activator) and the RF receiver to another (reader)). As such, the combination of Chen and Fischer teach the invention of claims 1, 12 and 19.
All other arguments presented by Applicant either repeat or rely upon the issues addressed above, and are also not persuasive for the reasons given above.
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.
Claims 1, 12 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US 2022/0159458 A1), published May 19, 2022, in view of Fischer et al. (US 2006/0022815 A1), published Feb. 2, 2006.
As to claim 1, Chen substantially discloses an activator node (Chen Fig. 2B terminal device), comprising: a memory storing computer readable instructions (Chen Fig. 5 item 502 memory; [0191] memory storing software program); and processing circuitry configured to execute the computer readable instructions (Chen Fig. 5 item 501; [0191] execution by processor) to cause the activator node to, obtain an authentication configuration associated with at least one device (Chen Fig. 2B access network device; Fig. 2B item 203 first time window information; [0129]-[0130] obtained from decoding response message), the authentication configuration including repetition information, the repetition information including at least one of a repetition number parameter and a repetition delay parameter (Chen Fig. 2B item 203 first time window information; [0131] time window within which to expect a response from access network device); and transmit at least a first activation signal of a plurality of activation signals (Chen Fig. 2B item 201, 206) to the at least one device based on the repetition information (Chen Fig. 2B item 206; [0163] prompt to send second authentication request response due to response being outside of window), the first activation signal causing the at least one device to transmit a responsive signal to at least one reader node (Chen Fig. 2B item 207; [0164] terminal receives second authentication request response). Chen fails to explicitly disclose wherein the at least one reader node is a node separate and different from the activator node. Fischer describes interference monitoring in an RFID system. With this in mind, Fischer discloses wherein the at least one reader node is a node separate and different from the activator node (Fischer [0077] physically separate transmitting and receiving devices at different locations; [0081] assigning RF data source to one reader device (activator) and the RF receiver to another (reader)). It would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains to combine the request transmission and response reception using separate nodes of Fischer with the authentication arrangement of Chen to perform authentication request transmission and response reception using separate nodes, as it would advantageously independently optimize the number and placement of transmitters and receivers according to application requirements (Fischer ¶166).
As to claim 12, Chen substantially discloses a reader node (Chen Fig. 2B terminal device), comprising: a memory storing computer readable instructions (Chen Fig. 5 item 502 memory; [0191] memory storing software program); and processing circuitry configured to execute the computer readable instructions Chen Fig. 5 item 501; [0191] execution by processor) to cause the reader node to, obtain authentication configuration associated with at least one device (Chen Fig. 2B access network device; Fig. 2B item 203 first time window information; [0129]-[0130] obtained from decoding response message), the authentication configuration including at least one of a repetition number parameter and a repetition delay parameter (Chen Fig. 2B item 203 first time window information; [0131] time window within which to expect a response from access network device); determine whether at least one responsive signal is received from the at least one device in response to a first activation signal transmitted to the at least one device by an activator node (Chen Fig. 2B item 206; [0163] prompt to send second authentication request response due to response being outside of window; Fig. 2B item 207; [0164] terminal receives second authentication request response); and determine whether the at least one device is authentic based on results of the determination of whether the at least one responsive signal was received and the authentication configuration (Chen Fig. 2B items 209-210; [0170]-[0172] terminal determines if response falls within defined time window, if so, access device is legal). Chen fails to explicitly disclose wherein the at least one reader node is a node separate and different from the activator node. Fischer discloses wherein the at least one reader node is a node separate and different from the activator node (Fischer [0077] physically separate transmitting and receiving devices at different locations; [0081] assigning RF data source to one reader device (activator) and the RF receiver to another (reader)). It would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains to combine the request transmission and response reception using separate nodes of Fischer with the authentication arrangement of Chen to perform authentication request transmission and response reception using separate nodes, as it would advantageously independently optimize the number and placement of transmitters and receivers according to application requirements (Fischer ¶166).
As to claim 19, Chen substantially discloses a method (Chen [Abstract]) of operating an activator node comprising: obtaining authentication configuration associated with at least one device, the authentication configuration including repetition information (Chen Fig. 2B access network device; Fig. 2B item 203 first time window information; [0129]-[0130] obtained from decoding response message), the repetition information including at least one of a repetition number parameter and a repetition delay parameter (Chen Fig. 2B item 203 first time window information; [0131] time window within which to expect a response from access network device); and transmitting at least a first activation signal of a plurality of activation signals (Chen Fig. 2B item 201, 206) to the at least one device based on the repetition information (Chen Fig. 2B item 206; [0163] prompt to send second authentication request response due to response being outside of window), the first activation signal causing the at least one device to transmit a responsive signal to at least one reader node (Chen Fig. 2B item 207; [0164] terminal receives second authentication request response). Chen fails to explicitly disclose wherein the at least one reader node is a node separate and different from the activator node. Fischer discloses wherein the at least one reader node is a node separate and different from the activator node (Fischer [0077] physically separate transmitting and receiving devices at different locations; [0081] assigning RF data source to one reader device (activator) and the RF receiver to another (reader)). It would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains to combine the request transmission and response reception using separate nodes of Fischer with the authentication arrangement of Chen to perform authentication request transmission and response reception using separate nodes, as it would advantageously independently optimize the number and placement of transmitters and receivers according to application requirements (Fischer ¶166).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US 2022/0159458 A1), published May 19, 2022, in view of Fischer et al. (US 2006/0022815 A1), published Feb. 2, 2006, in view of Lei (US 2024/0121772 A1), filed Jan. 29, 2022.
As to claim 10, Chen and Fischer substantially discloses the invention as claimed as described in claim 1, including transmitting at least one second activation signal (Chen Fig. 2B items 201 and 206). Chen fails to explicitly disclose the authentication configuration includes a set of carrier indexes for transmission of the plurality of activation signals to the at least one device; and the activator node is further caused to transmit at least one signal to the at least one device according to the set of carrier indexes. Lei describes cross-carrier channel repetition transmission methods. With this in mind, Lei disclose a set of carrier indexes for transmission of the plurality of activation signals to the at least one device (Lei [0039] having UE determine carrier based on carrier index bit and perform repetition transmissions); and the activator node is further caused to transmit at least one signal to the at least one device according to the set of carrier indexes (Lei [0039] having UE determine carrier based on carrier index bit and perform repetition transmissions). It would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains to combine the carrier switching of Lei with the authentication repetition transmission of Chen and Fischer, such that prior to authentication request transmission a device determines the appropriate carrier, as it would advantageously allow for IoT devices to perform carrier switching to maintain connectivity instead of unsupported satellite beam switching (Lei [0003]-[0004]).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US 2022/0159458 A1), published May 19, 2022, in view of Fischer et al. (US 2006/0022815 A1), published Feb. 2, 2006, in view of Gitlin et al. (US 2019/0313225 A1), published Oct. 10, 2019.
As to claim 11, Chen and Fischer substantially discloses the invention as claimed as described in claim 1, including transmitting at least one second activation signal (Chen Fig. 2B items 201 and 206). Chen fails to explicitly disclose the authentication configuration includes a set of transmission power levels for transmission of the plurality of activation signals to the at least one device; and the activator node is further caused to transmit at least one signal to the at least one device according to the set of transmission power levels. Gitlin describes an IoT gateway servicing multiple IoT devices. With this in mind, Gitlin discloses a set of transmission power levels for transmission of the plurality of activation signals to the at least one device (Gitlin [0008] receive number of optimum power levels at IoT devices); and the activator node is further caused to transmit at least one signal to the at least one device according to the set of transmission power levels (Gitlin [0008] IoT devices proceed to transmit using selected optimum power level). It would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains to combine the power level selection of Gitlin with the authentication repetition transmission of Chen and Fischer, such that an optimum power level configuration is provided/selected for transmission, as it would advantageously assist in connection amongst a large number of IoT devices (Gitlin [0004]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-9, 13-14 and 20 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:
Regarding claim 2, the prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest, in combination, an activator node obtaining an authentication repetition configuration for a device, the configuration having a repetition number parameter or a repetition delay parameter, and transmitting an activation signal of a plurality of activation signals to the device based on the repetition configuration causing the device to transmit a responsive signal to a reader node, the activator and reader nodes being different nodes, as described in claim 1, wherein the repetition information is required to have a repetition number parameter that is a fixed number of repetitions, in the specific manner and combination as recited in claim 2.
Regarding claim 3, the prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest, in combination, an activator node obtaining an authentication repetition configuration for a device, the configuration having a repetition number parameter or a repetition delay parameter, and transmitting an activation signal of a plurality of activation signals to the device based on the repetition configuration causing the device to transmit a responsive signal to a reader node, the activator and reader nodes being different nodes, as described in claim 1, wherein the repetition information is required to have a repetition number parameter that is a pseudo-random number of repetitions, in the specific manner and combination as recited in claim 3.
Regarding claim 4, the prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest, in combination, an activator node obtaining an authentication repetition configuration for a device, the configuration having a repetition number parameter or a repetition delay parameter, and transmitting an activation signal of a plurality of activation signals to the device based on the repetition configuration causing the device to transmit a responsive signal to a reader node, the activator and reader nodes being different nodes, as described in claim 1, wherein the repetition information is required to have a repetition number parameter that is a seed value for determining a pseudo-random number of repetitions, in the specific manner and combination as recited in claim 4.
Regarding claim 5, the prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest, in combination, an activator node obtaining an authentication repetition configuration for a device, the configuration having a repetition number parameter or a repetition delay parameter, and transmitting an activation signal of a plurality of activation signals to the device based on the repetition configuration causing the device to transmit a responsive signal to a reader node, the activator and reader nodes being different nodes, as described in claim 1, wherein the device is one of multiple IoT devices and a different pseudo-random number of repetitions are determined for each device, in the specific manner and combination as recited in claim 5.
Regarding claim 6, the prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest, in combination, an activator node obtaining an authentication repetition configuration for a device, the configuration having a repetition number parameter or a repetition delay parameter, and transmitting an activation signal of a plurality of activation signals to the device based on the repetition configuration causing the device to transmit a responsive signal to a reader node, the activator and reader nodes being different nodes, as described in claim 1, wherein the repetition information is required to have a repetition delay parameter that is a fixed delay period between transmissions of the plurality of activation signals sent to the device, in the specific manner and combination as recited in claim 6.
Regarding claim 7, the prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest, in combination, an activator node obtaining an authentication repetition configuration for a device, the configuration having a repetition number parameter or a repetition delay parameter, and transmitting an activation signal of a plurality of activation signals to the device based on the repetition configuration causing the device to transmit a responsive signal to a reader node, the activator and reader nodes being different nodes, as described in claim 1, wherein the repetition information is required to have a repetition delay parameter that is a pseudo-random delay period between transmissions of the plurality of activation signals sent to the device, in the specific manner and combination as recited in claim 7.
Regarding claim 8, the prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest, in combination, an activator node obtaining an authentication repetition configuration for a device, the configuration having a repetition number parameter or a repetition delay parameter, and transmitting an activation signal of a plurality of activation signals to the device based on the repetition configuration causing the device to transmit a responsive signal to a reader node, the activator and reader nodes being different nodes, as described in claim 1, wherein the repetition information is required to have a repetition delay parameter that is a seed value for determining a pseudo-random delay period between transmissions of the plurality of activation signals sent to the device, in the specific manner and combination as recited in claim 8.
Regarding claim 9, the prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest, in combination, an activator node obtaining an authentication repetition configuration for a device, the configuration having a repetition number parameter or a repetition delay parameter, and transmitting an activation signal of a plurality of activation signals to the device based on the repetition configuration causing the device to transmit a responsive signal to a reader node, the activator and reader nodes being different nodes, as described in claim 1, wherein the activator node receives from a reader node an indication that the device is not authenticated and disables transmissions to the device in response, in the specific manner and combination as recited in claim 9.
Regarding claim 13, the prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest, in combination, a reader node obtaining an authentication repetition configuration for a device, the configuration having a repetition number parameter or a repetition delay parameter, determining if a response signal is received form the device in response to an activation signal transmitted to the device from an activator node, and whether the device is authentic based on the authentication repetition configuration and the response signal, the activator and reader nodes being different nodes, as described in claim 12, wherein the repetition information is required to have a repetition number parameter that defines a number of repetitions for transmission of activation signals, and the reader node determines whether the device is authentic based on the number of response signals matching the number of repetitions in the authentication repetition configuration, in the specific manner and combination as recited in claim 13.
Regarding claim 14, the prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest, in combination, a reader node obtaining an authentication repetition configuration for a device, the configuration having a repetition number parameter or a repetition delay parameter, determining if a response signal is received form the device in response to an activation signal transmitted to the device from an activator node, and whether the device is authentic based on the authentication repetition configuration and the response signal, the activator and reader nodes being different nodes, as described in claim 12, wherein the repetition information is required to have a repetition delay parameter that defines a delay period between transmissions of activation signals, and the reader node determines whether the device is authentic based on the elapsed time between each response signal matching the delay period of repetitions in the authentication repetition configuration, in the specific manner and combination as recited in claim 14.
Regarding claim 15, the prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest, in combination, a reader node obtaining an authentication repetition configuration for a device, the configuration having a repetition number parameter or a repetition delay parameter, determining if a response signal is received form the device in response to an activation signal transmitted to the device from an activator node, and whether the device is authentic based on the authentication repetition configuration and the response signal, the activator and reader nodes being different nodes, as described in claim 12, wherein the repetition information is required to have a fixed or pseudo-random repetition delay parameter that defines a delay period between transmissions of activation signals, in the specific manner and combination as recited in claim 15.
Regarding claim 16, the prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest, in combination, a reader node obtaining an authentication repetition configuration for a device, the configuration having a repetition number parameter or a repetition delay parameter, determining if a response signal is received form the device in response to an activation signal transmitted to the device from an activator node, and whether the device is authentic based on the authentication repetition configuration and the response signal, the activator and reader nodes being different nodes, as described in claim 12, wherein the authentication repetition configuration includes a set of carrier indexes, and the reader node determines whether the device is authentic based on the carrier indexes of the response signals and the set of carrier indexes, in the specific manner and combination as recited in claim 16.
Regarding claim 17, the prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest, in combination, a reader node obtaining an authentication repetition configuration for a device, the configuration having a repetition number parameter or a repetition delay parameter, determining if a response signal is received form the device in response to an activation signal transmitted to the device from an activator node, and whether the device is authentic based on the authentication repetition configuration and the response signal, the activator and reader nodes being different nodes, as described in claim 12, wherein the authentication repetition configuration includes a set of transmission power levels, and the reader node determines whether the device is authentic based on the reception power level of the response signals and the set of power levels, in the specific manner and combination as recited in claim 17.
Regarding claim 18, the prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest, in combination, a reader node obtaining an authentication repetition configuration for a device, the configuration having a repetition number parameter or a repetition delay parameter, determining if a response signal is received form the device in response to an activation signal transmitted to the device from an activator node, and whether the device is authentic based on the authentication repetition configuration and the response signal, the activator and reader nodes being different nodes, as described in claim 12, including where the reader node transmits an authentication message to the activator node indicating authentication results, in the specific manner and combination as recited in claim 18.
Regarding claim 20, the prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest, in combination, a method of operating an activator node by obtaining an authentication repetition configuration for a device, the configuration having a repetition number parameter or a repetition delay parameter, and transmitting an activation signal of a plurality of activation signals to the device based on the repetition configuration causing the device to transmit a responsive signal to a reader node, the activator and reader nodes being different nodes, as described in claim 19, wherein the repetition information is required to have a repetition number parameter that is a number of repetitions for transmission of the activation signal, and the repetition information is required to have the repetition delay parameter which defines a delay period between transmissions, in the specific manner and combination as recited in claim 20.
Conclusion
No further prior art is made of record.
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/ERIC W SHEPPERD/
Examiner, Art Unit 2492
ERIC W. SHEPPERD
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2492
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