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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 6/6/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-20 are pending in this application.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Spencer et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication 20250307418) in view of Chowdhury (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2025/0005650).
As per claims 1, 8 and 15, Spencer et al. discloses:
A computing platform (Figure 13 and paragraphs [0134-0139]), comprising:
at least one processor (Figure 13, item 5 and paragraphs [0135-0136]);
a communication interface communicatively coupled to the at least one processor (Figure 13, item 45 and Paragraphs [0135-0137]); and
memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor (Figure 13, items 10, 15 & 55 and Paragraphs [0135-0137]), cause the computing platform to:
receive a natural language request at a secure gateway (Figure 1, item 150 and Paragraph [0050] – LLM input data is received);
determine a client identification for the received natural language request (Figure 7 and Paragraphs [0057-0058] & [0108] – each user (client) is identified and their activity tracked);
based on the determined client identification, determine anonymization rules for client (Figure 2, item 240 & Figure 4 and paragraphs [0055-0058] & [0063-0068] – administrative policy is set for each user and includes anonymization policy);
anonymize the nature language request (Figure 2, item 240 & Figure 4 and paragraphs [0055-0058] & [0063-0068] – the request is anonymized);
encrypt the anonymized natural language request (Paragraphs [0055],[0058], [0086] & [0135] – the data is encrypted);
transmit the encrypted anonymized natural language request to a large language model for execution of the natural language request (Paragraphs [0055],[0058] & [0073] – the request is transmitted to the selected LLM);
decrypt the anonymized natural language request (Paragraph [0047) – the request is decrypted);
generate output responsive to the anonymized natural language request (Figure 1, item 160 & Figure 2, item 260 and Paragraphs [0066-0067]);
transmit generated output to the secure gateway (Figure 2, item 250 and Paragraphs [0066-0067] – the output is transmitted to output inspectors);
deanonymize the generated output at the secure gateway (Paragraph [0068] – The redacted output is unredacted);
convert the deanonymized generated output into a natural language output responsive to the natural language request (Paragraphs [0057],[0061] & [0092] – the output is validated against the administrative policy and the validated output is sent to the user); and
transmit the natural language output responsive to the natural language request (Paragraphs [0057],[0061] & [0092] – the output is validated against the administrative policy and the validated output is sent to the user).
Spencer et al. fails to disclose but Chowdhury in the same field of endeavor teaches:
based on the determined client identification, determine an associated private key for client (Paragraph [0075]);
It would be obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention to modify the computing platform, method and computer readable medium of Spencer et al. with the private key determination of Chowdhury because it is a case of simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results. Spencer et al. employs encryption but is silent as to how it is implemented. Chowdhury utilizes public-private key encryption for its clients. One of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention could have substituted the public-private key encryption of Chowdhury for the non-specific encryption of Spencer et al with predicable results.
Claim 8 is directed to the method of using the platform of claim 1, so is rejected for similar reasons.
Claim 15 is directed to a computer readable media storing instructions to cause a processor to act as the platform of claim 1, so is rejected for similar reasons.
As per claims 2, 9 and 16, the combination of Spencer et al. and Chowdhury discloses all of the limitations of claims 1, 8 and 15 above. Spencer et al. in the combination further discloses:
initiate enrollment by the client with the secure gateway, the enrollment generating a unique client identification (Figure 7 and Paragraphs [0057-0058] & [0108] – each user (client) is identified and their activity tracked. It is inherent in having unique IDs for each user that they must enroll to receive the ID).
As per claims 3, 10 and 17, the combination of Spencer et al. and Chowdhury discloses all of the limitations of claims 2, 9 and 16 above. Spencer et al. in the combination further discloses:
determining at least one anonymization rule for client data (Figure 2, item 240 & Figure 4 and paragraphs [0055-0058] & [0063-0068] – administrative policy is set for each user and includes anonymization policy).
As per claims 4, 11 and 18, the combination of Spencer et al. and Chowdhury discloses all of the limitations of claims 3, 10 and 17 above. Chowdhury in the combination further discloses:
generating at least one private and public key combination associated with the client (Paragraph [0075]).
As per claims 5, 12 and 19, the combination of Spencer et al. and Chowdhury discloses all of the limitations of claims 3, 10 and 17 above. Spencer et al. in the combination further discloses:
generating a rule mapping table, the rule mapping table listing specific rules that apply to various data variables for the client (Figure 4 and Paragraph [0105] – The various components of the policy for the client are shown).
As per claims 6, 13 and 20, the combination of Spencer et al. and Chowdhury discloses all of the limitations of claims 5, 12 and 19 above. Spencer et al. in the combination further discloses:
the rule mapping table comprises a listing of client rules associated with different data variables (Figure 4 and Paragraph [0105] – The various components of the policy for the client are shown, to include different variables).
As per claims 7 and 14, the combination of Spencer et al. and Chowdhury discloses all of the limitations of claims 6 and 13 above. Spencer et al. in the combination further discloses:
the rule mapping table comprises a data type for each of the listed data variables (Figure 4 and Paragraph [0105] – The various components of the policy for the client are shown, to include different variables. The various content types are listed).
Examiner Notes
The Examiner cites particular columns and line numbers in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the Applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested that, in preparing responses, the Applicant fully considers the references in its entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or as disclosed by the Examiner.
Communications via Internet e-mail are at the discretion of the applicant and require written authorization. Should the Applicant wish to communicate via e-mail, including the following paragraph in their response will allow the Examiner to do so:
“Recognizing that Internet communications are not secure, I hereby authorize the USPTO to communicate with me concerning any subject matter of this application by electronic mail. I understand that a copy of these communications will be made of record in the application file.”
Should e-mail communication be desired, the Examiner can be reached at Edwin.Leland@USPTO.gov
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EDWIN S LELAND III whose telephone number is (571)270-5678. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 - 5:00 M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hai Phan can be reached at 571-272-6338. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/EDWIN S LELAND III/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2654