DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 09 July 2026 has been entered.
Claims 1, 3-5, 8-10, 12, 16, 18-20, 23, 24, 30, 32, and 33 are pending.
This Action is Non-Final.
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 (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 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, 3, 8, 9, 12, 16, 18, 23, 30, 32, and 33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khanfar et al. (US 8893254) in view of Kiss et al. (US 20050250481).
As per claims 1, 16, 30, and 32, Khanfar et al. discloses a method, networking device (see Fig. 7), and client device (see Fig. 5) configured to:
on determining that the client device has data to send to a destination node, determine that at least one Privacy Enhancing Technology, PET, function is to be applied to the data (see column 9 lines 1-21); and
transmit the data, with an instruction to apply at least one PET function, to a networking device for application of the at least one PET function to the data, and for forwarding of the data to the destination node (see column 9 line 22 through column 10 line 7), wherein the data further comprises an identification of a user of the client device (see column 6 lines 28-45 where user information must be sent to determine the user has a subscription to the privacy server).
There lacks an explicit recitation that the identification of the user is part of the instruction.
However, Kiss et al. teaches an instruction to perform privacy processing which includes an identification of the user of the client device (see paragraphs [0033]-[0049]).
At a time before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include identification of the user in the instruction of the Khanfar et al. system.
Motivation, as recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art to do so would have been to allow the system to provide user-specific protections.
As per claims 3, 12, 18, and 33, the modified Khanfar et al. and Kiss et al. system discloses the instruction further comprises an identification of at least one PET function to be applied to the data, and wherein applying a PET function to the data in accordance with the instruction comprises applying the identified PET function using a security protocol (see Khanfar et al. column 5 line 34 through column 6 line 18 and column 9 line 13 through column 10 line 7).
As per claim 8, the modified Khanfar et al. and Kiss et al. system discloses receiving from a management node configuration information for the instruction (see Khanfar et al. column 13 lines 41-57).
As per claims 9 and 23, the modified Khanfar et al. and Kiss et al. system discloses transmitting the data, with an instruction to apply at least one PET function, comprises inserting the instruction into at least one of: a packet header of a packet of the data; or an Internet Protocol, IP, flow label of an IP flow containing the data (see Khanfar et al. column 9 lines 1-38).
Claims 4, 10, 19, and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the modified Khanfar et al. and Kiss et al. system as applied to claims 1 and 16 above, and further in view of Keränen et al. (US 20190223010).
As per claims 4, 10, 19, and 24, the modified Khanfar et al. and Kiss et al. system fails to disclose the use of a Privacy Network Token and the instruction is inserted into a CoAP header field.
However, Keränen et al. teaches the use of a privacy network token and the use of a CoAP header field to transmit data (see paragraphs [0087]-[0088]).
At a time before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include the token and CoAP header in the modified Khanfar et al. and Kiss et al. system.
Motivation, as recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art, would have been to have the data be in a well-known and commonly used token format and to allow for use with constrained devices.
Claims 5 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the modified Khanfar et al. and Kiss et al. system as applied to claims 1 and 16 above, and further in view of Chauhan (US 20200112589).
As per claims 5 and 20, the modified Khanfar et al. and Kiss et al. system fails to explicitly disclose the client device encrypts the data for transmission, and wherein the instruction further comprises an identification of an encryption process used by the client device to encrypt the data, and an access token allowing access by a networking device to key material for decrypting the data.
However, Chauhan teaches the use of an identified encryption algorithm to obtain a decryption key used to decrypt data that is to be privacy protected (see paragraphs [0189]-[0192] where the system must obtain access to the key material in order to decrypt that data).
At a time before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include the encryption and decryption of the data from Chauhan in the modified Khanfar et al. and Kiss et al. system.
Motivation, as recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art, to do so would have been to allow for the system to privacy protect data that is transmitted in encrypted form thereby increasing the security of the system.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 3-5, 8-10, 12, 16, 18-20, 23, 24, 30, 32, and 33 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: the remaining references put forth on the PTO-892 form are directed towards privacy protections.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL J PYZOCHA whose telephone number is (571)272-3875. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7:30am-5:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hadi Armouche can be reached at (571) 270-3618. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Michael Pyzocha/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409
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