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 .
Claims 1-21, filed on 05/29/2024 are presented for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being Anticipated by “Vähä-Sipilä” et al. (US 10318759 B2).
Vähä-Sipilä discloses claim 1/20/21:
A method, comprising: by a secure process of a device:
receiving, from a sensor in communication with a secure process, sensor data [Vähä-Sipilä discloses “Also, as used herein, “local data” pertains to any information that can be retrieved or acquired by a device regarding the user, the device, or other devices, the environment of the user, the device or of other devices, an activity pertaining to the user, the device, or the other devices, or a combination thereof. For the purpose of example, the local data includes, at least in part, data detected by one or more sensors associated with the user device” (col.4, lines 35-42)]; and
after receiving the sensor data:
in accordance with a determination that a first set of one or more criteria is satisfied, wherein the first set of one or more criteria includes a criterion that is satisfied when the device is currently in a first state, sending the sensor data to a system process of the device [Vähä-Sipilä discloses “The requested data may include context data, user identity data, user profile data, or a combination thereof.” For example, “Thus, the context data may be acquired via the sensor 117 (e.g., sensors 117a-117n of UEs 101a-101n), which may include a location sensor” (col.7, lines 9-25 with FIG.1); wherein the 1st criteria sensor data for location determination]; and
in accordance with a determination that a second set of one or more criteria is satisfied, wherein the second set of one or more criteria includes a criterion that is satisfied when the device is currently in a second state different from the first state, forgoing sending the sensor data to the system process of the device, wherein the second set of one or more criteria is different from the first set of one or more criteria [Vähä-Sipilä discloses “The requested data may include context data, user identity data, user profile data, or a combination thereof.” For example, “Further, the UE 101 may be connected to a sensor 117, which is used to collect various types of sensor data. The sensor may include … a sound sensor, a speed sensor, a brightness sensor, etc.” (col.7, lines 9-25 with FIG.1); wherein the sensor 2nd criteria is/are sensor data for; for e.g., sound, etc.].
Claims 20 & 21 are A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and A device claims, and recite similar limitations as that of the method claim. Therefore, they are rejected for the same rationale applied in rejecting claim 1 above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 2, 3 & 11-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over “Vähä-Sipilä” et al. (US 10318759 B2) in view of “Scott-Nash” et al. (US 9740882 B2).
Vähä-Sipilä discloses The method of claim 1. Vähä-Sipilä does not; but, Scott-Nash, analogues art, discloses claim 2-3, further comprising: determining a current state of the device; further comprising: in response to determining the current state of the device, sending a request to change the device from a respective state to the first state [Scott-Nash discloses Change sensor mode 302-316? (FIG.3)/ Sensor mode of sensor set to private? 404 (FIG.4). And, “… Malware may gain visibility to such sensors. Where the sensor state is displayed to the user, such as the camera-ON LED, malware may spoof the state (e.g., turn off the LED)…” (col.7, line 40 to col.8, line 40)].
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Vähä-Sipilä by incorporating the state determining/changing teaching of Scott-Nash for protecting sensor privacy from security or privacy threat.
Vähä-Sipilä in view of Scott-Nash disclose claim 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: after receiving the sensor data and in accordance with a determination that a fourth set of one or more criteria is satisfied, forgoing sending sensor information corresponding to the sensor data to the system process [Vähä-Sipilä discloses “The requested data may include context data, user identity data, user profile data, or a combination thereof.” For example, “Further, the UE 101 may be connected to a sensor 117, which is used to collect various types of sensor data. The sensor may include … a sound sensor, a speed sensor, a brightness sensor, etc.” (col.7, lines 9-25 with FIG.1); wherein the sensor 3rd, 4th, 5th criteria is/are speed, brightness, etc.].
Vähä-Sipilä in view of Scott-Nash disclose claim 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data is sent, from a first application executing on the device, to the system process to satisfy a request for sensor information received by the system process from the first application, the method further comprising: receiving, from a second sensor in communication with the secure process, second sensor data; and after receiving the second sensor data: in accordance with a determination that the first set of one or more criteria is satisfied, sending the second sensor data to the system process, wherein the second sensor data is sent to the system process to satisfy a request for sensor information received by the system process from a second application executing on the device, and wherein the second application is different from the first application; and in accordance with a determination that the second set of one or more criteria is satisfied, forgoing sending the second sensor data to the system process of the device [Vähä-Sipilä discloses “The requested data may include context data, user identity data, user profile data, or a combination thereof.” For example, “Thus, the context data may be acquired via the sensor 117 (e.g., sensors 117a-117n of UEs 101a-101n), which may include a location sensor” (col.7, lines 9-25 with FIG.1); wherein the 1st criteria sensor data for location determination; example, “Further, the UE 101 may be connected to a sensor 117, which is used to collect various types of sensor data. The sensor may include … a sound sensor, a speed sensor, a brightness sensor, etc.” (col.7, lines 9-25 with FIG.1); wherein the sensor 2nd criteria is/are sensor data for; for e.g., sound, etc.].
Vähä-Sipilä in view of Scott-Nash disclose claim 13-14. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from a third sensor in communication with the secure process, third sensor data; and after receiving the third sensor data and in accordance with a determination that a fifth set of one or more criteria is satisfied, wherein the fifth set of one or more criteria includes a criterion corresponding to a type of sensor data corresponding to the third sensor data, and wherein the fifth set of one or more criteria does not include a criterion that is based on a state of the device, sending, to the system process, sensor information corresponding to the third sensor data; and further comprising: after receiving the sensor data and in accordance with a determination that a sixth set of one or more criteria is satisfied, sending, to the system process, fourth sensor data corresponding to the sensor data, wherein the fourth sensor data is different from the sensor data [Vähä-Sipilä discloses “The requested data may include context data, user identity data, user profile data, or a combination thereof.” For example, “Further, the UE 101 may be connected to a sensor 117, which is used to collect various types of sensor data. The sensor may include … a sound sensor, a speed sensor, a brightness sensor, etc.” (col.7, lines 9-25 with FIG.1); wherein the sensor 3rd, 4th, 5th criteria is/are speed, brightness, etc.].
Vähä-Sipilä in view of Scott-Nash disclose claim 15. The method of claim 1, further comprising: after sending the sensor data to the system process, receiving, from the sensor, fifth sensor data; and after receiving the fifth sensor data and in accordance with a determination that the second set of one or more criteria is satisfied, sending sensor information to the system process [Vähä-Sipilä discloses “The requested data may include context data, user identity data, user profile data, or a combination thereof.” For example, “Further, the UE 101 may be connected to a sensor 117, which is used to collect various types of sensor data. The sensor may include … a sound sensor, a speed sensor, a brightness sensor, etc.” (col.7, lines 9-25 with FIG.1); wherein the sensor 3rd, 4th, 5th criteria is/are speed, brightness, etc.].
Vähä-Sipilä in view of Scott-Nash disclose claim 16. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data includes health, video, and/or audio data [Vähä-Sipilä discloses “The sensor may include … a sound sensor, a speed sensor, a brightness sensor, etc.” (col.7, lines 9-25 with FIG.1)].
Vähä-Sipilä in view of Scott-Nash disclose claim 17. The method of claim 1, wherein the first state corresponds to the device displaying an indication that respective sensor data is being provided to an application, and wherein the second state corresponds to the device not displaying an indication that sensor data is being provided to an application [Scott-Nash discloses Change sensor mode 302-316? (FIG.3)/ Sensor mode of sensor set to private? 404 (FIG.4). And, “… Malware may gain visibility to such sensors. Where the sensor state is displayed to the user, such as the camera-ON LED, malware may spoof the state (e.g., turn off the LED)…” (col.7, line 40 to col.8, line 40)]. The motivation to combine is he same as that of claim 2-3 above.
Claim(s) 4-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over “Vähä-Sipilä” et al. (US 10318759 B2) in view of “Oda” et al. (US 10917472 B2).
Vähä-Sipilä disclose The method of claim 1, further comprising: after receiving the sensor data and in accordance with a determination that the second set of one or more criteria is satisfied [Vähä-Sipilä discloses determining different states (see for e.g., FIG.1)].
Vähä-Sipilä does not; but, Oda, analogues art, discloses claim 4., sending, to the system process, metadata corresponding to the sensor data, wherein the metadata is different from the sensor data [Oda discloses, “acquire sensor-side metadata including a first label corresponding to a label showing a name given in order to identify event data” (Abstract). Sensor-side metadata (in FIGS.2A, 3, 5, 6A)].
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Vähä-Sipilä by incorporating the sensor-side metadata teaching of Oda for converting sensing data into a specific data format that enables the data distribution apparatus to detect the event and to help an operator to create code for retrieving data to be used in order to detect the event from sensing data.
Vähä-Sipilä in view of Oda disclose claim 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: after receiving the sensor data and in accordance with a determination that a third set of one or more criteria is satisfied, sending, to the system process, second metadata corresponding to the sensor data, wherein the second metadata is different from the sensor data and the metadata [Oda discloses, “acquire app-side metadata including a second label that is an event condition showing a condition of an event and corresponds to the label, to determine, in a case where sensing data satisfies a requirement of an application” (Abstract). Appr-side metadata (in FIGS.2B, 3, 5, 6A)]. The motivation to combine is the same as that of claim 4 above.
Vähä-Sipilä in view of Oda disclose claim 6-7. The method of claim 4, further comprising: determining the metadata using the sensor data; a wherein the metadata indicates whether an event occurred with respect to the sensor data [Oda discloses event data (in Abstract and FIGS.2A-2B)]. The motivation to combine is the same as that of claim 4 above.
Vähä-Sipilä in view of Oda disclose claim 8-10. The method of claim 4, wherein the secure process includes a first detection mechanism and a second detection mechanism different from the first detection mechanism, wherein the first detection mechanism produces a first type of metadata, and wherein the second detection mechanism produces a second type of metadata different from the first type of metadata; wherein the first detection mechanism uses sensor data from a first type of sensor, and wherein the second detection mechanism uses sensor data from a second type of sensor different from the first type of sensor; and wherein the first detection mechanism and the second detection mechanism uses the sensor data to produce respective metadata [Oda discloses, “acquire sensor-side… app-side metadata…” (Abstract). Sensor-side and Appr-side metadata (in FIGS.2B, 3, 5, 6A)]. The motivation to combine is the same as that of claim 4 above.
Claim(s) 18 & 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over “Vähä-Sipilä” et al. (US 10318759 B2) in view of “Duan” (US 12265098 B2).
Vähä-Sipilä disclose The method of claim 1. Vähä-Sipilä does not; but, Duan, analogues art, discloses claim 18-19, wherein the system process is part of an operating system of the device; and wherein the secure process executes using a microkernel separate from a kernel used by the system process [Duan discloses, “An operating system of the electronic device may use a layered architecture, an event-driven architecture, a microkernel architecture, a micro-service architecture, or a cloud architecture” (col.8, lines 41-47)].
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the system of Vähä-Sipilä by incorporating the OS and microkernel of Duan for implementing layered architecture.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. (See PTO—892).
For example, US 2016/0094558 A1 is directed SECURING SENSOR DATA.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AMARE F TABOR whose telephone number is (571) 270-3155. The examiner can normally be reached Mon.—Fri.: 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
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/AMARE F TABOR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2434
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