Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/821,420

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BEHAVIOURAL BIOMETRIC AUTHENTICATION USING PROGRAM MODELLING

Non-Final OA §103§DP
Filed
Aug 30, 2024
Examiner
LE, KHOI V
Art Unit
2436
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Zighra Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
90%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 6m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 90% — above average
90%
Career Allow Rate
590 granted / 657 resolved
+31.8% vs TC avg
Strong +37% interview lift
Without
With
+36.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 6m
Avg Prosecution
36 currently pending
Career history
693
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
21.7%
-18.3% vs TC avg
§103
37.0%
-3.0% vs TC avg
§102
24.0%
-16.0% vs TC avg
§112
2.9%
-37.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 657 resolved cases

Office Action

§103 §DP
DETAILED ACTION This Office Action is in response to the application 18/821,420 filed on August 30th, 2024. 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. Claim 1 is pending and herein considered. 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 09/16/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CRR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Double Patenting The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969). A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b). The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13. The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer. Claim 1 is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting over claim 1 of Patented Number 12,095,788 since the claim, if allowed, would improperly extend the “right to exclude” already granted in the patent. The subject matter claimed in the instant application is fully disclosed in the patent and is covered by the patent since the patent and the application are claiming common subject matter. Instant Application 18/821,420 U.S. Patent No. 12,095,788 Claim 1: A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores instructions executable by a user device to perform operations comprising: over a first time interval, monitoring a program stream of at least a first program to detect at least a first program observable; monitoring a user behavior stream that corresponds to the first program observable to detect at least a first user observable, the user behavior stream including sensor data that comprises or is based on raw information generated by one or more sensors of the user device; making a determination as to whether sensor data of the user behavior stream matches a user model that correlates to the first user observable; and over the first time interval, updating an authentication state associated with the user device based on the determination, to enable the user device to implicitly authenticate the user without the user providing an explicit identifier. Claim 1: A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores instructions executable by a user device to perform operations comprising: over a first time interval, monitoring a program stream of at least a first program to detect at least a first program observable; monitoring a user behavior stream that corresponds to the first program observable to detect at least a first user observable, the user behavior stream including sensor data that comprises or is based on raw information generated by one or more sensors of the user device; based at least in part on the first program observable, selecting one or more user models of multiple user models from a cache of the user device; making a determination as to whether sensor data of the user behavior stream matches the selected one or more user models; and over the first time interval, updating an authentication state associated with the user device based on the determination, to enable the user device to implicitly authenticate a user without the user providing an explicit identifier. Claim 1 is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting over claim 11 of Patented Number 11,057,413 since the claim, if allowed, would improperly extend the “right to exclude” already granted in the patent. The subject matter claimed in the instant application is fully disclosed in the patent and is covered by the patent since the patent and the application are claiming common subject matter. Instant Application 18/821,420 U.S. Patent No. 11,057,413 Claim 1: A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores instructions executable by a user device to perform operations comprising: over a first time interval, monitoring a program stream of at least a first program to detect at least a first program observable; monitoring a user behavior stream that corresponds to the first program observable to detect at least a first user observable, the user behavior stream including sensor data that comprises or is based on raw information generated by one or more sensors of the user device; making a determination as to whether sensor data of the user behavior stream matches a user model that correlates to the first user observable; and over the first time interval, updating an authentication state associated with the user device based on the determination, to enable the user device to implicitly authenticate the user without the user providing an explicit identifier. Claim 11: A non-transitory tangible medium that stores machine-readable instructions, that when executed by one or more processors of a user device, causes the user device to perform operations that include: over a first time interval, continuously monitoring multiple streams in connection with a user using a first application on the user device, the multiple streams including at least a first stream that includes program observables generated by execution of the first application, and a second stream that includes sensor data, the sensor data comprising or being based on raw information generated by one or more sensors of the user device; based on the first stream, selecting a user model from a plurality of user models stored on the user device; at multiple instances during the first time interval, making a determination as to whether sensor data of the second stream matches the selected user model; and over the first time interval, updating an authentication state associated with the user device based on the determinations, to enable the user de vice to implicitly authenticate the user without the user providing an explicit identifier. 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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Eskin et al. (Eskin), U.S. Patent Number 7,162,741, in view of Lee et al. (Lee), U.S. Pub. Number 2013/0030875. Regarding claim 1; Eskin discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium that stores instructions executable by a user device to perform operations comprising: over a first time interval, monitoring a program stream of at least a first program to detect at least a first program observable (col. 3, lines 46-49; monitoring sequential behavior performed during execution of a process on a computer system to detect an intrusion from normal operation of the computer system.); monitoring a user behavior stream that corresponds to the first program observable to detect at least a first user observable (col. 5, lines 16-18; monitoring any sequential behavior that is capable of being audited such as sequences of application calls or machine code instructions.). Eskin fails to explicitly disclose the user behavior stream including sensor data that comprises or is based on raw information generated by one or more sensors of the user device; making a determination as to whether sensor data of the user behavior stream matches a user model that correlates to the first user observable; and over the first time interval, updating an authentication state associated with the user device based on the determination, to enable the user device to implicitly authenticate the user without the user providing an explicit identifier. However, in the same field of endeavor, Lee discloses system and method for site abnormality recording and notification comprising the user behavior stream including sensor data that comprises or is based on raw information generated by one or more sensors of the user device (Lee: par. 0110; the sensor data output sequence is logged and learned as a statistical distribution of patterns when the corresponding sequence between the different sensors 42, 44, 46, 48, 50 becomes different from the normal sequences in a moving window.); making a determination as to whether sensor data of the user behavior stream matches a user model that correlates to the first user observable (Lee: par. 0113; correlating the events when the abnormal events happen.); and over the first time interval, updating an authentication state associated with the user device based on the determination, to enable the user device to implicitly authenticate the user without the user providing an explicit identifier (Lee: par. 0113; generating a notification and reporting the abnormal events upon the correlation.). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Lee into the system and methods od Eskin comprising the user behavior stream including sensor data that comprises or is based on raw information generated by one or more sensors of the user device; making a determination as to whether sensor data of the user behavior stream matches a user model that correlates to the first user observable; and over the first time interval, updating an authentication state associated with the user device based on the determination, to enable the user device to implicitly authenticate the user without the user providing an explicit identifier to improve site operations by recording and notifying abnormalities (Lee: par. 0002). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KHOI V LE whose telephone number is (571)270-5087. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Shewaye Gelagay can be reached on 571-272-4219. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /KHOI V LE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2436
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Prosecution Timeline

Aug 30, 2024
Application Filed
Nov 14, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103, §DP (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
90%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+36.8%)
2y 6m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 657 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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