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 .
Detailed Action
2. Claims 1-20 are pending in Instant Application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/04/2024 is in compliance with the
provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
4. Claims 1-2, 5-9, 12-16, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2020/0160335 issued to Yasui et al. (Yasui) in view JP2002139996A issued to Shoichi et al. (Shoichi).
As per claim 1, Yasui teaches a terminal associated with a first target that is one of a mobility and a user (Yasui: ¶ 0037 - the user rents the rental car RC from a vehicle service provider that is an owner of the rental car RC. An ETC in-vehicle device 10 is mounted on the rental car RC (here the mounted ETC is the terminal and mobility is the rented vehicle), comprising a controller including at least one processor, the controller being configured to execute the processing of: providing electronic information to another terminal associated with a second target that is the other of the mobility and the user (Yasui: Fig. 1, ¶ 0041 - the accounting processing device 20-1 determines a model of the rental car RC based on the vehicle information. The accounting processing device 20-1 calculates a usage fee of the toll road in the traveling of the determined model of the vehicle from a tollgate indicated by the tollgate information to a tollgate at which the accounting processing device 20-1 is installed. The accounting processing device 20-1 transmits information indicating the usage fee of the toll road to an ETC server 30-1);
Yasui however does not explicitly teach obtaining an electronic signature of the second target generated using the electronic information, an electronic certificate of the second target issued by a certificate authority, and an identifier of the second target from the other terminal; verifying the validity of the obtained electronic certificate using a public key of the certificate authority; verifying the validity of the obtained electronic signature using a public key of the second target contained in the electronic certificate; and in response to the success of the verification of the validity of the electronic certificate and the electronic signature, sending a request to set a correspondence relationship between an identifier of the first target and an identifier of the second target to a management server.
Shoichi however explicitly teaches obtaining an electronic signature of the second target generated using the electronic information, an electronic certificate of the second target issued by a certificate authority, and an identifier of the second target from the other terminal; verifying the validity of the obtained electronic certificate using a public key of the certificate authority; verifying the validity of the obtained electronic signature using a public key of the second target contained in the electronic certificate (Shoichi: ¶ 0010 - the signature verifier B receives the information sent from the signature verification support device by using the result notification receiving means (21). The signature verifier B first uses the result notification confirmation means (22) to confirm the validity of the public key certificate of the signature verification support apparatus, which is received together with the result notification, in the CA public key certificate held by the signature verifier. After verifying the digital signature for the result notification with the public key certificate whose validity has been confirmed, the validity of the public key certificate of the signature generator in the result notification is verified); and in response to the success of the verification of the validity of the electronic certificate and the electronic signature, sending a request to set a correspondence relationship between an identifier of the first target and an identifier of the second target to a management server (Shoichi: Pg. 16 - a signature is generated by generating a digital signature with a private key corresponding to the certificate, and sending the confirmation result report, the generated digital signature, and the public key certificate of the signature verification support device itself used to verify the digital signature and confirming the validity of a public key certificate, which comprises confirming the validity of the signature generator's public key certificate on behalf of the verifier, and notifying the signature verifier of the result).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Yasui in view of Shoichi to teach obtaining an electronic signature of the second target generated using the electronic information, an electronic certificate of the second target issued by a certificate authority, and an identifier of the second target from the other terminal; verifying the validity of the obtained electronic certificate using a public key of the certificate authority; verifying the validity of the obtained electronic signature using a public key of the second target contained in the electronic certificate; and in response to the success of the verification of the validity of the electronic certificate and the electronic signature, sending a request to set a correspondence relationship between an identifier of the first target and an identifier of the second target to a management server. One would be motivated to do so as the signature verifier first uses the result notification confirmation means to confirm the validity of the public key certificate of the signature verification support apparatus, which is received together with the result notification, in the CA public key certificate held by the signature verifier. After verifying the digital signature for the result notification with the public key certificate whose validity has been confirmed; and confirming the validity of a public key certificate, which comprises confirming the validity of the signature generator's public key certificate on behalf of the verifier, and notifying the signature verifier of the result (Shoichi: ¶ 0010, Pg. 16).
As per claim 2, the modified teaching of Yasui teaches the terminal according to claim 1, wherein the electronic signature of the second target is generated by encrypting specific information containing the electronic information and the identifier of the second target using a private key of the second target associated with the public key (Shoichi: ¶ 0013 - the key pair generation function can be easily realized by using an existing public key encryption technique).
As per claim 5, the modified teaching of Yasui teaches the terminal according to claim 2, wherein the first target is the mobility (Yasui: Fig. 1 - RC (Rental Car)), the terminal associated with the first target is an on-board terminal provided on the mobility (Yasui: ¶ 0037 - an ETC in-vehicle device is mounted on the rental car RC), the second target is the user (Yasui: ¶ 0017 - a user uses the vehicle), and the other terminal associated with the second target is a proxy user’s terminal used by a proxy user for the user (Yasui: ¶ 0042 - a payment proxy service by proxy for a user).
As per claim 6, the modified teaching of Yasui teaches the terminal according to claim 5, wherein verifying the validity of the electronic certificate comprises verifying the validity of the right of proxy of the proxy user in addition to verifying the validity of the obtained electronic certificate using the public key of the certificate authority (Shoichi: ¶ 0014 - at the time of confirming the proxy validity of the public key certificate of the signature generator A, the signature verification support device performs the following processes. The signature generator public key certificate acquisition means acquires the public key certificate of the signature generator A used for verifying the signature given by the signature generator A using the data communication function. In the present embodiment, the signature verifier B receives from the signature generator A the public key certificate of the signature creator A used to verify the electronic signature generated by the signature creator A, and the accepted signature).
As per claim 7, the modified teaching of Yasui teaches the terminal according to claim 6, wherein verifying the validity of the right of proxy of the proxy user comprises: sending a verification request containing the identifier of the user and an identifier of the proxy user to an external server that manages information related to the proxy user who has been granted the right of proxy by the user; and receiving the result of the validity verification of the right of proxy of the proxy user from the external server (Yasui: ¶ 0042 - the ETC service provider requests a business provider performing a payment proxy service by proxy for a user of a toll road (hereinafter referred to as a payment proxy service provider) to perform payment of the usage fee of the toll road by proxy. The ETC server 30-1 calculates an amount of money by which the payment proxy service provider is requested to perform the payment by proxy based on the fee information).
As per claim 8, the claim resembles claim 1 and is rejected under the same rationale.
As per claim 9, the claim resembles claim 2 and is rejected under the same rationale.
As per claim 12, the claim resembles claim 5 and is rejected under the same rationale.
As per claim 13, the claim resembles claim 6 and is rejected under the same rationale.
As per claim 14, the claim resembles claim 7 and is rejected under the same rationale.
As per claim 15, the claim resembles claim 1 and is rejected under the same rationale while Yasui also teaches non-transitory storage medium storing a program configured to cause a terminal associated with a first target that is one of a mobility and a user to execute the processing (Yasui: ¶ 0052 - a process of the controller is realized, for example, by causing a processor such as a central processing unit (CPU) to execute a program stored in the storage).
As per claim 16, the claim resembles claim 2 and is rejected under the same rationale.
As per claim 19, the claim resembles claim 5 and is rejected under the same rationale.
As per claim 20, the claim resembles claim 6 and is rejected under the same rationale.
5. Claims 3-4, 10-11, and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2020/0160335 issued to Yasui et al. (Yasui) in view JP2002139996A issued to Shoichi et al. (Shoichi) and further in view of US 2023/0098969 issued to Hori et al. (Hori).
As per claim 3, the modified teaching of Yasui teaches the terminal according to claim 2 however does not explicitly teach wherein the electronic information is a random number generated by the controller.
Hori however explicitly teaches wherein the electronic information is a random number generated by the controller (Hori: ¶ 0070 - the authentication request from the user terminal returns a random number).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the modified teaching of Yasui in view of Hori to teach wherein the electronic information is a random number generated by the controller. One would be motivated to do so as the authentication request from the user terminal returns a random number (Hori: ¶ 0070).
As per claim 4, the modified teaching of Yasui teaches the terminal according to claim 2 however does not explicitly teach wherein verifying the validity of the electronic certificate comprises: decrypting an electronic signature of the certificate authority contained in the electronic certificate using the public key of the certificate authority; verifying the validity of the decrypted information of the electronic signature of the certificate authority using the public key of the second target and identification information of the second target contained in the electronic certificate; and determining whether the electronic certificate is valid.
Hori however explicitly teaches wherein verifying the validity of the electronic certificate comprises: decrypting an electronic signature of the certificate authority contained in the electronic certificate using the public key of the certificate authority; verifying the validity of the decrypted information of the electronic signature of the certificate authority using the public key of the second target and identification information of the second target contained in the electronic certificate; and determining whether the electronic certificate is valid (Hori: ¶ 0070 - the user terminal 400 generates an electronic signature by encrypting the random number by using the private key, which is the third applet area key, and transmits the electronic signature to the SIM 100. The SIM 100 decrypts the electronic signature by using the public key stored in the third applet area and determines that the authentication is OK if the decrypted electronic signature matches the original random number).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the modified teaching of Yasui in view of Hori to teach wherein verifying the validity of the electronic certificate comprises: decrypting an electronic signature of the certificate authority contained in the electronic certificate using the public key of the certificate authority; verifying the validity of the decrypted information of the electronic signature of the certificate authority using the public key of the second target and identification information of the second target contained in the electronic certificate; and determining whether the electronic certificate is valid. One would be motivated to do so as the user terminal generates an electronic signature by encrypting the random number by using the private key, which is the third applet area key, and transmits the electronic signature to the SIM. The SIM decrypts the electronic signature by using the public key stored in the third applet area and determines that the authentication is OK if the decrypted electronic signature matches the original random number (Hori: ¶ 0070).
As per claim 10, the claim resembles claim 3 and is rejected under the same rationale.
As per claim 11, the claim resembles claim 4 and is rejected under the same rationale.
As per claim 17, the claim resembles claim 3 and is rejected under the same rationale.
As per claim 18, the claim resembles claim 4 and is rejected under the same rationale.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SM AZIZUR RAHMAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7360. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F Telework;
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ali Shayanfar can be reached on 571-270-1050. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SM A RAHMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2434