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 .
Status of Claims
2. This Office Action is issued in response to the claims filed on 08/10/2026.
Claims 1-25 are pending in this Office Action.
Claims 1,12, and 23 have been amended.
Claims 26-212 have been cancelled.
Response to Arguments and Examiner’s Note
3. a. The drawings filed on 08/10/2026 have been reviewed and accepted. Therefore, previous drawing objections have been withdrawn.
b. The previous 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph rejections have been withdrawn in response to claim amendments.
c. Applicants’ arguments regarding 35 U.S.C. § 103 Claim Rejections have been fully considered, but they are not persuasive; therefore, the previous rejections have been maintained.
Applicant argues “Pack et al does not disclose a computing device configured to create a manifest document which may be utilized along with the access key and promotional code to facilitate secure reassembly of the digital asset. Rush, which describes certain aspects of a configuration for providing a mobile number linked to redeemable and shareable promotions, fails to cure the deficiencies in Pack et al in addressing the requirements of Claim 1, muchless those of dependent Claims 2-4, 8, 10, 12, and 14-21, which have additional affirmative requirements.” Marion (US 2020 0380090) or Wang (US 2010 0318807) fails to cure the deficiencies in Pack and Rush. The Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Pack discloses creating a manifest document based upon the division of the digital asset and storage of the portions thereof on the decentralized peer-to-peer file sharing system, such that given the access key and the manifest document the digital asset is securely reassembled (Fig.3B with associated text: decrypting chunks and recreating asset; paragraphs [0021] and [0064]: file description/metadata-manifest document- is created for digital asset and later is used to reconstruct digital asset ). Rush discloses utilizing a promotional code to obtain services (paragraphs [0031]-[0032], [0068], [0093]). Since the claim does not explicitly recite how the access key, the manifest document and the promotional code are specifically used to reassemble the digital asset, the combination of Pack and Rush’s teachings would have an obvious and predictable result of given the access key, the manifest document, and a promotional code provided by the user, the digital asset is securely reassembled. Therefore, the combination of Pack and Rush’s teachings obviously teach given the access key, the manifest document, and a promotional code provided by the user, the digital asset is securely reassembled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claims 1-4, 8, 10, 12, and 14-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pack et al. (US 20190068615 A1), hereinafter “Pack” in view of Rush et al. (US 20240005354 A1), hereinafter “Rush”.
Regarding claim 1, Pack discloses a system for providing secure access to a digital asset subject to a promotional redemption by a user, comprising:
a computing device (Fig. 1 with associated text, Client Device 102) configured to divide the digital asset into a plurality of portions (Fig.3A with associated text, step 304: breaking asset into chunks) and to encrypt each of the portions in the plurality using an asset key such that they are stored on a decentralized peer-to-peer file sharing system (Fig.3A with associated text, steps 308 and 312: encrypting asset chunks and adding to blockchain); wherein the computing device is configured to create a manifest document based upon the division of the digital asset and storage of the portions thereof on the decentralized peer-to-peer file sharing system, such that given the access key, the manifest document, and [a promotional code provided by the user], the digital asset is securely reassembled by the user operating a client computing system (Fig.3B with associated text: decrypting chunks and recreating asset; paragraphs [0021] and [0064]: file description/metadata-manifest document- is created for digital asset and later is used to reconstruct digital asset).
Pack does not explicitly disclose a promotional code provided by the user is used in reassembling the digital asset. However, utilizing a promotional code provided by a user for a discount is known in the art and Rush’s teaching is an example (paragraphs [0031]-[0032], [0068], [0093]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Pack’s teaching of providing secure access to a digital asset with Rush’s teaching of utilizing a promotional code provided by a user for a discount to have an obvious and predictable result of reassembling the digital asset with the access key, the manifest document, and a promotional code provided by the user and the motivation to do so would be to take benefit of financial discount from the promotional code for the digital asset.
Regarding claim 2, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to divide the digital asset into a plurality of portions based upon a predetermined portion size (Pack, paragraph [0063]).
Regarding claim 3, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to automatically divide the digital asset into a plurality of portions (Pack, paragraph [0063]).
Regarding claim 4, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the asset is a textual digital asset (Pack, paragraph [0062]).
Regarding claim 8, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the digital asset is an audio digital asset (Pack, paragraph [0062]).
Regarding claim 10, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the digital asset is an audio-video digital asset (Pack, paragraph [0062]).
Regarding claim 12, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the asset key used to encrypt each of the portions of the digital asset comprises a string of bits configured to be specific to a unique encryption code (Pack, paragraph [0020]: different bit size requires different encryption code).
Regarding claim 14, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the asset key is created using a pre-existing algorithm (Pack, paragraph [0020]).
Regarding claim 15, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the decentralized peer-to-peer file sharing system comprises a plurality of file sharing subsystems that are not co-located (Pack, Fig. 1 with associated text: each client device, computing system or node device is a subsystem; paragraphs [0023]-[0026] and [0077]-[0078]: decentralized file sharing).
Regarding claim 16, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the decentralized peer-to-peer file sharing system comprises a plurality of file sharing subsystems configured to be immutable (Pack, Fig. 1 with associated text: each client device, computing system or node device is a subsystem; paragraphs [0023]-[0026] and [0077]-[0078]: decentralized file sharing utilizing blockchain technologies- immutable).
Regarding claim 17, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 16, wherein the decentralized peer-to-peer file sharing system comprises a blockchain-based persistent file sharing system (Pack, Fig. 1 with associated text: each client device, computing system or node device is a subsystem; paragraphs [0022]-[0026] and [0077]-[0078]: decentralized file sharing utilizing blockchain technologies.
Regarding claim 18, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the manifest document is configured to contain meta data pertaining to the content of the encrypted portions (Pack, paragraphs [0021] and [0064]).
Regarding claim 19, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the manifest document is encrypted (Pack, paragraphs [0063] and [0065]: encrypted metadata-manifest document).
Regarding claim 20, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the promotional code is provided by the user through use of a pre-existing crypto wallet (Rush, paragraphs [0076]-[0077] and [0092]).
Regarding claim 21, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 1, wherein the promotional code is provided by the user through creation of a new crypto wallet in a non-custodial manner (Rush, paragraphs [0061], [0069], [0076]-[0077] and [0092]).
6. Claims 5-7, 9, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pack et al. (US 20190068615 A1), hereinafter “Pack” in view of Rush et al. (US 20240005354 A1), hereinafter “Rush”, and in view of Marion (US 20200380090 A1), hereinafter “Marion”.
Regarding claim 5, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 4. Pack and Rush do not explicitly disclose wherein the computing device configured to divide the digital asset into a plurality of portions based upon chapters in the textual digital asset created by an author of the textual digital asset. However, encrypting chapters of an eBook is known in the art and Marion’s teaching is an example (paragraph [0075]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Pack and Rush’s teachings of dividing and encrypting chunks of data file with Marion’s teaching of encrypting chapters of an eBook to have an obvious and predictable result of the computing device configured to divide the digital asset into a plurality of portions based upon chapters in the textual digital asset created by an author of the textual digital asset.
Regarding claim 6, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 1. Pack and Rush do not explicitly disclose but Marion discloses the digital asset is an artistic visual digital asset (paragraph [0068]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Pack’s teaching of providing secure access to a digital asset with Rush’s teaching of utilizing a promotional code provided by a user for a discount with Marion’s teaching that the digital asset is an artistic visual digital asset to have a predictable result that the digital asset is an artistic visual digital asset.
Regarding claim 7, Pack, Rush and Marion disclose the system of claim 6, wherein the artistic visual digital asset is selected from the group consisting of: a photograph; an image of a painting; an image of a drawing; and a synthetic image (paragraph [0068]).
Regarding claim 9, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 8. Pack and Rush do not explicitly disclose but Marion discloses wherein the audio digital asset is selected from the group consisting of: a portion of a music recording; a portion of a voice recording; a portion of a synthetic audio recording; a portion of a sound track designed to accompany video; and a portion of a live audio recording (paragraph [0068]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Pack’s teaching of providing secure access to a digital asset with Rush’s teaching of utilizing a promotional code provided by a user for a discount with Marion’s teaching to have predictable results that the audio digital asset is selected from the group consisting of: a portion of a music recording; a portion of a voice recording; a portion of a synthetic audio recording; a portion of a sound track designed to accompany video; and a portion of a live audio recording.
Regarding claim 11, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 8. Pack and Rush do not explicitly disclose but Marion discloses the audio-video asset is selected from the group consisting of: a portion of a movie recording; a portion of a television recording; and a portion of a synthetic audio-visual presentation (paragraph [0068]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Pack’s teaching of providing secure access to a digital asset with Rush’s teaching of utilizing a promotional code provided by a user for a discount with Marion’s teaching to have predictable results that the audio-video asset is selected from the group consisting of: a portion of a movie recording; a portion of a television recording; and a portion of a synthetic audio-visual presentation.
7. Claim 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pack et al. (US 20190068615 A1), hereinafter “Pack” in view of Rush et al. (US 20240005354 A1), hereinafter “Rush”, and in view of Wang (US 20100318807 A1), hereinafter Wang.
Regarding claim 13, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 1. Pack further discloses encrypting file segment with encryption key of different bits (paragraph [0020]). Pack and Rush do not explicitly disclose wherein the asset key comprises a string of characters configured to be specific to a unique encryption code. However, a key with a string of characters configured to be specific to a unique encryption code is known in the art and Wang’s teaching is an example (paragraphs [0016]-[0017]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Pack’s teaching of providing secure access to a digital asset with Rush’s teaching of utilizing a promotional code provided by a user for a discount with Wang’s teaching of a key with a string of characters configured to be specific to a unique encryption code to have an obvious and predictable result of the asset key comprises a string of characters configured to be specific to a unique encryption code.
8. Claims 22-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pack et al. (US 20190068615 A1), hereinafter “Pack” in view of Rush et al. (US 20240005354 A1), hereinafter “Rush”, and in view Fosse et al. (US 20240338699 A1), hereinafter “Fosse”.
Regarding claim 22, Pack and Rush disclose the system of claim 21. Pack and Rush do not explicitly disclose wherein the promotional code is provided by the user without providing direct stored access to a raw unencrypted seed phrase associated with the promotional code. However, utilizing encrypted seed phrase in protecting data stored in a digital wallet is known in the art and Fosse’s teaching is an example (paragraph [0005], 0041] and [0069]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Pack’s teaching of providing secure access to a digital asset with Rush’s teaching of utilizing a promotional code associated with a digital wallet with Fosse’s teaching utilizing encrypted seed phrase in protecting data stored in a digital wallet to have an obvious and predictable result of the promotional code is provided by the user without providing direct stored access to a raw unencrypted seed phrase associated with the promotional code and the motivation to do so would be to add additional security for data stored in the digital wallet.
Regarding claim 23, Pack, Rush and Fosse disclose the system of claim 22, wherein the promotional code is provided by the user in an encrypted form which is configured to be decrypted only by a PIN number known by the user (Fosse, paragraphs [0042], [0045], [0072], and [0074]. Fosse discloses PIN word. It is obvious that it’s a designer’s choice to use PIN word or PIN number).
Regarding claim 24, Pack, Rush and Fosse disclose the system of claim 23, wherein the PIN number is configured to decrypt a seed phrase associated with the promotional code to enable the new crypto wallet to be utilized by the user (Fosse, paragraphs [0042], [0045], [0072], and [0074]).
Regarding claim 25, Pack, Rush and Fosse disclose the system of claim 24, wherein the PIN number is configured to be transiently presented to decrypt the seed phrase without storage of the PIN number into a memory other than a temporary main computing memory (Fosse does not explicitly disclose storing the PIN. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to not store the PIN to prevent it from being vulnerable to attacker).
Prior Art of Record
9. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure: see attached PTO-892 Notice of References Cited.
Conclusion
10. 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 THANH T. LE whose telephone number is (571)270-0279. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8:00 am - 4:30 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Farid Homayounmehr can be reached on 571-272-3739. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THANH T LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2495
