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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 21-26 and 32-38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Andrade (Pub. No. US 2018/0240107 A1, hereinafter referred to as Andrade).
Claim 21 is an independent claim and Andrade discloses a computer-implemented method comprising acts of:
receiving a request to initiate a transaction (receiving a request for creation of a transaction from a registrant wallet, para. [0202], [0206]);
causing a signature to be generated over the transaction (signing the transaction, para. [0208]), wherein:
the signature is generated with at least one key (signing the transaction with one or more private keys at the registrant wallet, para. [0208]); and
the at least one key is associated with an initiation role in a multi-signature contract (multi-signature currency address of the registrant, para. [0199]; creation of multi-signature transactions each requiring client private keys stored in the client wallets as signatures (the registrant/client creates the transaction, and is therefore “associated with an initiation role” as claimed, para. [0052]-[0053], [0056]-[0057]); and
using the signature generated over the transaction with the at least one key to initiate the transaction (approving the execution of the transaction by signing the transaction with one or more private keys at the registrant wallet, para. [0208]).
As per claim 22, claim 21 is incorporated and Andrade further discloses wherein:
the at least one key comprises a first key (one or more private keys at the registrant wallet, para. [0208]);
the signature generated over the transaction with the at least one key comprises a first signature (signing the transaction with one or more private keys at the registrant wallet, para. [0208]);
the method further comprises an act of:
causing a second signature to be generated over the transaction (signing the transaction with one or more approval keys, para. [0208]);
the second signature is generated with a second key (one or more approval keys, para. [0208]); and
the second key is associated with an approval role in the multi-signature contract (approval keys at the central approval server, para. [0208]).
As per claim 23, claim 22 is incorporated and Andrade further discloses wherein: the second key is different from the first key (private keys at the registrant wallet vs approval private keys at the central approval server, para. [0208]).
As per claim 24, claim 22 is incorporated and Andrade further discloses wherein:
the first key is held by a multi-signature wallet application (private keys at the registrant wallet, para. [0208]); and
the second key is held by a custody key vault (approval private keys at the central approval server, para. [0208]).
As per claim 25, claim 21 is incorporated and Andrade further discloses wherein:
the at least one key comprises a private key held by a multi-signature wallet application (see para. [0199]);
the signature generated over the transaction with the at least one key comprises a signature generated, by the multi-signature wallet application, over the transaction with the private key (signing the transaction with one or more private keys at the registrant wallet, para. [0208]); and
the method further comprises an act of:
using, by the multi-signature contract, a recorded address of a public key that is associated with an initiation role to verify the signature generated over the transaction with the private key (generating a valid currency address for receiving at least one unit of electronic money by combing the registrant's public key and the central approval server's approval public key at the registrant wallet, para. [0200]; allowing only creation of transactions that use multi-signature addresses (313) for both sending and receiving the coins, para. [0075]; any currency addresses that are not generated through the submission of a valid credential to one of the central approval servers (401) are not valid, para. [0110], [0120]; see also para. [0298]-[0299]).
As per claim 26, claim 21 is incorporated and Andrade further discloses wherein:
the at least one key comprises a first key;
the signature generated over the transaction with the at least one key comprises a first signature;
the method further comprises acts of:
holding, by the multi-signature contract, the transaction for a selected period of time (delay granting permission for the transaction for a period of time, para. [0180]); and
processing, by the multi-signature contract, the transaction, in response to determining that the selected period of time has elapsed without receiving a second signature generated with a second key different from the first key (transactions may be reversed by the system and/or user if a condition or specified conditions have not been met, e.g., by a certain time, para. [0219]; the client uses the client’s second private key to sign the same transaction to confirm a transaction before it expires, para. [0366], [0367]; see also para. [0363], [0364]); and
the second key is associated with a veto role in the multi-signature contract (not signing the transaction with the client’s second private key reverses the transaction, para. [0363], [0366], [0367]).
As per claim 32, claim 21 is incorporated and Andrade further discloses wherein:
the request to initiate the transaction is received from a user (a user of a wallet requests a transaction, para. [0356]).
As per claim 33, claim 21 is incorporated and Andrade further discloses wherein:
the act of using the signature generated over the transaction with the at least one key to initiate the transaction comprises transmitting the transaction, along with the signature, to the multi-signature contract for processing (signing the transaction with one or more private keys, para. [0208]; another option is to enforce all the same functions of the central server(s) by placing all of such functions into a “smart contract”, para. [0216]).
As per claim 34, claim 21 is incorporated and Andrade further discloses wherein:
the signature is generated using a multi-signature scheme (multiple signatures required for approving the execution of the transaction, para. [0208]); and
the at least one key comprises a first key and a second key under the multi-signature scheme (signing the transaction with one or more private keys at the registrant wallet (first key as claimed) and one or more approval private keys at the central approval server (second key as claimed), para. [0208]).
As per claim 35, claim 34 is incorporated and Andrade further discloses wherein:
the first key is controlled by a user (one or more private keys at the registrant wallet, para. [0208]); and
the second key is controlled by an entity different from the user (one or more approval private keys at the central approval server, para. [0208]).
As per claim 36, claim 34 is incorporated and Andrade further discloses wherein:
the multi-signature scheme comprises a multiparty computation (MPC) signature scheme (multiple signatures from multiple parties (registrant wallet and central approval server) required for approving execution of the transaction, para. [0208]); and
the first and second keys comprise, respectively, first and second key shares of the MPC signature scheme (multiple signatures from multiple parties required for approving execution of the transaction, para. [0208]).
Claim 37 is an independent claim corresponding to independent claim 21 and is therefore rejected for similar reasoning. Andrade further discloses at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having encoded thereon instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method (see para. [0261], [0349]).
Claim 38 is an independent claim corresponding to independent claim 21 and is therefore rejected for similar reasoning. Andrade further discloses at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having encoded thereon, instructions; and one or more processors programmed by the instructions to perform the method steps (see para. [0261], [0349]).
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 27-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Andrade as applied above, and further in view of Bollen, et al (Pub. No. US 2020/0280440 A1, hereinafter referred to as Bollen).
As per claim 27, claim 21 is incorporated and Andrade further discloses wherein:
the at least one key comprises a first key (one or more private keys at the registrant wallet, para. [0208]; first private key to initiate a transaction, para. [0366]);
the signature generated over the transaction with the at least one key comprises a first signature (signing the transaction with one or more private keys at the registrant wallet, para. [0208]).
Andrade further discloses receiving a request within a selected period of time of receiving the transaction to block the transaction by a user associated with a veto role in the multi-signature contract (give the client an ability to reverse a transaction, para. [0363]).
Andrade does not specifically disclose, but Bollen teaches, receiving, by the multi-signature contract, within a selected period of time of receiving the transaction, a second signature generated with a second key different from the first key, wherein the second key is associated with a veto role in the multi-signature contract (For an abortRecoveryByOwner request to be valid, the request must be signed by the old 202A or new 202B user device with the recoveryOwner private key. Alternatively, or additionally, the recovery can also be aborted by the trusted third party 206 using an abortRecoveryByController request. For an abortRecoveryByController request to be valid the request must be signed by the trusted third party 106 with the recoveryController private key, para. [0037]), and blocking, by the multi-signature contract, the transaction, in response to receiving the second signature (the recovery can be aborted, para. [0037]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the applicant’s claimed invention to incorporate Bollen’s recovery transaction for a multi-signature contract wallet with Andrade’s transactions for a multi-signature wallet because it would have allowed for recovering access to a wallet that has been lost or stolen (Bollen, para. [0002]).
As per claim 28, claim 21 is incorporated and Andrade further discloses wherein: the at least one key comprises a first key (one or more private keys at the registrant wallet, para. [0208]; first private key to initiate a transaction, para. [0366]); the signature generated over the transaction with the at least one key comprises a first signature (signing the transaction with one or more private keys at the registrant wallet, para. [0208]); the transaction comprises a first transaction (transaction [0202], [0206], [0208]);
Andrade does not specifically disclose, but Bollen teaches, the method further comprises an act of:
receiving, by the multi-signature contract, a second transaction with a second signature generated with a second key different from the first key (multi-signature contract wallet, abstract and FIG. 1; a recovery transaction signed by a recovery owner private key, see abstract);
the second transaction comprises a challenge transaction to replace the first key with a third key (update the digital smart contract wallet to require signing transactions with the new owner private key, abstract); and
the second key is associated with a recovery role in the multi-signature contract (recovery transaction and recovery owner, abstract).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the applicant’s claimed invention to incorporate Bollen’s recovery transaction for a multi-signature contract wallet with Andrade’s transactions for a multi-signature wallet because it would have allowed for recovering access to a wallet that has been lost or stolen (Bollen, para. [0002]).
As per claim 29, claim 28 is incorporated and Andrade does not specifically disclose, but Bollen teaches, further comprising acts of:
holding, by the multi-signature contract, the challenge transaction for a selected period of time (delay between the initiation of the recovery of a digital wallet, para. [0010], [0026]); and
processing, by the multi-signature contract, the challenge transaction, in response to determining that the selected period of time has elapsed without receiving a third signature generated with the first key (the delay allows the owner to cancel the recovery in cases when the owner did not desire recovery, para. [0010]; after a configurable delay time period, a swapOwner transaction replaces the original owner keys with new owner keys without meeting the threshold signature requirement, para. [0026]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the applicant’s claimed invention to incorporate Bollen’s recovery transaction for a multi-signature contract wallet with Andrade’s transactions for a multi-signature wallet because it would have allowed for recovering access to a wallet that has been lost or stolen (Bollen, para. [0002]).
As per claim 30, claim 28 is incorporated and Andrade does not specifically disclose, but Bollen teaches further discloses further comprising acts of:
receiving, by the multi-signature contract, within a selected period of time of receiving the challenge transaction, a third signature generated with the first key (For an abortRecoveryByOwner request to be valid, the request must be signed by the old 202A or new 202B user device with the recoveryOwner private key. Alternatively, or additionally, the recovery can also be aborted by the trusted third party 206 using an abortRecoveryByController request. For an abortRecoveryByController request to be valid the request must be signed by the trusted third party 106 with the recoveryController private key, para. [0037]); and
blocking, by the multi-signature contract, the challenge transaction, in response to receiving the third signature (For an abortRecoveryByOwner request to be valid, the request must be signed by the old 202A or new 202B user device with the recoveryOwner private key. Alternatively, or additionally, the recovery can also be aborted by the trusted third party 206 using an abortRecoveryByController request. For an abortRecoveryByController request to be valid the request must be signed by the trusted third party 106 with the recoveryController private key, para. [0037]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the applicant’s claimed invention to incorporate Bollen’s recovery transaction for a multi-signature contract wallet with Andrade’s transactions for a multi-signature wallet because it would have allowed for recovering access to a wallet that has been lost or stolen (Bollen, para. [0002]).
As per claim 31, claim 28 is incorporated and Andrade does not specifically disclose, but Bollen teaches further comprising acts of:
using, by the multi-signature contract, a recorded address of a public key that is associated with a recovery role to verify the second signature generated using the second key (The recovery smart contract includes an address of a recovery owner public key, para. [0013]; determine that the created recoveryOwner address matches the recoveryOwner address generated when the digital smart contract wallet was initially created, para. [0034]); and
replacing, by the multi-signature contract, the first key with the third key, in response to successfully verifying the second signature (At least one signed transaction to replace the original owner public key with the new owner public key is transmitted to the recovery smart contract. The signed transaction includes the original owner public key and new owner public key and is signed by the recovery owner private key and a recovery controller private key. The recovery smart contract replaces the original owner public key address with the new owner public key address responsive to confirmation that the recovery owner private key matches a corresponding recovery owner public key and the recovery controller private key matches a recovery controller public key, para. [0013]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the applicant’s claimed invention to incorporate Bollen’s recovery transaction for a multi-signature contract wallet with Andrade’s transactions for a multi-signature wallet because it would have allowed for recovering access to a wallet that has been lost or stolen (Bollen, para. [0002]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Pub. No. US 2020/0005282 – generally teaches a wallet recovery method with a challenge initiation request signed by multiple recovery accounts, and an abort transaction request signed by a private key of the respective owner user device or a predetermined number of owner devices.
Pub. No. US 2019/0035018 A1 – generally teaches a multisginature transaction request requiring multiple signatures to perform the transaction, as well as aborting a transaction if the transaction is not signed or is signed by a signature that has been revoked.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN A BUI whose telephone number is (571)270-7168. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri: 9AM - 530PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicholas R Taylor can be reached at (571) 272-3889. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JONATHAN A BUI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443