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 § 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) 1-2, 9-10, 13-14, 19-20, 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over China Mobile Communication Group, (CN 108282329, from 12/18/2024 IDS), hereinafter “CN108282329”, and further in view of Dowling et al., (Many a Mickle Makes a Muckle: A Framework for Provable Quantum0Secure Hybrid Key Exchange, from 05/19/2025 IDS), hereinafter “Dowling”.
Regarding claims 1, 10, 14, 20, Dowling discloses
sending, by an application device, a key request packet to a Dowling, figure 1, Section “2 The Muckle Protocol”],
wherein the key request packet comprises a user identifier corresponding to the application device, a first public key, and a first message authentication code value [Dowling, figure 1, Section “2 The Muckle Protocol” Message Structure],
wherein the user identifier is used by the Dowling, figure 1, Section “2 The Muckle Protocol”, Section “1.1 Our Contributions”];
receiving, by the application device from the Dowling, figure 1, Section “2 The Muckle Protocol”, Section “1.1 Our Contributions”];
verifying, by the application device, the second message authentication code value based on the shared key and second authentication information, wherein the second authentication information comprises the first ciphertext [Dowling, figure 1, Section “2 The Muckle Protocol”, Section “1.1 Our Contributions”]; and
in response to the verifying performed by the application device on the second message authentication code value succeeding, decrypting, by the application device, the first ciphertext by using a first private key, to obtain the quantum key information, wherein the first private key is a private key in the key pair [Dowling, figure 1, Section “2 The Muckle Protocol”, Section “1.1 Our Contributions”].
Dowling does not specifically disclose, however CN108282329 teaches
quantum device [CN108282329, page 12, quantum key distribution equipment].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include using a quantum device when creating quantum keys in order to provide security for the system. It would have been obvious to combine both arts as they both relate to quantum systems and keys.
Regarding claim 2, Dowling-CN108282329 further discloses
wherein the user identifier corresponding to the application device is a device identifier of the application device, or the user identifier corresponding to the application device is a user account for logging in to the application device [Dowling, figure 1, Section “2 The Muckle Protocol”, Section “1.1 Our Contributions”].
Regarding claims 9, 19, Dowling-CN108282329 further discloses
wherein the verifying, by the application device, the second message authentication code value based on the shared key and second authentication information comprises: calculating, by the application device, the second authentication information based on the shared key, to obtain a third message authentication code value [Dowling, figure 1, Section “2 The Muckle Protocol” Message Structure]; and when the third message authentication code value is the same as the second message authentication code value, determining, by the application device, that the verification on the second message authentication code value succeeds [Dowling, figure 1, Section “2 The Muckle Protocol” Message Structure].
Regarding claims 13, 23, Dowling-CN108282329 further discloses
wherein the verifying, by the quantum device, the first message authentication code value based on the shared key and the first authentication information comprises: calculating, by the quantum device, the first authentication information based on the shared key, to obtain a fourth message authentication code value [Dowling, figure 1, Section “2 The Muckle Protocol” Message Structure]; and when the fourth message authentication code value is the same as the first message authentication code value, determining, by the quantum device, that the verification on the first message authentication code value succeeds [Dowling, figure 1, Section “2 The Muckle Protocol” Message Structure].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-8, 11-12, 15-18, 21-22 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/William J. Goodchild/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2433