DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to amendments filed 4/26/2026. Claims 1-19 are pending with claims 1, 4, 6, 12 and 16 having been amended.
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
With respect to claim 1, 12 and 16 the newly added limitation of “each of the schema identifier field, the root key identifier field, the CMA field, and the at least one public key field having a respective fixed byte-length” is not disclosed in the specification. The terms “fixed byte-length” do not show up in the specification. The specification paragraphs 0080 states “The schema identifier field 1102 may have a length of 1 byte and may include a schema version number within a range between 1 and 255. The root key identifier field 1104 may have a length of 2 bytes and may include an identifier for a device-specific key (e.g., an RSA key or an ECC key). The CMA field 1106 may have a length of 1 byte and may indicate a signing algorithm to be used when computing a signature. The public key field 1108 may have a length of 259 bytes (e.g., for an RSA public key) or 32 bytes (e.g., for an ECC public key).” This not states that each fields have a “fixed byte-length”.
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.
Claims 1-8, 10, 12 and 14-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TCG, “TCG EK Credential Profile For TPM Family 2.0; Level 0” in view of Zaverucha et al (US 2012/0317412) in view of Crabtree et al (2020/0396254).
With respect to claim 1, TCG teaches a non-transitory computer-readable memory arrangement comprising a key storage memory partition and a general purpose user memory partition, wherein the general purpose user memory partition stores a certificate schema for a public key certificate comprising:
a schema identifier field, distinct from a certificate version or TPM platform version, the schema identifier field storing a value to identify a version of the certificate schema (see Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Version” and section 3.2.1 Version);
a root key identifier field comprising data that identifies a device-specific asymmetric key used as a root of trust by a logic circuit associated with a replaceable print apparatus component (see Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Authority key Identifier” and section 3.2.12 Authority key Identifier);
a Cryptographic Mode of Use Attribute (CMA) field, the CMA field storing data that expressly identifies a cryptographic signature algorithm to be used to verify a signature generated using said device-specific asymmetric key (see Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Signature Algorithm” and section 3.2.3 Signature Algorithm); and
a public key field (see Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Subject Public Key Info” and section 3.2.7 Subject Public Key Info).
TCG does not disclose each of the schema identifier field, the root key identifier field, the CMA field, and the at least one public key field having a respective fixed byte-length, the certificate schema not requiring external libraries for parsing and validating.
Zaveruche teaches each of the schema identifier field, the root key identifier field, the CMA field, and the at least one public key field having a respective fixed byte-length (see Zaveruche paragraph 0027 i.e. Examples of implicit certificate encoding schemes include the fixed-length field scheme … A certificate encoded by the fixed-length field scheme can include a series of fields, each having a fixed length).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify TCG in view of Zaveruche to have used a fixed length scheme fixed-length field scheme sinch a fixer length scheme can be used to achieve greater bandwidth efficiency (see Zaveruche paragraph 0027).
TCG in view of Zaveruche does not disclose the certificate schema not requiring external libraries for parsing and validating.
Crabtree teaches the certificate schema not requiring external libraries for parsing and validating (see Crabtree paragraph 0092 i.e. If that HTTP service uses TLS 2307, the TLS certificate may be validated 2308 either by parsing the certificate 2308a to extract the text of the certificate, or by validation of the certificate using a validation service 2308b, or both).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify TCG in view of Crabtree to have been able to validated the certificate either by parsing the certificate to extract the text of the certificate or using a validation service as one of many ways to validate the certificate (see Crabtree paragraph 0092).
With respect to claim 2, TCG, Zaverucha and Crabtree teaches the non-transitory computer-readable memory arrangement of claim 1, wherein the schema identifier field stores a schema version number (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Version” and section 3.2.3 Version), the root key identifier field stores an identifier of a device-specific key (see Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Authority key Identifier” and section 3.2.12 Authority key Identifier), and/or the CMA field stores data indicating a signing algorithm to be used for computing a signature (see Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Signature Algorithm” and section 3.2.3 Signature Algorithm).
With respect to claim 3, TCG, Zaverucha and Crabtree teaches the non-transitory computer-readable memory arrangement of claim 1, wherein the public key field stores an RSA public key or an ECC public key (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Subject Public Key Info” and section 3.2.7 Subject Public Key Info).
With respect to claim 4, TCG, Zaverucha and Crabtree teaches the non-transitory computer-readable memory arrangement of claim 1, wherein the certificate schema further comprises: a data length field, wherein the public key field comprises a public exponent field and a modulus field (see TCG section 3.2.7 Subject Public Key Info i.e. The RSA public key MUST be encoded using the ASN.1 type RSAPublicKey as defined in RFC 3279[13]. RSAPublicKey ::= SEQUENCE { modulus INTEGER, --n publicExponent INTEGER }).
With respect to claim 5, TCG, Zaverucha and Crabtree teaches the non-transitory computer-readable memory arrangement of claim 4, wherein the data length field stores data indicating a total accumulated length of the schema identifier field, the root key identifier field, the CMA field, the public exponent field, and the modulus field, and/or the public exponent field stores an exponent used for signature verification and the modulus field stores a product of two prime numbers used to generate a key pair (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Subject Public Key Info” and section 3.2.7 Subject Public Key Info).
With respect to claim 6, TCG, Zaverucha and Crabtree teaches the non-transitory computer-readable memory arrangement of claim 1, wherein the certificate schema further comprises: a capability field (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Key Usage” and section 3.2.15 Key Usage).
With respect to claim 7, TCG, Zaverucha and Crabtree teaches the non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 6, wherein the capability field stores a capability indicating at least one supported signing function (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Key Usage” and section 3.2.15 Key Usage).
With respect to claim 8, TCG, Zaverucha and Crabtree teaches the non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 1, wherein the certificate schema defines an RSA public key certificate (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Signature Algorithm” and section 3.2.3 Signature Algorithm).
With respect to claim 10, TCG, Zaverucha and Crabtree teaches the non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 1, wherein the certificate schema defines an ECC public key certificate (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Signature Algorithm” and section 3.2.3 Signature Algorithm).
With respect to claim 12, TCG teaches a logic circuitry package for a replaceable print apparatus component comprising: an interface to communicate with a host logic circuit; and a logic circuit comprising a memory arrangement storing a symmetric key, a private key, and a certificate comprising a public key corresponding to the private key; wherein the certificate comprises a certificate schema comprising:
a schema identifier field, the schema identifier field storing a value to identify a version of the certificate schema (see Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Version” and section 3.2.1 Version);
a root key identifier field comprising data that identifies a device-specific asymmetric key used as a root of trust by a logic circuit associated with a replaceable print apparatus component (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Authority key Identifier” and section 3.2.12 Authority key Identifier);
a Cryptographic Mode of Use Attribute (CMA) field, the CMA field storing data that expressly identifies a cryptographic signature algorithm to be used to verify a signature generated using said device-specific asymmetric key (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Signature Algorithm” and section 3.2.3 Signature Algorithm);
a public key field (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Subject Public Key Info” and section 3.2.7 Subject Public Key Info) and
a modulus field (see TCG section 3.2.7 Subject Public Key Info i.e. The RSA public key MUST be encoded using the ASN.1 type RSAPublicKey as defined in RFC 3279[13]. RSAPublicKey ::= SEQUENCE { modulus INTEGER, --n publicExponent INTEGER }).
TCG does not disclose each of the schema identifier field, the root key identifier field, the CMA field, and the at least one public key field having a respective fixed byte-length, the certificate schema not requiring external libraries for parsing and validating.
Zaveruche teaches each of the schema identifier field, the root key identifier field, the CMA field, and the at least one public key field having a respective fixed byte-length (see Zaveruche paragraph 0027 i.e. Examples of implicit certificate encoding schemes include the fixed-length field scheme … A certificate encoded by the fixed-length field scheme can include a series of fields, each having a fixed length).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify TCG in view of Zaveruche to have used a fixed length scheme fixed-length field scheme sinch a fixer length scheme can be used to achieve greater bandwidth efficiency (see Zaveruche paragraph 0027).
TCG in view of Zaveruche does not disclose the certificate schema not requiring external libraries for parsing and validating.
Crabtree teaches the certificate schema not requiring external libraries for parsing and validating (see Crabtree paragraph 0092 i.e. If that HTTP service uses TLS 2307, the TLS certificate may be validated 2308 either by parsing the certificate 2308a to extract the text of the certificate, or by validation of the certificate using a validation service 2308b, or both).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify TCG in view of Crabtree to have been able to validated the certificate either by parsing the certificate to extract the text of the certificate or using a validation service as one of many ways to validate the certificate (see Crabtree paragraph 0092).
With respect to claim 13, TCG, Zaverucha and Crabtree teaches the non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 12, wherein the capability field stores data indicating supported signing functions (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Key Usage” and section 3.2.15 Key Usage) and the CMA field stores data indicating a signing algorithm to be used when computing a signature (see Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Signature Algorithm” and section 3.2.3 Signature Algorithm).
With respect to claim 14, TCG, Zaverucha and Crabtree teaches the non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 12, wherein the root key identifier field stores an identifier for a device-specific RSA key (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Authority key Identifier” and section 3.2.12 Authority key Identifier).
With respect to claim 15, TCG, Zaverucha and Crabtree teaches the non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 12, wherein the data length field stores data indicating a total accumulated length of the schema identifier field, the root key identifier field, the CMA field, the public exponent field, and the modulus field, the schema identifier field stores a schema version number, and/or the public exponent field stores an exponent used for signature verification and the modulus field stores a product of two prime numbers used to generate a key pair (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Subject Public Key Info” and section 3.2.7 Subject Public Key Info).
With respect to claim 16, TCG, Zaverucha and Crabtree teaches A non-transitory computer-readable memory arrangement for a replaceable print apparatus component comprising: a key storage memory partition storing a private key; and a general purpose user memory partition storing a certificate schema for a public key certificate comprising:
a schema identifier field (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Version” and section 3.2.1 Version);
a root key identifier field comprising data that identifies a device-specific asymmetric key used as a root of trust by a logic circuit associated with a replaceable print apparatus component (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Authority key Identifier” and section 3.2.12 Authority key Identifier);
a Cryptographic Mode of Use Attribute (CMA) field, the CMA field storing data that expressly identifies a cryptographic signature algorithm to be used to verify a signature generated using said device-specific asymmetric key (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Signature Algorithm” and section 3.2.3 Signature Algorithm);
a capability field (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Key Usage” and section 3.2.15 Key Usage); and
a public key field (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Subject Public Key Info” and section 3.2.7 Subject Public Key Info).
TCG does not disclose each of the schema identifier field, the root key identifier field, the CMA field, and the at least one public key field having a respective fixed byte-length, the certificate schema not requiring external libraries for parsing and validating.
Zaveruche teaches each of the schema identifier field, the root key identifier field, the CMA field, and the at least one public key field having a respective fixed byte-length (see Zaveruche paragraph 0027 i.e. Examples of implicit certificate encoding schemes include the fixed-length field scheme … A certificate encoded by the fixed-length field scheme can include a series of fields, each having a fixed length).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify TCG in view of Zaveruche to have used a fixed length scheme fixed-length field scheme sinch a fixer length scheme can be used to achieve greater bandwidth efficiency (see Zaveruche paragraph 0027).
TCG in view of Zaveruche does not disclose the certificate schema not requiring external libraries for parsing and validating.
Crabtree teaches the certificate schema not requiring external libraries for parsing and validating (see Crabtree paragraph 0092 i.e. If that HTTP service uses TLS 2307, the TLS certificate may be validated 2308 either by parsing the certificate 2308a to extract the text of the certificate, or by validation of the certificate using a validation service 2308b, or both).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify TCG in view of Crabtree to have been able to validated the certificate either by parsing the certificate to extract the text of the certificate or using a validation service as one of many ways to validate the certificate (see Crabtree paragraph 0092).
With respect to claim 17, TCG, Zaverucha and Crabtree teaches the non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 16, wherein the capability field stores data indicating supported signing functions and the CMA field stores data indicating a signing algorithm to be used when computing a signature (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Signature Algorithm” and section 3.2.3 Signature Algorithm).
With respect to claim 18, TCG, Zaverucha and Crabtree teaches the non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim wherein the root key identifier field stores an identifier for a device-specific ECC key (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Authority key Identifier” and section 3.2.12 Authority key Identifier).
With respect to claim 19, TCG, Zaverucha and Crabtree teaches the non-transitory computer-readable memory of claims 16, wherein the schema identifier field stores a schema version number (see TCG Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Version” and section 3.2.3 Version) and the public key field stores an ECC public key (see Table 3 EK Certificate Fields table row “Subject Public Key Info” and section 3.2.7 Subject Public Key Info).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9 and 11 are 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 while also overcoming the 35 USC § 112 rejection.
With respect to claim 9 the prior art does not disclose the non-transitory computer-readable memory arrangement of claim 8, wherein a data size of the RSA public key certificate is between 263 and 267 bytes.
With respect to claim 11 the prior art does not disclose the non-transitory computer-readable memory arrangement of claim 10, wherein a data size of the ECC public key certificate is between 37 and 39 bytes.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEVIN E ALMEIDA whose telephone number is (571)270-1018. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday from 7:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. The examiner can also be reached on alternate Fridays from 7:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Rupal Dharia, can be reached on 571-272-3880. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DEVIN E ALMEIDA/ Examiner, Art Unit 2492
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