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 Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: the secure search system is erroneously typed as secret search system. Appropriate correction is required.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) submitted on 11/24/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS statement has been considered by the Examiner.
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 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the identified claim limitation(s) that recite(s) an abstract idea without significantly more.
Claim 1 recites mathematical calculations intended to compute and generate shares of vectors. The limitations of "computing” and “generating” as drafted, are process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, merely covers mathematical calculations using mathematical formulas but for exception of the recitation of generic computer components. That is, other than reciting "A secure search system" nothing in the claim element precludes the step of performing the mathematical calculations using generic computational methods such as using pen, paper, calculators and other generic computer products.
If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers mathematical concepts but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the "Mathematical Concepts" grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional element of using a system to perform the computation amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. The claim is not patent eligible. Claim 5, 6 and 7 represents a device, a method and non- transitory computer readable medium, respectively, of the limitations presented in Claim 1. These are abstract for the same reasons as Claim 1, and do not integrate the abstract ideas into a practical application or add significantly more to the abstract ideas recited in Claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
The invention defined in claims 1 and 5-7 are not suggested by the prior art of record. claims 1 and 5-7 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 101 set forth in this Office action.
Reason for allowance
The prior art of record (in particular, Mohassel; Payman, US-20210133587, VEENINGEN; Meilof Geert US-20190068374, HAMADA, KOKI WO-2019059042, FANG, Wen-jing CN 111784078, Smaragdis; Paris US-7937270) singly or in combination does not disclose, with respect to independent claim 1 “ A secure search system including three or more secure search devices and computing a share of a vector (hereinafter referred to as a search result vector) including K first elements satisfying search conditions regarding a query q among elements of a vector V from a share V of the aligned vector V having a length N and a share (q) of the query q,
a vector decomposition circuitry for computing a share (v) of a vector Vi (i = 1, α) having a length ß (where ⁻v₁⁻v₂ = ⁻v⁻X (X is a vector having a length αß-N in which all elements are dummy data X)) from the share ((v)), wherein α and ß are integers of 1 or more (where α and ß satisfy αβ≥N);” and similar limitations of independent claims 5-7 in combination with the other claimed features as a whole.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GHODRAT JAMSHIDI whose telephone number is (571)270-1956. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00-6:00.
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/GHODRAT JAMSHIDI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2493
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