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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection.
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Allen, publication number: US 2018/0276393 in view of Vann, publication number: US 2024/0144189.
As per claims 1, 11 and 18, Allen teaches a method for masking data on an electronic document, the method being performed by an electronic apparatus and comprising:
displaying the electronic document on a user interface, wherein the electronic document comprises a plurality of strings and the plurality of strings comprises a first string and a second string (User data file, 114, content 115,116 and 117 [0025]);
causing at least one analysis module to perform at least one analysis on the electronic document and the plurality of strings and output a first string and first position information associated with the first string according to at least one result of the at least one analysis (Parsing user data, [0028], Offsets and lengths, [0040][0042]);
obtaining the first string and the first position information from the at least one analysis module (Providing offsets and lengths, [0042]); and
generating, based on the obtained first position information and the obtained first string, a first masking object to mask at least one portion of the first string on the electronic document (Obfuscation, [0057]).
Allen does not teach displaying a data type menu on the user interface, wherein the data type menu includes a first option and a second option, the first option and the second option are respectively associated with a first data type and a second data type, the first data type is associated with the first string, and the second data type is associated with the second string, and wherein the first data type is different from the second data type;
detecting whether the first option is selected;
after detecting that the first option is selected, analyzing based on a first data type.
In an analogous art, Vann teaches displaying a data type menu on the user interface, wherein the data type menu includes a first option and a second option, the first option and the second option are respectively associated with a first data type and a second data type, the first data type is associated with the first string, and the second data type is associated with the second string, and wherein the first data type is different from the second data type;
detecting whether the first option is selected;
after detecting that the first option is selected, analyzing based on the first data type (displaying options for selection for obfuscation, [0079], selected categories [0080], extracting text strings and position based on selection, [0081], obfuscating selected categories, [0087-0088]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Allen’s obfuscation system to include user selectable options as described in Vann’s masking system for the advantage of targeted masking.
As per claims 2 and 12, the combination teaches further comprising:
causing the at least one analysis module to output a second string among the plurality of strings and second position information associated with the second string according to the at least one result of the at least one analysis;
obtaining the second string and the second position information from the at least one analysis module; and
generating, based on the obtained second position information and the obtained second string, a second masking object to mask at least one portion of the second string on the electronic document (Allen: Second type of sensitive data, [0015][0025]).
As per claim 3, the combination teaches wherein: the first position information includes at least one first position coordinate to indicate a first position where the first string is located on the electronic document, and
the second position information includes at least one second position coordinate to indicate a second position where the second string is located on the electronic document (Allen: Offset and length, [0040][0042]).
As per claim 4, the combination teaches wherein:
the first position information further includes a first width value and a first height value for respectively indicating a first width and a first height of the first string on the electronic document; and
the second position information further includes a second width value and a second height value for respectively indicating a second width and a second height of the second string on the electronic document (Allen: Offset and length, [0040][0042]).
As per claims 5 and 13, the combination teaches the at least one result of the at least one analysis comprises that the first string is determined as the first data type and that the second string is determined as the second data type (Vann: extracting text strings and position based on selection, [0081], Allen: Indicators [0025][0033][0044], user policies [0044]).
As per claims 6 and 14, the combination teaches further comprising:
displaying a data type list on the user interface after obtaining the first string, the second string, the first position information and the second position information from the at least one analysis module, wherein the data type list includes a first region associated with the first data type and a second region associated with the second data type; and
listing, based on the first data type and the second data type, the first string and the second string, respectively, on the first region and the second region (Allen: Indicators [0037], data types [0023] Fig. 2).
As per claims 7 and 15, the combination teaches further comprising:
detecting whether the first string listed in the first region is selected;
generating, based on the obtained first position information, a first marking object to mark at least one portion of the first string on the electronic document after detecting that the first string listed on the first region is selected; and
generating, in response to a first operation event, the first masking object to replace the first marking object (Allen: Selecting annotations and obfuscations, [0038]).
As per claim 8, the combination teaches further comprising:
recording, in response to a second operation event, the first position information and the second position information in an information file and storing the information file in a database, wherein the information file is independent from the electronic document (Allen: Tracking offsets and lengths, [0042]).
As per claims 9 and 16, the combination teaches further comprising: generating, based on the first position information, a first marking object to mark at least one portion of the first string on the electronic document after obtaining the first string, the second string, the first position information and the second position information from the at least one analysis module;
detecting whether the first string listed in the first region is selected; and
removing the first marking object after the first string listed in the first region is selected (Allen: Obfuscation, [0057][0038] Fig. 2).
As per claims 10 and 17, the combination teaches wherein: the at least one analysis module is provided in at least one server; the at least one analysis includes a first analysis and a second analysis; and the method further comprises:
transmitting an analysis request and the electronic document to the at least one server; causing the at least one analysis module to perform, in response to the analysis request, the first analysis on the plurality of strings of the electronic document and output the first string and the second string according to a first result of the first analysis;
causing the at least one analysis module to perform, in response to the analysis request, the second analysis on positions where the first string and the second string are located on the electronic document and output the first position information and the second position information according to a second result of the second analysis; and receiving the first string, the second string, the first position information and the second position information from the at least one server to obtain the first string, the second string, the first position information and the second position information (Allen: Data loss protection platform 120, Fig. 1, [0028]).
As per claim 19, the combination teaches wherein the plurality of computer-executable instructions further cause the electronic apparatus to perform: causing the at least one analysis module to output a second string among the plurality of strings and second position information associated with the second string according to the at least one result of the at least one analysis;
obtaining the second string and the second position information from the at
least one analysis module;
generating, based on the obtained second position information and the obtained second string, a second masking object to mask at least one portion of the second string on the electronic document;
wherein: the at least one result of the at least one analysis comprises that the first string is determined as the first data type and that the second string is determined as the second data type (Allen: Indicators and user policies, [0033][0044], different data types, [0023]).
As per claim 20, Combination teaches wherein the plurality of computer-executable instructions further cause the electronic apparatus to perform:
displaying a data type list on the user interface after obtaining the first string, the second string, the first position information and the second position information from the at least one analysis module, wherein the data type list includes a first region associated with the first data type and a second region associated with the second data type,
listing, based on the first data type and the second data type, the first string and the second string, respectively, on the first region and the second region;
detecting whether the first string listed in the first region is selected;
generating, based on the obtained first position information, a first marking object to mark at least one portion of the first string on the electronic document after detecting that the first string listed on the first region is selected; and
generating, in response to a first operation event, the first masking object to replace the first marking object (Allen: Indicators, [0033][0037][0044], selecting annotations and obfuscation, [0038]).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/OLUGBENGA O IDOWU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2494