AnDETAILED 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, 3-5, 13, 15-17, 25, 27, 37, 39-41, 45-46 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al., (US Publication No. 2018/0145838), hereinafter “Wang”, and further in view of Marpe et al., (US Publication No. 2005/0012648), hereinafter “Marpe”.
Regarding claims 1, 13, Wang discloses
transmitting a first binary to a network device, the first binary comprising a k-bit secret K [Wang, paragraphs 30-32, 34-35, figure 1];
selecting a first Wang, paragraphs 30-32, 34-35, figure 1];
receiving from the network device a set of device unique function responses, wherein the device unique function responses are generated based on challenges derived from the first set of IVs and the secret K [Wang, paragraphs 30-32, 34-35, figure 1]; and
applying a transformation to the set of device unique function responses resulting in a transformation vector [Wang, paragraphs 30-32, 34-35, figure 1].
Wang does not specifically disclose, however Marpe teaches
transmitting the first set of IVs to the network device [Marpe, paragraph 25].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a set of initial values rather than a single initial value in order to provide additional security for a system. It would have been obvious to combine Marpe with Wang as both arts relate to a similar concept.
Regarding claims 3, 15, 27, 39, Wang-Marpe further discloses
wherein the transformation comprises one or more of a permutation, substitution, masking, demasking, encryption, and decryption [Wang, paragraphs 30-32, 34-35, figure 1].
Regarding claims 4, 16, 40, Wang-Marpe further discloses
wherein the secret K is camouflaged [Wang, paragraphs 30-32, 34-35, figure 1].
Regarding claims 5, 17, 41, Wang-Marpe further discloses
wherein the first binary further comprises one or more of a one way function H, a random number generator G, and the device unique function [Wang, paragraphs 30-32, 34-35, figure 1].
Regarding claims 25, 37, Wang-Marpe further discloses
receiving (1112) a first binary from a client device, the first binary comprising a k-bit secret K [Wang, paragraphs 30-32, 34-35, figure 1];
receiving (1114) from the client device a selected first set of initialization values (IVs) from a set of all possible IVs associated with a device unique function associated with the network device [Marpe, paragraph 25];
generating (1116) device unique function responses based on challenges [Wang, paragraphs 30-32, 34-35, figure 1] derived from the first set of IVs [Marpe, paragraph 25] and the secret K [Wang, paragraphs 30-32, 34-35, figure 1]; and
transmitting (1118) the device unique function responses to the client device [Wang, paragraphs 30-32, 34-35, figure 1].
Regarding claim 45, Wang-Marpe further discloses
wherein the network device comprises a field programmable gate array (FPGA) and the first and second binaries comprise programmable logic instructions [Wang, paragraphs 73, 80, figure 1].
Regarding claim 46, Wang-Marpe further discloses
wherein the network device comprises a processing element and the first and second binaries comprise machine code [Wang, paragraphs 30-32, 34-35, figure 1].
Claim(s) 47 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang-Marpe as applied to claim 37 above, and further in view of Guajardo Merchan et al., (US Publication No 2011-0191837), hereinafter “Merchan”.
Regarding claim 47, Wang-Marpe does not specifically disclose, however Merchan teaches
wherein the device unique function comprises one of a physically unclonable function (PUF) and a message authentication code (MAC) [Merchan, paragraphs 45-48].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a message authentication code in order to provide additional security for a system. It would have been obvious to combine Merchan with Wang-Marpe as all arts relate to a similar concept.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 14, 18-20, 26, 38, 42-44 are 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM J GOODCHILD whose telephone number is (571)270-1589. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-4:30pm.
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/William J. Goodchild/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2433
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