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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 22 June 2026 has been entered. Applicant amended claims 1, 5, 11, 15, and 19. Accordingly, claims 1-20 remain pending.
Applicant’s amendment to the claims overcome the claim objection and 35 USC 112(b) rejection of 19 March 2026. Therefore, the claim objection and 35 USC 112(b) rejection of 19 March 2026 are withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Claim objection and 35 USC 112(b) rejection:
Applicant’s arguments, filed 22 June 2026, with respect to the claim objection and 35 USC 112(b) rejection of 19 March 2026 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The claim objection and 35 USC 112(b) rejection of 19 March 2026 have been withdrawn.
35 USC 103 Rejection:
Applicant’s arguments, filed 22 June 2026, with respect to the 35 USC 103 rejection have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 35 USC 103 rejection of 19 March 2026 has been withdrawn.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-5, 7-15, 18-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 21-35, 37, and 39 of U.S. Patent No. 12124546. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the subject matter claimed in the claim(s) of the instant application is fully disclosed and covered by the claims in U.S Patent No, 12124546
US Patent 12124546
Current Application
Claim 21. A computer implemented method of user authentication, the method comprising:
obtaining, using one or more sensors of a terminal device, a sample biometric measurement of a user;
generating a sample biometric template using the sample biometric measurement of the user;
receiving, from each of a plurality of devices associated with a plurality of users, an encrypted biometric template and a public key of a public/private key pair associated with each of the plurality of users; using a cosine similarity function, computing a similarity metric for each of the plurality of users comparing each of the respective encrypted biometric templates of each of the plurality of users to the sample biometric template;
computing a plurality of masked similarity metrics by adding a masking value to each of the plurality of similarity metrics; encrypting each of the plurality of masked similarity metrics using homomorphic encryption and the public keys received from each respective device of the plurality of devices;
sending each of the plurality of encrypted masked similarity metrics to each respective device of the plurality of devices, wherein each device of the plurality of devices decrypts the respective encrypted masked similarity metrics using a private key of each respective public/private key pair resulting in a plurality of decrypted masked similarity metrics;
receiving a decrypted masked similarity metrics of the plurality of decrypted masked similarity metrics from each of the plurality of devices; computing a comparison metric for each decrypted masked similarity metrics of the plurality of decrypted masked similarity metrics by subtracting the masking value from each decrypted masked similarity metric;
comparing each comparison metric to a threshold value; determining that a device of the plurality of devices is associated with the user when the comparison metric computed for the decrypted masked similarity metric provided by the device of the plurality of devices is less than the threshold value; and
providing access to a resource based on the determining that the device of the plurality of devices is associated with the user.
Claim 1. A computer implemented method comprising:
obtaining, by a terminal device, a sample biometric measurement of a first user;
generating a sample biometric template based on the sample biometric measurement;
receiving, from mobile devices associated with a plurality of users, encrypted biometric templates and public keys, wherein each of the encrypted biometric templates and the public keys are associated with a different one of the plurality of users, and wherein the public keys are associated with corresponding private keys, and wherein the mobile devices are capable of two-way communication;
determining encrypted similarity metrics based on comparing each of the encrypted biometric templates to the sample biometric template, wherein the encrypted similarity metrics are encrypted based on the public keys;
sending the encrypted similarity metrics to the devices for decryption using the corresponding private keys;
receiving decrypted similarity metrics from the devices; determining that a first device of the devices is associated with the first user based on
comparing the decrypted similarity metrics to a threshold value; and
providing access to a resource based on the determining that the first device is associated with the first user.
Claim 31. A computer implemented method for authenticating a device, the method comprising:
obtaining a sample biometric measurement of a first user;
generating a sample biometric template based on the sample biometric measurement of the user;
requesting and receiving, from each of a plurality of devices associated with a plurality of users: an encrypted biometric template for each respective user of the plurality of users, and a public key of a public/private key pair associated with each respective user of the plurality of users, wherein the plurality of users comprises the first user;
computing a similarity metric using a cosine similarity function to compare the sample biometric template and the encrypted biometric template for each respective user of the plurality of users; computing a masked similarity metric for each respective device of the plurality devices by: multiplying each masked similarity metric by a first masking value to create a plurality of first masked similarity metrics, and adding a second masking value to each of the plurality of first masked similarity metrics to create a plurality of second masked similarity metrics; generating a plurality of encrypted masked similarity metrics by encrypting each of the plurality of second masked similarity metrics using homomorphic encryption and the public keys received from each respective device of the plurality of devices;
sending each of the plurality of encrypted masked similarity metrics to each respective device of the plurality of devices;
receiving a decrypted masked similarity metric from each device of the plurality of devices, wherein each decrypted masked similarity metric is generated using a private key of each respective public/private key pair associated with each respective user of the plurality of users; computing a comparison metric for each decrypted masked similarity metric by subtracting the second masking value from each decrypted masked similarity metric to create a result and dividing the result by the first masking value;
comparing each comparison metric to a threshold value;
determining that a first device of the plurality of devices is associated with the first user when the comparison metric computed for the decrypted masked similarity metric provided by the first device of the plurality of devices is less than the threshold value; and
providing access to a resource based on the determining that the first device of the plurality of devices is associated with the first user.
11. A computer implemented method comprising:
obtaining a sample biometric measurement of a first user;
generating a sample biometric template based on the sample biometric measurement;
receiving, from each mobile device of a plurality of mobile devices associated with a plurality of users: an encrypted biometric template for a respective user of the plurality of users, and a public key of a public/private key pair associated with a respective user of the plurality of users, wherein the plurality of users comprises the first user, wherein the plurality of mobile devices are capable of two-way communication, and wherein the encrypted biometric template for each respective user is encrypted based on the public key associated with the respective user;
determining an encrypted similarity metric for each respective user of the plurality of users based on comparing the encrypted biometric template for the respective user to the sample biometric template;
sending, to each mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices, the encrypted similarity metric for the respective user associated with the mobile device;
receiving, from each mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices, a decrypted similarity metric for the respective user associated with the mobile device; determining a comparison metric for each respective user of the plurality of users based on the decrypted similarity metric for the respective user;
comparing the comparison metric for each respective user of the plurality of users to a threshold value;
determining that a first mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices is associated with the first user based on the comparison metric for the first user satisfying a threshold value; and
providing access to a resource based on the determining that the first mobile device is associated with the first user.
Claim 39. A computer implemented method of user
authentication, the method comprising:
requesting and receiving, from each of a plurality of devices associated with a plurality of users: an encrypted biometric template for each respective user of the plurality of users, each encrypted biometric template including an encrypted vector of biometric values and that is stored on each respective device of the plurality of devices, and a public key of a public/private key pair associated with each respective user of the plurality of users;
computing a similarity metric for each of the plurality of users comparing each of the respective encrypted biometric templates of each of the plurality of users to a sample biometric template generated from a sample biometric measurement of a first user;
computing a plurality of masked similarity metrics by adding a masking value to each of the plurality of similarity metrics;
encrypting each of the plurality of masked similarity metrics using additively homomorphic encryption and the public keys received from each respective device of the plurality of devices;
sending each of the plurality of encrypted masked similarity metrics to each respective device of the plurality of devices;
receiving a decrypted masked similarity metric from each device of the plurality of devices, wherein each decrypted masked similarity metric is generated using a private key of each respective public/private key pair associated with each respective user of the plurality of users;
computing a comparison metric for each decrypted masked similarity metrics of the plurality of decrypted masked similarity metrics by subtracting the masking value from each decrypted masked similarity metric; comparing each comparison metric to a threshold value; and
determining that a first device of the plurality of devices is associated with the first user when the comparison metric computed for the decrypted masked similarity metric provided by the first device of the plurality of devices being less than the threshold value; and
providing the first device access to a resource.
19. A computer implemented method comprising:
receiving, from each mobile device of a plurality of mobile devices associated with a plurality of users: an encrypted biometric template for each respective user of the plurality of users, each encrypted biometric template including an encrypted vector of biometric values, and a public key of a public/private key pair associated with each respective user of the plurality of users;
determining a similarity metric for each of the of users based on the respective encrypted biometric template and a sample biometric template generated for a first user;
determining an encrypted similarity metric for each of the users from the respective similarity metric by applying a homomorphic encryption algorithm and the corresponding public key;
sending to each mobile device of the plurality of devices the respective encrypted similarity metric;
receiving a decrypted similarity metric from each mobile device of the plurality of the mobile devices;
determining that a first mobile device of the devices is associated with the first user based on comparing the decrypted similarity metric provided by the first mobile device to a threshold value; and
providing the first mobile device access to a resource.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the devices". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It is unclear whether the devices refer to both the terminal device and the mobile devices or the mobile devices.
Claims 2-10 are rejected as being dependent on, and failing to cure the deficiencies of, rejected independent claim 1.
Claim 19 recites the limitation "the devices". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It is unclear whether the devices refer to both the terminal device and the mobile devices or the mobile devices.
Claim 20 is rejected as being dependent on, and failing to cure the deficiencies of, rejected independent claim 19.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the outstanding 35 USC 112(b) rejection and filing a terminal disclaimer to overcome the doubling patenting rejection.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the examiner does not find on record references anticipating nor a combination of reference making obvious to “determining that a first mobile device of the devices is associated with the user based on comparing the decrypted similarity metric provided by the first mobile device to a threshold value and providing the first mobile device access to the resource” in combination with all the limitations in the independent claims.
The closest prior art that reads on the limitations above is Sanz 20160255055 (hereinafter Sanz). Sanz teaches an authorization data item, containing encrypted enrollment information[ biometric fingerprint] and the voice print as verification information (v), is received by the POS device. The POS device decrypts the received authorization data item to extract enrollment information. The POS device can then determine similarity measure, such as the cosine similarity measure, between the enrollment information and the verification information . For a determined similarity measure greater than or equal to a threshold , the control point can authorize the request for access to the resource/transaction. Sanz is determining the similarity measure once the authorization data is received, the encrypted enrollment is extracted, and the encrypted enrollment data is decrypted. Therefore, Sanz does not teach “an encrypted similarity metric”, “receiving decrypted similarity metrics from the mobile devices”, and “comparing a decrypted similarity metric provided by the first mobile device to a threshold value”.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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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/F.F/Examiner, Art Unit 2437
/ALI S ABYANEH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2437
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