DETAILED ACTION
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
This office action is a response to an application filed on 05/17/2024, wherein claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d) to Japanese Application No. 2023-086911, filed on May 26, 2023. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/17/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 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.
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, 9 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 2015/0365406), hereinafter Lee, in view of Fu (US 2017/0054556).
Regarding claim 1, Lee discloses an authentication apparatus (Lee, Fig. 1: biometric information generating apparatus + biometric information utilizing apparatus + biometric information authenticating apparatus), comprising:
at least a processor (Lee, [0089]); and
a memory in circuit communication with the processor (Lee, [0089]),
wherein the processor is configured to execute program instructions stored in the memory to implement (Lee, [0089]):
a biometric information acquiring part which acquires first biometric information of a user (Lee, Fig. 2, [0047]: biometric scanning module (biometric information acquiring part) scans a user to generate biometric image information (first biometric information));
a certification information adding part (Lee, Fig. 2, [0052]: biometric information generating module 140);
an authentication part (Lee, Fig. 1: biometric information authentication apparatus 300. Also shown in Fig. 3); and
a biometric information database which includes second biometric information of the user (Lee, [0060]-[0061]: reference biometric information (second biometric information) in the biometric information storage module (biometric information database));
wherein the certification information adding part
transmits authentication information including the certification information and the first biometric information configured to the authentication part (Lee, [0052]: biometric information generation module (certification information adding part) generates biometric information for authentication (authentication information) by inserting a watermark pattern (certification information) into a biometric image (first biometric information); [0080]: biometric information authenticating apparatus (authenticating part) receives the biometric information for authentication (authentication information)); and
wherein the authentication part
receives the authentication information (Lee, [0080]: biometric information authenticating apparatus (authenticating part) receives the biometric information for authentication (authentication information)), and
verifies legitimacy of the certification information in the authentication information using the certification information (Lee, [0080], [0083]: biometric information authenticating apparatus (authenticating part) performs a primary authentication on the secure watermark pattern (certification information)); and
performs authentication of the user using the first biometric information in the authentication information with reference to the second biometric information included in the biometric information database, in a case where the certification information in the authentication information is determined to be legitimate (Lee, [0080], [0085]: when the primary authentication passes/succeeds (i.e., certification information is legitimate), a secondary authentication on the user is performed using the biometric information (first biometric information) and the reference biometric information (second biometric information)).
Lee does not explicitly disclose notifies the authentication part of certification information concerning a communication rule in advance; according to the communication rule; notified in advance from the certification information adding part.
However, Fu discloses
notifies the authentication part of certification information concerning a communication rule in advance (Fu, [0012]: “selecting, by the transmitter, a basis of preparation for authenticating the transmitter identity information according to a basis selection rule agreed upon with the receiver”; [0026]: “the transmitter identification information on the receiver side is … sent to the receiver by the transmitter through a pre-determined channel”; [0036]: “the different codes are preset by the transmitter and the receiver or determined via negotiation through a pre-determined channel”; [0058]: “the length of the authentication information … is preset or determined via negotiation with the peer device through a pre-determined channel.” [Transmitter (certification information adding part) and receiver (authentication adding part) agree in advance on the basis selection rule, codes/lengths, etc. (communication rule) for transmitter authentication information (certification information)]), and
transmits authentication information including the certification information and the first information configured according to the communication rule to the authentication part (Fu, [0012]: “transmitting quantum states containing at least key information and the transmitter authentication information in a preset manner”; [0033]: “transmitting quantum states of control information and data information with respectively different wavelengths in a preset information format, wherein the data information comprises the key information and the transmitter authentication information.” [key information=first information; transmitter authentication information=certification information]); and
verifies legitimacy of the certification information in the authentication information using the certification information notified in advance from the certification information adding part (Fu, [0013]: “by the receiver, … measuring the received quantum states of the transmitter authentication information according to the basis selection rule, and, if the measurement result is consistent with the transmitter authentication information calculated following the first pre-provisioned algorithm, determining that the transmitter is authenticated”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lee and Fu before him or her before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify a biometric information transmission and authentication system as taught by Lee, to include transmitting authentication information and data according to a negotiated rule, and enabling the receiver to process and verify the received information using the same rule as taught by Fu. The motivation for doing so would have been to ensure certification information and biometric information are consistently structured and correctly interpreted by the receiving authentication apparatus, thereby improving the reliability and robustness of the authentication process.
Regarding claim 9, the limitations have been addressed in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 15, Lee discloses a computer-readable non-transitory recording medium recording a program (Lee, [0089]), the program which causes a computer in an authentication apparatus comprising:
a biometric information acquiring part which acquires first biometric information of a user (Lee, Fig. 2, [0047]: biometric scanning module (biometric information acquiring part) scans a user to generate biometric image information (first biometric information)), and
a biometric information database which includes second biometric information of the user (Lee, [0060]-[0061]: reference biometric information (second biometric information) in the biometric information storage module (biometric information database)),
to perform processings of:
transmitting authentication information including the certification information and the first biometric information configured (Lee, [0052]: biometric information generation module (certification information adding part) generates biometric information for authentication (authentication information) by inserting a watermark pattern (certification information) into a biometric image (first biometric information); [0080]: biometric information authenticating apparatus (authenticating part) receives the biometric information for authentication (authentication information)),
whereby the program causes the computer to realize a function of a certification information adding part (Lee, Fig. 2, [0052]: biometric information generating module 140); and
causes the computer to perform processings of:
receiving the authentication information (Lee, [0080]: biometric information authenticating apparatus receives the biometric information for authentication (authentication information)), and
verifying legitimacy of the certification information in the authentication information using the certification information (Lee, [0080], [0083]: biometric information authenticating apparatus (authenticating part) performs a primary authentication on the secure watermark pattern (certification information)); and
performing authentication of the user using the first biometric information in the authentication information with reference to the second biometric information included in the biometric information database, in a case where the certification information in the authentication information is determined to be legitimate (Lee, [0080], [0085]: when the primary authentication passes/succeeds (i.e., certification information is legitimate), a secondary authentication on the user is performed using the biometric information (first biometric information) and the reference biometric information (second biometric information)),
whereby the program causes the computer to realize a function of an authentication part (Lee, Fig. 1: biometric information authentication apparatus 300. Also shown in Fig. 3).
Lee does not explicitly disclose notifying certification information concerning a communication rule in advance; according to the communication rule; notified in advance from the processing of notifying in advance.
However, Fu discloses
notifying certification information concerning a communication rule in advance (Fu, [0012]: “selecting, by the transmitter, a basis of preparation for authenticating the transmitter identity information according to a basis selection rule agreed upon with the receiver”; [0026]: “the transmitter identification information on the receiver side is … sent to the receiver by the transmitter through a pre-determined channel”; [0036]: “the different codes are preset by the transmitter and the receiver or determined via negotiation through a pre-determined channel”; [0058]: “the length of the authentication information … is preset or determined via negotiation with the peer device through a pre-determined channel.” [Transmitter (certification information adding part) and receiver (authentication adding part) agree in advance on the basis selection rule, codes/lengths, etc. (communication rule) for transmitter authentication information (certification information)]), and
transmitting authentication information including the certification information and the first biometric information configured according to the communication rule (Fu, [0012]: “transmitting quantum states containing at least key information and the transmitter authentication information in a preset manner”; [0033]: “transmitting quantum states of control information and data information with respectively different wavelengths in a preset information format, wherein the data information comprises the key information and the transmitter authentication information.” [key information=first information; transmitter authentication information=certification information]),
verifying legitimacy of the certification information in the authentication information using the certification information notified in advance from the processing of notifying in advance Fu, [0013]: “by the receiver, … measuring the received quantum states of the transmitter authentication information according to the basis selection rule, and, if the measurement result is consistent with the transmitter authentication information calculated following the first pre-provisioned algorithm, determining that the transmitter is authenticated”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lee and Fu before him or her before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify a biometric information transmission and authentication system as taught by Lee, to include transmitting authentication information and data according to a negotiated rule, and enabling the receiver to process and verify the received information using the same rule as taught by Fu. The motivation for doing so would have been to ensure certification information and biometric information are consistently structured and correctly interpreted by the receiving authentication apparatus, thereby improving the reliability and robustness of the authentication process.
Claims 2, 10 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of Fu, further in view of Carlson et al. (US 2014/0325233), hereinafter Carlson.
Regarding claim 2, Lee discloses wherein the first biometric information in the authentication information transmitted from the certification information adding part to the authentication part is configured (Lee, [0052]: biometric information generation module (certification information adding part) generates biometric information for authentication (authentication information) by inserting a watermark pattern (certification information) into a biometric image (first biometric information); [0080]: biometric information authenticating apparatus (authenticating part) receives the biometric information for authentication (authentication information)).
Lee and Fu do not explicitly disclose configured in such way that the first biometric information is divided to a plurality of blocks to be arranged in a predetermined transmission order according to the communication rule; and wherein the certification information includes each size of the plurality of blocks of the first biometric information which is divided to the plurality of blocks to be arranged in the authentication information and the predetermined transmission order of the plurality of blocks.
However, Carlson discloses
configured in such way that the first biometric information is divided to a plurality of blocks (Carlson, [0149]: original data file (first biometric information) is divided into blocks) to be arranged in a predetermined transmission order according to the communication rule (Carlson, [0152]-[0153]: the blocks are rearranged to form a reassembled file; [0157]: the reassembled file is transmitted); and
wherein the certification information includes each size of the plurality of blocks of the first biometric information which is divided to the plurality of blocks to be arranged in the authentication information and the predetermined transmission order of the plurality of blocks (Carlson, [0154]: order, size and geometry of the block (certification geometry) is appended to the front of the assembled file).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lee, Fu and Carlson before him or her before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify a system for transmitting biometric and associated authentication information using structured communication techniques as taught by Lee and Fu, to include applying block-based data segmentation, ordering and inclusion of block metadata in the transmitted data as taught by Carlson. The motivation for doing so would have been to facilitate reliable transmission and reconstruction of the biometric information and associated authentication information.
Regarding claim 10 and 16, the limitations have been addressed in the rejection of claim 2.
Claims 3, 5, 11, 13, 17 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of Fu, further in view of Chafni et al. (US 2022/0103362), hereinafter Chafni.
Regarding claim 3, Lee discloses transmits the first biometric information to the certification information adding part (Lee, [0052]: biometric information generation module (certification information adding part) generates biometric information for authentication (authentication information) by inserting a watermark pattern (certification information) into a biometric image (first biometric information); [0080]: biometric information authenticating apparatus (authenticating part) receives the biometric information for authentication (authentication information)).
Lee and Fu do not explicitly disclose wherein the processor is configured to execute the program instructions to implement: a biometric information encryption part which encrypts the first biometric information acquired by the biometric information acquiring part using a predetermined encryption and transmits the encrypted first biometric information to the certification information adding part; and the second biometric information of the user in the biometric information database is encrypted using the predetermined encryption.
However, Chafni discloses wherein the processor is configured to execute the program instructions to implement:
a biometric information encryption part which encrypts the first biometric information acquired by the biometric information acquiring part using a predetermined encryption (Chafni, Fig. 5B, steps 555-560; [0075]-[0076]); and
the second biometric information of the user in the biometric information database is encrypted using the predetermined encryption (Chafni, [0076]: biometric template vector (second biometric information) and biometric data (first biometric information) are encrypted using the same encryption scheme).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lee, Fu and Chafni before him or her before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify a system that captures and transmits biometric information to an authentication apparatus as taught by Lee and Fu, to include encrypting the biometric information before transmission, and storing an encrypted biometric template for the authentication which uses the same encryption scheme as taught by Chafni. The motivation for doing so would have been to implement an improved security system that enables secure authentication while maintaining data confidentiality.
Regarding claim 5, Lee and Fu do not explicitly disclose wherein the predetermined encryption is a homomorphic encryption.
However, Chafni discloses wherein the predetermined encryption is a homomorphic encryption (Chafni, [0076]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lee, Fu and Chafni before him or her before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify a system that captures and transmits biometric information to an authentication apparatus as taught by Lee and Fu, to include encrypting the biometric information before transmission, and storing an encrypted biometric template for the authentication which uses the same encryption scheme as taught by Chafni. The motivation for doing so would have been to implement an improved security system that enables secure authentication while maintaining data confidentiality.
Regarding claims 11 and 17, the limitations have been addressed in the rejection of claim 3.
Regarding claims 13 and 19, the limitations have been addressed in the rejection of claim 5.
Claims 4, 12 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of Fu and Chafni, further in view of Carlson.
Regarding claim 4, Lee discloses wherein the first biometric information in the authentication information transmitted from the certification information adding part to the authentication part is configured (Lee, [0052]: biometric information generation module (certification information adding part) generates biometric information for authentication (authentication information) by inserting a watermark pattern (certification information) into a biometric image (first biometric information); [0080]: biometric information authenticating apparatus (authenticating part) receives the biometric information for authentication (authentication information)).
Lee, Fu and Chafni do not explicitly disclose configured in such way that the first biometric information is divided to a plurality of blocks to be arranged in a predetermined transmission order according to the communication rule; and wherein the certification information includes each size of the plurality of blocks of the first biometric information which is divided to the plurality of blocks to be arranged in the authentication information and the predetermined transmission order of the plurality of blocks.
However, Carlson discloses
configured in such way that the first biometric information is divided to a plurality of blocks (Carlson, [0149]: original data file (first biometric information) is divided into blocks) to be arranged in a predetermined transmission order according to the communication rule (Carlson, [0152]-[0153]: the blocks are rearranged to form a reassembled file; [0157]: the reassembled file is transmitted); and
wherein the certification information includes each size of the plurality of blocks of the first biometric information which is divided to the plurality of blocks to be arranged in the authentication information and the predetermined transmission order of the plurality of blocks (Carlson, [0154]: order, size and geometry of the block (certification geometry) is appended to the front of the assembled file).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lee, Fu, Chafni and Carlson before him or her before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify a system for transmitting biometric and associated authentication information using structured communication and encryption techniques as taught by Lee, Fu and Chafni, to include applying block-based data segmentation, ordering and inclusion of block metadata in the transmitted data as taught by Carlson. The motivation for doing so would have been to facilitate reliable transmission and reconstruction of the biometric information and associated authentication information.
Regarding claim 12 and 18, the limitations have been addressed in the rejection of claim 4.
Claims 6, 8, 14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of Fu, further in view of Connell et al. (US 2010/0046808), hereinafter Connell.
Regarding claim 6, Lee discloses transmits the first biometric information to the certification information adding part (Lee, [0052]: biometric information generation module (certification information adding part) generates biometric information for authentication (authentication information) by inserting a watermark pattern (certification information) into a biometric image (first biometric information); [0080]: biometric information authenticating apparatus (authenticating part) receives the biometric information for authentication (authentication information)).
Lee and Fu do not explicitly disclose wherein the processor is configured to execute the program instructions to implement: a conversion key generation part which generates a conversion key; and a biometric information conversion part which converts the first biometric information acquired by the biometric information acquiring part based on the conversion key and transmits the converted first biometric information to the certification information adding part; wherein the second biometric information of the user in the biometric information database has been converted based on the conversion key.
However, Connell discloses wherein the processor is configured to execute the program instructions to implement:
a conversion key generation part which generates a conversion key (Connell, [0033]: “ The parameters used to generate the texture image and the combination method (conversion transform function(s), e.g. add, subtract, etc.) are stored as a key .... The key includes the synthetic texture patterns and the operations for how these patterns were combined with the unwrapped iris image”; [0050]: “The pattern or patterns … may be … randomly generated using transform generator”; and
a biometric information conversion part which converts the first biometric information acquired by the biometric information acquiring part based on the conversion key and transmits the converted first biometric information (Connell, [0032]: “An original image 108 is combined with the synthetic image using an operation such as add, subtract, multiply, divide or more complicated combinations or relationships”; [0051]: “A combining module 408 is configured to combine pixels of the at least one pattern in block 404 with the biometric image 403 or unwrapped image 411 by employing a transform pixel operation 410 to generate a transformed image”; [0052]: “The transformed image may be sent to a secure server 422 for matching”);
wherein the second biometric information of the user in the biometric information database has been converted based on the conversion key (Connell, [0011]: “at least one pattern is combined with the biometric image by employing a transform pixel operation to generate a transformed enrollment. The same pattern or patterns and the same transform pixel operation or operations are applied to a query to enable matching of the query to the enrollment to verify an identity.”; [0035]: “If it is an enrollment procedure, the resulting template … is suitable for enrollment in a database”; [0062]: “This enrollment 525 is later employed for matching against transformed feature 517 of a query presentation of user”. [enrollment/template = second biometric information]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lee, Fu and Connell before him or her before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify a system that captures and transmits biometric information to an authentication apparatus as taught by Lee and Fu, to include applying biometric transformation techniques as taught by Connell. The motivation for doing so would have been to enhance the security and privacy of biometric data by allowing biometric authentication to be performed while preventing exposure of the original biometric data.
Regarding claim 8, Lee and Fu do not explicitly disclose wherein the conversion based on the conversion key is a one-way conversion.
However, Connell discloses wherein the conversion based on the conversion key is a one-way conversion (Connell, [0026]: “It is secure because an original iris pattern cannot be recovered even from a “cracked” package.”; [0041]: “These methods are non-invertible as all original pixel intensities or code strings are “damaged … Hence, the present methods are non-invertible, thus guaranteeing privacy” [non-invertible = one-way]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lee, Fu and Connell before him or her before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify a system that captures and transmits biometric information to an authentication apparatus as taught by Lee and Fu, to include applying biometric transformation techniques as taught by Connell. The motivation for doing so would have been to enhance the security and privacy of biometric data by allowing biometric authentication to be performed while preventing exposure of the original biometric data.
Regarding claims 14 and 20, the limitations have been addressed in the rejection of claim 6.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of Fu and Connell, further in view of Chafni.
Regarding claim 7, Lee discloses wherein the first biometric information in the authentication information transmitted from the certification information adding part to the authentication part is configured (Lee, [0052]: biometric information generation module (certification information adding part) generates biometric information for authentication (authentication information) by inserting a watermark pattern (certification information) into a biometric image (first biometric information); [0080]: biometric information authenticating apparatus (authenticating part) receives the biometric information for authentication (authentication information)).
Lee, Fu and Connell do not explicitly disclose configured in such way that the first biometric information is divided to a plurality of blocks to be arranged in a predetermined transmission order according to the communication rule; and wherein the certification information includes each size of the plurality of blocks of the first biometric information which is divided to the plurality of blocks to be arranged in the authentication information and the predetermined transmission order of the plurality of blocks.
However, Carlson discloses
configured in such way that the first biometric information is divided to a plurality of blocks (Carlson, [0149]: original data file (first biometric information) is divided into blocks) to be arranged in a predetermined transmission order according to the communication rule (Carlson, [0152]-[0153]: the blocks are rearranged to form a reassembled file; [0157]: the reassembled file is transmitted); and
wherein the certification information includes each size of the plurality of blocks of the first biometric information which is divided to the plurality of blocks to be arranged in the authentication information and the predetermined transmission order of the plurality of blocks (Carlson, [0154]: order, size and geometry of the block (certification geometry) is appended to the front of the assembled file).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lee, Fu, Connell and Carlson before him or her before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify a system for transmitting biometric and associated authentication information using structured communication and biometric transformation techniques as taught by Lee, Fu and Connell, to include applying block-based data segmentation, ordering and inclusion of block metadata in the transmitted data as taught by Carlson. The motivation for doing so would have been to facilitate reliable transmission and reconstruction of the biometric information and associated authentication information.
Related Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure:
Uchida (US 2001/0025342) discloses a biometric authentication system in which a biometric data input device acquires biometric data, encodes the biometric data using secret information, and transmits the encoded data to a biometric verifier, which then decodes the data and performs authentication (Uchida, [0009]-[0010], [0022]-[0023]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LESA M KENNEDY whose telephone number is (571)431-0704. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Wednesday 9:30 am - 5:30 pm ET.
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The examiner also requests, in response to this Office Action, support be shown for language added to any original claims on amendment and any new claims. That is, indicate support for newly added claim language by specifically pointing to page(s) and line no(s) in the specification and/or drawing figure(s). This will assist the examiner in prosecuting the application.
/LESA M KENNEDY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2458
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