DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
This action is in response to amendment filed January 23, 2026 for the application # 18/639,459 filed on April 18, 2024. Claims 1-20 are pending and are directed toward SECURING SENSITIVE INFORMATION DETERMINED IN AN INPUT MESSAGE.
Any claim objection/rejection not repeated below is withdrawn due to Applicant's amendment.
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 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with regards to claims 1-20 have been fully considered, but they are not persuasive.
“not determine anything” argument – Applicant argues that the EDM tool of Wall, [0024] does not determine anything about the message; it instead responds to explicit user commands (REMARKS, page 6).
Response: Wall teaches (see cited by Examiner cited Wall [0024]) the claimed determination step based on “a plurality of modules configured to functionally execute the necessary steps of providing selective or customizable enhanced privacy and control features to one or more portions of an electronic message created by a user of the system.” Wall also provides an example of such determination: “data tracking module 230 is configured to track the execution of commands for data where enhanced privacy and control features are selected by the user, for instance, where one or more portions of a message is to be deleted upon the expiration of a time period set forth by the user, as discussed herein below with respect to FIGS. 5 and 6.”
Conclusion: Examiner maintains rejections.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.102(a)(l) as being unpatentable over Wall (US 2010/0042690, Pub. Date: Feb. 18, 2010), hereinafter referred to as Wall.
As per claim 1, Wall teaches a method, comprising:
receiving, from a first client device, an input message (as shown in FIG. 2, the enhanced data messaging (EDM) code or tool 220 which runs on a computer system or device 200 comprises a logic unit that contains a plurality of modules configured to functionally execute the necessary steps of providing selective or customizable enhanced privacy and control features to one or more portions of an electronic message created by a user of the system. Wall, [0024]);
determining, by a communication service, that at least a portion of the input message includes sensitive information (the command processing module 226 is configured to process the commands interpreted in order to provide selective enhanced privacy and control features to one or more portions of an electronic message created by the user. Wall, [0024]); and
outputting, by the communication service, a command to cause the input message to be displayed by a second client device according to one or more security controls (and transmitting, using a transmission medium, the electronic message created containing the one or more portions of data for distribution to respective devices of the one or more intended recipients, wherein the one or more portions of data in the electronic message received on the respective recipient device notifies a respective recipient regarding the one or more pre-defined selective enhanced privacy and control features selected by the sender of the electronic message. Wall, [0003]).
As per claim 2, Wall teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising outputting, by the communication service, a second command to cause the first client device to display a sensitive data user interface including the at least the portion of the input message (a first data portion in the electronic message, for instance, a text message data portion, reference numeral 709, is configured to have a first set of configurable enhanced privacy and control features (reference numeral 710) than a second data portion in the electronic message, for instance, a file attachment data portion, reference numeral 712, which has a second set of configurable enhanced privacy and control features (reference numeral 714). Wall, [0032]).
As per claim 3, Wall teaches the method of claim 2, further comprising receiving, from the first client device, a designation of the at least the portion of the input message as sensitive information (In particular, as shown in FIG. 7, the sender types in a message "Here is the e-mail I promised you today, Steve ???v,cdm, ???" (reference numerals 709 and 710, where "Here is the e-mail I promised you today, Steve" (reference numeral 709) is the text portion of the message and where "???v,cdm, ???" (reference numeral 710) represents the enhanced data messaging (EDM) features selected by the sender). Wall, [0032]).
As per claim 4, Wall teaches the method of claim 2, further comprising receiving, from the first client device, a selection of the one or more security controls (the sender attaches a first file, namely an Adobe® file "sample_lease.pdf' (reference numeral 712), which is configured using the enhanced data messaging (EDM) code or tool. In particular, the sender has selected and entered the syntax command "???5d,n,pstevel, ??? (reference numeral 714) for the Adobe® file 712, where the syntax "5d" means that the sender has selected the auto delete option or feature in the enhanced data messaging (EDM) code or tool of 5 days, thus, the Adobe® file will auto delete on the recipient's device in 5 days. Wall, [0032]).
As per claim 5, Wall teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from the first client device, a selection of one or more default security controls, wherein the one or more security controls are based on the one or more default security controls (The enhanced data messaging (EDM) code may further provide features, such as, archiving messages, prioritizing messages, sorting messages (both online and offline ), adding preferences, such as, default preferences, Wall, [0026]).
As per claim 6, Wall teaches the method of claim 1, wherein determining that the at least the portion of the input message includes the sensitive information comprises using a machine learning (ML) algorithm to identify the sensitive information (the enhanced data messaging (EDM) code can be deployed on devices 320 using Artificial Intelligence technology. Wall, [0025]).
As per claim 7, Wall teaches the method of claim 1, wherein determining that the at least the portion of the input message includes the sensitive information comprises using pattern recognition to identify the sensitive information (selecting, using the enhanced data messaging tool, one or more pre-defined selective enhanced privacy and control features for one or more portions of data contained in the electronic message created by a sender, wherein a respective one or more pre-defined selective enhanced privacy and control features selected for one portion differs from another respective one or more predefined selective enhanced privacy and control features selected for another portion of the one or more portions of data contained in the electronic message, Wall, [0003]).
As per claim 8, Wall teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more security controls include establishing a predetermined period of time to display the sensitive information (a pre-defined time frame for the one or more portions of the electronic message to auto delete on a recipient device, wherein the pre-defined time frame includes at least one of: number of seconds, number of days, number of weeks, number of months, number of years, a specific date and time, a unique event, a recurring event and an arbitrary time frame pre-defined by the sender, one or more local time zones, one or more international time zones. Wall, [0004]).
As per claim 9, Wall teaches the method of claim 8, wherein the one or more security controls further include an indication to permanently delete the sensitive information after the predetermined period of time has elapsed (if the one or more pre-defined selective enhanced privacy and control features selected include a respective pre-defined time frame for the one or more portions of data in the electronic message to auto delete on a recipient device, the one or more portions of data in the electronic message are automatically deleted on the respective recipient device upon expiration of the respective pre-defined time frame. Wall, [0005], see also As shown in 506, the syntax "2h30s" is interpreted and processed by the command interpreter module of the enhanced data messaging (EDM) tool or code to mean that the message is to be deleted on the recipient's device in 2 hours and 30 seconds. Wall, [0030]).
As per claim 10, Wall teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more security controls include an indication to display the sensitive information using a visual mask (Additionally, other features can be included in the enhanced data messaging (EDM) code, as discussed further herein below with respect to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, such as, a hide message feature or an unhide message feature, Wall, [0026]).
As per claim 11, Wall teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more security controls include an indication to encrypt the sensitive information (It is understood that the enhanced data messaging (EDM) tool or code can be configured with various forms of encryption based on a user's needs. Wall, [0030]).
Claims 12-20 have limitations similar to those treated in the above rejection, and are met by the references as discussed above, and are rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used above.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 extension fee 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 OLEG KORSAK whose telephone number is (571)270-1938. The examiner can normally be reached on 5:00 AM- 4:00 PM.
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/OLEG KORSAK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2492