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 Amendment
This office action is responsive to amendment filed on 12/9/2025. No clams are amended or added. Claims 1-20 are pending examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Step 2A, Prong One, the claims are directed to operations involving token exchange, permission verification, and issuance of a second token such as transmitting… obtaining .. decrypting.. validating.. and sending. These limitations represent authentication, authorization, identity verification and access control which fall under the categories of abstract idea of Certain Methods of organizing human activity (managing access, permissions, and identity) and Mental Processes (evaluating identity and permission rules, verifying user attributes or credentials). Therefore, the claims recite an abstract idea.
Step 2A, Prong Two, the claims recite only generic computer components performing routine computer functions such as: connector, token exchange service, server, vault, processor and memory. These components simply receive data, transmit data, validate data, retrieve keys and send tokens, which are no more than generic computer operations. The claims do not improve any of token formats, cryptographic algorithms, communication protocols, new method of securing communications or network architecture. Instead, the claims simply use computer technology a tool to perform the abstract idea of access control via token exchange.
Step 2B, the additional elements such as, generic processor, memory, communication interfaces, vault for storing encryption keys, token decryption, token validation and issuing a second token. These are well understood, routine and conventional operations performed by standard security components (OAuth 2.0 Token exchange; AWS Token Service). Therefore, the claims lack inventive concept.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The applicant argues that the current claims cannot be performed completely in
a mental manner and the claims are not abstract and provide a technical improvement to a computer problem. The instant claims share substantial similarities to the claims of DDR Holdings, LLC v Hotels.com. Even if the clams are directed to an abstract idea, the claims recite significantly more.
Response: The mental process test is not required for a claim to be abstract. Under USPTO Guidance and Federal Court precedent, a claim may be abstract even if it cannot be performed by in the human mind and requires computer implementation. The claims recite generic computing components operating in their ordinary capacities and do not provide a specific improvement to the functioning of the computer or network itself, but rather the use of conventional cloud infrastructure to carry out authorization logic. The current claims recite receiving a request, decrypting a token, validating the token against trust rules and issuing another token. These are conceptual steps of authentication and authorization, which are abstract even if a computer is required to carry out these steps. The applicant’s reliance on DDR Holdings is not persuasive, because the claims do not address a problem unique to the internet nor they modify normal operation of computer systems in a specific or unconventional manner. Furthermore, even if the claims are considered to involve an abstract idea, the additional elements and their combination reflect routine and conventional activities in cloud-based authentication systems and therefore do not amount to significantly more. accordingly, the rejection is maintained.
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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/SARGON N NANO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443