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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to applicant’s response filed on 01/28/2026 to a Requirement for Election/Restriction mailed on 12/22/2025 for Application #18/661,373 filed on 05/10/2024 in which Claims 1-20 are pending, Claims 1-11 and 18-20 are withdrawn from current consideration due to a restriction election as non-elected claims.
Status of Claims
Claims 12-17 are now pending, of which Claims 12, 13, 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102, Claims 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), dependent Claims 14, 16-17 are objected to as being allowable as a whole over prior art if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of their base independent claim and any intervening dependent claims.
Applicant’s Most Recent Claim Set of 01/28/2026
Applicant’s most recent claim set of 01/28/2026 is considered to be the latest claim set under consideration by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Regarding Claim 14, this claim is objected to for what appears to be a typographical error. This claim recites “selected so at to enable the extracting” in Line(s) 3, for the purposes of this examination the examiner construes this phrase to read as “selected so [[at]] as to enable the extracting”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Regarding Claim 17, this claim is objected to for lack of antecedent basis. This claim recites the limitation “the standard component” in Line(s) 3-4. This “the standard component” is not defined in Claim 17, or any potential parent claims to Claim 17.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim(s) 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding Claim 16, this claim is rejected under 112(b) for use of relative terms in Lines(s) 5, 7 of Claim 16, making the claim as written unclear and indefinite.
The term(s) “when the time partitioning sequence is high” and “when the time partitioning sequence is low” in claim 16 Lines(s) 5, 7 are relative terms which renders the claim indefinite. The term(s) “when the time partitioning sequence is high” and “when the time partitioning sequence is low” are not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Regarding Claim(s) 17, they/it are/is (a) dependent claim(s) dependent on Claim(s) 16 which have/has inherited the deficiencies of the parent claim and have/has not resolved the deficiencies. Therefore, they/it are/is rejected based on the same rationale as applied to the parent Claim(s) 16 above.
Prior Art Rejections - 35 USC § 102 and/or 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
Claim(s) 12, 13, 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Rezayee et al US Patent Application Publication #2019/0028284.
Regarding Claim 12, Willers et al discloses:
A method for generating a unique component and a random component in the output of a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device, the method comprising [(Rezayee et al Abstract Lines 1-9; Par 108 Lines 7-10; Par 141 Lines 1-11; Par 146 Lines 15-21; Fig 3 Item 126; Fig 9B; Fig 10A Item 1000; Fig 10B Item 1000; Fig 13 Items 1111, 1112, 1125; Fig 18 Items 1805, 1811) where Rezayee et al teaches a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device or PUF which receives an input signal and generates a output signal based on a unique component of an internal fuse or fuses that vary uniquely between device to device due to variations in manufacturing processes used to fabricate the fuses and a random component of an electrical pulse applied to the fuse for which the output will vary randomly from PUF to PUF based on the noise created by the varying internal resistances of the fuses]:
receiving an input signal for the MEMS device; selectively modifying the input signal; providing the modified input signal to the MEMS device [(Rezayee et al Par 139 Lines 12-23) where Rezayee et al teaches that a selectively modified input signal of s specificized high voltage or current is applied to the PUF to change the internal resistance of the fuse, thereby altering the PUF’s response to an input challenge signal];
receiving an output signal from the MEMS device; and extracting the random component and the unique component from the output signal of the MEMS device, wherein the unique component is generated based on process variations during fabrication of the MEMS device and the random component is generated from noise within the MEMS device [(Rezayee et al Abstract Lines 1-9; Par 108 Lines 7-10; Par 141 Lines 1-11; Par 146 Lines 15-21; Fig 3 Item 126; Fig 9B; Fig 10A Item 1000; Fig 10B Item 1000; Fig 13 Items 1111, 1112, 1125; Fig 18 Items 1805, 1811) where Rezayee et al teaches a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device or PUF which receives an input signal and generates a output signal based on a unique component of an internal fuse or fuses that vary uniquely between device to device due to variations in manufacturing processes used to fabricate the fuses and a random component of an electrical pulse applied to the fuse for which the output will vary randomly from PUF to PUF based on the noise created by the varying internal resistances of the fuses thereby extracting the unique and random components as part of the output signal].
Regarding Claim 13, Willers et al discloses:
The method of claim 12, wherein receiving an input signal for the MEMS device comprises receiving a bias signal for the MEMS device [(Rezayee et al Par 139 Lines 12-23) where Rezayee et al teaches that a selectively modified input signal of a specificized biased high voltage or current is applied to the PUF to change the internal resistance of the fuse, thereby altering the PUF’s response to an input challenge signal]:
Regarding Claim 15, Willers et al discloses:
The method of claim 12, wherein extracting the unique component and the random component includes extracting a standard component [(Rezayee et al Abstract Lines 1-9; Par 108 Lines 7-10; Par 141 Lines 1-11; Par 146 Lines 15-21; ; Par 112 Lines 1-13; Fig 3 Item 126; Fig 9B; Fig 10A Item 1000; Fig 10B Item 1000; Fig 13 Items 1111, 1112, 1125; Fig 18 Items 1805, 1811) where Rezayee et al teaches a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device or PUF which receives an input signal and generates a output signal based on a unique component of an internal fuse or fuses that vary uniquely between device to device due to variations in manufacturing processes used to fabricate the fuses and a random component of an electrical pulse applied to the fuse for which the output will vary randomly from PUF to PUF based on the noise created by the varying internal resistances of the fuses thereby extracting the unique and random components as part of the output signal, plus extracting a standard component of a measured capacitance of one or more components of the device].
Allowable Subject Matter – Dependent Claim(s)
Claims 14, 16-17 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable as a whole over prior art if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of their base independent claim, and any intervening dependent claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter.
The closest prior art, as recited, Rezayee et al US Patent Application Publication #2019/0028284 and Wade et al US Patent Application Publication #2019/0026724, are also generally directed to various aspects of providing a hardware random number generator that utilizes multiple randomized components to attempt to generate a better random number, i.e. one that is as close to being truly random as possible. However, Rezayee et al or Wade et al does not teach or suggest, either singularly or in combination, the particular combination of steps or elements as recited in the dependent Claims 14, 16-17 when also incorporating all of the limitations of their base independent claim and any intervening dependent claims. For example, none of the cited prior art teaches or suggests the steps of:
where selectively modifying the input signal includes adding a digital stimulus signal to the input signal in a frequency range selected so as to enable the extracting of the unique component, the random component, and a standard component from the output signal at the output of the MEMS device, where selectively modifying the input signal includes generating a time partitioning sequence, generating a high frequency component, when the time partitioning sequence is high, modifying the input signal with the high frequency component, and when the time partitioning sequence is low, not modifying the input signal, where extracting the random component includes applying a high pass filter to the output signal, extracting the unique component comprises applying a bandpass filter to the output signal, and extracting the standard component comprises low pass filtering the output signal.
As recited in dependent Claims 14, 16-17 when also incorporating all of the limitations of their base independent claim, any intervening dependent claims, any additional limitations found in dependent Claims 14, 16-17.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sharifi et al - US_20190028283: Sharifi et al teaches device security utilizing physically unclonable functions
Borda - US_20150349954: Borda teaches hardware based random seed generation.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRADLEY HOLDER whose telephone number is 571-270-3789. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 10:00AM-7:00PM Eastern Time.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Linglan Edwards, can be reached on (571) 270-5440. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/BRADLEY W HOLDER/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2408