DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the application filed on 12/19/2024.
Claims 1-17 are pending in the application and have been examined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 11 recites the limitation “the extracted function authentication value”. The claims lacked antecedent basis for this limitation. Claims 12-13 fail to resolve this deficiency.
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.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because it is directed to software per se.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-7 and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wesie (U.S. Patent 9,805,188).
Regarding claims 1 and 15-17, Wesie discloses an apparatus comprising: instruction receiving circuitry to receive, as part of a program flow, a branch instruction, said branch instruction identifying a function [col. 5, lines 29-47; a control flow instruction that specifies a target is received for execution]; instruction authentication circuitry to: determine, based at least in part on the function, an instruction authentication value [col. 5, lines 29-47; a first tag is associated with the control flow instruction]; and combine the instruction authentication value with the branch instruction to produce an authenticatable branch instruction [col. 5, lines 29-47; a first tag is associated with the control flow instruction, allowing the control flow instruction to be authenticated], and branch circuitry to: based on a function authentication value, authenticate the authenticatable branch instruction [col. 5, lines 29-47; a second tag is associated with the control flow instruction target and is used to authenticate the control flow instruction]; and responsive to a successful authentication of the authenticatable branch instruction, execute a jump in the program flow to said function [col. 5, lines 29-47; the target of the control flow instruction is executed in response to authentication].
Regarding claim 2, Wesie discloses an apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the function authentication value is stored within code corresponding to said function [col. 5, lines 29-47; a second tag is associated with the control flow instruction target and is used to authenticate the control flow instruction].
Regarding claim 3, Wesie discloses an apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the function authentication value is stored immediately subsequent to a branch target indicator in the code corresponding to said function [col. 5, lines 29-47; a second tag is located adjacent to a branch target].
Regarding claim 4, Wesie discloses an apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instruction authentication circuitry is configured to determine the instruction authentication value based on data indicative of at least part of code corresponding to said function [col. 5, lines 29-47; a first tag is associated with the control flow instruction].
Regarding claim 5, Wesie discloses an apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the branch circuitry is configured to authenticate the authenticatable branch instruction by comparing the instruction authentication value with the function authentication value [col. 8, lines 10-40; a comparison of the tags is done for the purpose of authentication].
Regarding claim 6, Wesie discloses an apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the branch circuitry is configured to determine a successful authentication of the authenticatable branch instruction responsive to the instruction authentication value matching the function authentication value [col. 8, lines 10-40; a match of the tags confirms authentication].
Regarding claim 7, Wesie discloses an apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the branch circuitry is responsive to an unsuccessful authentication of the authenticatable branch instruction to identify an error [col. 8, lines 48-51; if there is not a match, an abort occurs].
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wesie in view of Acar (U.S. Patent 9,514,305).
Regarding claim 8, Wesie does not explicitly disclose encrypting the branch instruction based on a cryptographic key. However, Acar discloses a system similar to that of Wesie in which control flow is authenticated for the purpose of adding security to the system. Acar further discloses [col. 7, lines 4-14] encrypting the control flow tags using a key for the purpose of adding more security to the system, and such operation would therefore have been obvious in the system of Wesie.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-10 and 14 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
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/COREY S FAHERTY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2183