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 .
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.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/18/26 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to Akins 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.
On page 11, of applicant's response, while applicant argues that "However, Eyer never explicitly discloses that filtering information" is unknown to the OEM Crypto module.", a claim limitation may be proven to be expressly, impliedly or inherently disclosed by the prior art, and is not required to only be "explicitly" disclosed. In this case, however, Eyers explicitly discloses that the CDM derives the encrypted key for the content and feeds it to the OEM Crypto Module (Fig. 7, paragraph 59) along with the encrypted content (Fig. 7, paragraph 54).
The DRM license is associated with the unique identifier of the reception apparatus that is used to extract or derive the decryption key (paragraph 47-48). The decryption key itself does not contain the unique identifier nor would such be used during the decryption. Nothing within Eyers specifies or suggests the unique identifier would be transmitted to the OEM Crypto module with the key and the transmission of other information not used for decryption to the decryption module would be contrary to its functionality.
Further, this appears to fit the little description within applicant’s own specification regarding the filtering information being “unknown”.
As described in paragraph 75 of the PGPUB,
“such application can require the configuration information without having the knowledge of the filtering information allowing to obtain the filtering item” and
“the filtering item is a sensitive data, e.g. the unique identifier of the reception device 100, that is not expected to be known by the applications running on the reception device 100”.
The OEM Crypto module of Eyers has no knowledge of, or need to have knowledge of, the unique identifier utilized by the CDM to locate and extract the license from the broadcast stream (Fig. 7, paragraph 47-48, 54). The OEM Crypto module waits to receive a decryption key and utilizes that key to perform decryption (paragraph 59).
Therefore, applicant’s arguments are not convincing.
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 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eyer (US 2019/0166392) (of record) in view of Fay et al. (Fay) (US 2015/00075215).
As to claim 1, while Eyer discloses a method for acquiring, from a server, configuration information by a reception device connected to the server through a first network, the configuration information allowing an update of an internal setting of the reception device (Fig. 3A-B, 7),
wherein the reception device executes, during an initialization stage:
providing a filtering information allowing to obtain a filtering item to a communication interface for allowing a terminal equipment connected to the server through a second network to obtain the filtering information (providing device ID to display; paragraph 42, 44); and
during an operation stage: providing a request for said configuration information to the communication interface for allowing the terminal equipment to obtain the request and to send a corresponding request to the server (providing URL to access server address for service; paragraph 42);
receiving said configuration information provided by said server as part of a data stream sent through said first network, said configuration information being associated to a filtering item in said data stream, the filtering item being known from the reception device for allowing the reception device to identify said configuration information in the data stream (receiving DRM license for desired service associated with unique device ID; paragraph 48, 66);
wherein the configuration information is required by an application that is executed on the reception device (OEM Crypto Module acquiring decryption key to decrypt content; S726, Fig. 7; paragraph 59) while the filtering information is unknown to the application (decryption key passed to OEM Crypto module while not receiving the device ID or being part of the communications with the Internet-connected device; as seen in Fig. 7, paragraph 55-59),
wherein the server is configured send configuration information addressed for the reception device for multiplexed transmission (Fig. 2, paragraph 31, 47-48, 58-59), and the reception device retrieves the configuration information from the data stream (Fig. 2, paragraph 31, 47-48, 58-59),
Eyer fails to specifically disclose wherein the server is configured to split the configuration information as multiple parts send the multiple parts for multiplexed transmission, and the reception device retrieves the multiple parts of the configuration information from the data stream and rebuilds the original configuration information.
In an analogous art, Fay discloses a system for distributing secured content (Fig. 1, 2B; paragraph 27-37, 49) wherein the broadcast server is configured to split configuration information as multiple parts and send the multiple parts for multiplexed transmission (Fig. 10, EMMs/ECMs split into multiple parts and transmitted to receiver; paragraph 35-37, 52-55, 82-83), and the reception device retrieves the multiple parts of the configuration information from the data stream and rebuilds the original configuration information (Fig. 11, full ECM/EMM retrieved across multiple frames; paragraph 35-37, 82-83) so as to enable the security information to be transmitted within existing portions of the television signal (paragraph 82-83).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Eyer’s system to include wherein the server is configured to split the configuration information as multiple parts send the multiple parts for multiplexed transmission, and the reception device retrieves the multiple parts of the configuration information from the data stream and rebuilds the original configuration information, as taught in combination with Fay, for the typical benefit of providing security information sized to be transmitted within existing portions of the television signal (paragraph 82-83).
As to claim 2, Eyer and Fay disclose wherein said providing a request for said configuration information to a communication interface comprises:
providing the request to a wireless communications transceiver for sending the request to the terminal equipment through a wireless communication link (see Eyer at paragraph 67).
As to claim 3, Eyer and Fay disclose wherein said providing a request for said configuration information to a communication interface comprises:
generating a graphical item representative of the request (see Eyer at Fig. 4A-5; paragraph 42-43, 46, 66);
providing the graphical item to a display for displaying the graphical item on the display for allowing the terminal equipment to obtain the request by scanning the graphical item (see Eyer at Fig. 4A-5; paragraph 42-43, 46, 66).
As to claim 4, Eyer discloses a method for acquiring, from a server, configuration information by a reception device connected to the server through a first network, the configuration information allowing an update of an internal setting of the reception device (Fig. 3A-B, 7),
wherein a terminal equipment connected to the server through a second network executes, during an initialization stage:
obtaining, from the reception device, a filtering information allowing to obtain a filtering item known from the reception device (device ID; paragraph 42, 44); and
during an operation stage: obtaining a request, from the reception device, for said configuration information (providing URL to access server address for service; paragraph 42);
sending a corresponding request for said configuration information to the server through the second network (paragraph 46, 57) for having the server to provide said configuration information to the reception device as part of a data stream sent through said first network, the corresponding request comprising the filtering information allowing to obtain the filtering item to be associated to said configuration information in the data stream for allowing the reception device to identify said configuration information in the data stream (receiving DRM license for desired service associated with unique device ID; paragraph 48, 66),
wherein the configuration information is required by an application that is executed on the reception device (OEM Crypto Module acquiring decryption key to decrypt content; S726, Fig. 7; paragraph 59) while the filtering information is unknown to the application (decryption key passed to OEM Crypto module while not receiving the device ID or being part of the communications with the Internet-connected device; as seen in Fig. 7, paragraph 55-59),
wherein the server is configured send configuration information addressed for the reception device for multiplexed transmission (Fig. 2, paragraph 31, 47-48, 58-59), and the reception device retrieves the configuration information from the data stream (Fig. 2, paragraph 31, 47-48, 58-59),
Eyer fails to specifically disclose wherein the server is configured to split the configuration information as multiple parts send the multiple parts for multiplexed transmission, and the reception device retrieves the multiple parts of the configuration information from the data stream and rebuilds the original configuration information.
In an analogous art, Fay discloses a system for distributing secured content (Fig. 1, 2B; paragraph 27-37, 49) wherein the broadcast server is configured to split configuration information as multiple parts and send the multiple parts for multiplexed transmission (Fig. 10, EMMs/ECMs split into multiple parts and transmitted to receiver; paragraph 35-37, 52-55, 82-83), and the reception device retrieves the multiple parts of the configuration information from the data stream and rebuilds the original configuration information (Fig. 11, full ECM/EMM retrieved across multiple frames; paragraph 35-37, 82-83) so as to enable the security information to be transmitted within existing portions of the television signal (paragraph 82-83).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Eyer’s system to include wherein the server is configured to split the configuration information as multiple parts send the multiple parts for multiplexed transmission, and the reception device retrieves the multiple parts of the configuration information from the data stream and rebuilds the original configuration information, as taught in combination with Fay, for the typical benefit of providing security information sized to be transmitted within existing portions of the television signal (paragraph 82-83).
As to claim 5, Eyer and Fay disclose wherein said obtaining a request from the reception device comprises:
receiving said request through a wireless communication link with the reception device see Eyer at (paragraph 67).
As to claim 6, Eyer and Fay disclose wherein said obtaining a request from the reception device comprises:
scanning a graphical item representative of said request displayed on a display (see Eyer at Fig. 4A-5; paragraph 42-43, 46, 66).
As to claim 7, Eyer and Fay disclose wherein said obtaining, from the reception device, a filtering information comprises receiving the filtering information through the wireless communication link with the reception device (see Eyer at paragraph 67), and
wherein said terminal equipment executes including the filtering information in said corresponding request (see Eyer at paragraph 46, 57).
As to claim 8, Eyer and Fay disclose wherein said obtaining, from the reception device, a filtering information comprises obtaining the filtering information by scanning a graphical representation of the filtering information displayed on the display (see Eyer at Fig. 4A-5; paragraph 42-43, 46, 66); and
wherein said terminal equipment executes including the filtering information in said corresponding request (see Eyer at paragraph 46, 57).
As to claim 9, Eyer and Fay disclose wherein the first network is a one-to-many network (broadcast; see Eyer at Fig. 1-2; paragraph 31) and the second network is a bi-directional network (Internet; see Eyer at paragraph 25).
As to claim 10, Eyer and Fay disclose a non-transitory computer program product (see Eyer at Fig. 2, paragraph 32-33) characterized in that wherein it comprises program code instructions for implementing a method according to claim 1 (see the rejection of claim 1 above).
As to claim 11, Eyer discloses a reception device (Fig. 2) for acquiring, from a server, configuration information, wherein the reception device is configured to be connected to the server through a first network, the configuration information allowing an update of an internal setting of the reception device (Fig. 3A-B, 7), wherein the reception device comprises:
a processor or a dedicated computing machine configured for (paragraph 32-35), during an initialization stage:
providing a filtering information allowing to obtain a filtering item to a communication interface for allowing a terminal equipment connected to the server through a second network to obtain the filtering information (providing device ID to display; paragraph 42, 44); and
during an operation stage: providing a request for said configuration information to the communication interface for allowing the terminal equipment to obtain the request and to send a corresponding request to the server (providing URL to access server address for service; paragraph 42);
receiving said configuration information provided by said server as part of a data stream sent through said first network, said configuration information being associated to a filtering item in said data stream, the filtering item being known from the reception device for allowing the reception device to identify said configuration information in the data stream (receiving DRM license for desired service associated with unique device ID; paragraph 48, 66),
wherein the configuration information is required by an application that is executed on the reception device (OEM Crypto Module acquiring decryption key to decrypt content; S726, Fig. 7; paragraph 59) while the filtering information is unknown to the application (decryption key passed to OEM Crypto module while not receiving the device ID or being part of the communications with the Internet-connected device; as seen in Fig. 7, paragraph 55-59),
wherein the server is configured send configuration information addressed for the reception device for multiplexed transmission (Fig. 2, paragraph 31, 47-48, 58-59), and the reception device retrieves the configuration information from the data stream (Fig. 2, paragraph 31, 47-48, 58-59),
Eyer fails to specifically disclose wherein the server is configured to split the configuration information as multiple parts send the multiple parts for multiplexed transmission, and the reception device retrieves the multiple parts of the configuration information from the data stream and rebuilds the original configuration information.
In an analogous art, Fay discloses a system for distributing secured content (Fig. 1, 2B; paragraph 27-37, 49) wherein the broadcast server is configured to split configuration information as multiple parts and send the multiple parts for multiplexed transmission (Fig. 10, EMMs/ECMs split into multiple parts and transmitted to receiver; paragraph 35-37, 52-55, 82-83), and the reception device retrieves the multiple parts of the configuration information from the data stream and rebuilds the original configuration information (Fig. 11, full ECM/EMM retrieved across multiple frames; paragraph 35-37, 82-83) so as to enable the security information to be transmitted within existing portions of the television signal (paragraph 82-83).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Eyer’s system to include wherein the server is configured to split the configuration information as multiple parts send the multiple parts for multiplexed transmission, and the reception device retrieves the multiple parts of the configuration information from the data stream and rebuilds the original configuration information, as taught in combination with Fay, for the typical benefit of providing security information sized to be transmitted within existing portions of the television signal (paragraph 82-83).
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eyer and Fay and further in view of Gehring et al. (Gehring) (US 2014/0079374) (of record).
As to claim 14, Eyer fails to specifically disclose wherein the configuration information is related to a download and installation of an application received through the first network.
In an analogous art, Gehring discloses a content distribution system conditional access system (Fig. 1, paragraph 24) wherein a set top box will display a QR code for capturing by a mobile device (150; paragraph 36-39) providing filtering information to a communication device (mobile device reading QR code for device ID and status; paragraph 36-39, 74, 82, 85) and receive configuration information related to a download and installation of an application received through the first network (performing action based upon error status, such as downloading firmware update; paragraph 85, 89-90) so as to detect and correct errors, such as from an outdate firmware (paragraph 85-86).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Eyer’s system to include wherein the configuration information is related to a download and installation of an application received through the first network, as taught in combination with Gehring, for the typical benefit of detecting and correcting errors, such as from an outdated firmware (paragraph 85-86).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eyer and Fay and further in view of Ilincic et al. (Ilincic) (US 2022/0417744) (of record).
As to claim 15, while Eyer discloses wherein the reception device provides the filtering information to the terminal equipment via a graphical display (captured via camera; Fig. 4A-5; paragraph 42-43, 46, 66), Eyer fails to specifically disclose wherein the reception device provides the filtering information to the terminal equipment via an acoustic interface.
In an analogous art, Ilincic discloses a system for communicating between multiple devices (Fig. 1) wherein a computing device will transmit encoded information to a second device for transmission to a server (Fig. 1, paragraph 13-19), wherein the computer device provides the information to the second device via an acoustic interface (information encoded into an audio signal for pickup via a microphone; Fig. 2, paragraph 32) as an alternative to displayed QR code (Fig. 2, paragraph 29-32) so as to provide communications with a device not having a camera (paragraph 32) and allow the transmission of more data than can be contained within a single QR code (paragraph 32).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Eyer’s system to include wherein the reception device provides the filtering information to the terminal equipment via an acoustic interface, as taught in combination with Gehring, for the typical benefit of providing communications with a device not having a camera (paragraph 32) and allowing the transmission of more data than can be contained within a single QR code (paragraph 32).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to James R Sheleheda whose telephone number is (571)272-7357. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 am-5 pm CST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Benjamin Bruckart can be reached at (571) 272-3982. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/James R Sheleheda/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2424
