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 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.
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 9-12 are presented for examination.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of group 1 (claims 9-12) in the reply filed on 12/30/2025 is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/19/2025, 07/10/2025, 03/18/2025, 08/29/2024, 07/08/2024 have been considered. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Form PTO-1449 is signed and attached hereto.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
In claim 9, the phrase “all combinations of possible values” in the limitation renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear as to the true patentable measure of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
In claim 10, the phrase “all combinations of possible values” in the limitation renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear as to the true patentable measure of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
In claim 10, the phrase “a non-existent combination” in the limitation renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear as to the true patentable measure of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
In claim 11, the phrase “all combinations of possible values” in the limitation renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear as to the true patentable measure of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
In claim 12, the phrase “all combinations of possible values” in the limitation renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear as to the true patentable measure of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
In claim 12, the phrase “a combination excluding non-existent combinations” in the limitation renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear as to the true patentable measure of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
In Claim 9, limitations “an attribute information encryption unit”, “an aggregation processing unit” and “an anonymization processing unit” have been interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because they use a generic placeholder “element” coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to achieve the function. Furthermore, the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Thus, the claim is rejected under 112 second paragraph as being indefinite because there is no corresponding structure disclosed for the recited elements in the specification where the identification of the corresponding structure is required (37 CFR 1.105).
Dependent claims inherit the deficiencies of the above independent claim 9, and therefore are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) by virtue of their dependency.
For more information, see MPEP § 2173 et seq. and Supplementary Examination Guidelines for Determining Compliance With 35 U.S.C. 112 and for Treatment of Related Issues in Patent Applications, 76 FR 7162, 7167 (Feb. 9, 2011).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
2. Claims 9-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Akiyama et al. (US Publication No. 2014/0298030, hereinafter “Akiyama”).
Regarding claim 9, Akiyama does disclose, a privacy-protected data aggregation device, comprising: an attribute information encryption unit that encrypts a plurality of pieces of attribute information included in user data (Akiyama, (para. [0064]), where a system that has received the user approval request creates a token that has at least an identification number related to the user and the value, based on the user approving the name-based aggregation; (para. [0065]), where the system that has received the user approval request encrypts the token); an aggregation processing unit that aggregates the user data with the attribute information encrypted by the attribute information encryption unit, for all combinations of possible values of the plurality of pieces of attribute information, to obtain aggregated data including an aggregation result and the encrypted attribute information (Akiyama, (para. [0084]), aggregate data that aggregates the name identified data creates a token with a first value that is valid only for the first transmission request that requests transmission of the anonymized data); and an anonymization processing unit that performs anonymization processing on the aggregated data obtained by the aggregation processing unit (Akiyama, (para. [0045]), the anonymized data specified by the first hash value or the second hash value is encrypted using a public key related to users using the name identified data or aggregate data that aggregates the name identified data; (para. [0237]), the aforementioned aggregate data is anonymized).
Regarding claim 10, Akiyama further discloses, the privacy-protected data aggregation device according to claim 9, wherein the anonymization processing unit fixes the aggregation result of a non- existent combination among all combinations of possible values of the plurality of pieces of attribute information to zero and performs anonymization processing on a combination other than the non-existent combination (Akiyama, (para. [0246]), because the aforementioned name identified data or the aforementioned aggregate data is anonymized, the name identified data or the aggregate data cannot specify which patient to whom the data belongs in the user system).
Regarding claim 11, Akiyama further discloses, the privacy-protected data aggregation device according to claim 9, wherein the aggregation processing unit aggregates the user data for a combination other than the non-existent combination among all combinations of possible values of the plurality of pieces of attribute information (Akiyama, (para. [0269]), the computer assisted name-based aggregation system (321) transmits the name identified data or the aggregate data stored on the aforementioned recording medium to the user system (331) based on reception of the transmission request. Because the computer assisted name-based aggregation system (321) arbitrarily acquires compensation from the user of the user system (331) for providing the name identified data or aggregate data, history of the transaction of each transaction request from the user system (331), or of the transmission of the anonymized data may be recorded).
Regarding claim 12, Akiyama further discloses, the privacy-protected data aggregation device according to claim 9, wherein the aggregation processing unit aggregates the user data for a combination excluding non-existent combinations from all combinations of possible values of the plurality of pieces of attribute information (Akiyama, (para. [0282]), a contract is entered for providing name identified data or providing aggregate data aggregating the name identified data, between the computer assisted name-based aggregation system (421) and the user system (431). A contract can be entered for allowing the computer assisted name-based aggregation system (421) to provide name identified data or aggregate data to the user system (431), and for the user system (431) to pay the manager of the computer assisted name-based aggregation system (421) compensation for providing the name identified data or aggregate data).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US Publication No. 2015/0371059, “the data aggregator initially aggregates user data in a privacy-preserving way by using encrypted user attribute data to compute probability density functions as approximations of actual distributions. A probability density function of a continuous random variable is a function that describes the relative likelihood for the random variable to take on a given value. The aggregation techniques disclosed herein include extending the summing property of secure multiparty computation functions in order to compute probability density functions in a distributed and privacy-preserving way. Secure multiparty computation involves providing multiple parties with a protocol for jointly computing a function while keeping their inputs private”.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MORSHED MEHEDI whose telephone number is (571) 270-7640. The examiner can normally be reached on M - F, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm EST. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Linglan Edwards can be reach on (571) 270-5440. The fax number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/MORSHED MEHEDI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2408