DETAILED ACTION
In response to the communication filed on 05/21/2024, responded in following.
On this Office Action, claims 1-20, consisting of independent claims 1, 12, and 18.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b).
Claims 12-17 and 19 are rejected under the 35 USC § 101.
Claims 1-4, 6-11, 18 and 20 are allowed.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/16/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 05/21/2024. These drawings are accepted.
Claim Objections
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 9 cites “topology associated with the firs data set.” It should be “a topology.”
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.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, regards as the invention.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the collection of endpoints." There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 12 and 15-17 :
STEP 1:Statutory Category
Claim 12 (and dependent claims 15-17) recites a method (process) and therefore fall within a statutory category under 35 USC § 101.
STEP2A Prong one: Judicial Exception
Claims 12 and 15-17 recite the steps of “assigning anonymous identifiers” (claim 12), “processing the first dataset to swap data associated with the endpoint with data associated with other endpoint” (claim 12), “combining” datasets and “swapping” data between endpoints of different datasets (claims 15-16), and various forms of swapping identifiers and service information among endpoints and parent node (claim 17),
These limitations are directed to data anonymization, reengagement, and re-association of information, which fall within the “Mental Processes” grouping of the 2019 PEG as concepts that can be performed in the human mind such as assigning substitute identifiers, comparing characteristics, and reorganizing records based on rules. Accordingly, the claimed limitations fall within a Judicial Exception.
STEP2A Prong two: Practical Application
Claims 12 and 15-17 does not recite additional elements that integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. The claims merely recite generic data-processing steps applied to datasets, such as “assigning,” “processing,” ”combining,” “swapping,” and “outputting.” These limitations amount to instructions to apply the judicial exception using a computer, or to use a computer as a tool to perform the abstract idea. The claims do not recite any information to computer functionality, a particular machine, or a specific technological solution. Thus, the claims do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application - see MPEP 2106.05(f).
STEP 2B: Significantly More
Claims 12 and 15-17 do not recite additional elements that amount to significantly more that the judicial exception. The additional limitation merely further describe how the abstract data manipulation rules are applied and constitute insignificant extra-solution activity. Accordingly, the additional elements, individually or in combination, fail to transform the abstract idea into patent-eligible subject matter - see MPEP 2106.05(g).
The dependent claims 13-14 inherit the deficiencies of the independent claim 12 upon which it depends and are rejected as well.
Claim 19 falls within a different statutory category (manufacture, i.e., one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions); however, for the same reasons discussed above, the claims merely recites abstract data-manipulation rules implemented on a computer-readable medium and therefore remains directed to an abstract idea under 35 USC § 101.
Therefore, claims 12-17 and 19 are not patent-eligible under 35 USC § 101.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), set forth in this Office action.
Claims 12-17 and 19 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 101, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter. Claims 1-4, 6-11, 18 and 20 are allowed.
Independent claim 1 (System)
Receives a utility dataset associated with a collection of nodes, where a portion contains original identifiers including personal identifiable information (PII).
Replaces the original identifiers with anonymous identifiers for the nodes.
Produces a transformed dataset that preserves the utility of the node collections while protecting personal information.
None of the references considered below discloses receiving a utility dataset associated with a collection of nodes and anonymizing node identifiers while selectively preserving node-level utility in a transformed dataset.
Independent claim 12 (Method)
Assigns anonymous identifiers to endpoints in a utility dataset, each endpoint being associated with at least on parent node.
Processes the dataset, based on a feature of the utility data, to swap among endpoints.
Outputs a processed dataset with obscured endpoint associations.
None of the references considered below discloses processing a utility dataset associated with endpoints by assigning anonymous identifiers to the endpoints associated with parent nodes and, based on a feature of the utility data, swapping data among the endpoint to output a processed utility dataset.
Independent claim 18 (Non-transitory Computer-Readable Medium)
Use a deterministic one-way hashing algorithm to assign anonymous identifiers to endpoints associated with parent nodes
Processes the dataset to swap data among endpoints.
Output the processed dataset
None of the references considered below discloses processing a utility dataset associated with endpoints by using a deterministic one-way hashing algorithm to assign anonymous identifiers to the endpoints associated with at least one parent node, swapping data among the endpoints, and outputting the processed utility dataset.
Troitsky et al. (US 20210266297 A1): [0054] In one aspect, the data sources 110 may be clients, different user devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices or data management systems, such as a user database which aggregates and stores all data about a user and which the user manages through an interface; [0131] In step 210, a source 110 receives a request from a recipient 120 to send data; [0134] method 200 determines whether or not critical data is present in the data intended to be sent from the source 110 to the recipient 120. If critical data is discovered, then method 200 proceeds to step 220 a;[0136] In step 220, method 200 sends the identifier of the user (either the identifier generated in step 212 or the existing one found in step 211) from the source to the token generator 130; [0137] In step 221, the token generator 130 determines whether an existing anonymous identifier is linked to the obtained identifier of the user; [0140-0143] In step 223, method 200 generates random tokens for the first and second pairs, e.g., for the pair user identifier/anonymous identifier and the pair critical data/anonymous data. In step 230 a, the random token for the pair critical data/anonymous data is returned. In step 242, all the tokens of the source 110 and, in a particular instance, the noncritical data are sent to the recipient.
Villax et al. (US 20220222373 A1): [0073] the data subject's original anonymous identifier may be hashed by the data subject's cryptographic software module in the personal computing device, so that it may be transmitted to data providers in a way which hides the original anonymous identifier; [0094] In one embodiment of the invention a parent may store a child's information of interest in the parent's personal computing device and then allow the child's information to be removed from the parent's device and transferred to the child's device, for example on reaching a certain legal age.
Smith et al. (US 9876823 B2): (56) In Example 1, a method includes: receiving, in the system of an external verifier of a first network including a plurality of nodes, a plurality of attestation reports and a plurality of attestation values from a plurality of reporting nodes of the first network, each of the plurality of attestation values randomly generated in the corresponding reporting node based on a common random seed value; determining whether at least a threshold number of the plurality of attestation values match; responsive to at least the threshold number of the plurality of attestation values matching, decrypting the plurality of attestation reports, processing the decrypted plurality of attestation reports to obtain aggregated telemetry data of the plurality of nodes, where identity of the plurality of nodes remains anonymous to the external verifier; and enforcing a security policy based at least in part on the aggregated telemetry data.
Wang et al. (US 20120239799 A1): [0034] In an example of a hierarchical tree topology, a parent node can analyze its child node's data and send the results to a next parent at a higher level. A child node is a node, that can only directly communicate with its parent node (and with no other node), and a parent node can only directly communicate with its children nodes and with its own parent node; [0036] each node can compute an intermediate result by repeatedly swapping data with other nodes. A binomial swap forest topology is an example of a decentralized topology.
Fleck (US 11387998 B2): FIG. 2 is a flow chart of certain processes that may be used to effectuate an anonymization engine. The method begins at a flow label 210. At a flow step 212 an original data source prepares data or entry into the method. This data may include PII and a source ID unique to the original data source. At a step 214 the data from the original data source is transmitted to an anonymization engine. At a step 215 the anonymization engine analyzes the data to see if there is a history for this PII and this data source. If yes, flow proceeds to a step 216, else flow proceeds to a step 218. At the step 216 the anonymization engine updates a repository with any changes to PII and obtains an external anonymous key at a step 217. While at the step 218 the anonymizer engine creates a new record for the new individual and flow proceeds to a step 220.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW SUH whose telephone number is (571)270-5524. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 AM- 5:00 PM.
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/ANDREW SUH/Examiner, Art Unit 2493