DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Amendment filed on July 15th, 2026.
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.
In the instant Amendment, claim 3 has been amended; and claims 1, 12 & 17 are independent. Claims 1-20 have been examined and are pending. This Action is made NON-FINAL.
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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 6-9, filed 07/15/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-20 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Kao.
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) 1-2, 4-8, 10-12, 14-17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kao, U.S. Pub. Number 2024/0146732, in view of Nixon et al. (Nixon), U.S. Pub. Number 2020/0162701.
Regarding claim 1; Kao discloses a method comprising:
receiving, by a first computing device configured to provide access to a first network, from a user device, a first request to connect to the first network, wherein the first request comprises a random Media Access Control (MAC) address associated with the user device (par. 0080; fig. 4; the electronic device receives an access request associated with a computer, where the access request includes passphrase parameters corresponding to a passphrase associated with a user, and the passphrase parameters include inputs to a cryptographic calculation and an output of the cryptographic calculation; the passphrase parameters may include a random number associated with a second electronic device, a random number associated with a computer network device, an output of a cryptographic calculation, an identifier of the electronic device such as a MAC address and an identifier of the computer network device such as MAC address.);
determining, based on the random MAC address, that the user device is not authorized to connect to the first network (pars. 0082-0083; fig. 4; the electronic device calculates one or more second outputs of the cryptographic calculation based at least in part on the inputs and one or more stored passphrase; when there is not a match between one of the one or more second outputs and the output, the electronic device may not approve the secure access/the user is not authorized to connect to the network.);
sending, to the user device, a second request for the user device to provide user information to connect to the first network (par. 0084; fig. 4; the electronic device provides an access acceptance message to the computer, where the access acceptance message is intended for the second electronic device and includes information for establishing the secure access of the second electronic device to a network; for instance, the second electronic device uses the information to encrypt/decrypt communication and to establish a tunnel.);
receiving, from the user device, the user information associated with the user device (par. 0080; the electronic device receives an access request including passphrase parameters corresponding to a passphrase associated with a user and the passphrase parameters include inputs to a cryptographic calculation and an output of cryptographic calculation.); and
sending, to a second computing device, a third request that comprises the user information and a first MAC address associated with the first computing device and the first location (par. 0231; the AMC address of the second electronic device is bound to or associated with the passphrase in the electronic device, so that the second electronic device can be authenticated by the electronic device on subsequent occasions without the electronic device having to perform the cryptographic calculation; when such MAC-address caching is used, the electronic device may perform cryptographic calculation during an instance of a subsequent authentication request in order to ensure that the passphrase parameters and cryptographic information is unchanged and is still accurate; the MAC-address caching is used only a single cryptographic calculation may need to be performed for the second electronic device.).
Kao fails to explicitly disclose the second computing device permits the user device accessing either the first network or a second network based on at least one of: the first MAC address, the first location, or the user information.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Nixon discloses identifying and locating objects by associating video data of the objects with signals identifying wireless devices belonging to the objects wherein the second computing device permits the user device accessing either the first network or a second network based on at least one of: the first MAC address, the first location, or the user information (Nixon: pars. 0272 & 0307; determine that the MAC address for the wireless device 118 is not associated with a listing of known and/or allowed devices permitted to access the WiFi network of the user’s network 218, such as the activity of interest database 522.).
Therefore, it would have obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Nixon into the computer, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and the method of Kao wherein the second computing device permits the user device accessing either the first network or a second network based on at least one of: the first MAC address, the first location, or the user information to improve the function of A/V recording and communication devices that strengthen the ability of such devices to reduce crime and enhance public safety (Nixon: par. 0002).
Regarding claim 2; Kao and Nixon disclose the method of claim 1, wherein Kao further discloses the user information associated with the user device comprises a user identifier (Kao: par. 0169; the end-user identifier associated with the passphrase.) and a user password (Kao: par. 0219; passphrase parameters corresponding to a passphrase or pre-shared key associated with the user.).
Regarding claim 4; Kao and Nixon disclose the method of claim 3, Kao further discloses comprising: adding, based on the response, at least one of the random MAC address or a MAC address associated with the user device, in an access allow list for a period of time (Kao: par. 0186; insert the IP address of the home-hub access point as an attribute in the access-accept message before forwarding it to the NAS client/home hub.).
Regarding claim 5; Kao and Nixon disclose the method of claim 1, Kao further discloses comprising: receiving, from the second computing device, based on the user information and the MAC address associated with the first computing device, a response indicating that the first request is received by the first computing device located in a user’s residence associated with the user information (Kao: par. 0083; provide an access acceptance message to the computer, wherein the access acceptance message is intended for the second electronic device and includes information for establishing the secure access of the second electronic device to a network.); denying, based on the response, the user device access to the first network (Kao: par. 0083; the electronic device may not approve the secure access.); and providing the user device access to a second network (Kao: par. 0097; provide an access acceptance message to electronic device with information for establishing secure access of electronic device to a network.).
Regarding claim 6; Kao and Nixon disclose the method of claim 5, wherein Kao further discloses the first computing device is configured to provide the first network and the second network (Kao: par. 0229; allow user to access multiple networks at different locations or at different times based at least in part on the one or more authentication parameters.).
Regarding claim 7; Kao and Nixon disclose the method of claim 6, wherein Kao further discloses the first network is a public network and the second network is a private network (Kao: par. 0251; the policy engine can be provided on customer premise and public or private cloud infrastructures.).
Regarding claim 8; Kao and Nixon disclose the method of claim 5, Kao further discloses comprising: adding, based on the response, at least one of the random MAC address or a MAC address associated with the user device, in an access deny list for a period of time (Kao: par. 0282; periodically change passphrases.).
Regarding claim 10; Kao and Nixon disclose the method of claim 1, wherein Kao further discloses the third request further comprises at least one of a network type, a signal to noise ratio, or one or more Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) identifiers (Kao: par. 0068; the virtual network may include a VLAN.).
Regarding claim 11; Kao and Nixon disclose the method of claim 1, wherein Kao further discloses the first computing device is a gateway device or an access point, and the second computing device is a server (Kao: par. 0058; an access point of a wireless LAN in a school environment such as an elementary or junior high school.).
Regarding claim 12; Claim 12 is directed to a method which has similar scope as claim 1. Therefore, claim 12 remains un-patentable for the same reasons.
Regarding claims 14-16; Claims 14-16 are directed to the method of claim 12 which have similar scope as claims 2, 4-8 & 11. Therefore, claims 14-16 remain un-patentable for the same reasons.
Regarding claim 17; Claim 17 is directed to a method which has similar scope as claim 1. Therefore, claim 17 remains un-patentable for the same reasons.
Regarding claims 19-20; Claims 19-20 are directed to the method of claim 17 which have similar scope as claims 2, 4-8 & 11. Therefore, claims 19-20 remain un-patentable for the same reasons.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 9, 13, or 18 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/KHOI V LE/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2436
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